SAINT GREGORY PALAMAS AS A HAGIORITE   o  ·   1  ·   2  ·   3  ·   4  ·   5  ·   6     7     8  ·   9  ·   10  ·   11  ·   12  ·   13  ·   o   © Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos 7. THE ESSENCE OF ORTHODOX MONASTICISM Concern and writing Passions and cure of the tripartite soul Spiritual poverty Blessed grief Conclusion     [ BACK ] 7. THE ESSENCE OF ORTHODOX MONASTICISM

A monk's prayer, in particular noetic prayer of the heart, is an indication that his heart has been purified of all thoughts; that his nous has been liberated from fantasy, logic and the passions and has returned to the heart and been united with it in the Holy Spirit. This is how prayer takes place, how noetic energy develops in the heart. It is the illumination of the nous, about which a great deal is said in the patristic texts.

Noetic prayer must, however, take place within the climate of the Orthodox Tradition and in the framework of the asceticism of the Orthodox Church. I say this because some people are cutting noetic prayer away from the whole asceticism of the Church, with the result that it is being presented as a Christian yoga. Actually when prayer is cut off from repentance and godly mourning, from the keeping of Christ's commandments, by which the tripartite soul is purified, from the sacramental life of the Church, then it loses its value from the orthodox point of view, since it is done mechanistically, exoterically, in the manner of the Buddhistic exercises.

The fact that prayer is linked with the whole ascetic life of the Church is shown to us in the works of St. Gregory Palamas. The concise presentation of this teaching is to be found in a letter of his "to the most reverend nun Xeni", in which he speaks "about passions and virtues and what is born of noetic attention".

In this letter we see the essence of Orthodox monasticism, and of course how it differs from any other "monasticism". It is seen clearly that Orthodox monasticism aims at the cure of man, and not at the salvation of the Church or at finding the suitable persons for mission. Of course we do not deny that at times when the person is cured he does missionary work, but the primary thing is that orthodox monasticism aims at the cure of man. The monks in the Orthodox Church are struggling to save their souls, and this means first of all bringing the nous back into the heart and from there to God, whereupon they enjoy the whole creation purely and clearly. From this point of view we say that the Monasteries are hospitals of the soul.

This is mainly what is experienced on the Holy Mountain. They live in a simple manner. They renounce everything, then they are obedient to the Abbot so that their heart may be purified from passions, they pass through blessed mourning and so experience the purifying, illuminating and deifying energy of God. This life and the path which leads to real life is not a hypothesis derived from studies and scientific occupations, but a fruit of repentance, obedience and humility.

This life is described in St. Gregory Palamas' letter to the nun Xenia and we shall undertake a small analysis. I recognise that it is difficult to make a full interpretation, and therefore I shall set out the most central points in it, which will show the essence of orthodox monasticism.

In the beginning of his letter St. Gregory admits that he was reluctant to write, because the heretics had twisted his words. The saint was already in the midst of the hesychastic disputes, after his victory in the Synod of 1341, in particular after his four-year imprisonment. So he wrote "after the year 1345".

From this we observe that, although he was in great difficulty, still he was occupied with such a serious monastic subject. His letter turns out to be a small treatise which presents the essence and substance of orthodox monasticism. It also appears from this that the saint was carrying on his struggles for the truth in deep stillness, as a hagiorite monk in the true sense of the word. He did not lose his monastic quality, and therefore he wrote about mourning and godly progress.

It is the offering of the Holy Mountain to the Church and the world. It shows us how we can practise our pastoral service, our anti-heretical struggles and all the work of the Church in general. In order for all these things to be orthodox, our nous must be as pure as possible and oriented towards God.

We must also point out that the nun Xenia was a remarkable nun who was acquainted with St. Gregory and who most warmly requested him to write to her about monasticism. St. Gregory called her "most reverend mother". The saint confessed that it was not necessary to give advice about the monastic life, since by the Grace of Christ, along with old age she had gained an understanding of the law of the commandments through many years' practice, exercising obedience and stillness. In this way she had reached a measure of spiritual perfection, since her soul had become capable of receiving what God had written on it. However, she had a longing for spiritual teaching, as the soul of man is never sated with this spiritual nourishment. Thus the nun Xenia was asking him to give her advice about the life of the monks, and he replied: "Through your constant requests in letters and messages you have persuaded me once again to write words of counsel, though indeed you have no great need of counsel".

