Hesychasm - The Monastic Tradition of Orthodox Christianity

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  • Опубліковано 29 лис 2023
  • Fr. John Bethancourt shares an insight into the contemplative Monastic tradition known as Hesychasm; a divine quietness or stillness that is still practiced to this day by Orthodox Christian monks.
    Fr. John Bethancourt (Retired)
    Founding Pastor of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Santa Fe, NM
    Roots of Orthodoxy is a platform dedicated to showcasing the Orthodox faith by interviewing priests around the world.
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    #hesychia #hesychasm #hesychast #orthodoxchristianity #orthodoxy #orthodox #monastic #monasticism #orthodoxmonk #christianmonk #saint #saints #russianorthodox #greekorthodox #antiochian

КОМЕНТАРІ • 79

  • @euryhaline_sharkguy26
    @euryhaline_sharkguy26 6 місяців тому +41

    Thank you for everything you do. Please pray for my father hes in the hospital right now 😢

    • @RootsofOrthodoxy
      @RootsofOrthodoxy  6 місяців тому +11

      Praying for the well-being of your Father 🙏

    • @euryhaline_sharkguy26
      @euryhaline_sharkguy26 6 місяців тому +6

      @@RootsofOrthodoxy thank you ❤️🙏🏻

    • @bradydanfordtalented
      @bradydanfordtalented 2 місяці тому +3

      how is your father? i hope everything is okay now

    • @euryhaline_sharkguy26
      @euryhaline_sharkguy26 2 місяці тому +7

      @bradydanfordtalented my father has been making progress with walking and the wound on his back is finally closing up, God willing. Thank you for asking. God Bless you and to everyone that may have prayed for him. Glory to God and thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, I greatly appreciate it

  • @thelostcosmonaut5555
    @thelostcosmonaut5555 2 місяці тому +7

    I find difficulty in finding peace while living in a very urban environment. That is why I retreat to the mountains or seek solitude in the desert which is less than 2 hour's drive from me.

  • @brandonterzic
    @brandonterzic 3 місяці тому +2

    Beautiful. The taoists say “ action in inaction” when describing meditation Same as this saying…

  • @mayeshdasa1882
    @mayeshdasa1882 6 місяців тому +8

    Hope this series goes and goes all along🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

    • @RootsofOrthodoxy
      @RootsofOrthodoxy  6 місяців тому +1

      Thank you! Please pray that I may continue to make these and may God open more opportunities for other priests to be interviewed 🙏

  • @joshandkellbohannon1337
    @joshandkellbohannon1337 6 місяців тому +7

    I am a Protestant seeker, at this point more Orthodox than Reformed. This channel is a blessing.

    • @triggered8556
      @triggered8556 5 місяців тому +2

      Have you been to a liturgy yet?

    • @user-tq8dy3mm9o
      @user-tq8dy3mm9o 23 дні тому

      Be careful what you’re getting into. Orthodoxy promotes idolatry. Are you aware that icons and worship of Mary in Orthodoxy is not only practiced but it’s a requirement for salvation. These are just two examples. So Orthodoxy has anathematized anyone who doesn’t believe this. Belief in grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is not your belief anymore? This is what scripture says. It’s Christ alone and nothing else for our salvation. All other things are loss. I guess the reformation meant nothing to you.

    • @JesseHassell-pv6hg
      @JesseHassell-pv6hg 3 дні тому

      @@user-tq8dy3mm9obeware of false teachers like this in sheep’s clothing

  • @maxheinrichliebow
    @maxheinrichliebow 6 місяців тому +6

    Thank you Fr John. Hesychasm is such a beautiful thing, and plays a huge role in my life (secular life). How wonderful to be able to retreat into the heart in the midst of the vast 'hustle n bustle' of daily living. Its shocking to believe that once upon a time it was considered a heresy by one particular man and his small circle of followers. If anything its one of the most Godly tools we can investigate, and puts us on the path to theosis that bit clearer. I cannot advocate enough for the great stillness.

