Orthodox Christian Tradition teaches that wisdom unveils what God’s grace reveals whereas glory unveils how God’s grace is revealed. Both unveilings are revelations of the ineffable but wisdom is the ineffable awareness of God’s presence whereas glory is the ineffable presence of this deifying awareness. If the revelation of wisdom is what glory unveils, glory is the form of wisdom. If the presence of glory is how wisdom manifests deifying awareness, it is the revelation of the matter of wisdom. This co-inherence of matter and form mirrors the love dance of wisdom and glory, the WHAT of wisdom wedded with the HOW of glory. Wisdom is what glory unveils and glory is how wisdom reveals it. Wisdom is the content of the revelation of glory and glory is the form of the revelation of wisdom, so what wisdom imparts is revealed by how glory unveils it. Wonder is awestruck amazement that WHAT wisdom reveals is unveiled by HOW glory is unveiling it. The THAT and the WHAT and the HOW are all one in the awareness and the presence of the saving Name, the ‘I’ and ‘AM’ of God’s ‘I AM,’ unveiling God by grace in our midst.
Desert wisdom teaches that wisdom is WHAT is revealed when glory manifests divine theophany, whereas glory is HOW wisdom manifests what is revealed in divine epiphany. Mystical theology has to do with WHAT wisdom unveils whereas the theology of glory has to do with HOW wisdom is revealed in glory. The desert hands on both WHAT wisdom reveals and HOW glory reveals it so that both WHAT is revealed and HOW it is revealed are shared without interference from what is not of God and without the obstruction of vainglory, which is how glory is usurped by vanity. When confusion arises, wisdom is exiled and mystical theology is lost. When separation reigns, glory falls short of glory and deifying glorification through the Name is lost. The desert therefore never loses sight of the wisdom that cures confusion or of right-glorification that undoes the fall. So the WHAT of wisdom and the HOW of glory are integral to what wisdom imparts and how glory unveils it. Both wisdom and glory are essential if therapeutic purification and illumination are to lead to hallowing glorification.
Orthodox Christian tradition is renewed when wisdom and glory co-operate together so that the WHAT of wisdom and the HOW of glory are held together in an integral spiritual embrace. The Orthodox Hesychast tradition regards this union of awareness and presence, wisdom and glory, as an intrinsic dimension of hallowing mystical marriage. The traditional mystical reading of the Song of Songs opens to the mysteries of the Holiest Bridal Chamber and the Holy of Holies, but profane sophistry tends to reify these mysteries so that their violation becomes unavoidable. The desert never looses sight of the sacred covenant responsibilities of holy hiddenness because wisdom and glory are revelatory mysteries. The traditional secrets of the Anaphoral Liturgy were relaxed long ago but it does not follow that the Name has been inevitably profaned. Both the WHAT of wisdom and the HOW of glory are holy mysteries, not conventional beliefs or shallow opinions. The desert preserves wisdom by curing sophistry with holy wisdom and preserves glory by curing vainglory with Orthodox right-glorification. Wisdom purifies the heart with the light of glory so that she can safely hand on how mysteries of glory are revealed, mysteries of grace such as purification, illumination and glorification, mysteries lived by unknown elders together with unrecognised saints.