Audiobook: The Hidden Man of the Heart

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 (divided here into chapters) is published in full, together with its corresponding Questions & Answers.

— From: The Hidden Man of the Heart

Christ’s Gospel begins with the words: ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ These words resume the dialogue between God and man, which was severed in Paradise by the disobedience of our forefathers. But these words are now proclaimed with a new creation in view, a new generation, whose Head is Christ, the Creator Himself. It follows that repentance is the beginning of our turning against sin, so that God’s original purpose for man and His creation of man in His image and after His likeness may finally be fulfilled.

There comes a time in man’s life when he feels that all the works he has undertaken bear the seed of corruption and are unable to stand before the gaze of the eternal Judge. Such a perception leads to what St Sophrony called blessed despair, which, in turn, leads to repentance. This is that same ‘godly Sorrow [which] worketh repentance to salvation’ that the Apostle spoke about.

It is said in the life of St Ambrose of Optina that, shortly before his death, he was asked what rule of prayer he had kept, and the Saint replied, ‘There is no better rule than the rule of repentance which the publican teaches us: “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”’ It often happened that, before their death, great Saints like St Sisoes the Great asked God to prolong their life so that they could have more time for repentance. This shows that repentance is not necessary at the outset, but also in the middle and at the end of one’s spiritual life.

— Excerpt from: The Hidden Man of the Heart (p. 127-128)

For the only path leading out of the torments of hell to the everlasting joy of the Kingdom is that of the divine commandments: with our whole being we are to love God and our neighbour with a heart that is free of all sin.

The return journey from this remote and inhospitable land is not an easy one, and there is no hunger more fearful than that of a heart laid waste by sin. Those in whom the heart is full of the consolation of incorruptible grace can endure all external deprivations and afflictions, transforming them into a feast of spiritual joy; but the famine in a hardened heart lacking divine consolation is a comfortless torment. There is no greater misfortune than that of an insensible and petrified heart that is unable to distinguish between the luminous Way of God’s Providence and the gloomy confusion of the ways of this world.

— Excerpt from: The Hidden Man of the Heart • The Mystery of Man’s Heart (p. 13-14)

The best explanation for God’s gift of tongues to the early Church lies in the necessity of teaching newly-converted Christians to pray with their heart rather than just externally, as they used to do before the new Revelation. But the Church soon discovered a deeper way to educate the heart, for She was concerned to cultivate the inner man. She discovered the invocation of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And little by little, the Prayer of the Heart replaced the gift of speaking in tongues. The Jesus Prayer is a way of praying in the spirit without losing any control of the spirit, and, therefore, without running the risk of usurping the space of the other members of the Body of Christ.

… The fact that this phenomenon has reappeared distorted in the Western world, where the way of the heart has been forgotten or is not known, points towards one single purpose. Clearly, the Spirit of God yearns to lead all people home to the Orthodox Church which has the uninterrupted Tradition, and to place them within the Body of the Church, and to instruct them in the noble form of worship that has been practised by Christians for so many centuries, that their hearts might once more be cultivated through the invocation of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

… If this phenomenon were indeed authentic to some people, then it would have enabled them to discover the true and unbroken Tradition within the One, Holy and Apostolic Church, the Tradition of the Prayer of the Heart, which is the surest and humblest prayer in the edification, inspiration and salvation of man.

— Excerpt from: The Hidden Man of the Heart • On the Gift of Speaking in Tongues (p. 237-239)

According to the Holy Scriptures, God has fashioned every heart in a special way, and each heart is His goal, a place wherein He desires to abide that He may manifest Himself. Since the kingdom of God is within us, the heart is the battlefield of our salvation, and all ascetic effort is aimed at cleansing it of all filthiness, and preserving it pure before the Lord. …

These paths of life pass through man’s heart, and therefore the unquenchable desire of all who ceaselessly seek the Face of the living God is that their heart, once deadened by sin, may be rekindled by His grace. The heart is the true ‘temple’ of man’s meeting with the Lord. Man’s heart ‘seeketh knowledge’ both intellectual and divine, and knows no rest until the Lord of glory comes and abides therein.

— Excerpt from: The Hidden Man of the Heart • The Mystery of Man’s Heart (p. 11-12)

‘Man’s true purpose foreordained before all worlds is attained by the keeping of the Creator’s commandments; their fulfil­ ment 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 which the Lord brought to earth (cf. Luke 3:16; 12:49). And when the cleansing is complete, the mind becomes as lightning, and is ready to enter the deep heart!