So the insistent requests of this holy nun were the reason for his writing this inspired text, which presents the essence of monasticism and expresses the life of St. Gregory as well as the life of the Hagiorite Fathers, who are a pattern of life for every monk and, with suitable adaptations, for every Christian.

In beginning his work St. Gregory Palamas emphasises that a true monk is one who keeps his nous single, not scattered and dispersed in many things: "that one-pointed concentration of the nous which constitutes the inward and true Monk". A true monk is one whose nous is unified in his heart. In order to bring this about, the ascetic decides to live the hesychastic life and feels a distaste for everything which disunites his nous. This scattering can happen through being with many people, monks as well, or even through writing. "If you write, you burden your nous with even more demanding worries". Those who have a healthy soul are an exception to this. However, even their love for God is not pure. This is much more so if the person is full of passions, in which case he should not write. The hesychast should be free from worries, and therefore many of the Fathers who reached a high degree of hesychia did not write, even though they could have written great and profitable things.

When he defines what is a true monk, and says that in order to keep the nous unified one must avoid cares, he goes on to analyse just what is the death of the soul. Citing many Bible passages, he says that sin is the real death of the soul, in the sense that when the soul loses the Grace of God, it is deadened. The separation of the soul from the body is the death of the body and separation of the soul from God "is the death of the soul". This is the true death.

In Paradise the death of the soul came first and the death of the body followed. By violating the will of God the soul lost its communion with God and rendered "the body subject to fatigue, suffering and corruptibility" and naturally handed it over to death. There is a first death and a second death. The second death is a person's last and definitive withdrawal from God, which will happen in those who have not repented, after the resurrection of the dead. "Death, properly speaking, is this: for the soul to be unharnessed from divine grace and to be yoked to sin. So whoever fears this second death and has the true life in him is not afraid of bodily death.

Just as the life of the body is its union with the soul, so also the life of the soul is its union with God. The life of the soul does not refer exclusively to the soul, but also to the body, since man is both together. Death resulted from the transgression of the commandment, and life is experienced through God's commandment. The body tastes the life of the soul and is freed from death and eternal hell in those who live by Christ's commandments. Thus upon the body too "is bestowed everlasting life in Christ, free of pain, sickness and sorrow, and truly immortal". Just as in Adam the death of his soul preceded the death of his body, so also now the life of the soul precedes the life of the body. In Christ through his death on the Cross his soul was separated from his body, while neither was separated from the godhead, and later the resurrection of his Body took place. The same happens also with man. Even if the souls of the righteous are separated from the body prematurely, still, since they themselves are not separated from God, there will be resurrection and ascension of their bodies. All will be resurrected, righteous and sinners, but only the righteous will be taken up. The attainment of life, which is a cause of immortality and true life, should begin now.

Towards this aim God has accorded us this present life as "a place for repentance". Repentance is required. There is no need for despair, which the devil suggests not only to those who live carelessly, but also to those who practise the ascetic life. Repentance is closely linked with man's free will, that is to say with his freedom of choice. God in his love for mankind gives man time to repent, but if he does not want to repent and return, "He does not take away the power that He gave us". Nevertheless he continues to invite man to engage in the works of life. This is made clear in the parable of the vineyard. Our heavenly Father calls us through His Son and reconciles us to Himself, "not taking into account our offences". Yet He not only calls us, but He even promises a reward, and indeed "an inexpressible reward". Christ Himself says: "I came that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness". The fullness to which Christ refers not only signifies being together and living together, but also the fact that He made us brethren and co-heirs. In order to acquire this fullness, man must give up all that stands in its way, that is to say, wealth, soft living, vain honours, all things that are transitory and every sly and abominable passion of soul and body, all the litter gathered while daydreaming, everything heard, seen and spoken that can bring injury to the soul. Therefore, repentance is the return of the nous to God, the attainment of life through repentance.

