Mysticism and theology according to Vladimir Lossky

This article by Michel Stavrou offers an in-depth study of Vladimir Lossky's (1903-1958) thought on the relationship between theology and mysticism in the Eastern Christian tradition. Drawing on the central axiom of the *Essay on the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church* (1944), the author begins by clarifying the meaning of the terms "theology" and "mysticism," which are often misused, before retracing the historical vicissitudes of Orthodox theology, from Byzantium to the "Babylonian captivity" denounced by Florovsky, through to the Philocalic renewal of the eighteenth century. The article then identifies the three fundamental characteristics of mystical theology according to Lossky — the existential, patristic, and apophatic dimensions — and shows that theology and spiritual experience are inseparable. In the face of contemporary transpersonal mysticisms and religious relativism, this synthesis offers a doctrinal framework for distinguishing the authentic Christian experience of union with God from modern forms of pantheistic fusion.