Source: Russian Hesychasm: The Spirituality of Nil
Sorskij, George A. Maloney, S.J., Mouton, The Hague, 1973, Appendix II, pp.
269-279.
In presenting a rapid survey of
Hesychasm, one cannot leave out of discussion its method, be it for profit or
abuse. But as it does not enter into the true essence of Hesychasm, we relegate
the discussion of it to this appendix.
Various historical factors in the
evolution of Hesychasm prepared the way for a more materialistic, mechanical
method. The most fundamental was to take the physical, material heart as the
place of "return" to God. The Old and New Testament as in other
Semitic writings, conceived the heart, that organ so indispensable for the life
of the body, as also the centre of all psychological and moral life, as the
centre of the very interior life. [1] It is physiologically the centre of
reaction for emotions and sentiments, so naturally it became the seat of all
sensible and affective life. Mixing metaphorical language with psychological
and physiological phenomena, the heart became the place where the individual person
was most an individual. That which made him most typically himself and not
another person, the heart, for here he "thinks", deliberates, determines
his way of conduct towards God and other men.
The spiritual writer who remotely
prepared the way for the Byzantine mysticism of the heart was Diadochus of
Photike. [2] What the body along with the five senses is for the exterior life,
the heart is for the interior life of man. Through the sin of Adam, a schism
resulted in man, destroying the simplicity that existed in him with the godlike
nous in complete hegemony over all the other subordinated faculties and
senses. [3] This image of God resides in the intimate recesses of the heart,
but constantly is being besieged by the inordinate activities of the exterior
senses. The heart has a "sense" which permits it to "feel"
God, to become aware of His presence in the heart. [4] This conscious awareness
is brought about by meditation and constant remembrance of the Lord Jesus and by
living according to God's commandments. [5]
We already pointed out that
Simeon the New Theologian had read the 100 Chapters of Diadochus and tended to
emphasize the conscious awareness of divine activity in the soul that Diadochus
insisted on. Like Diadochus, who placed his "one natural sense of the
soul" [6] in the intellectual faculty of nous, Simeon also posits
the interior "one sense". "He who gives us that which is above
the senses, also endows us, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, with another
sense which is above the senses, in order that we may clearly and purely
apprehend His gifts and blessings, which are above the senses." [7] But he
stresses more than any of his predecessors the importance of mystical gifts,
visions, and the confirmation of the activity of the Holy Spirit by sensible
repercussions, especially by the highest and surest sign of His presence, a
material light.
If Simeon did not actually write The
Method of Hesychast Prayer [8] he at least prepared the way. The Method,
which Nil Sorskij certainly knew and attributed to Simeon, presents an
innovation on the general doctrine of Simeon which would indicate strongly that
a later admirer of Simeon used his reputation to promulgate innovations. A
definite technique is recommended and with an assurance that if the
instructions are carried through, one would surely see the divine light in his
soul. "Sit in a peaceful cell, in a corner and do that which I tell you:
close the door and raise your mind above any vain and temporal object. Then,
letting your beard rest on your chest, turn your bodily eyes with your whole
mind concentrating on the middle of the stomach, on the so-called navel.
