Hesychasm and the Philokalia

The Hesychasm tradition of Orthodox Christianity is a meditative prayer technique reminiscent of Buddhist mantras or “Zikr” practices of the Sufis, involving breathing and repetition of a sentence as a means of reaching God. The tradition reached the Second Bulgarian Empire from Mount Athos, and its centers existed at Mount Vitosha, at the Monastery in Bachkovo, at the Ivanovo Monastery, and especially in Gregory of Sinai monastic center at the Strandja Mountains.

The meaning of the word Hesychasm is silence Quietening down and calming. The Hesychasm practitioners repeat a sentence which is called “The Jesus prayer” and it goes like this: ” Our Lord Jesus the Messiah, Son of God, have mercy on me living in sin” the repetition (in Greek) is accompanied by breathing, body postures and mental images of light brought into the heart, this is done repeatedly until the spiritual light of Mount Tabor is revealed to them,  the light that encompasses all things.

The Hesychasm practitioners see and acknowledge the spiritual worlds Just as Moses saw God on the Mountain and in the burning bush. In other words, the Hesychasm practitioners learn to see and feel spiritual energies – the emanations coming from God existing beyond the veil.

The tradition started by the early desert fathers, one of them is John of the Ladder (Climacus), who was a theologian at Mount Sinai in the 6th century, it was developed in the 13th century by a monk named Nikephoros the Hermit and found a home on Mount Athos. According to Nikephoros, the purpose of the spiritual life is to discover the “treasure hidden in the heart”, to unite the spiritual (nous) with the heart – God’s abode, this is the true abode of Mount Sinai. The union is done with the help of “a descent, through breathing, of the spiritual to the heart.”

Nikephoros writes an essay called “On the preservation of the heart” in which he describes his method, which in essence is a combination of breathing with repetition of the Jesus prayer accompanied with mental images, and thus he writes: “As I told you, sit comfortably, concentrate your spiritual power in your nostrils, this is the way of breathing to the heart. Push forcefully, force it to descend into your heart, and when it reaches there, you will know joy, like a man who returns home after a long absence and is no longer able to contain his joy in the presence of his wife and children. Thus, your spiritual element, when united with the soul, flows with joy and delight that cannot be described in words. But after your spiritual element has arrived there, he should not be silent or sink into inaction, but should constantly repeat and say: “Our Lord Jesus the Messiah, Son of God, have mercy on me!”

Gregory of Sinai (1255-1346) contributes to the development of Hesychasm emphasizing the central role of remembering God, as appears in the verse: “And you remembered Jehovah your God” (Deuteronomy 8:18). The remembrance of God makes a person constantly aware of God’s grace, which is hidden due to our sins. The remembrance of God cannot be realized in a crowd but only in solitude.

Gregory of Palamas (1359-1296) was one of the greatest philosophers and mystics of the Orthodox Church and the bishop of Thessaloniki, he was the great protector and promoter of the Hesychasm against its opponents. He writes a book called “words in Defense of the Hesychast Saints.” Gregory distinguished between the divine essence and the energies through which God is revealed, and developed a mystical theology centered on divine light.

The divine light that the Hesychast sees is the “light of transfiguration” on Mount Tabor. When Jesus ascended the Mountain accompanied by his three closest disciples, he appeared to them in the form of light and this is called the miracle of transfiguration, except that according to the mystical teaching of Hesychasm the transfiguration was not in Jesus but in the disciples, who were privileged thanks to divine grace to see Jesus in his true form, as the manifestation of the first light of creation. Humans have this ability, and it will be returned to them at the time of redemption. “He who partakes of the divine energy becomes himself, to some extent, light. He becomes one with the light, and together with the light he sees with complete awareness everything that is hidden from the eyes of those who have not been granted this grace.”

According to Palamas, God created man equipped with a divine and immaterial mode of reproduction. Sexuality and death fell upon him due to original sin. The fulfillment of the Logos (Jesus) enabled Theosis (the transformation of man back into God), but this is always done solely by the grace of God. The most important thing is the inner prayer also called the unceasing prayer, contemplation and celibate life. These lead to deification which takes place along with experiencing the mystical light.

The holy monks of the Hesychasm tradition on Mount Athos and in various places in Bulgaria radiated the light of grace. When a solitary monk was immersed in prayer his cell was filled with light. There is a connection between prayer, mystical light and God. The monks claimed that they managed to see and participate in the uncreated light.

The Hesychasm tradition relies on some of Paul’s epistles, the Gospel according to John, and an interpretation of parts of the New Testament. It was recognized and accepted in the Orthodox Christian world and became of prime importance starting from the 14th century. During this period, the Bulgarians had centers of Hesychasm in many places throughout the kingdom, such as Mount Vitosha, as well as an important Monastery on Mount Athos called Zograf, to which many of their leaders were connected, and first and foremost – Patriarch Evtimiy.

