Notes on the Jesus Prayer by Fr. Artemy Vladimirov

Icon of Our Lord Jesus Christ from the Church of St Panteleimon,

Thessaloniki, Greece

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner"
The Jesus Prayer

Warm, concise suggestions on making the prayer of the heart come alive from Moscow pastor, Fr. Artemy Vladimirov.

We very much pity those Orthodox Christians who think that the best rest for their exhausted soul is to watch television news. This isn't a bad thing, perhaps, but it's a dead thing. You may spend all of the earthly time you have been allotted with such distractions, but you will never be at peace. If you want to calm your mind and ease your heart, try calling instead on the most holy name of Jesus Christ, without haste and with only one intent: to attract His attention and repent of your sins.

To stand before the face of God, to cleanse your heart and sanctify the space of your life by invoking His name, this is your aim.We don't know how God cleanses our heart by His name, but we believe that He does so in a supernatural way. In saying the Jesus Prayer, it is not so important whether you are a monk or a drunk, but you are to be very steadfast, attentive, humble, mild, and concentrated. 

Try taking a walk for ten minutes as you invoke His miracle-working name, and you will see spiritual profit. Begin in a simple, humble manner, Oh, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner. You may even do this somewhat mechanically, knowing that this tradition has been sanctified by generations of saints, but as you walk and pray, try not to think of anything else. Just walk in the presence of God.

In these ten minutes, you will find that your fevered mind is soothed, that the noisy bazaar of your thoughts has become light, clear, and direct, and that your heart has begun to say other prayers in a manner that satisfies you. You pray, you breathe, you speak to God; you are not just repeating empty words.

What does it mean to have your mind in your heart? It means that you are to control your feelings. You are not to admit invaders into your heart, but are to check your heart with your mind, to observe everything that takes place there. To have your mind in your heart is exactly what our Lord prescribes to us in His commandment: "But thou when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret." Matthew 6:6 What does it mean to shut the door? It means to banish every earthly image or passion with the concentration of your mind and will. When we pray we should not admit feelings of lust or open our hearts to the snake of irritation; we are to rid ourselves of everything that is unpleasant. To have your mind in your heart is to control the space of your heart. It is the kingdom of God Almighty and of nothing else.

If you make progress in this humble prayer, you will begin to understand that this commandment is very complete. Your heart will be filled with a spiritual warmth that embraces the center of your feelings. You will come to understand what attentive prayer is, and that your heart has been created for ceaseless prayer. Ceaseless prayer is not a perpetual repetition of this or that word or phrase. The Holy Fathers say that it is the feeling of your heart. Just as you view the objects of this world with open eyes, so your heart, warmed by prayer to God, will partake of the spiritual world. This will be due, not to your piety, but to God's grace. Unceasing prayer may have no words, but you will walk and sleep in the presence of God.

From; Bright Faith - Father Artemy Vladimirov Talks with Western Orthodox Christians , 

pp.170-171, by Fr. Artemy Vladimirov, CSB Publishing, Ash Grove Missouri, 2010 

Source

''Theosis'' in St Silouan the Athonite and Starets Sophrony of Essex

St Silouan the Athonite Source


''Theosis'' in St Silouan the  Athonite and Starets Sophrony of Essex 
by Dr. Christopher Veniamin

