Metropolitans Basil and Nicholas, of Blessed Memory

We have lived with an enormous blessing, and most of us have had no idea of its existence, let alone its importance. I am so sorry to say that this tremendous blessing has recently left us, for a time at least. For the past two years, our celebration of Pascha (aka, Easter) has been aligned among all Apostolic Christians, and indeed also with our Protestant brethren. But three Sundays ago, this came to a halt for many of us, after almost three years of living in harmony. For most Byzantine Catholics in the US, our parish life shifted to the start of preparing for Lent with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. Most Orthodox Churches (excepting those liturgically and linguistically rare folks in Finland, who celebrate Pascha with Western Christians), however, did not begin this preparation until the following week.
We lost the union of praying together to prepare for and celebrate the Feast of Feasts.
Gone was my ability to do something like push a button on my Android phone to read the daily scriptural readings from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. For the past two years, the verses we try to read on a daily basis were in harmony with fellow Byzantine Christians, despite our lack of intercommunion as Churches. Gone also was the perfect timing between Byzantine Catholics and Orthodox, which could be seen by the wonderful sets of reflections and talks about the liturgical year offered by Ancient Faith Radio.

This was what actually started my thinking about the matter some days back. It was the week after the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, where we who are Greek Catholics had already progressed to the Sunday of the Prodigal Son. But my Ancient Faith Podcast feed was just then posting about the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee instead of the Prodigal Son, because they were one week behind in their preparation for Lent, just as they will be one week behind us when we celebrate Pascha this year. Knowing that this was the case caused a deep pain in my heart. It was a pain that I knew about conceptually but had not really experienced, because my life of being immersed in the liturgical calendar did not really begin until just after the last Pascha where we were out of sync, in 2009.

I’m almost thankful that I was still a Protestant in the spring of 2008, for at that juncture the Orthodox and Catholics were a staggering one month and four days apart from each other (April 27th and March 23rd, respectively). One week is painful enough, but to endure over 30 days of dissonance would have been a horrible trial. I do not envy those of you whose hearts were attuned to this then, for the 7 day difference has weighed heavily on me for the past few weeks.

How can we settle this?
We can argue about vernal equinoxes and the like until our faces are red, but at the end of the day, our voices are not joined in unison. We are saying Christos Voskrese, Christ is Risen, Cristos Anesti, Cristo ha Resucitado, Al Maseeh Qam, and the like, but on different days. Some of us are preparing for the most solemn fasting, and others of us are in the throes of the most wondrous feasting. My brethren, this ought not be so.

On the one hand, I am thankful that I am in communion with Western Catholics, and living this out with a unified date for Pascha between Catholics (in the USA, but not in other parts of the world like Ukraine) emphasizes this. But for so much of the year, it’s acceptable and almost a matter of course that our life as Catholics from unique particular Churches and Rites will see the same truth from a different angle. In that sense, living with a difference with my Latin Rite brethren with regard to Pascha is easier to swallow than the current state of affairs. In the current period of preparation for Pascha, we have daughters of the same Byzantine patrimony that have been fed from the same source, and yet we are out of sync. It is thus almost more painful to not be aligned with these Orthodox Christians with whom I am not in full communion than it is to be aligned with Roman Catholics. I almost wonder if our liturgical life  would be more harmonious if we American Greek Catholics celebrated Pascha with our Orthodox Brethren. Ultimately, this is a lose-lose situation at present. It underscores the same sad truth that continues to echo in our ears, if we have ears to hear. Our lack of communion with one another must end. And Our Lord’s Prayer in the Upper Room must resonate again in our ears: “May they be one, as Thou and I art one…”

I am thankful for statements like this, put forth by the Orthodox and Catholic Bishops in the US, and hope and pray that this common desire for a unified date of Pascha will be realized in our lifetime.

In closing, I would ask this of you, dearest reader: Does this lack of a unified voice celebrating the Resurrection of Christ cause you to pray for unity? If not, perhaps we have given up hope? As we begin the Great Fast of Lent, may we all hear the same message, even if it does start on different weeks for now.

I have long held that the truth of Christianity can be found in the Church Fathers, which led me on this journey and adventure of faith. But there was and is a part of me who naively and proudly esteemed my own grasping of the truth to be epochs beyond the ages past.

The concept of Cardinal Newman’s Development of Doctrine can be a tool to make sense (superficially, at least) of historical facts about ecumenical councils and the like, but at the same time we could be tempted to use this sketch of history as a guise for “chronological snobbery”, as Lewis put it. We could think that our understanding of the life of God is light years beyond the Fathers of the Church. Sure, we see an anchor of faith in the Fathers. They do not veer from the truth, but they, we boldly (and foolishly) proclaim could not speak the truth as clearly as could we. Or so we think.

This snobbery struck me most soundly while reading for a new online course offered by the newly launched Holy Apostles Institute. While reading through the Epistle to Diognetus, this early writing offered a meditation on the Incarnation. It left me feeling as though someone from the future had come to me with poetic and lucid reflections on God becoming man in Christ. It was yet another reminder that those who lived in the second century were not theological “cave men” as compared to the “wisdom” of “modern Christians”. No, they lived and died for the same truth, whereas most modern humanity cannot wake up on time to give a few minutes to this truth, which deserves our endless awe and gratitude. As you read this quote from the Epistle to Diognetus, I hope that the words of consideration and meditation on how and why God became man bless you as they did me. May His humility pick us up so that we may be granted the same humility to walk in His footsteps, as we become ever more molded in His image.

