A theologian in the patristic sense, on the other hand, is one who knows God through the experience of divine grace and whose spiritual life is centered in the ascetic, sacramental and liturgical life of the Church. This is why his knowledge of God coincides perfectly with the teachings of the Fathers. They share the same experience. Elder Paisius of Mount Athos provides a contemporary example. He writes, “Theology that is taught as a [worldly] science usually examines things historically and consequently