''Coming into contact with Father Sophrony was always an event of a most especial kind. His monastics, first and foremost, but also those who made up his wider spiritual family, ''lived,'' as Father Zacharias put it, ''in an abundance of the word of God.''
As a young boy, I had the blessing of serving each Sunday in the altar of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex, England. One day when I was still a lad of only fifteen or sixteen years of age, following the Divine Liturgy, and whilst standing in the Prothesis of All Saints Church, Father Sophrony asked me why I was looking so thoughtful. Embarrassed that I was preoccupied with such mundane matters, I had to confess that school examinations were on the horizon, and that I wanted to do well in them. To my surprise, however, Father Sophrony did not belittle my worldly anxiety, but gently nodded his head, and agreed that it was indeed important to do well in examinations, and that to do so required much toil and sacrifice. But then he also added, as though to a friend, that ''in this world there is nothing more difficult than to be saved.''
The force of the truth of these words struck deep in my heart. We often encounter, in ourselves and in others, the attitude which suggests that Salvation is something that we can leave until later; once, that is, we have taken care of more pressing matters. Father Sophrony's perspective was quite different, however. By pointing to the incomparable difficulty of attaining to Salvation, he was clearly placing it at the very top of our list of urgent priorities. And when one pauses to consider all the great achievements of mankind, past and present, whether they be of a scientific or literary character, in the world of politics or finance or physical endeavour. Father Sophrony's words seem bold and even provocative - ''a hard saying'' (John 6:60) - but nevertheless fundamentally quite true.
Upon later reflection, I realized that the reason why Father Sophrony's words rang so true that day is because of the wealth of meaning which Salvation has for us in the Orthodox Church. By others, Salvation is often understood simply in terms of ''deliverance from sin and its consequences and admission to heaven,'' in terms of escaping damnation, that is, and reaching a safe place where we can no longer be tormented by the enemy. According to the Fathers of the Church, however, Salvation is not so prosaic a matter, for it involves the ''theosis'' (the deification or divinization) of the entire human person in Christ; it involves, that is, becoming like unto Christ to the point of identity with Him; it involves acquiring the mind of Christ (as Saint Paul affirms in the second chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, verse sixteen), and indeed it signifies the sharing in His very Life.
In our brief and humble examination of the content and meaning of theosis or deification in Saint Silouan and Staretz Sophrony, I should like to focus on three main areas: 1. Christ as the measure of our deification, 2. Love for enemies as the measure of our likeness to Christ, and 3. Holy Relics as a witness to the love of Christ in us.
1. Christ as the Measure of Our Deification
Christ is the measure of all things, both divine and human. Since the divine Ascension, our human nature has been raised up to the right hand of God the Father. As Father Sophrony points out, in His divine Person, the Son and Word of God was of course always seated on the right hand of the Father, being con-substantial with Him. The divine purpose for the human race, however, is seen in the union of our human nature to the divine Person of Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, in its being raised to the right hand of the Father.
St Paul, the great Apostle of the Word of God made flesh, identifies the divine purpose of the Incarnation with our adoption as sons of God: ''But when the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ'' (Gal. 4:4-7).
In Christ Jesus, therefore, we encounter both true and perfect God and true and perfect man. In other words, we see in Him not only the great God and Saviour (Tit. 2:13), but also what or who we have been called to become - sons and heirs of God the Father. St Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, in refuting the heresy of the Gnostics of the second century, described the divine purpose succinctly thus: ''[I]f the Word is made man, it is that men might become gods'' (1). And the champion of Nicene Orthodoxy, Athanasius the Great, writing in the fourth century, reaffirms the Biblical and Irenaean position: ''God became human,'' he says, ''that we might be made gods'' (autos gar enenthrop-esen, ina emeis theopoiethomen) (2).
''God became human that we might be made gods.'' What a daring statement! But what exactly does it mean for us to become gods? Can we created mortals become uncreated and immortal? Is this not an impossibility? An impiety? Or even a blasphemy? In what, then, does our becoming gods, our deification or divinization - our theosis - consist?
As Archimandrite Sophrony explains in his spiritual autobiography. We Shall See Him As He Is:''Christ manifested the perfection of the Divine image in man and the possibility for our nature of assimilating the fullness of divinization to the very extent that, after His ascension. He placed our nature 'on the right hand of the Father''' (3). Note here that the expression ''on the right hand of the Father'' (ek dexion tou Patros) denotes nothing less than equality with the Father. Thus, since the time of the divine Ascension of Christ, our human nature has been deified in Him, and raised up to the right hand of God the Father. Significantly, however, Archimandrite Sophrony also adds the following: ''But even in Him our nature did not become one with the Essence of the Uncreated God. In Christ, incarnate Son of the Father, we contemplate God's pre-eternal idea of man'' (4).
So, in Christ Jesus we find man's rightful place, ''on the right hand of the Father,'' sharing in the divine Life; but, as with the two natures in Christ, man has been called to be united with God without mixture or confusion of any kind, that is to say, we never cease to be His creatures, since He alone is Uncreated. This fundamental distinction is of inestimable significance in Patristic theology. Nevertheless, in the union of our human nature to the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, we also see what in theological terminology is called the communicatio idiomatum, that is, the exchange of natural properties belonging to each of Christ's two natures. This may also be described in terms of the interpenetration of the natural energy of each of the two natures in Christ in the other.
As a simple illustration of this we have the Gospel narrative of the Transfiguration in Luke 9:28, where we first see Christ praying, performing, that is, an act which is proper to His human but not to His divine nature; while moments later, we find His humanity sharing in, indeed resplendent with. His divine glory, which is proper only to the divine nature. Saint Cyril of Alexandria describes the scene in this way: ''The blessed disciples slept for a short while, as Christ gave Himself to prayer. For He voluntarily fulfilled His human obligations (ta anthropina). Later, on waking they became beholders (theoroi) of His most holy and wondrous change'' (5).
Staretz Sophrony points out that the union of the human nature in Christ is of course hypostatic or prosopic, that is to say, that Christ is a divine Person, the Person of the Son and Word of God; but, it is equally important to note that the union of the two natures in Christ is also energetic (6). The significance of this energetic interpenetration of the divine and human natures in each other is of paramount importance for us human beings in that it forms the basis of our own union with God, which is also energetic and not essential or hypostatic. In other words, it proves to us that the example of Christ is also realizable, also attainable, by us human persons, and that theosis to the point of divine perfection, far from being optional, is in fact an obligation. It is in this sense that Staretz Sophrony understands the exhortation: ''Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect'' (Matt. 5:48).
