Hesychia Downloads & RevenueHesychia · App Store

Hesychia — the Greek word for stillness — is a quiet companion for contemplative prayer in the Christian desert tradition: silent sitting, the Jesus Prayer lineage, and lectio divina. It holds space for a practice you already have. It does not supply one.

There is no music, no narration, no feed of content, and nothing to score. A soft bell marks the start and the end of a sit, and that is the only sound.

PAUSE
Hesychia opens on a pause: today's word, the hour, and nothing to do. A moment to stop, then on — or sit for longer. The widget and the watch open on the same word. There are thirty-five words to begin with: plain ones from the desert tradition and a few taken unchanged from the psalms and the Odes of Solomon, each with its source. Your own words can join them or stand alone, and any starting word can be taken away.

SIT
Set a length and begin. You choose what fills the circle: the ring and the time, the ring around today's word, a candle that slowly burns down, or just the word. Never two cues at once; VoiceOver always reads the time left. Tap anywhere when you notice you have wandered and come back — each return is counted, never scored. A small desert beneath follows the real time of day: the sun crosses by day, and at night the moon shows its true phase.

LECTIO DIVINA
Type or paste a short passage, then move through the four movements in order: lectio, meditatio, oratio, contemplatio. Meditatio and contemplatio each hold for five minutes by default, to keep the pace slow before the next movement opens. You can change the length under settings, and pause or leave at any time. You can keep a few words from your passage on dwell until you let them go. Your passages and reflections are saved to an archive on your device. Your own words come first. If you would rather not choose, Hesychia can offer a line or two from the Psalms (Brenton's Septuagint) or the Odes of Solomon, one at a time, always with its source. A switch narrows it to psalms.

DWELL
The word you are staying with, or the words you kept from lectio, one thing at a time, in a quiet picture that follows the church year. Nothing to set or count; let it go when you are ready.

RECORD
A quiet calendar of the days you sat or sat with a passage. A mark for a day, and nothing more — not how long, not how many returns. Beneath it, the passages you sat with, with the words that stayed. No streaks, no totals, no targets.

ON YOUR WRIST
The Apple Watch app does one thing: the sit. Choose a length, begin, and tap the face when you notice you have wandered. Each sit is sent to your iPhone and appears in your record. Put today's word on your watch face, or begin a sit from Siri or the Action button.

AND
• The hours of the day and the seasons of the church year, in the tradition you keep: western, Orthodox (new or old calendar), or plain names only
• Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets showing today's word and the canonical hour
• Begin a sit, open lectio, or hear today's word with Siri,