Through the Prayers of Our Holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ Our God, have mercy on us!

CHAPTER 7
For it is no earthly discovery, as I said, which
was committed to them, neither do they care to guard
so carefully any mortal invention, nor have they
entrusted to them the dispensation of human mysteries.
But truly the Almighty Creator of the Universe,
the Invisible God Himself from heaven planted among
men the truth and the holy teaching which surpasseth
the wit of man, and fixed it firmly in their hearts,
not as any man might imagine, by sending (to mankind)
a subaltern, or angel, or ruler, or one of those that
direct the affairs of earth, or one of those who have
been entrusted with the dispensations in heaven, but
the very Artificer and Creator of the Universe
Himself, by Whom He made the heavens, by Whom He
enclosed the sea in its proper bounds, Whose mysteries
all the elements faithfully observe, from Whom [the
sun] hath received even the measure of the courses of
the day to keep them, Whom the moon obeys as He bids
her shine by night, Whom the stars obey as they follow
the course of the moon, by Whom all things are ordered
and bounded and placed in subjection, the heavens and
the things that are in the heavens, the earth and the
things that are in the earth, the sea and the things
that are in the sea, fire, air, abyss, the things that
are in the heights, the things that are in the depths,
the things that are between the two. Him He sent unto
them.
Was He sent, think you, as any man might
suppose, to establish a sovereignty, to inspire fear
and terror?
Not so. But in gentleness [and] meekness has He
sent Him, as a king might send his son who is a king.
He sent Him, as sending God; He sent Him, as [a man]
unto men; He sent Him, as Saviour, as using
persuasion, not force: for force is no attribute of
God.
He sent Him, as summoning, not as persecuting;
He sent Him, as loving, not as judging.
For He will send Him in judgment, and who shall
endure His presence? …
[Dost thou not see] them thrown to wild beasts
that so they may deny the Lord, and yet not overcome?
Dost thou not see that the more of them are
punished, just so many others abound?
These look not like the works of a man; they are
the power of God; they are proofs of His presence.

I’m very excited to point out that a new website dedicated to the Ever Blessed Mother of God has been put together by a friend. I hope to contribute to the site by offering reflections with an Eastern Flavor. My first post there, which focuses on the title “Ever Blessed”, is here.

Prayers that these final days of anticipating (and then celebrating) the Birth of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ are blessed and full of peace for all of us.

In the Old Covenant economy, the Jewish people would come into the presence of the Creator in a special way through pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem for high holy days such as Yom Kippur. To worship at the Temple was the paramount way of worshipping the Creator. The Temple offerings of animal sacrifices, incense, wheat, wine and oil all were given to the Creator, especially on high holy days that celebrated the mystery of the Jews’ salvation, which were accompanied by Jews not native to Jerusalem making a pilgrimage to the Temple. On this pilgrimage from other parts of Jerusalem, special Psalms from among the Psalter (specifically Psalms 119-133, LXX) were especially appropriate for singing along the journey. These songs of ascent speak of a journey up to the mountain of Jerusalem. Incidentally, in the Byzantine Tradition, these same Psalms make up the typical Kathismata for Friday Evenings, which is a fitting parallel to mark the start of the Sabbath.
As Christ came to bring the kingdom of God and fulfill the ancient prophecies, the geographical locus of the kingdom was shown to be ultimately within the hearts of those who call upon His name, and was not dependent upon Jerusalem or any other city, as Christ Himself noted in John 4. Thus, every synaxis of the people of God in every city would culminate in God’s presence that is not bound by location, but is instead made manifest by the sacrifice of Praise which brings the Eucharistic Presence of Christ to His people on Earth.
Despite the lack of strict geographical focus in the Christian age, in the historical and cultural context of the Byzantine Empire, there was a similar journeying, which was exhibited in the stational aspect of the liturgy. Antiphons and troparia would be sung at chapels and churches that people visited as part of a journey, which culminated in arriving at the temple wherein the Eucharist was to be celebrated on the particular day. People would join in this stational procession as the crowds of the clergy and faithful approached their homes. The worship would culminate at the cathedral or parish church with the most relevance to the feast of the day. Along this road, antiphons, litanies and troparia gave the theological and liturgical context to the feast of the day. By singing “Come let us worship and bow before Christ”, the faithful on the journey would realize the reason why they were making this procession. The antiphons were therefore an integral part of the journey to the New Jerusalem, just as was done with the Psalms of Ascent to the Old Jerusalem.
In our day and age, so many distinctions would appear to separate us in our cultural context from these ancient societies described above. Our parish liturgical life begins and ends in the same building on the typical Sunday. There is no corporate journey to worship God that brings the faithful to multiple sites en route to the final destination of the day. Regardless of the lack of physical motivation in a stational liturgy or a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which justifies the enarxis, there is still the needed spiritual (re)alignment of the heart that shows that the enarxis is needed today. Our hearts need to receive the context and significance of what we are about to do in the liturgy. The enarxis is critically important for our hearts then, because there are so many distractions afforded by the luxury of modern life, and the enarxis calls us to that reality. We are called to realize the presence of the Kingdom of God at the beginning of the Liturgy, when the celebrant proclaims that the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is blessed. The first litany is that of peace, recalling our need for peace and quiet, as well as opening our hearts to ask God to give ourselves and others his mercy. The antiphons themselves sing of our call to worship God, and can also remind one of the feast that is to be celebrated that day, which flows together with what is sung at the troparia and kontakia. The Trisagion is a pinnacle of realizing our call to celebrate the heavenly reality as well as the feast of the day, as we leave our human songs of praise to God from the Psalter or the inspired hymnographers, which describe our need to come and worship God. As we sing the Trisagion we leave the earthly perspective of praise, and join together with the heavenly choirs by proclaiming, “Holy, Holy, Holy”. To immediately enter the angelic choir without the right perspective would be jarring, for we so often live in neglect of this heavenly reality. Even worse, to observe the Holy Anaphora without aligning our hearts with the invisible realities that escape so many people today, we would but earn our condemnation. By instead preparing to enter into the Holy Presence of God by reminding ourselves of the eternal Truth through the enarxis, we cast aside our distractions and modern worries and receive the same mystical vision which Elisha asked for on behalf of his servant (2 Kings 6:16-17).

