#hesychasm

[asmallorthodoxblog]

[religious-extremist]

A Different Worldview and a Different History; Catholicism and Orthodoxy

The Roman Catholic Scholastic thinker Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) wrote in his massive work, the Summa Theologiae, that theology is the "highest scientia" since a high degree of rationality is required to understand the most important and complex philosophical concepts about God. The universities that developed during the Scholastic period in the Christian West were intended to teach students how to deal in this "science" of theology through rigorous conceptual analysis. Theology was considered to be the preeminent Scholastic endeavor, a good thing in many ways. Yet, as a result of the high regard for logic and rationality in medieval Roman Catholicism, those who studied and taught (the "doctors") came to be more highly regarded than the monks and nuns (the "religious") whose main vocation was to pray.

Theology began to be expounded by scholars outside of the context of prayer, pastoral ministry, and liturgical worship. Pelikan traces this specific change in the West through the changing job description of the theologian. He notes that, between AD 100 and 600, most theologians were bishops; from 600 to 1500 in the West they were monks. But after 1500, Western theologians are university professors: "Gregory I, who died in 604, was a bishop who had been a monk; Martin Luther, who died in 1546, was a monk who became a university professor. Each of these lifestyles has left its mark on the job description of a theologian." After the sixteenth century in the West, the task of theology increasingly became separated from its earlier moorings to the worship of the community and the spiritual disciplines.

From an Eastern Orthodox point of view, knowledge of God comes only from an encounter with the God who has revealed Himself: "What may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them" (Rom. 1:19). Thus, theology can never be separated from prayer, worship, and contemplation of the Holy Trinity. Metropolitan Ware affirms that all true Orthodox theology is mystical: "Just as mysticism divorced from theology becomes subjective and heretical, so theology, when it is not mystical, degenerates into an arid scholasticism, 'academic' in the bad sense of the word." That is to say, Orthodox mystical theology guards against either unacceptable extreme: subjective and heretical, or arid and academic.

- A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology, Eve Tibbs

[divinum-pacis]

What is Hesychasm? - Mystical Practice in Orthodox Christianity

In this video, we talk about the mystical tradition called "Hesychasm" in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

[raffaellopalandri]

A Comparative Analysis Between Buddhist Nivṛtti (निवृत्ति) and Stoic Apatheia (ἀπάθεια) – Part 2

In the first part of this essay, we explored a revitalized interpretation of intellectual asceticism—not as a renunciation of thought itself, but as its disciplined, intentional, and ethically grounded refinement. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Drawing from the foundational frameworks of Buddhist philosophy (notably the principle of nivṛtti — निवृत्ति, or “turning away”) and Stoic ethics…

[the-hesychast]

[eli-kittim]

Modern Christianity is a Joke

Eli Kittim

On their podcasts and platforms, Christians are constantly talking about God, Christ, and the Bible, explaining the gospel, debating about theology and prophecy, while assuming to know what scripture teaches, right down to the last detail. And yet none of them know what they’re talking about or what’s really going on (Rom. 3:11). Yet they all have millions of followers flocking to their social media platforms to hear them speak, and they’re deceiving all of them (intentionally or unintentionally) with lies and misinformation. But this has already been prophesied. In fact, Matthew 24 and 1 Timothy 4:1 clearly state that the end-times will be characterized by global deception, as many false prophets and teachers will arise and mislead many. Paul himself knew that after his departure Christianity would eventually decline and become a church of heretics (Acts 20:29). All that has happened. Most teachings today are about the Nephilim, aliens, and ancient civilizations.

All the biblical doctrines that are being taught today——whether at the university, the seminary, or in social media platforms——are false. Why? Because they have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. None of these so-called pundits have received any revelations from God in the manner that Paul describes (see Gal. 1:11-12). To preach things based on personal guesswork or mere speculation is not the same as teaching according to the Holy Spirit. John 14:26 says that “the Holy Spirit … will teach you all things.”

It’s gotten so bad that even the Pope is now teaching that it’s a dangerous heresy to have a personal relationship with Jesus outside the church. A Facebook friend of mine——a Christian apologist by the name of Marcia Montenegro——has gone so far as to condemn any attempt to open your mind and spirit to God through the prayer of stillness (which btw is still used in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches), denouncing it as a so-called satanic practice that opens your spirit to demonic influences, even though that is precisely what the Bible requires in order for rebirth and salvation to take place. How else can God transform your carnal nature unless he recreates your identity? (Eph. 4:22-24). How can God live within you and create a new operating system unless the old one is deleted? How else can you receive the Holy Spirit, who changes your personality, turning a sinner to a saint, as it did with Paul? Romans 8:9 says categorically and unequivocally:

“if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,

they do not belong to Christ.”

