Andrew

“Saint Gregory Palamas discusses proper attitude and its effect on behavior: As long as we are faithful to the ways of salvation, our mind is at one with itself and with God, the first and highest Mind. Whenever we open the door to the passions, immediately it is dispersed, wandering continually among fleshly and earthly things, all kinds of pleasures and passionate thoughts about them. The wealth of the mind is prudence [phronesis] which stays with it, discerning between what is better and what is worse, for as long as the mind itself stays obedient to the commandments and counsels of the heavenly Father. Once the mind rebels, prudence is dispersed in fornication and foolishness, shared out between both evils.12”
― Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

“The Orthodox Church does not offer exact definitions and explanations for theological mysteries. The Orthodox Church has always preferred apophatic theology, that is, expressing what God is not, since God is beyond description.”
― Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

“Western theologians who disagree with aspects of their church’s teaching or practice mostly remain dedicated to their particular church with a hope and expectation that they can influence it, change it, or reform it. By contrast, the true Orthodox theologian does not try to change, develop, or improve the Orthodox Church but seeks to conform his own mind to the mind of Christ and the Church, to achieve a deeper understanding of what has already been received.”
― Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

“Theology in the East is based not on discursive thought but on “knowledge that stems from the vision of God.”16 The Western approach is fundamentally intellectual; the Eastern is fundamentally spiritual.”
― Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou, Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind