''Coming
into contact with Father Sophrony was always an event of a most
especial kind. His monastics, first and foremost, but also those who
made up his wider spiritual family, ''lived,'' as Father Zacharias
put it, ''in an abundance of the word of God.''
As
a young boy, I had the blessing of serving each Sunday in the altar
of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex, England. One day
when I was still a lad of only fifteen or sixteen years of age,
following the Divine Liturgy, and whilst standing in the Prothesis of
All Saints Church, Father Sophrony asked me why I was looking so
thoughtful. Embarrassed that I was preoccupied with such mundane
matters, I had to confess that school examinations were on the
horizon, and that I wanted to do well in them. To my surprise,
however, Father Sophrony did not belittle my worldly anxiety, but
gently nodded his head, and agreed that it was indeed important to do
well in examinations, and that to do so required much toil and
sacrifice. But then he also added, as though to a friend, that ''in
this world there is nothing more difficult than to be saved.''
The
force of the truth of these words struck deep in my heart. We often
encounter, in ourselves and in others, the attitude which suggests
that Salvation is something that we can leave until later; once, that
is, we have taken care of more pressing matters. Father Sophrony's
perspective was quite different, however. By pointing to the
incomparable difficulty of attaining to Salvation, he was clearly
placing it at the very top of our list of urgent priorities. And when
one pauses to consider all the great achievements of mankind, past
and present, whether they be of a scientific or literary character,
in the world of politics or finance or physical endeavour. Father
Sophrony's words seem bold and even provocative - ''a hard saying''
(John 6:60) - but nevertheless fundamentally quite true.
Upon
later reflection, I realized that the reason why Father Sophrony's
words rang so true that day is because of the wealth of meaning which
Salvation has for us in the Orthodox Church. By others, Salvation is
often understood simply in terms of ''deliverance from sin and its
consequences and admission to heaven,'' in terms of escaping
damnation, that is, and reaching a safe place where we can no longer
be tormented by the enemy. According to the Fathers of the Church,
however, Salvation is not so prosaic a matter, for it involves the
''theosis'' (the deification or divinization) of the entire human
person in Christ; it involves, that is, becoming like unto Christ to
the point of identity with Him; it involves acquiring the mind of
Christ (as Saint Paul affirms in the second chapter of the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, verse sixteen), and indeed it signifies
the sharing in His very Life.
In
our brief and humble examination of the content and meaning of
theosis or deification in Saint Silouan and Staretz Sophrony, I
should like to focus on three main areas: 1. Christ as the measure of
our deification, 2. Love for enemies as the measure of our likeness
to Christ, and 3. Holy Relics as a witness to the love of Christ in
us.
1.
Christ as the Measure of Our Deification
Christ
is the measure of all things, both divine and human. Since the divine
Ascension, our human nature has been raised up to the right hand of
God the Father. As Father Sophrony points out, in His divine Person,
the Son and Word of God was of course always seated on the right hand
of the Father, being con-substantial with Him. The divine purpose for
the human race, however, is seen in the union of our human nature to
the divine Person of Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity,
in its being raised to the right hand of the Father.
St
Paul, the great Apostle of the Word of God made flesh, identifies the
divine purpose of the Incarnation with our adoption as sons of God:
''But when the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye
are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a
son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ'' (Gal.
4:4-7).
In
Christ Jesus, therefore, we encounter both true and perfect God and
true and perfect man. In other words, we see in Him not only the
great God and Saviour (Tit. 2:13), but also what or who we have been
called to become - sons and heirs of God the Father. St Irenaeus,
Bishop of Lyons, in refuting the heresy of the Gnostics of the second
century, described the divine purpose succinctly thus: ''[I]f the
Word is made man, it is that men might become gods'' (1). And the
champion of Nicene Orthodoxy, Athanasius the Great, writing in the
fourth century, reaffirms the Biblical and Irenaean position: ''God
became human,'' he says, ''that we might be made gods'' (autos gar
enenthrop-esen, ina emeis theopoiethomen) (2).
