The experience of visions, which is not defined as a direct encounter with God, can be interpreted not as proof of a personal contact with the divine in itself, but as part of the broader picture of a mystical experience rooted in the traditional teachings of the Church.

Mystical Visions and Church Tradition

The experience of visions, which is not defined as a direct encounter with God, can be interpreted not as proof of a personal contact with the divine in itself, but as part of the broader picture of a mystical experience rooted in the traditional teachings of the Church. In other words, such an experience is perceived as one of the signs of the presence of a higher reality, which must be carefully correlated with the collective experience recorded in church tradition and apostolic memory.

For example, one source (source: link txt) emphasizes that “the memories of the evangelists are not the only means by which we come to know Christ” and that “people of other generations, too, had an experience with the same Source as the apostles.” This approach indicates that a vision experience can be considered genuine if it essentially resembles the apostolic experience and is affirmed by Scripture and the common church tradition.

Moreover, another document (source: link txt) demonstrates that authentic mystical experience is defined not by an individual proclaiming their experience as a direct encounter with God, but by the extent to which this experience is in agreement with the experience of the Church, i.e. it fits within the framework of tradition. It is precisely this connection with tradition that allows one to interpret visions even when they are not declared as an immediate testimony of an encounter with God.

Thus, if the experience of a vision is not presented as a direct revelation, it should be understood as an expression of living reality, where the key factor is its overall identity with the experience transmitted by the apostles and shaped within the framework of church tradition. This requires carefully comparing one’s personal experience with the theme of God as revealed in traditional faith – and only then can it be considered a genuine sign of the presence of a higher reality.

Supporting citation(s):
"Work on reconstructing the context, in turn, led to several important conclusions both about Simeon himself and the Orthodox Tradition as a whole... A true mystic is not someone who places his personal experience above the church tradition, but someone whose experience is in agreement with the experience of the Church." (source: link txt)

"People of other generations, too, had an experience with the same Source as the apostles. The continually recurring personal experience of encounter, the new and living experience of Christ’s presence in the Church, gives rise to new testimony... The memories of the evangelists are not the only means by which we come to know Christ." (source: link txt)