Repentance and the giving up of all those things which cause harm can be experienced by all people, but especially by monks. It is possible also for married people to look after the purity of their soul, but this is done with very great difficulty. Therefore those who love salvation, who are looking to the next life, choose the virgin life. Since also this body of ours is "hard to harness and hard to lead towards virtue" this means that it is worse when we are bound up with many bodies. It is difficult to avoid cares when one has the care of many people. For married people care is not blameworthy, but it is forbidden completely to those who are living the celibate life.

Clearly St. Gregory Palamas is expounding this teaching in this letter because it refers to nuns who have chosen the life of virginity, and for them he wants to emphasise freedom from care and purity of soul. It does not at all mean a disparagement of marriage in Christ. Moreover, in his homilies given in Thessaloniki he refers to marriage in Christ and underlines its asceticism. But also in this letter which he is sending to the nuns, saying the things to which we have referred, he recalls the passage in St. Paul: "The time is short; so let those who have wives live as though they had none and those involved in worldly affairs as though they were not involved". Interpreting this passage, he says that the struggle of a married Christian, as St. Paul advises it, "is more difficult to accomplish than that of a virgin, I think". The asceticism of the married Christian is more difficult than that of a monk. This is demonstrated by the fact that fasting is easier than self-control in eating and drinking.

After choosing a life of virginity she must live it diligently and fruitfully. He reminds her of Christ's words: "I am the vine, you are the branches. My Father is the vine-dresser. He prunes every branch in Me that bears fruit, so that it may bring forth more fruit". The virgin is a bride of Christ, a branch of the vine of life, and therefore, on the one hand, she must rejoice in the love of the Bridegroom, and on the other hand, she must respond to it with obedience. The virgin should not desire the worldly life, because that is a disgrace. The people of the world are dead to God, and so "What kinship can the bride of life have with the dead?".

According to Christ's words, there is a narrow gate and a strait way, but there is also a wide and broad one. The former belongs to monks who cannot pass through it with a load of self-glory, an outpouring of self-indulgence, or the burden of money and possessions. This way of life appears dull, but it also brings solace, confers the Kingdom of Heaven and fosters salvation. The second way, the wide and broad one, belongs to the worldly, but it is not free from sorrow. On the contrary it is "filled with many oppressive misfortunes".

The narrow and strait way is not independent of poverty of spirit. The Lord blessed poverty, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit". It is not a question of poverty of body alone, but of poverty of body which is accomplished in accordance with the soul's humility. This humility is essential, because it is possible for someone to choose to shed possessions, and to be frugal and abstinent, simply in order to be praised by other people. This is not being poor in spirit, because self-conceit is contrary to being poor in spirit. He who has a contrite spirit regards himself as completely unworthy of praise, prosperity and comfort.

While thus far St. Gregory has been laying the foundation of the monastic life, now he goes on to develop the subject of curing man of his passions. From this point onward he makes a wonderful analysis of the passions and their cure, because orthodox monasticism aims at the cure of man.

Man's soul is tripartite, in other words it has three powers, the intelligent, the incensive and the appetitive. When the soul is ill, its three powers are also ill. Christ began his cure of the soul with the appetitive power. For desire unsatisfied fuels the incensive power, and then the intelligence too is ill. Therefore the incensive power of the soul cannot be cured before the appetitive power is cured, nor can the intelligence be cured until the other two powers have been cured.

Therefore the appetitive power must be cured. The first offspring of the appetitive power from babyhood is love of material possessions, and avarice comes a little later, although still in childhood. At first children want to possess various objects, and avarice appears later, because avarice does not have its ground in nature, but in choice. The passions of avarice spring from disbelief in God's providence. Love of material possessions and avarice produce many evils, such as greeds, covetousness, thievery, and so forth. Not only are many passions derived from avarice and love of possessions, but so is the lack of any inclination to do good. The nous of a living pinchpenny is dead and in reality it is buried in the dust and earth of gold, just as the dead are buried in the earth. The grave of the avaricious person smells worse than the tombs of the dead.

