Does the Eastern orthodox church prohibit Christian meditation?
Upvote:3
The current usage of the word meditation is strongly linked to buddhist/zen/hindu practices of sitting in a certain position, breathing in a certain way, focusing on emptying the mind and ultimately altering one's consciousness.
That kind of meditation and any other spiritual practices from other religions are strictly forbidden by the Orthodox Church for obvious reasons: being a christian and meditating is like being a buddhist and praying to God.
However, the word meditation itself is not imported from asian languages, like samsara, nirvana, chakra, karma etc. It comes from the latin meditatio meaning to contemplate, to ponder. So its original meaning was different, not linked to asian spiritual practices.
One of my friends started his conversion to Orthodox Christianity after reading a book called "Orthodox meditation". He picked it up with exactly your question in mind: Do the orthodox christians also meditate? thinking of course, about the current connotations of the word. In this book, he found out that orthodox meditation has nothing to do with the asian spiritual practice.
The Philokalia, a collection of eastern orthodox writings about the hesychast tradition, abounds in the use of the word meditation, which is used, of course, with its original meaning e.g. in order to attain humbleness, one should meditate on God's infinite powers as often as possible (not a direct quote, just an example I made up).
As another user advised, it's better if you talk to your confessor priest about this, he will tell you whether doing this is beneficial to you or not and give you the proper instructions on how to do it right.
More post
- 📝 When do catechumens go to confession?
- 📝 Is a Catholic canon a prebendary?
- 📝 True Doctrines Or Heresies?
- 📝 How should other churches respond to a pastor and congregation who live contrary to the Gospel?
- 📝 What rubric, canon, and/or rules forbid(s) the use of recorded music in a Tridentine Missa Cantata?
- 📝 Is the Catholic Church the oldest church?
- 📝 Italian Version of St. Maxilmian Kolbe writings
- 📝 Is Ezekiel 29 a failed prophecy?
- 📝 How much can holy water be diluted?
- 📝 When will the Millennial Reign prophesied about in Revelation 20 take place?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Edomites and the Amalekites?
- 📝 What is the purpose if the feast of visitation and on what day of the year is it celebrated?
- 📝 Do Mainline Presbyterians oppose Satisfaction Theory? Is this why "In Christ Alone" was rejected for their Hymnal?
- 📝 Can you re-enter the catholic church after leaving?
- 📝 What is the meaning of 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice'?
- 📝 Why does the narrative of Last Judgement appear only in the Gospel according to Matthew?
- 📝 What is the difference between the Amish and Mennonites?
- 📝 Was Jesus a Hindu saint and belong to the religion of Hinduism?
- 📝 Whose morals are being referenced by NT authors in the expression "sexual immorality"?
- 📝 What does it mean to be "poor in spirit"?
- 📝 What kind of Elijah did the Jews expect?
- 📝 By whom was John the Baptist baptized?
- 📝 How can Satan/the Devil be in a Jewish story (the "Book of Job")?
- 📝 What is the Catholic concept of "freedom to sin"?
- 📝 How is Freemasonry related to Christianity?
- 📝 What is Christian scholars' take on the `chicken-or-egg-first' riddle?
- 📝 What is LDS church view of a baptized member owning machine guns?
- 📝 Looking for red letter bible in database format
- 📝 Is it Christian Doctrine to say that macroevolution is not the same as microevolution?
- 📝 Have cardinals ever been deprived of revenue or rations for taking too long to elect a pope?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Does the Eastern orthodox church prohibit Christian meditation?
- 📝 Why does the Eastern Orthodox Church dislike the idea that the Spirit proceeds from the Son?
- 📝 Why does the Eastern Orthodox church forbid blind men from becoming priests?
- 📝 What does the Orthodox church consider to be the defining features of Christian meditation?
- 📝 Does the Eastern Orthodox Church believe in Aerial Toll Houses?
- 📝 Does the Eastern Orthodox Church eat leavened or unleavened bread during the Eucharist?
- 📝 Does the Eastern Orthodox Church consider belief in the existence of Jesus' soul before the incarnation a heresy?
- 📝 Why does the Eastern Orthodox Church call the 49 days following Easter, Pentecost, and the Western Church does not?
- 📝 Does the Eastern Orthodox Church have guidelines on which language to recite the Jesus Prayer in?
- 📝 How does the leadership structure within the Eastern Orthodox Church work?
- 📝 How does the Eastern Orthodox Church view and understand the Eucharist/Communion that takes place in Protestant churches?
- 📝 Who is a Christian according to the Russian Orthodox Church
- 📝 Is the Eastern Orthodox Church independent from regional governments?
- 📝 Does Roman Catholic Church recognize some Eastern Orthodox Saints?
- 📝 According to Protestants, what "new" things has the Eastern Orthodox Church acquired over time?
- 📝 What's the name of this doctrine and (when) did the Eastern Orthodox Church condemn it?
- 📝 When were the Fasting Patterns of the Eastern Orthodox Church Established?
- 📝 Does the Orthodox Church accept Gay marriage and why?
- 📝 How can common believers in the Eastern Orthodox Church be sure that the Church's decisions are correct and not erroneous?
- 📝 Does the Russian Orthodox Church actively support Putin and his war in Ukraine?
- 📝 Does the Bible refer to Christian gentiles or the Church as "New Israelites", "New Israel" or "Spiritual Israel"?
- 📝 What are the requirements for establishing an Eastern Orthodox church or mission?
- 📝 Can you give air-kisses to icons in the Eastern Orthodox church instead of physical kisses?
- 📝 How is it that Georgian Orthodox Church are in full communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church when they have a different biblical canon?
- 📝 Is it appropriate (as a Catholic) to make the sign of the cross when passing an Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox or Church of the East church?
- 📝 At what point did the Eastern Church start self-identifying as the Orthodox Church?
- 📝 Does the Orthodox Church accept the Athanasian Creed?
- 📝 Wedding after a death in the family in the Eastern Orthodox Church
- 📝 Does the Russian Orthodox Church venerate the saints of the Orthodox Church in America?
- 📝 What does it mean that the Believers Eastern Church (in Asia) is an "Ancient-Future Church"?