The
Incarnation of the Word of God, as one
of the hymns for the Annunciation declares, is the revelation of the
mystery before all the ages. But
mankind, listening to the deceitful whispers of the evil one, has tried to find
another mystery more to his liking that will resolve the problem of his
limited, mortal nature.
Such a
solution is the esoteric practice of alchemy, the purifying and transmuting of
the elements into prime matter, the philosopher’s stone, the elixir of life,
which is, according to its doctrines, able to grant man healing and
immortality.
The
un-Christian spirit of the age is pushing this false teaching and others
through different channels in the hopes of corrupting as many as possible. We have examined some manifestations of it in
pop culture in past essays. We will look
at another two of them today – in Nintendo 64’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and PS3’s Tales of
Zestiria.
In Ocarina
of Time, the theme of alchemy appears mainly in the second half of the
story, after the Master Sword has been attained and the quest to awaken the sages
begins. The first four temples of this
quest represent the four elements – earth, fire, water, and air – and also,
roughly, the four stages of alchemy:
death, purification, rebirth, final reintegration of the purified
elements (source).
The fifth
temple, the Spirit Temple, has a couple of different layers to it. There is clearly a feminine/goddess worship
aspect to it, judging from the colossal statue of a woman on the outside of it:
https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Spirit_Temple?file=Spirit_Temple_Artwork.png
Given the
desert location, this would suggest a goddess like Astarte, and the crescent
moon (one of her symbols) on the mirror shield, which is found in this Temple,
as well as the eight-pointed star (another of her symbols) on the same, lend
some credence to the possibility:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte#Iconography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_Ishtar
https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/Mirror_Shield?file=Mirrorshield_old.jpg#Ocarina_of_Time
Looking
further, the Spirit Temple includes another aspect of alchemy: the alchemical
marriage, the union of opposites.
There is a powerful image of this displayed in the Temple boss, Twinrova
– two witches, one representing fire and the other water/ice, who fuse together
as one as the battle progresses:
https://zelda-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Twinrova_(Ocarina_of_Time)
Tales of
Zestiria
follows a similar pattern. Sorey and his
companions must pass the trials of four shrines and acquire the power of the
element each bears – earth, water, wind, and fire. With the powers of these elements, Sorey is
able to rid Maotelus, the leader of the elemental lords, of malevolence. Maotelus himself possesses a silver flame
that is capable of purifying living beings of malevolence/corruption:
https://aselia.fandom.com/wiki/Maotelus
https://segmentnext.com/tales-of-zestiria-trials-guide-to-complete-fire-water-and-earth-trial/
Once again,
the alchemical process of stages of purification is presented to the player as
he makes his way through the game.
There is
more to Maotelus, however. He represents
prime matter itself, the silver flame being very much akin to alchemy’s mercury
(quicksilver) that is present within all matter, awaiting only the purification
of the crude outer layers to be liberated:
https://www.james-investigates.com/quicksilver
Mercury takes
us back again to Astarte, for the symbol of mercury was once also the symbol of
Carthage’s goddess Tanit, who is identical to Astarte. The crescent moon at the top of the mercury
symbol is also reminiscent of Astarte’s own symbol:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tanit
http://symboldictionary.net/?p=1459
There is one
other esoteric element in ToZ that is worth noting – monoliths. Finding them imparts skills for battle to the
player:
https://segmentnext.com/tales-of-zestiria-monoliths-locations-how-to-get-friendly-link-guide/
This is
their traditional function in esoteric lore, a mysterious means by which man can
transcend his limited nature:
https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/2001-the-monolith-and-the-message
***
So much for
the false way of divinization presented in pop culture.
But there is
a real way of attaining immortality, a ‘true alchemy’. The Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church
explain it as a three-step process:
purification, illumination, and deification (or glorification).
Below are
some word-sharings from Part I of Fr John Romanides’s multi-part work on this
subject:
The basis of Orthodoxy is the same as
the methodology used in the positive sciences, and this fact needs to be
properly evaluated and accurately identified. It should become a focus of
interest for Orthodox Christians, as it deserves to be.