Voluntary poverty delivers men from this foul-smelling and deadly passion of avarice. A monk who has the passion of love of possessions and avarice is unable to be obedient. Therefore renunciation precedes obedience. A monk who does not wish to be freed from this deadly passion is likely to fall into bodily illnesses.

After having analysed the fact that the first passion of the appetitive power of the soul which must be cured is love of possessions, love for material things, St. Gregory then goes on to the second passion, which is self-flattery. This passion develops in the person before the passion of love of the flesh, while the person is still quite young. There are two kinds of self-flattery. One is worldly vanity, which is connected with beautifying the body and having expensive clothing, and the other kind is the self-flattery which afflicts those noted for their virtue and is accompanied by hypocrisy and self-conceit.

This passion can be cured by a longing for divine glory, by a sense of one's own unworthiness, and by patiently enduring people's scorn, esteeming God's glory above one's own. If there is any virtue, one should attribute it to God and have one's attention on Him. A great help in curing this passion is "withdrawal from the world and living a life of solitude, keeping yourself to your cell". Likewise one can avoid self-conceit when one sees the disgrace which this passion brings.

A passion related to self-flattery is the desire to win men's esteem. This passion "is the subtlest of all the passions". And since it is the subtlest passion, one must not merely be on guard against coupling with it or avoid assenting to it, but also regard the very provocation of the thought as assent to it and must shield oneself from it. The desire to win men's esteem is a disastrous passion. It leads the person further to lack of faith. The enjoyment of praise from people generates envy, which is potentially murder, "the cause of the first murder and then of the slaying of God". Finally the passion of self-flattery leads a person to great improprieties.

The third passion, which is the offspring of desire, is gluttony, from which arises every kind of impurity. Gluttony is closely connected with fleshliness and it comes third in the series in man as he grows older. However, it is inborn in us. How is this to be explained?

St. Gregory Palamas makes excellent observations on this crucial point, which is a concern of contemporary psychology. He says that not only this passion, "but also the natural motions related to the begetting of children, can be detected in infants that are still at the breast". In other words, both gluttony and the natural motions related to the begetting of children appear even from infancy with the infants' desire to suck from their mother's breast. But we say that they appear more slowly in man because in infancy these passions are natural, and therefore not indictable, not blameworthy. These passions in infancy "do not indicate illness of soul". But they become evidence of such illness in those who misuse them. "When we coddle the flesh in order to foster its desires", the passion becomes evil and then self-indulgence is a beginning of carnal passions and an illness of the soul. This teaching of St. Gregory is important because it shows the attitude of the Church towards all those psychological analyses of the reactions of infants' and children's souls - analyses which create more problems.

St. Gregory calls to mind that the nous is the first victim of these passions. The nous is moved by passion, since it collects the imagination of sensory things through the senses and uses them in a passionate way. It is shown from the example of Eve that this happens chiefly through the eyes. Therefore much attention needs to be given to the senses and the nous. Thus although the passions are regarded as existing in childhood, they do not conduce to sin, but to the sustaining of nature, "before the mind becomes embroiled with them". In children the natural movements towards childbearing are not sin, unless the nous is passionately involved. At all events, a person who wants to be free of passions must give great attention to the impassioned nous. To extinguish a raging fire, it is no use to fight the flame, but one has to pull away the material that is causing it. The same thing is true in spiritual matters. For the passions of prostitution, it is not enough to fast and to make the body suffer, but the most important thing is for the sources of inner thoughts to be dried up through prayer and humility.

St. Gregory is a hesychast in all his homilies, but much more so on the subject of curing the soul. He emphasises the need for curing the nous. We find in the teaching of the Fathers that the soul's contemplative faculty tightly surrounds the appetitive faculty and the sexual passions. This is why the cure should be localised there. Bodily hardship and moderate abstention from food are needed as well, but what cures the passions of the flesh is "bodily hardship and prayer issuing from a humble heart".

