No conflict. Hesychasm is actually practical, rather than theoretical.unred typo wrote: I get over whelmed with all these labels like Fundamental,Traditional,or Eastern panthestic mysticism and Hesychasm (what is that? *insert scrunched face smiley*). Can't we just follow the example of these "blokes" (...would lay down their own lives for their mates)? Isn't that all that God requires of us?
Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
http://www.orthodox.cn/catechesis/horujy/2_en.htm
Christian ascetics is basically a practical discipline or practical art, in which a Christian devotes himself completely to the task of realizing his spiritual destination, as it is opened to him by Christ. It is evident that ascetical works represent some specific anthropological strategies, and all the sphere of ascetics is a kind of practical anthropology. Its contents can be seen as a direct development of the anthropological contents of Christology: the latter postulates a certain connection between Man and God, in the person of Christ, while ascetics tries to put to practice Christological postulates, creating new radical strategies of human existence. In this way ascetics develops many efficient techniques and methods of man’s self-control and self-transformations and makes many discoveries concerning all systems and levels of human organization. However, its rich and valuable fruits remain, as a rule, in the form of purely practical, operational instructions, and very nontrivial work is needed in order to disclose and articulate their theological and anthropological meaning.
However, behind the practical lies an anthropological dimension that could have been used to resolve theological disputes between Protestant groups when Luther himself was still alive.
http://www.orthodox.cn/catechesis/horujy/2_en.htm
It has also rich history in Christian thought. Although the concept as such is specific to Orthodox theology, but the notion of energy correlates closely with the notion of will, and the problem of the relationship between the human and Divine will is one of the oldest in Christian theology, which was intensely discussed long before the separation of Eastern and Western Churches. But now I will only mention one episode, in which the Lutheran position in the problem is elucidated. It is well-known that the problem of God’s grace and human will was discussed in the 16th c. in the so-called synergistic disputes between protestant theologians, including Luter himself. Eventually, the viewpoint which was called "synergism" and defended, in particular, by Melanchton, was rejected, and the disputes have been ended with the so-called "Formula of the Agreement" in 1577. But the interesting point is that if we compare the positions of the disputing sides with the Orthodox theory of synergy, we find that the position, which was called «synergism» is very far from this theory. On the other hand, the position, very close to the Orthodox one, was presented by Erasmus of Rotterdam, the famous humanist and freethinker, and formulated clearly in his treatise "Diatribe" (1524), in which he polemized with Luter. Another Western theologian, whose views were quite close to the Orthodox concept of synergy, was the famous mystic and Church leader St Bernard of Clairvaux. These incidental historical remarks show that hesychast studies may provide fresh look at some old interconfessional divisions, disclosing unexpected points of resemblance.
Not really. See above.depending on your point of view but just seems to me for the most part to cause divisions.