Suppress the breathing of the air which passes through the nose in a way so as
not to breathe too often. Explore with the mind inside the entrails to find there
the place of the heart where all the powers of the soul are wont to gather. In
the beginning, you will find a darkness and a dogged heaviness, but in
persevering and practicing this occupation day and night, you will find, o
marvel, a happiness without limit. As soon as in fact the mind finds the place
of the heart, it perceives suddenly that which it never knew; for it perceives
the air as existing at the centre of the heart and it sees itself all immersed
in light and full of discernment. Before, when besieged by a stinging
temptation, the mind was not able to combat successfully; now through the
invocation of Jesus Christ, it drives out and destroys it utterly." [9]
The similarity, as I. Hausherr
points out10 between this method and that proposed by Nicephorus, monk of Mount
Athos, could not be mere accident. The accent is stronger now for exact
observation of a material technique with more assurance to a greater public of
mystical experiences. Nicephorus warns of the necessity of having an undeluded
director, but if, after a search for such a director, one is not found,
"after calling upon God in contrition of spirit and with tears, and after
praying to Him earnestly with humility, do what I tell you. You are aware that
our breathing by which we live is an inhaling and exhaling of air. The organs that
serve for this purpose are the lungs which surround the heart. They pass air
through themselves and flood the heart with it. Thus breathing is the natural
way to the heart. And so collect your mind and conduct it by way of your
breathing by which air passes to the heart and together with the inhaled air
force it to descend into the heart and to stay there. And train it not to come
out of there quickly; for at first this inner enclosure and restraint is very
wearisome, but when it becomes accustomed to it, then on the contrary it does
not like whirling without, because it is there filled with joy and happiness… And
you should also know that when your mind is established in the heart, it must
not remain there silent and idle, but must unceasingly make the prayer: 'Lord
Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!' This prayer, by holding the mind
without dreaming, renders it inaccessible and immune to the appeals of the
enemy and daily leads it more and more into love and longing for God." [11]
It is Gregory of Sinaite who must
be credited with having started the Hesychasm Renaissance of the 14th century
on Mount Athos. He is known as the teacher of holy sobriety and of the active
method of the prayer of mind-in-heart. [12] In his Texts on Commandments and
Dogmas we find the traditional, solid teaching of the Sinaite Fathers on
asceticism and prayer. But in his Instructio ad Hesychastas [13] he
sets down in exact detail instructions on "How to sit in the cell",
"How to say the Jesus Prayer", "How to hold the mind",
"How to drive away thoughts". We have already quoted his method on
how to sit and say the Prayer which shows the evident influence of Nicephor's
method.
No doubt the attraction of the
unknown with the descriptions of the mystical exaltation contributed much to
rapid diffusion of this method. Nicephorus Gregoras, Byzantine historian of
this period, writes that Athos was infested at this time with the error of
Messalianism and Bogomilism. [14] This heretical teaching was strongly
developed in Bulgaria and could have been easily, according to Nicephorus
Gregoras' account, introduced into Athos by the number of monks who at this time
migrated there from Bulgaria. J. Bois, in speaking of Gregory Sinaite's method,
says: "We can presume that this method was developed further with great
aberrations. Recruits, illiterate persons coming from the hills and Balkan
mountains, already filled with extravagant theories of Messalianism and
Bogomilianism... each followed his own tastes with changes, not always
successful, nor orthodox, leading to great absurdities and extravagances."
[15]
Timothy of Constantinople [16]
gives a list of Messalian propositions which manifest the leading tendency to
be at the same time quietistic and pelagianistic. Its quietism rejects all
efficacy to asceticism and combat against passions. The body was delivered from
passions through prayer. In the soul was a demon, chased out by prayer and then
the Holy Spirit descended with His light, a visible mark of His working
presence and assurance that the body was now safely delivered from the demon or
from the control of the passions. No longer were mortifications or fasting necessary.
The human nature, through prayer, had been transformed into a divine nature.
The soul saw the Holy Trinity with corporal eyes. Barlaam of Calabria, [17] in
railing against the excesses of hesychasts on Mount Athos shortly after the
time of Gregory Sinaite (+1360), accuses the Athos hesychasts of excesses in
eating and drinking. Its Pelagianism is evident in the exaggerated efficacy of
human prayer, of the psychological and physical elements. Violence was to be
exerted on superior faculties, for Messalians believed that they, by their own
force and willpower, could reach the heights of contemplations. Receiving
mystical experiences soon became synonymous with sanctity. [18]
In his treatise On the Blessed
Hesychasts [19] Gregory Palamas (+1359) gives a defence of the method and
places it in its true subservient relation with the essence of hesychasm. This
would prove to be the canonization of the hesychast spirituality for Orthodoxy,
not only as having been always the true, traditional spirituality of the
Christian, Byzantine Orient, but as being the only spirituality for future
Orthodox generations. Through sobriety, self-mastery, the mind must be held
within the body so that the whole can partake of the greatness of the mind. But
how can the mind be controlled unless it be collected and confined within the body
and not be allowed to be dispersed into multiplicity through the senses. By
returning into oneself, man is permitted to ascend to God. [20] "No one
who thinks logically would be against those who have not yet attained
contemplation, using certain methods to lead the mind into itself… Hence some
advise them to refrain from breathing rapidly, but to restrain their breath
somewhat, so that, together with their breath, they may also hold the mind
inside, until, with God's help, through training, they accustom the mind not to
go out into its surroundings and mingle with them, and make it strong enough to
concentrate upon one thing." [21]
The Century of Callistus
and Ignatius of Kanthopoulos is a collection of the teaching of the traditional
"neptic" Fathers on hesychasm. It is a synthesis, the first Philokalia
composed, if we wish to view so this work and its solid, ascetical
teaching, as the source of reading and learning for succeeding monks. But
unduly stressed is the lumen thaboricum, the Taboric light, as the
be-all and the end-all of the whole process.
