What is Hesychasm? - Mystical Practice in Orthodox Christianity

so for some reason discussions about christianity often gets a bit one-sided when most people in at least western europe and america think about christianity they usually think either about the roman catholic church or about one of the various protestant denominations but included in the diverse religion of christianity generally is of course also what is known as the orthodox churches the orthodox churches represent a form of christianity that while of course sharing some of the basic tenets of the religion can sometimes appear quite different from its western counterparts many traditions theologies and practices of the two western and eastern branches of christianity has developed in different directions across the centuries which has led to some very interesting and fascinating differences and characteristics unique to both of them and while the western catholic church had a flourishing period of mysticism especially in the late middle ages with figures that we've already discussed in previous videos like meister eckhart or marguerite porret for example the eastern orthodox church has also developed a tradition of mysticism and mystical theology that is just as significant and important and one of the most important and well-known features of this general mysticism of the eastern church as well as a topic that has been frequently requested by you guys is a tradition known as hessicasm [Laughter] [Applause] over the course of the early middle ages around the turn of the first millennium christianity had increasingly become divided into an eastern part and a western part the western part being characterized by their use of the latin language the exalted position of the pope and other theological aspects while their eastern counterparts primarily used the greek language and denied the supreme position of the pope this is a huge generalization and the reasons for the east-west split is very complex and deserves a video of its own but the gist of the story is that these gradual differences eventually led to the so-called great schism of christianity into the western roman catholic church and the eastern orthodox church some placed the schism in the year 1054 but really as i've just said this was in fact a more gradual gradual estrangement rather than a single event in any case since then the two branches of christianity have developed independently in different directions and in various ways emphasizing different theological perspectives practicing in slightly different ways etc now something that is important to get out of the way early is the fact that orthodox christianity is itself divided into subgroups in a general sense we often talk about the oriental orthodox churches which include groups like the coptic church in egypt the armenian apostolic church and syrian orthodox church these quote-unquote oriental churches are sometimes also known as non-calcidonion churches on the basis that they split off from the rest of the christians by denying the creed presented at the council of chalcedon in 451 complex theological debate aside the other group of orthodox christianity besides the oriental orthodox is often called the eastern orthodox church which has been prevailed primarily in greece anatolia and eastern europe especially in russia and in this video we will be focusing on the eastern orthodox church in particular even if the oriental churches have a lot of interesting things to offer us hopefully in future episodes now when we look at the eastern orthodox church and compare it to the roman catholics we can find a number of distinct features especially after the official split while they for example share the same early authority figures and church fathers the two denominations will often emphasize or highlight different figures as more or less important saint augustine perhaps the most central figure in early theologian of the western church does not play as important of a role in eastern orthodoxy for example and relatively minor figures in the catholic traditions such as clement of alexandria or pseudo-dinesius the areopagites have a more major role to play in eastern orthodoxy and this has been one of the reasons that these two forms of christianity looked quite different during the middle ages we all know about the great scholastic tradition of western europe for example with figures like thomas aquinas peter abelard etc implementing a strongly rationalistic approach to theology influenced by the greek philosophers like aristotle this became a central feature of the western church the influence of which is still apparent the eastern orthodox church didn't have scholasticism instead to generalize a bit it approached the religion and its theology in a less rationalistic and more mystical way now of course the word mysticism is a notoriously problematic and slippery term that i sometimes like to avoid in these kinds of discussions but um for the sake of this discussion we're defining mysticism as as opposed to the scholastic rationalism or the rationalizing i should say of the scholastic philosophers and theologians the mystic or the mysticism in this case would be defined as a an approach where the personal experience of the person and experience of the divine is is at its center so so to say don't get me wrong the western church had mysticism definitely as we've seen with figures like eckhart but you could say that the eastern orthodox church were in the eastern orthodox church the mystical approach is even more strongly integrated into the core features of its theology indeed vladimir lovski a russian theologian of the 20th century writes that the theology of the eastern church is essentially mystical quote the eastern tradition has never made a sharp distinction between mysticism and theology between personal experience of the divine mysteries and the dogma affirmed by the church there is therefore no christian mysticism without theology but above all