ean017 HOME PAGE ‘THEOSIS Table of Contents = Preface = Deification As The Purpose Of Man's Life ~The Cause Of Man's Deitfcation = The Contribution OF ‘The Theotokos ~The Place Of Deification = How Deification Becomes Possible = Qualifications For Deification - Experiences Of Deification Failure To Attain Deification = Consequence Of Guidance For Deification = Consequence Of Guidance Not Leading To Deification - Glossary > St. Seraphim of Sarov > Union With God > Hierotheos of Nafpaktos. > John Romanides > Rabin Amis > History of the Church > Links ‘Thecss -Delestion As The Purpose OF Mars Life greckorthadoxchrchorg THEOSIS* - DEIFICATION AS THE PURPOSE OF MAN'S LIFE By Archimandrite George ‘Abbott of the Holy Monastery of St. Gregorios on Mount Athos DEIFICATION AS THE PURPOSE OF MAN'S LIFE The issue of the destiny of our lives is very serious, because it concems the most important question for man: the purpose for which we are placed on earth. If man takes & correct stance on this subject, if he finds his actual destiny, he can then take also @ correct stance regarding particular questions, and those that arse in his daily life, such as his relationships with other people, his studies, profession, marriage and the bearing and upbringing of children. However, if he does not take the correct stance on this basic issue, then he will also fail in his particular goals. Because what meaning can particular goals have, if human life as a whole has no meaning? The purpose of our life is declared already by the first chapter of the Holy Bible, when the holy author tells us that God created man ‘in His image and likeness’. We thus ascertain the great love that the Triune God has for man: He does not wish him simply to be a being with certain gifts, certain qualities, a certain superionty over the rest of creation, but He wishes him to be'a god by Grace. ‘man seems to be just @ biological being, lke other living beings, the animals. is an animal, but ‘an animal ... which can be defied through its inclination towards God’, as St. Gregory the Theologian characteristically says (Homily on the Epiphany MPG 36, 324, 13). He is the only being that stands apart from all creation; the only one which can become a god. ‘In His image’ refers to the gifts which God gave only to man, alone among all His Creatures, so that he constitutes an image of God. These gifts are: a rational mind (gr. rnous), conscience, and self-authority, in other words freedom, creativity, eres, and tho yeaming for the absolute and for God, personal self-awareness, and anything else which puts man above all other living beings in creation, and makes him a man and a personality. In other words, everything that makes man a person. These are the gifts of the ‘in His image’ Having been formed ‘in His image’, man is called upon to be acquire the ‘in His likeness’, in other words, deification (gr. theosis). The Creator, God by nature, calls man to become a god by Grace, ‘The gifts of ‘in His image’ were given to man by God so that that he may ascend very high; 0 that through them he may attain a ikeness to his God and Creator, so that he may have rot an extemal, moral relationship, but a personal union with his Creator. Perhaps it is very daring for us even to say or think that our purpose in life is to become: gods by Grace. However, neither the Holy Bible nor the Church Fathers have hidden this from us. Unfortunately, there exists ignorance in people outside the Church, but also in many within the Church, because they assume that the purpose of our life is, at best, simply moral Improvement, to become belter men, whereas this is not what is given to us by the Gospel, by the Tradition of the Church, and by the holy Fathers: that man should only improve, become more moral, more just, more se-controled, more mindful. All hese must be done, but they are not the great purpose, the final purpose for which our Maker and Creator formed man, What is this purpose? Deification (gt. theosis) ~ for man to be united with God, not in an extemal or a sentimental way, but ontological, really. Inlpsdwwrwgrookorthodorchurch octhecss_purpese Mm weean017 ‘Thecss -Delcation As The Purpose OF Max's Life greckorthadoxchrcherg This is how high Orthodox anthropology places humanity. If we compare the anthropologies of all the philosophies, social and psychological systems with Orthodox anthropology, we will ascertain very easily how poor these are; how they fall to respond to man's great yeaming for something very great and true in his life Since man is ‘called to be a god’, .e. he was created to became a god, as long as he does not find himself on the path of deification (gr. theosis) he feels an emptiness within himself; that something is not going right; he feels no jy, even when he is tying to cover the emptiness with other activities. He may numb himself, create a fancy world, but at the same time poor, small and limited, and cage and imprison himself inside it. He may organise his life in such a way that he is never quiet, alone with himself. He can try, through noises, tension, television, radio, continuous information about this and that, as if with drugs, to forget, to not think, not worry, not remember that he is not on the righ! path, that he has strayed from his purpose. In the end, however, the wretched, contemporary man finds no rest until he finds that ‘something else’, the greatest thing that actually exists in his life, the truly beautiful and creative. Can man unite with God? Can he commune with Him? Can he become a god by Grace? ‘A new English translation of the Greek text will soon be published, with commentary by Robin Amis, Director of Praxis Research Institute, where he explains the same concepis in terms of modern Western thought www.greekorthodoxchurch.org is owned and maintained by Photius Coutsoukis, © 1996-2008 (all rights reserved). Inlpsdwwrwgrookorthodorchurch octhecss_purpese Mm