Hesychasm: A Christian Path of Transcendence

https://www.theosophical.org/publications/quest-magazine/1432
Originally printed in the March-April 2000 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Mitchell B., Liester. "Hesychasm: A Christian Path of Transcendence." Quest 89.2 MARCH-APRIL 2000): 54-59, 65.
By Mitchell B. Liester

An ancient mystical tradition was lost to the Western world nearly a thousand years ago. Now, at the dawn of
the new millennium, this profound yet practical path of transcendence is being rediscovered. Its name is
hesychasm, from a Greek root meaning "to be still."
Hesychasm's roots extend back almost two thousand years to the beginnings of the Christian church. Today
much of what we know about this spiritual path has been gleaned from the writings of mystics who populated
the Middle Eastern deserts in the fourth century. These early ascetics are known as the Desert Fathers.
In the eleventh century, the Christian church split into the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Catholicism
rejected hesychasm, which encouraged individual experiences of the divine. As a result, hesychasm disappeared
from Western culture but survived because the Orthodox church embraced and preserved this tradition of quiet
meditation.
For the last millennium, hesychasm has remained shrouded in obscurity in the West. Why? One reason is that
hesychastic texts preserved by the Orthodox Church were written in Greek or the languages of various eastern
European countries. This made them inaccessible to most Westerners. Only recently have classics such as The
Philokalia and The Ladder of Divine Ascent been translated into English. Another factor has been the cultural
and political differences that separated Eastern Europe from the West. The fall of these barriers is permitting
greater access to, and understanding of, this spiritual path.
Altered States of Consciousness
Practitioners of hesychasm, known as hesychasts, use Christian terminology to describe their experiences. If we
permit ourselves the latitude of translating those descriptions into contemporary psychological terminology, we
can glimpse the hesychast's inner world.
Hesychasts describe two types of consciousness: ego-centered and ego-transcendent. The former is a state
dominated by attachments to the senses, emotions, intellect, and imagination. The latter involves detachment
from those faculties.
The shift from ego-centered to ego-transcendent consciousness is called metanoia in Greek. The literal
translation of this term is "transformation of the nous," but the English language contains no exact synonym for

the word nous. Misleading translations are "intellect," "mind," or "reason." The nous bears no resemblance to
the rational intellect (dianoia in Greek). Whereas the rational intellect uses deductive reasoning, the nous relies
upon "immediate experience" or intuition. Therefore, the term metanoia is correctly understood as a shift from
ego-centered to nous-centered, ego-transcendent, or, in hesychastic terminology, God-centered consciousness.
The ultimate goal for hesychasts is union with God (Greek theosis). Three steps are required to achieve this
goal. The first is dispassion (Greek apatheia), which involves detachment from the senses and the emotions.
The second is stillness (Greek hesychia), which requires detachment from the discursive intellect and the
imagination. The final step is an abiding state of illumination called deification or perfect union with God
(Greek theosis).
Hesychasts employ both physical and mental practices to achieve ego-transcendent consciousness. Although it
is convenient to describe these practices separately, hesychasts view them as interwoven and inseparable.
Outer Practices
Physical or "outer" practices are designed to help hesychasts detach from the senses and the passions. What are
passions? They are intense emotions that attract and hold attention. The Desert Fathers referred to passions as
"diseases of the soul" because they anchor us in ego-centered consciousness (Spidlik 268). Despite this
characterization, passions are not considered bad. Rather they are viewed as neutral. Passions are "fallen" (bad)
only when they are misdirected.
Hesychasts employ a number of outer practices. For example, novices are encouraged to "withdraw from the
world." This practice involves both social isolation and detachment from the passions. Fasting may consist of
either complete abstinence from food or moderation in eating. Moderation is considered preferable to extreme
deprivation, for the latter is said to increase subsequent overindulgence. Prolonged periods of prayer in
conjunction with sleep deprivation are known as vigils. The practice of prostrations involves repeatedly
bending the knees and prostrating oneself on the floor. These are performed in order to prevent "distracting
cares." The term silence, in the context of physical asceticism, refers to the avoidance of unnecessary talking.
Hesychasts advocate limiting speech to a bare minimum rather than total muteness. Isaac the Syrian explained
the purpose of silence as awakening the mind to God (Cavarnos, Paths 19).
Through the regular practice of such physical or outer techniques, hesychasts experience a state known as
apatheia (dispassion or passionlessness). This state is necessary to maintain higher states of consciousness.
Maximus the Confessor, a seventh century hesychast, explained (Kadloubovsky and Palmer, Early Fathers
297):
As a bird tied by the leg, when it starts to rise upwards is pulled back to earth by the string, so the mind which
has not yet attained passionlessness, although rising to the knowledge of heavenly things, is pulled back to earth
by the passions.
Despite its great importance, passionlessness is a means, not an end. Once attachments to the senses and
passions are transcended, attachments to the intellect and imagination remain. Mental or inner practices are used
to release those attachments.
Inner Practices
Hesychasts utilize meditation and prayer to detach from their thoughts. The Greek word nipsis describes a state
of focused attention in which the object of attention is the thoughts of the intellect. With time and practice,
nipsis facilitates detachment from these thoughts.

