Can we talk about this book? It is really one of the most beautiful novels ever written. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it was found in a monastery in the 19th Century, and is about a wandering Christian looking to learn the secret of ceaseless prayer.
for those interested, here is a collection of FAQ's (for Catholics, atheists, Protestants, etc.) and a reading list for Orthodox Christianity: http://pastebin.com/bN1ujq2x
>For those of you who aren't familiar with it
Yeah, everyone knows about this book because it's in "Franny and Zooey".
Hi Constantine
>>8065922
Didn't you get permabanned from /his/?
Because you're probably the most annoying one-trick pony of all the tripfags, and I hope you get banned from this place as well.
>>8066642
No, I turned by trip off for a long time there because there was a cult of personality for me I didn't want. Also I didn't post during Lent. I'm not permabanned
I'm sorry if I annoy you, what can I do to fix it?
The perversion of Christian thought which began with the denial of the Filioque is now complete. The Holy Spirit, in the words of the much acclaimed Russian philosopher Vladimir Soloviev, has become the pantheistic “Soul of the World”. The believer’s vision is now turned inward through an asceticism and practice of prayer which seeks to release the Divine Light and “Energies” within. This is epitomized in Hesychasm – the centuries-old practice of prayer, approved by the Orthodox Church, and constituting the entire waking life of the monks of Mount Athos (and others). It consists in ascetical and psychosomatic practices (including breathing exercise and certain postures), the withdrawal from all sensory experience, the stilling of all interior sensation, imagination, and thoughts, and the constant repetition of the “Jesus Prayer.” The ultimate purpose is experiential – the achieving of the experience of Divine Light – the “Uncreated” Light which Eastern Orthodox theology claims to be the same light surrounding Jesus at the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is, in fact, the most important Feast for Eastern Orthodox spirituality.
The Eastern Orthodox of course attribute this experience of “Divine Light” to Divine grace. But, as in so many things with Gnostic spirituality, the word “grace” does not mean the same thing as it does in Catholicism. Vladimir Lossky, who rivals Meyendorff for the title of the most important Eastern Orthodox author of the 20th century, writes the following about the Eastern understanding of grace:
“The Eastern tradition knows nothing of ‘pure nature’ to which grace is added as a supernatural gift. For it, there is no natural or ‘normal’ state, since grace is implied in the act of creation itself.” (Vladimir Lossky, Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 101)
“The notion of a state of grace of which the members of the Church can be deprived, as well as the distinction between venial and mortal sins, are foreign to Eastern tradition.” (Ibid., p.180).
In other words, grace, the Holy Spirit, and Deification are present in creation from the beginning, and access to salvation lies through that gnosis which is able to uncover it within. Just as the original temptation offered to Eve was that she could possess a knowledge independent of God, so the “Gnosis” of Eastern Orthodoxy is proposed as a birthright rather than a supernatural gift added to man’s nature from above.
It remains for us to understand the role of Christ in Eastern Orthodox theology. The premier image of Christ in Eastern Iconography is the Pantocrator – Christ in Majesty. Christ is truly the God-Man Who accomplished our redemption and is triumphant. The Iconography of the Pantocrator is not intended to be just a representation, but a spiritual doorway through which we perceive not only the majesty of Christ, but also our own deification. It is a means to the contemplation of the divinity within ourselves and all of creation. It is a vehicle of Light which is intended to replicate the deifying experience of the Apostles Peter, James, and John at the Transfiguration on a “high mountain” (an image of the “mountain” of Gnosis).
Christ thus earned redemption for man, but this redemption is not to be attained through an imitation of Christ, but rather through the interior action of the Holy Spirit Who does not proceed from Christ. As Lossky writes:
“The cult of the humanity of Christ, is foreign to Eastern tradition….The way of the imitation of Christ is never practiced in the spiritual life of the Eastern Church.” (Vladimir Lossky, Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, 243).
This statement should absolutely astound anyone of true Catholic sentiment. I have found no assessment which better illustrates the profound and impassable divide between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
One last thing deserves mentioning. Eastern Orthodoxy is not a religion of children or simple souls. It is one of wizened old men with grey beards. Children cannot practice Hesychasm. And yet our Lord says to His disciples: “Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” In Eastern Orthodoxy, there is no Bernadette of Lourdes or Lucia of Fatima in intimate colloquy with Our Lady, no Jacinta or Francisco, no Juan Diego being addressed by the Mother of God as “my littlest child”. There is no Catherine of Sienna in dialogue with God the Father, no Apparitions of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, no Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal, no Francis receiving the Stigmata. There is little or no evidence of human or Divine personality, no lifting of mind and heart in love to God and receiving grace from above.
>>8066814
Divine light and divine grace are literally the same thing in Orthodox theology. From our perspective, grace is what sustains every atom of creation. No, we don't think you can be in a "state" of it that you can lose, because to us, even hell is this light, it just feels like fire when one is at enmity with God. If you were "separated from God", you cease to exist, nothing can exist without his grace actively sustaining it.
>>8066822
I remember you posting this before.
The blog is interesting, but a bit too sedecavanist.
>>8066822
>The cult of the humanity of Christ, is foreign to Eastern tradition….The way of the imitation of Christ is never practiced in the spiritual life of the Eastern Church.
Here, let me quote the portion you left out: "For Eastern spirituality the only way which makes us conformable to Christ is the acquisition of grace which the Holy Spirit confers." The distinction here is between imitation of Christ as *Pelagianism*, vs. conforming to him through the mystical work of the Spirit.
Happy St. Constantine by the way.
>>8066909
Amen!
:)
>>8066886
Francis shills pls go
OP, you seem to know a lot about Orthodoxy. I recently purchased "The Orthodox Way" and "The Orthodox Church" by Fr. Kallistos Ware.
Did I do good?
>when Orthoplebs try to pretend they have any great literature besides Dostoevsky
Stop giving this jackass any attention, if you want to improve the quality of 4chan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgIizPdU7ic
>>8068312
The Eastern Church is strangely baren as far as literature, philosophy and theology go. They can point to like 4 works in total. You know its bad when even the shill doesn't know any more.
>>8068287
He's terrible and now a heretic for certain, but I have problems with the bloggers treatment of other popes like JPII and Benedict.
The line between orthodoxy and schism is right now a thin one.
>>8066799
>there was a cult of personality for me I didn't want.
No there wasn't, you goddamn liar
>Also I didn't post during Lent
Are you a post-menopausal woman?
>what can I do to fix it?
By fucking off permanently
>>8066861
It's the same type of academic that claims the eastern churches are naïve to enlightenment. So like most Anglos really.
>>8068622
Go away, you human joke.
