Theology and mysticism in the tradition of the Eastern Church, by V. Lossky

[Olympiada]

Vladimir Lossky Theology and Mysticism in the Tradition of the Eastern Church Chapter 1 of The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press: Crestwood, NY, 1976), pp. 7-22.

Dear in Christ Brothers and Sisters,
I am looking for someone who has read this. I have been trying to read this and the very first or second paragraph throws me off. In other words I have a question. If anyone has read this please let me know so I can ask you my question!

[Nick S.]

I have the book. I see how the Introduction can be confusing. What is your question?

[Olympiada]

In a certain sense all theology is mystical, inasmuch as it shows forth the divine mystery: the data of revelation. On the other hand, mysticism is frequently opposed to theology as a realm inaccessible to understanding, as an unutterable mystery, a hidden depth, to be lived rather than known; yielding itself to a specific experience which surpasses our faculties of understanding rather than to any perception of sense or of intelligence. If we adopted this latter conception unreservedly, resolutely opposing mysticism to theology, we should be led in the last resort to the thesis of Bergson who distinguishes, in his Deux Sources, the ‘static religion’ of the Churches from the ‘dynamic religion’ of the mystics; the former social and conservative in character, the latter personal and creative."

See the part I bolded? I did not read Bergson. Now I talked to my deacon about this tonight and he did not read

Bergson either but he read Lossky. I think I do not have sufficient background to read Lossky.

[Fr Seraphim (Black)]

Theology may or may not be 'mystical' but stay far clear of the temptation that it 'shows forth the divine mystery.'

Is the Orthodox Christian 'divine mystery' shown forth in the mysticism of Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism etc., etc?

No it is not.

Christ is the Way, the Truth and our only Life.

Furthermore, the true blessing to humankind is this, that only in the Orthodox Christian Church and Her Scripture can the true revelation of Divine Being be glimpsed in the limited scope of human language.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Olympiada, Seraphim and others,

Lossky is indeed a particularly 'dense' writer: his prose is tightly packed and often quite challenging at the level of outward comprehension, much less deeper theological comprehension. Though there is much hidden in those tighly woven paragraphs.

Surely the phrase that 'all theology is mystical' is much in line with the Eastern approach to Christianity over-all. 'Mysticism' is not a distinct category in patristic thought, since mysterion is chiefly descriptive of the sacramental life in Christ that is at the heart of all theological encounter. There can be no real division between 'intellectual theology' and 'mystical theology', as if one sort was the work of the analytical mind while the other the direct experience of supra-intellectual reality. Theology of encounter is not an 'either/or' between these, but a 'both/and'. Else Christ is an intellectual project, which clearly he is not; or an ecstatic trans-mundane 'other', which he also is not.

INXC, Matthew