On Seeing the Unseen
by Fayed Mattheos Isaac
'Seeing' here does not in any sense mean looking with our physical eyes; it is the visionary seeing into knowability so that we may in all earnestness attempt to 'know' God as related to His love and His wisdom.
This does not mean at all that we can know everything about God for this is absolutely impossible. At best we can know only certain fragments such as, for instance, His attributes.
God is incomprehensible, ineffable and immutable. His infinitude defies any limitation or confinement. This does not imply that we can know God in parts or wholes for there are neither parts nor wholes in God. He is a simple and perfect ONE and His simplicity is boundless and limitless.
But it so happens that human vision is imbued with the darkness of sin that, in most cases, has blotted man's 'seeing' and his knowability altogether. So much for the dragging down of doubts, schisms, heresies and lustful desires that within the confines of this hopeless sojourn, there seems to be no way out!
However, with all his spiritual endeavours, his arduous disciplines, his night vigils, his cathartic purities and the deep prayers of a contrite heart, it is possible for man to widen the scope of this knowability and to have a dose and even intimate communion with God!.
Viewed in this sense, our knowability of God depends largely upon our inner striving towards perfection which would virtually lead to a state of revelatory blessedness, for we should
follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Hebrews 12: 14
And so, as long as we are not perfect in our holiness, we shall not 'see' God as He is. Our knowability will in consequence be always hazy and undeniably limited. And we will ever marginally struggle until a gleam of blessedness pierces into the thick layers of darkness only to open an enlightened ’world' of sanctity and ’see’ Him as He manifests Himself,
we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:2
In consequence, 'seeing' God depends altogether upon our spiritual maturity which opens for us very wide vistas of knowability.
Intellectual obscurity usually forms a dim screen that stands against this type of maturation. But a bright 'ray' of faith normally supersedes this dimness and this incomplete and in a sense scattered fragmentation which limit our knowability of God. This ’ray' illumines categorically the way to the clear vision and to the otherworldly 'seeing' Him face to face,
For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
1 Corinthians 13: 12, 13
This begs the question: does this mean that we cannot 'see' God now in this earthly life? Answering this question theologically depends entirely upon the degree of sanctity a man or a woman has attained. And this is the crux of the matter and virtually the essence of Christianity. Jesus Christ our Lord came and gave Himself up on the Cross and atoned for our sins with His bloodshed, revealing the ’mystery' of faith and the spiritual efficacy of the Holy Spirit. This will give us the golden opportunity not only to 'see' God, but to be united with Him also and even live with Him, for
he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
1 Corinthians 6: 17
As the ’mystery" is revealed through sanctification, knowability of God becomes deeper and more meaningful. It is, in the end, a knowability of union and communion.
This becomes profusely evident through divine manifestation as God sees fit to manifest Himself to a chosen vessel. Hence the dross that is hanging on the corrupt nature of man is removed and knowability becomes more and more evident. In this sense, man is entirely sanctified with the very tinctures of this out-of-the-ordinary knowability.
This visionary 'seeing', however, is momentary, whereas in the afterlife, it will definitely be permanent.
Saint Antony tells us in his Sixteenth Epistle that "the godly fathers who endeavoured strenuously towards spiritual amelioration were exceedingly humble when they 'saw' the Lord. Job 'saw' God in a cloud, and the doors of his perception were opened when he ’saw’ God. He then looked back at himself only to discern that he is no more than a heap of ashes and blowing dust!"
To this effect, knowability with Saint Cyril (Kyrillos) the Great who is known as the Pillar of Faith, is not for him a way of reaching God, but it is on the reverse, an outcome of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us. In this sense, he refuted the claims of the Origenists of knowing God through mental endeavours.
In this way the great Saint of Alexandria has joined hand with Saint Athanasius the Apostolic and Saint Antony the Star of the Desert. Knowability for them hinges upon faith, the life of perfection, the simplicity of heart, the guidance of Biblical Texts, and the direct or spontaneous communion with God whether through loving charity, contrite prayer or sacrificial service.
Jesus Christ our Lord, for Saint Cyril, through this spiritual communion, shines upon us and can have His Holy Spirit brighten our knowability as an eternal Star glittering amidst the desolate wastes of our earthly life. Henceforward, we will have "the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2: 16) and that is the Holy Spirit Who is dwelling in us.
Knowability is thus for the Saint of Alexandria, not so much a cluster of interior meditations, but an enlightenment accomplished by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is what he calls "the godly insight" in much the same way as Saint Paul specifically explains by saying,
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
Ephesians 1: 17,18
This is the greatest efficacy of the Holy Spirit and His sanctification of the human nature and this makes it possible for a person to 'see' God face to face. This virtually leads in the end to the mysteries of the divine communion with the Holy Trinity and the enlightening manifestation of the Glory of Christ which is at the same time the Glory and Omnipotence of God the Father.
SOURCE: Fayek Mattheos Isaac, "Overall Perspectives on the Works of Fr Matthew the Poor" (Coptologia Theological Publications, 1998) 41-46.
