15 Great Christian Mystics

There has been a remarkable revival of Christian mysticism in recent times, with the work of people such as Richard Rohr and Bernard McGinn. Rightly so, because there is much that can be learned from the deep spiritual experience of these enlightened souls, but it can be difficult to delve into the rich history of mystics and their writings. There are many lists out there, very different from this one, and that's fine. Below is an attempt at a selection that is meant to be introductory, chosen for readability, accessibility, diversity of period and culture, and popularity. What might be surprising to find is that one thing that most of these mystics have in common is a sense of practicality. Like in any spiritual tradition, one progresses on the path step by step, and considerable attention is given to imparting a solid, grounded, ethical education, firmly focused on mundane concerns, as a solid, necessary foundation.

1- Evagrius Ponticus  (345–399 AD), was a Christian monk and ascetic. One of the most influential theologians in the late fourth-century church, he was well known as a thinker, polished speaker, and gifted writer. He left a promising ecclesiastical career in Constantinople and traveled to Jerusalem, where in 383 he became a monk at the monastery of Rufinus and Melania the Elder. He then went to Egypt and spent the remaining years of his life in Nitria and Kellia, marked by years of asceticism and writing. He was a disciple of several influential contemporary church leaders, including Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Macarius of Egypt. He was a teacher of others, including John Cassian and Palladius.

Evagrius. Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus, translated by Robert E. Sinkewicz. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press 2003.

2- John Cassian (c.AD 360 – c.435),  was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern Churches for his mystical writings. Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of Christian monasticism to the early medieval West. Around 420, at the request of Bishop Castor of Aptia Julia in Gallia Narbonensis, Cassian wrote two major spiritual works, the "De institutis coenobiorum" (Institutes of the Coenobia) and the "Conlationes" or "Collationes patrum in scetica eremo" (Conferences of the Desert Fathers). In these, he codified and transmitted the wisdom of the Desert Fathers of Egypt. The Institutes deal with the external organization of monastic communities, while the Conferences deal with "the training of the inner man and the perfection of the heart." 

3- John Climacus was a 6th-7th-century Christian monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai. Of John's literary output we know only the Ladder of Divine Ascent, composed in the early seventh century, The Ladder describes how to raise one's soul and body to God through the acquisition of ascetic virtues. Climacus uses the analogy of Jacob's Ladder as the framework for his spiritual teaching. Each chapter is referred to as a "step", and deals with a separate spiritual subject. There are thirty Steps of the ladder, which correspond to the age of Jesus at his baptism and the beginning of his earthly ministry. Within the general framework of a 'ladder', Climacus' book falls into three sections. The first seven Steps concern general virtues necessary for the ascetic life, while the next nineteen (Steps 8–26) give instruction on overcoming vices and building their corresponding virtues. The final four Steps concern the higher virtues toward which the ascetic life aims. The final rung of the ladder—beyond prayer, stillness, and even dispassion is love. Originally written simply for the monks of a neighboring monastery, the Ladder swiftly became one of the most widely read and much-beloved books of Byzantine spirituality.
4- Isaac the Syrian (c. 613 – c. 700),  was a 7th-century Church of the East Syriac Christian bishop and theologian best remembered for his written works on Christian asceticism. He is regarded as a saint in the Assyrian Church of the East and in the Chaldean Catholic and Eastern Orthodox tradition. When still quite young, he entered a monastery where he devoted his energies towards the practice of asceticism. After many years of studying at the library attached to the monastery, he emerged as an authoritative figure in theology. Shortly after, he dedicated his life to monasticism and became involved in religious education throughout the Beth Qatraye region. He was ordained bishop of Nineveh but he administrative duties did not suit his retiring and ascetic bent: he requested to abdicate after only five months, and went south to the wilderness of Mount Matout, a refuge for anchorites.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, Revised Second Edition, by Holy Transfiguration Monastery (2011)

5- Hildegard of Bingen (1098 –1179) was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath. Hildegard was elected magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136; she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play. She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, and poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota.

Hildegard's most significant works were her three volumes of visionary theology: Scivias ("Know the Ways", composed 1142–1151), Liber Vitae Meritorum ("Book of Life's Merits" or "Book of the Rewards of Life", composed 1158–1163); and Liber Divinorum Operum ("Book of Divine Works", also known as De operatione Dei, "On God's Activity", composed 1163/4–1172 or 1174). In these volumes, the last of which was completed when she was well into her seventies, Hildegard first describes each vision, whose details are often strange and enigmatic, and then interprets their theological contents in the words of the "voice of the Living Light."

6- Bonaventure (1221 –1274), born Giovanni di Fidanza, was an Italian medieval Franciscan, scholastic theologian and philosopher. The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he was also Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He is known as the "Seraphic Doctor". Bonaventure was regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages.

Journey of the Soul into God - Itinerarium Mentis in Deum translation and Introduction by Zachary Hayes, OFM, and Philotheus Boehner, OFM, vol. 2, 2002.

