ABOUT US

 WHO WE ARE 

We meditate. Our main practice at our meetings and services is meditation. The word 'meditation' is even in our name. 

We are a society. Our meditation is strengthened by visits from guest speakers, masses offered by priests and bishops, book clubs, events, and more. 

We are Christian. Our mission is to teach ancient Christian meditation to all people. We are especially inspired by the mystical saints of the Church. 

We stem from the  'Old Catholic' tradition. Old Catholics have shared beliefs with Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, and the Eastern Orthodox.
 

Blessed Virgin Appearing to Saint Seraphim of Sarov

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

Meditation is the act of stilling the body and mind. It exists on a physical level to create homeostasis, or the natural harmony of the body systems and mental faculties. 

Christian meditation has this same physical basis with the further goal of uniting the Soul with its Creator, Jesus Christ. After stilling the body and mind, Christ is invited to dwell within the meditator, who's body the Bible reminds us is the Temple of the Lord. In the East, such meditative practice is called hesychasm. 

St. Eusebius in Ecstasy 

WHAT IS HESYCHASM?

 Hesychasm is the complete method and practice of unitive prayer founded in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The practice was theorized by Gregory Palamas, an early church theologian, and the practice was elaborated by the Hesychastic Fathers, all of which were adepts in a method of prayer called the Jesus Prayer. The end goal of hesychasm is Theosis. 

 

                                                                     Russian Lestovka - Prayer Rosary

WHAT IS THE JESUS PRAYER?

The Jesus Prayer is an English name for a Eastern phrase, "Lord Jesus Christ,  Son of God, Have Mercy on Me, a Sinner'. 

This phrase is repeated over and over using a woolen rosary (cord of knots) called a kombostini, chokti, or lestovka (in Greek and Russian, respectively). 

The first half of the phrase is united with the inhalation of the breath. The second half of the phrase is united with the exhalation of the breath. 

Often performed by monks and nuns in caves and private dwellings, the prayer may be continued for as long as possible in a quiet area.

 

The Holy Trinity 

WHAT IS THEOSIS?

Theosis is the ultimate goal of Christianity and is the unbegotten fruit of meditation. It is the complete indwelling of Christ in Man. As the church father, Athanasius (273-373), wrote, "God became Man that Man might become God". It is an unbegotten fruit because meditation cannot cause Theosis, but rather, it provides a great possibility for its occasion. Theosis is the highest grace from God, and as a grace, it is freely given. 

 

                                                                             Old Catholic Mass          

WHAT IS OLD CATHOLICISM? 

Old Catholicism is a global Catholic movement of autonomous Churches which are separate from the Pope, or the Bishop of Rome. Old Catholicism adheres to all that is traditionally Catholic but it shuns the recent innovations of the First Vatican Council, wherein the Pope was deemed to be the infallible head of the global church. 

The Old Catholic Churches have shared communion with Anglicans and have reached theological and doctrinal agreement with the Eastern Orthodox churches.