hesychast controversy

Okay kiddo, so a long time ago, there were some people in the church who believed that we could have a really special connection with God if we prayed a certain way. This way of praying was called hesychasm.

Now, some other people in the church didn't agree with them. They thought that this way of praying was wrong and that it went against what the church had taught for a long time.

So, these two groups of people started arguing about it. They wrote letters to each other, had big meetings to talk about it, and even got the government involved. It was a really big deal!

In the end, the church decided that hesychasm was okay and that people could keep practicing it. But the controversy caused a lot of disagreement and hurt feelings among the people in the church, and it took a long time for things to start feeling normal again.