The hesychasm movement and the franciscan spirituality
The hesychasm movement and the franciscan spirituality

Summary/Abstract: Uninterrupted prayer has been one of the aspirations of Christianity ever since its beginnings. When we are talking about the hesychasm movement, we cannot ignore what is commonly known as the „prayer of the heart” or „the prayer of Jesus.” It is difficult to determine the origin of the practice of this prayer; perhaps its appearance is confused with that of Christian monachism that has guessed in the uninterrupted prayer embodied in the invocation of the Name of Jesus, a remnant of the original Christianity. Among those who have tried to accomplish this goal there were not only many eastern monks, but also some western monks. This study shows that the same Holy Spirit determined similar behaviors and attitudes to the understanding and practice of this type of prayer both in the East, in the Hesychasm movement and in the West, in the Franciscan spirituality.

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