Meditations of a Monk of the Holy Mountain Athos

[Doc Stier]

Comboschini (The Prayer Rope)

Prayer ropes are made in keeping with a tradition whose origin is lost in antiquity. Perhaps one of the earliest forms was simply gathering small pebbles or seeds and moving them from one spot or container to another as one said his prayer rule or did his rule of bows or prostrations. The story is told of a monk who decided to make knots in a rope, which he could use in carrying out his daily rule of prayer. But the devil kept untying the knots he made in the rope, frustrating the poor monk's efforts. Then an angel appeared and taught the monk a special kind of knot that consists of ties of interlocked crosses, and these knots the devil was unable to unravel.

Prayer ropes come in a great variety of forms and sizes. Most prayer ropes have a cross woven into them or attached to mark the "end", and also have some kind of marker after each 10, 25, or 50 knots or beads. There are many forms of prayer ropes, some knotted of wool or silk, or other more elegant or simpler materials. Others are made of beads or the dried flower of a plant called "Tears of the Mother of God".

The prayer rope is one of the items given to an Orthodox Christian monk at the time of tonsure: it is given to him as his spiritual sword with which he, as a soldier of Christ, must make war against our spiritual enemy, the devil. This sword is wielded by calling on the name of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ in a plea for mercy on me a sinner. This prayer can be said in a shorter form, such as: "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me".


http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/comboschini.aspx

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[Doc Stier]

Hesychasm by George A. Maloney, S.J.

A term applied to three distinct but related stages of development of Eastern Christian spirituality. The term comes from the Greek word meaning "tranquility."

First, hesychasm refers to the spirituality which was characteristic of the early Church Fathers in the 4th and 5th centuries. These monks were hermits dwelling in the deserts seeking inner peace and spiritual insight while practicing contemplation and self-discipline as they studied the New Testament and the Psalter.

Secondly, hesychasm refers to the type of contemplation which developed with the Byzantine spirituality from the 10th to the 14th centuries. Such spirituality employed the method of praying the Jesus Prayer "(Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.)" The saying of the pray was synchronized with one's breathing. This spiritual practice is characteristic of the spirituality described in the five volume collection called Philokalia.

Thirdly, hesychasm refers to the theological exposition of the contemplation of God as proposed by Gregory Palamas in the 14th century and became the official doctrine of the Orthodox Church.

Plamas' aimed for this proposal was to defend the hesychastic spirituality and the way of prayer of the monks of Mt. Athos and the Byzantine Orient against the attacks of the Barlaam Calabria.

Palamas distinguished between the unchanging essence of God and His uncreative energies. "The Taboric Light (the light that surrounded Christ in the Transfiguration), the goal sought in contemplation by the hesychasts, was a theophany, or manifestation of God, through His uncreated energies." A.G.H.

Edited by Doc Stier

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[Doc Stier]

Degrees of the vision of God by Saint Gregory Palamas

http://www.pravoslavieto.com/life/11/11.14_sv_palamas/11.14_sv_G_Palama_oca-org.jpg

There are many degrees of vision of the Light. But here we wish to add that there is no ending to this perfection. In patristic theology standing still is regarded as falling.

St. Gregory Palamas writes about this point: "This vision of God has both a beginning and things after the beginning, varying in darkness and clarity; but there is no end at all, for its progress is infinite, like that of the ravishment in revelation". So there is no end to this vision of God, but an endless progression. Therefore "illumination is a different thing from a steady sight of light, and both differ from seeing things in the light...".

Vision of the uncreated Light has many degrees. It depends on the person’s spiritual condition and God’s gift. The experience of God’s purifying, enlightening and deifying energy operates in accordance with the degree of one’s participation in divine Grace.

Edited by Doc Stier