Then there are the nominal Christians. These are Christians in name only. They pretend to be Christ-like but act like demons. I know a few well-known Christian writers and bible prophecy teachers who have privately sent me viruses because I criticized their views. People would be surprised to know that Richard H. Perry did such a thing when i criticized his view that George Bush represents the white horseman of Revelation. I obviously had to block him. Another famous lawyer turned author by the name of Mark L. Hitchcock took me by surprise when he reported me to YouTube, which resulted in google permanently shutting down my platform. And he did this just because I complained that his YouTube channel was deleting all my comments and articles. As a result, I ended up losing all my videos and all my content that had been running on the web for the past 12 years. I was aghast that someone of his stature would resort to this. That was so mean. It completely took me by surprise. I didn’t see that one coming. This type of spitefulness is uncharacteristic of Christian believers. Their fruits bear no love. I seriously doubt whether such a person is in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. Needless to say, I have lost all respect for him. I obviously blocked him, too. Good riddance! There are even Christian churches that persecute other Christians. For example, the LDS Church is so powerful and influential that after I wrote an article debunking Mormonism they falsely reported me to Reddit, which immediately suspended my 13-year account. Talk about a false church!

Christianity has gotten so bad that Christian pastors are preying on crippled children, promising to heal them if they sow a financial seed to the ministry. People like Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and more recently, Kathryn Krick, all falsely claim to heal people suffering of serious disorders. Then you have YouTubers who are openly deceiving people, claiming that God speaks to them. Troy Black is a case in point. He has half a million victims, I mean subscribers, who are being lied to on a daily basis.

Not to mention the multiple scandals involving priests and pastors who are texting pornographic materials to their congregants and have inappropriate relations with them. Some pastors are even teaching that you don’t even need to believe in Jesus in order to be saved, while others, like Steven Anderson, are claiming that you don’t need to stop sinning, but only to believe in Jesus. Some Christian writers are teaching that you don’t even need God or Jesus, and you certainly don’t need to hear from them or even experience them personally. All you need is to read the Bible. There are some well-known pastors, like Justin Peters, who teach this doctrine. Not to mention those scholars, like David Bentley Hart, who claim that all people will eventually be saved, whether they believe in Jesus or not. But how exactly are we saved? Does anyone know? A well-known pastor, named Ken Raggio, recently posted on Instagram that “God changes us from sinner to saint … by … divine discipline. As we OBEY the Word.” This is totally and completely wrong! We cannot save our selves by ourselves. That’s why we need a savior. Jesus criticized the Pharisees for washing their hands but not cleansing their heart, showing that their legalism and discipline was totally ineffective in changing them from within. That’s why he said to Nicodemus the Pharisee: you must be “born again” (Jn 3:3). Only God can recreate us (2 Cor. 5:17). We are not saved by works or through personal efforts and behaviors.

And the core doctrines of modern Christianity are all wrong. The modern Christian faith centers on certain core beliefs regarding the historical birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But these events haven’t happened yet. According to the Bible, they will take place in the endtimes (see Isa. 2:19; Dan. 12:1-2; Zeph. 1:7; Lk 17:30; Acts 3:19:21; 1 Cor. 15:22-24; Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:9-10; Heb. 1:1-2; 9:26b; 1 Pet. 1:10-11; 1:20; Rev 12:5; 19:10d). My chief objection is that the TIMING of these events is totally wrong. This is all based on a misunderstanding of Greek and a misreading of genre.

