The place of the 'heart' in Orthodoxy

[Trudy Ellmore]

Dear All:

In a recent email from a friend, they noted that the "heart" holds a very important part in Orthodox understanding. That the heart is not just the organ that pumps our blood through our bodies, but that it is the seat of our emotions. I did a search of the archives on Monachos, and The Jesus Prayer seemed to be what "hit" the most. But as I am not Orthodox, I thought it best to not delve into those archives for understanding.

What part does the Heart play in Orthodox understanding? As the seat of our emotions? Further, what part does the Heart play in our yearning for God? Is it not wise to trust "feelings" that eminate from the heart?

Thank you in advance for your kind help.

Sincerely in Christ, Trudy

P.S. Moderator, I am not sure I chose the right category to post this under. ~Thanks~

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Trudy,

Thank you for your recent post regarding the place of the 'heart' in Orthodoxy. You are right to note that the heart holds a special place in the prayer, worshipful, contemplative and theological life of the Church. Most people in the Western world encounter this focus most immediately through the widening familiarity with the Philokalia and the prayerful traditions of the Holy Mountain, especially during and after the contoversy with the Palamites. Yet a focus on the heart is found everywhere: from the Psalm verses chanted in the Greek tradition during the communion of the clergy ('Turn my heart from evil, and my lips from speaking guile...'); to the prayer of Manasseh encountered in Compline ('Now, O Lord, I incline the knees of my heart...'); to the proclamations of the anaphora ('We lift up our hearts, for it is meet to lift them up to the Lord'). And in prayer, above all, the place of the heart is especially emphasised. Say the Fathers, especially the monastic Fathers, over and again: 'Let your mind (intellect, nous) descend to the place of your heart and let it dwell there'.

I sense that your question is aimed more at this last usage, namely the notion of the heart as 'place' or 'location', rather than with the former language. What does it mean to speak of the heart as a locale in which the nous can rest, or from which we can cast evil, or to which we can direct our 'gaze'?

You are close when you comment that the heart is the seat of our emotions. In some sense, this is part of the answer. The heart is not simply a physical organ that pumps blood through our bodies. It is, following the old Hebrew understanding of man, the organ of our deepest being: the centre of our life in all its powers -- emotion, passion, silence, reverence. Just as the heart as organ radiates blood out to all parts of the body, even to the furthest extremities, yet remains itself the source and centre of our life, so does the heart as centre of our whole life (spiritual as well as physical) shine that life into our whole being. Yet we, fallen and divided as we are, fracture that life. The nous, properly the intellectual aspect of the pure heart, is 'separated' from that centre in our day to day existence. Here we have the analogy used so often in the monastic traditions of the intellect 'outside' or 'away from' the heart. We have divided our being such that our 'intellect' and the deep, spiritual reality of our being have become two separate entities in our actual lives. Such a division, such a separation, is inauthentic to the full person. The mind must be drawn back into the heart, where it properly belongs.

Remember the words of St Isaac the Syrian, who comments that if we gaze deep within our heart, we shall find there the ladder that leads to heaven. Or as another Father puts it, in our hearts we find the throne of God. The heart is our living symbol (in the full sense of Symbol as genuine reality, not simply a thing 'symbolic' of another) of God's presence in our being -- of the image of God pulsing in our own bodies (remember the words of St John Chrysostom before the chalice: 'Come now into my heart, my veins, my joints and all my members'). To bring all fractured aspects of our lives back into communion with the heart is thus to bring them back into proper relationship with God who fills and purifies the heart. This is true of all aspects of our being; but it is most often emphasised of the intellect, for it is this which we most easily, and most radically, fragment into its own 'independant' reality.

INXC, Matthew

[Trudy Ellmore]

Dear Matthew:

Thank you for this post. Since I read it many days ago, it has been much on my mind as I am trying to understand what you've written. I guess I have far to go to learn about the mind descending into the heart! One must not be disheartened by this, but pray for many years with the hope that God in His good mercy will allow that descent to happen through life I guess!

It has been my impression that the "intellect" is not a good thing in Orthodoxy. As you say, that perhaps because it is fractured from the heart, thus standing alone, it must be rejoined to the heart to function as God intended it. It standing alone is what makes it not good. True?

I am not familiar with the words of St Isaac the Syrian and this "ladder" that you mention. Nor am I familiar with the phrase, "in our hearts we find the throne of God." What do these mean? Do you think that if God is on the throne in one's heart they will know it in some way?

Forgive my ignorance and thank you for your patience in explaining these things to me. It is difficult to grasp some of these concepts coming from a Protestant view.