Father Sophrony also highlights another mystery concerning the Life of Christ on earth as a model and pattern for our own Life in Christ. This is revealed in the fact that even with the human nature of Christ we may observe a certain growth or dynamism, or, as Holy Scripture puts it, a certain ''increase'': ''And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man'' (Luke 2:52). Thus, before all things had been fulfilled, even after the hypostatic union of human nature to the divine Person of the Word - even after His assumption of our humanity into His divine Person - even Christ, in His human aspect, appears as increasing in perfection. Hence, He also undergoes temptations (Luke 4:1-13, Hebr. 2:18); and even reached the point of agony (Luke 22:44). This, as Father Sophrony remarks, is due principally to a certain division which may be observed in Christ before His glorious Ascension, owing to the asymmetry of His natures. Following His Ascension, and the sitting of Christ the Son of Man on the right hand of God the Father, we have the new vision of the Christ-Man as equal to God, not of course according to His nature, but according to His energy.
Father Sophrony cautiously notes, however, that this does not refer to Christ's hypostatic ''aspect,'' for the pre-eternal and uncreated Word remained such even after His Incarnation. Nevertheless, in the human ''aspect'' of His union and existence, we find once again the model and pattern for our own Life in Christ, for, as Staretz Sophrony puts it:
''Christ is the unshakable foundation and the ultimate criterion for the anthropological teaching of the Church, Whatever we confess concerning the humanity of Christ is also an indication of the eternal divine plan for man in general. The fact that in the Christ-Man His hypostasis is God, in no way diminishes the possibility for us humans to follow His example (cf. John 13:15) (7), after which 'in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren' (Hebr. 2:17).
''If it is true that Christ is the 'Son of Man,' consubstantial with us, then it follows that everything that He accomplished in His earthly life must likewise be possible for the rest of the 'sons of men.''' And for this reason. Father Sophrony adds that ''if we confess His full and perfect theosis, it behooves us also to hope for the same degree of theosis for the saints in the age to come'' (8).
The fundamental theological concern behind all that we have said so far is soteriological, that is to say, it concerns our Salvation in a most fundamental way. Why? Because of the simple fact that we cannot live with Christ if we are not like Him in all respects. As the great hierophant John the Theologian and Evangelist proclaims: ''We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure'' (1 John 3:2-3). ''We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.'' So, if we wish to be eternally with Christ, we must become like Him; and this process of becoming Christ-like, this purification, invariably involves repentance - a fundamental change in our whole way of life, in our very ''mode of being.''
Saint Symeon the New Theologian, in his Hymn no. 44 reiterates this point in the following way:
''The Master is in no way envious of mortal men that they should appear equal to Him by divine grace, neither does He deem His servants unworthy to be like unto Him, but rather does He delight and rejoice to see us who were made men such as to become by grace what He is by nature. And He is so beneficent that He wills us to become even as He is. For if we be not as He is, exactly like unto Him in every way, how could we be united to Him? How could we dwell in Him, as He said, without being like unto Him, and how could He dwell in us, if we be not as He is?'' (9)
And again concerning the awesome-ness of our inheritance, the great Paul, in Romans, writes the following:
''The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ', if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us'' (Rom. 8:16-18).
Father Sophrony also makes another very interesting and important observation concerning the example given by Christ and our own theosis or deification. He points to the fact that even though the deification of Christ's human nature was, as Saint John Damascene says, effected from the very moment in which He assumed our nature, nevertheless Christ as Man shied away from anything which might give the impression of auto-theosis, that is to say, self-deification or self-divinization. That is why we see the action of the Holy Spirit underlined at His Holy Birth: ''The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee... therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God'' (Luke 1:35); also, the Holy Spirit descends upon Christ at His Baptism in the Jordan (Matt. 3:15); and concerning the Resurrection, the Scriptures speak thus: ''God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory'' (1 Pet. 1:21); and finally, Christ Himself, teaching us the way of humility and how always to ascribe glory to Our Heavenly Father, says: ''If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true'' (John 5:31-32).
The same movement may be observed in the Divine Liturgy. The Words of Institution - ''Take eat, this is my body,'' ''Drink of this all of you, this is my blood'' - by themselves are not regarded as sufficient to effect the consecration of the Holy Gifts; they must be accompanied by the Epiklesis, the invocation of the Holy Spirit, precisely in order to avoid any notion of self-deification, to avoid, that is, giving the impression that simply by speaking the words which Christ spoke, we are able to transform the Holy Gifts into the precious Body and Blood of Christ. (Of course, at the heart of this movement lies the truth that the action of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is always one and the same: the Three Divine Hypostases always act together, always act in unison, which is an expression of Their consubstantiality.) Thus, it behooves us to beseech God the Father to send down the Holy Spirit, by Whose power the change of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is effected (10).
2. Love for Enemies as the Measure of Our Likeness to Christ
Now although Saint Silouan himself, as far as I am aware, does not actually use the term theosis, the deification of the human person in Christ is certainly a golden thread which may be traced throughout his writings. For Saint Silouan, the fundamental criterion by which a person may measure his or her likeness to Christ is love for one's enemies (cf. Matt. 5:43-45). As he says:
''Christ prayed for them that were crucifying him: 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). Stephen the Martyr prayed for those who stoned him, that the Lord 'lay not this sin to their charge' (Acts 7:60). And we, if we wish to preserve grace, must pray for our enemies.''
Herein lies the mystery of the divine ''mode of being,'' God's very way of life: humility. Humility on the ascetic plane, explains Father Sophrony, is manifested as regarding one's self as the worst of all sinners, while on the theological plane, humility is revealed as love, which is given freely and completely (11). Saint Silouan, who was himself possessed of this divine love, humbly warns us to be watchful:
''If you do not feel pity for the sinner destined to suffer the pains of hellfire, it means that the grace of the Holy Spirit is not in you, but an evil spirit. While you are still alive, therefore, strive by repentance to free yourself from this spirit'' (12).
The struggle for Christ-like love for one's enemies and humility, and against pride, is a very great one indeed; and that is why the saints, the true imitators of Christ and sharers in His love, are great indeed. Saint Silouan writes:
''I am a sorry wretch, as the Lord knows, but my pleasure is to humble my soul and love my neighbour, though he may have given me offence. At all times I beseech the Lord Who is merciful to grant that I may love my enemies; and by the grace of God I have experienced what the love of God is, and what it is to love my neighbour; and day and night I pray the Lord for love, and the Lord gives me tears to weep for the whole world. But if I find fault with any man, or look on him with an unkind eye, my tears will dry up, and my soul sink into despondency. Yet do I begin again to entreat forgiveness of the Lord, and the Lord in His mercy forgives me, a sinner.''
''Brethren,'' Saint Silouan continues, ''before the face of my God I write: Humble your hearts, and while yet on this earth you will see the mercy of the Lord, and know your Heavenly Creator, and your souls will never have their fill of love'' (13). So, we see that the love of Christ fills the very being of His saints.
3. Holy Relics as a Witness to the Love of Christ in Us
But whither does this all-embracing Christ-like love lead? The answer for Saint Silouan is a simple one:
''Love of God takes various forms. The man who wrestles with wrong thoughts loves God according to his measure. He who struggles against sin, and asks God to give him strength not to sin, but yet falls into sin again because of his infirmity, and sorrows and repents - he possesses grace in the depths of his soul and mind, but his passions are not yet overcome. But the man who has conquered his passions now knows no conflict: all his concern is to watch himself in all things lest he fall into sin. Grace, great and perceptible, is his. But he who feels grace in both soul and body is a perfect man, and if he preserves this grace, his body is sanctified and his bones will make holy relics'' (14).
