Vassula Ryden

Vassula Rydén (Cairo, Egypt, January 18, 1942) is an Egyptian Christian mystic and religious writer, who claims to have had two prophetic dreams in her childhood and visions of Jesus since 1985; She has published an extensive work of hers, which brings together the messages she claims to have received from her dialogue with God. Her work has earned her some notoriety; The book, called True Life in God, has been translated by volunteers into 40 languages, and Vassula Rydén has been invited to give lectures in numerous countries about her experience. Her writings have not been recognized by the Orthodox Church or the Catholic Church, which have published documents denouncing errors in her teachings and advising the faithful not to participate in her activities or disseminate her writings.

Biography

Vassula Rydén was born in the Cairo neighborhood of Heliopolis, into a Greek Orthodox family. She started school in Egypt and at the age of 15 she emigrated to Europe. According to her works, from an early age she began to suffer frightening nightmares that she attributed to Satan. At the beginning of puberty she claims to have had mystical experiences, including a spiritual wedding with Jesus. During her teenage years she says she saw the souls of dead people surrounding her on several occasions. Shortly after, she became indifferent to religious issues. ^{[ citation needed ]}

In November 1966 she married a man of the Lutheran religion in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, in a Greek Orthodox Church; In November 1980 she divorced him. In June 1981 she entered into a civil marriage with Per Rydén, a Swedish Lutheran. In 1990 she regularized her union in the Greek Orthodox Church and celebrated her religious marriage in Lausanne, on October 31, 1991. She has two children from her first marriage, born in 1971 and 1976. Rydén declares orthodox greek. She speaks several languages, although her everyday language is English.

The messages of True Life in God

According to what Vassula says about herself, towards the end of November 1985, while she was living in Bangladesh, an invisible being who introduced himself as her "guardian angel Daniel" visited her while she was shopping at her usual supermarket. According to her, the angel manifested himself by moving her hand without her being able to take control, while he formed words and pictures. In this way, she would begin to receive "messages" in English, approximately 4 to 6 hours of "guided dictations" daily. Three months later she said she experienced the brief intervention of another being who introduced himself as "God the Father." According to the story, shortly thereafter, the "guardian angel Daniel" subjected her to a week of purification in which she was able to see her sins as God sees them, an event that was followed by the subtle replacement of her angel with another presence that He identified himself as "Jesus." "Jesus" also communicated through the guided dictations by which the angel communicated, in turn calling the messages "True Life in God." Other personalities also progressively intervene in her communications: the "Virgin Mary", "Saint Michael the Archangel", "Padre Pio", the "Devil", etc.

The content of the messages is religious, a review of biblical texts and teachings of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The main themes are Christian unity, the importance of returning to the Pope, the approach of a time of "purification" and the importance of the messages being known in order to end the division between Christians and to some extent make a called to other religions to also hear the call to unity. According to Rydén, God gave him the key to unity and a better understanding of the gospels, through Lectio divina, and reaffirms that the messages are a means of meditation, to read the Bible more, in order to maintain the soul wake up; allowing it to progress. Rydén insistently shows during the first series of books that the God we had forgotten never forgot us.

During the first years of the phenomena, Rydén had Catholic spiritual fathers as his guides; It was then that "Jesus" told him that he would personally assume that role, although he also regularly receives the spiritual advice and support of Father Michael O'Carroll, who affirms that "Jesus" has also given him messages of unity.

So far, the writings (several thousand pages) have been translated and published in 40 languages. Since 1985 he claims to have the definitive gift of the mystics (locution and interior vision) and claims to suffer the passion of Christ every Friday. Vassula Rydén maintains that her experience is not "automatic writing" as occurs in the channelling phenomena of spiritism, and that the author of the messages is truly Jesus Christ.

The content of the messages of and#34;The True Life in God' published by Rydén, have motivated both detractions and defenses in religious circles.

Recognition in religious environments

In 1995, the Catholic Church gave a negative opinion on the scriptures through the publication of a notification by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the tutelage of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later elevated to the pontifical throne as Benedict XVI), in which errors were pointed out in light of the doctrine of the Church contained in Rydén's work, and asks the bishops not to facilitate the dissemination of his writings in the dioceses.

Between 2001 and 2004, Rydén had a dialogue with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was documented in letters later published in the Rydén books. At the request of the Congregation, she answered a series of questions regarding errors pointed out in the 1995 Notification. At the conclusion of the dialogue, Rydén announced that her situation had been regularized with the Catholic Church.

However, in January 2007, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a communication to all the episcopal conferences of the world, in which it confirmed the negative doctrinal judgment of the 1995 notification and discouraged the participation of the Catholic faithful. in the True Life in God prayer groups.

On March 16, 2011, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople published a statement in which it condemned Rydén's teachings and asked the Orthodox faithful not to spread them.