Why do we have our liturgical
tradition? The liturgical tradition is an expression of none other than the
tradition of purification, illumination and glorification. Take all the
services: Vespers, Matins, the Divine Liturgy, the services of Baptism and
Chrismation, the service for blessing of the Chrism performed by the bishops on
Holy Thursday, monastic profession, marriage - all are about purification,
illumination and glorification.
There is an instrument that is used in
Orthodox theology and constitutes an indispensable element of it. Without it
Orthodox theology cannot exist. It is an instrument called the noetic faculty.
Although it is an instrument, it is not part of science. This is the only
instrument needed for divine vision.
We construct telescopes, microscopes,
balances and all the instruments used in other sciences, but in Orthodox
theology we do not construct any instruments. We have the instrument
ready-made. It is part of the human personality. We do not make it; all we do
is put it to work. We undertake purification; we provoke illumination and
glorification. God brings about illumination and glorification. Illumination
and glorification are gifts of God. Purification, however, is the work of man
with God's help.
When all is said and done, for the nous
to be purified (by expelling all thoughts) it is not even necessary to be a
Christian. The Hindu monk does the same. It is an exercise that he does. One
does not need to be a Christian to perform this exercise. However, the
purification of the nous (by driving away thoughts) is one thing and
purification of the passions is something else. It is purification not only of
the nous but of the passions that brings about divine grace.
When the patristic understanding of
purification, illumination and glorification disappeared - although our
liturgical services are full of purification and illumination - look at any
service - we pray continuously for purification, illumination and glorification.
It is in all the hymns. The services of Baptism, Chrismation, the Paraklesis,
Compline, the troparia and the Psalms are full of this teaching. But when the
patristic interpretation of these things was dismissed, purification was
reduced to abstention from sins, usually either sexual sins or moralistic ones,
such as lies, stealing and so on. It ended up being merely ethical teaching
that did not cure man's personality.
So instead of being concerned with
treating the core of his personality, as a psychiatrist would be, man was
concerned about external acts and had a very hypocritical disposition. He
pretended that he had no temptations, whereas in fact he did. And he thought he
could surmount them, but afterwards he saw that he couldn't. He therefore thought
that no one else had temptations, and felt guilty. Young people are shocked at
the temptations they have.
In the patristic tradition, by
contrast, these problems are solved by noetic prayer. Teaching someone how he
should behave is not the same as teaching him how to find strength to behave in
this way. As he cannot manage to do it, he pretends that he has managed. These
are very funny things. There is a lot of hypocrisy, particularly among
Christians, and the more pious they are, the more hypocritical they are these
days. That's how things stand. There's nothing we can do about it.
Theology has only one aim:
purification, illumination and glorification. Theology has no other purpose. Do
you understand? Theology has no other aim other than purification, illumination
and glorification.
What is Orthodoxy without purification,
illumination and glorification? I don't know if you can draw this conclusion,
because the Church did not reach this conclusion. Why not? Because there were
monasteries. Purification, illumination and glorification, as they used to take
place in the traditional way, gradually became the task of monasticism. The
bishop, so to speak, would sit and act as an administrator and would say:
"I have five monasteries. If you want to lead that sort of life, go to a
monastery. We are engaged in administration."
Purification for the pious became a
release from moral failings, from an ethical standpoint. It seems that the
Greek mentality had a greater problem with sex than with anything else. The problem
of sex became an obsession for the modern Greeks. So purification for the pious
means not having sexual temptations.
Illumination became Sunday School:
learning Holy Scripture, Church history, the lives of a few saints; in other
words, filling the rational faculty. Although purification is the illumination
of a person's nous, they tried to illuminate his reason. Instead of the nous
being illuminated, nowadays the rational faculty is illuminated.
Without purification, illumination and
glorification there is no salvation. This is salvation: purification and
illumination.
. .
. The rest is at https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2015/11/purification-illumination-and.html.
The devil
will try to divert people from salvation any way he can. Dressing up alchemy and other esoteric
practices in video games is one of his newer (and very understated, subtle) methods.
Yet the All-Holy Trinity through His Orthodox
Church will give us the right orientation, that we, like so many of our
Christian forebears, might also ascend the Divine Ladder and reach our heavenly
homeland, if we are willing.
Holy icon
via https://orthodoxwiki.org/Ladder_of_Divine_Ascent_icon.
--
Holy Ælfred
the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to
the Union!
