Transcript Theosis Apokatastasis Perichoresis Leiturgia
Theosis, Apokatastasis, Perichoresis and Leiturgia: It’s All Greek to Me!
By: Joseph A. Bound, Ph.D.
Director of Education Diocese of Green Bay
THEOSIS
Sanctification
Theosis - Sanctification
The deification of men and women.
God dwelling in us and us dwelling in God.
For Byzantine Catholicism humankind’s salvation and redemption means deification.
Theosis - Sanctification
Deification is something intended for all.
The fact that a man or woman is being deified does not mean that he or she ceases to be conscious of sin. Deification is a process – it always presupposes a continued act of repentance in this life.
Theosis - Sanctification
2 Peter 1:4 – “…Through these promises you may become partakers of the divine nature.”
Theosis - Sanctification
St. Athanasius – the purpose of the Incarnation – “God became man that we might be made god.”
Theosis - Sanctification
The concept of theosis or deification is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in sections # 460, 1129, 1265, 1812, 1988, 1999.
Theosis - Sanctification
Catechism of the Catholic Church #1988 says: “[God] gave Himself to us through His Spirit. By participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature…For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized.”
Theosis - Sanctification
The concept is found in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults on pages 41, 79, 80, 87, 93, 193, 328 and 329.
Theosis - Sanctification
The idea of theosis must always be understood in light of the distinction between God’s essence and His energies. We can know or experience the energies of God but not his essence.
Theosis - Sanctification St. Gregory Palamas (1296–1359)
Theosis - Sanctification St. Gregory Palamas was a monk at Mount Athos in Greece.
Clarified the distinction between the essence and energies of God.
Theosis - Sanctification
Essence of God (ousia) God as God is, unapproachable, unknowable, uncreated, incomprehensible, beyond all states of consciousness and unconsciousness, beyond being and non-being, beyond something and beyond nothing. He necessarily is apart from what He does.
Theosis - Sanctification In the Divine Liturgy the prayer just before the Holy, Holy, Holy says: ‘…for you are God ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing, yet ever the same …’
Theosis - Sanctification
Energies of God (energeia): revealed divine light activities in the created world/universe, comprehensible experience-able (i.e. love, beauty, faith, goodness, kindness, truth, humility, and wisdom) God as what He eternally does
Theosis - Sanctification
A person is not absorbed into God’s essence in theosis.
Union with God means participation in the divine energies, not the divine essence. The Church rejects all forms of pantheism.
Theosis - Sanctification
The mystical union between God and individuals is a true union, yet in this union the Creator and the creature are not blended into a single being. A person, when deified, remains distinct though not separate from God.
Theosis - Sanctification Participation in the energies of God: Love Life everlasting Light
Theosis - Sanctification
A person does not cease to be human when he or she becomes godlike.
We remain creatures while becoming godlike by grace, as Christ remained God when becoming man by the Incarnation. A person does not become God by nature, but is merely created godlike by grace.
Theosis - Sanctification
A person is not just a soul. A person is composed of body and soul.
Therefore theosis involves both the body and soul. Since Christ came to save and redeem the whole person, it follows that a person’s body as well as his or her soul will be deified.
Theosis - Sanctification
The full deification of the body must wait until the Last Day – When the bodies are resurrected and sanctity will be externally manifested. The person is so full of the Holy Spirit that the glory of the Holy Spirit will come out from within.
The bodies of the saints will be outwardly transfigured by divine light (energy of God).
Theosis - Sanctification
There is nothing esoteric about the methods which we must follow in order to be deified: Participate in Divine Liturgy (Mass)
Theosis - Sanctification Receive the Holy Mysteries (sacraments) regularly.
Theosis - Santification Pray to God daily as St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759 – 1833) did.
Theosis - Sanctification Read the Gospels.
Follow the Commandments.
Put others first, not yourself.
Theosis - Sanctification
Deification is not a solitary process. It is a social process. – love of God and love of neighbor. There is nothing selfish about theosis.
Theosis - Sanctification The Ladder of the Divine Ascent
FINAL THEOSIS
Purgation
Final Theosis - Purgation
We all will experience the intense love of God in the afterlife. Depending on how we lived our life, we will experience this in different ways.
Final Theosis - Purgation
Those who loved God, acquired the love of God in their lives, and loved their fellow kind in a perfect way will experience God’s love in the afterlife as paradise, as heaven.
Final Theosis - Purgation St. Joseph would be a good example of this.
Final Theosis - Purgation
Those who did not love God, follow His commandments, or love their fellow kind, who were extremely egotistical will experience God’s intense love as hell.
