[Asceticism and Mystical Theology.doc] 

The classical vocabulary of virtue and asceticism is rare in the New Testament, possibly by design.  It is difficult to emphasize the value of human striving on the one hand, while at the same time preaching a doctrine of utter dependence on the unmerited grace of God. However, despite apparent reluctance on the part of the biblical authors to employ the traditional vocabulary of classical asceticism, the practices recommended in the New Testament are clearly derived both from Jewish religious practice and the Greco-Roman ascetical-philosophical tradition. The authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke attribute to Jesus particular emphasis on the ascetical practices of unselfconscious fasting, almsgiving, prayer, and dispossession.  However, these practices are not, as Richard Finn has noted, “linked to a personal struggle for holiness” (Finn 2009: 100); rather they are presented as the lifestyle expected of disciples who live in eager expectation of the imminent coming of God’s kingdom.  Early Christian ascetical practice was less a quest for virtue than a preparation for apocalypse (Mt 6.1-34, Lk 12.22-40).

        Prominent in the teaching of Jesus and even more so in that of St. Paul is the warning that such a lifestyle will likely result in persecution and suffering, and will thus require the virtue of patient endurance, hupomonē (Mt 5.11, 10.23; Lk 11.49; Rom 12.14; 1Th 3.4). As time passed it became increasingly clear to the Christian community that deliberate avoidance of participation in local pagan cults was itself a form of potentially-dangerous asceticism, engendering suspicion and animosity.  Such abstinence deprived Christians of the joy of participating with their neighbors in communal celebrations and effectively branded them as outsiders and dissidents.

        One result of this was the emergence of a Christian form of apocalyptic mysticism.  Already evident in the later Jewish prophets (Ezekiel, Daniel) is an emphasis that becomes even more explicit in the intertestamental Book of Enoch and the Christian Book of Revelation on what in Jewish tradition would later be called merkabah (“chariot”) mysticism: that is, ascent to the heavenly palace and vision of the throne of God.   In later Judaism the definition of “prophet” increasingly came to mean one who had seen in vision the heavenly court and the divine throne.  Within Christianity the personal and social asceticism required of the baptized came to be understood as preparation for, and even as a proleptic participation in the immanently-coming Kingom of Heaven.  Thus the asceticism of preparing for the Kingdom could yield, at least for some, the fruit of mystical vision, hinted at by St. Paul (2Cor 12.1-5) and exemplified in the Book of Revelation.

        Although moderns tend to disparage everything associated with an apocalyptic outlook, it is possible that early Christian apocalyptic asceticism may still be of value.  Much effort is expended today in denying the reality and inevitability of death.  Acknowledgement of the nearness of God’s Kingdom (for, indeed, the arrival of that kingdom through death may occur at any time) can help sharpen the individual’s awareness of the preciousness and irreplaceable nature of present opportunities and relationships

This Webpage was created for a workshop held at Saint Andrew's Abbey, Valyermo, California in 2003....x....  ’ “”.