The wisdom of stillness is the wisdom of God for whom there is no sin, no fall from glory, no fall from grace. It is the Gospel of wisdom that God’s grace announces to sinners whose glory is to forgive sin. Sin comes into existence when delusion seduces false gods to usurp God and icons of God to degenerate into… Read more »
The Holy Name of the Father reveals a realm of oneness which is shared with the Son by generation and with the Spirit by procession from the Father, oneness which is the Father’s uncreated presence always and everywhere. The Father is the source of oneness, being the origin of generation and of procession, but the Son and the Spirit share in this… Read more »
Gratitude rejoices in grace and in the Spirit that inspires wisdom to discern glory in the ineffable wonder of grace. Confusion gives way to wonder when presence of glory inspires wisdom to sing wisdom songs of inexpressible gratitude, infusing ineffable words of the Spirit giving thanks for the glory of grace. To see who sees here is to behold wisdom’s… Read more »
‘Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord: God is the Lord and hath revealed himself to us’ (Psalm 118: 26-27, Orthodox Liturgy at the elevation of the Chalice OUP p 92). Here, revelation of God follows blessing in the Name, like summer harvests follow spring sowing of the seed. God is the Lord, ‘I AM,’ revealing… Read more »
Grace reveals the glory of Christ in his unveiled Face in the light of the Holy Spirit, restoring glory to the Father which restores the vainglory of warring nationalistic hells to the true glory of hallowed, harmonious heavens on earth. The glory of this grace is wisdom’s joy, not the wisdom of a speculative sophiological Sophia, such as we find in… Read more »
The origins of the renewal of Neopatristic Hesychasm in modern times lie back in the publication of the Greek Philokalia by Saint Macarius and Saint Nicodemos in 1782, but the Orthodox tradition of Patristic Hesychasm itself goes back at least fifteen hundred years before that, to the Desert Fathers of Syria in the second and third centuries and of Egypt in the… Read more »
When the Jesus Prayer is prayed three times, it becomes an invocation of the twelve letter Name, YHWH, YHWH, YHWH, as in the Priestly Name Blessing. ‘YHWH bless you and keep you. YHWH make his Face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. YHWH lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace’ (Number 6: 24-26). The four letter… Read more »
The prayer of the Spirit in the heart is unceasing but unnoticed until wisdom discerns glory in enlightened vision (theoria). The Jesus prayer contains two divine Names, Lord (YHWH) and Jesus (YAH shuah), but the third revelatory Name, ‘I AM,’ (EHYEH), is implicit, because when it is God who speaks, the two third person Names, YHWH and YAH, are both revelations… Read more »
Desert stillness centres on the Jesus Prayer, which is the fulcrum of blessing and mercy. The rabbis had invoked the Name as blessing and mercy, so when Jews acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, when they began invoking the Name of Jesus, which contained the divine Name YAH, they were invoking God’s Name of blessing and mercy. Like jewish liturgy, Christian liturgy centres… Read more »
Desert Hesychasts pray the prayer of the Name of Jesus which contains at its heart the revelation of God’s Name above all names. This desert tradition of Name hallowing is founded upon the prophetic theophanies that graciously glorified God in his Name, revealing the Kingdom of coming glory. Biblical tradition grounds Hesychast wisdom in the theophany of the Burning Bush in the Sinai… Read more »