The internal evidence supports my view. It’s in both the Old and New Testaments! Zephaniah 1:7 declares that the Lord’s sacrifice will occur during “the day of the Lord” (not in antiquity). Isaiah 2:19 says that people will hide in caves when “the Lord … arises to terrify the earth.” Similarly, Daniel 12:1 puts the resurrection of the anointed prince just prior to the great tribulation. I can prove it with detailed exegesis from the Greek text. The LXX (Dan 12:1) says παρελεύσεται, which means to “pass away,” & the Theodotion has ἀναστήσεται, meaning a bodily resurrection in the end-times. In the following verse (12:2), the plural form of the exact same word (ἀναστήσονται) is used to describe the general resurrection of the dead! In other words, if the exact same word means resurrection in Daniel 12:2, then it must also necessarily mean resurrection in Daniel 12:1! Acts 3:20-21 similarly says that Christ will not be sent to earth until the consummation of the ages. First Corinthians 15:22-24 also tells us that Christ will be the first to be resurrected in the end-times! Revelation 12:5 tells us that the messiah is born in the end times, and the next verse talks about the great tribulation. Galatians 4:4 says that Jesus will be born during the consummation of the ages, expressed by the apocalyptic phrase τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, which is defined in Ephesians 1:10 as the end of the world! First Peter 1:20 says that although Christ was foreknown before the creation of the world, he was initially revealed “at the final point of time.” It’s supported by Hebrews 1:2 which says that Jesus speaks to mankind in the “last days,” not in antiquity. And Hebrews 9:26 says EXPLICITLY that Jesus will die for the sins of mankind “once in the end of the world” (ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων)! Revelation 19:10 also informs us that the TESTIMONY to Jesus is prophetic (not historical). Read Acts 10:40-41 where we are told that Jesus’ resurrection was based on visions because it was only visible “to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God.” Similarly, 1 Peter 1:10-11 says that the New Testament prophets “predicted the sufferings of the Messiah” in advance (cf. Isa 46:10).

This short video will clarify everything I’ve said so far:

A Biblical Greek translation of the New Testament that changes everything we thought we knew about Jesus

[adventism-atheism-orthodoxy-me]

"I have heard non-Orthodox describe their use of the Jesus prayer, but it is possible to hear (almost in tone if not in words) they are not hesychists."

An opinion to ponder.

What does it mean to be a hesychast in the current world, living a modern life, in a modern culture?

Can a suburbanite try to embrace hesychasm while still dealing with a job, family, kids in college?

From Wikipedia -

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, a scholar of Eastern Orthodox theology, distinguishes five distinct usages of the term "hesychasm": 1. "solitary life", a sense, equivalent to "eremitical life", in which the term is used since the 4th century; 2. "the practice of inner prayer, aiming at union with God on a level beyond images, concepts and language"; 3. "the quest for such union through the Jesus Prayer"; 4. "a particular psychosomatic technique in combination with the Jesus Prayer", use of which technique can be traced back at least to the 13th century; 5. "the theology of St. Gregory Palamas", on which see Palamism.

Now, to be fair, I consider myself a failure in pretty much any metric used by our modern society to define success. I understand that this is a conceit. Some are homeless, while I do have a home. Some have no family, while I have at least a wife who tolerates me, if not children who do so too. I have a few other meager possessions, such as a car to get me to work. Nevertheless, scraping by is not really a measure of success in the modern world.

I have experienced modern "management", and am not impressed. The youngest generations are fighting back and I am supportive of their struggle.

To the specific points - I do not live a solitary life, so point one does not apply.

I have not followed "psychosomatic techniques" unless they were developed unconsciously by me, at least to my knowledge. So point four doesn't apply either.

I have not pursued the works of Gregory Palamas to the point where I understand his thinking at any depth, so point five does not apply to me either.

I would say that point two definitely, and possibly three are a focus in my life - I do want to aim "at union with God on a level beyond images, concepts and language", and it could be said that I, "quest for such union through the Jesus Prayer".

***********************************************************************

Recently on the 23rd of December I lost my keys.

In hindsight I think they were stolen.

On the 3rd of January our family car disappeared, and has yet to be recovered. At this point, if found, it will probably be a total loss.

Throughout the whole process, walking the roads looking for my keys, dealing with the police and the insurance company after the car theft - through all this and more, the only things that kept me together were these…

The Jesus prayer - calling on God's mercy kept me from spiraling into waves of anger and depression. And the verse - "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God…" (Romans 8:28)

And especially parts of Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

All these thoughts gave me hope that there was a larger purpose to my pain. Further thoughts included Job, the taunts of his friends, and Ecclesiastes.

***********************************************************************

The point of all this is to meditate upon my usage of the Jesus prayer.

It is all I think of when I am troubled, or realize that my mind is wandering - is it an appropriation, and if so, does it matter?

It is so much a part of my default thinking anymore that I don't know how I could function without it running in the back of my mind whenever I'm not actively thinking of something else. If nothing more, it seems more healthy than anything else I could be meditating on when my mind is idling.