At times it becomes evident that
the two authors are joining in the polemics raised by Barlaam and Greek
historians and theologians as Nicephorus Gregoras, Gregory Acyndinos, Demetrius
and Prochorus Cydonios against the abuses of the method. "It can in no way
be achieved solely by this natural method of descent into the heart by way of
breathing or by seclusion in a quiet and dimly lit place. This can never be. [22]
In Chapter 58 the reader is given a clear break from the traditional hesychast
Fathers' teachings to be enlightened as to the details of what we can call
Palamitic hesychasm, with its emphasis on the Taboric lumen as the goal
of contemplation. [23] It is not without foundation that A. Ammann calls his
book on the Century Die Gottesschau im palamitischen Hesychasmus. [24]
With the lack of expert spiritual
guides to keep ever the material aids subordinated to the final end of union
with God through solid virtues and prayer it is easy to understand that abuses
would creep in. This is undoubtedly the reason for the evident moving away
since the last century from psycho-physiological techniques. [25] In the 1905
edition of the Dobrotoljubie the Russian editor gives a caution in
presenting the "Three Methods of Attention and Prayer" which is
attributed to Simeon the New Theologian. "Here St. Simeon describes
certain external methods by which some fall into temptation and relinquish
their work, and others distort the work itself. Since, owing to scarcity of
instructors, these methods may lead to evil effects, while in themselves they
are nothing more than external adaptations for inner doing and have no
essential value, we omit them. The essential thing is to acquire the habit of
making the mind stand on guard in the heart - in this physical heart, but not physically.
It is necessary to bring the mind down from the head to the heart and to
establish it there or, as one of the Fathers said, to join the mind with the
heart. How to attain this? Seek and you will find. The best way is by walking
in God's presence and by the work of prayer, especially by going to church. But
it should be remembered that ours is only the labour. But the thing itself,
i.e. keeping the mind concentrated in the heart, is a supernatural gift, given
when and how the Lord wishes. The best example is Maxim Causokalivit." [26]
As for abuses resulting from
exaggerated use of a material technique, we need only quote from the warnings
of two later witnesses. In the anonymous text quoted by J. Gouillard, [27] a
warning of certain physiological, fake consequences coming from an imprudent
use of material aids leading to erotic sins of lust is sounded to the followers
of this method, along with a denunciation of Islamic fakes and their methods of
dhikr [28] and a general lamentation against the general neglect of the
hesychast method. "Because of inexperience many suffer and fall into sins
instead of acquiring sobriety and attention of the mind", the text says,
"through the continuous thought of death and tears of compunction. They
fall into the error of false prophets, into the unnatural and unholy operations
as taught by the pseudo-Mohammedan monks." [29]
The other later witness to
excesses and dangers to avoid is the Russian Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov,
writing on the Jesus Prayer in 1865. He too laments the almost universal disuse
of hesychastic spirituality in Russia, gives a detailed description of the
heart, relying on Basil of Moldavia and Theophilact of Philadelphia (example:
the power of speech (reason) or spirit of man is present in the breast or in
the upper part of the heart; the power of fervour in the middle part; and the
power of desire or natural cupidity in the lower part of the heart) and he
warns strongly against misuse of the material aids designed to help and not to hinder
union with God. "Of those who have used with special diligence the
material aids very few have attained success, but very many have deranged and
harmed themselves. With an experienced director the use of the material aids
incurs little danger; but with the guidance of books it is very dangerous since
it is so easy, through ignorance and imprudence to fall into delusion and other
kinds of spiritual and bodily disorder. Thus some, on seeing the harmful
consequences of indiscreet labour and having only a superficial and confused
idea of the prayer of Jesus and the circumstances that accompany it, attributed
these consequences not to ignorance and imprudence but to the most holy Prayer
of Jesus Himself. Can anything be sadder and more disastrous than this
blasphemy, this delusion?" [30]
These two sources above have been
quoted to show how easily secondary means to aid prayer can be turned into
abuse or an end in itself when wise directors are not available. On the other
hand, one must strive to see the good in such a physical help to concentrate
the mind in interior prayer. There is no reason why one should not use the good
found in natural religions to aid prayer. [31]
But in using a technique, one
must always keep in mind that it is a mere, simple preparation, not adequate in
itself to attain mystical union with God. [32] As a means, it can be dispensed
with or used insofar as it helps; and in general the best Byzantine hesychastic
writers always insisted on this. [33] Abuses enter and do great harm to
hesychastic spirituality and the Jesus Prayer with its suggested aids when it
is demanded of a material technique a quick and sure method of attaining
mystical union.
