Being Still: Reflections on an Ancient Mystical Tradition

156 Pages·7.858 MB·English

by  Jean-Yves Leloup

on an Ancient
Reflections
Mystical Tradition
Jean-Yves Leloup
al Translated by M. Laird, O.S.A.
S.
y
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Being
Still
To Father Seraphim Mount Athos
of
Being
Still
Reflections on an Ancient Mystical Tradition
JEAN-YVES LELOUP
Translated and edited by M, S. Laird
Gracewing
PAULIST PRESS
New York/Mahwah, NJ.
This work was first published in French in 1990 under the title Ecrits
sur I'Hesychasme by Editions Albin Michel S.A., 22, rue Huyghens,
75014 Paris.
First published in English in 2003
jointly by
Gracewing Paulist Press
2 Southern Avenue 997 Macarthur Boulevard
Mahwah
Leominster
New
Herefordshire Jersey 07430
HR6 OQF USA
www.gracewing.co.uk www.paulistpress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publisher.
© Jean-Yves Leloup 2003
English translation © M. S. Laird 2003
The right of Jean-Yves Leloup to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
UK
ISBN 0 85244 537 7
US ISBN 0-8091-4177-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leloup, Jean-Yves.
lEcrits sur I'haesychasme. English]
Being still : reflections on a forgotten mystical tradition / Jean-Yves
Leloup translated and edited by M.S. Laird,
;
cm.
p.
ISBN 0-8091-4177-9
1. Hesychasm. 2. Mysticism—Orthodox Eastern Church. 1. Title.
BX384.5.L4513 2003
248.4'819-dc21
2002012213
Typeset by Action Publishing Technology Ltd,
Gloucester GLl 5SR
Printed in England by
MPG
Books Ltd,
Bodmin PL31 lEG
Contents
Introduction
vii
Way
1 The of Hesychastic Prayer
According to Father Seraphim 1
2 Arsenius, or the Beginning of
Hesychasm
13
3 The Purification of Thoughts according
to Evagrius Ponticus 28
A
4 Hesychast in the West: St John
Cassian 43
5 Apophasis and Fatherhood in Early
Christianity and in Hesychasm 55
Way
6 The of the Pilgrim 72
7 The Invocation of the Name in Three
Great Spiritual Traditions 86
8 The Invocation of the Name in
Christianity 102
9 Praying with all the Senses 133
translator's note: All direct quotations from Scripture
New
are from the Jerusalem Bible. Indirect quotations
and paraphrases are translated from the author's French.
The translator wishes to thank the reader from
Gracewing for many helpful editorial suggestions.
Cover illustration:
Saint Anthony the Abbot Tempted by a Heap ofGold by The Osservanza Master.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975. (1975.1.27)
Photograph © 1983 The Metropolitan Museum of Art