Hieromonk Ghelasie from Frăsinei Abbey, Carpathian Hesychasm (I) (with English subitles, translation by Natalia Muntean)

Passing to the limit – towards a Christian hermeneutical approach

The concept of experience itself has its roots in the idea of limit (peira). The traditional key-concepts of empeiria and experientia help us win an understanding about the process of gaining knowledge as progressing, going forward by forging into the limit (H. Maldiney, V. Ciomoş).

In many situations, the border conditions appear decisive for the structural modeling. As a prerequisite for every hermeneutic approach is then the establishing of the limits of the method of research.

By its nature, the limit refers also directly or indirectly at the goal of research and in the same time circumscribes the methodological means to attain it. In the same time, the very concept of definition comes from the Latin finis that means limit (Fr. Pomazansky).

The way of understanding the limit is essential for the architectonic of human knowledge. Fr. Ghelasie considered the human condition as a boundary between the created nature and the divine Prototype of man. The embodied Prototype or Incarnated Limit is the Son of God made flesh, as the sole Interceder in Himself between God and creation.

The Christian Orthodox hermeneutics emphasizes the liturgical dimension of the limit or boundary – place of the “Truth made flesh” or “partaking with Truth”. The mysteries of the Origin and end of time and of this world are interpreted in accord with the specific understanding of the limit.

The models of reality, the paradoxes and antinomies of language, intensive and extensive meanings assigned to the concepts used in an interpretative approach should be consistent with the limits assumed in the respective methodology.

In the Christian view the concept of limit has a transparence and elasticity given by its transcendental roots in the logoi of the created beings assumed in the Person of the Divine Logos.

The limit receives thus a personal modeling or assigning, the ecclesial archetype of limit being the altar made for the intelligible and sensible offering and its transfiguration by the divine Grace.

The unity between the actual form and the contents of knowledge is regulated by the passage to limit understood as the bringing of these contents in communion with Being-as-event (Bakhtin).

The limit as place of an encounter is ever actualized and enriched through dialogue and partaking. The indefinability of the kenotic passage to the limit that allows the transgressing of limitations is inseparable from the „remaining in the limit”, that is, inside the definition (identitary) boundary. That means to remain on the way to the limit.

The concept of limit (with its consistent transgressing) is met by the requirement of consistency and incompleteness of a system of rational knowledge (Gödel). Man’s vocation or calling as a being created in the image of God can be fulfilled by a liturgical passage to limit while remaining into the limit (V. Ciomoş).

According to the patristic teaching, man’s deification does not change his nature, but makes him partaker of the divine energies, assimilated without any loss of identity into the body of Christ. The process is dynamic as the limits are extending together with man’s knowledge and spiritual growth by the action of the divine grace.

Theologically speaking, the limit can be seen as the ever enlarging horizon of knowledge and also as the place of the meeting and partaking between God and creation. The limit expresses here the difference or otherness of the created nature with respect to the divine nature, with the possibility of personal encounter and partaking.

The limit can be understood as an opening or as a closure. The concept of limit is linked with that of the horizon of knowledge that underlies the dynamics of research.

The organization and complexity of a system are coherent with the boundary data that are fundamental for the development of the natural processes and regulate also the possible consistent extensions to a larger perspective and context.

The reductive and prospective approaches have both to do with the idea of limit structurally determined (by the operational and local character specific to outward sciences) or indefinitely projected into the answerable field of the dialogic enfolding of reality.

The problem of limits is thus linked with the reality of personal identity, dialogue and communion.

There are structural and ontological limits. The mystical limit points toward the perichoresis between the immanence and the transcendence, the mystery and its revelation, the apophatic and the cataphatic ways of knowledge.

Florin Caragiu

Ieromonk Ghelasie Gheorghe: "The Mystical Living Experience of the LITURGY" (translation from Romanian by Alice Butnar)

Motto:

Nothing will ever stop the LOVE LITURGY,
That is the HEART of IMMORTALITY,
And is thus HEART in Never-ending BEATING,
The LITURGY of LOVE is never ceasing.



LORD JESUS, Thy LOVE beats in my Heart,
And my Heart cannot ever stand still.
Rejoice, Hesychy,
Unceasing Mystery LITURGY,
Rejoice, Hesychy,
You, that in the CHALICE of my Heart become DIVINE EUCHARIST.

*

Lord JESUS, such a great GIFT Thou hast given us,
To be able to cleanse ourselves daily of our “sins”.
In THY Church where THOU dost LITURGISE.
Through this GIFT Thou dost Keep us Alive and Give us the HOLY COMMUNION.
How can I ever “live” deprived of this DIVINE SPRING...
LORD JESUS with all my Being I worship and Thank Thee.
LORD, Thou hast Created me from THY LOVE,
LORD, Thou hast Born me from Thy LITURGY,
Here I am kneeling and Giving Thanks before THY LOVE,
As the LITURGY of LOVE is in me as well unceasingly.
With piety and awe I come before the HOLY ALTAR,
From here Thy LOVE pours forth as a Gift unceasingly.

*

No one should come to the ALTAR “empty-handed”,
The LITURGY of LOVE is Full of GIFTS.
The LITURGY of LOVE is “complete” OFFERING,
As it is Full of GIFTS of Thanksgiving.

LORD, I myself bring as a GIFT the “PROSPHORON” of my Being.
Cut out from it the LAMB-the WORD,
The SACRIFICING AMNOS Who RISES the “earth”,
And lifts it up to Song and Light,
Take thus the AMNOS-the WORD out of the “mud”.
And do not be offended by my scanty Love,
Do not thus leave me without the LITURGY of THY LOVE.

My Being is a “SPARKLE from THY EMBODIED LOVE”
That thus “gave Birth” to me, a “Created Love”,
Love that I Offer Thee as a GIFT,
Of THY DIVINE GRACE let me also Partake.

Receive me LORD thus as a PROSPHORON,
Make from me also THY Serving LITURGY,
And from my PROSPHORON do RESURRECT the AMNOS,
The SACRIFICING LAMB THOU ever dost EMBODY.
For me thus also to Partake of THEE,
For me thus also to be LOVE-LITURGY.

I am “fallen” from LOVE for many sins
And lay thus in “abyss and death”,
Yet, JESUS LORD, Receive me as a PROSPHORON,
Cut out from it the LAMB, THY AMNOS,
And Make me also be THY LITURGY.