''God
became human that we might be made gods.'' What a daring statement!
But what exactly does it mean for us to become gods? Can we created
mortals become uncreated and immortal? Is this not an impossibility?
An impiety? Or even a blasphemy? In what, then, does our becoming
gods, our deification or divinization - our theosis - consist?
As
Archimandrite Sophrony explains in his spiritual autobiography. We
Shall See Him As He Is:''Christ manifested the perfection of the
Divine image in man and the possibility for our nature of
assimilating the fullness of divinization to the very extent that,
after His ascension. He placed our nature 'on the right hand of the
Father''' (3). Note here that the expression ''on the right hand of
the Father'' (ek dexion tou Patros) denotes nothing less than
equality with the Father. Thus, since the time of the divine
Ascension of Christ, our human nature has been deified in Him, and
raised up to the right hand of God the Father. Significantly,
however, Archimandrite Sophrony also adds the following: ''But even
in Him our nature did not become one with the Essence of the
Uncreated God. In Christ, incarnate Son of the Father, we contemplate
God's pre-eternal idea of man'' (4).
So,
in Christ Jesus we find man's rightful place, ''on the right hand of
the Father,'' sharing in the divine Life; but, as with the two
natures in Christ, man has been called to be united with God without
mixture or confusion of any kind, that is to say, we never cease to
be His creatures, since He alone is Uncreated. This fundamental
distinction is of inestimable significance in Patristic theology.
Nevertheless, in the union of our human nature to the Second Person
of the Holy Trinity, we also see what in theological terminology is
called the communicatio idiomatum, that is, the exchange of natural
properties belonging to each of Christ's two natures. This may also
be describedin
terms of the interpenetration of the natural energy of each of the
two natures in Christ in the other.
As
a simple illustration of this we have the Gospel narrative of the
Transfiguration in Luke 9:28, where we first see Christ praying,
performing, that is, an act which is proper to His human but not to
His divine nature; while moments later, we find His humanity sharing
in, indeed resplendent with. His divine glory, which is proper only
to the divine nature. Saint Cyril of Alexandria describes the scene
in this way: ''The blessed disciples slept for a short while, as
Christ gave Himself to prayer. For He voluntarily fulfilled His human
obligations (ta anthropina). Later, on waking they became beholders
(theoroi) of His most holy and wondrous change'' (5).
Staretz
Sophrony points out that the union of the human nature in Christ is
of course hypostatic or prosopic, that is to say, that Christ is a
divine Person, the Person of the Son and Word of God; but, it is
equally important to note that the union of the two natures in Christ
is also energetic (6). The significance of this energetic
interpenetration of the divine and human natures in each other is of
paramount importance for us human beings in that it forms the basis
of our own union with God, which is also energetic and not essential
or hypostatic. In other words, it proves to us that the example of
Christ is also realizable, also attainable, by us human persons, and
that theosis to the point of divine perfection, far from being
optional, is in fact an obligation. It is in this sense that Staretz
Sophrony understands the exhortation: ''Be ye therefore perfect, even
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect'' (Matt. 5:48).
Father
Sophrony also highlights another mystery concerning the Life of
Christ on earth as a model and pattern for our own Life in Christ.
This is revealed in the fact that even with the human nature of
Christ we may observe a certain growth or dynamism, or, as Holy
Scripture puts it, a certain ''increase'': ''And Jesus increased in
wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man'' (Luke 2:52).
Thus, before all things had been fulfilled, even after the hypostatic
union of human nature to the divine Person of the Word - even after
His assumption of our humanity into His divine Person - even Christ,
in His human aspect, appears as increasing in perfection. Hence, He
also undergoes temptations (Luke 4:1-13, Hebr. 2:18); and even
reached the point of agony (Luke 22:44). This, as Father Sophrony
remarks, is due principally to a certain division which may be
observed in Christ before His glorious Ascension, owing to the
asymmetry of His natures. Following His Ascension, and the sitting of
Christ the Son of Man on the right hand of God the Father, we have
the new vision of the Christ-Man as equal to God, not of course
according to His nature, but according to His energy.
