Hesychia

"In fact, one must not try to discover where it [the One] comes from. For there is not any ‘where’; it neither comes from nor goes anywhere, it both appears and does not appear. For this reason, it is necessary not to pursue it, but to remain in stillness [hesychia], until it should appear, preparing oneself to be a contemplator, just like the eye awaits the rising sun. The sun rising over the horizon – the poets say ‘from Ocean’ – gives itself to be seen with the eyes."

"A brother asked an elder, “What is hēsychia and what good does it do?”"

"Stillness is an undisturbed state of the intellect,"

"Similarly, stillness [hesychia] is initiated by attentive waiting upon God,"

"With the help of prayer ignore all images, whether sensory or conceptual, that rise up from the heart."

"The start of stillness [hesychia] is the rejection of all noisiness as something that will trouble the depths of the soul. The final point is when one has no longer a fear of noisy disturbance, when one is immune to it. He who when he goes out does not go out in his intellect is gentle and wholly a house of love, rarely moyed to speech and never to anger. The opposite to all this is manifest."

"Stillness of the body is the accurate knowledge and management of one's feelings and perceptions. Stillness of soul is the accurate knowledge of one's thoughts and is an unassailable mind."

"Stillness is worshipping God unceasingly and waiting on Him."

"It is only by means of this Prayer that the creature can be really united with his Creator, the goal of the Prayer of Jesus is consequently the supreme spiritual state, in which man is detached from everything pertaining to the creature and being directly united with the Divinity, is illuminated by the Divine Light. This supreme state is "Holy Silence" (hēsychia), symbolized by the black color of the Virgin in certain icons and images."

"Stillness does not come and go. It is we who come and go. Stillness abides, like a vast evenness, limpid and pure. It is a transcendent realm of infinite clarity."