Abraham models the Pauline description of Calling, justification and divinization or theosis
Abraham models the Pauline description of Calling, justification and divinization or theosis
Abraham models the Pauline description of Calling, justification and divinization or theosis
TY Father
Thank you FrChris. I'm a Protestant, but I'm very interested in Orthodoxy. So are you saying that theosis and glorification can be permanently experienced in this life? Or would glorification be a temporary experience of grace. Or perhaps the grace is always there, but our spirit is unable to recognize it? My understanding is that direct experiences of uncreated grace would simultaneously involve mystical states of consciousness. But aren't mystical experiences usually temporary just as the Light of Tabor was temporary? I was reading St. Gregory this morning and he seems to explain that our psyche exists within the "dense" and mortal flesh, which clothes it and drags it down. So I'm thinking the Saints through purity of heart are temporary freed from this "density" of the flesh, but I'm thinking it is not a permanent state of consciousness until heaven? The term 'density' must be a metaphor because elsewhere he says that a Christian's body is mingled with Christ's spiritual body through the incarnation and resurrection. Therefore, Christ is to be found in the interior and not the exterior. At least I think this is what he means. So many questions.
I was listening to your recent talk about true mysticism vs. false mysticism. This is precisely what I'm interested in as I read St. Gregory's defense for Holy Hesychia, which contains an extraordinary amount of treasure. But what I'm confused about is what to think about non-Orthodox mystical experiences. They certainly exist, and they contain similar characteristics as what the Orthodox saints describe. It does not seem to do the topic justice to say all these experiences are not legitimate or even worse, demonic. I suspect many people have been led to Orthodoxy after such experiences, and I suspect such a person would have a better chance of understanding the mystical theology of Orthodoxy. Does the Orthodox Church allow for such experiences to be short glimpses of grace to non believers? Or perhaps something like general revelation, which seems to me to be completely in accordance with the incarnation and resurrection.
The primary characteristic of a mystical experience seems to be a state of knowledge that is associated with clarity and certainty, but cannot be easily converted into abstract ideas or words. Some have described it as though consciousness expands as being pulled by magnets in every direction, but it is not a permanent state and the 'density' of the body causes consciousness to constrict back into ordinary perception, where the true nature of reality is no longer seen as it truly is. I can understand how an Orthodox Saint would have such an experience. But I'm trying to understand how we can make sense out of similar non-Christian experiences. St. Gregory seems to suggest an authentic mystical experience of grace can only come from purity of heart. But I'm not sure if he's strictly referring to only morality. There's also a pychological or ego component, which inner stillness results in. But a non-Christian mystical experience is also preceded by some kind of psychological shift. For example, if someone went to the desert and fasted for 40 days, it is possible they could have a mystical experience (not be effort, but by grace). To my thinking, these are not false experiences, but can be authentic and should lead someone to the fullness of truth that I'm thinking can perhaps be found in Orthodox Christianity. I'm very interested if the Orthodox Church has any official teaching on this or are there various opinions?