Metaphysical philosophy and pure theology
There are only a few Orthodox saints who’ve been given the honor of being called, “theologians”. Saint John the Theologian, and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, to give two examples, were declared Theologians by the Church, because their theology was the result of their having encountered the Living God.
Theologians, in the strict sense of the word, are those who have mastered the art of prayer. Pure theology does not come out of a humanistic, philosophical search for the things of God, but rather, from an encounter with the Living God. True theology is not the result of a rationalistic, abstract search for God, but is the result of God’s divine grace. This divine grace is God’s gift to those who seek Him out with purity of heart, and ascetic struggle. Theology is not speaking about God, but encountering God.
Vladimir Lossky, one of the great modern theologians of the Orthodox Church, taught that the Christian experience of God and dogmatic theology are one and the same. The experience of God is Orthodox dogma par excellence, for the very reason that the Christian life of prayer and worship is the foundation for dogmatic theology, and the dogma of the Church helps us Christians in our struggle for sanctification and deification.
The Roman Catholic Church’s use of pagan metaphysical philosophy (and its outgrowth, scholasticism) rather than the mystical, actual experience of God called theoria, has led the to the two churches becoming “different men”, according to Lossky. Other Orthodox theologians such as John Romanides and Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, agree. Vladimir Lossky expressed this as “Revelation sets an abyss between the truth which it declares and the truths which can be discovered by philosophical speculation”.
Vladimir Lossky further states that Orthodoxy “has never made a sharp distinction between mysticism (experience of God) and theology; between personal experience of the divine mysteries and the dogma affirmed by the Church.” This experiential theology denotes that which is accessible yet inaccessable, those things understood yet surpassing all knowledge.
Thus, a theologian can not know God through logic and reason, nor through philosophical research, but only through divine revelation by the Holy Spirit, leading to a noetic knowledge resulting in theosis.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Tuesday July 26, 2016 / July 13, 2016
6th Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Synaxis of the Holy Archangel Gabriel.
Venerable Stephen of St. Sabbas’ Monastery (794).
St. Julian, bishop of Cenomanis (Le Mans) in Gaul (1st c.).
Martyr Serapion, under Severus (193).
Martyr Marcian of Iconium (258).
Translation of the relics (1620) Venarable AnthonyLeokhnovsky (1611).
Venerable Abbess Sarah of Seeds in Libya (370).
Venerable Just, monk in Cornwall (5th c.) (Celtic & British).
Venerable Mildred, abbess of Minster in Thanet (England) (700) (Celtic & British).
Synaxis of Hilandar Saints, Mt. Athos (Greek).
Virgin-martyr Juthwara of Cornwall.
Scripture Readings
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Greeting
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Gifts at Corinth
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may beblameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Matthew 13:24-30
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Dear Abbott, I just ordered Lassky’s Mystical Theology on Amazon. I’m a Catholic convert and despite a long attraction to the Orthodox Church, I’m committed to remain where Peter is, even as the Temple falls around him. But your article today touches a whole new area for me. The thought that the 2 churches are 2 different men mystically is something I am now compelled to pursue. Pray for me, Father, that I can understand the book!!!!!
Can you please define “Roman Catholic Church’s pagan metaphysical philosophy.” Thank you!
Many Years!!
Thank you Abbot. I am satisfied.