Should I even worry about it? Officially, I am not Orthodox. But I must confess, my idiosyncratic bastardization of Orthodox theology keeps me together and sane.

Maybe the highest praise I can ever eventually attain is to be called an Orthodox Heretic.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy upon me, Your sinner.

[stevhep]

Light & Logos, Mother & Son

At the risk of losing my audience during the course of the first sentence let me say at the outset that this post will be about a prayer practice which could be called ‘sequential meditation’. Long term followers of my work will notice that it is essentially the same method advocated in Hesychasm and the Seven Sorrows of Mary but with different objects for the mind to direct its attention towards. For the benefit of those who have not yet read that seminal work let me briefly summarise.

The Orthodox Christian tradition in particular developed a method of prayer where a word, phrase or sentence taken from Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition or the Liturgy is constantly repeated by the praying person. During times set aside specifically for meditation or contemplation this word, phrase or sentence, associated with the ingoing and outgoing breath, becomes the sole thing said, done or considered. My suggestion was that in this electronic epoch where from an early age the mind is developed more or less deliberately to not concentrate on one thing for any length of time but rather to switch between tasks every few moments it would be a good idea to vary the Orthodox schema (there’s a pun in that but I’ll leave you to do the research yourself) to the extent of providing a sequence of words, phrases or sentences so that moving from one to the other a contemporary praying person may still manage to devote a good chunk of time to contemplation....(click here to read more)

(via Light & Logos, Mother & Son)

[pilgrimage-towards-christ]

[wickershells]

onanist, etienne, thatorchia 🤍

[letmeliedown]

snackrolling the mojavelicious can make you satiswish for a nuclear whunger...

[pierre-hector]

Parallèle entre hesychasme et méditation zen

Hesychasme de saint Grégoire Palamas (1296-1359)

« Dire quelque chose sur Dieu, ce n’est pas encore faire l’expérience intime et personnelle de Dieu, expérience à laquelle l’homme peut se prédisposer par la prière pure ou méthode d’oraison hésychaste. Le mot grec hesychia (ἡσυχ��α), qui est à l’origine du terme hésychasme (ἡσυχασμός), signifie « tranquillité, calme, repos », et qualifie tout à la fois un état de vie du moine hésychaste, la réclusion dans la solitude d’une cellule, et un état correspondant de l’âme, le silence obtenu lorsque l’activité des sens, de l’imagination et de l’intelligence s’apaise pour faire place à l’activité de l’Esprit Saint. »

La méthode

« La méthode d’oraison hésychaste suppose pour sa mise en pratique un lieu tranquille, solitaire, à l’écart de toute agitation, la position assise et les yeux fermés. Mais on peut aussi garder les yeux ouverts et fixer son regard sur la poitrine ou sur le nombril comme sur un point d’appui. Elle implique encore et surtout un état de vigilance ou de sobriété (νῆψις, nêpsis) et un apprentissage à la maîtrise du souffle. Il est à noter, dans cette perspective, qu'il y a une étroite correspondance entre le souffle et l'Esprit, comme le signifie déjà la Bible et l'usage d'un même mot grec pour désigner chacune des deux réalités (πνεῦμα, pneûma). Il s’agit en fait de recueillir et d’apaiser l’intelligence [ndr – le mental] (et de se libérer des pensées mauvaises) au rythme de l’inspiration et de l’expiration.

Dans un premier temps, l’intelligence doit suivre le mouvement de l’inspiration qui descend jusqu’au cœur et y être retenue en même temps que le souffle. Si l’on a les yeux ouverts, la fixation du regard sur la poitrine est une aide supplémentaire pour faire descendre l’intelligence dans le cœur. Quant à la fixation du regard sur le nombril, elle vise plutôt la lutte contre les mauvaises passions de l’âme, le ventre étant, avant de parvenir à la maîtrise de soi et selon cette anthropologie, le lieu d'une manifestation d'un désordre psychique et corporel (c'est un effet de la loi du péché selon Palamas). Dans un second moment, l’expiration permet un certain relâchement de l’attention jusqu’à la reprise du souffle.

Cet exercice respiratoire s’accompagne d’une invocation, de la récitation mentale et continue d’une formule, telle que “Seigneur Jésus-Christ, Fils de Dieu, aie pitié de moi, pécheur” ou sous une forme brève “Seigneur, aie pitié” [ndr – une formule, donc l’auteur sous-entend que ça peut être autre]. Il faut un certain temps pour que cette invocation devienne tout à fait spontanée.

