Orthodox Meditation or “Hesychasm”

The following selections were taken from the vast, on-line resource that can be found and explored at The Hesychasm Library.

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The Church is a Hospital which cures people wounded by sin; and the bishops/priests are the therapists of the people of God.

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Hesychasm (from Greek word “hesychia” – silence, peace, quietness) – teaching and practice aimed for the acquisition of the Holy Spirit and deification of human soul and body. The ultimate goal of hesychasm is human transfiguration and theosis after the likeness of the risen Christ.

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The spirituality of the Orthodox Church, however, does not lead to abstract religious life; nor is it the fruits of man’s inner strength. Spirituality is not an abstract religious life because the Church is the Body of Christ. It is not simply a religion which believes in a God, theoretically. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity – the Logos of God – assumed human nature for us. He united it with his hypostasis and became the Head of the Church.
 
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Dogmatic differences reflect corresponding differences in therapy. If a person does not follow the “right way” he cannot ever reach his destination. If he does not take the proper “remedies,” he cannot ever acquire health; in other words, he will experience no therapeutic benefits. Again, if we compare Orthodox spirituality with other Christian traditions, the difference in approach and method of therapy is more evident. A fundamental teaching of the Holy Fathers is that the Church is a “Hospital” which cures the wounded man. In many passages of Holy Scripture such language is used. One such passage is that of the parable of the Good Samaritan. “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” (Lk. 10, 33-35).

In this parable, the Samaritan represents Christ who cured the wounded man and led him to the Inn, that is to the “Hospital” which is the Church. It is evident here that Christ is presented as the Healer, the physician who cures man’s maladies; and the Church as the true Hospital.

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if Orthodox spirituality is examined in relationship to Roman-Catholicism and Protestantism the differences are immediately discovered.

Protestants do not have a “therapeutic treatment” – tradition. They suppose that believing in God, intellectually, constitutes salvation. Yet salvation is not a matter of intellectual acceptance of truth; rather it is a person’s transformation and divinization by grace. This transformation is effected by the analogous “treatment” of one’s personality, as shall be seen in the following chapters. In the Holy Scripture it appears that faith comes by hearing the Word and by experiencing “theoria” (the vision of God). We accept faith at first by hearing in order to be healed, and then we attain to faith by theoria, which saves man. Protestants, because they believe that the acceptance of the truths of faith, the theoretical acceptance of God’s Revelation, i.e. faith by hearing, saves man, do not have a “therapeutic tradition.” It could be said that such a conception of salvation is very naive.

The Roman-Catholics as well do not have the perfection of the therapeutic tradition which the Orthodox Church has. Their doctrine of the filioque is a manifestation of the weakness in their theology to grasp the relationship existing between the person and society. They confuse the personal properties: the “unbegotten” of the Father, the “begotten” of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause of the “generation” of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit.

The Latins’ weakness to comprehend and failure to express the dogma of the Trinity shows the non-existence of empirical theology. The three disciples of Christ (Peter, James and John) beheld the glory of Christ on Mount Tabor; they heard at once the voice of the Father: “this is my beloved Son” and saw the coming of the Holy Spirit in a cloud, for the cloud is the presence of the Holy Spirit, as St. Gregory Palamas says. Thus the disciples of Christ acquired the knowledge of the Triune God in theoria (vision) and by revelation. It was revealed to them that God is one essence in three hypostases.

This is what St. Symeon the New Theologian teaches. In his poems he proclaims over and over that while beholding the uncreated Light, the deified man acquires the Revelation of God the Trinity. Being in “theoria” (vision of God), the Saints do not confuse the hypostatic attributes. The fact that the Latin tradition came to the point of confusing these hypostatic attributes and teach that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son also, shows the non-existence of empirical theology for them. Latin tradition speaks also of created grace, a fact which suggests that there is no experience of the grace of God. For, when man obtains the experience of God, then he comes to understand well that this grace is uncreated. Without this experience there can be no genuine “therapeutic tradition.”

And indeed we cannot find in all of Latin tradition, the equivalent to Orthodoxy’s therapeutic method. The nous is not spoken of; neither is it distinguished from reason. The darkened nous is not treated as a malady and the illumination of the nous as therapy. Many greatly publicized Latin texts are sentimental and exhaust themselves in a barren ethicology. In the Orthodox Church, on the contrary, there is a great tradition concerning these issues which shows that within it there exists the true therapeutic method.

A faith is a true faith inasmuch as it has therapeutic benefits. If it is able to cure, then it is a true faith. If it does not cure, it is not a true faith. The same thing can be said about Medicine: A true scientist is the doctor who knows how to cure and his method has therapeutic benefits, whereas a charlatan is unable to cure. The same holds true where matters of the soul are concerned. The difference between Orthodoxy and the Latin tradition, as well as the Protestant confessions is apparent primarily in the method of therapy. This difference is made manifest in the doctrines of each denomination. Dogmas are not philosophy, neither is theology the same as philosophy.

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Since Orthodox spirituality differs distinctly from the “spiritualities” of other confessions so much the more does it differ from the “spirituality” of Eastern religions, which do not believe in the Theanthropic nature of Christ and the Holy Trinity. They are influenced by the philosophical dialectic, which has been surpassed by the Revelation of God. These traditions are unaware of the notion of personhood and thus the hypostatic principle. And love, as a fundamental teaching is totally absent. One may find, of course, in these Eastern religions an effort to divest themselves of images and rational thoughts, but this is in fact a movement towards nothingness, to non-existence. There is no path leading their “disciples” to theosis of the whole man. There are many elements of demonic “spirituality” in Eastern religions.

