The Holy Mountain and the Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Ethos Team
Aug 5
5 min read

In the first place, it must be said that the Holy Mountain is not independent of the Church. It is not a place set apart from the Church and made autonomous, but it is the way of life of the Orthodox Christian and the expression of the evangelical life in the Holy Spirit which exists in the Church of Christ. In his work “On the Holy Hesychasts” St. Gregory, speaking of the holy confessor Nicephoros, who lived ascetically on the Holy Mountain and who professed orthodoxy and was therefore exiled by the first king of the House of the Palaeologues, writes characteristically: “He adopted the most rigorous way of life, that of the monks, and chose to live in the place which bears the name of holiness, Athos, on the border between the world and the supranatural, Athos being the home of virtue.”[1]

In this passage St. Gregory’s conception of the Holy Mountain can be seen clearly. It bears the name of holiness, it is at the border between the world and the supranatural, it is the home of virtue. Therefore we see the Holy Mountain as the home of virtue, as the place where the evangelical life is lived and expressed, which is the essence of our Tradition. If the holy Fathers teach that monasticism is the apostolic life and the life of the martyrs because the whole apostolic life and the witness of the holy martyrs is preserved in it, then we can understand that the Holy Mountain is the place where this apostolic and martyric life is lived.

In order to confirm this truth, we need to look at the stages of the spiritual life according to the holy Fathers of the Church. St. Dionysios the Areopagite says in his writings that according to the holy Fathers the spiritual life has three stages: purification, illumination and perfection. We find this in the teaching of all the holy Fathers of the Church.

St. Symeon the New Theologian divided his chapters into three groups: practical, gnostic and theological. St. Gregory Palamas did the same. He divided them into ethical (which is purification), natural and theological.[2] This division showed the stages of the spiritual life as we find them in the teaching of St. Dionysios the Areopagite. But the same division is to be found in the teaching of St. Maximos the Confessor. St. Maximos speaks clearly about practical philosophy, which is primarily purification of the heart, about natural vision, which is illumination of the nous, and about mystical theology, which is vision of the uncreated Light.[3] And St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite, editing the Philokalia, gave it the following subtitle which interprets its content: “in which through the practice and vision of ethical philosophy the nous is purified, illumined and made perfect.” In this elucidation we see the stages of the spiritual life: man’s purification, illumination and deification.

Parallel with this the holy Fathers also divide the spiritual life in another way, into action and vision (theoria). However this is not a matter of another division clearly opposed to the preceding, but is the same thing. For action is purification of the heart and vision is illumination of the nous and communion with God. In other words, when a man’s heart is purified, which is the first stage of the spiritual life, this is followed by vision. Vision includes both illumination of the nous and vision of the uncreated light. In any case action precedes vision of God. For, according to St. Gregory the Theologian, “action is the patron of contemplation.”[4]

We have made this analysis in order to emphasise that on the Holy Mountain both during the period when St. Gregory Palamas was living and in our time, as well as in every part of the world where the Orthodox Tradition is lived in the right way, there are these stages of spiritual perfection. Everyone who comes to the Holy Mountain in order to live in seclusion begins by purifying his heart, and this comes about and is completed through deep repentance. After this he progresses to the illumination of his nous, which is unceasing inner noetic prayer. At such time as God wills, the person can also attain the vision of God.

We have seen this in the life of St. Gregory Palamas as St. Philotheos Kokkinos describes it to us. We see it also in the works of St. Gregory himself. For instance, in the example which we mentioned before, speaking of the holy confessor Nicephoros, he tells the story of his life. That is to say, he describes how he reached the point of becoming a saint and confessor: First of all St. Nicephoros performed his obedience to the distinguished and discerning fathers. By his obedience he let them experience his humility, and in return he acquired the experience of the art of arts, which is orthodox hesychia. After that he became a leader for those, who were struggling against the evil spirits.[5]

Here we see clearly the path followed by one who goes to the Holy Mountain in order to live in seclusion. First he finds a spiritual guide to whom he gives obedience, and this is how purification of the heart begins. Through this effort of wise and discreet guidance on the part of his spiritual father, but chiefly through the help of divine Grace, he receives the great gift of hesychia, which is unceasing prayer, liberating his nous from the onslaught of reason and the passions. And when this succeeds, he is indeed the possessor of knowledge of God and becomes an unerring teacher and guide to other men.

This whole process, which is still taking place on the Holy Mountain as well as in every monastery that is living the Orthodox Tradition, is the evangelic and apostolic life. The Apostles followed Christ for three years, cleansed of their passions and of the influence of the demons; and then on the day of Pentecost they received the Holy Spirit, becoming members of the Body of Christ and true theologians, who spoke about God. Therefore the Holy Mountain is an expression of the life of the Church, and every Hagiorite, like every monk, lives the apostolic life. So the Holy Mountain is not only a place, but also a way of life.

Excerpt from Saint Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite, pp. 60-63.