We can evaluate the merit of any
technique only in relation to these essential characteristics outlined by Fr.
J. Maréchal, [34] that must accompany always true Christian mysticism:
(1) Supernatural grace, because
of its ontological character, is inaccessible to direct, human experiences.
Here we can readily discern the basic difference between natural and
supernatural mysticism. [35] Exteriorly the same manifestations and phenomena
may be in evidence, but interiorly there is a radical difference of value and
finality. In the supernatural mystical state the human faculties are elevated
to a state that makes operations possible, through God's operations, that
would, naturally speaking, be impossible. The finality is a prefiguring of the
intimate union with God in the beatific vision of the next life and this
prefiguring can also be the basis of meriting an increase in the future vision.
It must be noted that, in saying grace is not the object of direct sensible
experience, it is not denying that grace can and does have sensible,
experienced effects.
(2) That God, in a mystical
experience, communicates Himself through an immediate intuition, but the
communication is made to a "man" and not just to a soul separated.
Hence there is a necessity for ascetical preparation to bring the whole
"being" to a point of adaptability by persevering and progressive
ascesis, recollected prayer, and moral acts. With the increase in intensity of
God's self-revelation, there will be an increase in ascesis and prayer and
virtuous acts.
(3) All these preparatory acts of
ascesis, of self-renouncement, of prayer are prerequisite, necessary conditions
for a state of mystical union. But in the ultimate analysis man's best efforts
leave him absolutely impotent to reach such a union by his own force. Mystical
union with God is a free and gratuitous gift of God, a favour bestowed on man, and
whose bestowal cannot ultimately be dictated by a human will, nor be foreseen
as bestowed after so long a time of preparation.
In natural mysticism, pantheistic
or Buddhistic, ascesis is also considered as necessary, but also as sufficient
condition for ecstasy. For Christian mysticism, ascesis is necessary but
never sufficient in itself for mystical states.
(4) If true Christian mystical
activity is informed by grace and is meant by God to be a superior step to
supernatural destiny, negatively it must conform to the whole plan of
supernatural salvation. It must be in complete accord with revealed dogma and
Christian morals based on the natural law of God and the doctrine of the
Gospels.
It is this last characteristic
which gives us a norm, even though a negative one, to judge whether a mystic is
experiencing purely natural mysticism brought on by physiological factors
prepared by intense ascesis and intellectual concentration or whether he is
being moved by supernatural grace. "By their fruits shall you know
them." If it is God working in this person, He will work in harmony always
with His revealed Will. And the mystic will lead a life of virtue according to
God's revealed word, especially as Incarnated in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ.
And he will accept, preach and live according to the revealed truths as
proposed by God to men through the two living founts of Holy Scripture and Tradition.
FOOTNOTES
1. Cf. Guillaumont, A., "Le sens du nom de coeur dans
l'antiquité", in Études Carmélitaines, 1950, pp. 42-50.
2. Cf. Hausherr, I., S. J., "Noms du Christ", OCA,
157, (Roma, 1960), pp. 202-210. Also Popov, K., "Ucenie o molitve
iisusovoj blazennago Diadoxa 5-ogo veka", in Trudy, Eccles. Academy
of Kiev (1902), tome 3, pp. 651-676.
3. Diadochus, in Philoka.lia, op. cit., T. I., ch. 25,
p. 241.
4. Ibid., ch. 29, pp. 242-243; ch. 30, p. 243.
5. Ibid., ch. 88, p. 265. As to whether Diadochus was
the first to use the Jesus Prayer, see I. Hausherr, supra cit., p. 208.
Among other things he says: "Diadoque ne donne nulle part, même d'une
façon approximative, la formule classique de la prière de Jésus. Il ne la
connaît même pas. Sa spiritualité se rattache à celle du "souvenir de Dieu",
telle que nous l'avons rencontrée chez saint Basile, saint Grégoire de
Nazianze, Marc l'Ermite, etc.; mais plus systématiquement que ces théologiens,
Diadoque a tire les conséquences d'un principe qu'il admettainet tous: l'unité
spirituelle de l'homme."
