Macarius of Corinth ( el, Μακάριος Κορίνθου. birth name: Michael Notaras) was born in

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part ...

in 1731 and died in

Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mast ...

in April 1805. Macarius as

Metropolitan bishop of Corinth The Metropolis of Corinth, Sicyon, Zemenon, Tarsos and Polyphengos ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Κορίνθου, Σικυώνος, Ζεμενού, Ταρσού και Πολυφέγγους) is a metropolitan see of the Church of Greece in ...

, was a mystic and spiritual writer who worked to revive and mostly sustain the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

under Turkish rule. He is most famous for working with Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain in collecting and compiling the ascetic text of the ''

Philokalia The ''Philokalia'' ( grc, φιλοκαλία, lit=love of the beautiful, from ''philia'' "love" and ''kallos'' "beauty") is "a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters" of the mystical hesychast tr ...

''.

Prayer of the Heart

With his friend Nicodemus, Makarios compiled the five tomes of the ''

'' that were first published in Venice in 1782. It was the publication of these sacred and spiritual texts that lead to a renewal of the

hesychast Hesychasm (; Greek: Ησυχασμός) is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in early Christian monasticism, it took i ...

movement within Eastern Orthodox.

Beauty shall save the World

The term used

(love of the beautiful) for the texts, was to enshrine the history of the

Jesus Prayer The Jesus Prayer,; syr, ܨܠܘܬܐ ܕܝܫܘܥ, translit=slotho d-yeshu'; syr, label=Amharic, Geez and Tigrinya, እግዚኦ መሐረነ ክርስቶስ, translit=igizi'o meḥarene kirisitosi. "Note: We are still searching the Fathers for t ...

(the Prayer of the heart) and the spiritual practice of this is called

Hesychasm Hesychasm (; Greek: Ησυχασμός) is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in early Christian monasticism, it took i ...

. It is this love of beauty that revives and gives faith to the hopeless. The history of the prayer begins with its earliest fathers including

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

and the text ends with Gregory Palamas. The title conveys the contemplative tradition, in that it teaches understanding of the inner or mystical

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

within each person. The spirit of God is an ember, one must cultivate the ember into an open fire. This perpetual fire burns in the heart, in love for all things, which is to share in the energy of God, which is love. () It is within the Philokalia that one learns how to properly navigate through the passions and depravity of existence called the

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. The object of contemplation being "the love of beauty" or infinite beauty which is God. For if existence was truly evil it could not contain nor express beauty. This expression conveys the truth about the divine (ascetic) life and purpose which the heart learns through practice of the Prayer, which is called

. God in his energies is love. It is this beauty, the Russian philosophers held, that would "will save the World".''Scripture in tradition: the Bible and its interpretation in the Orthodox Church'' by John Breck. Published by St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001 ,

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References

{{Authority control Hesychasts 1731 births 1805 deaths Greek Christians Greek theologians Saints of Ottoman Greece Orthodox bishops of Corinth Greek saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church Philokalia

Prayer of the Heart

Beauty shall save the World

See also

References