#theosis

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Thinking: Christianity is not an intellectual exercise. God is infinite and as such any attempts to rationalize the mystery of the divine will result in heresy. God is not a thing that you rationalize about but a being that you know (unfully) and are known by (fully). It does you no good to simply think of God and not speak to him. To know is to be. To know God is to become like God, it is to image God, it is to glorify and to be glorified, to be more and more intimate with God that the line between you and the divine becomes blurry to those who see you.

That is the end and aim of humanity: to image God so clearly that the spiritual beings can barely tell the difference.

[apenitentialprayer]

In professing the resurrection of the body —and not simply the immortality of the soul— the church understands eternal life to be not something that we escape into, leaving behind the flesh and its existence in time, but something that lifts both the body and our time on earth into an eternal ripeness. Note that what happened to Jesus in the body in his time on earth he brings with him into eternal life. What had happened here was not swept away. It was transfigured. His lesions and his loves remained his own.

Rev. Terrance Klein ("What Age Will You Be in Heaven? All of Them")

[guwhir]

theosis

[thetelesterion]

A Comparison of Neoplatonic and Christian Theology: Henosis vs. Theosis

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Henosis, (ἕνωσις)

-A word meaning "unity" or "oneness"

-A transformation or elevation of the soul back to its prime source, the One (Τὸ Ἕν)

-Achieved through means of spiritual contemplation combined with theurgic rituals

-Requires an emptying and purifying of the self to achieve (katharsis)

-A full, unfiltered unity with the essence of the One, not just with its energies

Theosis, (θέωσις)

-A word meaning "deification" or "divinization"

-A restoration of human nature to a "pre-fall" state-- a sinless, semi-divine state.

-Achieved through a combination of spiritual purification (katharsis) and engaging with the energies of God through the sacraments.

-Not a "full" union with the essence of God, merely his energies.

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In Neoplatonism, henosis is more of an ascent, or a return of the soul to its original source, a full realization of our inner divinity. Theosis, in Christian belief, is a restoration of the human person, (body and soul) to a state of divine sinlessness, as it existed in the Garden of Eden. It is not a direct unity with God's essence but rather his energies, as his essence is ultimately unknowable to us. It is, in a sense, limited.

The similarities between henosis and theosis make for interesting theological discussions about human nature and the soul. Several Christian writers were influenced by Neoplatonist ideas in late antiquity, and many Christian beliefs borrow heavily from Platonism in general.

[dramoor]

"Christ, praying to the Father, says:

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (Joh 17:20-24)

This 'High Priestly Prayer' of Christ can sound dangerously like the end of boundaries. It is, instead a life of coinherence.* The Son is not the Father, but neither is He the Son apart from the Father, nor is the Father to be seen apart from the Son. Their very names, given to us by Christ: 'Father,' 'Son,' are names that only have meaning as they relate to the other. This is a mystery revealed to us in the Trinity, an existence in which there is commonality and a shared life, but where the one does not destroy or obliterate the other. That is His prayer: 'That they may be one, in the same way [even] as we are one.'

And this true existence requires boundaries: it requires that I not know some things. It requires that there be places I cannot go. And this mystery is given to us in a myriad of ways within the Tradition.

Fasting is learning to eat with boundaries. There must be some times when I cannot eat some things so that I might learn how to rightly eat anything. The calendar is time with boundaries. There must be some days that are different from other days so that I might learn how to rightly live each day. The rules do not exist to protect certain foods or because one day differs from another. The rules are only for us as a medicine for our boundless egos. It is a very good thing to learn that you are not God. It is only there that we will learn what it means to truly exist."

~Fr. Stephen Freeman, Boundaries, Borders, and the True God

*The Concept of Co-inherence

[loneberry]

--Symeon the New Theologian

[orthodoxadventure]

Christ shared our poverty that we might share the riches of His divinity: 'Our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for your sake became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich' (2 Corinthians viii,9). In Saint John's Gospel the same idea is found in a slightly different form. Christ states that He has given His disciples a share in the divine glory, and He prays that they may achieve union with God: 'The glory which Thou, Father, gavest me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as we are one; I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be perfectly one' (John xvii, 22-3). The Greek Fathers took these and similar texts in their literal sense, and dared to speak of man's 'deification' (in Greek, theosis). If man is to share in God's glory, they argued, if he is to be 'perfectly one' with God, this means in effect that man must be 'deified': he is called to become by grace what God is by nature. Accordingly Saint Athanasius summed up the purpose of the Incarnation by saying: 'God became man that we might be made God'.