The enarxis serves to clam our hearts and open our eyes to the heavenly hosts who are in awe of the Divine Presence, who comes to us mystically through the Holy Eucharist. These are the cultural elements and context that reinforce that the enarxis is not only relevant today, but is if anything more relevant than the previous centuries such as those of the Jewish ascent to Jerusalem and at the peak of the Byzantine Empire. Because of this, the Byzantine Churches must not lose sight of the importance of this liturgical expression of faith. May God grant us eyes to see, as He once did to Elisha’s servant.

In part 1 of 2 on the concept of why mystery is not “mysterious”, I tried to give some historical background on why it is that mystery is not “mysterious”, in terms of what we normally think of when we think of mystery.

In this companion post, I wanted to consider a mystery novel. The two sleuths above aptly depict what it is that I think makes most criticisms of religion and mystery vanish away.

We grasp intuitively that mysteries are not de facto unsolved or unclear, when we think of a mystery novel. In a mystery novel, detectives are integral. Imagine a mystery novel that opened with a crime scene. Bodies strewn about, clues with broken windows, things knocked over. Vague eyewitness accounts of the criminals fleeing from the scene, and yes, the detectives putting things together.

Imagine that the novel continued to add to the mystery by finding more improbable facts that string the story together, all without shedding light on the culprits and their motives.

This novel would grip one’s imagination in terms of all of the things that had happened prior to the murder of the mystery, but at the end of the day, the reasons and the robbers would remain unknown.

Would this truly count as a mystery novel?
If there was no “light at the end of the tunnel”, would there be a story?

No.

We grasp that mystery novels are based on a shrouded and mysterious beginning that we hope to see a resolution. A movie depiction of this, which isn’t for kids to watch, is The Usual Suspects.

I remember the first time that I watched this movie. I was so overwhelmed at the end, as the identity of Kaiser Soze came to light. That made the mystery what it was—how one unusual suspect was truly a usual suspect. The unsuspecting sleuths had missed a key suspect.

Similarly, with the concept of mystery, there is so much that is pointing to Christ, in our prayers, in the liturgy, in the year, in the structure of all of reality. But if we are not attuned, the clues will fly right past us as they did for those who were interviewing “Verbal” Kint.

And so, outsiders hear of the mystery of Christian Tradition, it makes perfect sense why the mystery is not revelatory. They do not have the context to “connect the dots”. But to those who are in the know, there is so much behind this that is revelatory indeed. As a side note, this speaks to the importance of the disciplina arcana, but I will leave that for more discussion later, as it may minimize the mystery of that too.

I thank God for the mysteries that He gives to us, and see more and more that His greatness comes through the hidden and unsuspecting parts of this mysterious life.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

I’ve put this collage together in tribute to Our Holy Father Benedict Pope of Rome’s general prayer intention for the month of November.

If you haven’t read it yet, it is as follows:

That the Eastern Catholic Churches and their venerable traditions may be known and esteemed as a spiritual treasure for the whole Church.

We may be only ~1% of the US Catholic Church, but this intention from the Pope makes it clear to those who may not even know that we exist, that we are on his heart, and he wants more Catholics to have us on his heart. According to this intention, and numerous writings from previous Popes/Vatican 2, etc.(which you can check out here), we are a treasure for the whole Catholic Church, and it’s up to us to share this great and venerable set of traditions to all people.

As a general rule, I try to breathe from the Latin Lung once a month or so, and I would hope that more cross-pollination can occur for people who are Greek Catholics, as well as from those Roman Catholics who may have never been to a Divine Liturgy.

So, If you’re a Roman Catholic who has never been to an Eastern Catholic service, I’d ask that you take this month where we have this intention from the Pope, and make it a point to visit a local Eastern Catholic parish. We are a communion of distinct Churches, but if we never experience that intercommunion, the reality of the intercommunion is not as beautiful, for it would merely be theoretical. If you don’t know where to find one in your area, leave a comment and I’ll let you know. Alternatively, check out this link to find a parish.

Have a great November!