there is no theology without mysticism this is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that according to lawsky and other scholars the primary goal of the christian life the very purpose of theology and of all religious endeavor is ultimately to reach union with god quote the theological doctrines which have been elaborated in the course of these struggles can be treated in the most direct relation to the vital end that of union with god to the attainment of which they are subservient this union known in greek as theosis also translated as demonization or more literally as becoming divine is a particularly central aspect of the eastern orthodox church and its spiritual practices including the hesse caste tradition which is the main subject of this video indeed the theology of the orthodox church follows in a line of mystically oriented apophatic traditions of antiquity now what epiphaticism means is the idea that god is totally beyond any form of human understanding or descriptions in other words nothing can be said about god only statements about what god isn't will suffice if even that this apathetic approach to god was expressed by many of the church fathers including the esoterically oriented clement of alexandria who writes in his great work the stromata that we can't know or attain to god in what he is but only in what he is not but the most significant figure in the development of the apathetic tradition is the figure known as the pseudo-dionysius a platonizing christian theologian and philosopher who probably lived in the 5th century in his monumental treaties called the mystical theology he presents and in a way pioneers the heavily apathetic approach to god that would so characterize leader mysticism in general he tells us that we can never know god or what he is since he is in his very nature unknowable instead it is through unknowing that we may begin to approach the ineffable darkness of the godhead for those of you who have read western mystics like eckhart you will recognize this kind of language eckhart was very influenced by pseudodynesis as were many other mystics both in the eastern and western tradition he's very important for for the history of both christian mysticism but also in mysticism generally and in apophatic theology in general court now god is beyond all that exists in order to approach him it is necessary to deny all that is inferior to him that is to say all that which is if in seeing god one can know what one sees them one has not seen god in himself but something intelligible something which is inferior to him it is by unknowing that one may know him who is above every possible object of knowledge proceeding by negations one ascends from the inferior degrees of being to the highest by progressively setting aside all that can be known in order to draw near to the unknown in the darkness of absolute ignorance this is not just an instance of speculative or philosophical abstraction as epiphaticism can often become instead for dionysius and many of the other theologians of his kind the apophatic approach is very much an active one it is a process of purification where the individual turns away from all that is not god by removing any positive attributions and association with conceptual thoughts and gradually enters into the darkness and silence where god truly dwells and where he reaches union in the words of timothy ware quotes in fact many of those who used the apophatic approach saw it not just as a philosophical divide for indicating god's utter transcendence but also and much more fundamentally as a means of attaining union with him through prayer and it is from this apathetic spiritual approach that the mystical practices and contemplative traditions within the eastern orthodox church stem and probably the most famous of these contemplative traditions is finally what is known as hezekiasm and thus after a very long introduction we have finally reached the main topic of today's episode hesikasm could be referred to as a tradition of meditation and prayer that developed within the eastern orthodox church primarily in the middle ages even though its origins may have roots earlier it especially became a hot topic of debate in the 14th century but was a very popular way of religious and spiritual practice before that and especially in places like on mount athos in greece the contemplative ascetical tradition has of course existed since the very earliest days of christianity pioneered by the desert fathers and mothers but around the turn of the first millennium there had appeared significant figures within the eastern church that started to put down in writing some of the meditative practices that characterized the mysticism of the church one of the most important of these figures is saint simeon the new theologian a byzantine mystic from constantinople who spoke in his writings about the mystical experience of intimacy and union with god the title of theologian does not simply mean that he was a person who speculated about god which is the kind of conventional meaning of the word theologian instead in this context the title theologian denoted someone who had a personal direct experience of god and of unity with him in fact this title had only been given to three figures of the orthodox church the apostle john gregory of nazianzus and finally our friend saint simeon this great mystic emphasized the direct experience of god's light and mystical unions through turning inward in contemplation much in the way described by pseudo-dionysius but in a way he is only a foretaste of the hesicast tradition proper now hesicasm is derived from the greek word hasikiyah which means inner stillness and when we talk about hesicasm we usually mean a certain form of contemplative meditation and prayer this prayer involves certain bodily postures breathing techniques and prayers to be repeated the hesse cast sought to be united to god and to receive the grace of the holy spirit and the trinity at large by