  • @kathyw7303
    @kathyw7303 6 місяців тому +4

    Thank you Father - listening to your message at the start of my day. I too pray God has mercy !

  • @LadderOfDescent
    @LadderOfDescent 6 місяців тому +5

    Wow. Father bless.
    I pray you continue to share these videos. I sensed moments of hesychasm in my heart just hearing your words. It was really like hearing Christ speak. And I was present with him.
    I have only been baptized in The Church for a couple of months, so forgive me if I didn’t say that theologically correct.

  • @makingsmokesince76
    @makingsmokesince76 6 місяців тому +4

    Wonderfully said. Thank you. Glory to God for all things.

  • @giacomostira8176
    @giacomostira8176 Місяць тому

    I am Catholic but my childhood priest taught us this prayer (in Italian) when we were kids, after he returned from one of his pilgrimages to the Holy Land in companionship with members of other Christian denominations and also other faiths.

  • @Road2Heaven123
    @Road2Heaven123 6 місяців тому +3

    Saint Joseph the Hesychast pls pray for us 🙏

  • @tn1536
    @tn1536 6 місяців тому +1

    Amen! Thank you for sharing ❤

  • @clintgossett1879
    @clintgossett1879 6 місяців тому +2

    Thank you for this series!

  • @yourneighbour3309
    @yourneighbour3309 6 місяців тому +4

    love the constant videos! thank you!

  • @cozzwozzle
    @cozzwozzle 6 місяців тому +3

    Loving this series. Love the quality

  • @virginlamo8202
    @virginlamo8202 6 місяців тому +5

    its so cool how Platonic the East is and how Aristotlean the West is

    • @jarrakis4834
      @jarrakis4834 3 місяці тому +1

      I’m not familiar with either can you explain?

    • @MinnesotanMysticism
      @MinnesotanMysticism 2 місяці тому

      @@jarrakis4834in a nutshell: Plato’s philosophy was more concerned with the abstract and metaphysical, “realm of forms” etc. Aristotles philosophy focused on there here and now, common, practical and even pragmatic (even though pragmatism came later, it’s a philosophy that further developed Aristotelian philosophy). Hope that clears this up a bit.

    • @OrthoNektarios
      @OrthoNektarios Місяць тому

      The East is not Platonic at all. We acknowledged that Plato was close to some things but we had to correct a lot of his theology but we use some of his examples but in a correct way. Same thing with Aristotle for us. But aristitilianism platonism is absolutely condemned and not accepted in the East. Where in the West Neo-Platonic doctrines sprung up with St.Augustine with some Aristotelian philosophy get crammed in with theology (which he later recants) and the West holds onto that like ADS and other doctrines. Anslem increases that and then Thomas Aquanisas increases that as well especially with Aristotelian thinking. So it is the West that is very platonic and heavily uses Aristotle and you can see this in their theology and concepts of God and the Trinity. Not the East. That is a bad representation of what we believe. Anyone who reads Aristotle and Plato and then looks at orthodoxy which the west used to be a apart of, can see that.

  • @jimboslicereal
    @jimboslicereal 6 місяців тому +4

    Wow, this is beautiful. I am a Roman Catholic, and I have seen modernity (and, therefore, a storm) creep in along with Americanistic ideals. Orthodoxy is so pure, and I feel the Holy Spirt calls me closer to it each day.

    • @the4gospelscommentary
      @the4gospelscommentary 5 місяців тому

      As a Roman Catholic, you should know that "Orthodoxy" is a heretical schismatic religion. It is not "pure".

    • @triggered8556
      @triggered8556 5 місяців тому

      @@the4gospelscommentary How so?

    • @kostaskostopoulos2913
      @kostaskostopoulos2913 5 місяців тому

      @@triggered8556 because he says that 😁

    • @valeriy2975
      @valeriy2975 5 місяців тому

      That's one of the most beautiful things I see in my life: when people from different branches of Christianity see each other as children and brothers and sisters of the same God.

