Hesychasm

Hesychasm (meaning quietness in Greek) is a mystical tradition of experiential prayer in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It is described in great detail in the Philokalia, a compilation of what various Eastern Orthodox saints wrote about prayer.

The Hesychastic prayer

In practice, the Hesychastic prayer bears some superficial resemblance to mystical prayer or meditation in Eastern religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, compare with Yoga), although this similarity is often overly emphasized in popular accounts.

For example, it may involve specific body postures, and be accompanied by very deliberate breathing patterns. It involves acquiring an inner stillness, ignoring the physical senses. The hesychasts interpreted Christ's injunction in the Gospel of Matthew to "go into your closet to pray", to mean that they should ignore sensory input and withdraw inwards to pray. It often includes many repetitions of the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.". One is to never treat it as a string of syllables for which the "surface" meaning is secondary. Likewise, hollow repetition is considered to be worthless (or worse than worthless) in the hesychast tradition.

Saint Theophan the Recluse once related that body postures and breathing techniques were virtually forbidden in his youth, since, instead of gaining the Spirit of God, people succeeded only "in ruining their lungs."

Gregory Palamas: defender of Hesychasm

Hesychasm was defended theologically by Gregory Palamas at about three separate Hesychast Synods in Constantinople in the 1340s; he was asked to by his fellow monks on Mt. Athos to defend it from the attacks of Barlaam of Calabria, who advocated a more intellectual approach to prayer.