Wisdom, from the heights of the divine throne to the depths of knowledge

Ineffable and mysterious (1 Corinthians 2:7), the wisdom of God has existed from all eternity, God being its beginning and source, for ‘wisdom was created before all things, and the understanding of the mind is from of old’ (Jesus Sirach 1:4)1; for this reason, patristic thought regarded it, on the one hand, in its objective nature, in which it is not communicated to human beings, and, on the other hand, as a supernatural gift, shared with human beings 2. This is because, as Saint Basil had stated, ‘the works are diverse, whilst the Being is simple, and we may say that we know God through His works, whilst we are unable to draw near to His Being, for it is His works that descend to us, whilst His Being remains inaccessible’3

Thus, wisdom must not be understood as a mere divine attribute, linked to God’s omniscience, but as an ontological reality, which reveals the very nature of God and the manner in which He reveals Himself to the created world, for, through creation, ‘Wisdom has built her house’ (Proverbs IX, 1) and has made all things with wisdom. ‘From this perspective, man is acknowledged to have as his telos a sophianic horizon, a sharing in divine wisdom, a sharing from which likeness to God is actually (orthopraxically) born’4).

In the scriptural and patristic understanding, the Wisdom of God is inseparably linked to the Person of the Son, to the divine Logos, “Wisdom Itself, the image of divine goodness”5, Who “was in the beginning the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word” (John 1:1). For Saint Maximus the Confessor, the Word of God actualises the pre-existent divine rationalities by bringing them into existence under conditions determined by space and time 6. The manifestation of wisdom in concrete forms is linked to an understanding of what is true or right, to various abilities to choose or act, and to principles.

These perspectives were rooted in the wisdom traditions of the Old Testament, where there were at least four different terms expressing these meanings: ‘hokma’, the most common, is explicitly translated as the Hebrew feminine form of ‘wisdom’ (Wisdom of Solomon 9:1), followed by ‘bînâ’, meaning ‘understanding’ (Job 39:26 and Proverbs 23:4), then ‘tebûnâ’, equivalent to ‘discernment’ (Psalm CXXXVI, 5) and, last but not least, ‘sekel’, which referred to ‘prudence’ (Psalm XII, 8; XXIII, 9).

Indeed, from the very beginning, Holy Scripture has been a book of wisdom and the embodiment of wisdom par excellence, revealing ‘the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God’ (Romans 11:33).

God founded the earth through His wisdom; He established the heavens through wisdom (Psalm 104:24), which bears witness to the divine order, the beauty and the meaning of all creatures, all of which are under God’s care.

The Economy, which reveals divine Wisdom, extends across all spheres: from the ordering of the cosmos as a whole, to the ordering of human life and the life of the Church community. Everything is held together by God’s Wisdom in a mysterious yet real way, for He is ‘the One who breathes upon the waters and brings them into order’ (Job 38:41).

However, ‘since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not come to know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe’ (1 Corinthians 1:21), so that they might ‘come to know the mystery of God the Father and of Christ, (in whom) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Colossians 2:2–3).

Knowledge could not be separated from wisdom and, above all, from its Source, God; yet, for the sake of clarity, in the Old Testament it was personified (Proverbs VIII; Job XXVIII), being described as a divine reality, ‘the firstborn’ (Proverbs VIII, 22–31), created ‘from eternity to the beginning of time’ (Jesus Sirach XXIV, 9), yet at the same time standing beside God’s throne, both in terms of her being understood as an active presence in creation 7 from time immemorial, before His works, but also in the history of salvation, as an outpouring ‘upon all His works, which are found in all flesh according to the measure of His generosity, and He has given it to those who love Him’ (Jesus Sirach I, 9). Ecclesiasticus adds a practical dimension to wisdom, showing how it manifests itself in the daily life of the believer and how it becomes a guide to a virtuous existence, for the moral formation of the individual, achieved through exhortations, advice and discipline. Thus, wisdom is not merely an abstract theological concept, but a living reality that transforms human existence, so that ‘it has particular regard for the truly beautiful and beneficial conduct of people and looks to the harmonious and edifying relationships between them’8; but also a practical means of fulfilling God’s will, which is why we find those who worked on the Holy Tent or made the priestly garments described as ‘filled with the spirit of wisdom and understanding’ (Exodus 28:36; Exodus 35:30)9. This fullness of wisdom and understanding was in addition to natural wisdom, which Adam also possessed in abundance, but which he did not direct towards the path of knowledge and likeness to God. At the beginning of the scriptural text of the Proverbs of Solomon, it is stated that these are ‘useful for the knowledge of wisdom and self-control, for understanding profound words, for acquiring sound guidance, for righteousness, for sound judgement and impartiality, to provide those without evil intent with shrewd judgement, and to the young man, knowledge and sound thinking’ (Proverbs 1:1–4).