LORD JESUS, LOVE-LITURGISING,
The SPIRIT weeps in me when Thou art “missing”,
But thus ¬– receiving me as a PROSPHORON
In which Thou, SACRIFICING LAMB, Dost ever thus EMBODY
And through which I am RESURRECTED from my “death” ¬–
I shall receive again THY HOLY COMMUNION.
BREAD is the NAME of the Image of Life,
The “showing” of the Face of Life,
It is the NAME of the Image of Holy Communion,
It is the Mystery of LOVE-GIVING.

Two LOVES that meet in Sacred Speaking,
And thus become Holy Communion,
And thus become the LITURGISING BREAD-the LITURGISING LOVE.

And the WORD was made Body,
The BREAD with the Being in the WORD.

From Heaven the LIGHTS are Whispering “descending”,
They raise the Earth out of the “mud and night”,
They turn the Earth into the WHEAT of Sun Seeds,
HEAVEN and Earth are thus Entwined.

BREAD, Heaven and Earth are MEETING,
GOD and Creation in HOLY COMMUNION,
The BREAD that carries within the WORD,
The BREAD that holds in ITSELF the Earth,
The Holy BREAD, DIVINE LITURGISING.

*

Divine Lamb, the most Innocent Lamb,
The Earthly Lamb Embodying the Lamb Above,
O, the most Beautiful Lamb Ever Born,
THOU art the WORD that was made Body.

O, Holy LAMB with Eyes of such Divine Blue,
Why are Thy Eyes bruised thus all through?...
Why dost Thou Weep Tears mingled with Blood
Why on Thy Face there are Wounds, stained with red.

O, INFANT of Creation and LAMB for SACRIFICE,
O, Earth and Heaven that in LOVE harmonise,
O, Creation and GOD that together do LITURGISE …

O, Innocent INFANT-LAMB that wilt be SACRIFICED,
THOU dost THYSELF approach the CROSS where Thou wilt be Crucified,
THOU dost THYSELF Uncover the Chest where Thou wilt be stabbed,
O, SACRIFICE of LOVE, DIVINE JESUS LAMB.

O, Innocent LAMB Born from the Innocent EWE,
O, GOD Embodied on the Earth,
O, Mystery beyond words,
O, LOVE in DIVINE LITURGISING.

*

O, Mystery of the VIRGIN MOTHER, the very Mystery of Creation,
You Who GIVE BIRTH to PRIESTHOOD ¬– the Mystery of GOD’S Descent into Creation,
O, EMPRESS, You thus Become the LITURGISING of all PRIESTHOOD!

If it were not for You, MOTHER OF GOD,
The SON of GOD would not descend onto the Earth,
Only through You, Daughter-Ever VIRGIN of Creation
Is the DIVINE WORD thus MADE BODY.

There is the Love of Creation that Descends GOD from the Above,
The LOVE of the MOTHER of GOD Who EMBODIES the LORD JESUS,
The Love that also Lifts up Creation to the Above,
This LOVE is “still of the MOTHER of GOD”, and makes us “BROTHERS of JESUS”.
O, MOTHER of GOD-Church, Mystery beyond words,
Through You the DIVINE PRIESTHOOD can Serve the LITURGY,
Through You Creation can MEET GOD in Harmony.

*

O LORD, THOU Hast Created us from THY LOVE-GIVING,
And we all live from THIS HOLY COMMUNION,
That THOU dost ever OFFER through THY LITURGISING.

If ever “stopped” the LOVE LITURGY,
Then our Life of Creation “dead would be”.

Hence there is no Life without LOVE LITURGY,
There is no LIVING outside HOLY COMMUNION.

Nothing will ever stop the LOVE LITURGY
That is the HEART of IMMORTALITY,
And is thus HEART in Never-ending BEATING,
The LITURGY of LOVE is never ceasing.

If ever “stopped” the LITURGY,
All of a sudden “nothing would be”.

*

O, MOTHER of GOD, in You we put all our Being-ness,
Through You we BRING our GIFT thus to the ALTAR,
For the GREAT PRIEST CHRIST
To LITURGISE.

We Believers “Give Birth” to You, Daughter-EVERVIRGIN,
And You are CHOSEN by the DIVINE SON
As EMPRESS-HIS MOTHER,
An IMAGE that makes You also be our Very MOTHER
DIVINE.
Through You we become “Kin-Brothers” of the SON
DIVINE,
Through You Our BODY becomes the BODY of CHRIST,
Where the SACRIFICE of FORGIVENESS and SALVATION HE doth LITURGISE.

*

Lord JESUS, I myself come to Thy SERVING of LITURGY
And Bring My Gift of Love to Thee,
With “sins of crucifixion” as many as could be…

In me the Sprout that keeps “returning” into Thee,
Opens again Thy Sufferance of Crucifixion,
Opens again the Selfsame Wounds, and Selfsame Blood
That Flows thus in my Being, Flows also in Thy BEING …

*

LOVE is the Unceasing LITURGISING,
In Endless Pouring Forth of Itself.
LOVE is in the RITUAL of DEVOTION,
It is in the EUCHARIST of the GIFTED WORD.

O, ALLHOLY SPIRIT, Thou art the ONE
Who dost LITURGISE,
In THY RITUAL THOU THYSELF dost SERVE,
Thou art also the DIVINE PRIESTHOOD,
With CHRIST’S PRIESTHOOD together Thou dost SERVE,
In the PRIESTHOOD of THY RITUAL CHRIST is Confirmed,
In the IMAGE of THY RITUAL the WORD does LITURGISE.
The IMAGE of the WORD is at the same time in the IMAGE of THY RITUAL,
Thou, ALLHOLY SPIRIT, art the DEPTH of GOD the FATHER.

The RITUAL is the LITURGICAL FLAME,
The Living Experience comes through the FLAME of the HOLY SPIRIT’S RITUAL.

In THY RITUAL, ALLHOLY SPIRIT,
All other images do stop,
BEFORE THEE everything stands still,
Only in THY IMAGE everything does Move and Fulfill,
Only in THY IMAGE the SACRIFICE of the LITURGY is SERVED.

*

ALLHOLY SPIRIT, DIVINE MAJESTY,
We Worship Thee, DIVINE EMPEROR.
Do not burn us with THY Consuming FLAME,
We Bid Thee, Bestow Thy BLESSING upon us,
To be worthy of CHRIST’S LITURGY,
To PARTAKE of the DIVINE EUCHARIST.

ALLHOLY SPIRIT, DIVINE MAJESTY,
SPIRIT of TRUTH, GOD EMPEROR,
THOU THYSELF DOST SERVE CHRIST’S LITURGY,
We Bid Thee make us also worthy,
In THY RITUAL to Liturgise the SACRIFICE of SALVATION,
Through THEE to Taste from the EUCHARIST of RESURRECTION.

