Search WesternOrthodox.com

The Destiny of the Race of Man

An Orthodox Christian Understanding

By Dcn. George Zgourides

According to Meyendorff's Byzantine Theology, at the heart of the Byzantine understanding of humanity's destiny is the doctrine of participation in God, termed deification, or theosis (163). Along these lines, Meyendorff quotes Maximus the Confessor as follows:

In the same way in which the soul and the body are united, God should become accessible for participation by the soul and, through the soul's intermediary, by the body, in order that the soul might receive an unchangeable character, and the body, immortality; and finally that the whole man should become God, deified by the grace of God become man, becoming whole man, soul and body, by nature, and becoming whole God, soul and body, by grace. (164)

In other words, man is called to participate and share in the deified humanity of Christ, not merely in imitation of Jesus' moral and virtuous acts, but to actual life in Christ, particularly through the sacraments (164). The whole person, then, participates fully in the divine nature of the whole God (164). Ware, in his The Orthodox Church, adds that humans, created in the image of God, fully acquire God's likeness and in the process become deified (219). Because God became human that we might be made god (21, quoting St. Athanasius), humans become a created god, a god by grace or by status (232; c.f. John 10: 34-35). And as the three members of the Trinity dwell one in another, so are humans called to dwell in the God-head (231). Hence, theosis enables Christians to become by grace what God is by nature (21). For the Orthodox faithful, then, to be saved and redeemed is to be deified (231).

The doctrinal foundation of deification rests in the hypostatic union between the human and divine natures of Christ (Meyendorff 164). This human-divine hypostasis belongs to Christ alone (164), while the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are said to be three persons [hypostasis] in one essence [ousia] (Ware 23). There is, however, communication between the energies of Christ's hypostatic natures, and those who are in Christ also share in this communication (Meyendorff 164).

Union with God is union with His divine energy (actions, operations, power) but not His divine essence (nature, inner being). In The Orthodox Way, Ware quotes St. Basil as affirming, No one has ever seen the essence of God, but we believe in the essence because we experience the energy (22). The human finite mind cannot comprehend the infinite mind of God, which remains a mystery to man. To experience such comprehension would be to know God as He knows Himself, which is impossible for created beings (22). However, man is able to experience directly God's energies in the form of grace, love, and life, to mention only a few (22). And, of course, man is never deified through his own works or efforts; the human energy must become obedient to the divine energy. Nor are human and divine natures ever confused or fused: The created can never be the same as the Creator (23).

In The Orthodox Way, Ware notes that through theosis humans do not lose their personal identity, integrity, or sense of self (23). Instead, they remain distinct (but not separated) from God, and they always maintain an I-Thou relationship with God (23). In the end, humans become more fully who they were meant to be. By freely conforming to God's will, they achieve the supreme goal for which they were created (Meyendorff 165).

The notion of man's eventual deification leads to certain conclusions regarding humanity and creation. The Christian concepts of fall (sin and separation) and restoration (salvation and deification) are based on the idea that man is created in both the image of God (iconos, with the ability to exercise reason and free will) and the likeness of God (the ability to choose and live morally). The first humans were created as perfect beings in a potential sense, and they were called to use their image to acquire the likeness of God—with God's help (Ware, The Orthodox Church 220-221). Through rebellion, however, man did fall, and his sinfulness placed a wall between God and humanity that man could never tear down on his own (225). In turn, God came to man because man could no longer come to Him (225).

The constant theme in the deification of man is that of redemption through the Incarnation of the Word—the Logos (Meyendorff 159). Indeed, the redemptive death of Christ restores humanity's fallen and broken state to one of participation in the divine nature (c.f., II Peter 1:4). Humankind is destined for union with God. So when men freely choose to respond to God's love and call, they are deified by being assimilated to God through virtue (219, quoting John Damascene). And not only will the human body be deified. At the appointed hour, the entirety of creation will be saved, glorified, and transformed from corruption into a new heaven and a new earth (234; Revelation 21:1).

On the topic of freely choosing God's will, the term synergia refers to humanity's cooperation with God in attaining full fellowship with Him (221). On the one hand, full communion with the Creator cannot occur without God's grace and assistance. On the other hand, man must do his part, too (221). The two work together, although God's part in the process is always incalculably greater than man's part (221). Still, while God may call sinners to repentance, He never interferes with man's free will-his ability to choose between good and evil (222). God always respects man's decisions, even if the result is disobedience and sin. As God works in man, and humanity's will is conformed to God's Will, union with Him becomes more complete as man develops into His likeness. The Orthodox hold that the Mother of God—the Theotokos who perfectly cooperated with God-is humanity's best example of synergia in action (222). Ware, in The Orthodox Church, summarizes the key concepts of deification and theosis in the following several points:

To conclude, theosis is the process whereby man becomes what God originally meant him to be. Man and God must work synergistically to bring about man's redemption through the Incarnation and subsequent death of our Lord and Savior. And, in the end, deified man will fully commune with God, and participate in His divine energies.

Works Cited