In XC,
J. Andrew

There is much confusion about Christian appeal to mystery. It is alleged at times to be a means of obscuring answers to hard questions, or the lack thereof. It is derided as a catch all “god of the gaps” who is pointed to when there are no answers.

Nevertheless, we as Christians of the Apostolic Faith do point to mystery.

In the Roman Mass, the Priest Proclaims:

“The Mystery of Faith.”
And the Faithful respond:
“When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, /we proclaim your Death, O Lord, /until you come again.”

In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, part of the preparatory prayer before Communion states,
“For I will not reveal Your Mystery to your Enemies, nor will I give you a kiss as did Judas…”

In the Latin Rite response, we see that the response is not something covert. Instead, it is a revelatory comment that what the Eucharist does is proclaim Christ’s saving death.

In the Byzantine Prayer, we hear that the Mystery will not be revealed to the enemies of God. This emphasizes that it can be revealed, to those of the right frame of mind.

One approach that can be helpful is to point to the Scriptural application of the term mystery. In this case, we understand that the mystery of salvation has been revealed through Christ and the Church, through the salvation of all people, Jews and Gentiles alike. As one example of this, we have chapter 1 of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians.

But another way to understand mystery is to put it into an appropriate historical context. Along these lines, I am happy to say that I have been a part of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary’s Online Program, which you can find more info about at this website.
My first online course is entitled, “The Theology of the Divine Liturgy”, and it is being taught by Fr. David Petras.

In part of the course notes, which I will quote just a bit so as to entice you to consider your own possible interaction with the course, we see that mystery is not obscure to those involved, in its historical context.

In the Greek culture a mystery rite was a ritual that re-enacted a certain myth. A classic example was the Eleusian mysteries, where the drinking of the kykeon symbolized a return of fertility to the crops, it represented the corn goddess Demeter sadly searching for her daughter. Greek mysteries were hidden from outsiders, but were a revelation to those who celebrated them. If you think about it, the essence of the modern “mystery” story is the revelation of the solution to the puzzle. The essential part of mystery is the revelation, and this was true of St. Paul speaking about the mystery of Christ.

Mystery is all about a revelation that is revealed, albeit only to some. But the point is that without this revelation, mystery is not a mystery. We tend to think that the key to a mystery is that it is and ever shall be confusing, but this is not how the Eleusian mysteries were celebrated. They were only rightly celebrated when people understood the reference to the myth that was being illuminated by the mystery itself (and not in spite of that mystery), and its relevance to the fertility that was being commemorated.

In my next post, I will relate this Greek reflection with a more modern context, in order to help us see that a mystery is not “mysterious”, in the obscurantist sense of the word.

As a prefatory side note, the section for Reader’s services from the Metropolitan Cantor Institute (from where the block quotes are derived) is found here.

These notes were taken at an instruction that I received, and I’ve tailored them to focus on how to lead a Vespers service as a reader.

The overall focus was on how to lead a service in the absence of a priest (or deacon).
What’s more important than learning structure is the fruit that can be had from learning something like this with the blessing of one’s spiritual father.

If my notes present any inaccuracies, I am wholly to blame.

Ultimately, this framework has been used by me to lead my family in Vespers services, and I think it is helpful if one adopts a similar pattern when one cannot make it to the life of the parish for lack of services/ability to make it.

One of the first things to think about with regard to a “reader’s service” is the fact that in the Byzantine Tradition, Blessings are imparted most properly by Bishops, who represent Christ to the faithful in his jurisdiction, and priests, who serve in the absence of the Bishop. Hence, the Divine Liturgy begins with a blessing when we hear “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…”

Therefore, while the reader does begin a Vespers Service, this should not be with such a blessing. To invoke the prayers of those who have gone before us giving blessings, the Reader can begin instead by saying:

“Through the Prayers of Our Holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ Our God, Have Mercy On Us.”

My family and I respond with Amen and the service begins with “Glory to You Our God” most of the year, barring the Paschal Season’s variations.

The service is then read straight through including the Lord’s Prayer, but as I have been instructed, a reader is not to pray “For Thine is the kingdom….”, as this is another Trinitarian benediction.

Instead, we turn to the heart of Eastern Christian Prayer and pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy On us.”

After this Amen, we go back through the Vespers Book until Psalm 103.

For a Major Feast/when there is a Litija that can be sung at Vespers, the Melodic version of Psalm 103 is chanted. Otherwise, we sing the antiphonal version.

At the Litany of Peace, which is the first litany of both services, we sing 12 Lord have Mercies, and then a Glory/Now.

Further online research at the Metropolitan Cantor Institute, which is put together from my own Metropolitan Church, I’ve found this prayer to be appropriate following the litany of Peace.

O good God, in all times and places you are worshipped and glorified both in heaven and on earth. You are long-suffering and generous in your mercy and compassion. You love the just and show mercy to the sinner, calling all to repentance through the promise of blessings to come. Deem, O Lord, at this very hour, to receive our supplications and to direct our lives in the path of your commandments. Sanctify our souls, purify our bodies, set right our minds, cleanse our thoughts; deliver us from all affliction, trouble and distress; surround us with your holy angels so that, guided and guarded in their camp, we may obtain oneness of faith and the knowledge of your unspeakable glory. For you are blessed, forever and ever. Amen.