Four levels of prayer are experienced by hesychasts: verbal prayer, mental prayer, prayer of the heart, and
contemplation. Although these can be described as distinct types of prayer, hesychasts do not experience them
that way. Instead, they are experienced as unfolding levels of prayer that occur during the spiritual journey.
Verbal prayer (or physical prayer) consists of reading, chanting, or reciting psalms. This form of prayer is
sometimes used by hesychasts when they have difficulty sustaining mental prayer. Mental prayer involves
speaking words inwardly with the mind, rather that outwardly with the voice. The most common form of mental
prayer is the "Jesus Prayer," which has been described by Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain as follows
(Cavarnos, Paths 28):
A person placing his mind within the heart and, without speaking with his mouth, but only with inner words
spoken in the heart, [says] this brief and single prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me."
The Jesus Prayer is not exclusively a mental prayer. It can be spoken aloud or inwardly with the mind, and can
also emanate from the heart.
Various psycho-physiological techniques are associated with the Jesus Prayer. Some monks use a prayer-rope to
count recitations of the prayer. Others link this prayer to the breath, heartbeat, prostrations, or thoughts of death.
The third level of prayer, known as pure prayer or prayer of the heart, is said to evolve out of mental prayer.
Prayer of the heart has been described as follows (Kadloubovsky and Palmer, Writings 1567):
The mind should be in the hearta distinctive feature of the third method of prayer. It should guard the heart
while it prays, revolve, remaining always within, and thence, from the depths of the heart, offer up prayers to
God.
The final stage of the hesychastic journey is called theoria or contemplation. This stage involves the cessation
of all mental activity, at which point one is able to "see God in everything" (Spidlik 327).
Experiences Associated with Hesychastic Practices
On the path to union with God, hesychasts may encounter extraordinary experiences. These are not viewed as
byproducts of spiritual practice, as our Western minds might interpret them. Instead, they are attributed directly
to God. These experiences include: hesychia, spiritual gifts, divine light, and agape or love.
Hesychia is a state of detached awareness experienced during regular spiritual practice. Hesychia is not merely
a phenomenon of the intellect. Instead, it involves detachment from the egos faculties (the senses, emotions,
imagination, and intellect). It is "a state of inner tranquility or mental quietude and concentration" (Palmer,
Sherrard, and Ware 1:365).
Spiritual gifts are said to originate directly from God, yet hesychasts generally distrust these gifts because they
are viewed as distractions on the spiritual journey. Saint Paul (1 Cor. 12.4) described nine spiritual gifts, which
Kelsey condensed into five categories: healing and miracles, gifts of proclamation, revelations, discernment of
spirits, and wisdom or spiritual knowledge.
Hesychastic writers give sparse attention to the gift of healing, a term that refers to the ability to cure diseases.
Their writings clearly state, however, that miracles and healings are gifts, not accomplishments. This distinction
highlights the fact that miracles are viewed as resulting from the divine acting through the individual, rather
than as an accomplishment of the individual.