6. Ibid., ch. 29, pp. 242-243.
7. Simeon the New Theologian, Dobrotoljubie, op. cit., tome
5, pp. 49-50, no. 136.
8. This will remain one of the unsolved problems. D. Holl, Enthusiasmus
und Bussgewalt beim griechischen Monchtum (Leipzig, 1898), p. 128, and I.
Hausherr, "La Méthode... ", op. cit., maintain that Simeon is
not the correct author, but a later author (according to Fr. Hausherr in
"Note sur l'invention de la méthode hésychaste", OC, vol. XX,
1930, p. 180), Nicephorus, monk of the 14th century and master of Gregory Palamas,
is the author. Hausherr's arguments, besides the manuscript arguments against
which M. Jugie levels a dissenting voice (in his "Les origines de la
méthode d'oraison hésychaste", Échos d'Orient, vol. 30
(1931), p. 184 and foil.), are: (a) Simeon, whose profound doctrines are
based solidly on Holy Scripture especially on the mystical doctrine of
St. John and St. Paul, could not have invented a method "short and easy,
physical and scientific" without sweat and fatigue to arrive at the
same end for which he declared during all his lifetime the utmost
necessity of possessing the perfection of all the Christian virtues; (b)
about this infallible means to arrive at such a necessary end, he does
not breathe a whisper in his other 100 discourses, "hymns of divine love",
and more than 200 chapters on practical and theological precepts. Cf. op.
cit., "La Méthode...", p. 114.
9. Cf. the text of the three methods of attention and prayer,
edited by I. Hausherr, OC, vol. IX (1927), pp. 164-165.
10. Ibid., p. 133; cf. also OC, vol. XX (1930),
p. 180.
11. Nicephor, De cordis custodia, PG, 147, 963B-965A.
N.B.: Nicephor, according to the data in the Philokalia, died about 1340
and was the master of Gregory Palamas. This is not universally accepted by all.
Cf. M. Jugie, "Les Origines de la méthode d'oraison hésychaste", op.
cit., p. 184: "Nicephor lived in the 12th century or at the latest in
the beginning of the 13th because Gregory Palamas lists him among the ancient
Fathers."
12. Cf. Dobrotoljubie, "Introduction to Gregory
of Sinaite", tome 5, p. 195.
13. Gregory of Sinaite: Praecepta ad Hesychastes, PG, 150,
1329-1346.
14. Byzantinae Historiae, PG, 147, Lib. XIV, ch. 948B.
15. Bois, J., op. cit., pp. 71-72. Another writing,
influenced greatly by Messalian materialization is the pseudo-Chrysostom method
which M. Jugie places as written in the 12th century. Cf. op. cit., pp.
184-185. Also I. Hausherr, "Les noms...", pp. 200-202, who treats in
detail the spiritual letter to some monks, falsely attributed to Chrysostom.
16. PG, 86, 45C-52C.
17. Syrku, P., K istorii ispravlenija knig v Bolgarii v
XIV v. ("Concerning a History of Correction of Books in Bulgaria in
the 14th Cent.") (St. Petersburg, 1898), T. I., pp. 95-100.
18. On this point cf. I. Hausherr, "Contemplation et
Sainteté...", op. cit., pp. 193-194, and also his thorough
treatment on this subject in: "L'erreur fondamentale et la logique du
messalianisme", OCP, vol. I (1935), pp. 328-360.
19. PG, 150, 1101 and foll.
20. Ibid., no. 4-5, 1105D-1108A.
21. Ibid., no. 9, 1109C.
22. Century, ch. 24, p. 73. N.B. Page-references are
given according to A. Ammann's text, op. cit.
23. "Wir aber reden jetzt von dem vollendeten
wesenhaften Augleuchten, in welchem die Auserwählten unter den Aposteln,
nämlich die, welche mit Jesus auf den Berg Tabor gestiegen,
unaussprechlicherweise die schöne und in Wahrheit selige Entäusserung erlitten
haben und gewürdigt wurden mit ihren sinnlichen, zu etwas Göttlicherem verwandelten
Augen. - Sie waren ja unter der Rechten des Ganz Heiligen Geistig geworden -
die unschaubare Herrlichkeit der Gottheit zu sehen... Die andere aber, nämlich die
Betätigung aus der empfangenden Entgegennahme, pfleget unmittelbar von Gott
selbst im Herzen zu entstehen, manchmal entsteht sie auch von aussen her and
gibt dem Leibe deutlich über die Erkenntnisskraft hinaus Anteil an der eigenen Heiligkeit
und dem göttlichen Lichte... 'Denn mit dem einem Auge sehen wir das, was in den
Geschöpfen verborgen ist: nämlich die Macht Gottes, seine Weisheit, seine
Obsorge für uns, die wir aus der Heiligkeit seiner Mühewaltung um uns erfassen.
