Lesson Ten: More on the Three Paths

Towards Understanding the Orthodox Way, by Archpriest Symeon Elias - 1996

Based on observations by Met. Anthony (Khrapovitsky).

Every human is a defacto "theologian" whether one intends to speculate on theological principles or not. One cannot function without it. Whether one's foundational beliefs are well thought out or a mish-mash lazily gathered from the culture, it is still a theological foundation. Whether one believes that some accidental force caused the Universe of THINGS, or Sam, the dog, is giving you instructions and guiding your life and behavior, you are theologizing. Understanding that it is impossible to escape the necessity of theologizing, that it is the burden of the theist, deist, atheist, agnostic, and idiot, the Taoist, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and Jew, this book will shed light on "how" we theologize, and the reason for it. This "theologizing" is no small matter because it forms the basis for our actions, all of them, because it forms the ideas, mythologies, superstitions, errors, delusions, illusion, and reality upon which we think and make decisions. It is the framework of our good actions and even our rebellions. The nature of our foundational "theology" influences every aspect of our living, even if we think we are making it up as we go.

Outline of the First Path:
To strangle every thought and expression of theology/spirituality under the pretense of "standing fast in received tradition." It seems easy to fight theological errors by refusing to theologize at all. By dying in the "letter" and never experiencing the reality of the Holy Spirit. The prophets of Israel had spoken under the anointing of the Holy Spirit; the great Psalmists, Moses, David and others had spoken eternal worship into being, this also by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees kept the letter of the law of Moses, they had spent their entire lives in service to the "ritual" and “exactness” of Hebrew religion and the study of the Scriptures and yet Jesus mocked them saying, "Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life . . " This is the dead letter of Tradition, where customs are kept just because they are handed down, not because they are healing and experienced anew in each generation. 

This first path includes thoughtlessly and/or fearfully following the culture of our parents, and/or our parents religious and family traditions, where fear of failure rules, or simple fear of the unknown causes us to cling to the known, without objective analysis of it. It may seem to be no theology at all, but it still requires us to act or not to act according to some foundation of mythology and/or emotion. It is this first path that causes the answer, "I don't know. It's just the way it is done." or "That's just the way it is" or "That's the way it's supposed to be." To someone on the first path, such pronouncements seem self-evident, since it is the sum total of their experience and knowledge.

This is the theology born of the Sickness of Religion. It is a fearful path where the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit is not known, and fear (sin) blocks the view of the Light so one lives in fear (sin) and clings to what is "known," fearing to question anything, fearing and abhorring free and/or original thought. Creativity is killed, the human spirit is dying, and one awaits in blessed hope of "release" at death, maybe accompanied with hope in a mythological vision of heaven.

Outline of the Second Path:
To release the restraints of the human spirit, to allow reason, or (Psyche) soul to predominate and distort the true image and have theology degenerate along the reductionist, rationalist, deconstructionist path - or along the romantic, dreamy and passionate one, the path of the soul unchecked and un-transfigured, "psychic" and not "pneumatic."
These two, the rational and the romantic, represent two sides of the same coin of Western Captivity - Rational Theology and Romantic Spirituality. Rational Theology has lead to the various absurdities like the Jesus Seminar, deconstructionist rational theology, scientific hermanutics, the total demythologization of the Scriptures and Tradition; and its polar opposite, Romantic Spirituality ultimately leading to Charismaticism, Spiritualism, Sophianism, even Satanism, (or some such rational or passionate spirituality) one's own unconquered passions being in control of the soul's searching and expression.