Cette méthode d'oraison (raillée par Barlaam, le premier adversaire de Palamas) n'est pas propre à Grégoire Palamas, mais à toute une tradition spirituelle, celle précisément de l'hésychasme, et on en retrouve quelques éléments dans d'autres traditions spirituelles de l'humanité et même en psychothérapie. La particularité ici est que l'hésychaste s'adresse directement et personnellement au Christ. C'est ce qui, dans la foi, importe le plus à ses yeux, beaucoup plus que la méthode elle-même (qui est un moyen humain, dont l'efficacité dépend dans ce contexte de la grâce divine) (0). »

But de la méthode

« […] Il s’agit pour le moine hésychaste de purifier l’intelligence, de lui faire trouver le repos, l’hésychie, en la détournant de toutes sensations, images ou conceptions mentales, ce qui la prédispose à la participation aux énergies divines [ndr – les puissances ? Elohim ?]. Pourquoi faire descendre l’intelligence dans le cœur en suivant le mouvement du souffle inspiré ? Parce que le cœur, déjà dans la Bible, est le siège, le lieu propre, de l’intelligence, le lieu où la grâce du Christ se manifeste et où elle peut à son contact se surpasser elle-même dans l’extase, l’union à Dieu. Pourquoi enfin invoquer continuellement Jésus-Christ en le suppliant d’avoir pitié ? D’une certaine façon, c’est toute l’histoire judéo-chrétienne de la rédemption qui se trouve récapitulée dans cette formule dont se souvient continuellement l’hésychaste en présence du Christ. Son intelligence acquiert dans un effort soutenu une prise de conscience ininterrompue à la fois de l’imperfection de sa nature et de la miséricorde divine, de la promesse de la grâce communiquée par le Fils dans l’Esprit. Tout ce qui vient le détourner de cette réalité salvifique est écarté par le souvenir de cette réalité qui sans cesse revient à la conscience jusqu’à ce que l’énergie de l’Esprit fasse une irruption soudaine dans le cœur et accomplisse effectivement ce qu’il avait en mémoire. Il s’agit là d’une démarche de foi, où l’intelligence, convaincue de sa faiblesse se rassemble et se tourne vers le Christ, en attendant de lui le salut comme accomplissement d’une promesse faite à l’humanité. Ce faisant, l’intelligence ne le [le Christ] contraint pas à agir, mais se détourne consciemment de tout ce qui pourrait l’empêcher d’agir. Libre alors à l’Esprit d’intervenir dans ce cœur purifié, préparé à sa venue, c’est-à-dire digne de lui [ndr – on s’approche de la mystique rhénane : faire le vide en soi pour faire de la place à Dieu, vide qui, dans le bouddhisme zen, se nomme “Mu„].

Lorsque Dieu répond à cet appel, lorsque l’énergie divine apparaît dans le cœur, l’intelligence purifiée devient à son contact spirituelle et lumineuse, les facultés créées se transforment et la grâce est transmise de l’âme au corps, qui lui aussi participe au salut. Les hommes déifiés parviennent alors à voir avec les sens et l’intelligence ce qui les dépasse. Il se produit paradoxalement une sensation dépassant les sens [ndr – métanoïa] et une intellection dépassant l’intellection. C’est pour le saint la vision ou contemplation de Dieu. L’intelligence retrouve cette capacité originelle de voir son Créateur (0). »

La méditation zen

« “Concentrez-vous sur ce ‘Vide‚ (Mu) de tous vos trois cent soixante os et quatre-vingt-quatre mille pores, et que votre corps ne soit qu’une seule grande question. Travaillez dessus sans répit. Ne cherchez pas d’interprétation nihiliste ou dualiste. C’est comme si vous aviez avalé une bille chauffée à blanc, que vous ne pouvez pas recracher. Oubliez votre savoir illusoire et discriminatif ainsi que vos habitudes, et travaillez toujours plus dur. Vous efforts finiront par porter leurs fruits et les contraires (tel l’intérieur et l’extérieur) s’uniront naturellement. Vous serez stupéfait – comme celui qui a fait un rêve merveilleux qu’il est seul à connaître. Soudain, vous briserez la barrière. Vous ferez vaciller le ciel et ébranler la terre. Comment accéder à cet état ? Travaillez de toutes vos forces sur ce ‘Vide‚ (Mu) et devenez ‘Vide‚ (Mu) (1).„ […]

