How is Hesychasm viewed in the Catholic Church?

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A few years ago a friend of mine gave me a book called the way of a pilgrim, which is about a russian pilgrim who learns the Jesus prayer in a quest to learn to pray without ceasing.

I fell in love with this book as well as the Jesus Prayer and as a result I began to learn more about Orthodox spirituality and I even began studying the Philokalia, which is the major Orthodox work the Pilgrim studies in the way of the pilgrim.

Apparently the type of Christianity found in the Philokalia is known as hesychasm. I am just curious what the Catholic Church has to say about hesychasm. I read the catholic encyclopedia article on it but I would like more information. Is it ok to practice Hesychasm as a Catholic?
 
Modern Catholic Dictionary:

HESYCHASM. A system of mysticism originally defended by the Orthodox monks on Mount Athos in the fourteenth century. It claims that by means of asceticism and the practice of certain prayers, a person can already in this life see the uncreated light of God. Tinged with Neo-Platonism and borrowings from pantheism, it was opposed by those Orthodox who sought reunion with Rome and who favored a more reflective approach to God. Present-day Hesychasts say that their form of mysticism is a dogma of the Orthodox Church.

newadvent.org/cathen/07301a.htm
 
Ceddd99

There is some controversy around hesychasm, most of it undeserved. Many who criticize hesychasm do so because they confuse it with quietism. The word quietism is a literal translation of the word hesychasm but they are not the same. Please do the research and don’t listen to the “Hesychasm is heresy!!!” rhetoric.

Some of the guys in the Eastern Catholic forums might want to help but to be frank, I find that many Eastern Catholics will look down their noses and roll their eyes at Roman Catholics. That is just my experience. I hope yours is different but want you to be prepared if it happens.

Nevertheless, I have a chotki, a russian style prayer rope on which I pray the Rule of St. Pachomius which includes the Jesus Prayer. I am reading the first volume of the Philokalia and love it. Eastern spirituality is very rich and very deep. You will find it alive and well in Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries.

Please pick up a copy of “Following the Footsteps of the Invisible” if you can. It is outstanding.

-Tim-
 
Why do they do that? I dont have much experience with eastern Catholics but as a practiioner of hesychasm, I have studied Orthodox writings and I have found a tremendous amount of animosity and disrespect toward us Roman Catholics on websites like orthodoxinfo.org. Its like they don’t think we are really spiritual or we only get the basics but none of the higher mystical aspects of Christianity are understood by us. But this isn’t true in my experience. I mean I am sure there are a lot of Roman Catholics who don’t understand mystical Christianity but is that not also true of their Church?
 
We Eastern Catholics practice it. It is a large part of our spirituality. Your best bet is to head over to the Eastern Catholic board for a more in depth discussion.
 
hesychasm is absolutely essential to the Spirituality of Byzantine Catholics. St Gregory Palamas is recognised by a Saint in the Eastern Catholic Church. The Jesus Prayer is our pathway to Theosis. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the Sinner.
 
coptsoldier said:
hesychasm is absolutely essential to the Spirituality of Byzantine Catholics. St Gregory Palamas is recognised by a Saint in the Eastern Catholic Church. The Jesus Prayer is our pathway to Theosis. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the Sinner.
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Palamism is only one meaning of Hesychasm. Also, the Jesus prayer is used in other ways than the silent prayer of the heart.
 
Vico said:
Palamism is only one meaning of Hesychasm. Also, the Jesus prayer is used in other ways than the silent prayer of the heart.
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We cannot seperate palamism from hesychasm. The two are tightly linked in eastern thought. Also, whilst other rituals and traditions are used by hesychasts, the Jesus Prayer is by a long shot the most commonly used amongst eastern monastics. The daily office, typikon and akethists are also used.
 
coptsoldier said:
We cannot seperate palamism from hesychasm. The two are tightly linked in eastern thought. Also, whilst other rituals and traditions are used by hesychasts, the Jesus Prayer is by a long shot the most commonly used amongst eastern monastics. The daily office, typikon and akethists are also used.
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That may be true, however, hesychasm has several meanings apart from hesychasm. Palamas lived about 1300 A.D. whereas other earlier meanings of hesychasm were used in the fourth and later centuries.
 
thistle said:
Modern Catholic Dictionary:

HESYCHASM. A system of mysticism originally defended by the Orthodox monks on Mount Athos in the fourteenth century. It claims that by means of asceticism and the practice of certain prayers, a person can already in this life see the uncreated light of God. Tinged with Neo-Platonism and borrowings from pantheism, it was opposed by those Orthodox who sought reunion with Rome and who favored a more reflective approach to God. Present-day Hesychasts say that their form of mysticism is a dogma of the Orthodox Church.

newadvent.org/cathen/07301a.htm
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With few exceptions I haven’t found much opposition to it by Eastern Catholics. The reference to pantheism seems to be misunderstanding, and conflating it with the doctrine of theosis, a belief that can be traced back to Christianities earliest days in both the West and the East.

