ΙΕΡΑ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΗ

ΑΜΕΡΙΚΗΣ

Spirituality and Mysticism in the Orthodox Churc

Rev. Dr. Demetrios J. Constantelos

            In an age, in which national borders have opened and distances shortened, people everywhere are exposed to beliefs, and little-known practices of centuries past. Teachings about spiritual life and mysticism have become popular concerns among young and old who are not satisfied with the materialist culture in which we live.

            Oriental mysticism, Islamic mysticism, Jewish mysticism, Christian mysticism and other forms of mysticism make people travel to Tibet, India and other exotic places of the world searching for spiritual teachings and experiences. Greek Orthodox, or generally speaking, Christian Orthodox mysticism too, has attracted many converts, if one can judge from the numbers of young people who join monastic communities.

            However, what is mysticism? Is spiritual life a synonym to mysticism? Some theologians prefer to speak of only spiritual life. In addition to what I said in a previous chapter, a few paragraphs on the topic are justified.

            Spiritual life is a life in which the Spirit rules. It is a life, in which the human spirit is in communion with the Creator Spirit. John the Evangelist relates that, a Samaritan woman asked Jesus the Christ where is the proper place to worship God, on a mountain or in a city. Christ answered that God is Spirit [Pneuma], and those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth {Jo.4:24}. However, life is more than worship. Thus a few years later after Christ, Paul of Tarsus added that, if we believe that man's spirit, was created by the Spirit, we are bound to "live by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit" {Gal. 5:25}

            Spirituality implies discovery of and dialogue with the self. Confronting a world, which worships material success and social prominence, a world, which exerts efforts and spends billions of dollars to conquer the visible and external world but overlooks the reality of human aspirations and inner yearnings, is more than dangerous for survival. The spiritual world is just as real as the physical. If we compare the visible with the invisible, the physical with the metaphysical, we realize that the invisible world is vastly greater than the visible. Whether we speak of the macrocosm or the microcosm, the external universe and man's inner cosmos, we bow before the mystery of both, the outer and the inner world and cry out for answers and certainties.

            Political ideologies, administrative systems, economic power and wealth, scientific achievements, can not speak with certainty, that they can fulfill the fathomless longings of the human person. By nature, every human craves for an "anchor", which provides serenity, calmness, certainty. Belief in God, belief that the human being is more than a biological organism, is the only logical answer to the question of what constitutes ultimate reality. It is belief in the reality of God, the Creator, that makes spirituality an existential experience.

            The starting point of a healthy spiritual life is belief that man is more than material needs, that he is the image of God, destined to achieve God's likeness, or life in God. Such an understanding presupposes a self examination, a self knowledge, the practice of the Delphic "Know yourself", a principle greatly cherished by the ancient Greeks. Epictetos, the ancient Greek Stoic philosopher used to ask: "Why are you ignorant of your own noble descent…know you not that you are nourishing a god, that you are exercising a god?" Centuries later the Christian archbishop Basil of Caesarea, who was very well versed in the Greek classics wrote a beautiful essay on the subject of self-examination and self-knowledge named "Give heed to yourself" [Eis to 'Prosehe Seauto]. Self-examination leads not only to the realization that God exists, but also that spiritual life can be an existential reality. Only imprisoned minds and frozen hearts fail to penetrate the impregnable walls of materialism and enter the beautiful cosmos of the inner self and feel there the presence of the divine.

            Spirituality is an experience of many people all over the world and a teaching of many religious and philosophical creeds. Whether human beings accept God's presence and laws through revelation or though nature, the beauty and order of the cosmos, all accept that, the source of their spirituality is the Creator God. Christian spirituality, however, is understood as communion with the Holy Spirit, "the Spirit of Truth, present everywhere filling all things," as Orthodox Christians recite in one of the prayers. The Holy Spirit, as we explained in a previous chapter, is a person distinct and yet one in essence with the Creator and the Redeemer, the other two persons of the One God.

            Spirituality can be cultivated in various ways and diverse manners, prayer, and reading, contemplation and reflection, attendance of liturgical services, or walking through the woods, watching birds and insects, climbing mountains or standing before the sea admiring a sunset. This implies that one does not have to run to the desert or to a monastery to cultivate spirituality. History and experience confirm that one can be a spiritual person living a solitary life, in a monastery, but also in a bustling city; spirituality can be lived in the desert as well as in factory of a city, in the silence of Mount Athos, or busy Times Square of New York city. It is because "we live, we move and have our existence in Him" that spirituality can be cultivated and lived everywhere. It is the same Spirit that moved prophets and philosophers, poets and hymnologists, fathers and saints of the past – the same Spirit that can move us today to a less materialistic, less self-serving and more loving and altruistic way of life. Spiritual life requires that we are constantly aware of God's presence in us and around us. I know of no better joy than when I feel that I am not alone, whether in health or in sickness.

            What is mysticism? How different is it from spiritual life? Spiritual life leads to mysticism and a mystical, unexplainable personal experience, "whether in the body or out of the body" only God knows as Saint Paul confirms {cf. 2 Cor.12:2-3}  

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