Outline of the Third Path:
This path is Royal, (Royal, of the Reign of the King) and avoids the errors of the other two. It does not fear reason, or prayers, or Mysteries, as rationalism does, or humanity as monophysitism and humanism does, nor does it drink the vine of passions and emotions that can sometimes pass as "religious piety," becoming a sort of pacifier or narcotic. This path consists of actually living the Tradition, applying it to oneself in the Synergistic living of Life in the Holy Spirit. It is that reality when the Spirit becomes alive to us and in us and we cannot see again as we once saw, we cannot hear again as we once heard, etc. It is an organic, biological, spiritual healing, creating a change of perception, where the spiritual eye has opened and ALL experience takes on a new and "alive" dimension. In this is true devotion, true creativity, true art, true liberty, true family life, true worship, etc., etc., etc..

Those who faithfully pass down The Faith, once and for all given unto the saints, carefully keeping Tradition for the sake of the next generation and for those seeking the faith, do so, not because Tradition is handed down, but because they themselves have found healing/LIFE in it. People who are alive to the Third Path, are viewed in ignorance by the people of the second path, because both the Rationalizers and the Romanticizers see third path people as heel-dragging fearful people of the first path. Their eyes being blind to the third possibility; third-Path keeping of Tradition is viewed as first path slavish religion, to them in their rational and spiritual pride the keeping of Tradition is just fear and ignorance.


People who are alive to the Third Path, are viewed in fear (sin) by the people of the first path. The people of the first path cannot distinguish between the Rationalizers and Romanticizers and the people of the Third Path. For them they are all "dangerously out there" and not "in the fold." From their perspective we all look the same. So the person of the Royal Path, The Way, is viewed with suspicion by the liberal theologian, the rational scientist, the rational philosopher, the radical fundamentalist religionist, the radical traditionalists of both the West and East, the fearful Protestant Denominationalist, the hell fire (romantic) Pentecostal, the spiritualist and spiritual scientists, the secular psychologist, and new age experimenters. Saint Symeon the New Theologian said of people alive on the Royal Path, “how can others understand when they have not drunk this cup.”

The person on the Royal Path has not entered some dreamy state of “spirituality,” some foggy place of meditation, some disconnect holiness, rather they become, in a way impossible to put into words, in communion with "reality" i.e. Truth - not a concept but a person - God in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. The power of this perception of reality, frees one to minister to, by comfort and challenge all not on the royal path and our fellow travelers on the royal path as well - because such people are alive to the creative spirit of God and exercise Wisdom beyond their own capabilities. And because the person on The Way does not fear reason, or prayers, or Mysteries, as rationalism does, or humanity, as monophysitism and humanism do, nor does he/she drink the vine of passions and emotions that can sometimes pass as "religious experience and piety"; then by the power of the Holy Spirit their ministry (the ministry of the Holy Spirit) is intelligent beyond rationalism, using reason as a tool. It is human, using our True Humanity, a symphony of human expression and emotions, free of the distortions and errors of humanism, which destroys our true uniqueness. It is a deeper psychology, than secular psychology/psychiatry, knowing the true anatomy and structure of the human-person. It is an intelligent physics, knowing the reality of God's creative energy. It is a true rational and spiritual "science" being tied to the physical/spiritual truth. It is powerful philosophy, yet not restricted by non-real categories, etc. You can be creative with this list; it is very long. It is creative, and alive and motivated to one purpose and one purpose only, that is what is LIFE engendering, i.e., Healing, both its own Whole Person - true humanity - and also sharing Healing with our fellow beings and our "lively place" this place, this earth, this environment, this culture, this society, this nation, this world as well.

Faced with the great and seemingly intractable problems of sociology, psychology, ecology i.e. crime, social ills, mental illness, poverty, violence and environmental Armageddon - the Orthodox Hierophant says, "The prayer of the heart is our ecology" and it is true; "The prayer of the heart is our sociology" and it is true; "The prayer of the heart is our psychology" and it is true. It is in the "revelation of the Sons of God" (those who have established in their hearts continual prayer) where the intractable problem finds solution and healing. The revelation of the Sons of God is not an isolated "event" in the future, it is also our Hope and Help, Here and Now; its completion is in the future, a future we cannot even imagine. " . . . none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

