Micro-transformation: Unitive practice from Russian Orthodoxy ☦️

Fun fact: Ceaselessly, inwardly repeating the Jesus prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” from your heart has consistently led to stabilized unitive state-stages (Theosis) for more than a millennium. 

This practice is called the Hesychasm. It’s been officially recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church since the fourth century. I’ve been playing with it as much as possible for the past few weeks, and I am loving it. It is very powerful. 

Then! In the early 1900s, hesychast monks on Mt. Athos took it a step further. Their results were so radical that in 1913, the Russian government sent troops to stop them! 

What was the shift? Their actions were the same—they aimed to engage the Jesus Prayer every moment of every day. But my (very limited) understanding is that their attitude reframed prayer from a practice that petitions for union with God one day that isn’t now — to an expression of divine essence right now. Prayer is not a behavior you do; prayer is God happening. Faithfully seeking IS participation as found-ness.

What’s so beautiful is that seeing it this way resolves the seeming duality between “no where to get, no one to get enlightened” and “but I’m not yet aware that I’m enlightened”. That thought itself expresses the divine. As does practicing*. We can see this parallel in every mystical tradition I’ve studied.

(h/t Sean Esbjörn-Hargens for turning me onto this practice)

With love, Jordan