“Some of what we experience of God still remains a mystery despite our entering into that mystery. Human logic is not able to account for how God’s ‘mystery’ could be possible for it defies human logic or scientific reasoning. It is like the Quantum world in which there are things we cannot know, uncertainties – not because we have yet to invent the mechanisms to measure them, but because they are by nature not measurable or knowable to us. There is no device which can be invented to know these things with certainty. We know of them and know their probabilities, and that is as far as we will ever be able to go. Nonetheless, they are real. They are not the “gaps” as in the God of the gaps but are a recognized part of the known universe. Christians knew of such ‘mystery’ in Christ long before Quantum mechanics began to reveal them about the observable universe. There are limits to our knowledge of the physical universe, and thus should not surprise us that there is also mystery in the spiritual order as well.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“Let us understand that we arrive at the full mystery of God by two routes: We ourselves by rational insight may come to understand and discern something of the knowledge of divine things. But when there is a certain divine self-disclosure God himself reveals his divinity to us. Some may directly perceive by this revelation something remarkable, majestic and close to truth. . . . But when we receive wisdom we apprehend what is divine both through our own rational insight and through God’s own Spirit. When we come to know what is true in the way this text intends, both these ways of knowing correspond.” (Marius Victorinus)
“I know many things but I do not know how to explain them. I know that God is everywhere and I know that He is everywhere in His whole being. But I do not know how He is everywhere. I know that He is eternal and has no beginning. But I do not know how. My reason fails to grasp how it is possible for an essence to exist when that essence has received its existence neither from itself nor from another. I know that He begot a Son. But I do not know how. I know that the Spirit is from Him. But I do not know how the Spirit is from Him.” (St. John Chrysostom)
“You have to break a nut to eat the kernel, that which is tasty and nutritious. The Lord doesn’t reveal his mysteries to everyone and doesn’t cast pearls before swine. This is why, when he spoke to people about his kingdom, he told them parables. Those who had the spiritual wherewithal understood them and were illumined by the truth. When seeds fall into the ground, you think they rot and are lost. But, through the force that God’s put into them, they sprout and grow and produce in large quantities. The same’s true of the seeds of the divine word. They’re sown in all human hearts, but sprout only in those which are fertile.” (Saint Theophan the Recluse)
“…God does not answer to human reason. And He is not obligated to human logic…Our human understanding is no match for the wisdom of God. If that is troubling for us, perhaps it is because we rely on our own paltry comprehension. If we are, then we might remind ourselves of Paul’s words, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness” (1 Corinthians 3:19; Job 5:13). Yet from another perspective, it is comforting to know that God has His own reasons. We are not in charge. Though we cannot fully understand God’s plan, He has the world—and our own destiny—in His hands.” (Fr. Basil)
“If you would enter into the mystery, then, like Christ Himself, you must become small, weak, poor, misunderstood, and willing to be broken. You cannot know Him if you refuse to be like Him. This is the only path that is truly Christian. Outside the mystery, there is nothing to be known, nothing that will save.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“And what do we make of the changing of the water into wine? Our limited ability as human beings is contravened by the grace and love of Christ our God. The Lord Jesus discloses His desire to transform our earthly relationships into life-giving, heavenly bonds filled with His Spirit. As God incarnate, He turns life-events into holy mysteries.” (Dynamis 4/27/2020) “The idea of sacramentality is, of course, larger than a discussion of the sacraments themselves…Sacramentality is the God-given ability of the physical world to participate in God’s life and make it present to us…the bread and wine, and other elements of our created world—for example, human existence as male and female—do not only point to mystery, but participate in and make present solid realities not normally seen.” (Edith M. Humphrey) “To a meek and humble person is given to know the mystery of everything that surrounds us. Such a person has a spiritual understanding of all things. He has a more profound understanding than those who have spent years studying the wisdom of the world.” (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica) “Entering into the mystery of our Lord is not to become detached from reality and act like some spiritual guru. It is not to see a dichotomy in the spiritual and material and shun the latter in any way. Rather, it is to live in material reality more fully aware of spiritual reality, to see them as completely integrated, and to be more fully present every moment. It is to experience the extraordinary in the ordinary. It is to love others with a deeper love; to experience the simple things in life with deep joy; to purposely suffer with and on behalf of others with awareness that God is always present; to perform the daily tasks of everyday life in love and service understanding that in doing so that we are working our salvation (Philippians 2:12) and fulfilling our purpose in Christ.