Web editor's footnotes to Christian Mysticism

Adam:

The name, Adam, may refer to the first man, but in Patristic literature it is frequently used to refer to all of mankind.

abyss of dark fire:

The flames of hell are said to burn without light (cf. St. Basil, Hom. in Ps. 33).
(see Norman Russell's footnote 47 in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, p. 137)

He lighted a candle--His own Flesh:

In this quotation, St. Gregory of Nazianzus compares Christ's incarnation to lighting a candle. Through the mingling of the divine and human natures in Christ's person, the uncreated light of Christ's divinity sanctified human flesh.

For related information, see Christ, self-emptying, and hypostatic union.

castle:

In Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila compares the soul to a castle with many mansions and rooms within it. Through prayer the soul enters into the castle (i.e. enters into itself). At the very center of the castle is the mansion where God dwells inside the soul. When God brings the soul into His very own mansion, the soul is said to have attained Spiritual Marriage with God. St. Teresa regarded this as the highest spiritual state available to man while still alive. To learn more about St. Teresa's use of this metaphor, see her discussion of the soul, also located at this site.

darkness of contemplative prayer:

There comes a point in which an individual is so absorbed in his contemplation of God that he loses consciousness of the world and of himself. This is frequently referred to as rapture. However St. Teresa of Avila usually prefers to call this state the prayer of union. For those who are interested, I've extracted passages from St. Teresa's writing where she elaborates on this experience.

From an Eastern Orthodox persepective, St. Symeon the New Theologian states in his Ethical Discourses that this interior darkness actually results from a superabundance of light which blinds those who are not accustomed to seeing it. If an individual continues to draw nearer to God, raptures cease, and the individual becomes consciously and perpetually aware of a light emanating from within his heart. St. Teresa describes a similar transformation of consciousness in her discussion of the prayer of spiritual marriage. For those who are interested, I've also prepared extracts from St. Teresa's writings on the prayer of spiritual marriage.

Other mystics who are quoted at this site and who make reference to the darkness of comtemplative prayer include Meister Eckhart, Angela of Foligno, John of the Cross, and Dionysius the Areopagite.

See also Exodus 20:21.

death:

Three kinds of death are described in the New Testament:

Death of the body occurs when the body and soul are separated.
Death of the soul occurs when the soul and God are separated, a separation which spawns the body of this death (Rom. 7:24) through sin (also see Mt. 8:21-22).
St. Ephrem the Syrian (306 - 373 AD) refers to this spiritual death when he says:
... for all that are not baptized in the waters that give life to all, they are dead invisibly.
("Fifteen Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany" 8:20)
Death of the sinful self (referred to by Paul as the old man) occurs when our desires for earthly fulfillment have been eliminated; in other words when we have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Gal. 5:24; cf. Rom. 8:13). Once this body of sin is destroyed (Rom. 6:6), the spirit of our minds is renewed (Eph. 4:23), and we experience the Life of Christ in us (Gal 2: 20; cf. Jn. 3:6-7).

Egypt:

Egypt is often used metaphorically in Patristic literature to represent the heart which has become darkened by desires for earthly fulfillment (i.e. the passions).

Eyes of the heart:

In his prayers for the members of the Church, Paul requests the following:

... that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened for you to know what is the hope of His calling and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints...
(Eph. 1:17-18)

The reference to the eyes of the heart is a literal translation from the Greek; the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the New International Version all follow this translation, while the King James and the New King James Versions render this as the eyes of your understanding In Biblical times the heart, rather than the brain, was considered to be the physical organ that governed all mental functions. That's why some Biblical references to the heart will be translated into English as the mind, or alternatively as some mental function such as understanding or memory.

However on a more esoteric level, time and time again Christian mystics have described having an interior experience of light which emanates from the heart and floods the entire body; 2 Corinthians 4:6 is one of the first such descriptions of this experience within Christian literature. This interior experience of light is said to be perceived by the heart, which is regarded as the organ for spiritual vision.

In the original Greek version of the Gospels, there is a reference in both Matthew 6:22 and Luke 11:34-36 to an eye that is haplous. This Greek word haplous has been translated into English as single, pure, clear, or healthy. Once the eye in these passages is understood as being the heart, and the light is understood as being a spiritual light rather than a physical light, then the scriptural passage which says, if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light (Matt. 6:22) can be understood as describing an interior, mystical experience. Because this light is experienced interiorly, Paul describes it as being a treasure within earthen vessels, i.e. our bodies (2 Cor. 4:7).

In a similar vein, the statement that the pure in heart will see God (Matt. 5:8) could possibly be understood as describing a mystical experience in which the individual has a vision of divine light once the heart, the organ of spiritual vision, has been purified. Until that time the light continues to shine in the darkness without the darkness being able to apprehend it (John 1:5).

For related information, see simple eye.

Gehenna:

Both St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Ephrem the Syrian suggest that it is the awareness of separation from God that constitutes the real torture of Gehenna (Hell).
(Sebastian Brock in "The Luminous Eye", p. 147)

Go in peace:

At various time in Christ's ministry on earth (both before and after his resurrection), Christ instructed people to go in peace. St. Teresa speculated that this was more than a social nicety on the part of Jesus. She felt that this directive had a profound and transforming impact on those souls to whom Christ was speaking.