Mit dem andern Auge schauen wir die Herrlichkeit seines heiligen Wesens, wenn
es Gott gefallen wird uns in seine geistlichen Geheimnisse einzuführen' (Hl.
Isaak)." Ch. 68, pp. 120-121.
24. But he cautions: "…also in Falle unserer beiden
Verfasser palamitisch gesehen und ausgewertet haben ganz anders vielleicht, als
es die wirkliche Absicht der angezogenen Schriftsteller war" (p. 22).
25. Un Moine de l'Église d'Orient, "La Prière de
Jésus" Chevetogne, 1951, p. 80.
26. Dobrotoljubie, op. cit., tome 5, p. 507.
27. This is from a codex of the 18th or 19th century, but the
author believes it must be dated earlier. J. Gouillard, "Petite
Philocalie..." op. cit., pp. 300-316.
28. Ibid., pp. 300-310. No one can deny the evident
similarity between the physiological and psychological methods of latter
hesychasm and Islamic mysticism. Cf. M. L. Gardet, "La mention du nom
divin en mystique musulmane", in Revue Thomiste, 1952, pp. 642-646,
and the text of the cheikh Muhammad Amin (+1332) as given by J. Gouillard, op.
cit., appendix, pp. 317-336. Here we find similar notions on the physiology
of the heart, on breathing technique, repetition of a set prayer formula, rapture
with blinding light, constant recall of the thought of death and the necessity of
having a master to guide one in this method. Swami Siddheswarananda, of the Hindu
religious order of Ramakrishna, exposes the Hindu technique of meditation and
gives some striking similarities with the hesychast method: the meditation (dhyana
) constituting the principal part of yoga or union with the divine
principle, use of breathing-control, posture, entering into the heart,
repetition of the Divine name (the mantra), guidance of a guru or
spiritual director, purification, union with the Infinite, the realization of
the Infinite, samadhi. Cf. "La technique Hindoue de la
Méditation", m Études Carmélitaines: Technique et Contemplation (Paris,
1949), pp. 17-35. For this reason Prof. George Wunderle concludes: "On
peut vrai semblablement supposer qu'après le grand Siméon le Nouveau Théologien
il ya a eu dans sa technique psychologique des infiltrations d'éléments
empruntés à l'Extrême-Orient (ou mieux encore au Brahmanisme)." Cf.
"La Technique de l'Hésychasme", in Études Carmélitaines : Nuit
Mystique (Paris, 1938), p. 62. Cf. also his "Zur Psychologie des
hesychastischen Gebets", in the series, Das östliche Christentum, Würzburg,
1949, p. 20.
29. J. Gouillard, "Petite Philocalie... ", op.
cit., pp. 305-306.
30. Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, On the Prayer of Jesus (London,
1952), pp. 83-88. Cf. also Besedy o molitve iisusovoj. Cto takoe molitva
iisusova po predanijam pravoslavnoj cerkvi (Serdobol', 1938), pp.
405-433.
31. Cf. Poucel, Victor, S. J., "Pour que votre âme
respire", in Art Catholique, 1936, p. 13, as quoted by I. Hausherr,
"A propos de spiritualité hesychaste: Controverse sans
contradicteur", OCP, 1937, vol. III, pp. 271-272.
32. Gardet, Louis: "Recherches sur la 'Mystique
Naturelle' ", in Revue Thomiste, no. 1-2 (1948), p. 103.
33. Cf. E. Behr-Sigel, "La prière à Jésus", in Dieu
Vivant, no. 8, p. 82.
34. J. Maréchal, S. J., "Études sur la psychologie des
mystiques" (Paris, 1937), I, pp. 252-258.
35. Cf. Maritain, Jacques, Quatre essais sur l'esprit dans
sa condition charnelle (Paris, 1939), especially ch. III:
"L'expérience mystique naturelle et vie", pp. 131-177.
