‘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 »
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 »
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 »
The Hesychast wisdom of stillness points beyond the world’s strident exteriors to the timeless presence of God in his Name. The Hesychast poetics of prophecy regenerates the degenerated imagination, purifying old prophetic symbolism in the uncreated energies of wisdom and glory, radicalising its prophetic power to awaken the heart, sustaining pure prayer of the Spirit in the midst. Invisible angels listen… Read more »
Saint Sophrony the Hesychast, canonised by the Patriarch of Constantinople on November 27th 2019, completes what he calls his Confession and Spiritual Autobiography (‘We shall see him as he is.’ 1988) with witness to the Name ‘I AM.’ “Now, O my Christ, in Thee and by Thee…Now – I am” (‘We shall see him’ p 234). This witness cost him… Read more »
The Apostle says God makes his mysteries known to the saints in all wisdom and insight (Ephesians 1:8). Insightful wisdom reveals the union of all things in heaven and earth in Christ, the fulfilment of consummate completeness sealed by the Holy Spirit for the glorification of the saints. Desert Hesychasm is a silent witness to the Spirit’s unceasing prayer of… Read more »
The revelation of the Name in us purifies the heart with the presence of glory, the glory of the Son that precedes the foundation of the world. This is purification in the primordial glory of the beginning, the archeological glory out of which creation arises, the original glory of paradise before all falls. God’s Name glorifies the Son in us,… Read more »
The wisdom of Enoch was present at the heart of Orthodox Hesychasm, although the Book of Enoch was no longer read in monasteries except in Ethiopia. Enoch’s visionary journey had unveiled wisdom to the first Christian prophets long ago, wisdom that opened heaven through clouds of glory and mists of mystery, ascending into realms of angelic, heavenly light, ineffably hallowing the… Read more »
The wisdom of the Beloved Disciple is perhaps the most profound of all living wisdom streams flowing into the mainstream of Orthodox Christian wisdom, watering the living roots of desert Hesychasm, wisdom that beholds the glory of the slaughtered Lamb, full of grace and truth (John 1:14; 1:29; Rev 5:6-14). The Beloved Disciple beheld the glory of the Word made flesh,… Read more »