The Prayer of Deep Silence – A Prayer of the Hesychast Tradition for the Purification of the Heart, the Reception of the Divine Energies, and Deification (Theosis)

✦ THE PRAYER OF DEEP SILENCE A Prayer of the Hesychast Tradition for the Purification of the Heart, the Reception of the Divine Energies, and Deification (Theosis)   Based on the Philokalia · The theology of Gregory Palamas · The meditations of Isaac the Syrian ✦ INTRODUCTION Why Does the Human Being Need Deep Silence? Hesychasm (Greek: ἡσυχία — hesychia) is the most profound tradition of spiritual practice in the…

Why Are There So Many Orthodox Saints? Understanding the Orthodox Church’s Path to Holiness — An In-Depth Study

Why Are There So Many Orthodox Saints? Understanding the Orthodox Church’s Path to Holiness — An In-Depth Study Introduction The Orthodox Church has venerated thousands of saints throughout the centuries — men and women regarded as having attained holiness through divine grace and officially recognized as such by the Church. Some estimates cite more than a thousand names in ancient Greek menologia alone, a number that grows considerably when the saints…