Thus the monk should cultivate the contemplative faculty, stillness, he should remain in his cell "enduring hardship and praying with humility". The cell of one who is rightly pursuing the monastic life "is a haven of self-restraint". It is possible within one's cell to live in solitude and acquire spiritual poverty.

The nous and the passions are cured by means of spiritual poverty. Therefore the holy hesychast advises: "Let us, then, also become poor in spirit by being humble, by submitting our unregenerate self to hardship and by shedding all possessions".

Man's whole spiritual life is an experience of spiritual poverty. The saint previously emphasised the blessedness of poverty, and now he undertakes a broad analysis of it. First he emphasises the link between spiritual poverty and the temptations.

Just as plants, in order to bear fruits, have to go through winter and endure the conditions of every season, the same thing has to happen with the person struggling on the path of virtue. "For it is through patient endurance of afflictions deliberately entered into and those that are unsought, that each person is made perfect". The soul cannot bear fruit unless the winter's hardships come first. Unless we bear with patience the afflictions that come to us unsought, we cannot receive a blessing for what we do by our will. This means that if we cannot endure the trials of life, we cannot receive blessing from the ascetic effort and hardship which we ourselves choose and practise. A person who lives in repentance expects every affliction, accepts every temptation and is glad of it, because it is purifying for the soul, productive of prayer and a protector of the soul's health.

Blessed grief is connected with spiritual poverty. Sorrow for worldly poverty brings death, while the sorrow of godly poverty leads to repentance, as the Apostle Paul says. St. Gregory analyses in a wonderful way the benefit of godly grief, which is an element of man's rebirth and essential for the spiritual life.

There are four types of spiritual poverty. First, poverty "in our way of thinking", second "in body", third "in worldly goods", and fourth "through trials and temptations that come to us from without". Since he has already analysed the poverty that comes from temptations, the other three types of poverty are dealt with thoroughly in what follows. Every experience of poverty generates the corresponding grief and solace.

Bodily poverty and humiliation willingly suffered include hunger, thirst, vigils and in general the body's suffering and hardship as well as a reasonable restraint of the senses. This bodily poverty gives birth to the grief and tears which bring contrition of heart. When the soul is freed from evils and bitterness through contrition, then it enjoys solace.

Poverty in how we think is closely connected with self-reproach, which is essential for the cure of the soul. In the beginning self-reproach leads to fear of punishment, especially eternal punishment, with all that is connected with it. This grief, as long as we still live it, is very useful, because it attracts God's mercy and brings us consolation. But this self-reproach in itself is an intelligible weight lying on the soul's thoughts; it presses and squeezes out the saving wine that gladdens the heart of man, that is to say "our inner self".

Poverty in worldly goods constitutes the virtue of holy poverty. This shedding of possessions has to be conjoined with poverty in spirit in order to be pleasing to God. From this spiritual poverty come grief and consolation from God. It happens in the following way: When the nous is withdrawn from all material things and from the turbulence they generate, and "becomes aware of its inner self", then first of all it sees "the ugly mask it has wrought for itself as a result of its wanderings among worldly things". This means that when the nous is diffused among the sensations in the surrounding world, the person ceases to be a person. Seeing this ugly and formless mask, it strives to wash it away through grief. After the nous has purified and rid itself of the covering of passions it enters into its treasure-house and prays to the Father. Then God gives gifts, such as peace of thoughts and the humility which is the begetter and sustainer of every virtue. Here is the noetic Paradise, in which are all the trees of virtue. In the midst stands the sacred palace of love, and in the forecourt of this palace there blossoms ineffable and inalienable joy, which is the harbinger of the age to come.

The results of spiritual poverty are very many. The shedding of possessions gives birth to freedom from anxiety, which then gives birth to attentiveness and prayer. From these virtues come grief and tears, which wipe away the soul's prejudices. Then the path to virtue is easier, the conscience becomes blameless, and from there spring joy and blessed laughter of the soul. Now the tears of tribulation are transformed into tears of delight and the person enjoys the gifts of the betrothal.

