From the Book
"ORTHODOX PSYCHOTHERAPY"
by Metropolitan
Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
One of the fundamental methods of curing the soul is
stillness in the full sense of the word.
I believe
that we have already made this clear. Contemporary man is seeking
healing for his life, especially for his inner condition, precisely
because he is over-strained. Therefore one of the messages which
Orthodoxy can offer to the contemporary weary, discouraged and
floundering world is the message of silence. I think that the
Orthodox tradition has a great deal to offer in this area. So in
what follows I shall try to explain further the value of hesychia
and hesychasm for the healing of the soul, nous, heart, and reason.
We have the impression that hesychia and hesychasm are among the
most basic medicines for gaining inner health. And since lack of
silence is what creates the problems, the pressure, anxiety and
insecurity, as well as the psychological, psychical, and physical
illnesses, we shall try to look at their cause, which is anti-hesychasm.
The anti-hesychastic desert wind that is blowing and burning
everything is prevalent everywhere and is the dominant cause of the
abnormal situation. So we shall look at hesychia as a method of
healing the soul, and anti-hesychasm as a cause of psychic and
physical illness.
Before defining hesychia, or stillness, let us look at
its great value for the healing of the soul.
The Holy
Fathers who lived the whole breadth of the Orthodox tradition have
stressed the great importance of Orthodox hesychia. St Gregory the
Theologian regarded hesychia as essential for attaining communion
with God. “It is necessary to be still in order to have clear
converse with God and gradually bring the nous back from its
wanderings” (1). With stillness a man purifies his senses and his
heart. So he knows God, and this knowledge of God is his salvation.
St.
Thalassios, who fully adheres to this line, declares: “Hesychia and
prayer are the greatest weapons of virtue, for they purify the nous
and confer on it spiritual insight” (2). Through hesychia man’s nous
is purified and becomes an acceptable instrument for seeing God.
Indeed as we know from patristic teaching, nous is different from
intelligence. When the nous is hidden by the passions it ceases to
behold the mysteries of God (it is dead), whereas when it is freed
from passions it becomes clear-sighted and sees God as light, and
this light is the life of man. As we have said, this purification of
the nous comes about through hesychia.
It is well
known to those engaged in studying the works of the Fathers and to
those trying to live this life of quiet, that there is hesychia of
the body and hesychia of the soul. The former refers to outward
things and the latter to the inward. Hesychia of the body usually
refers to the hesychastic posture and the effort to minimise
external representations, the images received and brought to the
soul by the senses. Hesychia of the soul means that the nous attains
the capacity and the power not to accept any temptation to delusion.
In this state man’s nous, possessed of watchfulness and compunction,
is centred in the heart. The nous (energy) is concentrated in the
place of the heart (essence), uniting with it, thus attaining a
partial or greater knowledge of God.
Stillness of
the body is a limiting of the body. “The beginning of hesychia is
godly rest” (3). The intermediate stage is that of “illuminating
power and vision; and the end is ecstasy or rapture of the nous
towards God” (4). St. John of the Ladder, referring to outward,
bodily stillness, writes: “The lover of stillness keeps his mouth
shut” (5).
But it is
not only those called neptic Fathers who mention and describe the
holy atmosphere of hesychia, it is also those known as “social”.
Actually in the Orthodox tradition there is no direct opposition
between theoria and praxis, nor between the neptic and social
Fathers. The neptics are eminently social and those in community are
unimaginably neptic.
I would like
to refer to St. Basil the Great as an example of holy hesychia. In a
letter to his friend St. Gregory he writes about hesychia as the
beginning of purity of soul, and about hesychia of the body, that
is, restriction of the tongue, sight, hearing and words. For
example, he says: “The very beginning of the soul’s purgation is
tranquillity, in which the tongue is not given to discussing the
affairs of men, nor the eyes to contemplating rosy cheeks or comely
bodies, nor the ears to lowering the tone of the soul by listening
to songs whose sole object is to amuse, or to words spoken by wits
and buffoons – a practice which above all things tends to relax the
tone of the soul”.
This
expresses the state of quietude which the holy Father enjoyed in the
desert when he was trying to acquire knowledge of God in the
university of the desert after the time he spent in human schools
acquiring human knowledge. As a result, this luminary of Caesarea
provides us with a classic passage which shows that he had an
excellent knowledge of the life of hesychia. He writes: “When the
nous is not dissipated upon extraneous things, nor diffused over the
world about us through the senses, it withdraws within itself, and
of its own accord ascends to the vision of God. Then when it is
illuminated without and within by that glory, it becomes forgetful
even of its own nature. No longer able to drag the soul down to
thought of sustenance or to concern for the body’s covering, but
enjoying leisure from earthly cares, it transfers all its interest
to the acquisition of the eternal goods…” (6).
Hesychia of
the body is helpful for attaining inner stillness of the soul. It
appears from the patristic teaching that the former, even if not
entirely necessary, is nevertheless very much needed in the godly
life. “Stillness of the body is the knowledge and management of
one’s feelings and perceptions” (7). In another place where St. John
of the Ladder speaks of this hesychia, he is thinking especially of
“solitary abodes” (8).
