Theosis , Apokatastasis , Perichoresis and Leiturgia : It’s All Greek to Me!

Theosis, Apokatastasis, Perichoresis and Leiturgia:

It’s All Greek to Me!

By: Joseph A. Bound, Ph.D.Director of EducationDiocese of Green Bay

Sanctification

THEOSIS

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.


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.


2 Peter 1:4 – “…Through these promises you may become partakers of the divine nature.”


St. Athanasius – the purpose of the Incarnation – “God became man that we might be made god.”


The concept of theosis or deification is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in sections# 460, 1129, 1265, 1812, 1988, 1999.


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.”


The concept is found in the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults on pages 41, 79, 80, 87, 93, 193, 328 and 329.


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.


St. Gregory Palamas (1296–1359)


St. Gregory Palamas was a monk at Mount Athos in Greece.

Clarified the distinction between the essence and energies of God.


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.


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 …’


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


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.


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.


Participation in the energies of God:

Love

Life everlasting

Light


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.


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.


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).


There is nothing esoteric about the methods which we must follow in order to be deified:

Participate in Divine Liturgy (Mass)


Receive the Holy Mysteries (sacraments) regularly.

Theosis - Santification

Pray to God daily as St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759 – 1833) did.


Read the Gospels.

Follow the Commandments.

Put others first, not yourself.


Deification is not a solitary process. It is a social process. – love of God and love of neighbor.

There is nothing selfish about theosis.


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.


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.


St. Joseph would be a good example of this.


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.


A possible example? Joseph Stalin


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.


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.”


Question:

What about those of us who die who aren’t perfect enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell?


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.


A possible example?

Joseph Bound,your presenter


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.


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.


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.


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


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.


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.


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


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.


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.


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.


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 EducationDiocese of Green [email protected](920) 272-8266

Theosis , Apokatastasis , Perichoresis and Leiturgia : It’s All Greek to Me!

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