S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 2 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 6 3 5 Amir Azarvan “Be a true Christian. Then you won’t leap to conclusions about anybody, but your love will ‘cover all things’. Even to a person of another religion you will always act as a Christian…You will care for a Muslim when he is need, speak to him and keep company with him… Just as Christ stands at the door and knocks and does not force an entry, but waits for the soul to accept Him freely on its own, so should we stand in the same way in relation to every soul” (Sisters of the Holy Convent of Chrysopigi 2005, 187) [emphasis included]. It should be pointed out, however, that askesis does not, in itself, assure such salutary effects. As the contemporary elder to whom Kyriacos Markides assigns the pseudonym “Fr. Maximos” explains: “There are no practical methods, no specific exercises that will guarantee that the Grace of God will automatically be bestowed upon you. There is no formula involved here. A layperson with little or no askesis, but who may have already reached the depths of humility, may be visited by Grace. You cannot buy God’s Grace through practical exercises” (Markides 2001, 208) [2]. This fact will hinder any effort to measure the effect of spirituality on political attitudes and outlook. Moreover, any particularly contemporary sample of Orthodox Christians may not provide an adequate glimpse of the transformative effects of the Threefold Way. While presumably not intending to provide a literal figure, Fr. Romanides (2008, 26) expresses the common view that it is increasingly rare to find genuinely illumined Christians: “A church sanctuary…might hold three hundred Orthodox Christians. Of that number, however, only five are in a state of illumination [i.e., fotisis], while the rest of them… have not even the slightest idea what purification [i.e. catharsis] is.” Regrettably, it is not possible to determine whether such exceptional Christians are represented in my sample. Even if they were, moreover, it should not be assumed that they hold to more correct political views, as I explain below. 2.3 Askesis, Knowledge, and Political Ideology It is argued that those who have completed the stage of catharsis not only adopt friendlier attitudes towards others, but may also attain knowledge of some sort. As Fr. John Romanides (2008, 94) notes, “if the contemporary Orthodox theologian is to acquire objectivity, he must rely on the experience of theosis”. As it is evident that not all self-professing Christians have had such an experience, this statement implies that they will differ in their level of objective knowledge. At this point, it is necessary to inquire on what sort of objectivity is imparted in the experience of theosis. Does it pertain to theological understanding, strictly understood as the knowledge of God, or to a broader theology that addresses how the believer ought to relate to her society and polity? If the latter is the case, then may we conclude that believers will differ ideologically according to how far they have advanced spiritually, such that the more advanced possess greater objective knowledge about political matters and, therefore, subscribe to ideologies that are more “correct”? It is arguable that Fr. Romanides rejects such a view: “Can we Orthodox Christians claim… that someone who possesses noetic prayer [i.e., a spiritual gift typically received prior to the experience of theosis] is obligated to be on the Left or on the Right? Of course we cannot. So the science, which we call ‘Orthodoxy’, should never be associated with politics... When it comes to questions of ideology, Orthodox Christians are primarily concerned about whether the Church has the freedom to carry out Her work, which is to heal the sick in Her care. The Church must have this freedom.” (2008, 184) Similarly, Fr. Maximos argues that a saint “is not necessarily a scientist of the external world”, and may err “on issues related to knowledge about worldly affairs” (Markides 2001, 161). After all, such a blunder would be “an intellectual mistake… not a mistake based on discernment about good and evil” (Ibid.). The sage goes on to point out that “after Pentecost, the disciples of Christ, being humble fisherman, did not all of a sudden become knowledgeable about this world” (Ibid.).
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