There are, described in this passage, four stages of love, the fourth and highest of which is that which is attested to by the penetration of Divine Grace into the body, into the very marrow of a persons being. And this is identified by Saint Silouan as the highest state of perfection, the highest state of holiness. ''He who feels grace in both soul and body is a perfect man, and if he preserves this grace, his body is sanctified and his bones will make holy relics.''
As with Christ's voluntary death, in which it was not possible for the Body of the Logos of Life to see corruption, and which was thus raised together with His human soul on the third day (15), so too will it be with the bodies of those saints which have known great grace in this life, and who have been able to preserve it.16 They too, even after death, are not separated from the grace and love of God, neither in soul nor in body, and hence their bodies are revealed as holy relics.
Here we are confronted with an overwhelming mystery: that man is not truly man, not truly a human person or hypostasis, without his body. For this reason, even great saints patiently await the Second and Glorious Coming of Christ, when by Grace they will become united once more with their bodies. There will not be a Judgment for them; for they have already been judged - by holy self-condemnation. The Second Coming of Christ, then, will be for them the moment of their full realization as persons, and thus the inauguration of their full and perfect participation in the Life in Christ, which is at one and the same time the Life of the Most Holy Trinity.
The sole exception to this, of course, is the Mother of God, the Theotokos (whose Feast of the Holy Protection we celebrate tomorrow, October 1), who, as the Mother of Life, even after death, could not be held by the grave, but, like her Son, ''passed over into life.'' She, therefore, even now, as a fully realized human hypostasis, enjoys the blessed Life to which we have all been called.
In our first section, we noted an important passage in Saint Paul, from his Epistle to the Romans, concerning sonship, suffering and the final glory. Please allow me to repeat it once more: ''The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us'' (Rom. 8:16-18). ''The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,'' that is, in our adoption as sons, in our Salvation, in our theosis in Christ. That is why Saint Gregory Palamas affirms that ''except for sin nothing in this life, even death itself, is really evil, even if it causes suffering'' (17). Speaking of the torments that the martyrs were willing to endure, Saint Gregory explains that ''the martyrs made the violent death which others afflicted on them into something magnificent, a source of life, glory and the eternal heavenly kingdom, because they exploited it in a good way that pleased God'' (18).
Christ's word is charged with His divine energy, life and power; so too are His divine actions and His Life on earth as Man. When we fill ourselves with His words, and strive earnestly to live according to His command and example, to love even our enemies as He did - as He does - so too do we, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, enter into the sphere of Life which is contained in them. There is, as Father Zacharias puts it, ''an exchange of lives'' which takes place. We thus become, in our souls and in our bodies, ''partakers of the divine nature'' (2 Pet. 1:4) through union with His flesh, His humanity - sharers, that is, in the very divine Life of Christ Himself, which is at the same time the Life of the Most Holy Trinity. We are saved not as individuals but as persons, as members of the Body of Christ, of which Christ is the Head. We are united with Him - and through Him, with the other members of His Body.
Notice the following words from Father Sophrony's We Shall See Him As He Is: ''Through His incarnation the everlasting Logos of the Father gives us to partake of His Blood and His Flesh in order thereby to pour into our veins His eternal Life, that we may become His children, flesh of His Flesh, bone of His Bone (cf. John 6:53-57)'' (19).
In Holy Relics, therefore, we do not see dead bones - far from it. In Holy Relics we see the result of communion with the Lord, the result of sharing the very Life of the Most High God (cf. Rom. 9:5) - communion with Him Who is Self-Life, Life Itself (autozoe). United with Christ, then, though we pass through ''the valley of the shadow of death'' (Ps. 23:4), we pass from death to Eternal Life. This is the point at which the created meets the uncreated, the point at which earth meets ''heaven face to face,'' and the point at which we created, mortal human beings are transfigured by Him into Divine Life.
Thus are the perfect. Thus are the saints. Thus are they whose very bones have preserved grace to the end. Holy Relics are the earthly remains of those who have been taught by none other than Christ Himself to love their enemies even unto death, the death of the Cross, which is His glory, and which by grace becomes their glory too. Love for enemies is not a moral injunction, it is the fundamental criterion for the Christian way of life. This is Salvation. Yea, this is theosis.
Truly, then, ''in this world there is nothing more difficult than to be saved.'' But as we begin to perceive Salvation as theosis, so too do the dry bones seen by the Prophet Ezekiel begin to receive Life:
''The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live... And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord'' (Ezek. 37:1-14).
''[I] shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live.'' ''Even so, come. Lord Jesus'' (Rev. 22:20).
NOTES
(1) Adversus Hereses V, pref.
(2) De Incarnalione LIV.
(3) We Shall See Him As He Is, translated by Rosemary Edmonds (Tolteshunt Knights, Essex: Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, 1988), p. 193.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Homiliae diversae IVin transfigurationem (Patrologia Graeca 77:10138); cf. Ad Nestorium 12, anathema 4 (Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum I, 1, 1:41), where the concept of the communicatio idiomatum is formulated in a succinct manner. The reality of the hypostatic union and the communicatio idiomatum in Christ can be discerned in the fact that Christ conversed with the people sometimes oikonomikos, as man, and sometimes with divine authority (mat' exousias tes Iheoprepous), as God, Ad Successum episcopum Diocaesareae 171.6 (ACO I, 1,, 6:153). As a result of the communicalio idiomatum, it is also permissible to say that the Son of God was born, cf. Contra Nestorium 2 (ACO I, 1, 6:18-21), and Ad Nestorium 6.3 (1:35), and died, cf. ibid., 4.5 (27-28) and 12, anathema 12(42); Contra Nestorium 5; 7 (6:101-3;105-6). See also De adorations in spiritu el veritate 10 (PG 68:656C) and cf. Thesaurus de Trinitate 32 (PG 75:560C), where Cyril maintains that the human nature of Christ possessed essential idiomata of God, while at the same time remaining distinct from His divinity, of. also De recta fide ad Arcadiam et Marinam 177 (ACO I, 1,5:107-8). For further details see my ''The Transfiguration of Christ in Greek Patristic Literature: From Irenaeus of Lyons to Gregory Palamas'' (Oxford D. Phil, thesis, 1991), pp. 134-135.
(6) Asceticism and Contemplation [in Greek], translated by Hieromonk Zacharias (Tolleshunt Knights. Essex: Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, 1996), p. 152.
(7) 'For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.'
(8) For all of the above, see: Asceticism and Contemplation, pp. 138-139.
(9) See ibid., pp. 151-152.
(10) Ibid., p. 153.
(11) Ibid., p. 156.
(12) Saint Silouan the Athonite, translated by Rosemary Edmonds (Tolleshunt Knights, Essex: Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, 1991), p. 352.
(13) Ibid., pp. 362-363.
(14) Ibid., pp. 438-439.
(15) Cf. the Troparion: ''In the tomb according to the flesh, As God in hell with the soul, In paradise with the thief, And on the throne with the Father and the Spirit wast thou, O Christ, omnipresent, incircumscript.'' Translation taken from the Orthodox Liturgy of the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Essex (Oxford University Press, 1982). p. 63.
(16) Cf. Saint Gregory Palamas' Homily XVI, On Holy Saturday, 17.
(17) Ibid., 33.
(18) Ibid. Quotations taken from the forthcoming The Homilies at Saint Gregory Palamas, edited with an introduction and notes by Christopher Veniamin, and translated by Christine Selte (Saint Tikhon's Seminary Press).
(19) Op.cit., pp. 192-193.

