Some writers make no absolute distinction between asceticism and mysticism. They say that any Christian who is in earnest in striving after perfection is called to mystical union apart from its accessory manifestations (ecstasies, visions). Early Christian writers certainly did not distinguish asceticism from mysticism, and the word mysticism is not usually employed by them as defined in the text above. But they knew well that extraordinary states were the privilege of a few only. Men of letters and philosophers use the word mystical in a. Totally different sense from that of the theologians — zla, for very religious.