*

EVERYTHING is WORD, RITUAL and BLESSING,
Everything is SACREDNESS, OFFERING and SINGING,
Everything is Pouring Forth of Absolute LOVE,
Everything is DIVINE LITURGISING.

A CERTAIN DIVINE WORD Creates our Soul,
A CERTAIN RITUAL of the HOLY SPIRIT Gives us Life,
A CERTAIN BLESSING gives BIRTH to us from THESE.

The Creation of Light is WORD in the RITUAL of the HOLY SPIRIT,
The Days of the Creation are the IMAGE of the DIVINE GRACE,
And everything is RITUAL in the Singing of the WORD.
Everything is in the FATHER’S BLESSING.

Each day of the Creation is “as Much as” a WORD and a RITUAL.
Each day is the GIFT of BLESSING,
Each day is “as much as” a LOVE LITURGY,
Therefore the Day is in the IMAGE of the Serving of LITURGY.

The LITURGY of LOVE cannot ever “stop”,
The WORD and RITUAL cannot stop LITURGISING,
The BLESSING cannot but OFFER ITSELF as HOLY COMMUNION.

O, if only you Knew with what LOVE the HOLY SPIRIT Gives us Life,
If you Knew that we Breathe due to the HOLY SPIRIT,
The Evening and the Morning are the RITUAL of the HOLY SPIRIT,
The DAY is also HIS RITUAL in Movement of Light,
Everything that lives is the BREATH of HIS RITUAL,
The RITUAL is also the LITURGISING of LOVE and GREATFULNESS
And without RITUAL every Move would “stop”.

Church Bells are Ringing, Calling us to GOD,
O Soul of mine do not be “deaf”, but rise and run to Him.

For in the Church the LORD JESUS HIMSELF is LITURGISING,
All Heavenly Hosts from ABOVE are Descending,
All Ranks of Saints are Singing the LITURGY of LOVE,
All Creation is Singing the OFFERING of HOLY COMMUNION.

The HOLY SPIRIT is Descending over the VIRGIN-Church,
The DOORS of Creation OPEN for GOD to COME IN,
The ALTAR DOORS OPEN for the Sons of the Church
To MEET their VERY CREATOR.

Soul of mine, OPEN your Doors, tarry no longer,
GOD is Descending into the World,
He Descends for you as well through HIS LITURGY.

O, GIFT beyond words,
How is it LORD, that Thou dost COME to us,
To TELL us the Unutterable DIVINE WORDS…

Through the DIVINE WORD everything was Made,
Everything is the WORD’S EMBODIMENT.
In the beginning there was the WORD that OFFERS ITSELF to us,
In ETERNITY there is the WORD that doth LITURGISE.

Soul of mine, LISTEN to the WORD that Created you,
WORSHIP the Word that to LIFE Called you.
It is the DIVINE WORD EVER within you,
Owing to Whom you can yourself SPEAK too.

Holy GOSPEL, the UNUTTERABLE WORDS can be HEARD from within YOU,
WORDS that Become in us the Spoken Tongues.
Heaven and Earth are YOUR WRITTEN LEAVES,
In our Souls BURNING Icon Lamps are THESE.

Heaven and Earth together LITURGISING,
Creation and GOD Face to Face each other do ENCOUNTER,
Angels and Men together Serving,
Everything in CHRIST is now MEETING.

*

Lord, Thou dost UTTER through THY WORD ITSELF,
And THY WORD can be HEARD “beyond” THYSELF,
And THY WORD transforms “This Beyond” into Creation.

Soul of mine “awaken” to the THUNDER of the WORD,
Remember the WORD that “Has Stopped” in you,
Utter the WORD that was GIFTED at your “Birth” to you.

*

The WORD is the POWER that turned “unbeing” into Creation,
The WORD is the POWER that KEEPS Alive the Being of Creation,
The WORD is LITURGY and HOLY COMMUNION,
The WORD is LOVE and MEETING.

The WORD can be “hurt”,
Yet the WORD cannot ever “die”,
The WORD can be “locked in”,
Yet the WORD cannot ever be “killed”.

The WORD can be “hidden” by “darkness”,
Yet He can never be “destroyed”.
The WORD can be “forgotten”,
But He is always RESURRECTED.

*
Sin ever “attempts” a destruction of the WORD,
It Crucifies and buries the WORD into the earth,
Yet the WORD even more Radiant RISES,
As the Lie betrays itself alone after it arises.

*
LORD, with my “sins” I have Crucified Thee,
With my “sins” I have hurt Thee …

I am frightened to see Thy flowing Blood…
I cannot help shivering and crying as I see Thee GOD…
I have abused and spit Thee,
I am ashamed and feel so guilty …

Yet THY EYES are Mild and FORGIVING,
Although with Tears of blood they are weeping…
Come down from my Cross,
For my Heart does Break and Toss…

Lord stop Thy Crucifixion thus in me,
It is such suffering “as cannot be”…

*

O LORD, I also want to be a FOLLOWER of THINE,
Self-OFFERING I Crucify myself Akin to Thee,
Beside THY CROSS Receive this Cross of mine,
Beside THEE I shall suffer any “spleen”.
My sins do crucify me as was once the “thief”,
Yet like the “thief” I also utter:
“Receive, my LORD, my Cross BESIDE THY CROSS”.

O LORD, my Cross does hold within the POWER of THY CROSS,
And by THY CRUCIFIXION I “can” crucify myself as well,
And by THY VANQUISHMENT I can thus also “vanquish”.

O LORD, my Being Weeps for all its sins and guilt,
Yet it is filled with the HOPE of THY RESURRECTION.
And in my Being I still do Crucify Thee,
Yet in THY Crucifixion Thou dost Rise.
O, Tears of penance mixed with TEARS of LOVE.
FORGIVENESS MEETING RESURRECTION thus in MYSTERY.

*

Death and RESURRECTION meet on CHRIST’S CROSS
Guilt and FORGIVENESS UNITE on the CROSS,
From Heaven GOD has DESCENDED down to us.

