Information AboutTheoria |
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Theoria (Greek '''''') is Greek for Contemplation or perception of Beauty as a Moral faculty ( OED ). From within Eastern Orthodox theology it is "the vision of God" and '''theoria''' then also takes on a number of meanings that pertain to union with God (''theo-'') and Holiness , the quintessential goals of Christianity (see the Philokalia ). The word has its history in the Greek language as being akin to the word and or the rational mind (dianoia). Theoria is beyond knowledge or Gnosis . Much as reading about an experience leads to a different set of conclusions and understanding then if one relates to reading about an experience that they have already had. The theoria is the understanding of the later. Theoria is akin to acting by Freewill and by conscious choice rather than deterministically. It states that, one moves through time into the future without knowing, but proceeds by faith (faith is metagnosis or beyond knowledge). Putting the actual experience above memory ( Anamnesis ) or knowledge of the experience. As a contemplation of now rather the past and beyond this, then being the contemplation of three hypostasises of God. The Trinity who, in one nature or essence is incomprehensible, hence three realities of the single God at once. Each reality or hypostasis critical to the Ontology of being or existence. ORTHODOX THEOLOGY Alexandrian tradition It is the knowledge of God in creation and of sensible things and thus their Contemplation ''intellectually'' to the Origen or Alexandrian school of thought (150-400AD) (see Clement Of Alexandria , Origen and Evagrius Ponticus ) which then leads to communion with God akin to Divine Providence . Cappadocian tradition To the Cappadocian school of thought (see Saint Basil , Saint Gregory Of Nyssa , and Saint Gregory Nazianzus ) (350-400AD) theoria is the experience of the highest or absolute truth when one is in complete union with God. It is the penetration of the divine darkness or cloud of unknowning, beyond rational understanding. The Cappadocian fathers going beyond the intellectual contemplation of the Alexandrian fathers. This was to start the beginning of the seminal work the Philokalia , which through Hesychasm leads to Phronema and finally Theosis which is validated by Theoria . Ignorance of gnosis, being faith (metagnosis). Ignorance being how one precedes beyond knowledge and being, this contemplation being theoria. Theoria understanding that the uncreated can not be grasped by the logical or rational mind. But rather can be grasped by the whole person and or perceived by the nous. Dionysius the Areopagite apophatism With the tradition of St Dionysus The Areopagite theoria is the lifting up of the individual out of time and space and created being while the Triune God reaches down (or condescends) to the hesychast. The individual being brought into the presents of the hypostasises of God, this place being called the 8th Day . One ''cultivates'' the highest form of contemplation and the experience of the 8th day by attending the Orthodox liturgical services. The services being the applications of the sacriments. This experience which is the only way to attain the true knowledge of the living God, by the living person. This experience is the vision of God or theoria to the Apophatic theology of the St. Dionysian tradition within Eastern Orthodoxy. V Lossky Vision of God pg 123 "Knowledge is limited to what exists: now, as the cause of all being, God does not exist (The Divine Names, I, 1, col.588) or rather He is superior to all oppositions between being and non-being. St Macarius of Egpyt In the theological tradition of St ) The Hesychast controversy Under St Gregory Palamas (1296 - 1359AD) the different traditions of theoria where synthesized into theoria meaning that one through baptism receives the Holy Spirit. Through the sacraments of the church and works of faith cultivates a relationship with God. If one then through kenosis is devotional (humility) akin to the Theotokos and proceeds in faith past the point of rational contemplation one can experience God. Palamas stated that this way was not a mechanized process and each person was again unique but that the Apodictic way that one experienced the Uncreated Light or God was through contemplative prayer called Hesychasm . Theoria being cultivated through each of the steps of the growing process of Theosis . 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 Christianity to be authentic one must experience the truth or Christ, as a reality (see Hypostasis ). Each person individually. The only true way to discover 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 of the individual to the truth or God (see Kenosis ) in order to be deified (theosis). Theoria then being to see or experience God Hypostatically (in person). Since God is unknowable in Essence (God's essence is not obtained in truth by Gnosis ) thus the incomprehensibility or Essence of God can not be accessed or experienced. Vladimir Lossky expressed theoria as an experience of God as it happens to the whole person not just the mind or body, in contrast to an experience of God that is drawn from memory or the mind i.e. Gnosis .V Lossky Vision of God pg 162-163 Gnosis here as experience knowledge, theoria as the actual experience (vision or to see God) itself.V Lossky Vision of God pg 162-163 EASTERN ORTHODOX TRADITION Theoria appears in a variety of contexts.
THEORIA IN WESTERN TRADITIONS ''Theoria'' covers a broad range of inherent Western Christian concepts that are treated separately in Catholic tradition. These concepts include:
There is no inclusive term in common use for all these things considered together in the Western tradition, but like the Eastern tradition they are founded in the universal Christian understanding that Jesus lives in us and that we participate in the life of Jesus. SEE ALSO
QUOTES 'We ought at all times to wait for the enlightenment that comes from above before we speak with a faith energized by love; for the illumination which will enable us to speak. For there is nothing so destitute as a mind philosophising about God, when it is without Him'." Of "Spiritual Knowledge" Discourse number 7 Philokalia volume 1 pg 254 — St Diadochos Of Photiki BIBLIOGRAPHY
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