If one wants to then proceed to the Kathismata (the melodic 1st Kathisma for Saturday night/Sunday is in our book, but one can also find prescribed reading for any day with a Typikon. If those are taken, the small litany is replaced with 3 Lord Have Mercy’s and a Glory/Now.

As the lamplighting Psalms are sung, if you have texts for the stichera of the feast, Pripivs (introductory melodic versions of the lamplighting Psalms that set the musical tone) can be sung by the head cantor, and the stichera/verses can be sung by all. If I do not have the texts available, I will simply sing through.

When you get to the next part, simply omit the “Wisdom Be attentive” and sing “O Joyful Light”. Sing the Prokeimenon (without the “Wisdom” again) and the reader may sing the verses.

At Readings, only the Priest/Bishop should say “Wisdom, Be Attentive”. So you can just read the readings, with the proper introductions.

In our practice, at a daily Vespers, one can omit the Litany of Fervent Supplication at this point, and go straight to the hymn of Glorification, singing it plainchant. At a Great Vespers, the Litany is replaced by 12 Lord Have Mercy’s and a Glory/Now, and the hymn of Glorification IS sung with the melody provided in the book.

The Litany of supplication is replaced by 12 Lord Have Mercy’s and Glory Now, and one can then pray this prayer in place of the priestly prayer.

Blessed are you, O Almighty Master, for you have lighted the day with the brilliance of the sun and the night with the fiery stars. You have counted us worthy of the length of this day and to come to the beginning of night. Hear our prayer and forgive the voluntary and involuntary sins of all your people. Accept our evening prayers and send down in return the greatness of your mercy and kindness upon us, your inheritance. Guard us with your holy angels, clothe us in righteousness as a defense, protect us in your truth, and keep us in your strength. Deliver us from all our enemies and their hostile attacks. Grant that this evening and the approaching night and all the days of our life may be perfect, holy, peaceful, sinless, without violence and free of nightmares. Through the prayers of the holy Theotokos and of all the saints who from all ages have been pleasing to you. Amen.

After this, one proceeds to the Aposticha if one has the text for it, and then to “Now you may dismiss”, through the Lord’s prayer, again exchanging the “For thine is the kingdom” with “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.”
As is the case with the Hymn of glorification, if this is not a Great Vespers level day, we sing this and the Trisagion without melody.

The Troparia can then be said. I try to make it a point to use the troparion of the day (Monday through Saturday or Resurrectional tone of the week), plus whatever saint or feast’s troparion can be sung.

From here, if we had skipped the litany of Fervent supplication because of it being a daily vespers, we sing 12 Lord have mercy’s and a Glory now. Otherwise, we go straight to this closing/dismissal.

More honorable…
Glory, Now and ever
Lord, have mercy (three times)
Bless, O Lord!

Then the Leader prays:

O Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of your most pure Mother, by the might of the precious and life-giving Cross, through the prayers of the holy, glorious and praiseworthy apostles, and of the holy (patrons of the church and saints of the day), and of all the saints, have mercy on us.

And we close with the long “Amen”.

Glory to God!

The Gospels surrounding the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (including the following, which is taken from the Sunday after the Feast of the Exaltation) bring this to light. And for those of us who hear these words, we can only be thankful for the way in which this paradox comes to us. Through losing our lives, we find our lives. As we take up the cross, we gain our life, even though it would seem as though we are taking up our own destruction. And in gaining our life, the kingdom of God comes to us in power, at the moment of giving up our lives, at the moment of laying it down.

TRIAD supernal, both super-God and super-good, Guardian of the Theosophy of Christian men, direct us aright to the super-unknown and super-brilliant and highest summit of the mystic Oracles, where the simple and absolute a!nd changeless mysteries of theology lie hidden within the super-luminous gloom of the silence, revealing hidden things, which in its deepest darkness shines above the most super-brilliant, and in the altogether impalpable and invisible, fills to overflowing the eyeless minds with glories of surpassing beauty. This then be my prayer; but thou, O dear Timothy, by thy persistent commerce with the mystic visions, leave behind both sensible perceptions and intellectual efforts, and all objects of sense and intelligence, and all things not being and being, and be raised aloft unknowingly to the union, as far’ as attainable, with Him Who is above every essence and knowledge. For by the resistless and absolute ecstasy in all purity, from thyself and all, thou wilt be carried on high, to the superessential ray of the Divine darkness, when thou hast cast away all, and become free from all. – Mystical Theology, I.I

If one wanted an overview of Dionysius’ Mystical Theology in one sentence, we could say-There is something which is beyond the scope of being that can be known. The true God is more than a “god” who is underneath and behind all of being. Being conceals the true God, who is hypergood, as being reveals.

The Triad could be considered the first word, but this consideration does not come from philosophy. God is not in the world of being, or the world of number.

A monad view would say that God is the world.
A dyad view would say that there is a dualism between God and the world.

But as we read and re-read this first chapter of Mystical Theology, we see that Dionysius lives in prayer, which is the beginning of the mystery, when he says, “Direct us aright.”

There is a cycle of grace that draws us back to the prayer of the Church, and this is through the power of mystery.

One way of knowing God is through unknowing. The nameless has taken on a name – silence provides the air for words to be spoken. God entices without torture – he is a silence that is present but not complete.

