Uncreated Silence and Orthodox Christian Eldership

Abstract

Uncreated silence exists as the unspoken speech of the Holy Spirit, which can be heard in prayer, discerned in spiritual relationships, and lived as pastoral care. This idea is explained using biblical and theological sources, the spiritual and pastoral works of those who are known as Orthodox Christian elders, as well as select studies of modern Orthodox and Catholic Christian leaders in the United States. Here is how this is accomplished.

First, by explaining the concerns of hesychastic silence and its lack of relationality through the juxtaposition of Tomáš Špidlík’s 1988 criticism of hesychasm and Zacharias Zacharou’s 2022 instruction on hesychasm.

Second, by proposing a Pneumatological solution to this question in the existence of an uncreated silence based on select New Testament accounts of the Holy Spirit, informed by the Pneumatology of Basil the Great, described by audiation, and experienced by Seraphim of Sarov.

Third, by presenting uncreated silence as an apophatic relationality using the work of Christos Yannaras and Max Picard.

Fourth, by demonstrating that uncreated silence is a spiritual relationality lived by elders, confessors, and those whom they guide; and by acknowledging the potential for spiritual abuse within these relationships.

Fifth, by describing the connection between uncreated silence and select spiritual relationalities found in the New Testament and among Patristic sources.

Sixth, by examining the biographical, spiritual, and pastoral works of select Orthodox and Catholic spiritual leaders in the West, and specifically in the United States, during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Date of Award	2 Feb 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Andreas Andreopoulos (Supervisor) & Frog Orr-Ewing (Supervisor)