Now if this 'being made God', this theosis, is to be possible, Christ the Saviour must be both fully man and fully God. No one less than God can save man; therefore if Christ is to save, He must be God. But only if He is also truly a man, as we are, can we men participate in what He has done for us. A bridge is formed between God and man by the Incarnate Christ who is both. 'Hereafter you shall see heaven open,' Our Lord promised, 'and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man' (John i, 51) Not only angels use that ladder, but the human race.

Christ must be fully God and fully man. Each heresy in turn undermined some part of this vital affirmation. Either Christ was made less than God (Arianism); or His manhood was so divided from His Godhead that He became two persons instead of one (Nestorianism); or He was not presented as truly man (Monophysistism, Monothelitism). Each Council defended this affirmation. The first two, held in the fourth century, concentrated upon the earlier part (that Christ must be fully God) and formulated the doctrine of the Trinity. The next four, during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries, turned to the second part (the fullness of Christ's manhood) and also sought to explain how manhood and Godhead could be united in a single person.

-- Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church

[apesoformythoughts]

“If someone who is born of God does not sin, how is it that we who have been born of water and the Spirit, and thus of God, do in fact commit sins? The answer is that the phrase ‘born of God’ has two different meanings. According to the first of these, God has given the grace of sonship with all power to those who have been born again. According to the second, the God who has thus given birth is working in us to bring us to perfection. By faith we are born again in principle, but God still has to get to work on us in order to refashion us according to his likeness.”

— St. Maximus the Confessor

[sonadorayluchadora]

I feel the spiritual grip music is beginning to have on me again, i have to be more diligent. Genuinely as addictive and intoxicating as weed. Praying my morning and evening rule is incredibly difficult as my life is so uncertain and, well, i live in a car that isn't even mine....

but truly, i feel not even ashamed as much as sad I have not been grateful to God for what He is owed.

I tend to be a soldier when it comes to the spiritual life, wanting to war for war's sake and not for God's. But for the proof of my own strength, it makes sense in retrospect why I've been dealing with such vainglory.

This new living situation is really proving to me how dysfunctional that relationship with God really is.

Being a Pentecostal was so easy because it was doing nothing and begging God to do something. Which honestly is an insult to humanity, the jewel of creation. Did Christ not come in flesh? Theosis is a much more straightforward yet complex idea.

The concept of a constant communion with God and His Church was a lot easier than you'd think for me. Ha. now its just the actually doing it part.

Every homily changed when I stopped taking it as "huh. yeah, i better keep this in mind for later" and thinking of examples in other's of what to watch for in myself. When I started to actually treat every word that came out of my priest's mouth as if he were speaking directly to me.

Now, its far more difficult to do for my lack of prayer.

But hope! i can pray lol. Even the way in which i've forced myself to pray is vainglory, trying to have a fancy old grand set up like my bf.

Why do i do that? I've never been impressed with the grand of this life. Beauty in the mundane is what has always moved me.

He is every present and fillest all things.

[porphurios]

“On the subject of that which is beyond Intellect, many statements are made on the basis of intellection, but it is contemplated (θεωρεῖται) by a non-intellection (ἀνοησία) superior to intellection; even as concerning sleep many statements may be made in a waking state, but only through sleeping can one gain knowledge and comprehension (γνῶσις καὶ κατάληψις); for like is known by like, because all knowledge consists of assimilation to the object of knowledge.”

— Porphyry of Tyre, Sententiae XXV

[eyeoftheheart]

“With its roots in Jacob’s ladder and elaborated in biblical Jewish merkavah mysticism, the doctrine known later in Greek as theosis is found in the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite, and Symeon the New Theologian, as well as the Jewish Kabbalah as demonstrated by Joseph Karo, the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples. In other words, Pico intends his angelology in these two works to be understood by the learned classes throughout Europe as a prescription to achieve union with the divine.