Le disciple apprend […] à focaliser son esprit sur le hara, ce centre de gravité situé entre le nombril et le pubis. […] par le truchement d’une énigme [koan], le maître peut accompagner, chez l’élève, un instant d’éveil cataclysmique, quand non-esprit et non-pensée se rencontrent dans l’abdomen, et pas dans la tête (2) ! »

« Les modèles religieux exotériques ont toujours édicté les comportements sociaux. Les modèles ésotériques ont, quant à eux, ouvert des voies qui vont bien au-delà de ces obligations. […] Un modèle anémique engendre des vies malingres, alors qu’un modèle fertile crée des vies riches (3). »

— (0) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A9goire_Palamas (cons. 7 juin 2025). (1) Enomiya-Lassalle (Hugo M.), « Méditation zen et prière chrétienne », Albin Michel, 1994 ; cité in Naomi Ozaniec, « Pratiquer la méditation pour lutter contre le stress et améliorer sa qualité de vie », éd. Larousse, Poche, 2014, p. 122. (2) Naomi Ozaniec, op. cit. in (1). (3) Naomi Ozaniec, op. cit. in (1), p. 148.

[raffaellopalandri]

A Comparative Analysis Between Buddhist Nivṛtti (निवृत्ति) and Stoic Apatheia (ἀπάθεια) - Part 1

In a cultural epoch characterized by the hypertrophy of informational stimuli, an unprecedented phenomenon emerges: the simultaneous expansion and degradation of human cognitive life. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com The so-called “knowledge society“, ostensibly predicated upon the access, production, and dissemination of information, often obfuscates the deeper ethical imperative underlying…

[nearly-deactivated-elby]

yeah I'm not a good christian; I'm failing miserably. Unfortunately that doesn't mean God is letting me go soon. So I still identify as one.

Change happens. Perhaps I emphasized inevitable too much. Let me rephrase it in a better way:

Change does happen, and tradition reflects that. Instead of clinging to some unchanging tradition, we should see tradition as something handed down to us, colored by time and the people that shaped it. Do you believe in unchanging tradition? How do you prove that?

tradition isn't something static that you're stuck with. Of course we should get back to the source, but we should also acknowledge when tradition handed down to us isn't necessarily... thousands of years old. There's a lot of icon prototypes that come from Holy Tradition, that could equally be unknown to the earliest Christians, and it's not some horrible crime that it is. And even when we try to absolutely preserve the faith as it were in the 1st century, the fact that we aren't living in the Roman Empire anymore makes it harder to interpret it and apply it in ways that the first Christians would.

the pronouns are frivolous, I grant you that. Maybe I should stick with 佢 and dispense with the English obsession of pronouns on both sides of the political spectrum if you care so much

an online self-describing 'tradcath' in ~250 A.D. in Dura-Europos, Syria: guys the church has gone woke. they have drawn Our Good Shepherd in a vulgar, pagan manner. they literally painted Orpheus in the style of the hellenistic frescoes and thought we wouldn't notice. this is sacrilege AND satan worship. we are living in the end times.

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Y’all can thank @maryshelleyreincarnated for this lollll. Anyway, this is just me going on about affective piety

Affective piety is one of the focuses of approaches to mystical theology. 

On one side of the spectrum there is

Cataphatic or Positive: focusing on imaging God by use of imagination and words. Speaks of what God “is”.

Apophatic or Negative: focuses on the complete utter transcendent unknowability of the goodness of God. Imageless, stillness, and wordlessness. Speaks of what God “is not”

On the other side of the spectrum is

Speculation: illuminating the mind. Emphasis on the divinity of Christ.

Affection: illuminating the heart and emotions. Emphasis on the humanity of Christ.

And then you combine the spectrum to get

Cataphatic Speculation

Cataphatic Affection

Apophatic Speculation

Apophatic Affection

(All of these have more snazzy names but those names all have historical, and se times heretical, baggage so we’ll ignore that lol)

Anyway we’re focusing on affective piety. 

HISTORY TIME!!!!!

So there is a long version (that my English Lit book gives) that begins in the eleventh century with St. Anselm.

I don’t like Anselm so I’m not wasting my time with that lol. Plus I want to get to the women as quickly as possible. 

The short version is: Anselm came up with a the satisfaction theory of atonement (to replace random theory) which placed a great emphasis on the humanity of Jesus. Whereas early theology (and by extension, art and literature) focused on Christ as King and Soldier, now theology (and by extension art and literature) began to portray God as suffering, sagging, lacerated, and distinctly human. With an emphasis on humanity, Christ’s suffering takes center stage. 

