Articles : research

Metropolitan Kallistos addresses the question of whether there are parallels between the hesychastic method of prayer and other apparently similar techniques of prayer in Hinduism and Islam. Looking at the origins of hesychasm and the teachings of figures such as St Gregory Palamas, St Gregory of Sinai and Nikiphoros the Hesychast, Metropolitan Kallistos addresses the question: is the Jesus Prayer an essential and authentically Christian practice, or is it unnecessary and perhaps even harmful?

In this article Dr Brandon Gallaher describes the major elements of an Orthodox theology of time, with particular reference to the theology of Fr Alexander Schmemann and St Gregory of Nyssa. Dr Gallaher asks what we mean by time in relation to creation and to God; what the nature of time is as experienced by us as fallen beings, as 'growth unto death'; and how time can be experienced as renewal, as 'growth unto life in Jesus Christ', referring in particular to the concept of the liturgical Eighth Day.

In his book, ‘Ways of Russian Theology’, Fr. Georges Florovsky wrote of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, ‘He had practically no direct disciples, nor did he create a school; he created something more important: a spiritual movement.’ In this article Alison Ruth Kolosova examines the life and work of one of Metropolitan Philaret’s lesser known spiritual disciples, Fr Viktor Vishnevskii, missionary and philologist in Chuvashia in the mid-19th century, who both greatly contributed to the development of the Chuvash written language, and prepared the way for later Russian Orthodox missions among non-Russian peoples.