The Tension of Hesychia (Stillness)

8 December 2020

The period we are now going through is characterised by the silent expectation of the greatest event under the sun, the coming in the Flesh of the Saviour God on earth.

All the great events of God’s dealings with man, which are recorded in sacred history, were consequences of the holy and prolonged stillness of the people of God in His presence.  From the beginning of creation, the Holy Spirit hovered in silence over the void of nothingness and all of a sudden ‘hatched’ the whole creation.  Jacob wrestled the whole night in prayer so as to take hold of the blessing of God before facing his beastly brother Esau.  In the desert, Moses and the Israelites kept silence for forty days, and only then did the prophet enter the cloud of divine glory.  Joshua, the son of Nun, remained in stillness with his people, praying for seven days around the walls of Jericho, and on the seventh day, at the sound of the trumpet, the walls fell down. Prophet Elijah journeyed for forty days from Galilea to Mount Horeb, having only one thought, the desire to enter into the presence of God, and his prayer brought down from heaven a wind, an earthquake, fire and finally the small breeze wherein God was present.  Job remained silent in the presence of his friends for seven days, searching the depths of the judgments of God, and when he opened his mouth, his word was like thunder.

In the New Testament, the Holy Virgin received the supernatural message of the Annunciation after years of hesychastic life in the Holy of holies. The Word of God Himself was born from the silence of the Father.  The Lord remained in stillness with His disciples for one week, before beginning to ascend in prayerful silence on holy Mount Tabor, where the Lord manifested His glory.  The Resurrection occurred after ‘every human flesh’ remained silent for three days.  The Holy Spirit came into the world while the disciples were gathered and praying together in stillness.

The spirit of this wondrous and peculiar stillness is very important, for the ethos of the Church is hesychastic.

What is hesychasm?  In spoken language, by stillness people imply idleness, leisure, but in ascetic terminology it has a special meaning.  Hesychia, stillness, is not a passive divesting of the mind after the pattern of eastern asceticism, but it is a fervency of spirit which brings changes in the heart.  It begets intuitions and sensations that transfer man from one fulness to a greater and greater fulness of divine love. They fill his soul with His peace, ‘which passeth all understanding’,[1] and which alone can be imparted as a still small breeze to those around him.  Stillness is a tension of love, which is extreme, but also peaceful at the same time.

Hesychasts do not surrender to inactivity, but experience in silence the most dynamic state that man’s spirit can bear, being strengthened by the grace of the Holy Spirit.  Their activity is a crucifixion, for the mind of man after the fall is like unto a ball floating on the water of the sea. If we try to push it under, we soon understand that it will never remain at the bottom, but will always bounce back to the surface.  Likewise, man must exert great violence on himself for the mind to remain in the heart.

The whole being of those who continue with patience in this activity becomes spirit, for they do not allow their mind to wander even for one second.  Established in the furnace of the heart, the mind remains immersed in the invocation of the Holy Name of the Almighty Jesus. Although this is torture for the fallen and divided human nature, it is also the one and only way for man to be healed and render to the Lord the total love that he owes Him.

Hesychasm is the quintessence of the Orthodox ascetic tradition and those who embrace it are a living miracle. Despising tortures and death, the martyrs give their good testimony in one instant, shed their blood and enter unhindered in the heavenly feast.  The hesychasts suffer for years the martyrdom of living on earth in a body with senses and a soul that constantly drag them down and yet, overcoming every natural law, they unceasingly stand in the presence of God.  They separate themselves from all, from every human consolation, while at the same time being united with the whole Adam, bearing in their heart not only his tragedy but also the blessedness of Heaven.

The greatest hesychast was the Holy Virgin in the Holy of holies.  We read about Her in Scripture: ‘The king’s daughter is all glorious within.’[2] Following Her example, the hesychasts are those ascetics who are unceasingly engaged with their heart and immerse themselves within, ‘digging in’ so as to find its depth, knowing that Heaven itself stands with attention before the deep heart of man.  When the Holy Virgin was only a young maiden in the Holy of holies, She discovered in the fervency of Her prayer Her deep heart, where She was united with God and became aware of Her consubstantiality with all humankind.  Having established the will of God as the sole law of Her existence, she naturally began to intercede for the salvation of the whole world.  Sanctified by the energy of her hesychastic life and of her love for God and man, She did not only receive a word from God, but also the Word of God Himself.  The Archangel called Her ‘highly favoured’, because She found grace with the Lord being already full of grace.

[1] Phil. 4:7.
[2] Ps. 45:13.
Content