Mystical Elements in Early Greek Christianity

Why did early Greek Christians combine Jewish and Greek philosophies?

To teach how human beings can experience God and move toward a direct contact with the divine.

What did the New Testament proclaim?

Christ was divine and Christ was present and active in the world

How did the Early Christians show different understandings of Christ’s divinity?

Through Christian documents

• led to forms of early spirituality and mysticism

What were some major early Christian spiritual themes?

Christian perfection, divinization, contemplation, knowledge, the vision of God, Divine birth in the sacraments, likeness to god, encountering god in prayer, perfection in prayer, union with god, Following Christ/Imitation of Christ

What is Christian Perfection?

How to attain the ideal Christian life

What is Divinization (theosis)?

• becoming like God through Christ

• Human person participates in divine life

• Central theme in Greek Christianity

What is Contemplation and Contemplative prayer?

Deep prayer leading to union with God

What is Gnosis (Knowledge)?

• knowledge as spiritual insight

• not the same as Gnostic heresy, but knowledge illuminated by Christ

What is Vision of God?

Experiencing God through spiritual sight

What is Divine Birth in Sacraments

• Sacraments understood as birth into divine life.
  
  

What is Likeness to God?

• Restoring the image and likeness lost through sin.
  
  

Encountering God in Prayer

• Prayer as direct contact with God.
  
  

Perfection of Prayer

• Growth from vocal prayer → contemplation → union.
  
  

Union with god

• The ultimate goal of mysticism.
  
  

Imitation of Christ

The central theme uniting all forms of early Greek mysticism.

In Greek Fathers: following Christ involved:

• Exegetical dimensions (interpretation of Scripture)

• Doctrinal dimensions (theology)

• Sacramental dimensions

Affected both individual and communal life.

What was essential for understanding mysticism in the Greek Fathers?

Recognizing the presence of God in Jesus Christ. (foundation)

Why is Christ the foundation?

Christ brought the Gospel orally → later fixed into written documents.

What did the first Christian communities do?

Accepted writings about Christ (Gospels, etc.).

Applied a Christological interpretation to the Old Testament.

What did the first Christian communities accept as scripture?

Books about Christ (New Testament) and the Old Testament are read with a Christological interpretation.

New testament= Fulfillment

Old testament= Promise

• need the community (church)

Why is mysticism ecclesial?

Biblical texts have spiritual, hidden, mystical meanings

These meanings are understood in the Church, not individually.

What is the relationship between the Old and New Testaments?

Old Testament = promise; New Testament = fulfillment.

When did Christianity become an organized religious entity?

By the end of the 2nd century AD.

What did early Christian communities share across the empire?

Common leadership (bishops), sacraments, liturgy, and tradition.

What major historical factor affected early Christianity?

Roman persecution.

By late 100s AD:

• Christianity appears as a structured religious entity in the Roman Empire.

Who destroyed the First and Second Temples?

First Temple (587 BC): Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar.

Second Temple (70 AD): Romans under Titus.

Who funded the Second Temple?

The Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.

What was the Roman name for the region of Israel/Judah?

Syria-Palestina (“land of the Philistines”).

Who were the Sicarii?

Jewish guerrilla fighters (men & women) who resisted Roman forces using short swords.

What happened after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD?

Jews were expelled, and Romans built a pagan temple (Aelia Capitolina) on the temple site.

What did the Jewish Council of Jamnia (90 AD) do?

Excommunicated Jewish Christians from attending synagogues.

608 AD

Early Christian warnings about dangers in Israel (teacher referenced Jesus warning Christians to flee).

How did early Christians in Rome challenge Roman society?

By opposing lax morality and showing good citizenship, upright living, and philosophical reasoning. (also polytheism)

Factors Shaping Christian Identity

Roman Persecution

Jewish hostility after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 AD)

Internal debates with Judaism and Greek philosophy

What did Christians believe philosophy contained?

Truths about God also found in Socrates and Plato.

When were Christian writings mainly defensive of the faith?

125–200 AD.

What two terms described Christian belief & community structure?

• Catholic – universal

• Orthodox – right belief

What is Gnosticism?

A mythology teaching that:

• matter and the human body are evil

• an inferior creator made the world

• Transcendent God created pure soul

• only a special class of people possess “knowledge” for salvation

What did the Christian tradition emphasize against Gnosticism?

Salvation in Jesus Christ as fully God and fully human.

• Matter and body are good

• Christ becomes the model for union with God

Who was Justin Martyr and what did he teach? (100-165AD)

A philosopher who converted to Christianity; defended the goodness of the human body and insisted on the distinction between the created and divine realms.

Justin Martyr quoted:

“If the world is begotten, souls are also necessarily begotten by God.”

(Dialogue 5,1)

What did Justin Martyr teach?

Taught:

• The world and human soul depend on God.
  
  

• Created realm distinct from divine realm.
  
  

• Soul is capable of divinization, but not innately divine.
  
  

What did St. Clement of Alexandria contribute? (150-215 AD)

First to write about vision, divinization, and union.

He taught that knowledge is a gift of Christ and divinization occurs through contemplation and action.

Clement of Alexandria quoted:

Famous teaching:

“The Word of God became man so that you may learn from man how man may become God.”

Quoted Scripture:

Psalm 81:6

Luke 20:36 (“equal to angels” → “simple men divinized”)

Who is St. Irenaeus of Lyons (130-203 AD)?

• Major mystical theologian.
  
  

Emphasized seeing Jesus Christ as seeing God the Father.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons quoted:

• Famous quote:
  
  
  “The glory of God is a living man, and the life of a human being is the vision of God.”
  
  
  

What did St. Irenaeus of Lyons defended?

• Reality of the Incarnation (Christ took real human nature from Mary)
  
  

• Goodness of matter/body
  
  

• Opposed Gnostic rejection of the body.

What did Origen do?

One of the greatest biblical exegetes; studied original languages and wrote critical Old Testament texts.

What is an exegete?

A scholar who studies scripture in its original languages to interpret it accurately.

Origen backstory:

Born in Alexandria, father Leonides died as a martyr.

Lived as a philosopher + ascetic.

Traveled widely (Rome, Athens, Arabia, Syria Palestine).

Ordained priest in Caesarea, where he taught and wrote until death.

What are the three categories of spiritual work did Origen do?

1. Textual scholarship
   
   

   • Produced the Hexapla:
     
     

     • A massive 6-column critical edition of the Old Testament.
       
       

2. Preaching
   
   

   • Taught moral and spiritual meaning of the Bible during liturgy.
     
     

3. Commentaries
   
   

   • Verse-by-verse exploration of spiritual meaning.

What are the techniques Origen used?

Typology

(e.g., Moses as a type of Christ)

Allegory

“The words... are mystical; they are to be explained in allegorical mysteries.” (on Genesis 10:1)

What are the core affirmations of Early Greek Christianity?

All Greek Fathers emphasized:

Christ is truly divine and truly human, co-eternal with the Father.

Matter is good, created by God.

Christ is the model and teacher for uniting the soul with God.

The only way to the vision of God is through Christ the Redeemer.

Christian mysticism → rooted in Scripture, Church, and Christ.