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Prayer: Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow
My Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of Thee.
Thou and Thou alone knowest my needs.
Thou lovest me more than I am able to love Thee.
O Father, grant unto me, Thy servant, all which I cannot ask.
For a cross I dare not ask, nor for consolation;
I dare only to stand in Thy presence.
My heart is open to Thee.
Thou seest my needs of which I myself am unaware.
Behold and lift me up!
In Thy presence I stand,
awed and silenced by Thy will and Thy judgments,
into which my mind cannot penetrate.
To Thee I offer myself as a sacrifice.
No other desire is mine but to fulfill Thy will.
Teach me how to pray.
Do Thyself pray within me.
Amen.
Quote
One of the most important aspects of [Eastern] Orthodox spirituality is participation in the divine energies. Briefly stated, this is an Orthodox doctrine of fundamental importance [and] a distinction is made between the "essence" and "energies" of God. Those who attain perfection [full maturity in Christ; theosis; deification] do so by uniting with the divine uncreated energies, and not with the divine essence. The Greek Orthodox Fathers, whenever they speak of God, emphasize the unknowability of God's essence and stress the vision of the divine energies, … Orthodox spiritual tradition emphasizes the divine Logos [Word, Principle of Creation] indwelling in the world and our ability to attain a spiritual life and mystical union with the Holy Spirit in this world.
Christian contemplation is not "ecstatic," that is, outside ourselves, but it takes place within the Christian person who is the "temple of the Holy Spirit." The divine energies are "within everything and outside everything." All creation is the manifestation of God's energies. Vladimir Lossky says in the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church: "These divine rays penetrate the whole created universe and are the cause of its existence." The uncreated Light and the knowledge of God in Orthodox tradition "illuminates every man that cometh into this world." It is the same light that the apostles saw on Mount Tabor [Mount of Transfiguration] that penetrates all of creation and transforms it, creating it anew.”
(George C. Papademetriou, “Introduction to Orthodox Spirituality”; www.goarch.org; Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America)
Comments
The essence of God is the intrinsic being of Being, the existence of Existence, the godliness of God, and God as God is within God. Essence means the fundamental substance of a thing, what makes it what it is distinct from all else, without regard to its accidents, or qualities. God is God, for no qualities outside God make God what God is, make God God. This sets God apart from creation, for each aspect of creation is what it is due to a compound of diverse qualities, or aspects, and derived from outside itself. Created things are compounds. God is Singularity, Unity, Oneness, whereas this One encompasses the Diversity that we experience as Trinity. However, the Diversity harmonizes with the Unity, the Persons with the Person.
Let us take an example, applying it to theology. If I give you an apple, can you taste the essence of apple? What is it that makes that one apple like all other apples? What makes that one apple distinct from all other apples? The essence, roughly speaking, is the apple of the apple, what makes it like all other apples, and unlike, say, an orange. However, if you start saying that the apple is an apple for it tastes or looks a certain way, then, you are describing the accidents, or qualities, of the apple. You have moved from the essence to the qualities. And, while we can pass from the qualities to know the apple is an apple, the qualities do not define the essence of the apple, only its apple qualities. So, what is the apple apart from its qualities?
Likewise, with God, say many of our early Church Fathers and theologians throughout history. Can we describe God as God? No. If we say, “God is good,” then, we have moved to a quality of God, say these theologians. Good, they say, may derive from God, but God is God, not good, for good is a derivative aspect, while God is the Source without derivatives but from whom all qualities find life and expression.
Therefore, the Eastern Church has taught that good, and all qualities of positive divine energy, derive from God. Good exists for God exists. Good, indeed, must exists for God as God is within God necessitates that good exists, or God would not be God. The very question of what would God be without the existence of good is a nonsensical one.
Therefore, divine energies is a reference to the expression of the qualities from God into creation. And, the contemplative process takes us from the experience of the divine energies back to their Source, from Grace, or graces, back to God. To adore and give praise for the energies is the kataphatic aspect of a whole Christian spirituality. Kataphatic refers to knowing of God through creation, through the manifestations of Grace. Through this aspect we seek to return to God as God, so that nothing, not even what is of God, is between us and God, for a quality of God between you and God is something between you and God. This aspect of the path is the apophatic. Then, we can enjoy how the apophatic returns us to the kataphatic. A mature contemplative life for many persons grows from detaching from the reliance on the kataphatic, to reliance on the apophatic, to harmonizing the two aspects of Form and Formless, God and Energies, Essence and Qualities in a single and beautiful tapestry of divine fullness.
Spiritual Exercise
Take one of the divine energies, like peace, joy, love, … and meditate on it. Let it lead you into the Silence beyond all thought and word. Return to the word only when you are distracted from the Quietude you enjoy in intimacy with God as God.
Consider, if you are not already, sponsoring a child through Compassion International. You can find out more about Compassion International by going to www.compassion.net to read about sponsoring, in the name of Jesus, children living in poverty. Thanks! Brian K. Wilcox
To contact Brian, write briankwilcox@comcast.net .
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