Father
Sophrony cautiously notes, however, that this does not refer to
Christ's hypostatic ''aspect,'' for the pre-eternal and uncreated
Word remained such even after His Incarnation. Nevertheless, in the
human ''aspect'' of His union and existence, we find once again the
model and pattern for our own Life in Christ, for, as Staretz
Sophrony puts it:
''Christ
is the unshakable foundation and the ultimate criterion for the
anthropological teaching of the Church, Whatever we confess
concerning the humanity of Christ is also an indication of the
eternal divine plan for man in general. The fact that in the
Christ-Man His hypostasis is God, in no way diminishes the
possibility for us humans to follow His example (cf. John 13:15) (7),
after which 'in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his
brethren' (Hebr. 2:17).
''If
it is true that Christ is the 'Son of Man,' consubstantial with us,
then it follows that everything that He accomplished in His earthly
life must likewise be possible for the rest of the 'sons of men.'''
And for this reason. Father Sophrony adds that ''if we confess His
full and perfect theosis, it behooves us also to hope for the same
degree of theosis for the saints in the age to come'' (8).
The
fundamental theological concern behind all that we have said so far
is soteriological, that is to say, it concerns our Salvation in a
most fundamental way. Why? Because of the simple fact that we cannot
live with Christ if we are not like Him in all respects. As the great
hierophant John the Theologian and Evangelist proclaims: ''We know
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see
him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth
himself, even as he is pure'' (1 John 3:2-3). ''We shall be like him;
for we shall see him as he is.'' So, if we wish to be eternally with
Christ, we must become like Him; and this process of becoming
Christ-like, this purification, invariably involves repentance - a
fundamental change in our whole way of life, in our very ''mode of
being.''
Saint
Symeon the New Theologian, in his Hymn no. 44 reiterates this point
in the following way:
''The
Master is in no way envious of mortal men that they should appear
equal to Him by divine grace, neither does He deem His servants
unworthy to be like unto Him, but rather does He delight and rejoice
to see us who were made men such as to become by grace what He is by
nature. And He is so beneficent that He wills us to become even as He
is. For if we be not as He is, exactly like unto Him in every way,
how could we be united to Him? How could we dwell in Him, as He said,
without being like unto Him, and how could He dwell in us, if we be
not as He is?'' (9)
And
again concerning the awesome-ness of our inheritance, the great Paul,
in Romans, writes the following: ''The
Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ', if so be that we suffer with him, that we
may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us'' (Rom. 8:16-18).
Father
Sophrony also makes another very interesting and important
observation concerning the example given by Christ and our own
theosis or deification. He points to the fact that even though the
deification of Christ's human nature was, as Saint John Damascene
says, effected from the very moment in which He assumed our nature,
nevertheless Christ as Man shied away from anything which might give
the impression of auto-theosis, that is to say, self-deification or
self-divinization. That is why we see the action of the Holy Spirit
underlined at His Holy Birth: ''The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee... therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God'' (Luke 1:35); also, the Holy Spirit
descends upon Christ at His Baptism in the Jordan (Matt. 3:15); and
concerning the Resurrection, the Scriptures speak thus: ''God, that
raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory'' (1 Pet. 1:21); and
finally, Christ Himself, teaching us the way of humility and how
always to ascribe glory to Our Heavenly Father, says: ''If I bear
witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that
beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he
witnesseth of me is true'' (John 5:31-32).