*

O GOD FATHER, what canst THOU See?...
THY SON crucified, full of Blood and killed…
This is too much…this cannot be…
Thou Wants to Raise THY HAND thus with a “curse”…
But TEARS are DROPPING on the DEAR and breathless BODY
FORGIVENESS and Justice are now struggling…

From Beyond “death” the SON ASKS Thee in a terrible VOICE:
“MERCIFUL PARENT for MY SAKE BE FORGIVING,
In MY CRUCIFIXION my Brothers of Creation I do FORGIVE,
THOU in MY LOVE BE the RIGHTFUL GOD…
Let MY LOVE of FORGIVENESS and RESURRECTION
Be the SECOND Birth and Creation.
MERCIFUL PARENT BLESS MY SACRIFICE,
Let MY LOVE and the Love of CREATION Be ever in THY LOVE harmonised.

*

O, “Awesome” and unutterable BODY-SACRIFICE,
The HOLY TRINITY ITSELF is HERE to KISS THEE.
GOD the FATHER COMES to Embrace THEE,
The HOLY SPIRIT COMES with the Heavenly FIRE-the GRACE,
All “sins of the world” in THY BODY-SACRIFICE
Are now FORGIVEN and start “thawing out like ice”…

Heavenly Hosts do all surround Thee,
The Ranks of Saints bow down to Thee…
O, MOST DIVINE SACRIFICE-TREASURE,
All WORTHINESS and Virtue is in THEE.

The MOTHER of GOD, Fallen to GOD’S FEET,
Is PAINED to the very Depth of Her Being…
All Heaven and Earth HERE DO MEET,
GOD and Creation HERE UNITE.

The ALL HOLY TRINITY with the FIRE of DIVINITY,
For the SACRIFICE of FORGIVENESS and LOVE,
Again and Again DOES FORGIVE us all in Eternity!

O, CROSS, NAME full of Awe,
When CHRIST is Crucified on YOU,
All fear suddenly “wears through”:
The Torment of the Cross is thus Vanquished by Him.
O, CROSS most terrible SIGN of all,
If the LORD JESUS is on You,
He makes You be the GREATEST GIFT of LOVE.

Who has ever GIVEN more
Than the CROSS of CHRIST?...
O, CROSS, DIVINE LITURGY.

All the LITURGY of LOVE and FORGIVENESS
Is in the SELF-OFFERING of the CROSS of Crucifixion.
O, CROSS, SIGN and Terrible POWER,
In You all JUSTICE is Judged, as You tower,
By the ceaseless FORGIVENESS and LOVE of GOD
Of which JUSTICE partakes in OVERLOVE.

“Let us Lift up our Hearts” on the CROSS of LOVE,
Let us be THANKFUL through the CROSS of VANQUISH.
THY CROSS, LORD JESUS, is no longer “condemnation”,
It is LOVE and complete FORGIVENESS.
Unless we bear the IMAGE of the CROSS,
We will not have the IMAGE as a SIGN.
Through the IMAGE of the CROSS everything “BECOMES” LOVE and FORGIVENESS,
Through the IMAGE of CHRIST’S CROSS
GOD Himself doth Descend,
And Creation as upon a LADDER can ASCEND.

*

O, awesome and terrible MEETING
That pains you more than anything,
O, MEETING between “guilt” and FORGIVENESS…

O “Come ye all” and Eat from MY BODY,
Run not away from Me, I do not ask for your “guilt”,
I GIVE you all the more so my LOVE as a GIFT.

And thus I ask of you no more,
Come in MY LOVE when I CALL you …

In MY LOVE you can find
The REST for all those “weary”,
The Peace of all tormented and in toil,
The Comfort of those humiliated,
The FORGIVENESS that Brings back LOVE,
The MEETING with the HOLY COMMUNION….

The BODY and BLOOD of CHRIST on the “tree of the fall”
Transform the “serpent of death” into the IMAGE of RESURRECTION,
Departing from the “curse” of sin you thus return to LOVE,
It is the HOLY SUPPER, the Heavenly-Holy Communion.

In the HOLY SUPPER the Law is Transformed,
In the FORGIVENESS of MYSTERY and PEACE beyond word,
In the HOLY SUPPER WHOLENESS is fulfilled,
Here everything with LOVE is filled.

*

LORD JESUS, THOU GIVEST us THY FORGIVENESS to Eat,
And in this Forgiveness our Love we can Resurrect,
LORD everything is “thrashing about” in me,
THY DIVINE VOICE doth Thunder in me…
It is frightening to MEET THEE Directly…

*

What should we Beautify first in the DIVINE EUCHARIST,
GOD’S Descend to us or our Ascent into HIM?...
How ever to “speak of” This MYSTERY?...
And the WORD was Made Body-Creation (John 1, 14).
Now the Body is Made WORD,
O Mystery of DIVINE LITURGY.
Now are FULFILLED Those which “Will Come to Be”.
O, terrible LITURGISING,
O, GIFTING of LOVE awe-inspiring,
O, DIVINE JOY.

The LOVE of THY SON, DIVINE PARENT,
Doth MEET our “scanty” Love,
And both are BROUGHT before THEE as OFFERING and SACRIFICE…
Let us also become the BODY of CHRIST,
Through which we can also ASCEND “to THEE”,
O, ALL HOLY TRINITY.

ALL HOLY SPIRIT, DIVINE MAJESTY,
Please do Forgive our sins as many as they may be,
Bring down to us THY FIRE of GRACE without burning us,
Into the BODY of CHRIST do Transform us,
As once THOU didst when CHRIST EMBODIED in the VIRGIN.

Then the WORD was Made Body,
Now let the Body become WORD,
Then GOD Descended onto the Earth,
Now the Earth ASCENDS into GOD.

O, DIVINE SERVING of the LITURGY
Now there is FULFILLMENT, WHOLENESS in Eternity,
Glory to Thee ALL HOLY TRINITY, Glory, Glory to Thee.

*

Sin had brought only “death and suffering”,
And now JESUS Thou GIVEST us Thy RESSURRECTION.

*

The Mother of God does Beseech:
O, DIVINE Son and GREAT PRIEST,
As MOTHER of This Church I bring to Thee all these,
“Disgusted” with any of these do not be,
Do not let “lost” any of these,
For they are all my Sons and Brothers of THEE,
Please RISE them in THY CHALICE of DIVINE LITURGY.

*
DIVINE, ALL HOLY TRINITY,
I THANK THEE for Creating me.
I THANK THEE, O REDEEMER CHRIST
For to us the Mystery of the LITURGY GIVE Thou Dost
Through which we all can “cleanse” ourselves from sin.

I THANK THEE, GOD the ALL HOLY SPIRIT.

I THANK THEE, DIVINE PARENT
For as well “Receiving” me
As “a Son” belonging to Thee.
DIVINE, ALL HOLY TRINITY,
I THANK THEE.
The LITURGY of LOVE May always Be.

