The discernment of spirits, to which the apostle John the Theologian calls us, is above all a differentiation of words, for not only did the word, with the world and all creation, fall, but the fall of the world began precisely with the perversion of the word. Through the word entered that lie whose father is the devil. The poison of this lie consists in the fact that the word itself remained the same, so that when man speaks of “God,” “unity,” “faith,” “piety,” “love,” he is convinced that he knows of what he is speaking, whereas the fall of the word lies precisely in that it inwardly became “other,” became a lie about its own proper meaning and content. The whole falsehood and the whole power of this falsehood lie in the fact that he made the same words into words about something else, he usurped them and converted them into an instrument of evil and that, consequently, he and his servants in “this world” always speak in a language literally stolen from God.
Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist Sacrament of the Kingdom: Sacrament of the Kingdom
I will hopefully get to summarising this chapter soon, although I really don’t know how I’ll manage to doing that reasonably concisely, for it is just so dense, deep, penetrating, challenging and, well, really just amazing. There are no doubt people who will write me off as heretical for being a Schmemann fan, and there are other people who I wish would read him and probably never will. And I realise that had I read this book five years ago, it would have made things if not easier, then at least have a lot clearer.
A vow of conversation 
July 28, 2010 at 4:40 pm
May GOD Bless!!!Mark
July 28, 2010 at 11:22 pm
It has been my contention for a while now that the Cistercian tradition is so close to an Orthodox understanding of spirituality and even liturgy. As you likely know Sr. Jean Marie Howe (a Cistercian in New Brunswick) seems to have been deeply influenced by Orthodox writers like Olivier Clement and also Placide Deseille. (She has 2 lovely small books – the second of which I think is her masterpiece, a retreat she preached at the request of Andre Louf in France.)
You might be interested in Thomas Merton’s review of the book you note above. He was profoundly affected by it. And by Orthodox spirituality itself. You can read about that in Merton & Hesychasm, published by Fons Vitae.
Here’s a wonderful link to a 2-part article by an Orthodox monk/priest (Professor of Theology at Marquette) on Mysticism and Liturgy, which you might love. I’ve read it several times since finding it on the web, before I took the plunge and joined the Orthodox. Look down the link for Alexander Golitzin and the article above:
https://kenbaker.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/using-the-internet-at-bible-college-2/
The article is so dense, so well-written. You will likely want to read it more than once. (Fr. Golitzin was surprised anyone had read it, let alone read it more than once! I gratefully pass it along.)
Streams are converging. The Holy Spirit is at work.
July 28, 2010 at 11:41 pm
I had no idea when I wrote the above that you too are joining the Orthodox. I honestly think that once one begins to truly follow a trail….
July 29, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Thera,
Thanks for your comments. I read something by Sr Jean Marie Howe quite a long time ago, and remember being very impressed by it, but can’t remember now what it was or much about it – that’s sometimes a problem, I get influenced by things, but forget the details, and how I got there!
Earlier this year I read something by Merton on Schmemann (in which he said, among other things, that Catholics should be paying more attention to him than to Schillebeeckx) in an old issue of Monastic Studies and since reading this book have been planning to look it up again when I’m next in the monastery library where I saw it. I’m not sure if it’s the same thing, but I’ll look this up too when I’m with friends who’re likely to have this book.
And thanks for the reference to Fr Alexander’s article… will get there soon!
July 30, 2010 at 10:15 am
Yes, Merton’s book review was originally published in Monastic Studies 4 (Advent 1966: 105-115). In case you want to return to that.
And the easiest way to get a synthesis of Sr. Jean Marie’s contribution to spirituality is simply to read the English portion of her monastery’s website. While it does not credit “her” – I assure you it is the fruit of her many years of monastic life (she was their Abbess for maybe 20 years or more):
http://trappistine.org/english/index.html
For me personally it was her concept of “Spiritual Priesthood” (which I would say is another term for “theosis”), which was like a lightening bolt when I read it nearly 4 years ago. But click on “Capacity for God” and “Immersion in Christ” as well. It takes very little time to read the fruit and the kernel of her wisdom – and that, for me, is the proof that this woman has “got it”! (To put it in practice, that’s another story… What I love about Orthodoxy, of course, is that this type of spirituality is FOR ALL – not just for monastics!)
A recent lightening bolt, for me, was to read in that same book on Merton how Kallistos Ware was profoundly influenced by a concept (and quote) he read in Merton – the “point of nothingness”:
http://wisdom4nothing.blogspot.com/2009/10/merton-on-nothingness.html
And that caused me to nearly fall off my chair, for that, Nothingness, was my own term for an “understanding” that came to me – and led to starting that (tiny) personal blog. That lecture by Ware is titled: “How do we enter the heart, and what do we find when we enter?”
The following link provides a bit more context for Merton’s quote (in the midst of my own pondering):
http://wisdom4nothing.blogspot.com/2009/12/be-transformed-by-renewal-of-your-mind.html
And Father Alexander’s article was also like a puzzle piece, falling into place.
Blessings upon you as you pursue your path. Sr. Jean Marie makes it so clear that each one must find their own personal “capacity” for God – and having found it, must pursue that as it evolves. She is also convinced of the necessity for living icons (she doesn’t use that term) who assist us by their very Presence. Yes!
Unknown even to us sometimes (in my view), these people almost “pull us” into that “nothingness” place within:
http://wisdom4nothing.blogspot.com/2009/07/it-is-just-ordinary-grayish-rock.html
I can see you’re on the trail… (I’m just dropping some stones to follow, in case they’re of help.)
July 29, 2010 at 3:56 pm
P.S. I’ve just looked at that link and it looks amazing – not just the article you mentioned, but other things too. Thanks!
August 3, 2010 at 8:45 pm
I have often wondered why Merton did not become Orthodox.
August 4, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Jen Juliana,
I’m not aware that it was ever really an issue for him. Although he was certainly attracted to the East, sought to reach back to the common tradition of East and West, and unite both within himself (there’s a famous quote on that that I can’t find now), he seemed to assume that he could do that as a Catholic. It’s a not uncommon position for Catholics in the monastic tradition, especially of his generation. And I have quite a bit of sympathy with it, only it didn’t work for me…
August 6, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Actually Merton was trying to unite MANY traditions within himself. Even mystical paths outside Christianity. Here are a couple of quotes from Merton and Hesychasm (p. 164):
Basil Pennington quotes Merton from a talk in Calcutta:
[true dialogue between the different traditions] “must be reserved for those who have entered with full seriousness into their own monastic tradition and are in authentic contact with the past of their own religious community — besides being open to the tradition and to the heritage of experience belonging to other communities.”
And this published comment:
“Such a man is fully ‘Catholic’ in the best sense of the word. He has a unified vision and experience of the one truth shining out in all its various manifestations, some clearer than others, some more definite and certain than others. He does not set these partial views up in opposition to each other but unifies them in a dialectic or insight of complementarity.”
So Merton apparently was holding different perspectives in a kind of paradoxical tension – which is certainly the mark of a creative and gifted individual. This is not something everyone is capable of. (Nor might even he have been capable of it – had he been living now – with his great insight, intuitive grasp, and spiritual sensitivity. This latter in IMVHO.)