turning inward the meditation itself involves sitting down with one's head bowed one the chin touching the breast the chest and one's eyes being fixated on the place of the heart then the breathing is also controlled and then the breathing is sort of done in time with the prayers that are being recited and indeed that last part is very important because the quote unquote has a caste technique of prayer is after all just that it's a kind of prayer in particular the hesse cast talk about the prayer of the heart and this prayer usually takes the formula of the so-called jesus prayer this is a very short prayer that goes as follows lord jesus christ son of god have mercy upon me and in later periods the words a sinner was added so lord jesus christ have mercy upon me a sinner and this prayer this phrase would be repeated by the monks who practiced the hesicast form of meditation or prayer for very long periods of time they would repeat it over and over again while doing also these bodily postures that i just described many have of course compared this form of prayer or meditation to other forms of meditation in other religions like yoga for example and while there are many similarities we should also be careful with making too many of those kinds of comparisons the orthodox scholars themselves will often emphasize that the bodily postures are simply an aid for concentration and has no other symbolic or any other function really other than to be a help for concentration the goal is to receive the grace of god something that can't be controlled with bodily movements themselves the hesicasts were often criticized as having a crude materialist approach to spirituality because of this kind of misunderstanding as already said the purpose of these contemplative practices was to turn inward to purify the soul of all external things and to make that journey into the apathetic darkness beyond all understanding where paradoxically the light of god is experienced god is not to be reached out there in the external world but rather by turning to the innermost parts of our own being after all as the account in genesis says the human being was created in the image of god this means that we all collectively have a divine part of ourselves which is accessible timothy ware writes quotes each of us is a living theology and because we are god's icon we can find god by looking within our own heart by returning within ourselves this point is affirmed again and again in scripture and in the writings of the church fathers the kingdom of god is within you says the gospel of luke the father of christian asceticism saint anthony of egypt also stated that quote he who knows himself knows god echoing a lot of other statements made by other major figures of different religions even clement of alexandria writes in the straumata that quote when you see your brother or sister you see god all of us have the image of god within ourselves a connection to the divine that can be cultivated to the point that we ourselves become divinized in christian theology this was the path that was opened up by the person of jesus christ and his sacrifice in the famous words of that very significant church father athanasius quote god became human so that we might become god now some of you may ask if god is so transcendent and beyond all created things and beyond all understanding how can one possibly unite with him like what does this uniting with god actually mean this is a very legitimate question and a question that a lot of christians and eastern orthodox church christians asked at the time or still do but also back in medieval times this was a question that came up in particular when the hezekiah claimed that they had experienced god's light in this experience of mystical intimacy that seemed to go against the central doctrine of god's complete transcendence and that god cannot possibly be experienced in that way this resulted in the great hesi cast controversy that peaked in the 14th century when an orthodox scholar by the name badalam who was outraged by the hesse cast and their claims when he visited mount ethos called their practices and claims heretical and blasphemous how could god's essence or light be experienced and seen with the eyes as the heza cast had claimed or as he at least interpreted them as having claimed this experience must be of a created light not that of the creator himself it is because of this critique and the controversy around hesitation in the 14th century that we get one of the most significant theologians in the history of christianity because indeed a monk from mount athos called gregory palamas would come to the defense of the hessy castes against its critics and was so successful that his theological ideas have basically become mainstream in eastern orthodoxy since then in treatises like triads for the defense of those who practice sacred quietude he defends the hesse cast against baralam's theological attacks and he did so primarily by making the distinction between god's essence on the one hand and god's energies on the other being a good apathetic christian theologian he totally and unequivocally considers the essence of god in other words god in his absolute reality as totally beyond all comprehension or experience quote god is not a nature for he is above all nature he is not a being for he is above all beings no single thing of all that is created has or ever will have even the slightest communion with the supreme nature or nearness to it however when it comes to god's energies the situation is different the energies of god are the relationship of god to the created world they are the ways that god you could say manifests himself to creation and through our experience now this is a complex theological doctrine of course that requires a lot of study to fully grasp but god's energies are not created things they are uncreated and are fully god himself they're not separated from god in any way but they are the ways that he communicates himself