Our Lord instructed us not to hide our light under a bushel; not to fear to be viewed with suspicion, as all aliens are so viewed. He said in essence, they've hated me, they will hate you as well. But still, he wanted us to share our Holy Spirit Powered Creativity in our work and play and especially in EVERY relationship we have and with every one we meet. I'm not talking about rational evangelical over bearing prattling, parading as witness; I'm talking about living and working in harmony with the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life. In that living, actions become Life engendering and it may be that silence will be great healing wisdom, or not to hate will be love, or failing to act may be right, or acting may be right, or speaking softly or with force, not pressing an issue, or doggedly refusing to let an issue go, in cooperation with the synergistic working of the Holy Spirit of all life, you will know, what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. This knowledge will arrive, nano-second by nano-second.

This particular description of the Three Paths comes from a friend of a friend so to speak, from a Russian Orthodox Priest talking about the Russian Orthodox Church's (19th century) battle with "Sophianism." Sophianism being reflected in the West in various and sundry "spiritual/gnostic/theosophical" veins. But the truth taught in this image of the three paths has ancient roots in the Fathers. It was certainly very clearly understood and stated plainly by St Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas.

The sickness of religion knows nothing of the reality of the life of the Holy Spirit - the Third Path. "If a man is not born of water and the Spirit, he will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." But what does this mean? St Symeon said, "In the first baptism, water symbolizes the tears and the oil of christmation prefigures the inner anointing of the Spirit. But the second baptism is no longer a mere type of the truth; it is the truth itself." "When the Holy Spirit of Truth is come He will lead you into ALL THINGS." Archbishop Basil Krivocheine says of this statement of St Symeon, "Let us note that while speaking of the first baptism, Symeon included the oil of christmation. It is therefore not a question of this sacrament of anointing when Symeon speaks of a second baptism. The difference between the two is rather that which exists between a figure and truth." St Symeon speaks of this again saying, "We receive the remission of our sins at our divine baptism and we are freed from the ancient curse and sanctified by the presence of the Holy Spirit. But this is not yet that perfect grace of which Scripture speaks: 'I shall dwell in them and walk therein.' This applies only to those who are strong in faith and show it in their works; for if we fall back into evil and shameful deeds after our baptism, we completely throw away this very sanctification. It is in proportion to our repentance, confession and tears that we receive the remission of our former sins; and as a consequence of this we also receive sanctification and grace from on high." Saint Symeon was not shy in saying that there were those who walked away from the waters of Baptism as if nothing had happened.

St Symeon speaks of even the highest expression of Orthodox “mystical experience, seeing the Divine Light” as second to the living presence of the Holy Spirit in the Liturgy of Living. (The Synergistic Experience of the Life of God in Christ by the Holy Spirit as our everyday state.) He said, "If you have seen Christ but He has not yet granted you to drink of this beverage, fall down before Him and lament . . . and since you see Christ, lift up your eyes to Him unceasingly and always keep Him as the one spectator of your dejection and affliction." The beverage is the 'life of the Holy Spirit itself' dwelling in us and with us, and as he describes above, to produce faith with works.

The "religious" position of the first path, precludes any possibility of such open and creative and intelligent communion with God, it is retreated into the realm of the "known,” frozen in time, complete like a block of ice to be examine rationally but never something with which we may become infused. It is locked in fear of error, and fear of the unknown.

The rationalism of the second path is not capable of reaching this experience because the rational mind is in control and all it can produce is a rather cold mind science, a counterfeit spirituality that is the playground of the human soul with demonic illusion and delusion. It is capable of reducing God to our understanding or destroying him altogether, at least to the satisfaction of our own ego.  If it creates religion it creates the worship of the "higher-self" never stepping outside its ego boundary.  Those who create the God of their understanding pray to themselves. Such ego inventions being the psych-ism of all the varieties of mind science "spiritualties."