But it is also demanded to see the Bridegroom and not only to receive gifts of betrothal; both communion and union with the Bridegroom are necessary. This takes place as the nous continues its journey. When the nous, along with the other powers, returns to the heart and is purified of every idea and fantasy, then it will stand before God deaf and speechless. When it has ascended to God, in truth, not in imagination, it becomes an overseer of various things in the light, without being separated from the body. Then truly by the ineffable power of the spirit "it hears unutterable words and sees invisible things". It becomes an angel on earth, "and through itself it brings every created thing closer to Him". Thus the person becomes natural, since he unites all creation, and proves himself to be the microcosm in the macrocosm.

Then St. Gregory cites passages from the holy Fathers which explain this state of the nous and the results of the vision of God, such as those of St. Neilos, who says that the light of the Holy Trinity shines in the nous; of St. Diadochos of Photike, who says that in the state of illumination divine Grace paints the likeness over the image in us; and of St. Isaac the Syrian, who says that purity of the nous is that which the light of the Holy Trinity illumines within us.

The nous illuminated and unified by the light of the Holy Trinity transmits to the body united with it many tokens of the divine beauty as well. So then the body also is in the stable state of virtue and becomes disinclined or has little inclination towards evil. The Word enables it to perceive clearly the inner essences -the logoi- of nature. One apprehends the supranatural realities, and naturally then all the gifts of grace are given: "various miraculous effects, such as visionary insight, the seeing of things to come, and the experience of things happening afar off as though they were occurring before one's very eyes", and in general all the gifts which God gives.

St. Gregory insists on the point that the thing which has great importance is the return of the nous to itself with all the other powers: "the return of the nous to itself and its concentration on itself, or, rather, the reconvergence of all the soul's powers in the intellect -however strange this may sound- and the attaining of the state in which both the nous in itself and God work together". This is essential, for prayer alone is not enough unless all the powers of the soul, including the appetitive and incensive powers, are working together.

After developing the theme of godly poverty and describing its therapeutic consequences for man's nous, inasmuch as it leads to the vision of the uncreated Light, he comes back again to his favourite theme, which is spiritual grief.

First he emphasises the fact that there is worldly grief which accompanies unsolicited worldly poverty. This grief lacks all consolation, for it does not give consolation to the soul, especially when the sufferer lacks true knowledge. He has no consolation because he increases his pains, since he lets his reason be subject to the pleasures and pains of the senses and does not subject the latter to reason. Thus grief about worldly poverty is a worldly sorrowfulness that leads to the death which is an evil darkening of the soul.

Next he refers to passages in the Fathers concerning the darkness that sin creates in the soul, about the effort to purify the heart from passions and the fact that worldly sorrow is connected with all the passions of man. The passages cited are from St. Basil the Great, St. Mark the Ascetic and St. Macarios of Egypt.

The attainment of this blessed spiritual grief is necessary. Without grief, even if a person makes himself poor, he can too easily return to that which he has abandoned. Thus the grief which the Lord blessed not only brings solace and provides a foretaste of eternal joy, "but it also protects virtue". So a person gains stability on his spiritual journey.

When one experiences grief one gains another good thing as well. Not only does he become disinclined to evil and does not return to those things which he did in the past, "but it makes them as though they had never existed". St. Gregory's words are astonishing because they show that grief purifies a man completely and brings him back to the state in which he was before he sinned. So he becomes completely pure. When he grieves over his sins, God regards them as unintentional and therefore without guilt. Anyone who has sinned but continues to grieve, his sins will be regarded by God as unintentional and he will enjoy eternal life with those who have not sinned. "If a person who has sinned against God continues to grieve over his sins, his sins will be justly regarded as unintentional, and along with people who have not sinned he will journey without stumbling on the path leading to eternal life".

Grief at first is painful, because it is conjoined with the fear of God. In the course of time it becomes united with love and brings the sweetness and sacred solace of the Comforter's blessing. Only those who know from their experience can confirm the sweetness of godly grief.

