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 Christian mysticism and dogmatic theology are one and the same. Mysticism 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 and theology; between personal experience of the divine mysteries and the dogma affirmed by the Church.” The term “mystical theology”, as used by the Orthodox Church, 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
Friday April 7, 2017 / March 25, 2017
Sixth Week of the Great Lent. Tone eight.
Great Lent. Fish Allowed
The Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.
New Hieromartyr Tikhon, patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (1925).
Venerable Sabbas the New (1948).
“Annunciation” (16th c.) Icon of the Mother of God.
Martyrs Pelagia, Theodosia, and Dula of Nicomedia, who suffered under Valentinian.
Venerable Parthenius of the Kiev Caves (1855).
St. Senuphius the Wonderworker of Latomos (9th c.).
St. Nicander of Pskov (1581).
The Scripture Readings
Luke 1:39-49
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
The Song of Mary
46 And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
Hebrews 2:11-18
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying:
“I will declare Your name to My brethren;
In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.”
13 And again:
“I will put My trust in Him.”
And again:
“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”
14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
Luke 1:24-38
24 Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
But Abba, this thinking in the Church has lead to science being regarded as the ultimate authority as to what ultimately constitutes reality. For example, mystical theology has not been enough, sadly, to keep many Orthodox from the error of evolutionism. On the other hand, metaphysics, properly understood, unmasks that error, and can also lead science out of its paradox of quantum physics that has resulted in such vain speculations as the multiverse and multilocation, to name two.
Restoration of the traditional Christian anthropology and cosmology through metaphysics, properly understood, removes this bifurcated way of viewing life and is in fact far more compatible with mystical theology than the scientism that even the Orthodox have fallen for and try to make a bridge to.
To clarify, I agree with you, mystical theology should not be discarded in favor of metaphysics. However I am asserting that metaphysics, rightly understood, can more than compete with scientism, what we might call the religious component of science, and expose its many errors, errors that impoverish modern thinking, even among the Orthodox. I would hope you would consider its potential value to correct wrong understanding, not as the enemy of mystical theology, but as the implacable foe of scientism.
In reading the first comment about keeping “many Orthodox from the error of evolutionism”…that comment troubles me as I am Orthodox and a scientist and certainly believe in evolution and don’t see the two to be mutually exclusive! Orthodox folks can be anywhere from very conservative to very liberal and can hold different scientific world views – we must be careful of these comments.
Wish you were not writing this as an anonymous person, as I agree wholeheartedly with you.
Thank you for your kind responses to my comments. But it’s not really a question of evolution, and I am sorry to have lead you astray, the question is what kind of philosphical marriage can one make between mystical theology and scientistic materialism? Answer, a kind of dualism, really a kind of philosophical schizophrenia. But many seem happy to try to bridge the gap as best they can. So in the spiritual sphere you can put mystical theology, in the natural sphere you locate your *real life*. (I do not argue against science, anonymous commenter, only it’s false religious iteration. Science itself is a beautiful thing.)
Modernity, as we experience it, is a reductionist ontological desert, made that way in part by the modern world view, fueled by popular misconceptions of what science really is and what it isn’t. I suppose if we were unhappy in this reductionist desert, we could escape into mysticism. Other than that, the only solution is a metaphysical one. Only metaphysics has the intellectual power and philosophical foundation to critique scientism on a philosophical level and expose its many errors, so many errors that determine how we think and live today. And in fact, metaphysics makes a much better marriage with mystical theology than materialism.
So, I actually felt I was being quite careful, in respectfully asking you to consider that metaphysics might have something to offer us today, even if it is only philosophical and not theological. It offers us a way out of the desert. It offers a way out of ontological impoverishment. Admittedly that will not work for everyone, but the Orthodox have an advantage in that many remnants and shadows of metaphysical thought can be found here and there. In the end, the metaphysical question is all about quality of life and about the riches we have surrendered to materialism that could be ours once again. But it’s not a question of spiritual salvation.