07 — Father of Hesychasm
Arsenius as a patristic root of the hesychast and stillness tradition: the later appeal to him by John Climacus and by the Athonite and Palamite theologians of hesychia, and the reading of his silence not as mere reticence but as a theology — the still tongue and the quiet heart as the condition of the knowledge of God. These files trace the line of descent from the desert master of stillness to the developed hesychasm of later centuries, while marking the distance between the fourth-century practice and the fourteenth-century doctrine.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Desert Father; father of stillness)
No single figure is the “founder” of hesychasm, but if the tradition of stillness has desert roots, Arsenius is among the deepest of them. The oracle “flee, be silent, be still,” the saying on the danger of speech, the silent weeping and the night vigils, and the whole concentration of his life on undistracted attention to God made him the desert’s supreme image of hesychia — and the later tradition of stillness, from Climacus to the Holy Mountain, looked back to him as one of its own. This section traces that reception, and reads his silence as the theology it became.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Root of Stillness | Arsenius as a patristic root of the hesychast tradition; the appeal to him by John Climacus in The Ladder and by the Athonite and Palamite tradition of hesychia; the line of descent and the distance between desert practice and developed doctrine. |
| Silence as Theology | The reading of Arsenius’ silence not as reticence but as a theology — the still tongue and quiet heart as the condition of the knowledge of God; the apophatic resonance of his stillness; silence and the Word. |
See Also
- Flee, Be Silent, Be Still — the oracle the hesychast tradition took as a charter
- Silence and Stillness — the practice of hesychia the tradition inherited
- The Jesus Prayer — the prayer of stillness of the hesychast tradition
- St. John Climacus — the Ladder’s treatment of stillness
- St. Gregory Palamas — the theologian of the hesychast controversy
References
- Ward, Benedicta, trans. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection. Rev. ed. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1984.
- Hausherr, Irénée. Hésychasme et prière. OCA 176. Rome, 1966.
- Ware, Kallistos. The Inner Kingdom. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2000.