O, LITURGY, unceasing HEART in ETERNITY!


Published in the volume "Hesychasm", Platytera Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, pp. 25+44. Translation from Romanian: Alice Butnar.

Copyright: Platytera Publishing House.

The Romanian (Original) Version can be found here.
The German Version can be found here.

Ieromonk Ghelasie Gheorghe: "The Iconic RITUAL" (translation from Romanian by Alice Butnar)

Holy Virgin Maria with Infant Jesus, icon painted by monk Ilie




















O, MOTHER OF GOD, from Your Image,
A SPIRIT of Mystery is Born.
The ICON from ABOVE is in You,
For You Hold in Your Arms the DIVINE JESUS,
The Icon of below, of the Earth is in You,
For You are an Image of Creation,
And thus in Your ICON
God and Creation are Together.

O, SPIRIT of Hesychy,
That shows itself as Creation,
Gift presenting DIVINITY Embodied.

Kneeling before the ICON,
Before the Image of Mystery,
I am filled with the Consuming SPIRIT
And the most Purifying Fire.

GOD Becomes Created Being in the World,
While I, the worldly one
ASCEND into GOD.

This is the MYSTERY of my DESTINY.

O, ICON-IMAGE of the MOTHER OF GOD,
You open for me the DOOR towards GOD,
Who EMBODIES into the World,
For me also to Embody into GOD.

I am starting myself to see into the FIRST MYSTERY of Hesychastic LIFE:
ASCENDING towards GOD is the PATH of the Hesychy,
And the ICON-IMAGE of the MOTHER OF GOD
Is the LITURGY PROSPHORA
That opens Heaven’s DOORS.

O, AKATHIST OF THE ICON,
You keep singing in me, like a LITURGY,
That makes me also become
A LIVING Church.

And the RITUAL of MYSTERY starts working in me,
A RITUAL that gives birth to the SPIRIT of Hesychy.

*

The VENERATION of the ICON
Is a SPIRIT of great MYSTERY.

WORSHIP is like FLYING
For the LONGING Heart
That falls to GOD’S feet,
And then FLIES again high into the Sky,
FLIES in endless SINGING.


*

As I am kneeling before the ICON,
The INFANT CHRIST, that the ICON is holding,
TURNS the whole World into His Own ICON.

The VIRGIN-MOTHER is the ICON of the WORLD,
The INFANT CHRIST is the ICON of GOD,
And Their MEETING of MYSTERY
Endows the World with the DIVINE CLOTH.

*

Where could I find the IMAGE of the SUN
Wherein my Mind I could REST?
There it is, in the Arms of the ICON of the MOTHER of GOD,
In CHRIST, the DIVINE INFANT.

O, SUN of Great MYSTERY,
An Innocent INFANT-LAMB,
In Whom all the LIGHT
In HEAVEN and on Earth has GATHERED.

Hesychy, LIGHT of the EMBODIED DIVINE SUN,
MYSTERY of the ICON, Hesychy,
May Your SPIRIT COME in me as well . . .

Who may speak of the IMAGE of the FATHER?
The Only One Who may,
Is the IMAGE of the SON.

The SON is the WORD-LIKENESS,
Who is BORN from the FATHER,
The LIGHT-the SHOWING.

And also from the FATHER
Is BEGOTTEN the WARMTH, the IMAGE of the SPIRIT,
And Together with the LIGHT
THEY ARE the TRINITY Itself.

The SON of the FATHER’S IMAGE is Singing,
The SPIRIT of the FATHER’S IMAGE is Sealing,
Both in the Son and in the SPIRIT
The FATHER is RESTING,
And the FATHER, the SON and the HOLY SPIRIT
Are the UNITED TRINITY.

The FATHER, NAME GREATEST,
The SON, NAME DEAREST,
The SPIRIT, NAME HOLIEST.

To YOU, GOD TRINITY
All our WORSHIP.

*

Turn your Mind Infant,
Turn your Heart Infant,
Turn all your Senses Infant,
Akin to the INFANT CHRIST,
And along with the DIVINE INFANT
SAY the PRAYER of the HEAVENLY FATHER.

Who can take in all of GOD’S LOVE? . . .
Only His SON can.

And the LOVE of the SON, only Your IMAGE of MOTHER.

O IMAGE of Great MYSTERY,
You, IMAGE most CHOSEN,
Though an IMAGE of CREATION,
By Holding the Divine SON in Your Arms,
You become Venerated ICON:
Rejoice, O ICON of Divine Embodiment.

*

O GOD, my LORD,
When Thou dost SHOW Thyself to my Soul,
All lights grow “dim”,
And only Thou, the PERSONAL ONE,
Art PRESENT both inside and outside.

The Mind’s eyes close,
The body’s eyes as well.
Through the IMAGE of HYPOSTASIS
I myself can see Thee.

Mind’s eyes, close your thought-lashes,
Light, enter the sanctuary of “beyond”,
The Source of LIFE Itself,
Wherefrom everything can Spring forth,
Whereto everything can “return and rest”,
HE – the HYPOSTASIS, through Whom everything is,
And all exists in HIS SHADOW.

ICON, EYE of Mystery,
Through You LOOKS the very HYPOSTASIS of BEING,
That issues forth the LIGHT,
Which makes the UNSEEN Visible.

ICON, IMAGE Manifest,
You become the PLACE of Mystery,
Where CREATION can SHOW itself
As BREAD-EUCHARIST.

ICON EYE,
In You GOD can be SEEN
And at the same time we, Creation, can see ourselves
Beside GOD.

ICON EYE,
You are the CHURCH of Mystery,
Where the Mind kneels quietly,
As into an OVERHEART,
Where GOD’S HEART is BEATING
And where all the Hearts
Are also Beating, as they are Kneeling.

Supernatural PLACE of the ICON,
From here one can HEAR the DIVINE WORD
That You WRITE as into a BOOK,
TABERNACLE of the FINGER of GOD.

ICON, IMAGE and PLACE of Mystery,
Through You we can MEET GOD.

*

At one moment beyond time,
The SON Creates also an IMAGE of Son of CREATION,
Into which HE Himself EMBODIES
And comes before GOD the FATHER:
“FATHER, here I am, Thy SON
In TWO IMAGES at the same time,
As the absolute SON of BEING that Thou hast BORN,
And as the Son of Creation that I have Conceived.
Two IMAGES beyond confusion, but UNITED
In my ONE HYPOSTASIS of SON of Thine.”

And the FATHER BLESSES,
And the Image of the World starts “Being”.

*

I can no longer dwell in darkness,
Ghosts are torturing me …


LIGHT, where art Thou?

