How is Hesychasm viewed in the Catholic Church?

[hazcompat]

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?

From the Philokalia Volume 1

An advanced state which may be acquired through the pursuit of this path is described as hesychia, a word which not only bears the sense of tranquility and silence (hence our translation: stillness) but also is linked through its Greek root with the idea of being seated, fixed, and so of being concentrated. It is therefore fitting that from this word should come the term hesychasm, frequently applied to the whole complex of theory and practice which constitutes the path itself. But here a certain caution is needed. Some modern historians, prone to over-simplification and schematization, have tended to speak of hesychasm as though it were a phenomenon of the later Byzantine world. They speak of the hesychast movement, and by this they mean the spiritual revival which, centered on Mount Athos in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, spread from there into neighboring lands such as Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia. Yet hesychasm itself is far more than a local historical movement dating to the later Byzantine centuries. On the contrary it denotes the whole spiritual tradition going back to the earliest times and delineated in the Philokalia. If evidence for this is needed, it may be found in the fact that one of the central forms of the art and science which constitute hesychasm - namely, the invocation of the name of Jesus, or the Jesus Prayer, to give it its traditional title - is already integral to the spiritual method described in many of the texts included in this first volume, most if not all of which were written prior to the ninth century. Indeed, although the Philokalia is concerned with many other matters, it would not be too much to say that it is the recurrent references to the Jesus Prayer which more than anything else confer on it its inner unity.
It must be stressed, however, that this spiritual path known as hesychasm cannot be followed in a vacuum. Although most of the texts in the Philokalia are not specifically doctrinal, they all presuppose doctrine even when they do not state it. Moreover, this doctrine entails an ecclesiology. It entails a particular understanding of the Church and a view of salvation inextricably bound up with its sacramental and liturgical life. This is to say that hesychasm is not something that has developed independently of or alongside the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church. It is part and parcel of it. It too is an ecclesial tradition. To attempt to practice it, therefore, apart from active participation in this sacramental and liturgical life is to cut it off from its living roots. It is also to abuse the intention of its exponents and teachers and so to act with a presumption that may well have consequences of a disastrous kind, mental and physical.

Peace

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

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.

Love the quote here, Pat! It definitely illustrates the similarities between Eastern and Western mystical theology - similarities that are often overlooked despite the two drawing from the same Patristic-desert sources. A Byzantine deacon-friend of mine once quipped that St. Bonaventure is, to his mind, the most Eastern of all the great Western saints. I must say that I agree with him.

I remember reading the second-to-last paragraph in a collection of quotes from Western mystics and completely falling in love with it. I wrote it down and stored it in the case where I keep my musical instruments (it’s still there). That quote was a great consolation to me while my mother was dying. Sadly, the source I pulled it from didn’t provide the full context, nor which of Bonaventure’s writings it was taken from. Now I know, and I will be getting a copy of it as soon as I have the funds.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

In speaking of hesychasm there is often a failure among both Catholics and Orthodox to distinguish between the “methods” of hesychasm and hesychasm itself. This failure has been diminished in the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic world to a large extent by the works of Sts. Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov, as well as by the writings and lectures of Met. Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia and others. But it is still there to a lesser extent. It exists largely among Roman Catholics who have a mere cursory knowledge (if it can be called that) of Eastern Christianity taken largely from sources like the Catholic Encyclopedia and the writings of Adrian Fortesque - neither of which should be considered authoritative on the subject of Eastern Christianity.

The distinction is this: The “methods” of hesychasm - postures, breathing techniques, “naval gazing,” etc. - are universally proclaimed by the Fathers to be for beginners in prayer as an aid to calming the mind and drawing the mind into the heart. As many of the Fathers imply - and Sts. Theophan and Ignatius explicitly point out - these methods are not indispensable. One can live a life of prayer and stillness without making use of the methods that are recommended for beginners at prayer. As Nil Sorsky and Gregory of Sinai point out, these methods are tools for calming the often turbulent waters of the mind.

What is indispensable for hesychasm? St. Isaac of Nineveh (aka “the Syrian”) points out that humility is the indispensable attitude of anyone wanting to pray truly. St. Theophan the Recluse goes on to elucidate that humility demands that we always maintain the attitude of a beginner at prayer. Even should we be drawn into the highest levels of prayer achievable in this life, we must always consider ourselves as beginners.