Certainly,
as we said before, the desert, and in general hesychia of the body,
is helpful for attaining inner spiritual hesychia. But the Fathers
understood hesychasm “neither as living like a recluse nor as
distancing oneself in the desert, but as uninterrupted dwelling in
God” (9). Although the desert has great value in that it helps to
limit the images and representations coming from the world outside,
yet it is not made an absolute. Nicetas Stethatos is characteristic
on this point. He points out that virtue is not limited to a
particular place and that man’s aim is “to restore the powers of the
soul and concentrate the general virtues at one point in action
according to nature”. Saying that these things do not come from
outside but “they have been provided us from creation”, he
concludes: “The desert is unnecessary if we come into the Kingdom of
Heaven without it, through repentance and keeping all the
commandments of God” (10). It is very characteristic that Nicetas,
formulating the problem spoken of by many who say that it is
impossible to attain the habit of virtue “without withdrawal and
flight into the desert”, writes: “I was surprised that which knows
no limits was thought by them to be in a limited place” (11).
In any case
the desert and hesychia of the body in general helps one to acquire
hesychia of the spirit, the holy content of which we are now going
to describe.
St. John of
the Ladder, writing compactly in his remarkable work, says that
stillness of the soul is “accurate knowledge and management of one’s
thoughts”. “Stillness of the soul is a science of thoughts and an
inviolable nous. Brave and determined thinking is a friend of
stillness. It keeps constant vigil at the doors of the heart, and
kills or repels the thoughts that come” (12).
St. Symeon
the New Theologian, speaking of inner stillness and describing its
holy atmosphere, says: “Hesychia is an undisturbed state of the
nous, calmness of a free and rejoicing soul, a heart’s untroubled
and unwavering foundation, vision of light, knowledge of the
mysteries of God, a word of wisdom, depth of conceptual images of
God, rapture of the nous, pure converse with God, a vigilant eye,
inner prayer, union with God and contact and complete theosis, and
painless repose in great ascetic labours” (13).
Other
Fathers too speak of this holy state of the soul, since life in
Christ is a common experience of all the saints. According to St.
Gregory of Sinai, “Hesychia means cutting off all thoughts except
the most divine which come from the Spirit, lest in accepting the
former as good, we lose what is greater” (14).
This
rejection of conceptual images is part of man’s attempt to purify
the intelligent part of his soul. The athlete of the spiritual life
struggles to drive away the thoughts which the evil one sows with
the sole purpose of breaking up the inner unity of the powers of the
soul and making a man’s heart sick. It is a fact that Orthodoxy is a
therapeutic science. As we read the works of the holy Fathers who
refer to these subjects, we see clearly that Christianity cures the
sick soul, and among the means of healing, first place belongs to
guarding the nous, repelling intrusive thoughts and trying to slay
them before they can enter the gate of the heart.
“What is
hesychia, other than keeping one’s heart away from giving and taking
and pleasing people, and such doings? When the Lord told the scribe
about the man who fell among thieves and asked him who was his
neighbour, he said: `He who showed mercy on him’. Again, He said `I
desire mercy and not sacrifice’. If you simply have mercy, it is
more than sacrifice. Incline your heart to mercy; for the pretext of
hesychia leads to haughtiness before a person has gained himself and
become faultless: then hesychia is that he has borne the cross. If
you are compassionate you find help. If you restrain yourself as if
to avoid going beyond the measure, learn this, that you have lost
even what you have: go neither in nor out, but straight ahead, being
aware of the Lord’s will, because the days are evil” (15).
That
hesychia is, above all, guarding the nous, watching one’s thoughts,
is expressed by St. Thalassios: “Seal your senses with stillness and
sit in judgement upon the thoughts that attack your heart” (16).
St. Gregory
Palamas, however, is the chief defender of hesychia, as we shall see
further on. By the grace of Christ he struggled to safeguard this
method of purifying the heart and thoughts, which is an
indispensable prerequisite for knowledge of God and communion with
Him. In his sermon on the Presentation of the Virgin he speaks of
the hesychastic life. It is characteristic that this Athonite saint,
speaking from experience, sees the Virgin Mary as the model of
noetic hesychia, since she entered into communion with the Holy
Trinity in the Holy of Holies in stillness. He writes that we cannot
reach God and commune with Him unless we are purified and unless we
abandon sensory things and the senses, and unless we rise above
thoughts and reasonings and human knowledge and all thought. This is
just what the Virgin did. Seeking this communion with God, “the
Virgin finds holy hesychia her guide: silencing the nous, the world
standing still, things below forgotten, sharing of the secrets
above, laying aside conceptual images for what is better. This
practice in reality is a true entering into theoria or vision of God
– or to put it better, the only example of a truly healthy soul”.
Then St. Gregory describes the virtues as medicines for the ills of
the soul, for the passions; but theoria, he says, is “the fruit of
recovery, whose end and form is deifying”. The soul, in other words,
is healed through virtues, but when healed it is united with God
through theoria, to which the way of silence leads. “Through this
(theoria) a man is deified, not through reflecting on words or
visible things, but taught by silence” (17).
By this
method of Orthodox hesychia and teaching we are healed, being
“released from the things below and turning towards God”. With
constant entreaties and prayers “we somehow touch that untouchable
and blessed essence. And thus those who have been purified in heart
through holy hesychia, after being ineffably permeated by the light
which is above sense and nous, see God within themselves as in a
mirror” (18).