Wisdom is not merely an abstract theological concept, but a living reality that transforms human existence, such that “it has particular regard for the truly beautiful and beneficial conduct of people and focuses on the harmonious and edifying relationships between them”, but also a practical means of fulfilling God’s will.

The meaning of wisdom could not be reduced to moral and intellectual aspects, although we cannot deny that it was regarded as one of humanity’s ideals, the supreme virtue, if we refer to ancient cultures and the philosophical systems of that time and up to the present day, which describe the relationship between the wisdom of God and human wisdom, however, returning to the Old Testament, there ‘the way was prepared, to a great extent, for the Logos of Saint John the Apostle, for, to the Logos, there was but one step remaining: the Incarnation’10 Before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, secular philosophy was, indeed, a guide to the wisdom of God, but it was not sufficient to restore fallen man; humanity needed Someone to take away sin from the world and to bestow true and eternal wisdom, even though this would appear as ‘foolishness’ to the wise of this world 11.

Moreover, ‘in the Logos, the many words of the Old Testament have become a single Verbum abbreviatum and a single Verbum abbrevians, for the whole of revelation is summarised in the Logos’12

Following the Incarnation of the Logos, whose role remains that of bringing about the full union of man with God—which translates as deification—wisdom has taken on new dimensions, so that we witness a reversal of values through a distinct understanding of human wisdom as opposed to the wisdom of God, in accordance with the exhortation of Christ the Saviour: ‘Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves!’ (Matthew 10:16). Whilst the meekness of doves refers to ‘kindness and forgiveness in times of trouble or distress and in other such circumstances’13; it is surprising that the serpent—a symbol of cunning in the Old Testament, where it is inextricably linked to the fall into sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve—is brought to the fore. The fact that wisdom is associated with the serpent should not lead us to limit wisdom to a situational attitude, but rather to a careful consideration of the act of creation, in which God made all things ‘very good’, so that the wisdom of all created beings, including the serpent, was directed towards the good. This ‘intuitive wisdom’ of the serpent was used ‘maliciously’, through temptation, by the devil. Therefore, the wisdom of the serpent, of which Christ the Saviour speaks, is naturally distinct from the act of tempting the first parents, Adam and Eve, highlighting the manifestations of divine reason, planted by God in creation and revealed through wisdom.

The excessive pursuit of wisdom has taken on infinite variations on timeless themes, partly due to the cunning and craftiness of some, so that a certain ‘tension’ has arisen between divine wisdom and human wisdom. For example, for Varlaam of Calabria, the highest good was represented by knowledge of things, since wisdom derived from the sciences led to the original immaterial models, whereas Holy Scripture offered only the symbols of this wisdom, which is why he regarded it as inferior to the sciences. In this way, a gulf was established between intellectual activity and religious life, between philosophy and theology, which they were unable to bridge”14. In reality, however, the opposite is true: Holy Scripture leads to a far higher knowledge of ‘15’ matters, in which the Holy Spirit’s Grace becomes the sole key. This is what Saint Gregory Palamas argued against Varlaam when he showed that wisdom derived from the sciences is not salvific, whereas that which springs from God-inspired teachings leads to full knowledge. At the same time, says Saint Gregory, if we were to interpret Holy Scripture in the light of wise secular teachings, we would gradually, little by little, stray from the truth. St Basil the Great goes so far as to say that ‘wisdom and understanding, which seem to be the greatest and most enduring goods that people possess, are themselves in vain, for they inflate the ego and give a person a false sense of superiority; they are nothing if they lack the wisdom given by God’16”. That is why Saint Paul the Apostle comes to regard the wisdom of the world as ‘foolishness’ in the sight of God when man turns away from the Giver of all good and all wisdom. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, Saint Paul speaks of ‘the manifold wisdom of God’ (Ephesians 3:10), which is made known through the Church. St Paul links the attainment of this wisdom to ‘the knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ, (in whom) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Colossians 2:2–3), placing the ‘word of wisdom’ (1 Corinthians 12:8) amongst the charisms, which are ‘various ministries’ (1 Corinthians 12:5) within the same body, whilst the Holy Apostle James speaks of ‘the wisdom from above’, of which he states that ‘is pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere’ (James 3:17). Indeed, Christian wisdom had nothing to do with the haughty and ostentatious attitudes of certain wise men of the time, who frequently tempted the Saviour Christ in order to catch Him out, but was linked to humility and the joy of fulfilling God’s commandments, as well as to a foretaste of eternal bliss.

