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September 2010 - Pastoral Reflections
My
Beloved in the Lord:
On
September 1st, the Holy Orthodox Church celebrates the beginning
of her New Ecclesiastical Year.
It is a time to rededicate ourselves to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
A time to grow closer to Him and to live with Him and in Him – a time
for deification. Deification is
the theological term used to describe the process by which a Christian
becomes more like God. Saint
Peter speaks of this process when he writes,
“As His divine power has given to
us all things that pertain to life and godliness. . .you may be partakers of
the divine nature” (II Peter 1:3,4).
What does it mean to partake of the divine nature, and how do we
experience it? To give a humbly
answer, we must first address what deification is not, then describe what it
is.
What
deification is not. When
the Holy Church calls us to pursue godliness, to be more like God, this does
not mean that human beings then become divine.
We do not become like God in His nature.
That would not only be heresy, it would be impossible.
For we humans, always have been human, and always will be human.
We cannot take on the nature of God.
Saint John of Damascus, writing in the eight century, makes a remarkable
observation. The word
“God” in the Holy Scriptures
refers not to the divine nature or essence, for that is unknowable. “God” refers rather to the divine energies – the powers and
grace of God which we can perceive in this world.
The Greek word for God, “Theos,” comes from a verb
meaning
“run,” “see,” or
“burn.”
These are energy words, so to speak, not essence words.
In the Gospel according to Saint John (10:34), Jesus quoting Psalm 82:6,
repeats the passage,
“You are gods.” The
fact that our Lord was speaking to a group of hypocritical religious leaders
who were accusing Him of blasphemy makes the meaning crystal clear: our Lord
is not using
“god” to refer to divine nature.
We are gods in that we bear His image, not His nature.
What
deification is.
Deification means we are to become more like God through His grace or divine
energies. In creation, humans
were made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) according to human
nature. In other words, humanity
by nature is an icon or image of deity:
The divine image is in all humanity.
Through sin, however, this image and likeness of God was marred and
we fell.
When the Son of God assumed our
humanity in the womb of the Holy Theotokos, the process of our being renewed
in God’s image and likeness was begun.
Thus, those who are joined to Christ through faith in Holy Baptism
begin a re-creation process, being renewed in God’s image and likeness.
We become, as Saint Peter writes,
“partakers of the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4).Due
to the Incarnation of the Son of God and because the fullness of God has
inhabited human flesh, being joined to Christ means that it is again
possible to experience deification, the fulfillment of our human destiny.
That is, through union with Christ, we become by grace what God is by
nature – we
“become children of God” (John
1:12).
Historically, deification has often been
illustrated by the “sword and fire” example.
A steel sword is thrust into a hot fire until the sword takes on a
red glow. The energy of the fire
interpenetrates the sword. The
sword never becomes fire, but it picks up the properties of fire.
By application, the divine energies interpenetrate the human nature
of Christ. Being joined to
Christ, our humanity is interpenetrated with the energies of God through
Christ’s glorified flesh.
Nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, we partake of the grace of God –
His strength, His righteousness, His love – and are enabled to serve our
Lord and glorify Him. Thus, we
being human, are being deified.
Wishing all
of us a New Ecclesiastical Year filled
with the abundant blessings and joy of Almighty God and the prayers of the
Holy Theotokos,
I humbly remain,
With paternal love and blessings
in the Risen Lord,
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
+Fr.
Panagiotis
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