The Essentials of Orthodox Christian Spirituality

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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THE ESSENTIALS OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY

Aim and means of Christian life

The aim of man's life is union (henosis) with God and deification (theosis).

The Greek Fathers have used the term "deification" ("theosis") to a greater extent than the Latins. What is meant is not, of course, a pantheistic identity, but a sharing, through grace, in the Divine life: "...Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine nature..." (2 Peter 1:4).

This participation takes man within the life of the three Divine Persons themselves, in the incessant circulation and overflowing of love which courses between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and which expresses the very nature of God. Here in the True and eternal bliss of man.

Union with God is the perfect fulfillment of the "kingdom" announced by the Gospel, and of that charity or love which sums up all the Law and the Prophets. Only in union with the life of the Three Persons is man enabled to love God with his whole heart, soul and, mind and his neighbor as himself.

Union between God and Man cannot be achieved without a Mediator, who is the Logos/Word made Flesh, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: "I am the Way...no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6).

The Holy Spirit operates and perfects this incorporation. Saint Irenaeus writes: "Through the Spirit, one ascends to the Son and through the Son to the Father."

The basis of spiritual life is not psychological, but ontological. Therefore an accurate treatise on spirituality is not the description of the soul, mystical or otherwise, but the objective application of definite theological principles to the individual soul. The redeeming action of our Lord constitutes the Alpha and Omega as well as the center of Christian spirituality.

Divine grace and human will

The incorporation of man into Christ and his union with God require the co-operation of two unequal, but equally necessary, forces: Divine grace and human will.

Will--and not intellect or feeling--is the chief human instrument of the union with God. There can be no intimate union with God if our won will is not surrendered and conformed to the Divine Will, "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not...Lo, I come to do Thy Will, O God" (Hebrews 10: 5-9).

But our weak human will remains powerless if it is not anticipated and upheld by the face of God. "Through the grace of the Lord Jesus, we shall be saved" (Acts 15:11). It is the grace that achieves in us both the willing and the doing.

The Greek Holy Fathers emphasized human freedom in the work of salvation. Saint John Chrysostom writes: "We must first select good, and then God adds what appertains to His Office; He does not act antecedently to our will, so as not to destroy our liberty." He writes elsewhere: "You do not hold of yourself, but you have received from God. Hence you have received what you possess, and not only this or that but everything you have. For these are not your own merits, but the grace of God. Although you cite faith, you owe it nevertheless to call."

Saint Clement of Alexandria coined the word "synergy" (co-operation) in order to express the action of these two conjoined energies: grace and human will. The term and idea of synergy have remained and represent, until today, the doctrine of the Orthodox Church on these matters.

Asceticism and Mysticism

Both the distinction between the human will and Divine grace and their interpenetrating, help us to understand how, in the spiritual life, the ascetical and mystical elements can differ and mingle.

Asceticism is generally understood as an "exercise" ("ascesis") of human will on itself, in order to improve itself. As to the term "mysticism", modern language has sadly misused it. "Mystical" is confused with "obscure," "poetic", "irrational," etc. Not only unbelieving psychologists...

"...Between the ascetic life, that is, the life in which human action predominates, and the mystical life, that is, the life in which God's action predominates, there is the same difference as between rowing a boat and sailing it; the oar is the ascetic effort, the sail is the mystical passivity which is unfurled to catch the Divine wind.

This view of asceticism and mysticism is excellent. It coincides perfectly with the theology of the Greek Fathers. These do not give a technical definition of asceticism and mysticism, but they distinguish very sharply between the state in which man is "acting" and the state in which he is "acted upon."

One must be careful, however, not to raise a wall of separation between mystical and ascetic life. The prevalence of the gifts does not exclude the practice of acquired virtues, any more than the prevalence of acquired virtues excludes the gifts. One of these two elements, of course, predominates over the other. But the spiritual life Is generally a synthesis of the "ascetical" and the "mystical."

To the mystical life belong the charismas and the extraordinary phenomena which accompany certain states of prayer. Neither these phenomena nor the charisma constitutes the essence of the mystical life. Mystical life consists in the supreme reign of the gifts of the Holy Spirit over the soul.

Prayer and Contemplation

Prayer is a necessary instrument of salvation. Saint Cassian, whose voice is the echo of the Desert holy Fathers, distinguishes three ascending degrees of the Christian prayer: supplication (for oneself), intercession (for others), thanksgiving or prais. These three degrees of prayer constitute in themselves a whole program of spiritual life. It matters little whether prayer is vocal or mental; the most loving prayer, either vocal or mental, is always the best.

In contrast with prayer, contemplation is not necessary to salvation. But, as a general rule, assiduous and fervent prayer becomes contemplative.

What is contemplation? It is not synonymous with high intellectual speculations or extraordinary insight, which are the property of certain rare and chosen souls. According to the "classics" of the spiritual life, contemplation begins with the "prayer of simplicity" or "prayer of simple regard." The prayer of simplicity consists in placing yourself in the presence of God and maintaining yourself in His presence for a certain time, in an interior silence which is complete as possible, while you concentrate upon the Divine Object, reduce to unity the multiplicity of your thought and feelings, and endeavor to "keep yourself quiet" without words or arguments. This prayer of simplicity is the frontier and the most elementary degree of contemplation...

"...It is good to make acts of contemplation. But to live a contemplative life is better still. We must not imagine that the contemplative life means a life in which one does nothing but contemplate...Contemplation is acquired if the acts of contemplation are the results of personal effort. It is infused if these acts are produced by Divine grace without, or almost without, human effort. Acquired Contemplation belongs to the ascetical life. Infused contemplation belongs to the mystical life. This last is the normal culmination of the contemplative life...

"...Contemplation is open to all. Marriage, family life, a profession or a trade in no way exclude contemplative prayer and mystical graces. Contemplation increases love, and love makes us able to keep the Commandments: we can pass from love to the keeping of the Commandments, but the converse is hardly possible. (Source: Orthodox Spirituality. An Outline of the Orthodox Ascetical and Mystical Tradition)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry)
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George