The
same movement may be observed in the Divine Liturgy. The Words of
Institution - ''Take eat, this is my body,'' ''Drink of this all of
you, this is my blood'' - by themselves are not regarded as
sufficient to effect the consecration of the Holy Gifts; they must be
accompanied by the Epiklesis, the invocation of the Holy Spirit,
precisely in order to avoid any notion of self-deification, to avoid,
that is, giving the impression that simply by speaking the words
which Christ spoke, we are able to transform the Holy Gifts into the
precious Body and Blood of Christ. (Of course, at the heart of this
movement lies the truth that the action of Father, Son and Holy
Spirit is always one and the same: the Three Divine Hypostases always
act together, always act in unison, which is an expression of Their
consubstantiality.) Thus, it behooves us to beseech God the Father to
send down the Holy Spirit, by Whose power the change of the bread and
wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is effected (10).
2.
Love for Enemies as the Measure of Our Likeness to Christ
Now
although Saint Silouan himself, as far as I am aware, does not
actually use the term theosis, the deification of the human person in
Christ is certainly a golden thread which may be traced throughout
his writings. For Saint Silouan, the fundamental criterion by which a
person may measure his or her likeness to Christ is love for one's
enemies (cf. Matt. 5:43-45). As he says:
''Christ
prayed for them that were crucifying him: 'Father, forgive them; for
they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). Stephen the Martyr prayed
for those who stoned him, that the Lord 'lay not this sin to their
charge' (Acts 7:60). And we, if we wish to preserve grace, must pray
for our enemies.''
Herein
lies the mystery of the divine ''mode of being,'' God's very way of
life: humility. Humility on the ascetic plane, explains Father
Sophrony, is manifested as regarding one's self as the worst of all
sinners, while on the theological plane, humility is revealed as
love, which is given freely and completely (11). Saint Silouan, who
was himself possessed of this divine love, humbly warns us to be
watchful:
''If
you do not feel pity for the sinner destined to suffer the pains of
hellfire, it means that the grace of the Holy Spirit is not in you,
but an evil spirit. While you are still alive, therefore, strive by
repentance to free yourself from this spirit'' (12).
The
struggle for Christ-like love for one's enemies and humility, and
against pride, is a very great one indeed; and that is why the
saints, the true imitators of Christ and sharers in His love, are
great indeed. Saint Silouan writes: ''I
am a sorry wretch, as the Lord knows, but my pleasure is to humble my
soul and love my neighbour, though he may have given me offence. At
all times I beseech the Lord Who is merciful to grant that I may love
my enemies; and by the grace of God I have experienced what the love
of God is, and what it is to love my neighbour; and day and night I
pray the Lord for love, and the Lord gives me tears to weep for the
whole world. But if I find fault with any man, or look on him with an
unkind eye, my tears will dry up, and my soul sink into despondency.
Yet do I begin again to entreat forgiveness of the Lord, and the Lord
in His mercy forgives me, a sinner.''
''Brethren,''
Saint Silouan continues, ''before the face of my God I write: Humble
your hearts, and while yet on this earth you will see the mercy of
the Lord, and know your Heavenly Creator, and your souls will never
have their fill of love'' (13). So, we see that the love of Christ
fills the very being of His saints.
3.
Holy Relics as a Witness to the Love of Christ in Us
But
whither does this all-embracing Christ-like love lead? The answer for
Saint Silouan is a simple one:
''Love
of God takes various forms. The man who wrestles with wrong thoughts
loves God according to his measure. He who struggles against sin, and
asks God to give him strength not to sin, but yet falls into sin
again because of his infirmity, and sorrows and repents - he
possesses grace in the depths of his soul and mind, but his passions
are not yet overcome. But the man who has conquered his passions now
knows no conflict: all his concern is to watch himself in all things
lest he fall into sin. Grace, great and perceptible, is his. But he
who feels grace in both soul and body is a perfect man, and if he
preserves this grace, his body is sanctified and his bones will make
holy relics'' (14).
There
are, described in this passage, four stages of love, the fourth and
highest of which is that which is attested to by the penetration of
Divine Grace into the body, into the very marrow of a persons being.
And this is identified by Saint Silouan as the highest state of
perfection, the highest state of holiness. ''He who feels grace in
both soul and body is a perfect man, and if he preserves this grace,
his body is sanctified and his bones will make holy relics.''
