BASIS FOR THE HESYCHASTIC CHARACTER OF ORTHODOX MONASTICISM
/VÝCHODISKA PRO HESYCHASTICKÝ CHARAKTER PRAVOSLAVNÉHO MNIŠSTVÍ/

Michal DVORACEK

doctorand, Orthodox Theological Faculty, University of Presov in Presov, Masarykova 15, 080 01 Presov, Slovakia, seagul.m@email.cz, 00420776371611

Abstract

The Orthodox faith means a true life, a life in truth and at the same time a true love realizable through the means of repentance and prayer, in a word, through neptic life and hesychasm. One of the basic assumptions of the correct thinking and theological research is primarily a distinction of essence and energy (διάκρισις ουσίας και ενεργείας) within uncreated God (στο άκτιστο Θεό). Without this distinction, it is not possible to get any real experience of God's grace in any true theology. It is, therefore, significant that the lack of distinguishing ability in Western theology eventually led also to deviations in dogma. If the Holy Mount of Athos and Pan-Orthodox monasticism today preserves the hesychastic character and aims rather than to subjugating the world to its transforming through the hesychastic prayer and liturgical worship, for that we owe primarily to St. Gregory Palamas. He was the one who defended an opinion that the deified people who are experiencing the socalled Tabor´s light, that they in fact see this Light and that they are also seen in this Light by others - and this is the highest and purest experience of deification.

Keywords

Neptic, hesychasm, prayer, Gregory, Palamas, Athos, Varlaam, monk, Tabor, light, God, energy, non-created

(Language: czech)

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