Icons of Christ, such as this one, showing the face only - were developed in 16th century Russia as a focus for contemplative prayer in the private apartment or cell of a monk or nun.

Christ’s gaze is direct and personal as though calling us from the depth within himself. In such icons we encounter the living spirit of Hesychasm. (Later examples, albeit attractive and finely painted, do not convey this quality).

Hesychasm, (from the Geek hesychia meaning stillness and silence), is the following of Christ’s injunction: ‘When thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret’ (Matt. 6:6) together with Paul the Apostle’s ‘Pray without ceasing’ (Thessalonians 5:17). Hesychasm is a way of life at the heart of Orthodoxy since the origin of the monasteries in fourth century.

The perception of Hesychasm in the English-speaking world dates from the translations, in 1951 and 1954, of the Philokalia, the anthology of mystical writings by Fathers of the Desert from the 4th and 5th centuries and, later, Fathers on Mount Athos from the 10th to 14th centuries. Here we glimpse a thousand-year tradition of commentary and instruction in the psychology and techniques of contemplative prayer. Hesychasm (from the Greek hesychia meaning stillness and silence) comprises disciplines for the development, and ultimately transformation, of the inner life; its aim is to free the practitioner from the attachments of worldly existence and to enable him or her to achieve theosis or union with God.