I’m not sure how one can say it is “dogma”, that seems a bit like saying the trisagion is dogma. It is a form of prayer.
 
From what I recall in reading on Hesychasm and the Palamite Doctrine, it is an exercise in oversimplification, tinged with bias–depending on who is embracing or questioning Hesychasm. There are many Catholics–both of the Eastern and Western Churches–who feel right at home with the spirituality of Hesychasm although they may not know it comes from that. My Roman rite Saint Joseph missal printed by the Franciscans incorporates the Jesus Prayer into its examination of conscience and also as an appropriate alternate prayer as an act of contrition before receiving absolution in the Sacrament of Confession and Penance. There are Orthodox who know full well that theosis or deification is not rejected in the Catholic Church; all can grow with the help of the Spirit and go through some process of divination in this life. Apophatic speculation and the via negativa are alive in well in not only the Orthodox Church, but the Catholic world as well. Saint Gregory Palamas is a saint in the Catholic Church of the Eastern rites and also in the Roman, even though not celebrated as in the East and within Orthodoxy. I think because he taught and preached in the century after the sack of Constantinople, there may have been attempts to “claim” him as for or against this or the other. I note that on Orthodox websites, the belief is that the Catholic Church views Saint Gregory Palamas’ teachings on this as heretical. I don’t believe that is true.
 
shawnbm said:
I note that on Orthodox websites, the belief is that the Catholic Church views Saint Gregory Palamas’ teachings on this as heretical. I don’t believe that is true.
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Sites like New Advent (quoted near the top of this thread) are where this comes from. Certainly more modern popes have been open to Hesychism.
 
coptsoldier said:
We cannot seperate palamism from hesychasm. The two are tightly linked in eastern thought. Also, whilst other rituals and traditions are used by hesychasts, the Jesus Prayer is by a long shot the most commonly used amongst eastern monastics. The daily office, typikon and akethists are also used.
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Correction to my other post: hesychasm has several meanings apart from Palmism.
 
Nine_Two said:
Sites like New Advent (quoted near the top of this thread) are where this comes from. Certainly more modern popes have been open to Hesychism.
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Mind you, it’s not really from New Advent in general, but from the original Catholic Encyclopedia article by Adrian Fortescue which is hosted on New Advent. Articles like it shouldn’t necessarily be taken as representative of Catholic thought.
 
Ceddd99 said:
A few years ago a friend of mine gave me a book called the way of a pilgrim, which is about a russian pilgrim who learns the Jesus prayer in a quest to learn to pray without ceasing.

I fell in love with this book as well as the Jesus Prayer and as a result I began to learn more about Orthodox spirituality and I even began studying the Philokalia, which is the major Orthodox work the Pilgrim studies in the way of the pilgrim.

Apparently the type of Christianity found in the Philokalia is known as hesychasm. I am just curious what the Catholic Church has to say about hesychasm. I read the catholic encyclopedia article on it but I would like more information. Is it ok to practice Hesychasm as a Catholic?
Click to expand...
Hesychasm is the teaching of the Eastern churches to experience the uncreated Light of God. What St. Gregory of Palamis did was to defined better the uncreated Light of God to differ it from what is the true essence of God. In truth one cannot know the essence of who God is. One can only know God’s energies, which is His uncreated Light and in Western terminology it is the same as when we come to know of God’s attributes. When the Divine Mercy saint, Maria Faustina wanted to know God’s essence she was greatly disappointed when given an apparition. She was told by Jesus that no one could ever know God in His essence. To come to know God says Jesus it is better to come to know Him through His attributes. Here Jesus has pointed to the Eastern Church’s distinction between God’s essence and God’s energies. The energies is the same as are the attributes. So when one discovers the uncreated Light of God through hesychasm one is discovering this “energy” as God’s attributes. This is how God reveals Himself to us. It is through His “energies” which is the same as His attributes and never His essence. This is what St. Gregory Palamas had taught. An example of God’s attributes would be His Justice and His Mercy. In both these attributes God can reveal His uncreated Light. For instance in His attribute of Justice comes forth this teaching of Purgatory. Purgatory is a form of God’s excellent Discipline He can give to us and here after death does this ‘energy’ of God works best for us to experience His uncreated Light towards its goal for us to move closer towards Him.
 