Sincerely in Christ, Trudy

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Miss Trudy Ellmore,

It is good to read that you are not becoming frustrated with a lack of 'understanding' this language of the heart: to understand it rightly can only be to live it, and this is something after which we all strive throughout our lives -- to live and thus comprehend the reality of our own hearts, the temples of God.

You wrote:


It has been my impression that the "intellect" is not a good thing in Orthodoxy. As you say, that perhaps because it is fractured from the heart, thus standing alone, it must be rejoined to the heart to function as God intended it. It standing alone is what makes it not good. True?

Indeed. Without intending the unavoidable pun: this is right at the 'heart' of the matter. http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif The negative view expressed by many of the Fathers (both those deceased and those still living) as to the intellect is not, as is so commonly misunderstood, a rejection of intellect or intellectuality per se, but of fallen intellectuality: of the mind (the nous) that has been detached and disassociated from the heart through the divisive power of unrestrained passions. The nous which is not centred in the heart, which is wrested artificially from the living presence of God in the human person, is an intellect that has fallen from God and even from humanity. It is a base instrument of raw logic and reason. It can compute data, but never truly know; reason, but never genuinely understand. It pretends knowledge, but the wisdom it produces is barren and dry. It is, say the Fathers, in every way to be distrusted, if not actually abhorred and avoided.

However, far too often readers of the Fathers receive only this injunction against 'the intellect', without understanding the spirit and context in which such injunctions are made. No Father abhors the nous as a part of man, nor its function in man, nor its holiness and genuine value in our spiritual ascent. What is abhorred is this fallen division of the intellect from the heart. The pure intellect, or an intellect working towards purity, is not to be lamented. But the fallen intellect must always be considered of less trustworthiness until such time as it is, in the terminology of the monastic Fathers in particular, rejoined with or descended into the heart, such that the movements of the heart and the movements of the mind are again one and united.

You also wrote:


I am not familiar with the words of St Isaac the Syrian and this "ladder" that you mention. Nor am I familiar with the phrase, "in our hearts we find the throne of God." What do these mean? Do you think that if God is on the throne in one's heart they will know it in some way?

St Isaac's comment on the ladder to heaven being found within our heart means precisely to demonstrate that it is in God's presence in the human image (icon) that He is to be found. The ascent to heaven is not an esoteric 'other worldly' concept of simple vision and hope: it is a reality toward which the human person strives in body and soul by working in all ways to make himself or herself open and receptive to communion with God Himself. Isaac's point is that God is present here, in the heart, and not in some distant otherness or remote habitation. The God with whom we seek union fills our own being ('O Thou who art everywhere present and fillest all things...') and can be discovered in the closest proximity to our fallen selves: in our hearts, in the very centre of our beings. The ascent to God is not solely external, but internal. Says the saint more fully: 'The ladder to the Kingdom is hidden within you, within your soul. Dive down into yourself, away from sin, and there you will find the steps by which you can ascend'.

INXC, Matthew

[Elisabeth]

Dear Trudy, Matthew and All,

Thank you for your most helpful messages.

In the last few days a book 'Paths to the Heart' (published by World Wisdom Inc. 2002) has landed in my lap, so to speak. It publishes papers from a conference held in South Carolina, USA, just five weeks after the September 11th 2002 terrorist attack. The conference focused on 'Sufism and the Christian East'. The first chapter by Bishop Kallistos (Ware) is entitled 'How do we enter the Heart". He begins by speaking about 'Le Point Vierge' "the virgin point" and he quotes Thomas Merton, and St. Mark the Monk (5th Century) who speaks of "the innermost and untroubled treasury of the heart, where the winds of evil spirits do not blow". Bishop Kallistos continues with a passage 'All Things are There' which emphasises that according to the Fathers, the full Scriptural sense of 'the heart' is regarded as the 'axial point and centre of the unity within the human person as a whole'. It 'rules over all the members and the thoughts' and according to Macarian Homilies it is the means of entering 'into communion with God'. The following passage suggests that there is a relationship between 'the Heart' and the practice of 'the Jesus Prayer' (For further information about the Jesus Prayer read the Jesus Prayer message thread). He emphasises that 'the Orthodox tradition insists upon need for direct spiritual direction, person to person, if we wish to journey in a seriously committed manner upon the Way of the Name ' (i.e. The Jesus Prayer). The final passage emphasises the importance of stillness, both outer and inner stillness. He quotes St. Seraphim of Sarov " Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will find salvation". The Jesus Prayer is a prayer which is 'exceedingly simple' but which can lead us 'to discover the dimension of silence that is hidden within the words'. In this silence we are in a position to wait upon the word of God. The article ends emphasising that if we can pray alone "in secret" (Matthew 6:6) - "perhaps for no more than fifteen or thirty minutes each day- then, throughout all the other minutes and hours of the day, we shall be available to others, open to their concerns, Christ-like, lovingly compassionate, in a way that would be otherwise impossible'. He concludes with a quote from Dostoevsky "Beauty will save the world" and takes this further 'With equal and indeed greater truth it may be said: Prayer of the heart will save the world.'