Wisdom derived from the sciences does not lead to salvation, whereas that which springs from God-inspired teachings leads to full knowledge. …‘wisdom and understanding, which seem to be the greatest and most enduring goods that people possess, are themselves in vain, for they inflate the ego and give a person a false sense of superiority; they are nothing if they lack the wisdom given by God’.

For this reason, the word ‘wisdom’ does not merely denote an ease in teaching others, but is defined by Saint Diadochus of Photice in relation to another charism, that of knowledge. For Saint Cyril of Alexandria, ‘[t]he word of wisdom, as it seems to me, is that which, when the mouth is opened, flows easily and freely. The word of knowledge is possessed by some of us who lack eloquence and cannot easily express ourselves or make others understand, but who certainly possess a deep and most wise understanding of the Holy Scriptures’17; wisdom ‘revealing the very work of knowledge through love’18

Returning to the Christological dimension of wisdom, this cannot be separated from the theology of the deification of man and spiritual perfection. The Prologue to the Gospel of John identifies Christ the Saviour as the Logos, ‘the Wisdom of God’, an identification that is not merely metaphorical but ontological: Christ is divine Wisdom, incarnate for the salvation of humankind, which implies an existential participation of humankind in this 19.

In a commentary on the prologue to the Gospel according to John, Saint Irenaeus of Lyon pointed out that ‘no one in heaven, on earth or under the earth was able to open the Father’s book or look at it, except the Lamb that was slain, who saved us through His blood, having received from the same God, Who made all things through His Word and adorned them with His Wisdom, power over all creation when the Word became flesh” (John 1:14)20.

This idea was taken up in patristic literature concerning the Wisdom of God and offered a profound and coherent vision of the way in which God reveals Himself and communicates with the created world. From the early identification with the divine Logos to the complex development of the doctrine of the uncreated energies, the Holy Fathers constructed a theology that combines conceptual rigour with living spiritual experience. For them, the Wisdom of God is not merely an abstract divine attribute, but a personal and transformative reality, identified with the Person of the incarnate Son. Through Christ, divine Wisdom becomes accessible to humankind, offering not only theoretical knowledge of God but also genuine participation in the divine life. ‘The Church Fathers, who were shaped by the culture of their time, consistently drew attention to the fact that the wisdom to which Christians aspire is distinct, indeed fundamentally distinct, from what is generally understood by being wise. Throughout their work—and we refer here, in particular, to the early Fathers— they chose in many situations to convey the faith with tact, striving to build bridges whilst at the same time bringing to light the truth of revelation in its purity, as both a gift and a salvific requirement”21.

The Wisdom of God is not merely an abstract divine attribute, but a personal and transformative reality, which is identified with the Person of the incarnate Son. Through Christ, divine Wisdom becomes accessible to humankind, offering not only theoretical knowledge of God, but also real participation in the divine life.

It was Saint Irenaeus of Lyon who systematically developed the teaching on divine Wisdom within the context of the economy of salvation. Rejecting the Valentinian theses concerning the emanations of the aeons and the passion of Wisdom (22), the great apologist explained that God always has with Him His Word and His Wisdom, through Whom and in Whom He freely and spontaneously made all things. This Trinitarian perspective on Wisdom would shape the entire subsequent development of patristic theology, which brought to light the fact that the divine Oikonomia fills time and space with true meaning when it begins to be realised 23, so that divine Wisdom is progressively revealed in the history of salvation, manifesting itself in various ways and stages. The events of this history, which have repercussions in the life of the Church—which is itself gradually revealed—are Creation, the Fall and the Cross. The Church thus becomes the instrument through which divine Wisdom is actualised and transmitted to the world.

Saint Athanasius the Great also made an essential contribution to the understanding of divine Wisdom by identifying it with the creative and saving Logos. In his Treatise on the Incarnation of the Logos and Against the Greeks, the great Alexandrian hierarch demonstrated that the Logos, being the Wisdom of God, established the cosmic order, united all creatures and created a single harmony out of them. He is always related to the Father and referred to as such: ‘Wisdom in Himself, the Word (Reason) in Himself, Power in Himself, proper to the Father, Light in Himself, Truth in Himself, Justice in Himself, Virtue in Himself, and the seal, and the radiance, and the image, and, in short, the self-perfected fruit of the Father and the only Son, the exact image of the Father’24 For Saint Athanasius the Great, Divine Wisdom was not merely the ordering principle of the cosmos, but also the regenerative force that restores the order disrupted by sin, thus demonstrating that Divine Wisdom is manifested through the saving work of the incarnate Son.