Philokalia

The Philokalia is a collection of Christian mystical writings composed between the 4th and 15th centuries, and compiled by two monks from Mount Athos, Makarios and Nikodimos, in the late 18th century. The full title of the book is: “The Philokalia of the Neptic Fathers” (Nepsis in Greek means vigilance), “collected from our holy, God-filled fathers, through which, by the philosophy of contemplation and asceticism, the intellect is purified, enlightened, and made whole.”

The name Philokalia means “love of the beautiful, the good, and the noble,” and was first adopted by Gregory the Theologian and Basil the Great when they collected the writings of Origen from the 3rd century. Since then, there have been many Philokalías, but this last one has become the most influential and important book in Orthodox Christianity today. It can be said that the Philokalia is a kind of mystical interpretation of the holy scriptures — a book of illumination for Christian monks.

Nicodemus was one of the leaders of the monastic community on Mount Athos at the end of the 18th century. At that time, there was fear of secular influences penetrating and eroding the original monastic tradition. To counter this danger, Nicodemus translated nearly a hundred books on spiritual traditions and enlisted the help of Macarius, who later became Bishop of Corinth. Thus, the Philokalia collection was created.

The Philokalia had, and continues to have, great influence in Slavic countries. A Russian monk named Paisius Velichkovsky, who lived for sixteen years on Mount Athos and then moved to a monastery in Moldavia, translated the Philokalia into Church Slavonic. At the same time, a book called The Way of a Pilgrim was published in Russia, which referred to the Philokalia. In the mid-19th century, translations of the Philokalia into Russian appeared, but its influence was already evident earlier.

The Philokalia was adopted by the Romanian Church in the 20th century and played an important role in the religious renaissance at the end of communist rule, influencing Catholic therapeutic monasticism and even New Age movements, as a form of Christian Zen meditation. It exerted great influence in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Macedonia as well, where it contributed significantly to the spiritual life and monastic traditions of the Orthodox Churches in those regions.

Some writers in the Philokalia refer to Paul’s letters, which contain hints of a deep mystical doctrine. In his Letter to the Romans, chapters 8:38–39, Paul claims that nothing can separate us from God’s love. It is not man, but man’s sins that will be punished — for God is love and mercy.

The Orthodox Christian view of man is positive: original sin is ancestral sin, not something inherently within us. On the contrary, within us there is an image of God that nothing can erase. God is present in every created thing. The main motif woven throughout the Philokalia is theosis — the possibility of man becoming divine. This is the true meaning of redemption. Additional themes include: repentance, the heart, prayer, the Jesus Prayer, serenity, and love. Within us can be born a new consciousness, a new heart, and a divine nature, which will make us more than we are now.

In Orthodox Christianity, there is a unity of body and soul — they are deeply interconnected. Within us exists the Nous (Greek), which represents the soul and is the faculty through which we experience God, and Dianoia, which is related to reason and logic. The Nous is the eye of the soul, the mirror through which we can see God — but it became covered with dirt and soot due to the fall from Paradise, and must be cleansed through contemplation, prayer, and spiritual practice.

Hymns

In addition to mystical writings, there are also hymns. The hymns of Orthodox Christianity are considered among the most beautiful in the world, as they are believed to have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. The most important hymn to Mary is Axion Estin. Part of it (the second part) was written as early as the 7th century, but the first part was added in the 10th century, and there is a wonderful story behind it.

One night, a monk on Mount Athos remained in his cell during the communal prayers and prayed alone. Suddenly, a miraculous man knocked on his door and asked to join him. When they reached the prayer to Mary, the man added the first part of the hymn in a voice like that of an angel. At the monk’s request, he wrote the text with his finger on a stone tablet — and then disappeared. This miracle became known throughout the Christian world and led to the adoption of the full text of the prayer. Below is a free translation:

“It is truly right to bless you, O Mother of God,
ever blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God.
More honorable than the cherubim,
and incomparably more glorious than the seraphim,
who without corruption gave birth to God the Word —
truly the Mother of God, we magnify you.”

Motifs in Mystical Christianity

To better understand the nature of Orthodox mystical Christianity, as it developed on Mount Athos and in monasteries throughout the Balkans and the Christian world, here are some quotes and references to fundamental themes that appear in the Philokalia (the book of mystical Christianity), which are considered essential parts (or stages) of the spiritual path.

Repentance

The first stage on the spiritual path is repentance, without which there is nothing, writes the ascetic Neilos. He was a disciple of John Chrysostom (late 4th century), and later abbot of a monastery in Ankara. He is the first to mention the Jesus Prayer (the repeated prayer), and he writes the following about repentance:

“In the biblical story, Elisha throws his staff into the Jordan River and brings up from there the axe that his disciple had lost. The meaning of this is that he reveals the hidden thoughts of his disciple — thoughts he had kept within himself — to those present. The Jordan in this case symbolizes repentance, because in the Jordan John the Baptist caused people to repent.

