The Hidden Man of the Heart (1 Peter: 3:4): The cultivation of the heart in Orthodox Christian anthropology

Archimandrite Zacharias

Published by Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist in 2014-01-01

The Hidden Man of the Heart consists of a series of presentations on the place of the heart in the spiritual life of the Christian. Reference is made to the Hesychast tradition of the Orthodox Church, including two of the most influential figures in contemporary Christianity: Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866- 1938) and Saint Sophrony the Athonite (1896-1993). Delivered in Wichita, Kansas at the 2007 Clergy Brotherhood Retreat of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, each lecture is published in full, together with its corresponding Questions & Answers. The author is a disciple of Saint Sophrony and a member of the Monastery of St. John the Baptist, England. ‘Man’s true purpose foreordained before all worlds is attained by the keeping of the Creator’s commandments; their fulfilment presupposes the return of the mind to the heart and the restoration of its original integrity. For only then can a person love God with his whole being and his neighbour as himself, according to the twofold commandment of love. Such was the state of man in Paradise; he knew neither division nor struggle within his soul. The natural God-given power of his mind was continually turned towards the Face of God, and his delight in the glory of God knew no bound. But now he is fallen and his mind is dispersed; he must return to his heart and rediscover his unity…The mind is now in the heart. God watches over it. It is immersed in the warmth of the heart and is cleansed by the baptism of fire whic...

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