    • @the4gospelscommentary
      @the4gospelscommentary 5 місяців тому

      @@triggered8556 Because it anathematizes doctrines that were unanimously held by the Church Fathers - Divine simplicity, filioque, Papacy ...

  • @fanispatsalides1810
    @fanispatsalides1810 6 місяців тому +1

    May we have your blessings Father, l so much enjoy listening to you! 🌹🌿☦❤

  • @vaporizejello
    @vaporizejello 6 місяців тому +3

    As a recent catechumen im so glad to finally understand that word! haha. There's so many new things, but im slowly learning it, and loving it.

  • @forevershampoo
    @forevershampoo 5 місяців тому

    This channel is great, thank you.

  • @MartinBrunoSar
    @MartinBrunoSar 5 місяців тому

    I love Fr John, such a calming and loving presence. Thank you John, bless you

  • @annalynn9325
    @annalynn9325 6 місяців тому +3

    Three days in a row of Fr John 😌 What a blessing

    • @RootsofOrthodoxy
      @RootsofOrthodoxy  6 місяців тому +3

      We can’t have enough of Fr. John! Haha thank you for your support ❤

  • @bersabelwondimagegnhu6861
    @bersabelwondimagegnhu6861 4 місяці тому

    I’m Ethiopian Orthodox residing in the US. This channel is a blessing . It helped me a lot to better understand orthodoxy .

  • @rebeccaharrishunt1181
    @rebeccaharrishunt1181 5 місяців тому

    Thank you so much, Father; your talk reminds me of my beloved spiritual father of blessed memory, +Fr. Thomas Davis (4.29.04), of St. Paul Antiochian Church in Lynnwood WA. He fell asleep only a few weeks after my late husband, +Steven (4.4.04, Palm Sunday). Thank you so much.

  • @karentrigaux5578
    @karentrigaux5578 6 місяців тому +2

    Beautifully explained..

  • @Nihit_Arora777
    @Nihit_Arora777 6 місяців тому +3

    Beautiful ☦️❤️

  • @joshwolf5377
    @joshwolf5377 4 місяці тому

    I’m like 99% sure Fr. John was at my church recently. I am new to Orthodoxy and I’ve been studying and watching everything I can to help me along the way. Thank you for this awesome video Father John

  • @juliamihasastrology4427
    @juliamihasastrology4427 2 місяці тому

    That guy is awesome. Thanks for praying for us.

  • @GinnyBeth283
    @GinnyBeth283 2 місяці тому +2

    Before Orthodoxy found me, God instructed me how to pray. I’ve had a VERY bad year.
    I’ve always had self esteem issues, but this was different. I kept thoughts in my head like: “you’re not worth loving”, “everyone would be better off without you”, or “why would God want you”, and eventually these thoughts came with visuals of me cutting myself and worse.
    I prayed and tried fighting them on my own, thinking I was just severely depressed. I came so close to giving up, but after a particular prayer, where through desperate tears I BEGGED God to help me and empty me of every evil and fill me with His love, will, commandments etc…. after this prayer, I just suddenly knew to keep “saying” His name in the “back of my mind” and EVERY unwanted, evil, self destructive thought left. I haven’t had a suicidal thought in a little over a year now, but those unwanted evil thoughts still try to sneak in… I just call on my King and Savior, Jesus Christ and they leave.
    I was a Protestant who had given up on the church because of so many reasons, but I still studied and tried to practice my faith. I haven’t been to church in well over 10 years but have never lost faith in God.
    Even though I think people blame the devil too much, I am convinced it was a demonic attack but all it did was bring me closer to Jesus Christ and I’m thankful for that.

    • @inTruthbyGrace
      @inTruthbyGrace Місяць тому

      give up on "church"... pursue the WORD of God... that is the only way you will know Jesus is through His word... these cults are so far removed from the Bible that really really need to study God's Word for yourself.
      tragic that this is based on a single verse of Scripture torn entirely out of context and worse still by an "Orthodox" scholar who should know the use of the word σκολσατχ: to be unoccupied, at leisure. It is this charge of idleness that Pharaoh laid against the children of Israel in Ex 5:8 &17... it is part of God's command to TRUST HIm.. not to look at your belly button/ "heart" to look into the darkness of the created being because you are going to see God in your belly! Jesus speaks to these things: "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil....For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.” (John 3:19-21) and that LIGHT is the WORD of God (Psalm 119:105), not your belly ... Jesus again clarifies for you people: "and when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, hHe answered them and said, The kingdom of God comes NOT with observation"...
      "He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men". (Mark 7:6-8)...
      you feign wanting to God if it is through yourself and not Hid Word:
      Isaiah 55.. Seek the Lord while he may be found;
      call to him while he is near.
      7
      Let the wicked one abandon his way
      and the sinful one his thoughts;(K)
      let him return to the Lord,
      so he may have compassion on him,
      and to our God, for he will freely forgive
      8
      “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
      and your ways are not my ways.”
      This is the Lord’s declaration.
      9
      “For as heaven is higher than earth,
      so my ways are higher than your ways,
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.
      10
      For just as rain and snow fall from heaven
      and do not return there
      without saturating the earth
      and making it germinate and sprout,
      and providing seed to sow
      and food to eat,
      11
      so my WORD THAT COMES FROM MY MOUTH
      will not return to me empty,
      but it will accomplish what I please
      and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
      He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. (Deut 8:3)
      I will προσκυνήσω toward your holy temple
      and ἐξομολογήσομαι your name for your
      mercy and for your truth,
      because you magnified your λόγιον above
      every name. Psalm 138:2

    • @GinnyBeth283
      @GinnyBeth283 Місяць тому +1

      @@inTruthbyGrace I have been reading the Word of God, and I’ve read the Bible several times in my life, and it is the only thing that has kept me going. That being said, the Orthodox Church has answered so many questions and helped me improve my life in so many ways, and I haven’t even officially converted. If a person reads the Bible for understanding, and are truly seeking Jesus, they will be led to the Orthodox Church.

    • @JesseHassell-pv6hg
      @JesseHassell-pv6hg 3 дні тому

      @@inTruthbyGracebegone satan

    • @inTruthbyGrace
      @inTruthbyGrace 2 дні тому

      @@JesseHassell-pv6hg the Father Himself, which has sent me, has borne witness of me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape.
      And you have not His word abiding in you: for whom He has sent, Him you believe not.
      Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
      And you will not come to me, that you might have life.
      *_I receive not honour from men._*
      But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not:
      *_if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive_*
      How can you believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

  • @user-kr5dg2sp9c
    @user-kr5dg2sp9c 4 місяці тому

    I love this !!

  • @barriem5318
    @barriem5318 Місяць тому +1

    Like in 1 Kings 19, where Elijah was at the cave. When God passed by, He wasn't in the wind, the earthquake tearing apart the mountain, or in the fire. God spoke to Elijah in a whisper. God speaks to everyone that way. If you can't find stillness you won't hear God speaking to you.

  • @elizabethharrison2947
    @elizabethharrison2947 3 місяці тому

    While i never doubted Gods existence, I came to know him on a circuitous journey wherein my hunger grew and never waned, and as challenges became nearly impossible to bear nor understand, I then set about reading Gods WORD and THAT began my most soberminded quietly joyful life that couldnt have been imagined until that turning point. And so, in a nutshell, GODS WORD is never highlighted, but is minimized and not quoted enough for too many reasons to enumerate and so , dear readers, TAKE THE TIME to understand-by-learning, GODS WORD, and pray unceasingly, which will be a GREAT JOY for YOU, as will His unutterable peace and confidence, and no matter what else happens - thats right, you read that right: NO MATTER WHAT, The Lord will be with you. Never lean on your own understanding. Be with God and God will be with YOU.
    ~Old woman in Christ, here
    🙏💔🙏