The main
points in this sermon are that by the Orthodox method, which is
essentially a method of noetic hesychia, we purify our heart and our
nous, and in this way we are united with God. This is the only
method of contact with God and communion with Him.
The holy
Fathers call this the soul’s peace and Sabbath rest. Man’s nous,
purified by the method and training of holy stillness, keeps the
Sabbath, rests in God. Palamas, speaking of the divine rest, God’s
rest when He “rested from all his labours”, and of Christ’s rest at
the descent of His soul with its divinity into Hades and the sojourn
of His body with its divinity in the tomb, writes that we too should
pursue this divine rest, that is, we should concentrate our nous
with persevering attention and unceasing prayer. This divine Sabbath
rest is noetic hesychia. “If you withdraw your nous from every
thought, even good ones, and turn wholly towards yourself with
persevering attention and unceasing prayer, you too will come into
the divine rest and attain the blessing of the seven beatitudes,
seeing yourself, and through yourself being lifted up to the vision
of God” (19). It is noteworthy that the saint says these things in a
talk to the flock of his diocese of Thessalonica. This means that
all, at different depths, can attain the experience of divine rest.
I believe that this is the teaching which has been lost in our time.
From what we
have said about noetic hesychia one can see why the person who
practises this is called a hesychast. A hesychast is one who follows
the way of stillness, which in reality is the way of the Orthodox
tradition. Its aim is to lead us to God and unite us with Him. We
may recall St. John of the Ladder: “Strange as it may seem, the
hesychast is a man who fights to keep his incorporeal self shut up
in the house of the body… A hesychast is like an angel on earth.
With paper of love and letters of zeal, he has freed his prayer from
sloth and carelessness…A hesychast is one who cries out: `O God, my
heart is ready’. He says: `I sleep, but my heart is awake'” (20).
Indeed, as
has already been pointed out, hesychasm is the most suitable method
for self-concentration and the ascent of the soul to God and
communion with Him. It is very necessary for communion with God. St.
Gregory Palamas, after explaining at length that man’s nous (energy)
should be turned to the heart and that it is in the heart, which is
the “reservoir of intelligence and the first intelligent organ of
the body”, “the reservoir of thoughts”, that the grace of God is
found, writes: “Can you not see, then, how essential it is that
those who have determined to pay attention to themselves in inner
quiet should gather together the nous and enclose it in the body,
especially in that `body’ most interior to the body, which we call
the heart?” (21)
But we must
emphasise and properly underline that training in hesychia is not
simply a human attempt to bring the nous back to itself, and its
union with the heart is not just a technical method. This training
in hesychia is inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit and is
expressed in repentance and sorrow. It is not simply an artificial
method, which in some depth and breadth can also be found in
anthropocentric systems. “The hesychasm of the Orthodox monk springs
organically from deep repentance and his longing to keep the
commandments of Christ. It is not the artificial application to
spiritual life of Areopagitic theology. The theological teaching in
the `areopagitics’ does not gainsay the results of mental quiet, and
in this sense approaches and even falls in with hesychasm. But there
is this essential difference: the Orthodox ascetic does not arrive
at mental quiet through the abstract philosophy of apophatic
theology but by repentance and struggle against the `law of sin’
(Rom.7,23) acting in human nature” (22).
All the
Fathers make this connection between noetic hesychia and repentance.
St. Gregory of Sinai writes: “Without the practice of constant
weeping, it is impossible to bear the boiling cauldron of
stillness.” He who weeps about the things which precede and follow
death will have patience and humility, which are the two foundation
stones of hesychia. Without repentance and these two foundations a
hesychast will have “conceit and negligence” (23).
Therefore
the method of training in hesychia – and this must be strongly
emphasised – is connected with repentance, tears, sorrow,
compunction. Without these it is false and therefore not helpful.
For the aim of hesychia is purification of the heart and nous. This
is not conceivable without tears and mourning. Hence, for the
athlete of noetic hesychia, tears are a way of life. Through
concentrating his nous in his heart he becomes capable of seeing his
wretchedness, and at once his eyes, and his heart itself, shed tears
of repentance. As repentance grows, he is purified and acquires
knowledge of God.
But hesychia
is also closely connected with keeping the commandments of Christ.
The greatest weapons of anyone striving to lead a life of inner
stillness with patience are “self-control, love, attentiveness and
spiritual reading” (24). According to St. Gregory of Sinai, anyone
who practises hesychasm must have as a foundation the virtues of
“silence, self-control, vigils, humility and patience”. Likewise he
should have three activities pleasing to God: “psalmody, prayer and
reading, and work with his hands” (25). In another connection the
same saint emphasises that “the first requirements of hesychia are
to have faith and patience, and with one’s whole heart, strength and
power, to love and to hope” (26). In another place again he
emphasises other virtues such as self-control, silence and
self-reproach, “that is, humility. For these support and protect one
another; prayer is born of them and grows for ever” (27). Of course
one must also give attention to food, exercising all restraint so
that the nous will not be dulled by food: “one who practices
hesychia must always be in need, not satiated. For with a heavy
stomach and a nous dulled in this way one cannot pray with purity
and firmness”. Sleep comes from much food, and innumerable dreams
fill the nous (28).
