A letter from Father Joseph the Hesychast

This article presents the eleventh letter of Elder Joseph the Hesychast (1897-1959), a major figure of contemporary Athonite monasticism, hitherto unpublished in French. The article belongs to the genre of annotated translation, accompanied by an introduction situating the author and his work within the context of Orthodox spirituality. The main idea is that the letters of Elder Joseph constitute an authentic testimony of the hesychast tradition, conveying a philocalic wisdom acquired through ascetic practice rather than academic formation. The translated letter offers portraits of Athonite monks practicing the prayer of the heart and paints a picture of the contemplative life on Mount Athos in the early twentieth century. On the theological and historical level, the article contributes to making known to French-speaking readers a primary source of Greek neo-hesychast spirituality, illustrating the living continuity of the philocalic tradition within contemporary Orthodox monasticism.