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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 and halting of thought at the entrance to the heart." Etymology The term comes from the New Testament's First Epistle of Peter (5:8, νήψατε, γρηγορήσατε. ὁ ἀντίδικος ὑμῶν διάβολος ὡς λέων ὠρυόμενος περιπατεῖ ζητῶν τινα καταπιεῖν — NIV: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour). There ''nepsis'' appears in a verb form, in the imperative mood, as an urgent command to vigilance and awakeness: "be alert and awake". Context Perhaps most associated with Orthodox monasticism, innumerable references to nepsis are made in ''The Philokalia'' (the full title of ''The Philokalia'' being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theoria
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] |
Philokalia
The ''Philokalia'' (, 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 tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church. They were originally written for the guidance and instruction of monks in "the practice of the contemplative life". The collection was compiled in the 18th century by Nicodemus the Hagiorite and Macarius of Corinth based on the codices 472 (12th century), 605 (13th century), 476 (14th century), 628 (14th century) and 629 (15th century) from the library of the monastery of Vatopedi, Mount Athos. Although these works were individually known in the monastic culture of Greek Orthodox Christianity before their inclusion in the ''Philokalia'', their presence in this collection resulted in a much wider readership due to its translation into several languages. The earliest translations included a Church Slavonic language translation of selected texts by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creation and guidance. In Nicene Christianity, this conception expanded in meaning to represent the third person of the Trinity, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Son. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as an agent of divine action or communication. In the Baha’i Faith, the Holy Spirit is seen as the intermediary between God and man and "the outpouring grace of God and the effulgent rays that emanate from His Manifestation". Comparative religion The Hebrew Bible contains the term " spirit of God" (') which by Jews is interpreted in the sense of the might of a unitary God. This interpretation is different from the Nicene Christian conception of the Holy Spirit as one person of the Trinity. The Christian concept ten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian Terminology
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title (), a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term '' mashiach'' () (usually rendered as ''messiah'' in English). While there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term ''Christian'' used as an adjective is descriptive of anything associated with Christianity or Christian churches, or in a proverbial sense "all that is noble, and good, and Christ-like." According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.3 billion Christians around the world, up from about 600 million in 1910. Today, about 37% of all Christians live in the Americas, about 26% live in Europe, 24% live in sub-Saharan Africa, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theosis (Eastern Orthodox Theology)
''Theosis'' (), or deification (deification may also refer to ''apotheosis'', lit. "making divine"), is a transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union with God, as taught by the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church; the same concept is also found in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, where it is termed " divinization". As a process of transformation, ''theosis'' is brought about by the effects of ''catharsis'' (purification of mind and body) and ''theoria'' ('illumination' with the 'vision' of God). According to Eastern Christian teachings, ''theosis'' is very much the purpose of human life. It is considered achievable only through synergy (or cooperation) of human activity and God's uncreated energies (or operations). According to Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos), the primacy of ''theosis'' in Eastern Orthodox Christian theology is directly related to the fact that Byzantine theology (as historically conceived by its principal expone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prayer Of The Heart
The Jesus Prayer, also known as The Prayer, is a short formulaic prayer and is especially esteemed and advocated in Eastern Christianity and Catholicism. There are multiple versions of this prayer, however the most widely used version is as follows: It is often repeated continually as a part of personal ascetic practice, its use being an integral part of the Hermitic tradition of prayer known as hesychasm. The prayer is particularly esteemed by the spiritual fathers of this tradition (see ''Philokalia'') as a method of cleaning and opening up the mind and after this the heart (), brought about first by the Prayer of the Mind, or more precisely the Noetic Prayer (), and after this the Prayer of the Heart (). The ''Prayer of the Heart'' is considered to be the ''Unceasing Prayer'' that the Apostle Paul advocates in the New Testament. Theophan the Recluse regarded the ''Jesus Prayer'' stronger than all other prayers by virtue of the power of the Holy Name of Jesus. Though identifie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nous
''Nous'' (, ), from , is a concept from classical philosophy, sometimes equated to intellect or intelligence, for the cognitive skill, faculty of the human mind necessary for understanding what is truth, true or reality, real. Alternative English terms used in philosophy include "understanding" and "mind"; or sometimes "thought" or "reason" (in the sense of that which reasons, not the activity of reasoning). It is also often described as something equivalent to perception except that it works within the mind ("the mind's eye"). It has been suggested that the basic meaning is something like "awareness". In colloquial British English, ''nous'' also denotes "good sense", which is close to one everyday meaning it had in Ancient Greece. The ''nous'' performed a role comparable to the modern concept of intuition (philosophy), intuition. In Aristotle's philosophy, which was influential on later conceptions of the category, ''nous'' was carefully distinguished from sense perception, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hesychia
The Greek term ''hesychia'' (, ) is a concept that can be translated as "stillness, rest, quiet, silence". In Christianity In the Eastern Orthodox Christian mystical tradition of hesychasm, hesychia refers to a state of stillness and peace that is obtained through extreme ascetical struggle, prayer, and the constant contemplation of God. The attainment of hesychia is a central theme discussed in hesychast literature. Chapter 2 of the '' Systematic Sayings of the Desert Fathers'' is dedicated to the topic of hesychia. In Neoplatonism The term is also used in Neoplatonic texts such as the ''Enneads''. Other languages Equivalent terms in other languages include Syriac ''shelya'' (''šelya''). See also * Monastic silence *Apatheia *Inner peace *Tranquility * Centering prayer *Quietism (Christian philosophy) *Christianity and Hellenistic philosophy *Neoplatonism and Christianity *Mauna (silence) In Hindu philosophy, Mauna (Silence), which has a voice of its own, refers to peac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hesychasm
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] |
Theosis (Eastern Orthodox Theology)
''Theosis'' (), or deification (deification may also refer to ''apotheosis'', lit. "making divine"), is a transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union with God, as taught by the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church; the same concept is also found in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, where it is termed " divinization". As a process of transformation, ''theosis'' is brought about by the effects of ''catharsis'' (purification of mind and body) and ''theoria'' ('illumination' with the 'vision' of God). According to Eastern Christian teachings, ''theosis'' is very much the purpose of human life. It is considered achievable only through synergy (or cooperation) of human activity and God's uncreated energies (or operations). According to Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos), the primacy of ''theosis'' in Eastern Orthodox Christian theology is directly related to the fact that Byzantine theology (as historically conceived by its principal expone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Orthodox Christian Theology
Eastern Orthodox theology is the theology particular to the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is characterized by monotheistic Trinitarianism, belief in the Incarnation of the divine Logos or only-begotten Son of God, cataphatic theology with apophatic theology, a hermeneutic defined by a sacred Tradition, a Catholic ecclesiology, a theology of the person, and a principally recapitulative and therapeutic soteriology. Holy Tradition Ecclesiology The Eastern Orthodox Church considers itself to be the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles. The Eastern Orthodox Church asserts to have been very careful in preserving these traditions. Eastern Orthodox Christians regard the Christian Bible as a collection of inspired texts that sprang out of this tradition, not the other way around; and the choices made in the compilation of the New Testament as having come from comparison with already firmly established faith. The Bible has come to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