The gift of proclamation is more commonly known as prophesy. Contemporary use of this term implies a
foretelling of the future, but originally this term had a different meaning. The term prophesy described the
transmission of information from ego-transcendent consciousness (a revelation of the Holy Spirit), regardless of
whether it related to the present, past, or future.
Today, revelation is often misunderstood as well. This confusion can be attributed to our inability to
discriminate between related phenomena. Nikitas Stithatos described revelation as a form of trans-sensory
awareness that occurs "when the purified and illumined soul is able to contemplate in a way that transcends
normal sense-perception" (Palmer, Sherrard, and Ware 4:124). Revelation is different from sensory or
intellectual knowledge.
Diakresis or discernment of spirits is the ability to discriminate between different types of thoughts. More
specifically, it refers to the ability to distinguish between thoughts originating from the ego and thoughts
originating from ego-transcendent consciousness. It is "a kind of eye or lantern of the soul by which man finds
his way along the spiritual path without falling into extremes" (Palmer, Sherrard, and Ware 4:429).
Knowledge obtained by the nous is different from knowledge obtained by the ego. The former is referred to as
spiritual knowledge (Greek gnosis), whereas the latter is called natural knowledge or theoretical knowledge.
Gnosis is nondualistic or intuitive, whereas sensory and intellectual knowledge are dualistic. Maximos the
Confessor explained: "Spiritual knowledge unites knower and known, while (natural knowledge) is always a
cause of change and self-division" (Palmer, Sherrard, and Ware 2:282).
Divine Light is an inner light described as "spiritual" or "divine" and "the light of the spirit" (Palmer, Sherrard,
and Ware 2:39, 280; 3:43). This divine light can be seen with the eyes of the body, the eye of the soul (the
nous), or both. Accounts of this light do not reflect an intellectual experience of light, nor are they metaphorical.
Instead they describe a direct experience of a suprasensible light which provides knowledge that transcends
time, space, and reason.
Agape or spiritual love is the final gift of the spirit. Agape has been described as theocentric as opposed to
egocentric love (Sorokin 5). Maximus the Confessor described agape as "that good disposition of the soul in
which it prefers nothing that exists to knowledge of God" (Kadloubovsky and Palmer, Early Fathers 287).
Progress on the hesychastic path is associated with increasing degrees of agape and decreasing levels of fear.
Eventually, fear is completely transcended as it is replaced by what Diadochos of Photiki referred to as "perfect
love" (Palmer, Sherrard, and Ware 1:257).
Pitfalls Along the Path
The hesychastic path, like other spiritual journeys, is fraught with pitfalls. These range from relatively minor
impediments to serious, life-threatening dangers. Three categories of pitfalls exist, although hesychasts do not
group them in this way: early pitfalls, late pitfalls, and pitfalls resulting from interactions with others.
Early pitfalls occur when ego detachment is incomplete. Beginning hesychasts must overcome myriad
attachments, so incomplete or partial detachment frequently occurs. For example, hesychasts can detach from
thoughts, but not passions. Maximus explained (Kadloubovsky and Palmer, Early Fathers 329):
It is one thing to be freed from thoughts and another to be freed from passions. Men are often freed from
thoughts when the objects of their passion are not before their eyes. Yet the passions meanwhile lie concealed in
the soul and manifest themselves when the objects appear.

Another pitfall is distraction by mental images. This can lead to discouragement and despair. Ego suppression,
which differs from ego transcendence, is yet another danger. Hesychasts strive to transfigure or "deify" their
egos rather than suppress them.
Late Pitfalls follow some degrees of ego detachment. For example, travel beyond the limits of the ego can be a
frightening experience, particularly if one is ill prepared. From the perspective of the ego, inner silence feels
like death. Thus, the preparation that precedes ego detachment can influence whether this journey is a terrifying
gauntlet into psychosis or an enduring state of transcendence. For this reason, hesychasts advise that the
spiritual journey not be undertaken lightly. Symeon the New Theologian warned: "Some have become totally
possessed, and in their madness wander from place to place. . . . Some of them have committed suicide"
(Kadloubovsky and Palmer, Writings 153).
Misconstruing transitory experiences of transcendence for an abiding state of transcendence is another danger.
This results in a condition termed laziness. Laziness occurs when an individual experiences ego transcendence,
but does not work to maintain ego-detachment.
Ego-inflation is another problem. When the rewards of transcendence (or the Grace of God) are mistakenly
viewed as accomplishments of the ego, ego-inflation results. Maximus the Confessor warned: "Knowledge is
usually followed by conceit and envy, especially in the beginning" (Kadloubovsky and Palmer, Early Fathers
340).
Attachment to spiritual gifts or mystical phenomena is another obstacle. Hesychastic writers teach that such
phenomena distract from the ultimate goal of union with god. Therefore, they do not view spiritual gifts as goals
to be attained.
Attempts to understand ego-transcendent realms by the rational intellect invariably fail. The ego is incapable of
understanding spiritual knowledge. Therefore, attempts at rational depictions of spiritual realms result in
incomplete or distorted information.
Pitfalls associated with encountering others who have not yet experienced ego transcendence is the last
category. Such encounters can result in criticism, judgment, or even condemnation. Symeon the New
Theologian warned: "Those taught by God will be regarded as fools by the disciples of such as are wise in the
wisdom of this world" (Palmer, Sherrard, and Ware 4:47).
Contemporary Christian Contemplative Practices
Today the largest community of individuals who follow the classic hesychastic tradition is found on a Greek
peninsula known as Mount Athos. This community consists of about two thousand monks of Greek, Russian,
Serbian, Bulgarian, and Rumanian decent who live in twenty monasteries scattered about the peninsula. The
oldest of these monasteries dates back to the tenth century.
Certain restrictions are maintained on Mount Athos. For example, no automobiles, carts, children, dogs, or
musical instruments are allowed (Cavarnos, Anchored in God). Also, no women are permitted to visit
(Cavarnos, Holy Mountain).
The hesychastic tradition is now surfacing within the Catholic church. In 1975, Father William Menninger
developed the practice of centering prayer, which has been described as "A method of refining ones intuitive
faculties so that one can enter more easily into contemplative prayer" (Keating, Open Mind 34; Keating,
Invitation 1). It involves the repetition of a sacred word, which facilitates inner silence. Keating (Open Mind 40)
likens this process to the emptying out of a bathtub:

Emptying the mind of its customary routines of thinking is a process that we can only initiate, like taking the
stopper out of a bathtub. The water goes down by itself. You don't have to push the water out of the tub. You
simply allow it to run out. You are doing something similar in this prayer. Allow your ordinary train of thoughts
to flow out of you.

Summary
Hesychasm is an ancient mystical tradition that offers time-proven methods for detaching from the ego and
experiencing transcendent states of consciousness. This tradition is not limited to reclusive monks. Anyone can
be a hesychastic. The divine Chrysostom wrote (Cavarnos, Paths 445):
Even a man living within a city can imitate the life of monks. Indeed, even a man who has a wife, and who is
occupied with the demands of his household, can pray, fast, and learn contrition. . . . Let us cultivate selfmastery and all of the other virtues, and let us bring into our cities the way of life which is sought in the deserts.
One of the unfortunate occurrences regarding the hesychastic tradition has been the mistranslation of ancient
Greek terms by individuals who clearly had not themselves experienced transcendent states of consciousness.
For example the Greek word hamartia means "to miss the mark." Hesychasts used this word to refer to the state
in which one remains attached to the passions. Contemporary versions of the Bible translate hamartia as "sin,"
which implies a malevolent action deserving punishment. Similarly, the term metanoia, which refers to a shift
from ego-centered to trans-egoic consciousness, is translated as "repentance," a term with profoundly different
connotations.
Studying the words the hesychasts use to describe their tradition makes it apparent that much of our
contemporary Christian terminology has been mistranslated. In this process, the original mystical meanings
have been lost. In their place we discover the fingerprints of the Biblical translators egos and their dualistic
judgments (good/bad, right/wrong, etc.), which have left an indelible mark on much of contemporary
Christianity, particularly fundamentalist branches, which lean toward literal interpretations of the English Bible.
Journeying back to the early Christian writings of the hesychasts, we encounter a much kinder and gentler
Christianity. We discover a tradition that provides a rich body of instructions for transcending the ego.
What happens when the Prayer of the Heart is repeated? A shift in consciousness occursa shift to a deep
abiding peacea stillness of mind that transcends everyday consciousness. A wellspring is opened from which
another mode of being flows. In this state, trans-rational knowledge is acquired. This is the realm of intuition,
revelation, and prophecy. This is the realm of ineffable experiences for which metaphors offer only approximate
glimpses. This is the realm in which time and space are transcended. This is the realm of inner silence, which is
available to each and every one of us, if only we are willing to listen.
References

Cavarnos, Constantine. Anchored in God: An Inside Account of Life, Art, and Thought on the Holy
Mountain of Athos. Athens, Greece: Astir Pub. Co., 1959.
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The Holy Mountain. Belmont, MA: Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 1973.

,
trans. Paths and Means to Holiness. By Bishop Chrsostomos of Oreoi. Etna, CA: Center for
Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, 1986.

Kadloubovsky, E., and Gerald E. Palmer, trans. Early Fathers from the Philokalia. London: Faber and
Faber, 1976.
,
trans. Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart. London: Faber and Faber, 1979.

Keating, Thomas. Invitation to Love: The Way of Christian Contemplation. New York: Continuum,
1995.
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Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel. Rockport, MA: Element, 1992.

Kelsey, Morton T. Companions on the Inner Way: The Art of Spiritual Guidance. New York: Crossroad,
1985.
Palmer, Gerald Eustace, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware, trans. The Philokalia. 4 vols. London:
Faber and Faber, 198395.
Sorokin, Pitirim. The Ways and Power of Love: Types, Factors, and Techniques of Moral
Transformation, Boston: Beacon Press, 1954.
Spidlik, Tomas. The Spirituality of the Christian East: A Systematic Handbook. Kalamazoo, MI:
Cistercian Publications, 1986.

Mitchell B. Liester, MD, is a psychiatrist in Monument, Colorado. His articles have appeared previously in the
Quest, Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and Journal of Near-Death Studies. He can be reached at
liester@aol.com.