These things
show that the hesychastic way of life presupposes keeping Christ’s
commandments, since this gives birth to virtues. So too the virtues
are not independent of stillness, but neither is stillness
independent of keeping God’s commandments, His “ordinances”.
On the
contrary, not keeping the commandments and having passions do not
constitute Orthodox hesychia, and if hesychia begins to appear, it
is devoured, it disappears. “Nothing has a greater power of
disturbing the state of stillness and of depriving it of God’s help
than the following passions: presumptuousness, gluttony,
talkativeness and vain cares, arrogance, and the mistress of all
passions – conceit” (29).
All these
things show that holy noetic hesychia is necessary for keeping the
soul pure from passions and for communion with God. It is not a
luxury in one’s life, it is not a training for only a few people,
not a method only for monks to adopt, but it is for everyone. It is
indispensable for attaining theoria of God and for theosis, which is
man’s goal. However there are differing degrees of noetic hesychia.
Many times
in the Gospels the Lord is seen teaching about purifying the heart
from passions, about inner prayer, liberation from the power of
thoughts, and so forth. He Himself demonstrated to His disciples the
value of the desert. It helps a person to conquer the enemy. Thus
the Apostles included many so-called neptic topics in their
teaching.
This is not
the place for developing all these themes. We simply wish to mention
a few.
It is well
known that after His baptism, the Lord “was led up by the Spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matt.4,1). It was
there in the wilderness that he conquered the devil, who put to him
the three well known temptations. Many times we find the Lord
withdrawing into the wilderness in order to rest, but also in this
way to teach His disciples the value of the desert. “He departed
from there by boat to a deserted place by himself” (Matt.14,13). And
after the miracle of multiplying the five loaves, “when He had sent
the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain by himself to pray:
and when evening had come, He was alone there” (Matt.14,23).
It is very
significant that when the disciples gathered “and told Him all
things, both what they had done and what they had taught”, the Lord
said to them: “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest
awhile” (Mark 6,30-31).
The Lord
spent whole nights in prayer. Luke the Evangelist has preserved the
information: “He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all
night in prayer to God” (Lk.6,12).
And in His
teaching Christ emphasised the value of noetic hesychia and release
from the passions that are in us.
Teaching the
way of true prayer, He said: “when you pray, go into your room, and
when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the
secret place…” (Matt.6,6). Interpreting this exhortation of the
Lord, St. Gregory Palamas writes: “…the closet of the soul is the
body; our doors are the five bodily senses. The soul enters its
closet when the nous does not wander hither and thither, roaming
among things and affairs of the world, but stays within, in our
heart. Our senses become closed and remain closed when we do not let
them be attached to external sensory things, and in this way our
nous remains free from every worldly attachment, and by secret
mental prayer unites with God its Father. `And your Father who sees
in secret will reward you openly,’ adds the Lord. God who knows all
secret things, sees spiritual prayer and rewards it openly with
great gifts. For that prayer is true and perfect which fills the
soul with divine grace and spiritual gifts. As chrism perfumes the
jar the more strongly the tighter it is closed, so prayer, the more
fast it is imprisoned in the heart, abounds the more in divine
grace” (30).
The Lord
said to His disciples who were sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane:
“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matt.26,41).
He further
advised us to keep our nous, and especially our heart, pure from
passions and various thoughts: “When Jesus perceived their thoughts,
he answered and said to them, `Why are you reasoning in your
hearts?’ (Lk.5,22)” Accusing the Scribes and Pharisees, He said:
“Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that
the outside of them may be clean also” (Matt.23,26).
The
Apostles’ letters also point to the great value of the wilderness,
noetic hesychia, inner purification and watchfulness. Here too I
would like to recall a few relevant passages.
After
turning to Christ, the Apostle Paul journeyed into the Arabian
desert, and there he repented of his previous behaviour (Gal.1,17).
The Apostle,
who knew this inner stillness of the nous, gave much advice to his
disciples. Sensing that Christians who have been united with Christ
have the nous of Christ, he wrote: “But we have the nous of Christ”
(1Cor.2,16). In another place he exhorts: “Put to death your members
which are on the earth” (Col.3,5). By the grace of God the Apostle
saw the inner law in his members warring against the law of his nous
(Rom.7,23).
In the
Apostle’s teaching, importance is given to watchfulness, that is,
spiritual vigilance not to let one’s nous be captured by an external
evil power: “Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us
watch and be sober… let us who are of the day be sober…”
(1Thess.5,6-8). He exhorts the Apostle Timothy: “But you be watchful
in all things” (2Tim.4,5).
And on the
subject of prayer he is clear. Prayer should go on unceasingly in
the hearts of Christians. “Continue earnestly in prayer, being
vigilant in it with thanksgiving” (Col.4,2). “Pray without ceasing”
(1Thess.5,17).
The Apostle
Peter gives the same commandments, thus showing that the members of
the Church have a common life. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he
may devour” (1Pet.5,8).
All these
things show that practically all Christians can attain stillness and
thereby also vision of God. On this point too the Fathers are
absolute and expressive.
Peter of
Damascus writes: “For all men need this devotion and stillness,
total or partial, and without it, it is impossible to attain any
humility and spiritual knowledge” (31).