The thing about a humanity centered philosophy rather than a divinity centered philosophy, is that it is a spirituality best represented in visual and verbal images. Hence, (cataphatic) affective piety. This is actually one of the first times when spiritual experience was primarily seen more than thought (at least in the West. I haven’t learned about Hesychasm yet). It was also exactly that: experiential. The Life of Christ was no longer something you just thought about or heard about, it was something you participated in. Sometimes you participated as one of the women (or John) mourning Jesus; sometimes you imagined the Jews and Romans as wholly responsible for the infliction of pain; sometimes you yourself are held responsible for the continued suffering of Christ. 

Quickly, this movement became incredibly democratized as the Catholic Church (Protestantism won’t exist for like 300 years) sought to deepen the spiritual literacy of laypeople. And it was deeply effective because, unlike in more speculative forms of of devotion, you don’t need to be well versed in detailed matters of doctrine, which made it a spiritual experience that appealed to a much wider audience of readers and viewers. Instead, you just had to be able to develop a capacity for sympathetic responses to suffering. And whether you’re cataphatic or apophatic, most can do that. It was this affective piety that led to

the foundation of the Franciscan friars who promoted earthly poverty in both practical imitation and emotional response to Christ’s suffering

the creation of the Feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ) which celebrated the Eucharist host as the body of Christ and grew steadily in popularity and came to involve outdoor processions depicting biblical foreshadowings of the Eucharist, as a prelude to the display of the Eucharist itself. In medieval England these developed as the plays of Corpus Christi and would climax in the mystery plays in which urban institutions could interpret and represent Christ for themselves

And finally, “Female readers in particular, who had been excluded from the Latin-based, textual traditions of theology, discovered fertile ground in this tradition of so-called affective, or emotional, piety. Through such emotive imagining, one gained an apparently unmediated, and potentially authoritative, relation with Christ. Women working in this tradition did not necessarily remain, however, within its visual, imaginative terms: Julian of Norwich is, for example, capable of developing subtle and abstract thought, holding the incarnate image in view all the while.” (The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages, “Christ’s Humanity”, page 414)

Anyway. Key markers of affective piety are

highly emotional devotion 

humanity of Jesus

infancy of Jesus

the agony in the garden, the crucifixion, and the burial 

the Joys and Sorrows of the Virgin Mary

affective meditation: a pilgrim, worshipper, or other follower of Christ seeks to imagine the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, movement, and tactility of specific scenes from canonical Gospels and their characters, with particular emphasis on empathising with the compassion and suffering of Jesus and the joys and sorrows of the Virgin Mary, leading to the authentic and spontaneous emotional expression that may include tears and crying, vocal sounds and prayer, as well as bodily movements.

Divine Love 

Bridal Theology

Key figures (note: I’m not familiar with all of these so some of them might not belong here but anyway)

St John the Visionary

Bernard of Clairvaux 

Aelred of Rievaulx

Francis of Assisi 

Anthony of Padua

Bonaventure

Mechthild of Magdeburg

Hadewijch of Antwerp

Richard Rolle 

John of Ruusbroeck

Catherine of Siena

Julian of Norwich

Margery Kempe 

Ignatius of Loyola

Teresa of Ávila

John of the Cros

Isaac Ambrose 

Richard Crashaw

Angelus Silesius 

George Fox

Marguerite-Marie Alacoque

Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon 

Gerhard Tersteegen 

Rosa Maria Egipcíaca of Vera Cruz 

Marie Lataste

Mary of the Divine Heart 

Frank Charles Laubach

Sundar Singh

Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament 

Carmela Carabelli

Thomas Merton

Richard Rohr

Sidenote: despite a lot of christblr’s disdain for Contemporary Christian music, CCM is also very much a form of affective piety.

@catholicsapphic

by @.paigepayne_creations on instagram

Honestly affective piety is like really popular on tumblr, among Christians and nonchristians alike. The obsession with Julian and Kempe. @ahopefulbromantic and my obsession with the Eucharist. The amazing combination of the paintings of Mary holding Jesus as infant and dead. The adoration of the pieta. The devotion of to the Virgin Mary and desire for her to share in the pain of childbirth. The “Why is religious Christmas imagery all so joyful and pleasant?” post. “Constantly thinking about how Joseph probably died long before Jesus did. Did Jesus know? For a time did he stay uncharacteristically close to his father's side? Did he trail at his back? Did he grieve for the living?” The rage at stoic depictions of Jesus agony in the garden. “When Joseph died, Jesus was still a carpenter. I think a lot about how Mary was there at the feet of her son as he died. and i'm starting to think, maybe Joseph was there too. not in the way that Mary could be of course but in a different way. I think maybe Jesus smelt the wood of the cross and thought of his father. Maybe he remembered the first time he ever accidentally hammered his hand while building as nails drove into his wrists. Maybe Jesus died with his mother bringing him something to drink, remembering all the things his father taught him to be.”

It’s like @wolfythewitch said: “A big part of Jesus' entire story is his humanity. It's why Satan tried to tempt him. It's why he could feel hunger and thirst. It's why he loved and was loved. It's why he had to die. He was betrayed with a kiss, with a greeting. He shared meals with his disciples. He had parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins. He bled. And a big part of humanity is connection. We as humans are always looking for reflections of ourselves in others, it's how we connect and understand each other. We gravitate towards it. Of course we'll love the human side of him more. We're human.”

[santmat]

Some Thoughts About the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens in the Nag Hammadi Library, by James Bean

Turned the new translation of The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth into an audio book using the Read Aloud extension, something I often do with various texts. The new translation of this Discourse is to be found online here: https://othergospels.com/89

Was fun hearing my Read Aloud extension chant the two triangle-shaped collections of vowels, the vowel chant present in the book:

ZŌXATHAZŌ

A ŌŌ EE ŌŌŌ ĒĒĒ ŌŌŌŌ ĒĒ ŌŌŌŌŌŌ OOOOO ŌŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ

ZŌZAZŌTH

A Ō EE Ō ĒĒĒ ŌŌŌ III ŌŌŌŌ OOOOO ŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU ŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌ

According to Dr. Samuel Zinner's footnote at the bottom of the page this is an esoteric divine name, various vowels arranged into the shape of triangles being chanted.

Vowel chant is present in several collections of Gnostic texts, a kind of "AUM" or "OM" of the West, even as Egypt once-upon-a-time was a kind of Tibet of the West with otherworldly monastic traditions.

There are different ways one can sing or chant these names. In esoteric traditions of the east and west mental chant is considered to be higher, more "within" than the verbal chanting of alphabetical sacred names. Esoteric paths have mantras including sacred words that are to be repeated within one's mind, such as the mental prayer approach of doing the Jesus Prayer in Hesychasm; in Sethian Gnosticism there are the Five Names or Seals which are passwords that correspond to various higher planes; Kabbalah has various Hebrew names corresponding to higher heavenly regions, and mental zikhr is practiced at the higher stages of Sufism. In the Sant tradition this practice is called manas jap (mental chant) and is also known as simran, the remembrance and repetition of various Names of God repeated in one's mind while concentrating during meditation.

I notice some references to mental singing and chanting in the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth:

"O my son, return to praising, and sing while remaining silent. Silently petition for what you desire.

Also: ”I sing a hymn inside myself."

“I remain silent, O my father. I desire to sing a hymn to you while I remain silent.”

And: "It would be beneficial from now on to maintain silence with a reverential posture."

There are mystical visionary and auditory states recorded in the Discourse of the Eighth and Ninth. With these the-chant-chants-itself. In other words, a higher form of Name that repeats itself beyond language reverberates in the heavens, sometimes described in these old mystical texts as the Hymns of Angels:

"Language is incapable of revealing this, because, O my son, the entire Eighth and the souls that dwell inside it, as well as the angels, silently sing a hymn, and I, Mind, understand."

"When he had finished praising, he cried out: 'Father Trismegistus! What am I to say? We have obtained this Light, and I behold for myself this very same vision inside of you, and I behold the Eighth, and the souls dwelling inside of it, and the angels singing a hymn to the Ninth and to its powers, and I behold him who possesses all of their power, who creates those who dwell inside the Spirit.'"

The Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens illustrates so well that, in the Gnostic and Hermetic Nag Hammadi texts there is at the heart of these ancient schools of spirituality, the master-student relationship -- the living teacher with their inner circle of living students -- with an initiation into the mysteries being offered, the sharing of spiritual practices to be kept secret. These pertain to sacred names and meditation methods for gaining revelations of the various heavenly regions including the Eighth and Ninth heavens as described in this Hermetic discourse.