Hesychasm - An Introduction
Hesychasm formed in the Eastern Christian
churches during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The practice
involves a discipline of special breathing exercises, physical postures,
and the continuous repetition of the Jesus Prayer as a means of obtaining
an inner quiet that leads to inner visions. It was given theological justification
by Gregory Palamas (a fourteenth-century Byzantine saint), and was received
as official doctrine of the Greek Orthodox church in 1351.
Recommended reading:
 St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality, by John Meyendorff
 The Philokalia: The Complete Text, by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain
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