In this
teaching of Peter of Damascus we need to note the words “all men
need this devotion and stillness”. If this is supposed to be the
case with all men, it is much more so with monks. It is
inconceivable that there should be a monk who does not devote time
to participating in godly hesychia. We say this because there have
always been different ideas in a few circles, especially among those
who, if they come upon monks struggling to achieve this godly
“hesychia”, call them deluded. For this reason we shall take the
opportunity to say a number of other things in the next section. The
other point which must be emphasised is that “without it, it is
impossible to attain any humility and spiritual knowledge”. It is
the only method and the only way of knowing God, as we mentioned
previously, according to the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas.
Some people
maintain that hesychia in the way described by the Fathers is
inaction, not action. In reality the opposite is the case. Hesychia
is very great action in invisibility and silence. The person is in
repose and stillness in order to speak with God, in order to allow
himself his freedom and to receive God Himself. And if we consider
the fact that the greatest problems which torment us are psychical
and internal, and if we think that most illnesses (psychological and
physical) originate from the elaboration of thoughts, that is, from
impurity of the nous and the heart, we can understand the great
value of noetic hesychia. So it is action and life. Hesychia offers
the indispensable conditions for loving one’s brothers
dispassionately, for acquiring selfless and dispassionate love. “He
who is not attracted by worldly things cherishes stillness. He who
loves nothing merely human loves all men” (St. Maximos the
Confessor) (32). How can one have selfless love, which is one of the
aims of the spiritual life, when one is possessed by passions?
So the
hesychastic life is a life of intense activity, but a genuine and
good activity. “The stillness of the saints should not be regarded
as indolence, but as a form of intense activity. Moreover God is
revealed in a similar way in his relations with men. The movement of
God towards men is not only a movement of manifestation, but also a
movement of revelation. It is not only revelation of a word but also
an expression of stillness. That is why man, in order to come nearer
to God, is not satisfied only to receive His revealed energies but
must also advance towards receiving in silence the mystery of His
unknowing. It is not enough to hear His word, but one must also
advance towards the unhearing of His stillness. This second part
leads to perfection, and so the first is presupposed. In fact, as
St. Ignatios the Godbearer observed, only `he who has truly acquired
the word of Jesus can also hear His stillness, so as to be perfect’.
So then the movement of man towards God should not be only a
movement of action, but also a movement of hiddenness; it should not
only be a witness of confession, but also a witness of silence and
stillness” (33).
Therefore
the Fathers speak of “fruiting stillness”. When rightly practiced it
offers great help to a person, it reshapes his personality, renews
his being, unites it with God. Then his social relationships are set
right as well. When a man acquires love for God he also acquires
love for mankind.
So far we
have explained as best we could what hesychia is, what are its
characteristics and how indispensable it is for our spiritual life.
It is recommended by all the Fathers as the best method of
purification and returning to God. Moreover, as we have pointed out,
Orthodoxy is a therapeutic science which aims to cure man’s
illnesses. This should never be overlooked, because to do so would
be to destroy the whole essence and content of Christianity.
Purification, a necessary precondition for deification, is attained
through the method of Orthodox devotion in which hesychia has a very
important place.
This whole
method and its way of life is called hesychasm. That is to say, the
person struggling in an atmosphere of stillness is called a
hesychast, and this way of living in stillness is called hesychasm.
We certainly know hesychasm as a theological movement of the
fourteenth century, mainly represented by St. Gregory Palamas, which
uses a particular psychosomatic method and seeks, with the help of
divine grace, to unite the nous with the heart and so to live in
communion with God. St. Gregory maintained that this goes on in the
body as well. That is to say, the body too can acquire experience of
the life of God. Barlaam, on the contrary, without knowing this
method, became its opponent, with the result that he was condemned
by the Church and finally removed from the Orthodox sphere. The
hesychastic conflict, as it was called, ended with the Councils
which took place in Constantinople in 1341, 1346 and 1351. The last
Council, which “justified” Palamas, proponent of the hesychastic
life, is considered to be Ecumenical: “We think that the Council of
Constantinople in the time of Saint Gregory Palamas in 1351, judging
at least on the basis of its great theological work, can be and
deserves to be counted among the Ecumenical Councils of the Orthodox
Church, to which it is in no way inferior as to the soteriological
significance of its theology. This Council constitutes the proof of
the continuing conciliarity of the Orthodox Church and of the living
experience and theology concerning salvation in Christ” (34).
However,
this hesychastic movement did not make its first appearance in the
fourteenth century but has existed since the first centuries in the
life of Church. We find hesychia in Holy Scripture, in the first
Fathers of the Church. We have already mentioned examples of Fathers
from all the centuries of the history of the Church. We mentioned
St. Ignatios the Godbearer, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the
Theologian. St. Maximos the Confessor, St. Thalassios, St. John of
the Ladder, St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas.
St. Gregory Palamas was not the introducer of hesychasm, but its
exponent, the one who lived and expressed this whole holy journey of
the soul. So hesychasm constitutes the authentic form of the
Christian life.
However, we
also use the term hesychasm to characterise the method used to
concentrate the nous in the heart. This is a very large subject and
I would like simply to point to a few topics.
In the
effort to be purified, a man’s nous “stands prayerfully in the
heart”, constantly repeating the single-word Jesus prayer. It is not
busied with many words. It unceasingly recalls the Name of Jesus
Christ. At the same time the nous watches to see that thoughts do
not enter the door of the heart. So, as St. Maximos the Confessor
says, watchfulness is linked with the prayer.