The romanticism of the second path is not capable of reaching this "experience" because the passions are in control and all it can produce is emotional upheaval that may pass for and be accepted as spiritual experience. Both of these paths (as religious experience) carry the hallmark of the destruction of the person by (1) sublimating emotional health to cold "logic" - the Course In Miracles cult does this rather expertly on the rational principle that "there is nothing to forgive, it is all illusion" “no experience has any meaning” so we need not feel or act - (2) or cause the person to withdraw to smaller and smaller circles where they can "control the environment" and maintain a "centered emotional sweetness." This is the hallmark of so much earth rejecting eastern meditation.

The story of the Third or Royal Path, seems foolishness to some, because its experience quickly out paces our ability to speak it in rational and conceptual language. Yet it can be and IS experienced. St Symeon said it this way, "How could those who never had the slightest experience of its effects - reform, renewal, transformation, re-creation and new birth - succeed in understanding such mysteries? How can those who have not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit understand the metamorphosis of the ones who were baptized in Him? How will those who have not been born from above see the glory of the ones who, in the words of the Lord were born 'from above,' of those who are born of God and have become the children of God? Those who did not desire this state but lost it through their negligence, for they certainly received the power to acquire it - tell me, what knowledge will enable them to understand or in any way imagine what the others have become?" One very telling admission by St Symeon is his statement about his youthful "falling away" after he had seen the Divine Light.

"I forgot everything I told you and fell into total darkness, not even remembering anything I related to you, either large or small, not even the slightest thought. What is more, I fell into greater evils than before, and I found myself in the same condition as one who had never heard or understood the sacred words of Christ. Even the saint, who at one time had been kind to me and had given me that little rule and the book mentioned earlier, became to be an ordinary man, for I no longer thought of anything I had seen thanks to him." Of course St Symeon later found The Way and, lived, worked, experienced, liturgized, and prayed with far more diligence.

Carrying the weight of the first and second path with us as we reach to the Third, is the rule and not the exception. Our healing is a healing of the sickness of religion, the sickness with which we became entangled in one form or another, simply because we were born, and began to conceptualize trying to understand our experience, good and bad, were influenced by the things, ideas and people that were our world. Opening to the third possibility is the work of The Way. It doesn't matter if the sickness is a religion of philosophy or agnosticism or atheism or pentecostalism or new ageism or catholicism or orthodoxism etc., or any combination. I could certainly dissect my own life, my experiences, triumphs, failures, the wisdom and/or insanity of my own mindset, and explain it via the picture of the Three Paths, because I am intimately familiar with each of the first two paths, and both aspects of the Second. But I won't bore you.

The third path is first and foremost Orthodoxia, so it is right practice and right belief. Sadly many reaching to this Orthodoxia (the prayer of the heart) find only Orthodoxy - in its legal explications and physically kept Traditions. In that case one might as well become a nominal Roman Catholic or Anglican. Yet, this is not bad; it is a wonderful place to start. The discipline of the Tradition outwardly found in these things is not sickness but can be if it is practiced in hypocrisy i.e. acted out for merit. But if it is a true expression of the heart, it is not religion at all. It is the opposite of religion.

When one grasps by experience that Tradition is not religion but LIFE, then such ecumenical notions as uniting "sacramentally" or by some other abstract principle is seen to be, not only of little use but foolish and dangerous. Unity only in the acts of sacramental ritual (religion) has no value; it is unity in error. It is real and has value only when it is unity in Christ by the Holy Spirit, in the healing flow of Tradition; then it is uniting in the liturgy of living, the sacramental living, reflected in The Way. (the third path) As much as our foes hate to hear it, Truth the Person, when he walked among us said, "I AM the The Truth, The Life and The Way, no one comes to the Father except by Me." Keeping Tradition, not in first path fear, but third path Love, is the experience of the Truth and Life of The Way.

 © Archpriest Symeon Elias 1996.