Faith in the Eastern Orthodox tradition has two types: simple faith, which is a set of theoretical teachings and dogmas, and contemplative faith, which is an experiential, ascetical, ethical, and mystical knowledge. Non-religious faith—natural or philosophical—serves as the foundation for religious faith. The article uses a theo-phenomenological method to analyze faith both theologically and phenomenologically, drawing on the relationship between phenomenology and theology.
This article explores what it means to question quietness (hēsychia), treating a state cultivated in long silence as something that can eventually be brought to speech after an unpredictable wait. The primary witness is the spiritual autobiography of Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov, read alongside transcripts of his Monday meetings with a monastic community and recorded conversations from April 2025. Working within the phenomenology of the emotions, particularly Natalie Depraz's account of surprise and affective foreground/background dynamics, the article distinguishes two registers in Sophrony's experience: a durative "mindfulness of death" that abides as a mood, and punctual surprises erupting against it, culminating in contemplation of...