“But the
nous can still more deeply penetrate into the heart when, by divine
impulse, it so unites with the heart as to be divested of all images
and concepts, while the heart is closed against every foreign
element. Then the soul penetrates into the `darkness’ of a quite
especial nature, and is subsequently deemed worthy of standing
ineffably before God with a pure nous” (35).
Many methods
are used for attaining this concentration and the return of the
wandering nous to the heart. It is essential that the method we use
should be combined with repentance because otherwise it degenerates
into a mechanical method.
In his
sermon for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee St. Gregory
Palamas presents the prayer of the Publican, the way in which he
prays, as the type of the hesychast’s prayer. He refers to the
Gospel: “The tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as
raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying: `God be
merciful to me a sinner'” (Lk.18,13). Interpreting this passage, St.
Gregory says that the word used here for `standing’ shows the long
continuation of the standing, together with the persistence of the
supplication and the penitential words. The Publican said “God be
merciful to me a sinner.” Nothing more. “Neither intending nor
considering anything else, he was paying attention only to himself
and God, rotating his prayer on itself, multiplying only the simple
entreaty which is the most efficacious type of prayer.” One sees
here the value of the simple prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on me.” The hesychast, like the Publican, thinks about
absolutely nothing, but concentrates his nous on the words of the
prayer. Palamas interprets Christ’s words that the Publican `would
not so much as raise his eyes to heaven’ by referring to the figure
of the hesychast: “This standing was at the same time both standing
and submission, and signified not only a lowly servant, but also one
condemned.” By this manner and figure the Publican showed “right
condemnation and self-reproach, for he regarded himself as unworthy
of both heaven and the earthly temple”. The fact that he beat his
breast also shows the participation of his body in the pain and
sorrow of his soul. “Beating his breast, out of extreme compunction,
and thus presenting himself as worthy of punishment, groaning with
deep mourning, and bowing his head like one condemned, he called
himself a sinner and with faith begged for mercy” (36).
It seems
clear here that the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee was
used by Christ, and also by St. Gregory Palamas, interpreting the
parable `hesychastically’, to present stillness and prayer as the
best way to receive mercy from God. It is the most perfect prayer.
It is prayer of a single word, it contains deep penitence, the body
participates in the prayer since it too will receive the grace of
God, and the prayer has an atmosphere of self-reproach and just
condemnation.
Because the
heretic Barlaam derided the hesychasts of his time for using a
particular bowing of the head and body to achieve concentration of
the nous and a uniform development of the powers of the soul, St.
Gregory referred to the case of the prophet Elijah, who prayed to
God with his head between his knees: “And this Elijah, perfect in
vision of God, with his head on his knees, thus assiduously
collecting his nous to himself and God, relieved the many years’
drought” (37). Then St. Gregory recommended a way of concentrating
the nous: “…for the eye not to turn here and there, but somehow,
resting on the right breast or the navel, to send the power of the
nous which was scattered through looking outward, back into the
heart, through the body’s being in that position…” (38).
Referring to
this subject of how to pray, St. Gregory of Sinai recommends: “In
the morning, sitting on a low stool, force your nous to descend from
your head to your heart and hold it there; bending painfully, and
with your chest, shoulders and neck very sore, cry out ceaselessly
in your soul and spirit: `Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me'”. He
also says we should restrain the breath in order to concentrate the
nous. “Restrain the inhaling of breath so that you do not breathe
unhindered, for air in motion, going up from the heart, darkens the
nous and ventilates the reason, taking the nous away from the heart”
(39).
There are
other patristic witnesses on this subject. (40)
In another
place too St. Gregory of Sinai describes the method of prayer which
concentrates the nous and is called hesychasm. “Sometimes, most
often, because it is tiring, sit on a stool; sometimes again, more
seldom, temporarily lie outstretched for some relaxation . Your
sitting should be in patience, `persisting in prayer’. Do not give
in to faint-heartedness because of the laborious effort, but labour
in your heart and drive your body, seeking the Lord in your heart.
Compel yourself by every means to do this work. For `behold’, said
the Prophet, `pangs have taken hold of me like the pangs of a woman
in labour’. But bending from below and gathering your nous in your
heart, if it has indeed been opened, call on the Lord Jesus for
help. Even if your shoulders are weary and your head is often in
pain, persevere in these things with diligence and love, seeking the
Lord in your heart. For `the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and
the violent take it by force’. With these words the Lord showed us
how truly to persevere in these labours. For patience and
perseverance in everything generate labours of both body and soul”
(41).
We must
emphasise the fact that the value of noetic hesychia, unceasing
prayer, repetition of the single-word Jesus prayer, the special way
of concentrating the nous and uniting it with the heart, the
standing of the body during prayer and the confining of the senses,
the teaching that the grace of God is uncreated and that a person
can receive it in his heart, that the light of Tabor is higher than
human knowledge and not “inferior to thought”, all of which define
what is called hesychasm, have been “justified” by the Council of
Constantinople and consequently one who speaks against these things
is no longer within the Orthodox tradition and at any rate creates
preconditions for being cut off from its life.