to humans and to the world generally vladimir lovsky writes quote god's presence in his energies must be understood in a realistic sense it is not the presence of a cause operative and its effects for the energies are not effects of the divine cause as creatures are they are not created formed ex nihilo but flow eternally from the one essence of the trinity they are the outpourings of the divine nature which cannot set bounds to itself for god is more than essence the energies might be described as that mode of existence of the trinity which is outside of its inaccessible essence god thus exists both in his essence and outside of his essence god in his essence is completely beyond all creation completely transcendent and inaccessible to any form of experience or understanding but in terms of his energies god is present everywhere his energy is permeating all of creation all of existence quote all creation is a gigantic burning bush permeated but not consumed by the ineffable and wondrous fire of god's energies this idea of god's essence versus god's energies is considered to have been part of orthodoxy since the earliest church fathers but it was definitely clearly formulated for the first time and most strongly associated with the figure of gregory palamas by making this distinction palamas was trying to solve the transcendence versus imminence paradox or debates and to defend the practices and claimed experiences of the hesse castes when the hazy casts through their meditation practices reach an intimate experience of god's light and of union with god it isn't god's essence that they are experiencing but it is his energies quote to say that the divine nature is communicable not in itself but through its energy is to remain within the bounds of right devotion so when a person becomes united with god again it's god's energies that one is united with not god's essence the light of god that is experienced by the mystic which is considered to be identical to the light experienced by the apostles during the transfiguration of jesus on mount tabor is again god's energy which is identical to god and uncreated yet not the same as his essence ultimately the defense of gregory palamas was largely successful his theological formulations were made part of official doctrine in two councils during the 14th century and is still an important part of eastern orthodoxy today because of palomas and his doctrinal justifications for hesicasm this tradition has continued to thrive within the church even to this day we not only find people still practicing the hesse cast forms of meditation and prayer today but also see traces of the theological and mystical doctrines and expressions associated with it one of the most important aspects of the hesi cast tradition in the eastern orthodox church today is a book or collection of texts called the philocalia the philocalia is again a collection of texts written by various spiritual masters from within the hesse cast tradition including simeon the new theologian gregory palamas and many others published for the first time in venice in 1782 this quote-unquote book is a significant spiritual work dealing with contemplation and prayer quote the philocalia which was intended by its editors for laypeople living in the world as well as for monks is devoted especially to the theory and practice of inner prayer and in particular the jesus prayer it has become the central textual source for hesitation and its tradition since its publication and shows how this tradition while remaining consistent in its practice and theory remains alive and relevant to eastern orthodox christians today as always this has been a very short introduction to a topic that could be discussed for hours and hours without doing a proper justice the hesikass tradition is in summary a form of contemplation and prayer within the eastern orthodox church it inevitably reminds us of other kinds of meditation in other religious traditions even if we should always be careful to make such comparisons but i think it also shows us how a religion like christianity which many secularized people today consider to be dry and spiritually shallow actually contain some very deep and vibrant spiritual features and not just as fringe parts or fringe aspects of the religion but as central and mainstream parts of its doctrine this video is brought to you by our patrons and i would like to give a special shout out to tim keys adnan chaumet and brian h k who are three of my new patrons in the saint category so thank you all so much for making all of these videos possible i hope you liked this video if you want to support this channel and its attempts to bring you scholarly and academic information about the world's religious traditions consider supporting us on patreon through a monthly donation or through a one-time donation on paypal if not then feel free to leave a like subscribe to the channel or leave a comment on this video and i'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Let's Talk Religion

Views: 464,853

Rating: 4.9115443 out of 5

Keywords: What is Hesychasm, Hesychasm, Mystical Practice in Orthodox Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Christian mysticism, Mysticism, Mystic, Spirituality, Orthodox Church, Christian Spirituality, Gregory Palamas, Jesus Prayer, Philokalia, Symeon the new Theologian, Hesychasm explained, Christian meditation, prayer, contemplation, Hesychast, Hesychast tradition, Mystical Christianity, Pseudo-Dionysius, Apophaticism, Religion, Theology

Id: rVxQDcOgU4I

Length: 24min 55sec (1495 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 13 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/begomeordodocks]

LESSSSSSSSSSS GO

[u/tetragrammaton19]

There is no doubt that God is and can be an experience. When they speak of light it always gets me, but it more of a buildup to the light, and what comes after. Even if it was explained through science, sometimes shear timing and anomaly is too hard to discount.