My religion VS spirituality series : Stillness: Hesychasm - The Monastic Tradition of Orthodox Christianity

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yes the word hezek ism is a Greek word

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and it just means Stillness or or

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silence we think of hezekia is the inner

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Stillness and that God himself says be

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still and know that I am God well how do

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we find the place of Stillness in a

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world of chaos especially the kinds of

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kind of world that we live in today with

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such chaos and hurry you know speed and

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uh Rush the tyranny of the Urgent uh how

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do we keep that place of Stillness what

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St Maximus the Confessor speaks of as

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ever moving Stillness that is to say we

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are still we still live in the world but

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in a sense not of the world in a real

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sense not of the world of another way

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another mode of existence well that mode

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mode is this mode hakia this mode of

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Stillness this mode of being centered in

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God uh this mode of of being still and

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knowing that God is God and as the psalm

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goes on that he will exalt his name

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among the Nations the nations are in

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chaos the nations are uh in turmoil

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today more than ever wars and rumors of

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wars and illnesses and pandemics and all

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sorts of things Jesus says you'll see

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these things and at the end of time

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you'll even see them more but you're not

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to be dismayed when you see all these

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things happen look up look up for your

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Redemption draws nigh to look up means

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again you have to use a faculty that God

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has given the human being which we call

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the noetic faculty or The Noose the eyes

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of the heart and so this Jesus prayer

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this this prayer that helps bring us

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into an Ever moving Stillness this

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prayer we often pray is that Lord Jesus

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Christ have mercy on me there are

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different versions it can be a little

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bit longer a little shorter the longer

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version Lord Jesus Christ Son of God

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have mercy on me a sinner there's a

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there's a movement that takes place

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again what St Maximus called ever moving

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Stillness and it finds the place of

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Stillness in the midst of the storm and

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as one Elder told me one time you must

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find that place of

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Stillness and then move as fast as the

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storm

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moves and the question well how do you

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move as fast as the storm moves because

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storms will move you you don't want to

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hit that outside of the of the tornado

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or the hurricane you want to stay in in

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the center and yet ever moving it's the

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Jesus this prayer that helps us and it's

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the cleansing of the Noose this noetic

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faculty that is crucial for finding

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inner

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Stillness because it's the place that

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can see God and know God and to rest in

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God yes this is absolutely crucial to

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enter into the rest of God and not be

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like the people uh in the wilderness

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when when Moses brought the people out

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of bondage and slavery in in Egypt and

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came across the the Red Sea and they

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entered into the Wilderness and they

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begin to Grumble there they begin to

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reason in their mind saying how is God

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going to feed us out here and how how is

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it going to happen and how can we fix

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this by Ways and Means and by our own

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understanding you know one of the

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teachings of uh our hezek castic uh

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elders is to say that you know the

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rational faculty which is so valued in

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the western church in the western let's

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say Western Christianity and the West in

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general that says reason is the highest

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faculty or the doxy would just simply

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say that's not

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true we acknowledge reason it's a

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tremendous gift that God has given us we

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do not denigrate reason we're not

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anti-reason but we are transrational

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people

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we are a people that say the rational

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faculty this of ways and means of trying

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to figure out how to fix things by uh

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human knowledge through reason that this

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only takes us so far we have to

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transcend to a higher realm and that's

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the noetic realm where we rest in God

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and know that he is God his name will be

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exalted in the Nations every knee will

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bow every tongue confess that Jesus

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Christ is Lord and

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so knowing that we we don't have to be

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all wound up when we look around and see

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uh all the tribulations and distresses

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around us uh we we don't get check out

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either but we we stay within that place

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of everm moving rest in God faith that

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he is the Lord and he will accomplish

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his will and his work in this world it

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is his world and so when we hear of all

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the problems in the world we're tempted

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to try to figure them out on on a purely

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rational level and the problem is as all

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the philosophers have said and certainly

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our greatest fathers like St Gregory

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palamas he says you know for every

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rational reason there will be a

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counterargument for every argument a

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counterargument it'll go on and on and

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on and on and on we saw this so often in

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the we see it all around us in in the

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politics of our day arguments from both

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sides based on a certain rationalistic

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approach it can't answer the deepest

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questions and the deepest problems of

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man because the deepest problems of man

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is that man has forgotten God and

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Hezekiah brings us back into the

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remembrance of God just a little while

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we're going to talk about the prodigal

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son how he REM he remembered the father

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he had a

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metanoia a change of

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vision the word

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metanoia in English repentance but the

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word repentance has so much bag

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religious baggage I love the the Greek

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word metanoia it has to do with the

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change of one's noetic faculty as news

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he was looking in One Direction and then

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he remembered a higher way

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of seeing things and he had a a change a

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metanoia turning around of his noetic

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faculty of his vision and he began to

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see on a higher

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way and he began to know that God is the

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Lord and in the story of the prodigal

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son that his father

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is is a loving father and so uh there

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was a a change he he he came to the end

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of himself all the Frantic frenzy of

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trying to fix this world by our own

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knowledge the knowledge of the tree of

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Good and Evil uh the knowledge that's

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not able to save uh the knowledge that

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St Paul says is actually uh it's the

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same as the law

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um the laws God's accommodation to our

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wanting to live apart from God to live

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by just rules and regulations and so

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forth on a rational level which is the

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way most religions operate on a law base

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we're called to live by grace and to

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live in a dance with the almighty God

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and to know him personally and to share

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through Jesus Christ the God man his the

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life of the uncreated god to know

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him and we know him

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through quieting our hearts and our

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minds from lots of noise we say in in

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the Greek we use the word log is me the

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log is me the little thoughts that race

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around our our heads the to-do list the

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anxieties the uh the head monkeys the

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Mind weasels the things that just uh

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capture our attention day and night if

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you are spending time uh on the internet

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and looking at uh news constantly and

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different uh podcasts on commentaries on

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what's going on in the world you're

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going to be consumed with head weasels

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and so Orthodox

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Christianity has a tried and and tested

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method of

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coming into a place of more Stillness

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and in we've used the Jesus prayer where

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we it's not a technique and it's not a m

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like an Eastern religion it's it's

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simply the shortest prayer that calls

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out the name of the Lord Lord Jesus

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Christ Son of God have mercy on

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me and sometimes I add and our whole

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world have mercy on me The Sinner have

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mercy on me and our dear broken

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world it is a

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simple Cry of the

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heart that has faith and Contrition at

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the same time that knows the posal joy

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of Christ's resurrection and also bows

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down in the dust as job did after he saw

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God face to face job

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said I Used to Know You by the hearing

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of the word by the law but now I've come

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to know you face to face and I prostrate

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in the dirt in the ashes in the

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dust this prayer of the

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heart both calls us into the

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resurrection into the sure and certain

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knowledge of the indestructible life of

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Jesus

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Christ the

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theanthropos it calls us up into heaven

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and it also returns us to the place of

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Contrition the remembrance that we lived

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in the pig's pen like the prodigal

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son and that we need to remember the

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father day and night to love his only

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begotten son Jesus Christ to be filled

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with the Holy good and lifegiving spirit

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to yearn for that with all our hearts

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this is the communal way of finding the

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peace of God which passes all human

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understanding his peace he gives to us

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not as the world gives but it is a gift

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from above and so these things hezekia

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Stillness the prayer of the heart and

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the communion with God through prayer uh

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this is at the heart of

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Orthodoxy it's the path to the kingdom

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of heaven