{"id":5358,"date":"2017-06-04T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-06-04T14:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5358"},"modified":"2017-05-30T12:33:20","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T16:33:20","slug":"the-spirituality-of-the-christian-east-20170604","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5358","title":{"rendered":"The Spirituality of the Christian East &#8212; 20170604"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/transfiguration.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-3513 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/transfiguration-238x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"238\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/transfiguration-238x300.jpg 238w, https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/transfiguration.jpg 475w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 238px) 100vw, 238px\" \/><\/a>The Christian\u2019s spiritual life (life in the Spirit) is intimately connected with the Church\u2019s faith and worship. While we may consider them separately, we must know that they are essentially related, simply different aspects of the same reality. \u201cTheology\u201d (the study of God) for the Eastern Christian is not an abstract knowledge of the truth, but a knowledge flowing from a living experience of God &#8211; not from thought about Him or any logical consequences derived from intellectual analysis. Eastern Christianity does not see truth as primarily an intellectual reality deduced rationally, but as something experienced with the \u201ceyes of the Spirit.\u201d Theology that does not flow from and\/or lead to a deep union with God is merely speculation and may be dangerous and harmful.<\/p>\n<p>This is why, in the Eastern Tradition, only three saints are called \u201cthe Theologian\u201d: SS. John the Apostle and Evangelist, Gregory Nazianzen and Symeon the \u201cNew\u201d Theologian. Their writings reflect a deep personal union with God. They manifest a knowledge of the \u201cheart\u201d or \u201cspirit\u201d flowing from an experience of union with God.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, Liturgy must be understood as an experience of the divine realities &#8211; in particular a participation in the mystery of salvation. By the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ prays and acts\u00a0through His Body, the Church. As Christians participate in the Liturgy, they experience the \u201cTruth\u201d and come to \u201cknow\u201d our God by experience and participate in the life of the Trinity, which the risen Christ communicates to them in and through the Spirit. Liturgical celebrations teach us the Church\u2019s true theology. Our spirituality is a living out of this Theology, which is experienced and manifested in Liturgy. All are expressions of Tradition, and ongoing life in the Spirit, an experience of the same reality.<br \/>\nThink about this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Christian\u2019s spiritual life (life in the Spirit) is intimately connected with the Church\u2019s faith and worship. While we may consider them separately, we must know that they are essentially related, simply different aspects of the same reality. \u201cTheology\u201d (the &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5358\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-spirituality-of-the-christian-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5359,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5358\/revisions\/5359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}