A gentleman named Lee, who lately has been asking some interesting questions over at Energetic Procession, asked me “Do the Orthodox consider themselves mystics?”
Perry, the patriarch of Energetic Procession, offered the following answer to Lee: “We are not mystics in the sense of negating reason or thinking that salvation comes through the abolition of personhood or its absorption into one divine singularity. Mystical refers to mysteries or the sacraments so in that sense the Orthodox are “mystical.””
The term “mystic” is loaded, so we’ll start with some definitions, then I’ll list some Orthodox practices and beliefs, then the reader can decide if the question has been answered.
Inspiring a sense of mystery and wonder (American Heritage Dictionary)
Difficult to explain or understand (Houghton Mifflin Thesaurus)
A belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible by subjective experience (American Heritage Dictionary)
An experience of direct communion with God, or union with the Absolute (Oxford University Press)
Belief in union with the divine nature by means of ecstatic contemplation (Oxford University Press)
I doubt that any Orthodox Christian would ever call themself a Mystic. However, consider what we practice and believe in light of the definitions above.
We believe in the real presence of the Son of God, one of the Holy Trinity, in the Eucharist served at each Divine Liturgy. When we participate, we are partaking of God.
In addition to the Eucharist, we believe and participate in a number of other Mysteries (sacraments), through which Grace is administered to us by God. These include for example baptism and chrismation, marriage, unction (healing), confession, ordination. The photo banner on top of this blog shows a mystery in progress – the tonsuring of a monk (Fr. Daniel at Holy Trinity Monastery). These are not merely symbols – something happens.
We believe the Incarnation changed everything, physical matter included. So we bless everything – water, icons, homes, food, each other.
We believe that there are spiritual giants among us, who we call Saints (with a capital S, recognizing that we are all called to be saints). We try to study the Lives of the Saints every day, we try to emulate them, we wonder at the manifestation of Christ in their lives, like the glowing of a sword in a fire, we love them dearly, we keep icons of them in our homes, we venerate their relics. God is glorified in them. We pray for their intercession, since the prayers of the righteous are powerful. Here’s an example from today’s commemoration – St. Varus was martyred sometime around 300 A.D. A godly woman retrieved his body from where his persecutors dumped him, and she buried him in her home. She censed and prayed there daily, and eventually moved to Palestine and took his relics with her, where she continued the practice. Many people began to come and do likewise, and miracles of healing took place. This sort of thing continues to this day, even with recent Saints, and it’s not uncommon for the relics of a Saint to be incorrupt and exuding a perfumed aroma, sometimes myrrh.
We are radical in our belief in what scriptures say, taking literally that we can “participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world”. Like Perry said, that doesn’t mean that we cease to become persons, or become absorbed into a mystical singularity. We have many great examples of Orthodox Saints who have gone far in this process, often manifesting the Grace about them with superb wisdom, a bright light like the Transfiguration (St. Seraphim of Sarov, for example), healing illnesses, reading people’s souls, prophesying, affecting time, etc. The accounts are without number at a place like Mt. Athos, the geographic soul of Orthodoxy. I met a man who had suffered brain damage in a car accident, which caused the loss of his livelihood and inability to speak properly. When he visited Mt. Athos, some unknown monk greeted him by name, put his hand on the man’s head and said “the Theotokos loves you” (Theotokos = mother of God). He was completely healed and today helps sponsor an Orthodox monastery.
No Orthodox works on becoming a mystic. We only work on repentance, and we pray constantly, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
George – thank you for such a thoughtful response to my question. I think that what most prompted my question were the more recent comments relating to theosis and deification in the original EP thread. I’ve done a little more reading on theosis in the interim, and I now understand that the Orthodox position is not that one actually becomes one with God (or, as Perry said, one divine singularity), or Divine – but rather that one becomes divine (lower case), if you will, through participation in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). This is where there seemed to me to be enough differences in interpretation that made the Orthodox position seem like Christian mysticism to me. And it would seem that, to some extent, you agree (although it is not, as you say, something sought by the Orthodox).
Your post also answered another question I was going to ask – essentially, are there Saints (not just saints) today.
George – what is the Orthodox position on Colossians 3:3? How does “your life is hidden with Christ” relate to theosis? Here’s my guess: the Orthodox position is that Colossians 3:3 is a stronger statement about our state (or potential state, at least) here in this life than “reckon yourselves dead to sin” — that you can be actually and completely dead to sin in the here and now, and that the fact that “your life is hidden with Christ” has something to do with that. (Exactly what, I don’t know – but again, this is all a guess on my part.)
(Whoops – I put the wrong closing tag in behind actually and completely in my previous comment…)
I don’t find much that directly relates that passage to theosis. Its context of course is a discussion about the effects of baptism, and is followed by instruction about ascetic struggle against the passions. It’s interesting that in Orthodoxy the closest thing to a real funeral service is the service for baptism. The one who is baptised dies, and then becomes associated entirely with Christ – “you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God”. It’s an assurance and we can look toward appearing with Him in glory (the next verse), but for now the newly baptized embarks on a lifelong struggle (mortify your members), and this leads to theosis.
St. Symeon the New Theologian (about 1000 AD – pretty new to us) does discuss theosis in close proximity to referring to this verse:
“(concerning the Incarnation) – He has shared in what is ours so as to make us participants in what is His. For the Son of God became the Son of man in order to make us human beings sons of God, raising us up by grace to what He is by nature, giving us a new birth in the Holy Spirit and leading us directly into the kingdom of heaven.
“Or, rather, He gives us the grace to possess this kingdom within ourselves (cf. Luke 17:21), so that not merely do we hope to enter it but, being in full possession of it, we can affirm: ‘Our life is hid with Christ in God’ (Col. 3:3).”
Yes, I also see 3:3-4 as referring to baptism into Christ’s death (cf. Romans 6), and 5-11 as the practical application of Romans 8:13b, if you will. I guess I’m trying to find where the line is between the East and the West on practical matters relating to how we look at day-to-day pursuit of living a life of holiness, and I find it interesting that, on the surface, I entirely agree with what you quoted from St. Symeon; I know, however, that for some phrases (e.g., “to make us human beings sons of God” and “being in full possession of [the kingdom]“, in particular), further amplification will likely reveal some gaps in agreement.
Well, 3:5-11 are most directly the practical application of 3:3-4, of course – but are at the same time very related to Romans 8:13b…