Theoria, Theoria

This is a process of transformation of the human being that results from leading a pure life, practicing restraint and adhering to the commandments. According to the standard ascetic formulation of this process there are three stages: The first stage is katharsis or purification. The second stage is theoria or illumination. The third stage is theosis or deification (also referred to as union with God). Proper preparation for vision of God takes place in two stages: purification, and illumination of the noetic faculty. Without this it is impossible for man's selfish love to be transformed into selfless love. This transformation takes place during the higher level of the stage of illumination called theoria, literally meaning vision, in this case vision by means of unceasing and uninterrupted memory of God. Those who remain selfish and self-centered with a hardened heart, closed to God's love, will not see the glory of God in this life. However, they will see God's glory eventually, but as an eternal and consuming fire and outer darkness. From FRANKS, ROMANS, FEUDALISM, AND DOCTRINE/Diagnosis and Therapy Father John S. Romanides Diagnosis and Therapy [1] Purification proceeds conversion and constitutes a turning away from all that is unclean and unwholesome. This is a purification of mind and body. As preparation for theoria , however, the concept of purification in this three part scheme refers most importantly to purification of the nous , the faculty of discernment and knowledge (wisdom) whose awakening is essential to coming out of the state of delusion that is characteristic of the worldly-minded. Once the nous has been cleansed the faculty of wisdom may begin to operate more consistently.

That is to say, the man who beholds the uncreated light sees it because he is united with God. He sees it with his inner eyes, and also with his bodily eyes, which, however, have been altered by God's action. Consequently theoria is union with God. And this union is knowledge of God. At this time one is granted knowledge of God, which is above human knowledge and above the senses. Orthodox Psychotherapy Section The Knowledge of God according to St. Gregory Palamas by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos published by Birth of Theotokos Monastery,Greece (January 1, 2005) ISBN 978-9607070272 In full nous in a state of ecstasy (ekstasis) called the 8th day, which is no internal or external world, no time, no space, the experience of God as infinite or limitless. Ecstasy comes when, in prayer, the nous abandons every connection with created things: first "with everything evil and bad, then with neutral things" (2,3,35;CWS p.65). Ecstasy is mainly withdrawal from the opinion of the world and the flesh. With sincere prayer the nous "abandons all created things" (2,3,35;CWS p.65). This ecstasy is higher than abstract theology, that is, than rational theology, and it belongs only to those who have attained dispassion. But it is not yet union. That is to say, the ecstasy which is unceasing prayer of the nous, in which one's nous has continuous remembrance of God and has no relation with the `world of sin' is not yet union with God. This union comes about when the Paraclete "illuminates from on high the man who attains in prayer the stage which is superior to the highest natural possibilities and who is awaiting the promise of the Father, and by His revelation ravishes him to the contemplation of the light" (2,3,35;CWS p.65). Illumination by God is what shows His union with man.Orthodox Psychotherapy Section The Knowledge of God according to St. Gregory Palamas by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos published by Birth of Theotokos Monastery,Greece (January 1, 2005) ISBN 978-9607070272 It is necessary to renounce both sense and all the workings of reason, everything which may be known by the senses or the understanding, both that which is and all that is not, in order to be able to attain in perfect ignorance to union with Him who transcends all being and all knowledge. It is already evident that this is not simply a question of a process of dialectic but of something else: a purification, a katharis, is necessary. One must abandon all that is impure and even all that is pure. One must then scale the most sublime heights of sanctity leaving behind one all the divine luminaries, all the heavenly sounds and words. It is only thus that one may penetrate to the darkness wherein He who is beyond all created things makes His dwelling. Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky, p. 27) God is beyond being (hyper-being) God is beyond nothingness. Nothingness is a gulf between God and man (God is the origin of everything including nothingness). This experience of God in hypostasis showing God's essence as incomprehensible or by definition God as uncreated. God being the origin but having no origin hence apophatic and transcendent in essence or being, cataphatic in foundationial realities, immanence and energies. This ontic or ontological Theoria being the observation of God.

It is entering the 'Cloud of Unknowing' which is beyond rational understanding, and can be embraced only in love of God (Agape or Awe). The Cappadocian fathers went beyond the intellectual contemplation of the Alexandrian fathers. This was to begin with the seminal work Philokalia, which through hesychasm leads to Phronema and finally theosis which is validated by theoria. One must move beyond gnosis to faith (meta-gnosis). Through ignorance one moves beyond knowledge and being, this contemplation being theoria. Theoria means understanding that the Uncreated can not be grasped by the logical or rational mind, but rather only by the whole person (unity between the heart and mind) this perception is by the nous. God was knowable in his manifestations but that ultimately one must transcend knowledge or gnosis (since knowledge is based on reflection). Gnosis is limited and can become a barrier between man and God. If one wishes to commune with God one must enter into the Divine filial relation with God the Father through Jesus Christ, one in ousia with the Father which results in pure faith without any preconceived notions of God. Once one reaches this point one can commune with God just as Moses did. Covered by Gregory of Nyssa in his mystical classic, The Life of Moses.

Palamas stated that this way was not a mechanized process as each person is unique, but that the apodictic way that one experiences the uncreated light or God was through contemplative prayer called hesychasm. Theoria is cultivated through each of the steps of the growing process of theosis. Gregory was initially asked by his fellow monks on Mount Athos to defend them from the charges of Barlaam of Calabria. Barlaam believed that philosophers had better knowledge of God than did the prophets, and valued education and learning more than contemplative prayer. It is important to note that Palamas taught that the truth is a person (Jesus Christ) which means a form of objective reality. In order for a Christian to be authentic he/she must experience the Truth i.e. Christ, as real and in person (see hypostasis). Gregory further asserted that when Peter, James and John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, that they were in fact seeing the uncreated light of God; and that it is possible for others to be granted to see that same uncreated light of God with the help of certain spiritual disciplines and contemplative prayer. The only true way to experience Christ, according to Palamas, was the Eastern Orthodox faith. Once a person discovers Christ (through the Orthodox church) they begin the process of theosis which is the gradual submission to the Truth i.e. God (see mortification and asceticism) in order to be deified (theosis). Theoria then is seen to be the experience of God hypostatically (in person). However, since the essence of God is unknowable the essence of God is not able to be experienced. Palamas expressed theoria as an experience of God as it happens to the whole person (soul or nous) not just the mind or body, in contrast to an experience of God that is drawn from memory, the mind and or in time (recollection of an experience) i.e. gnosis. V Lossky Vision of God pg 162-163 The vision of the uncreated light, which offers knowledge of God to man, is sensory and supra-sensory. The bodily eyes are reshaped, so they see the uncreated light, "this mysterious light, inaccessible, immaterial, uncreated, deifying, eternal", this "radiance of the Divine Nature, this glory of the divinity, this beauty of the heavenly kingdom" (3,1,22;CWS p.80). Palamas asks: "Do you see that light is inaccessible to senses which are not transformed by the Spirit?" (2,3,22). St. Maximus, whose teaching is cited by St. Gregory, says that the Apostles saw the uncreated Light "by a transformation of the activity of their senses, produced in them by the Spirit" (2.3.22). Orthodox Psychotherapy Section The Knowledge of God according to St. Gregory Palamas by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos published by Birth of Theotokos Monastery,Greece (January 1, 2005) ISBN 978-9607070272 Gnosis and all knowledge are created, as they are derived or created from experience and self awareness knowledge (spiritual knowledge). Theoria here is the actual experience of the uncreated in various degrees (i.e. the vision of God or to see God).

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