When a man does not speak accurately about repentance and causes his hearers to despise it by failing to reveal its hidden power, he causes the axe to sink in the water. But then the staff, which symbolizes the cross, brings the axe back from the depths to the surface.

Before the cross, the true meaning of repentance was hidden, and anyone who tried to speak of it was guilty of inaccuracy and haste. After the crucifixion, the meaning of repentance was revealed to all — through the wood of the cross.”

Centuries later, in the 11th century, Nicetas Stethatos (the Brave), a disciple of Symeon the New Theologian, writes: “When the unbridled waters of the lustful thoughts of the intellect are restrained through the restraining presence of the Holy Spirit, and the bitter abyss of unworthy images and passions is subdued through self-control and meditation on death, then the Holy Spirit of repentance begins to blow, and the waters of repentance flow forth, and our God and Lord, washing them in the basin of repentance, washes our spiritual feet, making them fit to tread in the realms of His kingdom.”

Vigilance

Saint John Chrysostom himself points out that man is a battlefield between Satan and God, and must always be on the watch. He writes: “There is within us, on the plane of the Nous (originally from the Greek, meaning: metaphysics: reason, intelligence, logic, mind), a war that is more difficult than that on the plane of the senses. The spiritual worker must press forward with his intellect toward the goal, in order to perfectly sanctify the memory of God in his heart, like a precious diamond or pearl. He must renounce everything, including the body, and abstain from the present life, if he wants God alone to dwell in his heart — because the beautiful vision (on the plane of the Nous) of God can in itself destroy the spirits of evil.”

Centuries later, in the 10th century, Philotheos wrote forty treatises on vigilance (Nepsis), in which we find the following quote: “When modesty, combined with the remembrance of God, is established through vigilance and attention, with repeated prayer that persists in its resistance to the enemy, a place of God is created — the heaven of the heart — where, because of the presence of God, no army of demons dares to stand its ground.”

The Heart

As early as the third century, three stages on the spiritual path to God were discerned: purification, illumination, and union. The heart is where they occur, as Peter of Damascus, who lived in the 12th century, writes: “He who has made his heart pure not only knows the inner essences of what emanates from God and depends on Him, but, after passing through all of them, he will in some measure see God Himself, who is the general composition of all blessings.

When God comes to dwell in such a heart, He honors it by engraving His own letters upon it through the Holy Spirit, as He did upon the tablets of the covenant. He does this in accordance with the degree to which that heart has developed, through the practice of virtues and contemplation.

A pure heart is one that has no inclination toward anything in any way — a heart that, in extreme simplicity, becomes like smooth and polished writing tablets, on which God comes to dwell and write His own laws. A pure heart is one that offers its thoughts to God free from all form and image, and is ready to be imprinted only with His own archetypes, through which God is made manifest.”

Prayer

Theodore the Great Ascetic began his journey at the monastery of Mar Sabas in the Judean Desert. He later became the bishop of Edessa, converted the son of the Umayyad caliph al-Mutawakkil (9th century), and became very popular in Russia in the 17th century.

According to his view, prayer is the best way to connect with God — but there is ritual prayer, and there is true prayer. He writes: “Pure prayer is especially important — prayer that is continuous and uninterrupted. Such prayer is a safe fortress, a protected harbor, a shield of virtues, a destroyer of passions. It brings strength to the soul, purifies the intellect, brings rest to those who suffer, and comforts the mourners. Prayer is conversation with God, contemplation of the unseen, the angelic way of life, the assurance of things we have hoped for as real.

As an ascetic, you must embrace this queen of virtues with all your might. Pray day and night, pray with fear and trembling, with vigilance and watchful thought, so that prayer may be accepted by God, as it is said in the Psalms: ‘The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers.’”

“Prayer gives thanks for blessings received and asks forgiveness for failures — a power that will strengthen us in the future. For without God’s help, the soul cannot do much. At the same time, to convince the will to have a strong desire for union and enjoyment with God, for which it yearns, and to direct it totally to Him — this is the greatest achievement of our purpose.”

Love

Love is the essence of Christianity, as Paul writes in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” Maximus the Confessor elaborates on this subject and says: “True love and affection — that is, faith and a clear conscience — are clearly the result of a hidden impulse in the heart, because the heart can produce them on its own, without the need for external stimulation.”

Maximus the Confessor is the most frequently quoted figure in the Philokalia, perhaps because of his support for theosis and the concept of redemption and the return of humanity to a state of union with God. He lived in the 6th and 7th centuries, was born in the Land of Israel, and served as the personal secretary to Emperor Heraclius. He was the first to write a full biography of Mary. Later, he moved to Carthage and studied Neoplatonic writings.

Maximus was called “the Confessor” because he was severely tortured but did not die a martyr’s death. To prevent him from speaking, they cut out his tongue; to prevent him from writing, they cut off his hand. He moved to Georgia and died there. All of this was done to him by fellow Christians. In other words, the Christian religion — which holds love as its highest ideal — has not always acted in accordance with that ideal.