Holy Men and Modern Minds: How Hesychast Spirituality Transforms During the Monastic Transition

Viktor Frankl views self-transcendence as a key objective in developing into a fully realised human being. Hesychastic spirituality in Orthodox monasticism has a similar aim. During the transition from the secular to monastic life, monks go through radical self-transformation from the egoic to Edenic state. In that setting, self-transcendence becomes the ultimate aim of deification and a coping mechanism to deal with the suffering experiences often accompanying monastic spiritual development. I consider four elements of Hesychast spirituality: nostalgia, metanoia, Jesus Prayer, and spiritual fatherhood, to be forming elements of spiritual transformation based on the real-life experiences of Athonite hermits. Through qualitative interviews with four participants and thematic phenomenological analysis, I focus on psychological transformation processes that have been only partially addressed in previous research.