Hebraic Law:

This refers to the law that the Jewish people received from God through the person of Moses for their moral guidance.

infirm:

A person who has given into sin or who has fallen under the sway of the passions is considered to be in poor spiritual health, i.e. infirm.

Last Supper:

This refers to the last meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before being arrested and crucified. This meal is the basis for the sacrament of communion within the Church.

law of sin:

Adam's transgression introduced the law of sin into human flesh thereby corrupting it. To be under the law of sin is to be motivated by a desire to please oneself. However since Christ was solely motivated by a desire to please His heavenly Father (Jn. 8:29), the law of sin was done away with in Christ's flesh. Christ communicates this liberation from the law of sin to people who participate in His Life through the indwelling of His Spirit. Drawing on Christ's power, they also become able to lead lives that are pleasing to God. The Apostle Paul calls this new guiding principle "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:2). The two laws are compared and contrasted at length in Romans 8:1-14. Also see lust and chastity.

Manifesting one's thoughts to the old men:

The old men were regarded as holy men by their fellow monks, and as holy men they were sought out by others for spiritual guidance. To manifest one's thoughts was to share one's interior life, to confess one's weaknesses and temptations. An individual who revealed his interior life to a holy man was much less likely to fall a victim to self-deception, particularly in the form of spiritual pride. Furthermore the holy man could assist those who were in the throes of temptation by praying for them and by giving them advice.

The old man, outward man, or body of this death:

These are all terms that the Apostle Paul used in reference to the sinful self, whose desires for personal satisfaction are directed toward the things of this world. It's because of this outward orientation (which is mediated through the senses) that the sinful self is referred to as the outward man. He's called the old man, because he sprang into existence when the first people, Adam and Eve, put their faith in their senses and and in their own reasoning ability rather than God. For they looked at the forbidden tree and judged that it was delightful to the eyes, good for food, and much to be desired as a source of wisdom that arose out of creation rather than God (Gen. 1:6). The Apostle Paul called this sinful self the body of this death because God had warned Adam and Eve they would die on the day that they partook of the forbidden fruit. Because of their transgression, patristic authors believed that Adam and Eve suffered an immediate spiritual death, because their act of disobedience sundered them from God, who is True Life.

For related information, see death, the law of sin, chastity, and lust.

reptiles:

In Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila compares the soul to a castle. In the outer mansions of the castle, reptiles wander here and there. These reptiles represent worldly distractions which attract the soul.

simple eye:

What follows is St. Symeon the New Theologian's interpretation of Lk. 11:34 and Mt. 6:22. In the King James Version (KJV), these passages refer to one's eye becoming single. However the original Greek word that the KJV translates as "single" may also be interpreted as "simple," and this is the meaning of the word that St. Symeon the New Theologian pursues.

Symeon, in keeping with his theological predecessors, regards God as being simple, in the sense that God is uncompounded. In other words, God is a single, homogenous essence that cannot be broken down into more fundamental substances. Symeon elaborates on the simplicity of Christ elsewhere at this site. Since the mind (i.e. the nous) is regarded as the organ of spiritual vision in Eastern Orthodox thought, Symeon interpets Christ's statements about the eye as really referring to this organ of spiritual vision, the mind. Hence when one's mind becomes simple and uncompounded, it becomes like Christ and is able to noetically perceive Christ who is visible as an immaterial light.

For related information, see eyes of the heart.

slave, or servant:

In Christ's act of self-empyting, the Apostle Paul says that the Son of God took on the form of a servant or slave (i.e. the form of man, for men by nature are the servants of God). See Philippians 2:5-11.

talent:

A talent is a coin or type of money. This is a reference to a parable that Christ relates in Matthew 25:14-30.

Just as a coin bears the image of the king, the human spirit bears the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). In contrast human flesh is described as coming from the earth (Gen. 2:7). Thus the man in the parable who buried the talent may be thought of as a person who lived his life according to the flesh (Rom. 8:12-13), so immersed in earthly pursuits and pleasure-seeking that his spirit's likeness to God never manifested itself. It's as though it remained forever buried in an earthy tomb.

In contrast those men who increased their master's talents might be regarded as individuals who did manifest this divine image, with different individuals manifesting it to different degrees from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

You'll find that Matthew 5:15-16 conveys a similar message in different terms.

thiastasis:

(Greek) distance, displacement.

The Transfiguration of Christ:

Christ led three of his disciples away from the others, and while praying (Lk 9:29) he began to radiate an intense, white light.

See Matthew 17:1-9 for a full account of the story.

weeping:

A number of saints have stated that the sins that occur following baptism are cleansed by tears. For example, St. Ephrem the Syrian:

May ye from all defilement be kept by the power of your white {baptismal} robes! and he whose freedom has defiled itself -- may it be able to wash itself clean by his weeping!
("Fifteen Hymns for the Feast of the Epiphany" 6:18)