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There is a very long article in "New Advent" about hesychasm. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07301a.htm I would like to see some reaction to this article from the forum members. I have always found great consolation and the Divine Presence in the Jesus Prayer and I am not sure that this understanding of The Prayer as written about in this article accurately reflects the authentic spirituality of the Eastern Catholic Churches. Thank you! Silouan, monk

Father, bless!

I think the New Advent article represents a misunderstanding at best, and a perversion of the nature and spirit of hesychasm at worst. It appears the spirit of Barlaam is alive and well.

Pantheism? They do not at all understand St. Gregory Palamas.

In the second quote, while explaining what the suspicions of the opponents are in the last sentence, they have already embraced the opponents' position in the first sentence.

The person who wrote this has obviously not really read (or if they have read, have completely misunderstood) the entire Hesychast tradition and development, and the teachings of Sts. Gregory Palamas, Symeon the New Theologian, the Fathers quoted in the Philokalia, and all of the numerous fathers who embraced the Prayer of the Heart.

I notice that they don't bother to mention that Palamas actually defended the scholastics when attacked by the same Barlaam who accused them as being themselves too neo-Platonic and hyper-Aristotilean.

Like you, Father, I try to make the Prayer of Jesus a constant companion. It is something that is always with you.

Like God, a verbal icon if you will, the Prayer of the Heart is eminently simple, yet expresses a fullness of truth and majesty far beyond the comprehension of our mortal minds.

St. Gregory Palamas, pray to God for us all!

IMHO I think this article should be removed for it is so misleading.(I was offended by it) I am a Roman Catholic who has been practicing the Jesus prayer for years now. I was introduced to it at a Catholic monastery of which I was a member. This monastic Order has the Jesus prayer at its core according to the teachings in the Philokalia, along with the Rosary. They venerate some Orthodox saints(and they read the lives of Orthodox saints) and celebrate the Divine office in the Byzantine Rite. IOW they are heavily influenced by the Orthodox tradition and teachings.
I think that New Advent doesn't always give the best information and that is sad because converts(to Catholicism) often refer to it for information and don't realize this.
Where do Catholics go to read about the Jesus prayer if they are interested in practicing it? ....the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Catholic Church does not have this tradition. Unfortunately many Catholics are ignorant of this and are hesitant to read Orthodox books on the subject.
(don't know if this makes any sense)
But those are my scattered thoughts since that article has always bothered me.
In Christ and the Theotokos,
Chaire

It looks to me like they are speaking of a particular movement that named itself after the practice of hesychastic prayer. There would therefore be a difference between a hesychast and a Hesychast.

Just like the Democrats have named their party after democracy and Republicans have named their party after a republic. You could say we currently have a democratic government even though we have a Republican government. And even when the Democrats are in office, our country is still a republic.

They just need to make the article more clear that they are not denouncing hesychastic prayer. They are discussing a particular socio-political-theological movement within the Orthodox church which occurred in a specific time period.

Tammy

Here's the rub:

The essence/energy distinction is important to Palamas to safeguard AGAINST Pantheism. The newadvent article is attenuated, skeptical, and misleading. It'd be more interesting to turn the question on the NewAdvent scholar and ask him how Creation can be free if Act, Will, and Existence are all metaphysically identical as they are in Thomistic philosophy. The article does not understand the different metaphysic on which the distinction is built upon. The metaphysical distinctions between essence, power/activity are traced back to their pre-socratic and platonic roots, strangely enough in the study of medicine among the pre-socratics. As Plato indicates in Book 6 of the Republic, the "Good is on the other side of Being." A very helpful book by a Catholic scholar may be of some help here: Micheal Rene Barnes, Dunamis: Power in Gregory of Nyssa's Trinitarian Theology.

Let's see how important the distinction is for Palamas regarding the Trinity and the contingency of creation:

96. If, according to the nonsense of Akindynos and those who share his opinions, the divine energy is not in any sense distinct from the divine substance, then creating, which belongs to the energy, will in no way differ from generation and procession, which belong to the substance. But if creating is not distinct from generation and procession, then creatures will in no way differ from the one begotten and the one sent forth. And if according to them this is the case, both the Son of God and the Holy Spirit will in no way differ from creatures, all will be begotten and sent forth by God the Father, creation will become divine, and God will share his rank with creatures. For this reason the divine Cyril pointed out the distinction between the substance and energy of God when he said that "begetting belongs to the divine nature but creating to his divine energy," adding the wise statement "Nature and energy are not identical." (Cyril of Alexandria, Thesaurus 18, PG 75:312C)

97. If the divine substance is not in any sense distinct from the divine energy, then generation and procession are not distinct from creating. God the Father creates through the Son in the Holy Spirit, and so, according to the opinion of Akindynos and his followers, he both begets and sends forth through the Son in the Holy Spirit.

98. If the divine substance is not in any sense distinct from the divine energy and has not been distinguished from his will, the Only-Begotten of the Father's substance will have been created, so it seems according to them, from his will.

Saint Gregory Palams, The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, A critical edition, translation and study by Robert E. Sinkewicz, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, p.197.

Daniel Jones

Dear Friends,

Palamas was seen by the RC West as a dangerous heretic for a long time - this is what went into the EC Synod of Zamosc declaration that he was definitely NOT to be honoured as a saint in the EC Churches.

He was generally equated with Quietism and the "enthusiastic" cults that thought they could actually see God as a result of psychosomatic spiritual exercises and the like.

It didn't help things for the West when the Orthodox Church put Palamas alongside St Photios and St Mark of Ephesus as the "Pillars of Orthodoxy."

But today Rome has acknowledged Palamas as a saint - it did so in 1973 I believe.

Alex

I would like to point out that the Catholic Encyclopedia online at New Advent is an online version of the Catholic Encyclopedia produced in either 1913 or 1917 (I can't remember the exact date). Needless to say it was produced in a time when Catholic triumphalism was at an all time high and in many ways does not represent the views of the church now. There are many interesting articles but it must be stressed that it needs to be approached with a grain of salt.

I believe that they chose the old Catholic Encyclopedia over the one produced in the 1960's because the newer one tended to take too many liberties with the faith. I've seen both in the college library where I went and the newer one does tend to be quite "liberal". Unfortunately the old one tends to be ultra-conservative in light of the growth of understanding since it was originally printed.

So please don't get in a tizzy. Just keep in mind that the time period in which it was produced.

Terry

I think another reason the New Catholic Encylcopedia is not online is due to copyright issues.

For an up to date view on hesychasm, see John Paul's Angelus message at this site:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp960811.htm

Praising Evdokimov and a defense of Hesychasm in the same address - who could ask for more!

HE DA MAN! EIS POLLA ETI DESPOTA!!! Many years to His Holiness, JP II!!!