The Spirituality of the Heart according to Makarian Homilies

The present study intends, through the perspective of a key concept – “the heart� – to analyze the makarian thought. So, our author elaborates
a deep theology, in tight connection with the Biblical sources. Human’s
primordial centre, the heart, is an expression of the interiority, but it shouldn’t
be reduced – simplistically – to affectivity, as the latter pietistic trends tried,
movements for which Makarios always represented precursor. Makarian
homilies treat the heart as the nucleus of the human being, both from the
physical and – much more – from the spiritual point of view. From these
Homilies we gain the idea that the heart is ambivalent. In the heart resides an
evil power, generating temptation (trough bad thoughts) but not constriction.
Christ liberates from the chains of the sin, but this action gain substance in us
as the result of a continuous spiritual fight. The heart is the site of the invisible
war, and the ascetic tries to purify the heart. If the heart is the realm of
the evil, through cleansing it becomes and altar of God, where we celebrate
the inner liturgy. Even more, to those spiritually advanced, God reveals Himself
in their hearts, which became an epiphanic topos, a place where the
uncreated light is revealed: a very precious idea for the hesychasts. In this
area, the Homilies denote a special deepness. In conclusion, it was considered
that the makarian thinking expresses a complex spirituality of the heart, the
object of this study.