This is why a vast and chaotic gap exists between Orthodox spirituality and the Eastern religions, in spite of certain external similarities in terminology. For example, Eastern religions may employ terms like ecstasy , dispassion, illumination, noetic energy etc. but they are impregnated with a content different from corresponding terms in Orthodox spirituality.

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In the Holy tradition of the Orthodox Church at the center of Orthodox spirituality is the heart and the nous. It is this center which needs to be treated so that man’s complete psychosomatic constitution is cured. Moreover as the Lord said: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt. 5, 8). In order to see what the heart and nous are we must begin by examining the soul.

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The heart is the center of man’s psychosomatic constitution, since, as we noted previously, there is an “unconfused” union between soul and body. The center of this union is called heart.

The heart is the place which is discovered through ascetic practice in a state of grace; it is the place wherein God is revealed and made manifest. This definition may seem abstract, yet it is a matter of spiritual experience. No one can fully show the place of the heart by rational and speculative definitions. In any case the heart is a center and summation of the three faculties of the soul: of the intellect, the appetitive and the irascible. The fact is that when a person lives the inner life – when his nous returns within his inner world from its previous dispersion; when he experiences mourning and in the deepest sense, repentance – he is then conscious of the existence of this center, i.e. the existence of the heart. He feels therein pain and spiritual sorrow; he experiences the grace of God; there also he even hears the voice of God.

According to patristic tradition, the essence of the soul, which is called heart, is found as if within an organ, not in a vessel where the physical organ of the heart is. This should be interpreted in reference to what was said before, that the soul holds the body and gives life to it; it is not contained by the body but it contains the person’s body. It is within this perspective that St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite speaks of the heart as a biophysical (natural) center, since the blood is circulated to all parts of the body from there; as an affected (contrary to nature) center, since the passions prevail therein, and as a supernatural center since the grace of God operates there, as many passages of the Holy Scripture state:

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt. 5, 28)

“But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God” (Rom. 2, 5)

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3, 17)

“And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5, 5)

The nous, on the other hand, is the energy of the soul. According to the Fathers, the nous is also called the eye of the soul. Its natural place is to be found within the heart; to be united with the essence of the soul and to experience the unceasing memory of God. Its movement goes contrary to nature when it is enslaved by the creatures of God and the passions. Orthodox tradition makes a distinction between nous and reason.

Reason is a function in the brain whereas the nous operates out of and is united with the heart in its natural state. In the Saintly person, who is the manifestation and bearer of Orthodox spirituality, reason works and is conscious of the surrounding world while the nous is within the heart, praying unceasingly. The separation of the nous from reason constitutes the state of a spiritually healthy person, and this is the goal of Orthodox spirituality.

Quite illustrative of the above theme are two passages from St. Basil the Great’s writings. In one text he says that in the spiritual man – who has become a temple of God and of the Most Holy Spirit – reason and the nous exist and operate simultaneously. Reason is engaged in earthly cares and the nous is engaged in the unceasing remembrance of God. Moreover, because his nous is united with the heart and has communion with God, man is not disturbed by unexpected temptations, that is to say, by temptations caused by the decay and transiency of his nature.

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In the other passage St. Basil refers to the return of the nous into the heart and its ascent to God.

The latter passage should be interpreted within the context of the former one and in relationship to all of St. Basil’s teaching. The nous which is scattered outwards and diffused through the senses into the world is sick, fallen, prodigal. It must return from its diffused state to its union with and in the heart, its natural state, and then be united with God. Illumined by the uncreated Light (the state of theosis), the nous neglects even its nature, and the soul is not preoccupied with clothing and shelter. This does not mean that man does not care about food, etc. But, because man has attained to the state of theoria (vision of God) and theosis, his bodily forces – not those of the soul – are in a state of suspension; in other words, the soul and nous are not subjugated by the influences of the world and material things. Man is, of course, concerned about them, yet he is not enslaved by them. Additionally, St. Basil the Great clearly states that by this movement of the nous’ return within the heart, virtue as a whole is acquired: prudence, bravery, justice, wisdom along with all of the other virtues.

Fr. John Romanides says that all living creatures possess two known memory-systems. First, “there is the cell memory which determines the development and growth of the individual in relationship to itself”. This is the known D.N.A. structure which is the genetic code that literally defines everything in the human constitution. Secondly, “there is the brain cell memory which determines the functions and relations of the individual towards himself and his environment.” This is the operation of the brain which – being imprinted by all memories of the past as well as by human knowledge acquired through study and investigation – defines man’s relations with his fellow human beings. In addition though, according to Romanides, “there exists within every person a non-functioning or sub-functioning memory within the heart; and when activated through noetic prayer it has perpetual memory of God, which contributes to the normalization of all of a person’s other relations.

Consequently the Saint – a bearer of Orthodox spirituality – possesses all three of these memories, which act and function simultaneously without influencing one another. A Saint is the most “natural of men.” He is conscious of the world, involved in various concerns, yet – because his nous has attained to its natural function – “he lives on earth but is a citizen of heaven.”

Therefore, the center of Orthodox spirituality is the heart, within which man’s nous must inherently operate. The energy of the soul – the nous – must return within the soul’s essence – in the heart – and thus, by uniting these powers by the grace of God, acquire unity and communion with God the Trinity. A spirituality outside of this perspective is not orthodox but moralistic, pietistic, abstract and rationalistic.