Mysticism and Rational Spirituality – When Theology meets Philosophy in Byzantium

During the Byzantine era philosophy was never connected with theology as ancilla theologiae. Inside the Greek philosophy of the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages there were two tensions: the mystical and the rational. These two philosophical tensions were expressions of that epoch, and passed inside the theology, which was partly in the sphere of neoplatonic influence. However, theology in Byzantium was never systematized as in the case in the West. Platonism and Aristotelism were continued in the Middle Ages, as the Byzantine philosophy followed an autonomous course, developing an empirical point of view along with theology.