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Description of  Origins of Eastern Christian Mysticism: AD 330-1022

Origins of Eastern Christian Mysticism asserts that the thinkers between Basil of Caesarea and Symeon the New Theologian were important mainly for their role in the formation of Hesychasm, a fourteenth-century mystical movement in the Eastern church. The book surveys previous research on Proto-Hesychasm and sets forth eight Hesychastic trends in its practitioners: monasticism, dark and light mysticism, and an emphasis on the heart, thesis, the humanity of Christ, penthos, and unceasing prayer. Theodore Sabo integrates detailed and carefully researched accounts of the lives and thought of the foundational figures of Hesychasm into a compelling narrative of the movements origins. The Cappadocian fathers established monasticism as the predominant milieu of Proto-Hesychasm and emphasized both Read more