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“God is beyond and above the entire creation, the greatest mystery of all mysteries, yet He is at the same time everywhere present and fills all things.” (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware)
“God is a mystery to all beings. God is in us, and that is why we are a mystery to our own selves. God reveals Himself only to the meek and humble. He is present everywhere, and He is a mystery. We may learn a little about Him, or may gather some knowledge from nature, but for the most part, we are surrounded by mystery.” (Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica)
“It is a common mistake to treat the New Testament itself as the revelation of God, or the collection of the information newly revealed through Christ. We historicize Christ’s work as a set of teachings, an assemblage of theological information that we may now discuss, dissect and comprehend, rendering into nothing more than religion. However, the New Testament (and the fullness of the Church) have the mystery within them, and must be encountered first as mystery before they can be acquired as knowledge.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“The mystery of the Church should not be considered as something which is simply unknown, such as who committed the murder in a detective novel, but as something which, even though we may know parts of it and have some partial understanding, is in its fullness unknowable – beyond the powers of the human mind to grasp. This does not downplay the role of human knowledge and understanding but simply recognizes its limitations…In the proper religious sense of the term, “mystery” signifies not only hiddenness but disclosure...“in the Christian context, we do not mean by “mystery” merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we can never understand exhaustively…(Archpriest Lawrence Cross, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware)
“In Christianity, mystery is not something to be solved. It’s not a great puzzle we need to figure out. Rather, it is something to be lived. We live the life the Church teaches us to live and mystery becomes something revealed to our hearts through our ever deepening encounter and relationship with God. Thus we acquire true knowledge through continual revelation.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
"In popular usage, the word mystery has become synonymous with puzzle. Thus a mystery is something we do not know, but something that, with careful investigation is likely to be revealed. In the Church, mystery is something which by its very nature is unknown, and can only be known in a manner unlike anything else.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“...imagination is a power of perception, a light that illumines the mystery that is hidden beneath visible reality: it is a power to help “see” into the very nature of things.” (Vigen Guroian)
“...the process by which a human being attains full maturity includes not only psychological development and moral growth but religious conversion, and, finally, mystical participation in the Divine Life.” (George MacDonald)
“Protect your childlike ability to wonder and stand in amazement—be open to mystery. Today, let the power of the disciplines of the Faith open your heart to true adoration. Let’s worship the Holy Trinity.” (Father Barnabas Powell)
“Man is the creature with a mystery in his heart that is bigger than himself.” (Hans Urs von Balthasar)
“In the proper religious sense of the term, “mystery” signifies not only hiddenness but disclosure...“in the Christian context, we do not mean by “mystery” merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we can never understand exhaustively…” (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware)
“The mystery of the Church should not be considered as something which is simply unknown, such as who committed the murder in a detective novel, but as something which, even though we may know parts of it and have some partial understanding, is in its fullness unknowable – beyond the powers of the human mind to grasp. This does not downplay the role of human knowledge and understanding but simply recognizes its limitations." (Archpriest Lawrence Cross)
