The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church

Publication Data: Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1976
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 252
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.5 cm × 13.8 cm × 1.8 cm
ISBN: 978‒0‒913836‒31‒6

   
Vladimir Lossky

“The eastern tradition has never made a sharp distinction between mysticism and theology; between personal experience of the divine mysteries and the dogma affirmed by the Church. The following words spoken a century ago by a great Orthodox theologian, the Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, express this attitude perfectly: ‘none of the mysteries of the most secret wisdom of God ought to appear alien or altogether transcendent to us, but in all humility we must apply our spirit to the contemplation of divine things’. To put it another way, we must live the dogma expressing a revealed truth, which appears to us as an unfathomable mystery, in such a fashion that instead of assimilating the mystery to our mode of understanding, we should, on the contrary, look for a profound change, an inner transformation of spirit, enabling us to experience it mystically. Far from being mutually opposed, theology and mysticism support and complete each other. One is impossible without the other.”
—“CHAPTER ONE: Introduction: Theology and Mysticism in the Tradition of the Eastern Church”

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION: THEOLOGY AND MYSTICISM IN THE TRADITION OF THE EASTERN CHURCH
2. THE DIVINE DARKNESS
3. GOD IN TRINITY
4. UNCREATED ENERGIES
5. CREATED BEING
6. IMAGE AND LIKENESS
7. THE ECONOMY OF THE SON
8. THE ECONOMY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
9. TWO ASPECTS OF THE CHURCH
10. THE WAY OF UNION
11. THE DIVINE LIGHT
12. CONCLUSION: THE FEAST OF THE KINGDOM