Source: Veniamin Christopher. ''Theosis'' in Saint Silouan the Athonite
and Starets Sophrony of Essex // Alive in Christ:
The Magazine of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania,
Orthodox Church in America. 1997. Vol. XIII. N 3. P. 22-27.
Delivered at the St. Tikhon's Annual Lecture series, September 30, 1997
Taken from St. Silouan the Athonite
Source

Elder Sophrony Sakharov Source
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Theological Presuppositions of the Life in the Holy Spirit by Dr. Dimitrios Tselengidis

Reliquary of  St Gregory Palamas in Thessaloniki, Greece



The Contribution of St Gregory Palamas to Hesychasm
Theological Presuppositions of the Life in the Holy Spirit 

by Dr. Dimitrios Tselengidis

Proffessor of the Theological School of the University of Thessaloniki
This paper can be read in its totality here
Introduction

Saint Gregory Palamas with his written works has boosted
theologically the deeper content of the hesychastic life, and with his
toilsome and persistent ecclesiastical struggles, contributed decisively
to the unanimous and conciliar acceptance of the teaching of
Hesychasm.

In his attempt to safeguard the lofty theological character of hesychia,
he developed a most profound dogmatic theology around the identity
and soteriological function of Divine Grace. In the process he
simultaneously revealed the theological presuppositions necessary
for the hesychasts to share and abide in the life of the Holy Spirit.
These presuppositions are found in the steadfast and delusion-free
parameters of theophany and theoptia (vision of God). The invincible
ultra-defender of Hesychasm expressed the mind of the Church
infallibly, asserting that the existential living experience of the
deifying energy of the Holy Spirit, especially endows with
theological meaning the hesychastic way of life. This life culminates
in the complete union of man with God and in the charismatic theosis
of man, which consists of the higher form of the spiritual life of the
faithful.