Silence calls us to joy, and joy calls us into a still deeper silence.

Silence calls us to leave behind the world, because our senses cannot hold God. In silence we leave not things, but our attachment to things.

This is a mystical journey to the cause of things, to the realm of Theophany. This takes us into God and the mystery of our own being.

But see that none of the uninitiated listen to these things—-those I mean who are entangled in things being, and fancy there is nothing superessentially above things being, but imagine that they know, by their own knowledge, Him, Who has placed darkness as His hiding-place. But, if the Divine initiations are above such, what would any one say respecting those still more uninitiated, such as both portray the Cause exalted above all, from the lowest of things created, and say that It in no wise excels the no-gods fashioned by themselves and of manifold shapes, it being our duty both to attribute and affirm all the attributes of things existing to It, as Cause of all, and more properly to deny them all to It, as being above all, and not to consider the negations to be in opposition to the affirmations, but far rather that It, which is above every abstraction and definition, is above the privations. – Mystical Theology, I.II

Cause and caused are distinct, this is true, but this is not a violent response of God. The mysteries are guarded to protect the pagan. God is not a placated God, but is instead both a giver and a recipient.

Mary-Jane Rubenstein has reflected upon this in Dionysius, Derrida, and the Critique of Ontotheology.

This order of cause and caused produces a hierarchy, and again, hierarchy can be a false notion thereof. This can be a hierarchy not of caused and cause, but of certainty and violence. In mysticism, however, one must move beyond certainty to uncertainty. The hyper-truth is beyond truth. There is a horizon of expectation, expecting to come into fuller communion with Him who is hyper-truth.

While there is expectation, there is also a circling down of both assertions and denials. It is better to describe and understand that our descriptions are inadequate. Hierachies can unsay themselves, as they exist more for our understanding than as absolutes. In the 9th epistle of Dionysius, we see so clearly that everything is hierarchy.

LETTER IX. To Titus, Hierarch, asking by letter what is the house of wisdom, what the bowl, and what are its meats and drinks?

SECTION I.

I do not know, O excellent Titus, whether the holy Timothy departed, deaf to some of the theological symbols which were explained by me. But, in the Symbolic Theology, we have thoroughly investigated for him all the expressions of the Oracles concerning God, which appear to the multitude to be monstrous. |168 For they give a colour of incongruity dreadful to the uninitiated souls, when the Fathers of the unutterable wisdom explain the Divine and Mystical Truth, unapproachable by the profane, through certain, certainly hidden and daring enigmas. Wherefore also, the many discredit the expressions concerning the Divine Mysteries. For, we contemplate them only through the sensible symbols that have grown upon them. We must then strip them, and view them by themselves in their naked purity. For, thus contemplating them, we should reverence a fountain of Life flowing into Itself—-viewing It even standing by Itself, and as a kind of single power, simple, self-moved, and self-worked, not abandoning Itself, but a knowledge surpassing every kind of knowledge, and always contemplating Itself, through Itself. We thought it necessary then, both for him and for others, that we should, as far as possible, unfold the varied forms of the Divine” representations of God in symbols. For, with what incredible and simulated monstrosities are its external, forms filled? For instance, with regard to the superessential Divine generation, representing a body of God corporally generating God; and describing a word flowing out into air from a man’s heart, which eructates it, and a breath, breathed forth from a mouth; and celebrating God-bearing bosoms embracing a son of God, bodily; or representing these things after the manner of |169 plants, and producing certain trees, and branches, and flowers and roots, as examples; or fountains of waters y, bubbling forth; or seductive light productions of reflected splendours; or certain other sacred representations which explain superessential descriptions of God; but with regard to the intelligible providences of Almighty God, either gifts, manifestations, or powers, or properties, or repose, or abidings, or progressions, or distinctions, or unions, clothing Almighty God in human form, and in the varied shape of wild beasts and other living creatures,

and plants, and stones; and attributing to Him ornaments of women, or weapons of savages; and assigning working in clay, and in a furnace, as it were to a sort of artisan; and placing under Him, horses and chariots and thrones; and spreading before Him certain dainty meats delicately cooked; and representing Him as drinking, and drunken, and sleeping, and suffering from excess. What would any one say concerning the angers, the griefs, the various oaths, the repentances, the curses, the revenges, the manifold and dubious excuses for the failure of promises, the battle of giants in Genesis, during which He is said to scheme against those |170 powerful and great men, and this when they were contriving the building, not with a view to injustice towards other people, but on behalf of their own safety? And that counsel devised in heaven to deceive and mislead Achab 71; and those mundane and meritricious passions of the Canticles; and all the other sacred compositions which appear in the description of God, which stick at nothing, as projections, and multiplications of hidden things, and divisions of things one and undivided, and formative and manifold forms of the shapeless and unformed; of which, if any one were able to see their inner hidden beauty, he will find every one of them mystical and Godlike, and filled with abundant theological light. For let us not think, that the appearances of the compositions have been formed for their own sake, but that they shield the science unutterable and invisible to the multitude, since things all-holy are not within the reach of the profane, but are manifested to those only who are genuine lovers of piety, who reject all childish fancy respecting the holy symbols, and are capable to pass with simplicity of mind, and aptitude of contemplative faculty, to the simple and supernatural and elevated truth of the symbols. Besides, we must also consider this, that the teaching, handed down by the Theologians is two-fold—-one, secret and mystical—-the other, open and better known—-one, symbolical and initiative—-the other, |171 philosophic and demonstrative;—-and the unspoken is intertwined with the spoken. The one persuades, and desiderates the truth of the things expressed, the other acts and implants in Almighty God, by instructions in mysteries not learnt by teaching. And certainly, neither our holy instructors, nor those of the law, abstain from the God-befitting symbols, throughout the celebrations of the most holy mysteries. Yea, we see even the most holy Angels, mystically advancing things Divine through enigmas; and Jesus Himself, speaking the word of God in parables, and transmitting the divinely wrought mysteries, through a typical spreading of a table. For, it was seemly, not only that the Holy of holies should be preserved undefiled by the multitude, but also that the Divine knowledge should illuminate the human life, which is at once indivisible and divisible, in a manner suitable to itself; and to limit the passionless part of the soul to the simple, and most inward visions of the most godlike images; but that its impassioned part should wait upon, and, at the same time, strive after, the most Divine coverings, through the pre-arranged representations of the typical symbols, as such (coverings) are, by nature, congenial to it. And all those who are hearers of a distinct theology without symbols, weave in themselves a sort of type, which conducts them to the conception of the aforesaid theology. |172

