From Happiness to Holiness: Analyzing Popular Practices among the Syrian Christians of Kerala, India

Can inherited religious customs become pathways to holiness?

This study examines popular worship practices among the Syrian Christians of Kerala through the lens of Orthodox Hesychastic spirituality. Exploring the interaction between Christian tradition and Kerala's wider religious culture, it considers how local customs have shaped the devotional life of the faithful.

Drawing upon the teachings of the Orthodox theologian John Romanides (1927-2001), St. Gregory Palamas (c. 1296-1359), and the spiritual tradition of the Jesus Prayer, the book presents the Christian life not merely as a pursuit of happiness, comfort, or divine favors, but as a call to holiness and communion with God.

The study also considers yoga and other Eastern and Oriental meditative practices within the cultural and spiritual landscape of India, comparing their approaches to meditation, interior stillness, and spiritual experience with the Hesychastic tradition of the Orthodox Church. While recognizing the diversity of these traditions, the book explores the distinct differences both in approach and intended spiritual outcome.

Hesychasm is presented not primarily as a technique of inward concentration, self-mastery, or the pursuit of an altered state of consciousness, but as a life of repentance, ascetic purification, prayer, and participation in divine grace. Its ultimate goal is not simply inner tranquility or spiritual self-realization, but communion with the personal God and the transformation of the human person through theosis-participation in the uncreated grace of God.

Through careful theological and pastoral discernment, the book examines inherited practices and redirects them toward the purification of the heart, the illumination of the nous, and ultimately, the true vision and experience of God.