7- John of Ruusbroec (1294 –1381) was one of the Flemish mystics. In total, Ruysbroeck wrote twelve books, seven epistles, two hymns and a prayer. All were written in Middle Dutch.Around 1340, Ruysbroeck wrote his masterpiece, The Spiritual Espousals. The 36 surviving Dutch manuscripts, as well as translations into Latin and Middle High German, are evidence of the book’s popularity. Some of the text was also translated into Middle English (via the Latin translation) as The Chastising of God's Children (which was later printed by Wynkyn de Worde). Around the same time, he also wrote a short treatise, The Sparkling Stone, which was also translated into Middle English.

8- Henry Suso (1295-1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth century. An important author in both Latin and Middle High German, he is also notable for defending Meister Eckhart's legacy after Eckhart was posthumously condemned for heresy in 1329.

Suso was very widely read in the later Middle Ages. There are 232 extant manuscripts of the Middle High German Little Book of Eternal Wisdom. The Latin Clock of Wisdom was even more popular: over four hundred manuscripts in Latin. The Clock was therefore second only to the Imitation of Christ in popularity among spiritual writings of the later Middle Ages. Wolfgang Wackernagel and others have called Suso a "Minnesinger in prose and in the spiritual order" or a "Minnesinger of the Love of God" both for his use of images and themes from secular, courtly, romantic poetry and for his rich musical vocabulary. The mutual love of God and man which is his principal theme gives warmth and color to his style.

9- Walter Hilton (c. 1340–1396) was an English Augustinian mystic, whose works became influential in the 15th century. The first book of The Scale of Perfection is addressed to a woman recently enclosed as an anchoress, providing her with appropriate spiritual exercises; the bulk of its 93 chapters deal with the extirpation of the "foul image of sin" in the soul – the perversion of the image of the Trinity in the three spiritual powers of Mind, Reason and Will (reflecting the Father, Son and Holy Spirit respectively, according to a tradition drawn from St Augustine) – through a series of meditations on the seven deadly sins. The second book’s major themes are reformation of the soul in faith alone and in both faith and feeling. The latter is described in an extended metaphor as a spiritual journey to Jerusalem, or "peace" in meditation, a gift which is also its own giver, Christ.

10- Julian of Norwich (late 1342 – after 1416) was the greatest of all the English anchorites of the Middle Ages. She wrote the earliest surviving book in the English language to be written by a woman, Revelations of Divine Love. She lived throughout her life in the English city of Norwich, an important centre for commerce that also had a vibrant religious life, but which during her lifetime was a witness to the devastating effects of the Black Death of 1349, the English Peasants' Revolt, which affected large parts of England in 1381, and the suppression of the Lollards.

In 1373, aged thirty and so seriously ill she thought she was on her deathbed, Julian received a series of visions or "shewings" of the Passion of Christ and of Mary, mother of Jesus. She recovered from her illness and wrote two versions of her experiences, the earlier one being completed soon after her recovery, and a much longer version being written many years later.

11- Teresa of Ávila (1515 –1582), was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, author, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. Active during the Counter-Reformation, she was a reformer in the Carmelite Order of her time; the movement she initiated, later joined by Saint John of the Cross, eventually led to the establishment of the Discalced Carmelites, though neither she nor John was alive when the two orders separated.

Teresa of Ávila, Way of Perfection, London, 2012.

The Interior Castle - The Mansions, TAN Books, 1997. 

12- John of the Cross  (1542 – 1591) was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, a Roman Catholic saint, a Carmelite friar and a priest, who was born at Fontiveros, Old Castile. Saint John of the Cross is considered one of the foremost poets in the Spanish language. Although his complete poems add up to fewer than 2500 verses, two of them—the Spiritual Canticle and the Dark Night of the Soul—are widely considered masterpieces of Spanish poetry, both for their formal stylistic point of view and their rich symbolism and imagery. A four-stanza work, Living Flame of Love, describes a greater intimacy, as the soul responds to God's love.

The Collected Works of St John of the Cross (Eds. K. Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez), Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC, revised edition, 1991.

13- Francis de Sales (1567 –  1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions in his land resulting from the Protestant Reformation. He is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and the Treatise on the Love of God. These last qualities come through in Sales' books, the most famous of which was Introduction to the Devout Life, which – unusual for the time – was written specially for laypeople. In it he counseled charity over penance as a means of progressing in the spiritual life. Sales also left the mystical work, the "Treatise on the Love of God", and many highly valued letters of spiritual direction, including those with Jane Frances de Chantal compiled in the Letters of Spiritual Direction.

Introduction to the Devout Life (Translated and Edited by John K. Ryan), Doubleday, 1972.

14- Jakob Böhme (1575 –1624) was a German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian. He was considered an original thinker by many of his contemporaries within the Lutheran tradition, and his first book, commonly known as Aurora, caused a great scandal. In contemporary English, his name may be spelled Jacob Boehme; in seventeenth-century England it was also spelled Behmen, approximating the contemporary English pronunciation of the German Böhme.

The Way to Christ (inc. True Repentance, True Resignation, Regeneration or the New Birth, The Supersensual Life, Of Heaven & Hell, The Way from Darkness to True Illumination) edited by William Law, Diggory Press

15- Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (c. 1614 –1691) served as a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris. Christians commonly remember him for the intimacy he expressed concerning his relationship to God as recorded in a book compiled after his death, the classic Christian text, The Practice of the Presence of God.