Perhaps the one absolutely critical document for Hesychasm is “In Defence of those who Devoutly Practise a Life of Stillness,” found in vol. 4 of The Philokalia (Faber, 1995). It is not the standard inclusion in The Philokalia: the first page is a request for information, and the balance is Palamas’ reply. Further, the question does not directly seek spiritual advice, rather, it is apologetic: “… I would ask you to teach me why we devote such care to inducing our intellect to come back into ourselves and do not think it wrong to enclose it within the body.” (332)
Of course, much of the Philokalia was written to supply answers to questions ascetics did or would have. But here the lengthy question is the actual preface to the response. Further, it is explicitly for apologetic purposes against what are said to be false and malicious charges, (332)
The approximately twelve numbered paragraphs in ten full pages of reply are headed: “That it is not wrong for those who have chosen a life of self-attentiveness and stillness to strive to keep their intellect within their body.” That is the conclusion. In paragraph 1, St Gregory opens directly with Scripture that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; and this being so, no one could properly object to the intellect dwelling within that temple of God. He also directly and immediately addresses the allegation that the body is evil; thus telling us that this idea was, perhaps surprisingly, still current. No, it is not the body which is evil, Palamas says, what is evil is for “the intellect to be caught up in material thoughts.” (332) This is a master-stroke, as his first shot is to appeal to an authority which no one can deny, although they can attempt to explain it away – which puts them on the back foot.
As the response proceeds, Palamas continually quotes Scripture, and certain Fathers, some but not all of whom are to be found in the Philokalia: St Makarios the Great, Basil, John Climacus, Dionysius the Areopagite; Symeon the New Theologian, Nikiphoros, Theoliptos of Philadelphia, and Neilos (thought to be he of Ankyra). I hope in future posts to be able to show why these saints were appealed to by Palamas; but for the time, just note that it is these and their works (esp. as retained in the Philokalia) which are vital for understanding Hesychast prayer and Palamas’ defence of it.
Now to return to the arguments which Palamas marshalls; and they are arguments. In paragraph 2, he says that the hesychasts struggle to expel sin from our body so that the intellect may watch (“surveil”) and direct. The intellect is the organ of self-control; with its watching, we can pray for purity and that love be our motive. If I read him correctly, Palamas alludes to the greatness of the presence of the eucharistic Christ in the body which has consumed the Host.
He leads up to the crucial point that our intellect is usually dispersed through the senses but by “attentiveness” can be brought back to within the heart, “the body within the body,” collected (#3, 334). Just as importantly: it is a demonic delusion to imagine that the mind should be abstracted from the body itself so as to receive visions: rather, we seek to “extract the intellect … from a materialistic manner of thought …” (#4, 335) We do not lose our sense of ourselves, rather, we raise it to a higher level because we “install our intellect not only within the body and the heart, but also within itself.” (#4, 335)
The intellect can be so installed, even within itself, because it has more faculties than our eyes which can see external objects but not themselves. He appeals to Dionysius’ On the Divine Names to teach that the intellect can observe what is outside itself (direct movement) but also behold itself (“circular movement”). The intellect can “return to itself” and even ascend to God. (#5, 336)
In paragraph 6, Palamas attacks: it is of diabolic inspiration to disdain the endorsement of St John Climacus: “A hesychast is one who tries to enshrine what is bodiless within his body.” God Himself takes form (this is typology) and by His form “penetrates all structurally organised matter,” and our work must be to fit the body to be a worthy home for the divine forms and the essence of the intellect. (#6, 336-337)
It is right to instruct beginners on the Hesychast path how to “look within themselves and … bring their intellect within themselves by means of their breathing.” (#7, 337) While he refers to “certain methods,” he provides only the most general indications as to how this should be done. Indeed, he seems to suggest that it is better to leave the control of breathing to be a “natural consequence of paying attention to the intellect …” (#7, 337)
One cannot really judge of these matters without experience, he says, and this must be patient and enduring to bring us to love. Together with that is an exercise of curling the body, so that one gazes at the chest or the navel, to establish there “the law of intellect … armed with prayer …” (#8, 338) Palamas appeals to Moses, who according to the LXX, said: “Be attentive to yourself … prosekhe seautoi”(Deuteronomy 15:9), and this must be the intellect, the only tool which can be attentive to the whole of ourselves. By this means even the flesh can be transformed. (#9, 338-339)
Sin can rise up so easily through the body that we should “train ourselves to pay attention to ourselves also with respect to the outward positioning of the body” (#10, 339) He calls in aid the examples of Elijah with his head on his knees, and the publican who would not lift his eyes to heaven but turn their gaze on themselves. Palamas then rebukes those who call the Hesychasts “navel-psychics” they do not believe that the soul resides in the navel. (#10, 340) These slanderers have not only separated themselves from the saints, but have wrongly inveighed against them, and my well be punished. (#11, 340)
The final paragraph, 12, alludes to the great Fathers to whom I hope to return. He concludes: gain experience of hesychia, do not condemn it from abstract arguments “out of conceit and in a spirit of contradiction” (#12, 341-342) Follow the advice of King David, he urges: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His Holy Name” (Psalm 103:1) and so bring your intellect back within yourself. As Palamas opened with Scripture, so he closed with it.
