HESYCHASM

HESYCHASM. This word derives from the Greek verb meaning “to be quiet” or “at rest.” In early monastic usage “hesychast” was used for an ascetic “at rest” in the quiet of a desert retreat, i.e., an anchorite or hermit. “Hesychasm” as a special term comes to particular prominence in the 14th c. in what is at least a double sense. First, and more narrowly, it refers to a monastic movement centered on Mt. Athos (q.v.), especially among the hermits who were preoccupied with the meaning and technique of the “Jesus Prayer.” The monks believed that the Jesus Prayer-the repeated and concentrated invocation of the divine name-served to provide the most direct path to encounter with the presence of the Risen One. This movement provoked the negative criticism of Barlaam the Calabrian, and found its chief defender in Gregory Palamas (qq.v.). In its larger sense “hesychasm” is often used to denote a broad movement of renewal that was led by monks connected with and formed by hesychast spirituality. That movement stretched from the chancery of the Ecumenical Patriarch through the Balkans to the monasteries founded by Sergius of Radonezh (qq.v.) and his successors. Called by some scholars the “Hesychast Internationale,” this wide current of ideas and personalities did much to strengthen and unite the Orthodox Church on the eve of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks (qq.v.).