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Hesychasts
Hesychasm () is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Christian traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in early Christian monasticism, it took its definitive form in the 14th century at Mount Athos. Etymology Hesychasm ( ) derives from the word ''hesychia'' ( ), meaning "stillness, rest, quiet, silence" and ''hesychazo'' ( ) "to keep stillness". Origins and development Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, a scholar of Eastern Orthodox theology, distinguishes five distinct usages of the term "hesychasm": # "solitary life", a sense, equivalent to "eremitical life", in which the term is used since the 4th century; # "the practice of inner prayer, aiming at union with God on a level beyond images, concepts and language"; # "the quest for such union through the Jesus Prayer"; # "a particular psychosomatic technique in combination with the Jesus Prayer", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palamism
Palamism or the Palamite theology comprises the teachings of Gregory Palamas (c. 1296 – 1359), whose writings defended the Eastern Orthodox practice of Hesychasm against the attack of Barlaam. Followers of Palamas are sometimes referred to as Palamites. Seeking to defend the assertion that humans can become like God through deification without compromising God's transcendence, Palamas distinguished between God's inaccessible essence and the energies through which he becomes known and enables others to share his divine life. Gerald O'Collins, Edward G. Farrugia. ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (Paulist Press 2000) p186/260 The central idea of the Palamite theology is a distinction between the divine essence and the divine energies that is not a merely conceptual distinction. Palamism is a central element of Eastern Orthodox theology, being made into dogma in the Eastern Orthodox Church by the Hesychast councils. Palamism has been described as representing "the deepe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Climacus
John Climacus (; ; ), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites, was a 6th–7th century Christian monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai. He is revered as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Church. History Many details on his life are unknown. There exists an ancient '' vita'' (life) of the saint by a monk named Daniel of the Raithu monastery, which is the principal source about the life of John. Daniel, though claiming to be a contemporary, admits to no knowledge of John's origins—any detail on John's birth is the result of much later speculation, and is confined to references in the Menologion. Daniel also does not provide any chronology and his knowledge of the life of John is both scanty and vague. If Daniel's ''Life'' is trustworthy (there is nothing against which to judge its accuracy), then John came to the ''Vatos'' Monastery at Mount Sinai, now Saint Catherine's Monastery, and became a novice when he was about 16 years o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diadochos Of Photiki
Diadochos of Photiki () was a fifth-century Christian ascetic whose works are included in the ''Philokalia''. Scholars have acknowledged his great influence on later Byzantine saints such as Maximos the Confessor, John Climacus, Symeon the New Theologian, and in general the Hesychast movement of the 14th century. He has also had great influence in the West via the work, "On the Contemplative Life" (''De vita contemplativa'') of Julianus Pomerius (†498). His feast day is commemorated on March 29. Life Diadochos was born c. 400 and died sometime before 486. He became bishop of Photiki, a small town in the province of Epirus Vetus, in the northwestern part of present-day Greece. In 451, he took part in the Council of Chalcedon as Bishop of Photiki. He was most likely part of a group of Epiran notables who were captured during a Vandal raid between 467 and 474. The group was later released in North Africa, somewhere around Carthage, from whence all vanished. His exact date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symeon The New Theologian
Saint Symeon the New Theologian (; 949–1022) was an Eastern Orthodox monk and poet who was one of the four saints canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and given the title of "Theologian" (along with John the Apostle, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Saint Hesychius the Priest of Jerusalem). "Theologian" was not applied to Symeon in the modern academic sense of theological study; the title was intended only to recognize someone who spoke from personal experience of the vision of God. One of his principal teachings was that humans could and should experience ''theoria'' (literally "contemplation," or direct experience of God). Symeon was born into the Byzantine nobility and given a traditional education. At age fourteen he met Symeon the Studite, a renowned monk of the Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople, who convinced him to give his own life to prayer and asceticism under the elder Symeon's guidance. By the time he was thirty, Symeon the New Theologian became the abbot of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikephoros The Monk
Nikephoros the Monk (), also called the Hesychast (ὁ Ἡσυχαστής) or the Athonite (ὁ Ἀθωνίτης), was a 13th-century monk and spiritual writer of the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to Gregory Palamas, Nikephoros was originally a Roman Catholic but travelled to the Byzantine Empire, where he converted to the Eastern Orthodox faith and became a monk at Mount Athos. Like Theoleptos of Philadelphia, Nikephoros was a strong opponent of the union of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches which was agreed to at the Council of Lyons in 1274. Because of this, he was imprisoned and later wrote an account of his ordeal. The main theme of Nikephoros’ spiritual writings in the Philokalia is nepsis Nepsis () is a concept in Orthodox Christian theology. It means ''wakefulness'' or ''watchfulness'' and constitutes a condition of sobriety acquired following a period of catharsis. St. Hesychios the Priest defines nepsis as "a continual fixing a ... (Greek: νή ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kallistos Ware
