The Hesychastic Method

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.