SECTION II.

But also the very order of the visible universe sets forth the invisible things of Almighty God, as says both Paul and the infallible Word. Wherefore, also, the Theologians view some things politically and legally, but other things, purely and without flaw; and some things humanly, and mediately, but other things supermundanely and perfectly; at one time indeed, from the laws which are manifest, and at another, from the institutions which are unmanifest, as befits the holy writings and minds and souls under consideration. For the whole statement lying before them, and all its details, does not contain a bare history, but a vivifying perfection. We must then, in opposition to the vulgar conception concerning them, reverently enter within the sacred symbols, and not dishonour them, being as they are, products and moulds of the Divine characteristics, and manifest images of the unutterable and supernatural visions. For, not only are the superessential lights, and things intelligible, and, in one word, things Divine, represented in various forms through the typical symbols, as the superessential God, spoken of as fire, and the intelligible Oracles of Almighty God, as flames of fire; but further, even the godlike orders of the angels, both contemplated and |173 contemplating, are described under varied forms, and manifold likenesses, and empyrean shapes. And differently must we take the same likeness of fire, when spoken with regard to the inconceivable God; and differently with regard to His intelligible providences or words; and differently respecting the Angels. The, one as causal, but the other as originated, and the third as participative, and different things differently, as their contemplation, and scientific arrangements suggest.

And never must we confuse the sacred symbols hap-hazard, but we must unfold them suitably to the causes, or the origins, or the powers, or the orders, or the dignities of which they are explanatory tokens. And, in order that I may not extend my letter beyond the bounds of propriety, let us come at once to the very question propounded by you; and we affirm that every nourishment is perfective of those nourished, filling up their imperfection and their lack, and tending the weak, and guarding their lives, making to sprout, and renewing and bequeathing to them a vivifying wellbeing; and in one word, urging the slackening and imperfect, and contributing towards their comfort and perfection.

SECTION III.

Beautifully then, the super-wise and Good Wisdom is celebrated by the Oracles, as placing a mystical bowl, and pouring forth its sacred drink, but first |174 setting forth the solid meats, and with a loud voice Itself benignly soliciting those who seek It. The Divine Wisdom, then, sets forth the two-fold food; one indeed, solid and fixed, but the other liquid and flowing forth; and in a bowl furnishes Its own providential generosities. Now the bowl, being spherical and open, let it be a symbol of the Providence over the whole, which at once expands Itself and encircles all, without beginning and without end. But since, even while going forth to all, It remains in Itself, and stands fixed in unmoved sameness; and never departing from Itself, the bowl also itself stands fixedly and unmovably. But Wisdom is also said to build a house for itself, and in it to set forth the solid meats and drinks, and the bowl, so that it may be evident to those who understand things Divine in a manner becoming God, that the Author of the being, and of the well being, of all things, is both an all-perfect providence, and advances to all, and comes into being in everything, and embraces them all; and on the other hand, He, the same, in the same, par excellence, is nothing in anything at all, but overtops the whole, Himself being in Himself, identically and always; and standing, and remaining, and resting, and ever being in the same condition and in the same way, and never becoming outside Himself, nor falling from His own session, and unmoved abiding, and shrine,—-yea even, in it, benevolently |175 exercising His complete and all-perfect providences, and whilst going forth to all, remaining by Himself alone, and standing always, and moving Himself; and neither standing, nor moving Himself, but, as one might say, both connaturally and supernaturally, having His providential energies, in His steadfastness, and His steadiness in His Providence.

SECTION IV.