Participation in Divine Wisdom entails an ontological transformation of human nature: through union with Christ, through sharing in what is divine, our nature becomes divine. In this sense, Saint Gregory Palamas distinguishes several degrees of participation in God’s uncreated energies, depending on each person’s spiritual state: ‘Some beings partake only of God’s life-giving work, though through this they partake of God in His entirety. But they do not partake of His life-giving work. Others partake of this as well, but not of the work of wisdom. Still others partake of this too, in addition to the others. Only the angels who have kept their place and those among men who have attained the super-natural honour bestowed upon rational beings share in both the life-giving work and the deifying grace, in the very divine and ineffable light’25

This soteriological perspective emphasises that divine Wisdom does not remain external to man, but transforms him from within. “Whoever wishes to nourish their body with virtues should strive to desire the rational and incorruptible milk of maternal grace. For it is from there that everyone who seeks growth in Christ and wishes to increase in Him is nourished with milk. Wisdom bestows from her bosom, like milk for growth, warmth; and to the perfected, like nourishing honey, joy, for purity’26

Here Saint Gregory Palamas draws upon some of the teachings of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who had developed a mystical theology of divine Wisdom, showing how it is communicated to the human soul through union with God. This perspective shows how divine Wisdom becomes the unifying principle of all creation, both on a cosmic and a spiritual level, as Saint Maximus the Confessor teaches 27.

Divine Wisdom becomes the unifying principle of all creation, both on a cosmic and a spiritual level… Participation in divine Wisdom is not, however, merely an individual experience, but an ecclesial one, which is realised in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church.

That is why Saint Diadochus writes that ‘the mind that speaks of God, sweetening and warming its soul with the very words of God, attains dispassion in due measure. And the knowing mind, strengthened by practical experience, rises above the passions. But the God-speaking mind also partakes of the experience of the knowing mind if it makes itself more humble; and the knowing mind partakes of the contemplative (beholding) virtue if it preserves the soul’s discriminating power without straying. For it does not happen that both gifts are bestowed in their entirety upon every mind. And the reason is that both may marvel at what the other possesses more than itself, and thus humble thought may increase within them”28 Commenting on this text, Father Teoclit says that the theologian kindles the charism of wisdom through a spiritual and ascetic life and through meditation on the words of God as an active engagement in the spiritual struggle.

Participation in divine Wisdom is not, however, merely an individual experience, but an ecclesial one, which is realised in the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church.

Wisdom is thus regarded both as revelation and as the spiritual growth of humankind, since it was bestowed upon and embodied in the person of Christ the Saviour, in whom all the attributes of divine Wisdom are united and fully manifested, and in the work of the Holy Spirit.

The gifts of wisdom flow into the humility of the soul, bowing to the all-knowing wisdom of God, which enables man to receive divine wisdom, transcending human rational thought, but also through the fear of God. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and self-control’ (Proverbs 1:7), yet this is not a fearful dread, but a deep understanding and humility towards divine holiness and justice, which opens the way to partaking of the divine mysteries. Thus, divine wisdom is not acquired as an abstract philosophical knowledge, but as ‘the work of the Holy Spirit’ in the human soul, for ‘the Spirit of Truth guides us into all truth’ (John 16:13) and leads to ‘penetrating the depths of God’ (1 Corinthians 2:10), in perfect communion with God through love.

Therefore, the wisdom bestowed by God is not mere intellectual knowledge, but a work of grace, which grants this charism, which we may behold, beyond the limits of worldly thought, in union with God, in love and in eternal life. The Holy Fathers urge us to seek it with a humble heart and an open mind, responding to the call of the Holy Spirit and following the way of the Cross, which is the way of true Wisdom.

• 1

  “Wisdom was laid foundation before all things, and the understanding of the mind is from of old. The source of wisdom is the word of God on high, and its ways are eternal commandments. To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? And who knows its sources? There is One who is wise, most awe-inspiring, the Lord, who sits upon His throne. He created it and beheld it, and measured it out, and poured it out over all His works. It is found in all flesh according to the measure of His generosity, and He has given it to those who love Him” (Jesus Sirach I, 4–9)

• 2

  Viorel Caloianu, ‘The Relationship between the Concept of Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs and the Tradition of Wisdom in Egyptian Texts’, in Glasul Bisericii, vol. XXXIII, no. 1–2, 1974, p. 64.