Metropolitan Kallistos (born Timothy Richard Ware, 11 September 1934 – 24 August 2022) was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1982, he held the titular bishopric of Diokleia in Phrygia (), later made a titular metropolitan bishopric in 2007, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. He was one of the best-known modern Eastern Orthodox hierarchs and theologians. From 1966 to 2001, he was Spalding Lecturer of Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University of Oxford. Early life and ordination Born Timothy Richard Ware on 11 September 1934 to an Anglican family in Bath, Somerset, England, he was educated at Westminster School in London (to which he had won a King's Scholarship) and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took a double first in classics as well as reading theology. On 14 April 1958, at the age of 24, he converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church. He described his first contacts with Orthodoxy and the growing attraction of the E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences. The term "mysticism" has Ancient Greek origins with various historically determined meanings. Derived from the Greek language, Greek word μύω ''múō'', meaning "to close" or "to conceal", mysticism came to refer to the biblical, liturgical (and sacramental), spiritual, and Christian contemplation, contemplative dimensions of early and medieval Christianity. During the early modern period, the definition of mysticism grew to include a broad range of beliefs and ideologies related to "extraordinary experiences and states of mind". In modern times, "mysticism" has acquired a limited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evagrius Ponticus
Evagrius Ponticus (), also called Evagrius the Solitary (345–399 AD), was a Christian monk and ascetic from Heraclea, a city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor. One of the most influential theologians in the late fourth-century church, he was well known as a thinker, polished speaker, and gifted writer. He left a promising ecclesiastical career in Constantinople and traveled to Jerusalem, where in 383 AD he became a monk at the monastery of Rufinus and Melania the Elder. He then went to Egypt and spent the remaining years of his life in Nitria and Kellia, marked by years of asceticism and writing. He was a disciple of several influential contemporary church leaders, including Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Macarius of Egypt. He was a teacher of others, including John Cassian and Palladius of Galatia. Life There are five main sources of information on Evagrius's life. Firstly, there exists a biographical account in chapter 38 of ''The Lausiac History'' o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cassian
John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic and John Cassian the Roman (, ''Ioannes Cassianus'', or ''Ioannes Massiliensis''; Greek: Ίωάννης Κασσιανός ό Ερημίτης; – ), was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern churches for his mystical writings. Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of early Christian monasticism to the medieval West. Biography Cassian was born around 360, most likely in the region of Scythia Minor (now Dobruja, a historical region shared today by Romania and Bulgaria), although some scholars assume a Gallic origin. The son of wealthy parents, he received a good education: his writings show the influence of Cicero and Persius. He was bilingual in Latin and Greek. Cassian mentions having a sister in his first work, the ''Institutes'', with whom he corresponded in his monastic life; she may have ended up with him in Marseille. As a young adult he traveled to Palestin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maximus The Confessor
Maximus the Confessor (), also spelled Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christianity, Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, Maximus was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. He gave up this life in the political sphere to enter the monastic life. Maximus had studied diverse schools of philosophy, and certainly what was common for his time, the Platonic dialogues, the works of Aristotle, and numerous later Platonic commentators on Aristotle and Plato, like Plotinus, Porphyry (philosopher), Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus. When one of his friends began espousing the Christology, Christological position known as Monothelitism, Maximus was drawn into the controversy, in which he supported an interpretation of the Chalcedonian formula on the basis of which it was asserted that Jesus had both a human and a divine Will (philosophy), will. Maximus is veneration, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ladder Of Divine Ascent
''The Ladder of Divine Ascent'' or ''Ladder of Paradise'' (Κλῖμαξ; ''Scala'' or ''Climax Paradisi'') is an important ascetical treatise for monasticism in Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, written by John Climacus in AD at Saint Catherine's Monastery; it was requested by John, Abbot of the Raithu monastery. The ''Scala'', which obtained immense popularity and made its author famous in the Church, is addressed to anchorites and cenobites and treats of the means by which the highest degree of religious perfection may be attained. Divided into thirty parts, or "steps", in memory of the thirty years of the life of Christ—the "Divine Model" for the faithful Christian—it presents a picture of all the virtues, and contains a great many parables and historical touches, drawn principally from the monastic life and exhibiting the practical application of the precepts. At the same time, as the work is mostly written in a concise, aphoristic form, and as the reasonings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Contemplation
Christian mysticism is the tradition of mysticism, mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation [of the person] for, the consciousness of, and the effect of [...] a direct and transformative presence of God in Christianity, God" or divine ''love''. Until the sixth century the practice of what is now called mysticism was referred to by the term ''contemplatio'', c.q. ''theoria'', from ''Contemplation, contemplatio'' (Latin; Ancient Greek, Greek :wikt:θεωρία, θεωρία, ''theoria''), "looking at", "gazing at", "being aware of" God or the divine.William Johnson, ''The Inner Eye of Love: Mysticism and Religion'' (HarperCollins 1997 ), p. 24 Christianity took up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
