Sin and it's Relationship to Apophatic Theology

[Thatgirloncfforums]

My pastor appreciates athiesm on this score. We both are big into the 'Hidden God'.

Apophatic theology plays a certain role is as stated by John Scotus Erigena, "We do not know what God is. God Himself does not know what He is because He is not anything [i.e., "not any created thing"]. Literally God is not, because He transcends being."

St. Cyril said "For we explain not what God is but candidly confess that we have not exact knowledge concerning Him. For in what concerns God to confess our ignorance is the best knowledge."

So we can say, "God is Good." but in all honesty, we do not know what "Good" means to God. We only know what "Good" is in our very limited capacity. God is Love? Only God, in the person of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, showed was what true agape, boundless Love is, through his Death and Resurrection. All we can do is stand at the Cross, and wondering how the Immortal became Mortal and then rose from the grave.

One hymn that @The Liturgist references is this, read near the end of the Great Hours on the morning of Great Friday:

Today he who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon a Tree,
The King of the Angels is crowned with thorns.
He who wraps the heaven in clouds is wrapped in mocking purple.
He who freed Adam in the Jordan receives a slap on the face.
The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails.
The Son of the Virgin is pierced by a lance.
We bow to your passion, O Christ (bow).
We bow to your passion, O Christ (bow).
We bow to your passion, O Christ (bow).
Show us also your glorious Resurrection.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

My pastor appreciates athiesm on this score. We both are big into the 'Hidden God'.

One of the hymns to Mary reads:
O Theotokos, through you became manifest to us on earth the mystery, which was hid from eternity, and which the Angels themselves knew not: that God, uniting natures without confusion, becomes a man and accepts crucifixion for our salvation voluntarily. By virtue of this, resurrecting man whom He had first created, He saved our souls from death.

One of the things that drew me to the Orthodox church was this deep sense of the unknown. The only way we approach God is through the mystery of faith. It isn't defined and dissected by books and checklists, but lived out in everyday life.

St. Anthony and the Cobbler

Full of Grace and Truth: St. Anthony and the Cobbler

 

[jamiec]

To paraphrase the writings of Pseudo Dionysius, and Clement of Alexandria, we can't really understand, or observe the nature of God, since He's "unknowable", so it is through "unknowing" that we can begin to approach the God-Head.

So in other words, it is by unknowing the things that are not God, such as sin, that we begin to grow closer to God... This is what is known as the "Negative Way", or Apophatic Theology.
Apophatic theology - Wikipedia

I was curious if others had already contemplated these concepts, and if you have, maybe you have some opinions or additions you would like to share about understanding God the "Negative Way".

Thanks... And have a great day.

View attachment 302830
Rosa Celeste: Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest Heaven

The Cloud of Unknowing, a 14th-century English Catholic treatise, embodies the idea in its title: The Cloud of Unknowing - Wikipedia

Book: https://www.catholicspiritualdirection.org/cloudunknowing.pdf (edited by Evelyn Underhill)

Since the picture is from a 19th-century set of illustrations of Dante, it may be worth adding that the Paradiso of Dante was certainly influenced by ideas in Pseudo-Dionysius.

Has anyone mentioned Meister Eckhart (d. 1327) yet ?