Hesychast Controversy

Between 1337 and 1351, the Byzantine Empire was divided by a theological dispute over hesychasm, a method of prayer practiced by Orthodox monks, especially on Mount Athos. Hesychasts sought inner stillness, or hesychia, through silent, repeated prayer, often combined with controlled breathing. They believed that through this practice they could experience a vision of the divine light, the same light that shone around Christ at his Transfiguration. The scholar Barlaam of Calabria, a monk from southern Italy, attacked the practice, arguing that it was impossible to experience God directly in this way and ridiculing some of the methods. The monk Gregory Palamas defended hesychasm. He drew a distinction between God's essence, which is unknowable, and God's energies, which humans can experience. The debate became entangled with the civil war raging in the empire at the time. Church councils held in Constantinople in 1341, 1347 and 1351 ruled in favor of Palamas. His teaching became official Orthodox doctrine, and Palamas later became Archbishop of Thessaloniki and was declared a saint.