The union of human and divine wills is a concept that features abundantly in Christian spiritual literature. Yet, it gets very little hearing in most systematic works on theosis despite the fact that it offers a way of talking about the process of divinisation. I propose that the union of human and divine wills is the pinnacle of the virtue of obedience, and that the union in turn constitutes a pathway to divinization. I map this trajectory in St John of the Cross and plot his works as a vademecum on the way to deification. Finally, I consider John’s understanding of the impact of this supernatural union on the human body as well as the role of the latter in deification. Despite uncovering unexpected resources for embodied theosis in John’s writings, I also list major omissions with regards to his (reconstructed) spiritual theology concerning the body transformed by union.
The Glagolitic alphabet was intended as a political and religious tool for the Slavs in the ninth century. This paper argues that despite its quick suppression, Glagoliticarguably composed by Constantine The Philosopher (a brother of Methodius) from Thessalonikicould have been a mystical tool. The relevant historical context and hagiographical material are explored to establish the alphabet's origins. Uspenskij's distinction regarding the palaeographic and ideographic origins of scripts is then followed. A short survey of the most relevant graphic features of some letters, their arrangement in the alphabet, their names, and their possible origins is accompanied by a more in-depth discussion of some key graphemes and their mystical potential. Tschernochvostoff's theory of Glagolitic being woven upon three basic Christian symbols is elaborated on and expanded. Finally, the stunning (acrophonic) naming of the letters is shown as coding comprehensible Christian, and arguably mystical, messages in Proto-Slavic.
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