Other chapters include writings by Orthodox theologians such as Fr. John Chryssavgis on the 'Contemporary Witness of the Hesychast Experience', and Sufi theologians Reza Shah-Kazemi and Sayyed Hossein Nasr.

Forgive me a sinner, and please pray for me, Elisabeth

[Maria Mahoney]

I am humble and rely on God for everything, in order to purify my Heart.
I am watchful of what I participate in, in order to purify my Heart.
I keep the Commandments of God, in order to purify my Heart.
I practices the virtues, in order to purify my Heart.
I give alms, in order to purify my Heart,
I forgive, in order to purify my Heart,
I fast, in order to purify my Heart,
I keep vigil, in order to purify my Heart,
I labour with prostrations, in order to purify my Heart.
I read spiritual writings, in order to purify my Heart,
I meditate on spiritual things, in order to purify my Heart,
I pray continuously, in order to purify my Heart,
I confess and mourn for my sins, in order to purify my Heart,
I love, in order to purify my Heart.
I worship with the Church, in order to purify my Heart.
I receive Holy Communion, in order to purify my Heart,

I purify my Heart for, "Blessed are the pure in Heart: for they shall see God"!

[Andrew]

Thank you Matthew for your comments, especially regarding the Biblical emphasis of the heart. I think the Holy Scriptures, Tradition, and the Liturgy also point to the awesome power and glory of the Name. These are all things that boggle the mind and can only be hinted at, suggested... pointed towards. The Theotokos' entry into the temple to ceaselessly pray for herself and the cosmos; Adam being cast from the Garden, the flight of children into the Desert, and their return to the Promised Land. Daniel in the lion's den, and there finding the Glory of Our Lord. The Three Holy Youth... everywhere you look in Sacred Tradition you see man entering into the Life of Christ by Grace. We descend into the Hell of ourselves, our sins, our distractions, the scattered thoughts. His Name, Our Lord, is our guide. We grasp onto Him, we water his feet with our tears, or we try to distance ourselves and climb a tree... how foolish, he is everywhere, he is within us. He calls us sinners and he brings us into his presence, into the banquet table of his love. And even this banquet table is a Last Judgment of sorts... This prayer is truly the entire Gospel, Old Testament, Life of the Saints, the Liturgy, everything, in one solid prayer... I don't know, I just ramble on and on. I'm sorry if I've said confusing, random things. I feel out of pride I could write volumes on this, but how inexperienced, hardhearted, haughty, and foolish I am!

[Archbishop Lazar]

Once upon a time it was thought that the heart was the seat of the "hegimonicon." However, this is by no means a doctrinal statement as by the Apostolic era most people involved were aware that the brain is the seat of the emotions. The "heart" reacts to emotions by providing necessary oxygen when it is stimulated from the limbic region of the brain, but it is certainly not the seat of any emotions at all. When we use the heart as a focal point in prayer, it is because it has a rhythmic beat and responds to emotions. However, ultimately, it is only an electro-mechanical pump, and the spiritual heart of man is his conscience. To purify the heart ultimately means to purify our relationship with our conscience, which is a holy prophet planted in us by God. All emotions arise from the limbic region of the brain.

[Herman Blaydoe]

The etymology of the word "heart" means center. It is not an absolute requirement that our spiritual center "heart" be physically located in the organ at the center of our blood circulation "heart", but it certainly is a useful analogy.

[Brock Joseph]

Can one feel their own heart within them?

There are "movements" within us, perhaps caused by emotions.

Is it proper according to the Fathers to calm oneself down, or control the movements within us to discover where are heart is and what is contains?

Brock Joseph

[Owen Jones]

My understanding is that, traditionally, the heart is seen as the locus of the noetic faculty of man, and that the Fathers meant this literally. I'm not aware of any "modern" medical science that actually refutes that, just because we know more about neurobiology. Furthermore, it is probably a fallacy to treat the heart and brain and other organs of the body, including spiritual sense organs, as discreet entities. It is their interaction that lies at the core of Orthodox theology.