Nil Sorsky also points out that in order to live a life of true prayer, we must be 100% dedicated to the work of God in our lives. This includes not only growth in virtue, but also fully living out the vocation to which we have been called and dedicated our lives, as well as fully living the Sacramental life of the Church.

Ultimately, the final goal of hesychasm is the same as the goal of the spiritual life as put forth by the great mystics of the West; i.e. communion with God in this life. Visions, locutions, even an experience of the Divine/Taboric Light are considered secondary. Such visions are not given to everybody, even among the saints. What is for everybody, however, is communion with God!

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

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-

Nice to see you on here still, Tim! I hope all is going well.

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

It should be noted that hesychasm is not a universal practice among Eastern Christians. It can be found predominantly in the Byzantine tradition and the Churches of that tradition. It can also be found to a lesser extent in the Coptic tradition. It is not, however, a part of the various Syriac traditions, the Ethiopian tradition, the Armenian tradition, etc. In those traditions there is more of an emphasis on communion with God through participation in the Sacramental-Liturgical life of the Church, and the prayerful reading of the Scriptures. Although one may find the Jesus Prayer used in any of those traditions, it is not essential to those traditions. One is just as likely to find the rosary being prayed as much as the Jesus Prayer. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[tbhamdg]

Here’s another element of Hesychasm that is the main source of controversy.

catholic.com/encyclopedia/hesychasm

The other element of fourteenth-century Hesychasm was the famous real distinction between essence and attributes (specifically one attribute—energy) in God. This theory, fundamentally opposed to the whole conception of God in the Western Scholastic system, had also been prepared by Eastern Fathers and theologians. Remotely it may be traced back to neo-Platonism. The Platonists had conceived God as something in every way unapproachable, remote from all categories of being known to us. God Himself could not even touch or act upon matter. Divine action was carried into effect by demiurges, intermediaries between God and creatures. The Greek Fathers (after Clement of Alexandria mostly Platonists) had a tendency in the same way to distinguish between God’s unapproachable essence and His action, energy, operation on creatures. God Himself transcends all things. He is absolute, unknown, infinite above everything; no eye can see, no mind conceive Him. What we can know and attain is His action. The foundation of a real distinction between the unapproachable essence (ousia) and the approachable energy (enerleia) is thus laid. For this system, too, the quotations made by Hesychasts from Athanasius, Basil, Gregory, especially from Pseudo-Dionysius, supply enough examples. The Hesychasts were fond of illustrating their distinction between God’s essence and energy (light) by comparing them to the sun, whose rays are really distinct from its globe, although there is only one sun. It is to be noted that the philosophic opponents of Hesychasm always borrow their weapons from St. Thomas Aquinas and the Western Schoolmen. They argue, quite in terms of Latin Aristotelean philosophy, that God is simple; except for the Trinity there can be no distinctions in an actus purus. This distinct energy, uncreated light that is not the essence of God, would be a kind of demiurge, something neither God nor creature; or there would be two Gods, an essence and an energy. From one point of view, then, the Hesychast controversy may be conceived as an issue between Greek Platonist philosophy and Latin rationalist Aristoteleanism. It is significant that the Hesychasts were all vehemently Byzantine and bitter opponents of the West, while their opponents were all latinizers, eager for reunion.

 

[tbhamdg]

It is significant that the Hesychasts were all vehemently Byzantine and bitter opponents of the West, while their opponents were all latinizers, eager for reunion.

Very significant. If God is so unapproachable and inconceivable and cannot act on matter directly then what is sanctifying grace, aka the divine life of God in our souls? Just one of His “energies”? I wonder what Aidan Nichols, O.P., a western expert on Eastern Christianity, thinks of this?

 

[RyanBlack]

Very significant. If God is so unapproachable and inconceivable and cannot act on matter directly then what is sanctifying grace, aka the divine life of God in our souls? Just one of His “energies”? I wonder what Aidan Nichols, O.P., a western expert on Eastern Christianity, thinks of this?

To phrase it “just one of His ‘energies’” seems to me to misunderstand the eastern concept of divine energies. The divine energies are eternal attributes of God; therefore, they are, in a sense, identified with God. The easterner–though not particularly like to use the term “sanctifying grace”–would view sanctifying grace as the working of God Himself in the life of the believer.