THERE are two ways of living out a Christian spirituality. These are the eucharist and asceticism. They are both discussed in this book.

There is, first, a eucharistic spirituality. Through the liturgy, we participate in the life of the community, we share in the eucharist and so draw closer to God as the Church, which is the body of Christ. We enter this community though baptism, and so it is a spirituality that is open to all and is corporate in nature. Many have been helped into a deeper sharing in the worship of the Church by the writing of Alexander Schmemann. He was from a Russian background and was influenced by the liturgical theology of Nicholas Afanasiev and others. He emigrated to Paris and taught and wrote extensively on the liturgy.

Then, there is an ascetic spirituality. This is individual and personal rather than corporate. It invites us to a continuing discipline and struggle to overcome the passions and so to grow closer to God in silence and prayer. The approach is therapeutic and leads to the healing of the soul’s wounds. It is taught in the teaching of the Metropolitan of Nafpaktos in Greece, Hierotheos Vlachos. His first substantial work was entitled Orthodox Psychotherapy.

While these approaches are different, together they are contained within the Orthodox tradition of spirituality. This synthesis of the methods is explored in the writing of John Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon. He looked back to the theology of Maximos the Confessor, who wrote in the seventh century, and also to the preaching of Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas. Here, eucharist and asceticism are complementary and are the theory and practice of Orthodox spirituality. Asceticism is both a preparation and a personal living out of the corporate life of the eucharist.

Both strands of the spiritual tradition are together directed towards the goal of theosis or deification, leading to a closer likeness to God in love, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

This book shows how spirituality is described in the thought of both contemporary and traditional theologians. It gives a description of the practice of spirituality and places it within a doctrinal framework. This understanding comes from the Orthodox tradition, but has an urgent and important message for us all. The clear definitions help us to understand what we are doing when we approach God and so how we can do it better. It is a valuable contribution to the life of the Churches.

The Revd Dr John Binns is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge.

Asceticism and the Eucharist: Exploring Orthodox spirituality with Metropolitan John Zizioulas
Maxym Lysack
DLT £24.99
(978-1-913657-88-8)
Church House Bookshop £22.99