Hesychasm: The Bedewing Furnace of the Heart

by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou of Essex

Hesychasm is the quintessence of the unbroken tradition ‘in the Holy Spirit’ of the Orthodox Church. It means the presentation of man before God, with his mind in his heart, invoking the all-holy Name of the Lord Jesus. It constitutes the means by which fallen man regains the primordial breath and glory of the eternal Spirit that he received in Paradise when he was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, the supra-cosmic purpose of hesychastic asceticism is to heal and unify man’s fragmented existence and to make him fit for the fulfilment of the two great commandments of perfect love for God and love for one’s neighbour as for oneself. Hesychasm is particularly relevant and necessary in our time because it is the only way to avoid the ‘sin which doth so easily beset us’ (Heb. 12:1) and to abide in the life-giving and sanctifying Presence of God.