1. THE CHARACTER OF THE HESYCHASTIC LIFE
Saint Gregory Palamas studied the Ascetic Literature near holy
hesychasts, who were taught Hesychasm not only through Divine
Grace, but through their personal experience as well. From these
distinguished teachers (1)-see notes, he was taught the sacred
nipsis (guarding of the nous) and the noetic prayer. His teacher
par excellence, however, was his personal toil and the empirical
knowledge (2) procured through this toil. Thus, he received
empirical knowledge of the hesychastic way of life, and when he
received the calling to defend Hesychasm, he had already assimilated
fruitfully and productively the entire Patristic Tradition. Consequently,
he displayed an unrivaled combative spirit, theological eruditeness,
along with holy-spiritual experience especially reflected in his written
works In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts and in the Hagiorite Tome,
synoptically. But what is the specific meaning of hesychia and
Hesychasm? The ascetical term hesychia is primarily existential
and experiential in character. Hesychia means the peace 
established in the inner man, when he sees, becomes disgusted
with, and proceeds to expel his eidechthes prosopeion (his ugly
mask) which had developed from the wandering of the nous (3).
Hesychia is indispensably connected with the nipsis (guarding) of the
nous, the spiritual vigilance, and the experiential knowledge of all
those states which actualize in the practice of nipsis in a spiritual
and inexpressible manner(4). Consequently, the main task of the
hesychast is the “guarding of the heart” with the congenial 

keeping of the commandments, spiritual purity, and sacramental

life. With the keeping of the commandments, the hesychast 

expels the law of sin and introduces to himself the guarding of 

the nous. His senses are kept in check with the virtue of 

temperance (egkrateia), while the (pathetiko) impassive part of 

the soul is governed by love and the (logistiko) noetic by 

nipsis (5) (sobriety). The hesychastic way of life affords the 

functional ability to Divine Grace to “remodel” the inner man 

and to conform him according to his prototype, granting
him “blossomed”, his ancient and indescribable beauty (6). The
hesychast lives without cares, absolved, as much as possible, from
all matters of distraction. With the use of incessant prayer he unites
his nous (essence of the soul) with God, and thus totally concentrated
in his inner self, finds a new and mysterious ascent towards heaven.
There having fixed his nous, he tastes ineffable pleasure,
experiences perfect and sweetest peace—true hesychia and
quietude. And thus, after having surrendered himself to God, sees
the glory of God and visualizes the Divine Light (7).

The ultimate purpose of the hesychastic life is for man to become
one with the Trihypostatic Monad (according to the archieratical
prayer of Christ and with his synergy) just as He entered into
communion and unity with the human nature, without distancing
Himself from His own Triadic Monad (8). For the aforementioned
reasons, the hesychastic life is esteemed by the theologian of
hesychia and of the Light of Grace, as the ultimate form of the
ascetical life (9), and Hesychasm as the most precious segment of
the Church (10), being that in its parameters by and large the
paramount spiritual experience of the uncreated Light is lived as
the vision of God (Theoptia).

2. EFFULGENCE OF THE DEIFYING GRACE – THEOPHANY
AND VISION OF GOD.
Christ during his historical presence on earth revealed His uncreated
Divinity to the elect of His Apostles with His Transfiguration on
Mount Tabor. According to the theological evaluation of Saint
Gregory Palamas, the disciples saw upon the mount “the essential
majesty of God… the ultra-luminous brightness of the archetypal
beauty, the formless kind of Divine comeliness…they saw the
inconceivable and ineffable Light… they saw the Grace of the Holy
Spirit, which they subsequently received, and it abided in them.” (11)
The Grace of God is the betrothal of the inheritance of the saints,
the Spirit of sonship (12), the promise of the Spirit, which the Son
received from the Father and granted to his faithful. It is the Spirit
of Christ, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit (13). The faithful receives
the Divine Grace during Holy Baptism, and more specifically,
during the mystery of Holy Chrism, whereby he becomes Her
charismatic offspring since he was born from Her during the
Divine washing, and thus he procured the ancient beauty (14).
Afterwards, the uncreated Grace exists incessantly in the faithful
and assists him soteriologically (in matters of salvation) and
multifariously, while Her Divine Light illumines him accordingly
—at times, more, and at times, less (15). This Light becomes visible
spiritually with the noetic sense, and it consists of the inseparable
glory and brightness of Divine nature (16). Futhermore, it also
constitutes the garment of the soul of the faithful, since it will bring
back to her the ancient and most excellent beauty, but it
simultaneously consists of the true nourishment of the angels as
much as the righteous (17). It does not have its own substance (18),
and for this it is called enhypostatic and not auto-hypostatic (19). Thus,
it is reasonable to speak about the effulgence of hypostatic Light in
the souls of the faithful (20), which acts in them without being
separated from the Holy Spirit (21). Being an uncreated glory of God,
pre-eternal and infinite, the Divine Light is not sensual (22), but
noetic (23) and spiritual, which is approximated and envisioned
spiritually (24). It is incorporeal divine illumination and Grace, which
becomes “envisioned in an invisible manner, and it is conceived in an
inconceivable manner” (25). It is a “natural ray of Divinity” (26), and
“the very Divinity which manifested to the disciples on the mount,”
according to Saint Gregory the Theologian (27).

