“What is Hesychasm? Mystical practice in Orthodox Christianity” – Filip Holm | Let’s Talk Religion ▶️

In this video, we talk about the mystical tradition called “Hesychasm” in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The term “hesychast controversy” refers to a quarrel that broke out in Byzantium around the year 1335. The two main protagonists were Gregory Palamas, later metropolitan of Thessaloniki, and Barlaam of Calabria. The quarrel started as a disagreement on a set of questions such as whether through prayer man may obtain a vision of the uncreated light of God in the way the disciples of Christ had the opportunity to see it on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration, and whether there is a real distinction between God’s uncreated essence and His uncreated energies, in which man may participate.

Sources/Suggested Reading:

Lossky, Vladimir (1944). The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. James Clarke & Co.

Ware, Timothy (2015). The Orthodox Church: An introduction to Eastern Christianity. New Edition. Penguin Books.

Gregory Palamas: The Triads. Translated by Nicholas Gendle. In the “Classics of Western Spirituality Series”. 1982.