Since we have already seen briefly what hesychia is and
what hesychasm is and that hesychasm has been confirmed by a Synod
which can rightly be called Ecumenical, let us take a brief look at
the anti-hesychastic method for knowing God and the anti-hesychastic
way of life, which unfortunately prevail in our time and which show
that these are evil days.
“Hesychia
has always met with antagonism, especially in the West. Lacking the
necessary experience, its opponents argue in the abstract and go so
far as to see in the practice something mechanical, some spiritual
technique leading to vision of the Divine” (42).
Unfortunately this life of the West has also influenced Greece
itself, so that we have a serious distortion of the Orthodox
tradition. To be sure, many people assert that we have been changed
by the Western spirit, and they have mainly located this change at
various other points, such as habits and customs. I believe,
however, that the greatest change has taken place in the matter of
hesychia and hesychasm. Hesychia is regarded as an antiquated
method, as a life of inactivity, and not suited to our day, which is
an age of action. Unfortunately these conceptions prevail even among
people who wish to live in the Orthodox tradition. Our time is a
time of action. “The contemporary world is not a world of
recollection and stillness but one of action and struggle” (43). In
an age like ours, which is hedonistic and self-gratifying, hesychasm
cannot find an echo. It is happening as St. John of the Ladder said:
“A fish turns swiftly from the hook. The passionate soul turns from
solitude” (44). A pleasure-loving age is very anti-hesychastic. A
nun said to me that in our time a “hot anti-hesychastic wind” is
blowing which is burning everything. And I think that this judgement
is absolutely true. This is the contemporary reality. The atmosphere
prevailing today is rather the atmosphere of Barlaam and not that of
St. Gregory Palamas.
Today
theology is being developed through the elaboration of logic. It has
become simply a logical system. I would characterise it as
philosophical. It is a history of theology. It is not a fruit of
hesychia and participation in God. This is why many errors and many
differences in theological thoughts and views have appeared. Today
most of us do not live theology as a therapeutic science, as I said
before. We do not recognise the way of Orthodox devotion. If we read
the Philokalia, where the most representative texts relating to the
method of theology are concentrated, we see that most of them speak
of how to cure passions. They do not make analyses, nor are they
content with presenting the higher states, but at the same time they
describe the ways we must employ in order to be cured of passions. I
believe that it is a fundamental shortcoming of contemporary
theology that it has not taken enough interest in the Philokalia.
Perhaps a special chair should be established for introducing
asceticism and hesychasm, based on the texts of the Philokalia.
Beyond these
things, there is need of personal experience of the method of
Orthodox theology as described in the patristic texts.
What
Archimandrite Sophrony says is very characteristic in showing the
difference between conjectural theology and that which takes place
in God: “Unless the heart be cleansed it is impossible to attain
real theoria [vision]. Only a heart purified of passion is capable
of that peculiar awe and wonder before God which stills the nous
into joyful silence.
“The
theologian thinker aims at theoria by one means, the monk ascetic by
another. The main object of the monk is to achieve the stillness of
prayer in the heart, with the nous free from reflections, keeping
quiet watch like a sentry to make sure that nothing enters into the
heart from without. Where this state of sacred silence exists, heart
and nous feed on the Name of Christ and His commandments. They live
as one, controlling all happenings within, not by logical
investigation but intuitively, by a specific spiritual sense.
“So soon as
the nous unites with the heart it can see every movement in the
realm of the subconscious. (Here we use this term from contemporary
scientific psychology in a conventional way.) While the nous dwells
in the heart it perceives the images and thoughts around it
proceeding from the realm of cosmic being which attempt to seize
heart and nous. The attack of intrusive thoughts is fierce. To
weaken their onset the monk is constrained the livelong day not to
admit a single passionate consideration, not to allow himself a
predilection of any kind. His constant aim is to reduce the number
of outside impressions to its very minimum. Otherwise at the time of
inner noetic prayer all the impressions of the day will crowd
unrestrained into his heart, causing the greatest disturbance.
“The monk’s
purpose is to achieve continual vigilance of the nous in the heart;
and when, after long years of such striving – which is the most
difficult of all ascetic feats, harder than any other – the heart
becomes more sensitive, while the nous, from much weeping, receives
strength to thrust off the slightest hint of a passionate thought,
then one’s prayerful state can continue uninterrupted, and the
feeling of God, present and active, becomes powerful and plain”
(45).
Orthodox
theology needs to be imbued with this hesychastic method in order to
be really Orthodox and not academic. Efforts are being made in this
area. But the problem remains essentially a problem. Does
contemporary theology speak of tears and mourning, self-reproach and
humility? Does it regard as a way of knowing God “to make the nous
and the world stand still, forget things below… lay aside meanings
for what is better?” Does it presuppose that for us to attain
communion with God, “we should abandon everything sensory along with
sensation, rising high above thoughts and reasonings and all
knowledge and thought itself, wholly surrendered to the energy of
spiritual sensation, which Solomon called a sense of the divine, and
reaching the unknowing above knowledge, that is, above every form of
the much talked-of philosophy…” (46)?