QNDNNDQDCE said:
Mind you, it’s not really from New Advent in general, but from the original Catholic Encyclopedia article by Adrian Fortescue which is hosted on New Advent. Articles like it shouldn’t necessarily be taken as representative of Catholic thought.
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:rolleyes:

From the original preface:The Catholic Encyclopedia, as its name implies, proposes to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine. What the Church teaches and has taught; what she has done and is still doing for the highest welfare of mankind; her methods, past and present; her struggles, her triumphs, and the achievements of her members, not only for her own immediate benefit, but for the broadening and deepening of all true science, literature and art — all come within the scope of the Catholic Encyclopedia.
…
The Encyclopedia bears the imprimatur of the Most Reverend Archbishop under whose jurisdiction it is published. In constituting the Editors the ecclesiastical censors, he has given them a singular proof of his confidence and of his desire to facilitate the publication of the work which he has promoted most effectively by his influence and kindly co-operation.
 
:rolleyes:???

The Catholic Encyclopedia is a very good resource, but it bears the opinions of its authors, which, as I said, are not always beyond dispute. For example, in the Mozart article, the author says that Mozart’s church compositions are not up to the standards of his other works. While I agree with the sentiment that the author is expressing, this is an artistic judgment that some would disagree with. To give another example, there is a place in the CE that gives undue preference to a Molinist view of grace and predestination, impying that the Thomistic distinction between active and passive reprobation is meaningless. Fortescue was a great scholar, but his personal opinions on hesychasm are not definitive anymore than this article from OrthodoxInfo.com about how St. Francis was the Antichrist is representative of Orthodox belief.
 
You mean this Catholic Encyclopedia?
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

1907-12? I mean come now, we can find Orthodox bishops that write exactly like Latins (Patriarch St. Petro Mohila; St. Nicholas Casibilas) and Orthodox bishops that repudiate everything Latin (Metropolitan Andrew of Dryinoupolis; Met. Seraphim of Piraeus) and everything in between.
 
From the Journey of the Mind to God by Saint Bonaventure

Mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit

Christ is both the way and the door. Christ is the staircase and the vehicle, like the throne of mercy over the Ark of the Covenant, and the mystery hidden from the ages. A man should turn his full attention to this throne of mercy, and should gaze at him hanging on the cross, full of faith, hope and charity, devoted, full of wonder and joy, marked by gratitude, and open to praise and jubilation. Then such a man will make with Christ a pasch, that is, a passing-over. Through the branches of the cross he will pass over the Red Sea, leaving Egypt and entering the desert. There he will taste the hidden manna, and rest with Christ in the sepulcher, as if he were dead to things outside. He will experience, as much as is possible for one who is still living, what was promised to the thief who hung beside Christ: Today you will be with me in paradise.

For this passover to be perfect, we must suspend all the operations of the mind and we must transform the peak of our affections, directing them to God alone. This is a sacred mystical experience. It cannot be comprehended by anyone unless he surrenders himself to it; nor can he surrender himself to it unless he longs for it; nor can he long for it unless the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sent into the world, should come and inflame his innermost soul. Hence the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit.

If you ask how such things can occur, seek the answer in God’s grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research; seek the bridegroom not the teacher; God and not man; darkness not daylight; and look not to the light but rather to the raging fire that carries the soul to God with intense fervor and glowing love. The fire is God, and the furnace is in Jerusalem, fired by Christ in the ardor of his loving passion. Only he understood this who said: My soul chose hanging and my bones death. Anyone who cherishes this kind of death can see God, for it is certainly true that: No man can look upon me and live.

Let us die, then, and enter into the darkness, silencing our anxieties, our passions and all the fantasies of our imagination. Let us pass over with the crucified Christ from this world to the Father, so that, when the Father has shown himself to us, we can say with Philip: It is enough. We may hear with Paul: My grace is sufficient for you; and we can rejoice with David, saying: My flesh and my heart fail me, but God is the strength of my heart and my heritage for ever. Blessed be the Lord for ever, and let all the people say: Amen. Amen!

Peace

Sounds Hesychastic to me.
 
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