Hesychasm - Meanings of The Term

Meanings of The Term

Kallistos Ware distinguishes five distinct meanings of the term "hesychasm":

  1. "solitary life", a sense, equivalent to "eremitical life", in which the term is used since the 4th century;
  2. "the practice of inner prayer, aiming at union with God on a level beyond images, concepts and language", a sense in which the term is found in Evagrius Ponticus (345-399), Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662), and Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022);
  3. "the quest for such union through the Jesus Prayer", the earliest reference to which is in Diadochos of Photiki (c. 450);
  4. "a particular psychosomatic technique in combination with the Jesus Prayer", use of which technique can be traced back at least to the 13th century;
  5. "the theology of St. Gregory Palamas", on which see Palamism.

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