As the prophets saw, as the apostles taught, as he Church received, as the teachers dogmatized…as the truth was proven…so do we believe, so do we speak, so do we declare.”
(7th Ecumenical Council)
*Man can have the feeling of the presence of Divine Grace in his life; i.e. he can have spiritual experiences. *
It must be emphasized, however, that Holy Scripture does not place experience at the center of our interests but rather warns us: “Beloved, do not believe in every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God.” For this reason, the Church teaches that it is our confession of faith in Jesus Christ, and not our personal experience, which is most important. In fact, our faith is not the result of our experiences but exactly the opposite: spiritual experience is acquired as a result of belief in Christ Jesus and a sacramental life in the Church. In this way the Orthodox Christian is not in danger of falling into subjectivity and error through personal experiences.
Note that, for doubting Thomas, it was the experience of the miracle that had the utmost significance. Thomas said that he had to see the place of the nails and the place of the spear before he would believe in the Resurrection. This, however, is quickly overturned by the words of Jesus when He says: “Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.” In other words, blessed are those who do not base themselves on their own personal experience.
The Apostle Paul often said that he does not base the gospel which he preaches on his own individual experience, but on the experience of others: Peter’s, that of the twelve, that of the five hundred, James’ and the rest of the Apostles’. He refers to himself as the last of all. He says, “last of all, as one untimely born, He appeared to me,” in order to emphasize that Paul is what he is through the Grace of God. In this way St. Paul does not sever himself from the Church, nor does he base himself on his own personal experience.
Scripture warns us of false prophets and even of Satan disguised as an Angel of Light. We must know how to judge and discern the spirit of truth from the spirit of error and know genuine experiences from counterfeit experiences. Authentic spiritual experience is always a gift from God. God’s gifts to us, His offerings of love, presuppose our complete acceptance of this love. We prove our deep desire to accept God’s love by offering to Him our complete love. We must humble our mind, our flesh, together with our passions and desires and offer our entire self to God. God accepts this offering and with His Grace, He sanctifies and transforms our humble labors into the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are joy, peace patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self control and above all, love—the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit. It is from such gifts that spiritual experiences are born as so clearly evidenced in the lives of the Saints. Without this total humility on our part true spiritual experiences are not granted or are not from God. For this reason Orthodox Christians do not rely on emotional or spiritual experiences to validate faith but rather recognize that true faith produces true spiritual experiences as a gift from Holy Spirit.
Taken from The Orthodox Church, Its Faith, Worship and Life by Rev. Antonios Alevisopoulos, Dialogue Publications No. 7 of the Archdiocese of Athens, 1994.
Reflection
Ì What role do your emotions play in your worship experience?
Ì What are some of the dangers of focusing on personal (emotional) spiritual experiences?