  • @OrthodoxChristianTeaching
    @OrthodoxChristianTeaching 6 місяців тому

    So edifying

  • @jarrakis4834
    @jarrakis4834 3 місяці тому

    This encapsulates my current problem and how I am now studying orthodoxy

    • @JakeBabineau
      @JakeBabineau 3 місяці тому

      what do you mean, whats your problems you faceing

  • @mayeshdasa1882
    @mayeshdasa1882 6 місяців тому +3

    Amen t🙏🙏🙏

  • @lukericker8325
    @lukericker8325 6 місяців тому +1

    I once heard that you shouldn’t add “and the world” at the end of the Jesus prayer. I can’t remember the exact source, but I believe an orthodox priest heard someone do it and warned them not to. Something to do with the fact that healing to world will come when you receive God in yourself, so don’t hinder that by adding to the prayer. (This may have been from a Jonathan Pagaue video, if I find it I’ll confirm the source)

    • @someotherguy43
      @someotherguy43 5 місяців тому +1

      He means well, God understands the heart.

    • @kyleernst328
      @kyleernst328 2 місяці тому

      I see nothing wrong with replacing "Me" with "the World" or with "Luke". Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on Luke. The word "mercy" in greek, I am told means oil of grace thus when one prays Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on Luke then one is merely asking our God to pour the oil of grace over Luke's head...or pour the oil of grace over the world. What can be wrong with that since we are called to pray for the world?

  • @Captnsouthpaw
    @Captnsouthpaw Місяць тому

    I am doing horribly ever since I became a catechumen it’s like my passions are turned up to 11. Please pray for me.

    • @JesseHassell-pv6hg
      @JesseHassell-pv6hg 3 дні тому

      Can you explain? And give me your name so I can pray for you

    • @Captnsouthpaw
      @Captnsouthpaw 2 дні тому

      @@JesseHassell-pv6hg I struggle deeply with lust and wrath. My name is Jack. Thank you for your prayers.

  • @stuckmannen3876
    @stuckmannen3876 4 місяці тому

    Anybody know if its possible to practise hesecastic prayer as a layman?
    Sorry for bad english

    • @kyleernst328
      @kyleernst328 2 місяці тому +1

      Anyone can pray the Jesus prayer however it is best to be under the instructions of one's spiritual father in doing so. "hesecastic prayer" is "silence of the heart"... not an easy task to silence one's heart before God. The Jesus prayer is the first step in the practice of Hesychasm. The goal is to stand before God in utter silence of the mind, silence of the heart...try it sometime...you will find it nearly impossible to silence your mind and not have a stream of thoughts running rampant through your mind. After 22 years of Orthodoxy...I have not attained even a second of silence of the heart. As I stated...it is best to be under the tutelage of a spiritual father in the practice of Hesychasm.

  • @ENOC772
    @ENOC772 21 день тому

    Hesychasm: be still and silence. Práctica contemplativa reconocida y practicada por la iglesia ortodoxa

  • @Jordan-SGM
    @Jordan-SGM 9 днів тому

    why does orthodoxy sound exactly the same as protestantism
    I'm a protestant and I labor to enter into his rest as you are describing

  • @blackmonster4708
    @blackmonster4708 3 дні тому

    ... this is holy. except, the jewish people were never enslaved, but rather were slavers

  • @crunchybroll4731
    @crunchybroll4731 3 місяці тому

    All of these obscure jargony words here. He is saying a whole lot of nothing. "Moving stillness in the chaos" is the only thing he said it means lol.

    • @blindside58
      @blindside58 2 місяці тому +1

      Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us all.

    • @kyleernst328
      @kyleernst328 2 місяці тому +1

      Orthodoxy has a tendency to go right over some folks heads.

    • @calebbrunson7120
      @calebbrunson7120 2 місяці тому +1

      @crunchybroll4731 Try to focus the mind on a single point, for example the Name of Christ. What happens is that thoughts continually arise which deviate from that point of concentration on the Name. Then, you must immediately bring the mind back onto the Name. This is the “moving stillness” in the “chaos”.
      The stillness results from extended concentration. The moving comes from having to refocus the mind when distracting thoughts arise. And the chaos refers to the constant modifications to the mind.