Divine illumination to be beheld presupposes the purification of the
heart, and it is found evaluatively higher than homiletics about God,
and certainly above reason. Of course, Divine illumination provides
knowledge of God, but this knowledge and understanding is granted
to the nous by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when occasionally this
Divine illumination is called “knowledge and understanding,” it must
be understood in a different light because what is meant here is
another kind of understanding—a spiritual one (28). Barlaam, the
anti-hesychast philosopher, thought that anyone who has knowledge
of beings (onton) brings God inside him, or, can see (achieve vision
of God) through this knowledge. In reality though, Palamas says, this
man has within him the knowledge of the created things and through
this knowledge he contemplates God, raises his mind to God
abstractly, and expresses Him conjecturably. This perception of God
does not consist of knowledge of God in and by itself. However he,
who has energized the Divine Light inside himself, sees in an
inexpressible way, and his expressions about God are not
conjectures, but are based on having true vision and practical
experience of Him. He truly ascertains that he has God inside him,
because God is never separated from His eternal glory. The most
trustworthy person who can inform us about the presuppositions
necessary to acquire and to see the Divine Light happens to be
that Divine person, who received our nature and imparted to it the
glory of His nature. These presuppositions are the keeping of the
Divine commandment, because Christ promised His appearance to
whoever keeps them. This appearance Christ called “the abidance
of Himself and of His Father in Him” saying, “if a man loves me he
will keep my words (29) and my Father will love him and we will
come unto him and make our abode with him.” (30) In this verse,
Palamas sees the Grace and energy of the Holy Spirit through
which God manifests and abides in those deemed worthy (31). The
abidance of the Son with the Father is interpreted as participation
(metheksi) of the deifying Grace and energy, (32) while in a similar
context Palamas identifies the coming of Christ, the abidance and His
manifestation together with the Father with our ascent toward Him
through revelation, as super-celestial ascent and rapture (33). The
knowledge of God procured by the vision of Light is above all other
knowledge, since there is nothing greater in existence than the
abidance and manifestation of God inside of us, neither anything
equal nor approximate. Thus, we know that the keeping of the
commandment provides true knowledge, because with only this the
health of the soul is secured. Health of the soul cannot exist when the
intelligent power (gnostiko) of the soul is ill.

The keeping of the commandments, however, offers not only
knowledge of God, but even charismatic theosis, to which we are
guided as long as we see inside of us God’s glory in the Spirit. This
materializes when it is God’s good pleasure to elevate us towards the
spiritual mysteries (34). If the knowledge of the Divine Scriptures,
according to the Apostle Peter is sure and secure, in the words of the
same Apostle, this knowledge is equated with the “Light of an oil lamp
that shineth in a dark place until the day dawns, as it dawned brilliantly
on Tabor, and Christ, the Day Star, arises in your hearts.” This so
indicative of the great difference between the knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures compared to the Light of knowledge emanating from the
mystical vision of God. It is the light of the sun shining in the middle of
the sky at noon time (35).

3. PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THEOPTIA (VISION OF GOD)
One thing is meant by “illumination of Divine Grace,” something else by
“constant vision of Light,” and another, entirely different thing by “vision
of things in the Light, when the distant things appear in front of the
eyes and the future events appear as present. Even here, however,
a graduating scale also exists, which is connected to spiritual
progress.
This progress will continue ad infinitum (36), being incoherent with the
capacity of the Divine illumination in the faithful.
The vision of Divine Glory is always analogous to the receptivity of
the seer (37). In novices for example, the illumination of this Light is
dimmer and not constant, whereas in the perfect, in addition to the
superabundance of Light, an endowment of humility takes place
—one of a different kind than that of the novices (38). Humility leads
to penthos (mourning), and mourning increases the purification of
the heart—a necessary pre-requisite toward receptivity for more
illumination (39). Secure advice about the method of gaining vision of
the Light of Grace can be given by those who see it
 para ton oronton (40) from all those who experienced its knowledge
empirically. In other words; those who received santification through
the harshness of askesis and humble prayer, without which
(sanctification) no one will see the Lord, according to Saint Paul (41).
Sanctification presupposes the cleansing of the heart by the keeping
of the commandments and the continuous preoccupation of the nous
with the genuine and immaterial prayer, and especially through the
commandment of love. Thus, God is seen by those who have been
purified through love (42) via purification (43), namely, all those who
have been cleansed from passions and ignorance. Their nous,
having been purified and illumined and clearly sharing in the Grace
of God, affords them to become partakers of mystical, supernatural
spectacles.

Simultaneously, they see the brightness by which the nous has been
enriched from the Grace of God, which furthers strengthens the
power of the nous to transcend itself and to complete its union with
the things beyond reason. With this illumination, the nous sees God
in the Spirit. With the power of the Holy Spirit (44), it acquires the
spiritual experience and hears things unheard and sees things
unseen (45). Not only the envisioned Divine Light, but even the seeing
power by which the nous sees, is a spiritual power found
incomparably higher than the created rational powers. And this
power is provided by Divine Grace (46). The vision of Divine Light
takes place in those who have spiritual eyes and the mind of Christ,
with which they behold the invisible and comprehend the
incomprehensible (47). The nous of the faithful sees the spiritual
realities with clarity when it becomes one Spirit with the Lord (48).
Then he knows the things of God, since only the Spirit knows the
things of God (49). Thus, the Divine Light becomes visible with the
transformation of the senses, which is precisely why it remains
invisible to other people during its charismatic manifestation (50).
Besides this, Divine Grace is acquired by the saints as supernatural
and Divine participation, according to the same parameters that
scientific knowledge is acquired by scientists, which while being
always present in them, its action manifests itself only when
necessary (51). As energy of the Holy Spirit in a pure soul, it appears
as the power of sight in the healthy eye (52) and becomes one with
the entire man, much like the unity of the members of the body and
the unity of the soul to the body (53).

