04 — The Hesychast Heart

The spiritual core of the book. Beneath its many authors and centuries the Philokalia teaches one thing: hesychia — inner stillness — attained through watchfulness and the unceasing invocation of the Name of Jesus, leading to the purification of the heart, deification, and the vision of the uncreated light.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

This section states the teaching that unifies the anthology. The first file treats the Jesus Prayer and the descent of the intellect into the heart — the practice at the center of the collection. The second treats the wider frame: watchfulness, the passions and virtues, deification, and the Taboric light of the Palamite tradition.

Files in This Section

File Description
the-jesus-prayer-and-the-prayer-of-the-heart.md The unifying theme: the invocation of the Name of Jesus and the descent of the intellect (nous) into the heart; the hesychast “method” and its cautions.
nepsis-theosis-and-the-vision-of-light.md The wider frame: watchfulness, the war of the passions and the acquisition of the virtues, deification (theosis), and the Taboric light in the Palamite theology of the collection.

See Also