By “divine union,” what is meant? The final snapshot of this arduous and paradoxical, or perhaps even inconceivable journey is different in various traditions. Different from the ecstatic, fiery, yet agonizing transformation of the prophet Enoch into the archangel Metatron, called “a lesser YHVH” in 3 Enoch,7 or the graphic, luminous transformation of the mystical abbot of St. Mammas Monastery in Constantinople, Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022), into the Body of Christ in the tenth century CE,8 Pico’s vision of theosis was more akin to sharing God’s “mind stream.” That is, instead of a merger of the corporeal human aspirant into the incorporeal infinitude of the godhead, theosis for Pico was a kind of gnosis and a point of view that was simultaneously individuated and collectively unified. This can be seen in his description of ultimate divine union as possible while the philosopher is incarnate, more akin to a supremely exalted state of consciousness. While achieving a state like this necessitated neglect of bodily cares and desires according to Pico, he also asserted that this prescriptive formula for divinization actually purified the body as a dwelling place for the divine presence.”

Celestial Intelligences: Angelology, Cabala, and Gnosis: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola's Quest for the Perennial Philosophy

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Thinking about trying to encapsulate the idea of "Beauty is terror" into my theology. God is Absolute Beauty (Plato). Thus, God is Absolute Terror (Donna Tartt).

And yet the terror is beautiful.

Thinking about Isaiah. Thinking about Isaiah seeing God's throne room, thinking he's gonna die, only for a fiery flying snake cherubim-esque creature to put burning coal on his lips. This should kill him but instead makes him holy - totally unique. Theosis like. (Moses horrifying transformation was (apo)theosis like) Then Isaiah is totally cleaned of his moral failure and is more than eager to risk his life for Yahweh.

Idk still meditating. Notes welcome.

[apenitentialprayer]

God is all-holy, God is all-love, God is infinite goodness. He can only want what is best for man, which is Himself. God's moral nature precludes ignoring or discounting good or evil. He wants to fill every human life (body and soul) with Himself. That divine self-gift would be absolutely unbearable for a person unprepared to receive it. A person attached to sin in any way cannot rightly love God who is Love-Absolute-and-Love-Incarnate[, but a] person made for love and ready to receive Love Personified will not be satisfied with anything or anyone else.

Father Robert McTeigue, S.J.

The Holy Spirit is Like Fire from Heaven, by Elizabeth Wang

[fierysword]

Beyond the fact that the heroine is a woman, the role of women in the ATh [Acts of Paul and Thecla] is underscored by numerous references to female supporters of [St] Thecla during her imprisonment and her trials in the arena. Thecla’s association with female characters extends even to her confrontation with the wild animals in the arena. Among all the beasts Thecla faces, a ‘fierce lioness’ befriends her, licking her feet during the procession before the games. Later in the arena, that same lioness defends Thecla against two male animals, a bear and a lion. The lioness’s battle with the bear and lion serves as a metaphor for Thecla’s own struggles against the opposition and antagonism of male characters in the story. By punctuating the battle between the lioness and the male beasts with the supportive responses of the anonymous ‘crowd of women,’ the story incorporates the lioness into that community of female supporters, and portrays the animal herself as a martyr for Thecla’s cause.

The Cult of Saint Thecla: A Tradition of Women's Piety in Late Antiquity by Stephen J. Davis

[soiledlight]

"Orthodox Christianity strongly believes that God became man, so that man may become like God. This concept of theosis, rejects that salvation is a positive result to a legalistic dilemma, but is instead a healing process. Orthodoxy views our inclination to sin as a symptom of a malady that needs treatment, not just a transgression that requires retribution. One of the distinctive characteristics of Orthodox Christian thinking is that it sees the Gospel message not as law, but as relationship. It speaks of the mystery of the Holy Trinity in terms of the relationship of love that exists among them. To join in that love is the work that will lead to salvation." – OrthodoxWiki

[dramoor]

“I am in God, and God is in me. I feel that all creatures, the trees, the flowers belong to God and also to me. I no longer have a will, it belongs to God. And all that is God´s is mine.”

~ St. Mariam of Jesus Crucified, The Lily of Palestine, O.C.D. (1846-1878)

(Art: Resurrection, by Albert Pinkham)