{"id":386217,"date":"2022-08-18T12:18:34","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T09:18:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=386217"},"modified":"2022-08-18T12:18:34","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T09:18:34","slug":"patriarch-daniel-explains-why-the-hesychasts-were-the-most-sought-after-spiritual-fathers-and-what-is-a-prayerful-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/patriarch-daniel-explains-why-the-hesychasts-were-the-most-sought-after-spiritual-fathers-and-what-is-a-prayerful-reason\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriarch Daniel explains why the Hesychasts were the most sought-after spiritual fathers and what is a prayerful reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

After investing thirteen priests from the Archdiocese of Bucharest as spiritual fathers, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel explained why today people need more than ever prayerful priests.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPrayer that enables the mind to descend into the heart brings us peace and sets the praying reason in opposition to the rebellious reason,\u201d Patriarch Daniel said during a special ceremony at the St George Chapel of his patriarchal residence on August 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church has treated with great responsibility the mystery of repentance, confession of sins and receiving forgiveness for sins,\u201d His Beatitude said, adding that \u201cfasting and confession are the most concrete forms of deepening spiritual life.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is why, in the past, there were only a few spiritual fathers in large monasteries, where many people went and confessed and who formed disciples through practice.<\/p>\n

Later, academic theological training for clergy was also considered necessary because, in Western Europe, the \u201cEnlightenment, anti-religious and, later, atheist current\u201d had just appeared. After the French Revolution, and afterwards, with the Bolshevik Revolution, unbelief, anti-clerical and even anti-Christian attitudes significantly spread in Europe,\u201d Patriarch Daniel noted.<\/p>\n

Prayerful reason, a response to rebellious reason<\/h1>\n

Along with the intellectual phenomenon of the Enlightenment, secularization also appeared, a phenomenon of a spiritual nature in which \u201cthe worldly spirit becomes stronger than the Christian spirit of spiritual feats,\u201d the Patriarch of Romania noted.<\/p>\n

In this context, in the 18th century, the hesychast movement reappeared in the Orthodox East, which initially emerged in the 14th century as a movement against an intellectual phenomenon: Byzantine scholasticism.<\/p>\n

Hesychasm reappeared \u201cas a renewal in the 18th century, especially in the Romanian Countries, under the coordination of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) of Neam\u021b, who was originally from Ukraine, but who was trained by the spiritual fathers from the parts of Buz\u0103u and Mount Athos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Returning to the Romanian Countries between 1779 and 1794, the saint gathered almost a thousand monks from many Orthodox countries around him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Patriarch Daniel addressing the newly-invested spiritual fathers at St George Chapel of the Patriarchal Residence. Photo: Basilica.ro \/ Mircea Florescu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis movement was a response against the Western Enlightenment, which was leading people astray and teaching them that if you have culture, that\u2019s enough, you don\u2019t need faith anymore. The focus was only on reason, and reason in the Enlightenment, in general, was rebellious,\u201d Patriarch Daniel explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmanuel Kant, a contemporary of St. Paisius of Neam\u021b, wrote a book entitled Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason. That is, only what can be rationally accepted is valid from religion. The rest is story, myth and not believable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis rebellious and limiting reason of the Enlightenment, the Holy Hesychasts of the 18th century responded with a prayerful, unrebellious reason, the one that enlightens itself through prayer. Prayer enlightens the mind to understand the Scriptures and warms the heart so that it fulfils the commandments of love of God and fellow human beings,\u201d His Beatitude underscored.<\/p>\n

The Hesychasts, the most sought-after spiritual fathers<\/h1>\n

Patriarch Daniel noted that the disciples of St Paisius of Neamt spread to Russia and Ukraine, establishing numerous hesychastic monasteries with a crucial role in the spread of spiritual culture, as seen in a novel by the writer F.M. Dostoevsky. St Seraphim of Sarov probably knew the Philokalia translated at Neam\u021b and printed in 1793 in Moscow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Hesychast fathers went to confession very often, some of them daily,\u201d the Patriarch of Romania emphasized. \u201cSo, confession was essential for spiritual progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hesychasts were the most sought-after spiritual fathers\u201d because they \u201cspread peace around them,\u201d and this is because \u201cthey were also the most prayerful,\u201d Patriarch Daniel said.<\/p>\n

Theology without prayer is not enough<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Patriarch Daniel invested 13 priests as spiritual fathers on August 10, 2022. Photo: Basilica.ro \/ Mircea Florescu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cKnowing a lot is not enough. You must also pray a lot for spiritual sons and daughters. And the spiritual sons and daughters must pray for their spiritual father every time, both in the morning and in the evening, and write his name on diptychs at the divine services because, through the spiritual father, God enlightens believers to renew their life and to acquire salvation,\u201d the Patriarch of Romania urged.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people know in theory what they have to do, but they don\u2019t have the spiritual strength, they don\u2019t have the power to put it into practice, especially today when people are very distracted and very superficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hesychia (stillness), God\u2019s answer to prayer<\/h1>\n

\u201cPrayer is a conversation with God, but He does not speak through words. You speak. He answers you with peace and joy of heart. That is why, after spending hours at the divine services, people go home with joy and bright faces,\u201d the Romanian Patriarch also said about the effect of the prayer.<\/p>\n

His Beatitude also explained why the Jesus Prayer – \u201cLord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner\u201d – is also called the prayer of the mind or prayer of the heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Holy Scripture, the heart is the central point where the mind joins the feeling, so it is the spiritual centre of the person, not necessarily the organ we have on the left side of the chest. The heart is the meeting between thought and feeling. Therefore, the Saviour says to those who accused Him of forgiving the sins of the paralyzed young man: Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Romanian Patriarch ended his speech with wishes for God\u2019s help for the newly-invested spiritual fathers and reminded them of the need to keep \u201ca line of balance between strictness and encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Priests during their investment as spiritual fathers. Photo: Basilica.ro \/ Mircea Florescu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro \/ Mircea Florescu<\/p>\n

Follow us on Twitter: @BasilicaNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After investing thirteen priests from the Archdiocese of Bucharest as spiritual fathers, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel explained why today people need more than ever prayerful priests. \u201cPrayer that enables the mind to descend into the heart brings us peace and sets the praying reason in opposition to the rebellious reason,\u201d Patriarch Daniel said during a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":385299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[10322,27037,66,244,28066,14509,25131,27036,18995],"class_list":["post-386217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-hesychasm","tag-hesychast-saints","tag-patriarch-daniel","tag-prayer","tag-romanian-hesychasm","tag-saint-paisius-velichkovsky","tag-solemn-year-2022","tag-solemn-year-of-prayer","tag-spiritual-fathers"],"better_featured_image":{"id":385299,"alt_text":"","caption":"","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1500,"height":1000,"file":"2022\/08\/hitotesii-141.jpg","filesize":1651075,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"hitotesii-141-890x593.jpg","width":890,"height":593,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":205659,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hitotesii-141-890x593.jpg"},"large":{"file":"hitotesii-141-1024x683.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":260090,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hitotesii-141-1024x683.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"file":"hitotesii-141-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":69695,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hitotesii-141-360x360.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"4.5","credit":"Mircea Florescu","camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark IV","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1660133767","copyright":"BASILICA.RO","focal_length":"19","iso":"5000","shutter_speed":"0.008","title":"","orientation":"0","keywords":[]}},"post":null,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hitotesii-141.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386217\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=386217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386217\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385299\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=386217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=386217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=386217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}