Am I truly blind,
Or is it night outside?

From this world full of sins
The SUN was taken away,
And you must go to the “Realm Beyond”,
Take the SUN into a VESSEL
And BRING it Home again.

There is a PLACE where you can find a LADDER,
The PLACE in the ICON,
With one end hung up in Heaven
And the other one on the Earth,
Down this Ladder the SUN is descending,
And as you are standing at the foot of the LADDER,
You must CATCH the SUN into a CERTAIN VESSEL,
Lest it should flow down relentlessly.

Take care to “guard” your Head and Eyes,
Your Mind should think no thought
And you should close your Eyes,
For a Great POWER
Radiates from the SUN,
And will “crush” your Mind and Body,
And through your Eyes it will “burn” your Body…

Stay prostrate, with Hands on your Chest,
Plug your Ears, in order not to Hear Him,
For His thunder and lightning is so loud,
That you shall not remain whole ….

O, what a miracle, a DIVINE INFANT
Is the Heavenly SUN!
He Peacefully Descends
Down the Ladder of the ICON,
He has Hands of LIGHT,
And with a Moving VOICE
He SINGS, inspiring awe:
“Our FATHER of us all,
Thou art the LORD of all LORDS,
FATHER, the ALL HOLY NAME,
From Thee everything SPRINGS FORTH”
And He keeps Singing
While DESCENDING
So low that He touches your very Bosom…
He wants to COME INTO your Heart,
But your Heart is too narrow,
And thus He Remains in your Palms …


You stand so still …
Afraid not to Lose Him,
Afraid you might get burned,
His VOICE somehow
Makes you also start Singing,
“Our FATHER Who art in HEAVEN”…

*

Down the LADDER of the ICON
The Embodied WORD has Descended
And has STOPPED …
And you are Glad and saddened
For He has Come to you, yet you cannot
Receive Him into your cramped and miserable Heart.

O, DIVINE Joy and sinner’s cry,
O, Heaven and hell together,
You are no longer split by the “abyss”,
The LADDER of the WORD is between you.

Thou, LORD hast Created me as Being,
And hast BLOWN over me the SEAL of Thy IMAGE,
Yet I stand “below” Thee,
And Thou must THEN COME into me
And I must Then Receive Thee,
For otherwise I remain “without” Thy Likeness,
That only Thou can GIVE me
As EUCHARIST,
Thy Eternal KINGDOM.

LORD, Thou hast BLOWN Thy IMAGE in me,
That is now WRITTEN, as once on Moses’ Stone,
Yet Thy Seal is only Thy SHADOW.

This Divine SEAL
Carries within the LONGING for Thee,
For MEETING with Thee,
For Thee to ENTER then into my Being,
Into my Heart-my Chamber most adorned.

*

Do not dare looking UP,
Do not dare lifting your Mind up to Heaven,
Behold Christ who is Descending
Down the Earth as a LADDER,
Keep your head bent,
Keep your Mind in prostration,
Put your Hands on your Chest
And cling on to the LADDER,
That has its lower end in your Heart.


The LADDER-CHRIST Binds Heaven to Earth.

He comes down the LADDER,
Your Heart is too narrow,
And cannot Hold Him,
Thus He stays at your Bosom
Like an ICON hanging at your Neck.

O, ICON of CHRIST
Sealed onto my Chest,
My Heart starts hearing
Thy Mystery of Son of GOD,
It can hear Thee Praying to the FATHER,
And thus it awakens in me
The LONGING for Prayer.

I do not dare do anything else
But the RITUAL of the ICON,
To Venerate the ICON,
To bend my Mind in prostration,
To hold the LADDER tightly to my Chest,
To cling to it desperately
When the “waves” of the passions within me
And the chasms of the world are eager to swallow me up.

O, ICON-LADDER of CHRIST,
O, GOD’S LOVE,
I Bear Thee as a priceless TREASURE,
And wait for my Heart to be able to
Open like a Tabernacle-Shrine,
Where I can RECEIVE Thee
And never lose Thee again.

O ICON, ICON
LADDER from Heaven to the Earth,
I hang You at my Bosom,
Where CHRIST the Mystery is dwelling.

*

Lord Jesus, “A Certain Word of Thine”
Is “the Holy Table and Gospel” in my Being-Soul,
Word that Thou hast Uttered when Thou hast Created me, Word-Altar Image of God.
And this “Word of Mystery” through the Calling-Prayer of Thy Name
“Becomes Liturgy-Eucharist” in the Church of my Being,
The Communion of the Holy Trinity of Whose Great Priest Thou art.


Published in the volume "Hesychasm", Platytera Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, pp. 49-60. Translation from Romanian: Alice Butnar.
Copyright: Platytera Publishing House.

The Romanian (Original) Version can be found here.
The German Version can be found here.

HESYCHASM. THE MYSTICISM OF CHRISTIAN LITURGY. The Beginning of Christian Liturgical Language (translation from Romanian by Simona Ionescu)