“The mysteries of God are not information to be acquired: they are saving knowledge. Thus, when we draw near to the question of the final disposition of all things, we rightly regard it as a mystery. It is a mystery that we are, in fact, encouraged to enter. The mystery is not there simply to say, “None of your business.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“God will not prevent us from tossing aside the claims and the presence of the Lord Jesus in our lives. He allows us full freedom to set up our standards of evaluation – to reduce the size of the playing field, if you will, in order to prove what pleases us. The end result is a life based on materialism, self-indulgence, and the passions. If God becomes merely another hypothesis, where do we find the mystery that fulfills life?” (Dynamis 4/27/2014)
“Our culture has filled our heads but emptied our hearts, stuffed our wallets but starved our wonder. It has fed our thirst for facts but not for meaning or mystery. It produces "nice" people, not heroes.” (Peter Kreeft)
“We must experience life as Job did—one day at a time and without complete answers to all of life’s questions. Will we, like Job, trust God no matter what? Or will we give in to the temptation to say that God doesn’t really care?” (Life Application Study Bible, Job 1:1)
“What defines this consensus, above all—what distinguishes orthodoxy from heresy, the central river from the delta—is a commitment to mystery and paradox. Mysteries abide at the heart of every religious faith, but the Christian tradition is uniquely comfortable preaching dogmas that can seem like riddles, offering answers that swiftly lead to further questions, and confronting believers with the possibility that the truth about God passes all our understanding.” (Ross Douthat)
“Christians themselves have been much to blame for the misunderstanding on these matters. They have a bad habit of talking as if revelation existed to gratify curiosity by illuminating all creation so that it becomes self-explanatory and all questions are answered.” (C. S. Lewis)
“At times we humans playfully indulge in deep questions or dawdle in idle speculation. Some of us devote weeks and months to profound soul-searching, reading and discussing the great issues. However, it is suffering which forces us to meditate on issues of ultimate meaning. Pain thrusts questions into our consciousness concerning the purpose of life, the nature of God, and our relationship with Him.” (OCPM 6/20/2016)
“The enormous size of the universe and the insignificance of the earth were known for centuries, and no one ever dreamed that they had any bearing on the religious question. Then, less than a hundred years ago, they are suddenly trotted out as an argument against Christianity. And the people who trot them out carefully hush up the fact that they were known long ago.” (C. S. Lewis)
“....it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers for every question, but to progressively make us aware of mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as He is the cause of our awe.” (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Albert S. Rossi)
“Mystery is not magic. Mystery is the gracious movement of the Holy Spirit..." (Father Wilbur Ellsworth)
"I’m tired of playing by that dull and pedestrian set of rules, which has everything to do with a litigious, factoid-hungry culture and nothing to do with following Jesus. I don’t come to church for evidence or for a closing argument. I come to experience the presence of God, to sense the mystery of things eternal, and to learn a way of life that makes no sense to those stuck sniffing around for proof.” (Lillian Daniel)
"Perhaps the single greatest genius of…Christian spirituality is the ability to live in the"both/and” which is another way of saying,"mystery"...To live in the"both/and” means to live in the intersection of apparent paradox or at the very least complementarity. It is accepting the reality that something can be this and that all at the same time and not insisting that it be either/or. The predominantly scientific-rationalist worldview of western civilization has a very difficult time understanding and embracing this reality. Yet it is the one thing that modern society yearns for although we do not always realize it.” (Father Thomas Loya)
"In theology we use our reasoning brain, because that is a gift from God. But always we recognize that in theology we are working on something that lies beyond our reasoning brain, because it is mystery." (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware)
#MetropolitanKallistosWare #AlbertSRossi #FatherWilburEllsworth #LillianDaniel #MetropolitanKallistosWare #ArchpriestLawrenceCross #PeterKreeft #RossDouthat #CSLewis #FatherStephenFreeman #VigenGuroian #GeorgeMacDonald #FatherBarnabasPowelll #HansUrsvonBalthasar #ElderThaddeusofVitovnica #SacramentalLivingMinistries #FatherStephenFreeman #Dynamis #EdithMHumphrey #FrTedBobosh #MariusVictorinus #StJohnChrysostom #SaintTheophantheRecluse #FrBasil