• 3

  Letter 234, P. G. XXXII, col. 868.

• 4

  Associate Professor Dr Ioan Chirilă, ‘Sofia and Logos, or on the dialogue between the two Jesuses: Christ and Ben Sirah’, in Theological Studies, Series III, Year I, No. 1, 2005, p. 49.

• 5

  Origen, Against Celsus, VI, 63, in Selected Writings, Part Four. Introductory study, translation and notes by Rev. Prof. Teodor Bodogae, ‘PSB’ series, vol. 9, published by IBMBOR, Bucharest, 1984, p. 424.

• 6

  St Maximus the Confessor, Ambigua, PSB series, no. 80, IBMBOR, Bucharest, 1983, p. 83; Mihai D. Vasile, The Symbolic Tradition of the Christian Logos, Punct, Bucharest, 2000; Hieromonk Daniil Stoenescu, ‘The Teaching of St Maximus the Confessor on the Divine Rations’, in M.B., no. 7–8, 1985, p. 419.

• 7

  “When the Lord formed the heavens, I was there; when He drew a horizon across the face of the deep, when He fastened the clouds on high and the springs of the deep burst forth with power, when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters might not overstep His command; when He laid the foundations of the earth, I was His craftsman, working at His side, and day after day I was His delight, playing ceaselessly before Him, playing upon the round earth of His creation and finding my pleasure in the sons of men” (Proverbs of Solomon VIII, 27–31).

• 8

  D. Stamatoiu, ‘The Meaning of the Concept of Wisdom in the Didactic Books of the Old Testament’, Mitropolia Olteniei, no. 7–9, 1977, p. 555.

• 9

  Teodor Burcuș, ‘The Meaning of Wisdom in the Didactic Books of the Old Testament’, in Studii Teologice, no. 7–8, 1966, p. 435.

• 10

  Deacon and Lecturer Mircea Chialda, ‘Moral and Social Teachings in the Proverbs of Solomon’, in Theological Studies, no. 1–2, 1955, p. 9.

• 11

  St Gregory Palamas, Triads, I, 1, 22, pp. 62–63.

• 12

  Associate Professor Dr Ioan Chirilă, ‘Sofia and Logos, or on the dialogue between the two Jesuses: Christ and Ben Sirah’, in Theological Studies, Series III, Year I, No. 1, 2005, p. 63.

• 13

  St Ambrose of Optina, The Philokalia of Optina, translated by Florentina Cristea, Egumenița Publishing House, Galați, 2009, p. 91.

• 14

  Jean Meyendorff, Introduction to the Study of Gregory Palamas, p. 174.

• 15

  St Dumitru Stăniloae, The Life and Teachings of St Gregory Palamas, IBMBOR, Bucharest, 2006, p. 38.

• 16

  St Basil the Great, Homilies and Sermons, Homily XX, II, in the series ‘Church Fathers and Writers’ (2009), vol. 1, pp. 295–296.

• 17

  St Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on 1 Corinthians, ad loc., P. G. 74, p. 885.

• 18

  St Diadochus of Photice, An Ascetic Treatise on the Moral Life, on Knowledge and on Right Spiritual Judgement, divided into 100 chapters, ch. 9, F.R. 1 (1993), see notes 5–6.

• 19

  Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 108.

• 20

  Ibid., p. 168; PG 7, Adversus haeresis, 4, col. 1033 A–B.

• 21

  Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban, ‘The Gift of Wisdom’, in Dilema, 5 September 2024.

• 22

  St Irenaeus of Lyon, ‘Against Heresies: Refutation and Overthrow of Gnosticism under a False Name’, in PSB, new series, 22, Basilica Publishing House, Bucharest, 2024, p. 316.

• 23

  St Dumitru Stăniloae, Confessor, ‘Divine Oikonomia: The Foundation of Ecclesiastical Oikonomia’, in Orthodoxia, 1969, p. 5.

• 24

  St Athanasius the Great, Against the Greeks, chapter 46.

• 25

  Saint Gregory Palamas, The Fifth Antiretic against Achindin’s writings against the light of grace and spiritual charisms, in Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, The Life and Teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas, pp. 449–450.

• 26

  FR, vol. VII, EIMBOR, Bucharest, 1977, p. 97.

• 27

  St Maximus the Confessor, Ambigua, PSB series, no. 80, IBMBOR, Bucharest, pp. 136–137.

• 28

  St Diadochus of Photice, An Ascetic Treatise on the Moral Life, on Knowledge and on Right Spiritual Judgement, divided into 100 chapters, ch. 72, F.R. 1 (1993), p. 449.