ESICHASM. — A characteristic system of Eastern asceticism, which from the middle of the fourteenth century became increasingly synonymous with Palamism, since the early Palamites were ardent supporters of the method of prayer practiced in their day among the Hesychasts of Mount Athos; indeed, in defending its nature and legitimacy against Barlaam of Seminara, they themselves took from Hesychasm the first steps toward a new, unsuspected system of theological doctrine, which became official in the Byzantine Church. Yet the Hesychasm they advocated was merely a corruption of the ancient form. From the detailed description given by the monk Nicephorus (PG 147, 963–64), one learns that two elements were essential to Athonite Hesychasm: omphaloscopia and the unceasing invocation of the so-called “Jesus prayer”: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”
The Hesychast, seated in his cell, stared fixedly at his navel while invoking Jesus until he attained introspection of the heart—that is, until God caused him to see within his own entrails His marvelous light, bearer of heavenly joy, and until he too was rendered invulnerable to the assaults of the enemy.
The errors of this strange method, from which derive the Palamite controversies concerning the nature of the light communicated by God to the contemplative soul and identified with the “Taboric” light, uncreated and eternal, although in reality distinct from the divine essence, were never taught, as many maintain, by the celebrated Symeon the New Theologian (eleventh–twelfth centuries). Nevertheless, in his authentic works, for example in the Opus Divinorum Amorum (PG 120, 507–602), there are frequent statements concerning the inward inspection of the heart and divine illumination, which were later misunderstood by the monks of Mount Athos. Nor is Symeon the author of the anonymous work Μέθοδος τῆς ἱερᾶς προσευχῆς καὶ προσέχῆς, which, moreover, although distorted in certain passages so as to favor the ἀποκλάψυχοι, clearly reveals the influence of Sinaitic spirituality, in which the true Hesychasm of the Eastern Church is to be sought.
This legitimate form of solitary life within cenobitic monasticism, suitable for devoting oneself to the quiet of contemplation (ἡσυχάσαι, whence ἡσυχασμός, from ἡσυχία = “tranquillity of mind and body”), was already glimpsed by the great monastic legislator of the East, St. Basil (Reg. justus tractatus, VI–VIII: PG 31, 925–41), though always with many limitations and for a very small number of superior souls; it is then described, in its external features, from the fifth century onward, in the Vita of St. John the Hesychast, a monk of the laura of St. Sabbas (Acta SS. Maii, III, Antwerp 1680, pp. 232–38); and, in its internal features, a century later, in the twenty-seventh degree of the Ladder of St. John Climacus, himself also a representative of Sinaitic spirituality (PG 88, 1096–1101).
According to the model described there, the Hesychast must first observe the common life faithfully for several years; then, although enclosed in his cell (κελλιώτης), he remains under the authority of the monastic superior, who may recall him to the life of the cloister. His duty in solitude will be to strive for perfect ἠσυχία, that is, bodily tranquillity, regulating all his movements according to virtue, and spiritual tranquillity, seeking to introduce into the world of his thoughts the serenity and peace necessary for contemplation. He must not undertake such a life unless armed against the dangers of temptations and, above all, of ἀκρεία, that is, indolence, and unless he continually feels within himself the signs of a special vocation, such as the rapture toward God (ἐρπανή) and the gift of tears.
From these ancient documents emerges a praiseworthy form of Hesychasm, regarded as a higher degree of monastic life, and it goes without saying that such asceticism ought to have been reserved for only a few. Historically, however, very many followers of Hesychasm are found everywhere, and these unfortunately often became genuine wanderers. Various laws therefore sought to restrict their number: thus Justinian (Nov., V, 3; CXXIII, 36), the Council in Trullo (Miami, XI, 964: can. 41), and even the founder of the Laura monastery on Mount Athos, St. Athanasius, whose constitutions permitted Hesychasm to only 5 of the 120 monks, namely the most perfect. Such prescriptions failed in the face of the desire for independence in the extremely populous lauras; ignorance of true asceticism then proceeded to sully it with the errors mentioned above.
In degenerate Hesychasm many seek to discover the culmination of ancient spiritualist sects condemned by the Church in the East, such as the Messalians in Cappadocia, the Paulicians in Thrace, and the Bogomils in Bulgaria.