I believe
that on the contrary, contemporary theology is conjectural,
rationalistic. It is based on the `wealth’ which is reason. What
Archimandrite Sophrony says is characteristic: “One other kind of
imagination about which we wish to speak, is the attempt of
intelligence to penetrate the mystery of being and apprehend the
Divine world. Such endeavours inevitably involve the imagination, to
which many are inclined to give the high-flown label, divine
inspiration. The ascetic, devoting himself to active inner silence
and pure prayer, resolutely combats this `creative’ impulse within
himself because he sees in it a `processus’ contrary to the true
order of being, with man `creating’ God in his own image and
likeness” (47).
Archimandrite Sophrony also writes: “The theologian who is an
intellectual [logician] constructs his system as an architect builds
a palace or a church. Empirical and metaphysical concepts are the
material he uses, and he is more concerned with the magnificence and
logical symmetry of his ideal edifice than that it should conform to
the actual order of things.
“Strange as
it may seem, many great men have been unable to withstand this
[rationalism], in effect, artless temptation, the hidden cause of
which is pride.
“One becomes
attached to the fruits of one’s intelligence [rationalism] as a
mother to her child. The intellectual [logician] loves his creation
as himself, identifies with it, shuts himself up with it. When this
happens no human intervention can help him – if he will not renounce
what he believes to be riches, he will never attain to pure prayer
and true theoria” (48).
This [above]
is Barlaamite theology and not Palamite-Orthodox theology.
Likewise
today there is a prejudice against the Jesus prayer and the way it
is said. Certainly we must say that we have a flowering of prayer,
of efforts to publish the works of the Fathers and writings about
prayer, but at the same time one observes that people are ignorant
of these things and are unable to approach the life of prayer. Most
of the reading is done in order to be in fashion. Or again we find
that `spiritual’ men are ridiculing the hesychastic life, or worse,
preventing people under their guidance from engaging in these
things. The view that “these things are not for us”, and so forth,
is heard repeatedly. Many think that for people to take several
minutes in the morning and several minutes in the evening to say an
improvised prayer or read a few services with suitable passages is
enough. What is more, even the holy atmosphere of hesychia, that is,
compunction, self-reproach and mourning, are regarded as unsuitable
for the laity, in contrast to what the Fathers say, as we have
shown.
Worst of all
is the fact that this `worldly’ attitude, the anti-hesychastic life,
is even dominating the monks, it has crept even into the
monasteries, which were supposed to be “schools dedicated to God”,
to be the medical schools where medical science would be taught. An
attitude of [speculation] prevails that we must know about those
things but they are not for us! I have personal knowledge that
“prominent” monks who have responsibility for Orthodox guidance of
young monks characterise all the subjects related to the hesychastic
life as `fables’, as not worth speaking about, as cases of
delusion!!!
This is
really sad. “Hesychia has from the beginning been a characteristic
mark of Orthodox monastic life. Orthodox monasticism is also
hesychasm at the same time” (49).
Fortunately,
now at last we can see an attempt to return to the Fathers. And by
this we mean an attempt to live the life of the Fathers, mainly the
hesychastic life. There are many young people disenchanted with the
contemporary climate of struggle and anguish, of action without
stillness and mission without silence, who are turning more towards
the hesychastic life and are being nourished by it. Many people with
such desires are coming to monasticism and are continuing to live by
the springs of the holy Fathers, that is the Orthodox tradition.
Even in the world, centres of living in stillness are being created.
This life
should be developed and increased in the cities too. This is how I
see the organisation of Church and parish life. Thus we will come to
understand that the Church is a place where souls are healed, but
also a place of theophany. Within purification there comes knowledge
of God, vision of God. Perhaps each person should to the best of his
ability cultivate the Jesus prayer, which can be the teacher for his
whole spiritual life. It will teach us when to speak and when to be
silent, when to interrupt prayer in order to help our brother and
when to continue it, when we have sinned and when we have God’s
blessing. Likewise we must struggle to keep and preserve a pure
nous.
St.
Thalassios’ exhortation should become a rule of life: “Enclose your
senses in the citadel of hesychia so that they do not involve the
nous in their desires” (50).
The words of
St. Gregory the Theologian which we quoted at the beginning should
be regarded as a basic aim of life: “It is necessary to keep silence
in order to come into pure contact with God and to minimise any
delusion of the soul” (51).
We must be
well aware that this hesychia is “indeed the true and unerring mode
of life in God, as handed down to us by the Fathers”, according to
the Fathers Kallistos and Ignatios Xanthopoulos.
I would like
to end these thoughts about hesychia with the teaching of Kallistos
and Ignatios of Xanthopoulos: “This way, this spiritual life in God,
this sacred practice of true Christians is the true, unerring and
genuine secret life in Christ. Sweetest Jesus, the God-Man, laid
this path and gave it His mysterious guidance; the divine Apostles
trod it, as well as those who came after them. From the very
beginning, from the first coming of Christ on earth up to our time,
our glorious teachers who followed Him, shining like lamps in the
world with the radiance of their life-bearing words and wonderful
deeds, have transmitted to one another right up till today this good
seed, this sacred drink, this holy germ, this inviolate token, this
grace and power from above, this precious pearl, this divine
inheritance of the Fathers, this treasure buried in the field, this
betrothal of the Spirit, this kingly symbol, this springing water of
life, this divine fire, this precious salt, this gift, this seal,
this light, and so on. This inheritance will continue to be so
transmitted from generation to generation, even after our time up to
the very second coming of Christ. For true is the promise of Him Who
said: `I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen'”
(52).
