Vassula Ryden

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Vassula Rydén was born in Egypt on January 18, 1942 into a Greek Orthodox family. She claims to have had two prophecy dreams in her childhood and visions of Jesus ever since 1985. She has composed the messages she claims to have received in a book called True Life In God. There are currently over 107 Notebooks compiled in 12 Volumes of the "True Life in God" series, which have been translated by volunteers into 42 different languages. Since 1989 Vassula has spoken more than 800 times in over 63 countries and more than 90 times in the United States. She receives no royalties, commissions or remuneration of any kind for her travels or for these publications.

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[edit] Biography

Vassula Ryden, the daughter of Greek parents established in Egypt, was born on January 18, 1942 in Heliopolis on the outskirts of Cairo. She started school in Egypt, and then at the age of 15, she emigrated to Europe.

Starting at a very young age, she experienced terrifying nightmares, which she attributed to Satan. At the age of 10-12, she had mystic experiences, including a spiritual marriage with Jesus. During her teenage years, she says to have seen, on several occasions, the souls of dead people surrounding her. Afterwards, she became indifferent to religious matters.

In November of 1966, she married a Lutheran man in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, at a Greek Orthodox Church. She later got divorced in Sweden in November of 1980. In June of 1981, she married her current husband, Per Ryden, a Swedish Lutheran, at the registry office. 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 sons, born in 1971 and 1976.

She declares herself Greek Orthodox. A polyglot, her everyday language is English.

[edit] Genesis of the "True Life in God" messages

Towards the end of November in 1985, while living in Bangladesh, Vassula claims that an invisible being, who identified itself as her “guardian angel Daniel”, contacted her. The entity manifested itself by moving Vassula’s hand without her being able to control it, forming words and drawings. By these means, Vassula started to receive "messages" in English, usually about 4 to 6 hours of guided "dictation" per day.

Three months later, she experienced the brief intervention of another being, who identified himself as “God the Father”. The “guardian angel Daniel” then submitted her to a purification week, which was followed by the substitution of the “guardian angel Daniel” by an entity who identified itself as “Jesus”. This entity also uses the guided dictation of the messages to communicate, calling the messages the “True Life in God”. Other personalities also sporadically intervene: the Virgin Mary, Michael the Archangel, St Padre Pio, the Devil, etc.

The content of the messages are religious, a sort of revival of biblical texts and teachings of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The main themes are Christian unity, adherence to the Pope, the closeness of a time of “purification” and the importance of making the messages known in order to end of the division among Christians and to a certain extent unite all religions.

To this day, the writings (several thousands of pages) have been translated and published in 40 languages. Vassula Ryden maintains that it is not a channeling / spiritism phenomena such as automatic writing, and that the author of the messages is really Jesus Christ. Exorcist Father Christian Curty OFM, Marseille, describes Vassula's reception as "hieratic" (e.g. sacred) writings (see http://www.tlig.org/curty2.html).

In 1995, the Roman Catholic Church gave a negative opinion on the writings through the publication of a notification [1] by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in which several negative elements and errors are pointed out. It concludes by requesting the faithful not to regard Mrs. Ryden's writings and speeches of divine or supernatural origin, but rather as the result of her private meditations. But after a request made by Vassula to the aforementioned congregation a new study was made and Vassula was asked to answer five questions (see www.tlig.org/cdf.html) about her messages and its relation to the Holy Bible and Sacred Tradition. At the ending of this dialogue, the former president of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, H. E. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - Now Pope Benedict XVI - wrote a letter, dated 10 July 2004, to five episcopal conferences who were negative about her influence on their faithful that she had given "useful clarifications regarding her marital situation, as well as some difficulties which in the aforesaid Notification were suggested towards her writings and her participation in the sacraments" (see http://www.tlig.org/cdfratztran.html).

The congregation requests that Catholics should follow the directions of the local bishop regarding participation in the prayer groups organized by Mrs. Ryden.

As in "private revelation", such as Lourdes and Fatima, it’s not a dogma of believing in these messages, but the recent clarification means that there are no longer any doctrinal questions about the teaching in "True Life in God". As General Vicar for the Catholic Church in Denmark, Lars Messerschmidt, writes: "On the basis of Cardinal Ratzinger’s short letter it is now without the shadow of doubt that a Catholic with a clear conscience can consider Vassula as sent from God. Of course, everyone is free not to do so, but it is no longer possible to posit dogmatic grounds to reject her. To judge spiritual things one needs to listen to one’s heart. Freedom and respect for each other’s opinions are imperative when dealing with apparitions and prophesies" (see http://www.tlig.org/cdfmesch.html).

See also commentary by H. E. Archbishop Ramon Argüelles (http://www.tlig.org/cdfarg.html) Vassula meeting Cardinal Toppo (http://www.tlig.info/indranchi.html) and Cardinal Sfeir (Patriarc of the Maronit Church, in communion with Rome) (http://www.tlig.info/pilgr2005.html)

[edit] Sources

  • « Le Phénomène Vassula – Etude critique », Marie-France James, Nouvelles Editions Latines, Paris, 1992.
  • « Mon Ange Daniel – Les débuts de La Vraie Vie en Dieu » , Vassula Ryden, Editions du Parvis, Hauteville (Suisse), 2001.
  • « Quand Dieu Fait Signe » , René Laurentin, F.X. de Guibert, Paris, 1993

www.tlig.org

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