2. The Beginning of Christian Liturgical Language

Hesychasm is the Holy Mystery of the Word-the Son of God descended into the Creation. The Christian Revelation speaks of the mystery of the Holy Trinity as Divine Life in Itself.
God the Father is the absolute LOVE, the Holy Spirit is the absolute AFFECTION-the Memory in Motion of the LOVE, and the Son is the absolute DEVOTION-LITURGY-EXPRESSION. Here is the origin of all origins. Christ Our Lord comes with the revelation of this IMAGE of God. ''He who has seen Me has seen the Father'' (John 14:9). The Son is the Word of the Father. ''In the beginning was the Word'' (John 1:1). Hence the Image of God is DISCOURSE-EXPRESSION-LITURGY.
Here the Hesychastic Mysticism identifies its existence. ''TO BE'' means ''TO EXPRESS-TO SERVE LITURGY''. The WORD is IMAGE-PERSON; Christianity comes with the rediscovery of the Image in itself, which means PERSON. The First Christian Liturgical Word is IMAGE-PERSON. Hesychasm is the Mystery of the COMMUNICATION IMAGE-PERSON, as a PERSON to PERSON. The Fall from Grace darkens this Existential Communication. The Mystery of the IMAGE-PERSON is the TRIPLE EXISTENCE IN ITSELF, the IMAGE is Absolute Existence-Totality of the self, indestructible Permanence in an endless opening of the self. The IMAGE as Wholeness is the TRIPLE EXISTENCE OF THE SELF, as ONE Who is already open in Itself as a Potency of Self-expression.
The absolute IMAGE is God the FATHER, Who is already in Himself the IMAGE-FATHER-TRIPLE EXISTENCE, as a Potency of the Proceeding of THE HOLY SPIRIT and the Nativity of the SON. Hence the IMAGE or PERSON is inherently IMAGE-TRIPLE EXISTENCE of the Self. And God's IMAGE Descends into the Creation through the PERSONAL IMAGE OF CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. ''He who has seen Me has seen the Father'' (John 14:9).
The Second Christian Liturgical Word is PRIESTHOOD, meaning the descent of God's IMAGE into the Creation. Hence the connection made by Christ's PERSONAL IMAGE. Therefore the fundamental Christian LITURGICAL IMAGES are the IMAGE-PERSON, PRIESTHOOD-CHRIST, and Church-Creation. From this further generate all the other Liturgical Images. It is worth mentioning that at the basis of the LITURGY of these IMAGES lies the LITURGICAL RITE, THE IMAGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Divinity in Itself is the absolute HOLINESS, God the FATHER in the RITE-MOVEMENT-GESTURE of the Holy SPIRIT, as a LITURGY OF THE SON. This IMAGE of Divinity in Itself, that is beyond all the Images of the Creation, Descends into Images of the Creation through the Creation LITURGY SERVING of the Very LITURGY of the SON of God. Hence the Hesychastic experience is HOLINESS-IMAGE OF GOD in the RITE OF GRACE-IMAGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT through the LITURGY OF CHRISTIAN EUCHARISTIC PRIESTHOOD. The Hesychastic
experience is a relentless extension of RITE and CHRISTIAN LITURGY. Hence the so-called 'Ladder' of Mystical Hesychastic Liturgy Serving.

a) IMAGE OF GOD, beyond all Images, yet the generator of all Images;
b) IMAGE OF CHRIST-IMAGE of God descended into the Creation, PRIESTHOOD-CHRISTIAN LITURGY;
c) Image of Created Being, the Church;
d) THE RITE-Liturgy Serving in the Creation;
e) THE HOLY COMMUNION-EUCHARIST-UNION between God's Image and the Image of the Creation;
f) THE TRANSFIGURATION-UNIFICATION in experiencing All of the Above.
The Hesychastic Experience is the experience of DIVINE LOVE felt by the Creation. Hesychasm is LONGING for God-Permanent SPIRIT in Itself in a Relentless LAMENTING-CHANTING-LITURGY SERVING. THE RITE OF THE SPIRIT-LONGING FOR GOD is the Heart of the Soul that relentlessly beats for GOD'S LOVE in the LITURGY SERVING-LAMENTING-BREATHING- EXPRESSION of the Soul directly.

O Lord JESUS, my Heart Beats in the RITE OF MY LONGING for You
IN LITURGY SERVING-HOLY EUCHARIST.
Come O Holy SPIRIT, dwell in me with the LONGING for God,
Come O JESUS, dwell in me where I may sing to you,
Come Heavenly FATHER, so I may fall into YOUR ARMS,
so I may partake of THE LAST SUPPER.

Published in the volume Ieromonk Ghelasie Gheorghe, "THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE OF THE DIVINE LITURGY", Platytera Publishing House, 2009, pp. 111-113. Translation from Romanian: Simona Ionescu.

Copyright: Platytera Publishing House.

Ieromonk Ghelasie Gheorghe: "Hesychasm, the Threefold Akathist of the Heart" (translation from Romanian by Alice Butnar)

In the Heart the Soul shows her Image and abides as in a barge,
From the Heart the Soul is spreading out her “Rays” as Body,
In the Heart the Soul Sings Divine Laud to its Creator.

From the Heart the Soul stretches out and Meets other Souls,
From the Heart the Soul opens up and pours herself out endlessly over the Heart,
Into the Heart the Souls Receives God Himself – as into a Church.

The Soul is our Created Substance of Being,
That has also an Energy that becomes Body,
As we are a Unity of Created Being that has its own Created Energies.

The fall from Heaven with the evil sin “splits us into two”,
Tearing asunder our Soul Being from its Energies, the Body,
Therefore, we seem made up of two estranged realities, which hate each other to death …

The fall also breaks us away from our Creator and makes us blind and mute, without the Holy Singing.
And the suffering of death and darkness frightens us ever.
And we wish to regain the Peace and Rest of eternal Life.

The Body’s Mind must be Sacralized through Christic Prayer,
The Body’s Senses must be Sacralized through Repentance and Fasting,
And the Spirit of the Soul must be awoken through the Lord Christ Coming into one’s Heart.

Hesychasm is thus a “Threefold Akathist” of Holy Prayer,
The Prayer of the Mind – in the Ceaseless Singing of the Divine Name,
The Prayer of the Senses – through Fasting,
And the Prayer of the Spirit – through direct Repentance of the Soul.

Come, Lord Jesus, into my Heart and awaken my Soul,
Come into my Heart and give Sight to my sin-blinded Eyes,
Come into my Heart, Lord Jesus, for my Soul to “Meet” Thee!

I make my Mind a Speaking Prayer,
My Senses I make Repentance-feeling Prayer,
My Soul I make Speaking-direct Communion with Thee.

Lord, Absolute Father, have mercy on me! – Forgiveness of the fallen Creation,
All-Holy Spirit, have mercy on me! – Spirit of the Praying Heart,
Lord Jesus, have mercy on me! – Ceaseless Prayer of the Heart...

Published in the volume "Hesychasm", Platytera Publishing House, Bucharest, 2007, pp. 61-62. Translation from Romanian: Alice Butnar.

Copyright: Platytera Publishing House.

The Romanian (Original) Version can be found here.
The German Version can be found here.

Florin Caragiu: "Sentic" (poems translated from Romanian by Simona Ionescu) (I)

Photo by Diana Popescu




















nearfar

you love to sneak into the room when I’m not aware,
like I’m not aware of my past anymore
when I pass through a paper wall
upon which a maestro has retouched a familiar hatred.

notebooks fill up the stove.
newspapers will no longer talk about laws suspension,
as the night when we spread flowers on the seawall
and test the sand
does not repeat itself. that says a lot about love’s arrhythmia
you can’t deny, even though you are the target
of a tidy invasion, whose meaning changes
by choice with every abandoned house.

and I want you nearfar,
I shake my weaknesses off of you and let myself show.
but that unique night does not leave the corridor
you run through in broad daylight, away from the crowd,
to a place where you can start to make them out.


3:30 am

it´s cold and almost dawn. I am not battling evil, I am too beat up already
by the sadness of the cut-down apricot-trees. the serenity with which
I follow the floating sticks
leaves in me the fear of your unexpected arrival. I am ready to fight
before falling asleep, yet no challenge reaches up to me. I fight for you,
for the smoke black skimpily spent.

I withdraw when victory baffles me. that´s when I see
how much I´ve lost with one breath and that things cause my thought to surface. water remembers the constant circling
and the void left behind on your sudden departure.
I drink it in with the same thirst
I bump into words, when the support withdraws
and I bury your image in the garden for later,
when abandonment no longer threatens it. I get dressed slowly,
preserving the warmth of your lips. you can´t hear me, but you behave
as though you obeyed a calling from nearby. and we are now
miles and miles away, still it´s good to have some space
when you love. the number calculates nothing but the impact against the bulwarks, when the body is already half-buried in the ground
and only the song that emerges keeps you alive.


round years

a feet game tears up the round years and the nettle bushes,
gathers us around inside the resonance box of an image.

pretty soon we´ll all be the same age.
suddenly our houses will turn small to fit into the non-empty intersection
of the interiors reshaped after a form of freedom
that grind up the words until they sparkle
with the raw love wandering among us.
nothing compares to the trust you have in a face
that washes your blood in several waters – an evening and a morning.

you watch your food come out of inertia and shine
inside your hungry mouth, while you throw yourself on the ground
to erase the fingerprints with your borrowed breast.

we only have time to glance at each other,
when the sun rolls upon the sound attached at the ends by uvulae,
fearless of the epidemic of unreachable happiness.
while your sleep keeps the dolphins hanging in the air, you can wear your soul
on the side kissed by pain; the need to breathe
teaches me not to lose you in the crowd.

your name is an eye hidden inside me, each time I find myself
thrown to the beasts by a gentle light.


sentic*

with your hand on your heart, with both hands on your heart
in the short recess from pain, you mumble
a song. you look around and quiver. you see nothing.
the things that used to support the utterance lose their fixity,
the words eager to explore the possible
are hindered by signs. not that they stopped radiating
a dim light, but a man who cleaned up the spot ruined by addictions
turns his attention towards something you can´t see,
though you know it is happening. I can tell you now
that I didn´t love you. no, I did love you! yet not to the point where
the angel cuts the red scarf with which I tied up my senses.
they weren't free, they couldn't drag out of my mouth
the knife with which you smear the colors on your canvas.
they didn´t know that sins are hit by a sublime hatred,
generated by the loving care of a Being you don´t know,
although your moves draw a breath from around it
to the spot touched by illness. you´ve got to protect me
from far away, ask those who can to raise one hand,
then lower it slowly towards the heart.

_____________________

* Word created by Dr. Manfred Clynes, who showed that emotion – as a full human experience – can be an experience that does not subdue. In the Christian sense, we speak of an 'understanding emotion'. (A/N)


transfusions

however absurd it may seem,
many people expect from you
some sort of redemption.

your face reveals the way in which pain
keeps you glued to their bodies –
signaling you as a universal donor.

in vain you may try to demonstrate the opposite,
for your own hell itself
dreams of that
and takes the shape of the cross
which made room for you
to disrobe yourself of your mother.

more and more people
wish to test your soul
and thrust your words into their veins
like transfusion needles.


(poems published in the volume "Sentic", Vinea Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009, pp. 8-12. English translation: Simona Ionescu.)

HESYCHASM. THE MYSTICISM OF CHRISTIAN LITURGY (translation from Romanian by Simona Ionescu)

Motto:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
In the beginning was the Liturgy (the Word), and the Liturgy was with God, and the Liturgy was God.


1. Hesychasm – Relentless Extension of Christian Liturgy

Hesychasm is a relentless Christian Liturgy in the chanting of the Heart's Mind and of the Soul directly. Hesychastic Prayer is the Chant of Relentless continuous Liturgy Serving in those who wish to be the Living Church of Christ. Hesychasm is Mystical Unification through Christ. Christ is Eucharistic Liturgy. Liturgy is in the Rite of the HOLY SPIRIT and in the Chanting of the Church. The Creation is Image of Church and God is the Image of Priesthood. Without Rite and Liturgy, the Church becomes desecrated to the point of laicization. Those looking for a profound Sacred Experience have found the 'Hesychastic Way'. Hesychasm is a relentless Extension of Christian Liturgy Serving. Hermits and monks have felt the need for a relentless experience of Christ's Liturgy. Nowadays more and more people, even those living in the world, wish for this Experience. That is why Hesychasm 'descends' into the world and becomes a way for many. Hesychasm is an Extension of Christ's Church into an Inner Church, in which the Extension of Christ's Liturgy is Served continuously. The Hesychastic Way is the same for all without discrimination. Many attempt a Christianity outside the Church. Be careful. The Church is the Dwelling Place of Christ's Liturgy and Christ's Liturgy cannot be Served outside the Church. The Image of the Church is the Image of the Creation in which God the Creator Serves His Liturgy of Creation, descending into the Creation and Giving the Creation the Eucharist of His Own Godliness. To receive God, the Creation must be a Church-Consecrated Temple of the Liturgy-Descent of God into the Creation. Hesychasm is the Mystery of Grace of Christ´s Liturgy in the Rite of the IMAGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Hesychasm is the Sacred Rite of the Church of Creation precisely because it is the Descent of the Liturgy of Christ's Love into the Creation. Mysticism means Unification. Religion means connection with God. Following the sin of falling from Grace, the Connection with God weakens.
We break away from God, yet God never parts with us. That is why God relentlessly descends into the Creation through Christ's Liturgy. From the Christian perspective, our Created being is in the Image and Likeness of GOD´S IMAGE (Genesis 1:27). Hence, Hesychasm is the Mysticism of the Unification with God beyond the Created being. Christianity is not Pantheistical, but Creationist. Hesychasm means Unification first with God, through which our Soul will then distinguish itself. God Is the One Who 'Opens the Door' to our Soul, for He holds the Key... That is why Christianity begins with Receiving Christ, He then Accomplishing what we cannot accomplish. Christ descends into the Creation out of LOVE, LOVE is LITURGY. And so God's descent into the Creation is the descent of the Liturgy of His Love which becomes EUCHARIST-KINGDOM.


Published in the volume Ieromonk Ghelasie Gheorghe, "THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE OF THE DIVINE LITURGY", Platytera Publishing House, 2009, pp. 109-110. Translation from Romanian: Simona Ionescu.

Copyright: Platytera Publishing House.

The German Version can be found here.