The sweetness of grief is described by two examples. One is taken from betrothal and marriage. The beginning of grief is like a petition for betrothal to God, which seems almost unattainable. The grief which comes resembles words of courtship, which are offered by the soul which wants to be united with the most pure Bridegroom, but it does not see his presence and is not hoping that he will come. So it weeps, grieves and mourns. But the consummation of grief is "a pure bridal union". Just as the partners unite in one flesh, so also the grieving soul is united with God in "one spirit".

The other example is from the parable of the prodigal son. The beginning of his grief is like the return to the father with the words "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son". But the consummation of the grief resembles the moment when the Father goes to meet him and embraces him. In the Father's embrace of compassion the son "is embraced and embraces back". Then after going back with his Father, "he feasts with his Father, sharing with Him the joy of heaven".

"Let us, then, in blessed poverty also fall down and weep before the Lord our God, so that we may wash away our former sins, make ourselves impervious to evil and, receiving the blessings and solace of the Comforter, glorify Him and the unoriginate Father and the Only-begotten Son, now and always and throughout the ages. Amen".

This text of St. Gregory Palamas is astonishing, God-inspired and authentic concerning man's journey towards deification and salvation. He was writing for monks, but by analogy it is valid for all Christians. The Lord was addressing all his disciples when he spoke of the blessedness of poverty and grief. The same framework remained, but the depth and measure of the grief and purity changed. We can come to certain conclusions.

a) St. Gregory Palamas's writing demonstrates that orthodox theology is a therapeutic science and way of life. This means that it leads to communion and union with God. The Church is a hospital of the soul. Thus all the patristic texts are therapeutic and we should interpret them in this light.

b) When we speak of therapy we mean chiefly therapy of the nous and the heart. St. Gregory made a thorough analysis of the fact that the nous falls ill when it is diffused into the surroundings through the senses, and it is cured when it returns to itself, descends into the heart and then rises to God. This constitutes man's journey from the image to the likeness, from "the hideous mask" to the person par excellence. In the Orthodox Church we cannot accept person-centred theories apart from orthodox asceticism. We are not concerned with an abstract philosophical view, but with the orthodox view of the person.

c) The struggle and effort to be rid of passions should be associated with the return of the nous to the heart. A therapeutic treatment which is limited to the surface, without also being aimed at curing the nous is only moralisation. Here we see the value of the neptic theology of our Church. To eliminate hesychasm from Christian living is to make Orthodoxy worldly. This is why we must adapt the therapeutic treatment to curing the nous. Any spiritual fathers who do not know this method are unable to cure their spiritual children, leaving them without a cure or in spiritual narcissism and spiritual self-sufficiency. The teaching about inward grief will make the treatment orthodox and ecclesiastical. Otherwise it will be humanistic, Western.

d) The cure which is recommended by the Church as analysed here by St. Gregory Palamas, is very realistic and natural. He knows the tragic condition caused by the passions, and he cures the nous and the senses, the soul and body, man and society. There is no one-sidedness, no making autonomous, no overvaluation of one thing at the expense of another. The whole man is healed, sanctified, becomes God by Grace and, being sanctified, also sanctifies creation.

e) Orthodox spirituality, whose centre is the heart, solves all the social, political and ecological problems in a realistic way. And this is because when the nous is cured and the passions of love of possessions, love of glory and self-indulgence are cured, man becomes sociable and kind to his fellowmen and his environment. Therefore the cure of the nous is a solution to all the great problems of our time.

f) This paradise as described by St. Gregory Palamas is still preserved on the Holy Mountain today. The Hagiorite monks are struggling to be cured, and many of them have been cured. Thus they manifest the dynamic quality of the Orthodox Tradition and its timeliness. They show in practice that Orthodoxy is not an ethical and philosophical system, it is not a human and social organisation, but the Divine-human Body of Christ. The participation of the uncreated Grace of God at different depths cures man and unites him to God. Thus the Orthodox Church is a sanatorium, a spiritual hospital.

The message of St. Gregory Palamas and the Holy Mountain, whose spiritual child he was, is a message of life, hope and optimism for contemporary wearied, beleaguered and oppressed man.

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