ver.: 20 September 2007
Maximos the Confessor (d. 662) was a Trinitarian who became well-known in his day for writing and speaking against various beliefs that falsely claimed Christian roots. (Of course, you can only do that until the emperor joins the heretics. Then, you become a troublemaker, and then a criminal. Among other tortures, he had his tongue ripped out and his writing hand chopped off. He never recovered from his wounds.)
Maximos held that sin, as horrible and real as it is, does not rob a person of the goodness of being created in God's image. He was an early theologian of theosis, in which it is held that the believer could, through the Spirit's work and the believer's cooperation through ascetic devotion, reach the point of actually sharing in the characteristics of God, without actually becoming God. (Theosis became a central mark of Eastern Orthodox theology and devotions.) Peak experiences of theosis are like brief peeks at what would become complete and permanent in the hereafter, where one becomes fully gripped by God. The Trinity, as Maximus saw it, was both one and three, unity and multiplicity at once, an active, energetic, dynamic Trinity. His was no static, distant, sleeping God.
In the 600s through 800s, Syrian mystics were key to Eastern monastic life. (For instance, Abdisho Hazzaya, a scholar of Eastern monasticism and of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius.) They believed that the Spirit would lead the ardent Christian to perfection, with the Spirit as a fire in the soul burning away all merely human desires. Hazzaya was dualistic in his view of the world; he made very sharp distinctions between what was good/divine and what was evil. His approach to discerning the spirits is worthy of note. The true signs are :
Some of the Eastern monk-thinkers of the era held that one of the results of the Spirit moving in someone is that they would know the ways of both the spirit world and the material world. It is easy for us to wonder about the stranger parts of their works, but then again, part of any mystery is to wonder if or how it is true. Some people seek out the Syrians' wisdom today. Others are left wondering where is Jesus as the fully human One in their theology, even with the clear presence of Christ as the fully divine One in their worship. Also remember that they spanned an era of major religious change that still affects us today, as Islam arrived and quickly conquered and assimilated the society they lived in.
Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) was the Eastern church's foremost theologian of the inner experience. He took the often-harsh theologies of the Eastern monastic mystics and expressed them up close, friendly, and personal. To Symeon, it was very important to have a direct personal relationship with God -- to become aware of God's presence, even to touch and smell and see and taste God, through the work of the Spirit. Again, theosis makes this possible. You can't know the Trinity by philosophy or analysis, but you can experience His presence, and can discover that presence at work in you. The Christian is to be as aware of the Trinity's growing life within them much as a pregnant woman is aware of the developing child within her. Today's Methodists, charismatics, and evangelicals can find many touching-points with Symeon, even if the thinking behind them is different.
Symeon also held that water baptism and the full force of the Holy Spirit do not necessarily come at the same time. Water baptism gives the grace of the Trinity and the Spirit's presence, but later actions by the Spirit would create a new and overpowering awareness of the constant presence of God. In Symeon's system, though, this didn't happen out of thin air. It takes hard spiritual work to grow in character, to become ever more merciful, humble, and at peace. This leads to repentance, which leads to the sign of uncontrollable tears. These tears of repentance would purify the soul and would flow until they flowed into tears of joy over a flood of the Spirit's bathing light. A life of purity must continue from there. Of the Eastern mystics of his era, Symeon was best at catching the fire of being 'lit up' by God.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine nun in Germany who received many mystic visions, apparently starting when she was three years old. These were written down in 1130 to make the spiritual classic Scivias. Her visions, her hymns and her poetry were vigorous, intimate, weird, wild, sometimes erratic and somewhat erotic, and crammed full of striking imagery that inspired many of the people around her. She also founded a convent. When modern women began their search for women who left their spiritual mark on the Christian faith, Hildegard's writings were 're-discovered', electrifying yet another generation of folks who seek the Spirit.
Lutgarde of Aywieres (1182-1246) was a Cistercian mystic. Her time (as was most of the early second millenium) was one of illness and plagues that, when combined with the hard life most people had to live, made for rather short lives. Lutgarde stands out because of the depths of her compassion for the ill and because, when she touched some people, they were quickly restored to health.
Good resources for information on this era are the Ancient & Medieval Church History Time Line; and the St. Pachomius Library online Orthodox encyclopedia, which has Eastern Orthodox writings from the period.
For more on the Spirit, history, and the inner journey, see these links :
|
Email
me ||
personal
site ||
Spirithome.com site map ||
about this site ||
subject index. If you like this site, please bookmark or link to it, and tell others about it. |
| Copyright © 1996-2004 Robert Longman Jr. |