But what is the solid food and what the liquid? For the Good Wisdom is celebrated as at once bestowing and providing these. I suppose then, that the solid food is suggestive of the intellectual and abiding perfection and sameness, within which, things Divine are participated as a stable, and strong, and unifying, and indivisible knowledge, by those contemplating organs of sense, by which the most Divine Paul, after partaking of wisdom, imparts his really solid nourishment; but that the liquid is suggestive of the stream, at once flowing through and to all; eager to advance, and further conducting those who are properly nourished as to goodness, through things variegated and many and divided, to the simple and invariable knowledge of God. Wherefore the divine and spiritually perceived Oracles are likened to dew, and water, and to milk, and wine, and honey; on account of their life-producing power, as in water; and growth-giving, as in milk; and reviving, as in wine; and both purifying and preserving, as in honey. For these things, the Divine Wisdom gives to those approaching it, and furnishes |176 and fills to overflowing, a stream of ungrudging and unfailing good cheer. This, then, is the veritable good cheer; and, on this account, it is celebrated, as at once life-giving and nourishing and perfecting.

SECTION V.

According to this sacred explanation of good cheer, even Almighty God, Himself the Author of all good things, is said to be inebriated, by reason of the super-full, and beyond conception, and ineffable, immeasurableness, of the good cheer, or to speak more properly, good condition of Almighty God. For, as regards us, in the worst sense, drunkenness is both an immoderate repletion, and being out of mind and wits; so, in the best sense, respecting God, we ought not to imagine drunkenness as anything else beyond the super-full immeasurableness of all good things pre-existing in Him as Cause. But, even in respect to being out of wits, which follows upon drunkenness, we must consider the pre-eminence of Almighty God, which is above conception, in which He overtops our conception, as being above conception and above being conceived, and above being itself; and in short, Almighty God is inebriated with, and outside of, all good things whatever, as being at once a super-full hyperbole of every immeasurableness of them all; and again, as dwelling outside and beyond the whole. Starting then from these, we will take in the same fashion even the feasting of the pious, in the Kingdom of Almighty God. For He says, the King Himself |177 will come and make them recline, and will Himself minister to them. Now these things manifest a common and concordant communion of the holy,

upon the good things of God, and a church of the first born, whose names are written in heavens; and spirits of just men made perfect by all good things, and replete with all good things; and the reclining, we imagine, a cessation from their many labours, and a life without pain; and a godly citizenship in light and place of living souls, replete with every holy bliss, and an ungrudging provision of every sort of blessed goods; within which they are filled with every delight; whilst Jesus both makes them recline, and ministers to them, and furnishes this delight; and Himself bequeaths their everlasting rest; and at once distributes and pours forth the fulness of good things.

SECTION VI.

But, I well know you will further ask that the propitious sleep of Almighty God, and His awakening, should be explained. And, when we have said, that the superiority of Almighty God, and His incommunicability with the objects of His Providence is a Divine sleep, and that the attention to His Providential cares of those who need His discipline, or His preservation, is an awakening, you will pass to other symbols of the Word of God. Wherefore, thinking it superfluous that by running |178 through the same things to the same. persons, we should seem to say different things, and, at the same time, conscious that you assent to things that are good, we finish this letter at what we have said, having set forth, as I think, more than the things solicited in your letters. Further, we send the whole of our Symbolical Theology, within which you will find, together with the house of wisdom, also the seven pillars investigated, and its solid food divided into sacrifices and breads. And what is the mingling of the wine; and again, What is the sickness arising from the inebriety of Almighty God? and in fact, the things now spoken of are explained in it more explicitly. And it is, in my judgment, a correct enquiry into all the symbols of the Word of God, and agreeable to the sacred traditions and truths of the Oracles.

Everything is Theophany. To be in the world is to be somewhat initiated into the mystery, because everything in the world is part of Theophany. In that sense, one could argue that Ecumenism is Dionysian, for all in the inhabited world reveal God, despite shortcomings of faith or love.

In contrast, contempt is a denial of the theophany principle. It is a rejection of the other, a deferred inclusion of the other. The dance and the circle draws one in.

This produces the cycle of purification, which leads to illumination, which leads to perfection.

The path leads to no path, a pathless existence of freedom.

The Gloom of Agnosia is a path that leads to an unknowing, which is a movement to God. It is a return, a rest, where things are viewed as things. The rest is a celebration of things as things.

This celebration of things as things has a reflection that can be seen in the accounts of the Apostles that reveals the life of St. Paul with the Areopagites. St. Paul considers the altars of those on Mars’ Hill and calls upon people to ask who it is that they unknowingly worship. This can be seen when he says:

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship qas unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, zhaving determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. dYet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance jGod overlooked, but know he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed ma day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

In contrast to such unknowing worship, there is a return to things that can be seen in Psalm 50. The burnt offerings are returned to after there is a realignment of the spiritual state.

Plotinus, in contrast, was ashamed of his own body.
There is a difference between a “cover your rear” altar and the depth of unknowing. Therefore, there is an eschatological corrective to Neo-Platonism.

Revelation to most humans is OK. But that we would see revelation in human, ordinary life? This is offensive to most.

Human existence matters forever, in all degrees of classes/existence. Everything matters because everything is Theophany.
This is why God, in His Providence, speaks of a new heaven and a NEW EARTH. The divinizing power returns us back to all things, even those things of this earth.

God is either All in All, or Nothing in None.

Julia of Norwich stated that “All Will Be Well.” This is only sensible if God is All in All.

The world is already in possession of its end-God is found in everything-in every soap sud, in every rebuke, in every manifestation of love, in all light. With this mystical view, even the Creation becomes godly.

We must begin again as saints, holding our hymns and psalms to the mystery of God in all of creation.