Final Theosis - Purgation A possible example? Joseph Stalin
Final Theosis - Purgation The fire of hell is considered a metaphor in Eastern Christian theology.
Those who are damned are not deprived of God’s love, but experience it as torment.
Final Theosis - Purgation
As Vladimir Lossky stated in The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, “The love of God will be an intolerable torment to those who have not acquired it within themselves. Because they rejected the lover, they experience His warm embrace as torment.”
Final Theosis - Purgation
Question: What about those of us who die who aren’t perfect enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell?
Final Theosis - Purgation
Those who loved God and their fellow kind in a less than perfect way, whose remaining selfishness and egoism need to be eliminated, will experience God’s love in the immediate afterlife as a purgative experience. They will be purified by God’s love.
Final Theosis - Purgation A possible example? Joseph Bound, your presenter
Final Theosis - Purgation
A person’s intense awareness of their sinfulness and imperfections as a result of experiencing God’s love will burn them with the desire to become perfect so that they can experience God’s love in the most intense way.
Final Theosis - Purgation
Roman Catholics, Byzantine Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox believe that purgatory or final theosis … 1.) is a state of transition/transformation for those en route to heaven, and 2.) prayer is efficacious for the dead in this state.
Final Theosis - Purgation
It refers to the process of deification or theosis, in which the remnants of our human nature are transformed, and we come to share in the divine life of the Holy Trinity.
Final Theosis - Purgation
Byzantine Catholics don’t see final theosis as a place to sit and suffer in a literal fire.
The Eastern Fathers of the Church described final theosis as being a journey. While on this journey we can experience hardships but there are also powerful glimpses of joy.
APOKATASTASIS
Transformation
Apokatastasis – Transformation
Refers to the transformation of the world and the universe at the end of time. It is the redemption and glorification of matter. This is when God creates a new heaven and earth.
Apokatastasis - Transformation
Apokatastasis – Transformation
A person’s body has to turn to dust before it can be transformed at the resurrection. The earth also has to go through a form of death before being renewed. Nature, too, affected by Adam’s sin has become punishment for him and his descendants. Thus, it needs to be transformed, as well.
Apokatastasis – Transformation
With this radical transformation or transfiguration, all creation will harmonize with the glorious existence of risen mankind. Then the victory over sin will be complete. These new heavens and new earth become part of the eternal bliss to be enjoyed by the just.
Apokatastasis – Transformation
Risen folks will be immune to defects, pain, suffering, and sorrow. The blessed in their glorified bodies will be capable of penetrating material things, for they will not be restricted by matter in any way.
Apokatastasis - Transformation
Apokatastasis – Transformation
They will also be able to move from place to place in an instant, body and all, merely by an act of the will. Their bodies will show outwardly the bright beauty of their soul. There will be no labor, anguish, or fears but only the wish to please God which is full of delight.
Apokatastasis – Transformation
Hell exists as a final possibility for some, but several of the Eastern Fathers have none the less believed that in the end all will be reconciled to God. It is heretical to say that all must be saved, for this is to deny free will, but it is legitimate to hope that all may be saved.
Apokatastasis – Transformation
Until the Last Day comes, we must not despair of anyone’s salvation, but must desire and pray for the reconciliation of all without exception. No one must be excluded from our loving intercession.
Apokatastasis – Transformation
In fact, St. Gregory of Nyssa (335 – 395) said that Christians may legitimately hope even for the redemption of the Devil.
PERICHORESIS
In-dwelling
Perichoresis The in-dwelling of the three persons of God in each other.
The divine unity and interdependence of the three persons in one God.
Perichoresis The mutual, ceaseless exchange of love among the three persons.
Leiturgia People’s Work
Leiturgia The work of the people.
The Byzantine Catholic Mass is called the Divine Liturgy.
There is a constant dialogue chanted between the priest and the people.
Leiturgia The priest leads the congregation in worshiping God through the use of prayer, chant, incense, candles, and icons.
The church building is designed to represent heaven on earth.
Leiturgia Iconostasis and Nave of the Church
Leiturgia Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom Liturgy of St. Basil Liturgy of St. Gregory (Pre sanctified Liturgy)
Leiturgia Prothesis – Rite of Preparation of the Gifts. First part of the Liturgy.
Leiturgia Liturgy of the Catechumens
Leiturgia Liturgy of the Faithful.
Conclusion I encourage you to attend the Divine Liturgy at a Byzantine Catholic parish. It will fulfill your Sunday obligation.
Conclusion Any Catholic can receive Holy Communion at a Byzantine Catholic church since we are all in communion with the Pope.
Conclusion For more information, please feel free to contact me.
Dr. Joseph A. Bound, Dir. Of Education Diocese of Green Bay [email protected]
(920) 272-8266