The Divine Light is envisioned by its own Light (54), with a vision
energized by the Holy Spirit (55). How does this take place exactly?
In reality, the method by which the invisible God is seen is
inexpressible. Saint Paul, to whom Palamas refers, will tell us that
this happens “in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by
the Holy Spirit.” (56). The champion of Hesychasm proceeds towards
very profound clarifications. The immaterial nous, he says, gazing
toward the first, the supreme and true Light—God, without turning
back, with the immaterial, incessant and pure prayer, and having
already transformed to the angelic office, after being enveloped by
the same first Light, he also appears the same by participation with
the One Who is the archetype according to cause. Then he
radiates, having the comeliness of the mystical beauty, the
brilliance and the ineffable radiance (57). In this manner, this Light,
which is God, illumines its participants charismatically with their
union with it in an inexpressible way (58). The deified, beholding in
themselves the uncreated Light, see the garment of their deification
(theosis) which Christ promised to them in His archieratical prayer,
and according to that prayer He wanted them to be with him and to
behold His glory (59).


NOTES

1 See Saint Gregory Palamas, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts,

Homily 1,2,12, and 2.2.2. Gregory Palamas, Apanta ta Erga, EPE,

Vol. 1, Introduction-Translation-Comments by P. Christou, 

Thes/niki 1981, pg. 10.

2 See In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 1,2,8.

3 See. In the life of Saint Peter of Athos, 18, in Saint Gregory 

Palamas, Apanta erga, EPE Vol. 8, Thessaloniki 1994, pg. 298

4 In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 1,3,12.

5 Ibid. Homily 1, 2, 2.

6 See, the life of Saint Peter of Athos, Ibid pg. 302.

7 In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 1, 3, 46.

8 Homily 2, 1, 34 with reference to John 17, 21-24.

9 Homily 1, 2, 6.

10 Homily 2, 1, 14.

11 Homily 3, 3, 9.

12 Romans 8, 15: “you received a spirit of sonship.”

13 See. “Peri theias kai theopoious methekseos 4.

14 See. Toward John and Theodoros the philosophers 21, 

Gregory Palamas, Apanta ta erga, EPE, Vol.8, pg. 456.

15 See. In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 3, 2, 1.

16 Homily 2, 3, 37.

17 Homily 1, 3, 29.

18 Homily 2, 3, 6.

19 Homily 3, 1, 8.

20 See Homily 1, 3, 7, with reference to Saint Makarios, 

Homilies 5, 10, Pg. 34, 516A

21 Homily 3, 2, 17.

22 Homily 1, 3, 2, 7.

23 Homily 2, 3, 6.

24 Homily 1, 3, 10.

25 Homily 2, 3, 8.

26 See, Saint John Damaschene, Homily about Transfiguration 12,

Pg. 96, 564B, in Saint Gregory Palamas, about Divine energies 11.

27 See Saint Gregory Palamas, Homily 406, Pg. 36, 365A:

‘phos El paradeihtheisa theotis epi tou orous tois mathites, in Saint

Gregory Palamas, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, 

Homily 3, 1, 12.

28 See Saint Gregory Palamas, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts.

29 John 14, 23. It is quite obvious that with his “words” he means 

His commandments, because previously in the same context, 

instead of his “words” which he uses here in this verse he used the

commandments, because he says “he that hath my commandments,

and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me? (John 14, 21) See In 

Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 2,3, 16.

30 John 14, 21.

31 See, Saint Gregory Palamas, about Divine energies 49.

32 Ibid. 48.

33 See. In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 2, 1, 44.

34 Ibid Homily 2, 3, 17

35 Ibid Homily 2, 3, 18 with reference to 2nd Peter 1, 19.

36 Ibid Homily 2, 3, 35

37 Ibid Homily 1, 3, 17.

38 See Saint John Sinaitis, Klimax 26 Pg. 1033 AB, in Saint Gregory

Palamas, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 1, 3, 49.

39 See In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 1, 3, 52.

40 See Homily 1, 3, 44.

41 See. Saint Gregory Palamas “To the most reverend nun Xenia.”,

About passions and virtue, 43 with reference to Hebrews 12, 14.

42 In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 1, 3, 10

43 Ibid. Homily 2, 3, 10.

44 See, Homily 2, 3, 11.

45 See, Saint Gregory Palamas towards John and Theodoros the

philosophers 18, in Saint Gregory Palamas, Apanta ta Erga, EPE

vol. 8 Thessaloniki 1994, pg. 452.

46 See, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 3, 2, 14.

47 See Homily 1, 3, 16, with reference to 1st Cor. 2, 16.

48 Ibid Homily 1, 3, 17, with reference to 1st Cor. 6, 17.

49 Ibid Homily 1, 3, 16, with reference to 1st Cor. 2, 11.

50 Ibid Homily 2,3, 22.

51 See Saint Gregory Palamas, Peri theias kai theopoious 

metheseos 15, with reference to Basil the Great, on the Holy Spirit

pg. 26, 32, 180 C.

52 Ibid 181 A.

53 See. Maximos the Confessor, About questions, pg. 91, 1088 BC.

54 See Psalm 35, 10: ‘In your light we shall see light.”

55 See In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 3, 3, 5.

56 1st Cor. 2, 13, In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts.

57 See. In Defense of the Holy Hesychasts, Homily 1, 3, 24.

58 Ibid Homily 1, 3, 24.

59 Ibid Homily 1, 3, 5 with reference to John 17, 24.