As
with Christ's voluntary death, in which it was not possible for the
Body of the Logos of Life to see corruption, and which was thus
raised together with His human soul on the third day (15), so too
will it be with the bodies of those saints which have known great
grace in this life, and who have been able to preserve it.16 They
too, even after death, are not separated from the grace and love of
God, neither in soul nor in body, and hence their bodies are revealed
as holy relics.
Here
we are confronted with an overwhelming mystery: that man is not truly
man, not truly a human person or hypostasis, without his body. For
this reason, even great saints patiently await the Second and
Glorious Coming of Christ, when by Grace they will become united once
more with their bodies. There will not be a Judgment for them; for
they have already been judged - by holy self-condemnation. The Second
Coming of Christ, then, will be for them the moment of their full
realization as persons, and thus the inauguration of their full and
perfect participation in the Life in Christ, which is at one and the
same time the Life of the Most Holy Trinity.
The
sole exception to this, of course, is the Mother of God, the
Theotokos (whose Feast of the Holy Protection we celebrate tomorrow,
October 1), who, as the Mother of Life, even after death, could not
be held by the grave, but, like her Son, ''passed over into life.''
She, therefore, even now, as a fully realized human hypostasis,
enjoys the blessed Life to which we have all been called.
In
our first section, we noted an important passage in Saint Paul, from
his Epistle to the Romans, concerning sonship, suffering and the
final glory. Please allow me to repeat it once more: ''The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us'' (Rom. 8:16-18). ''The sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us,'' that is, in our adoption as sons, in our Salvation,
in our theosis in Christ. That is why Saint Gregory Palamas affirms
that ''except for sin nothing in this life, even death itself, is
really evil, even if it causes suffering'' (17). Speaking of the
torments that the martyrs were willing to endure, Saint Gregory
explains that ''the martyrs made the violent death which others
afflicted on them into something magnificent, a source of life, glory
and the eternal heavenly kingdom, because they exploited it in a good
way that pleased God'' (18).
Christ's
word is charged with His divine energy, life and power; so too are
His divine actions and His Life on earth as Man. When we fill
ourselves with His words, and strive earnestly to live according to
His command and example, to love even our enemies as He did - as He
does - so too do we, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, enter into the
sphere of Life which is contained in them. There is, as Father
Zacharias puts it, ''an exchange of lives'' which takes place. We
thus become, in our souls and in our bodies, ''partakers of the
divine nature'' (2 Pet. 1:4) through union with His flesh, His
humanity - sharers, that is, in the very divine Life of Christ
Himself, which is at the same time the Life of the Most Holy Trinity.
We are saved not as individuals but as persons, as members of the
Body of Christ, of which Christ is the Head. We are united with Him -
and through Him, with the other members of His Body.
Notice
the following words from Father Sophrony's We Shall See Him As He Is:
''Through His incarnation the everlasting Logos of the Father gives
us to partake of His Blood and His Flesh in order thereby to pour
into our veins His eternal Life, that we may become His children,
flesh of His Flesh, bone of His Bone (cf. John 6:53-57)'' (19).
In
Holy Relics, therefore, we do not see dead bones - far from it. In
Holy Relics we see the result of communion with the Lord, the result
of sharing the very Life of the Most High God (cf. Rom. 9:5) -
communion with Him Who is Self-Life, Life Itself (autozoe). United
with Christ, then, though we pass through ''the valley of the shadow
of death'' (Ps. 23:4), we pass from death to Eternal Life. This is
the point at which the created meets the uncreated, the point at
which earth meets ''heaven face to face,'' and the point at which we
created, mortal human beings are transfigured by Him into Divine
Life.
Thus
are the perfect. Thus are the saints. Thus are they whose very bones
have preserved grace to the end. Holy Relics are the earthly remains
of those who have been taught by none other than Christ Himself to
love their enemies even unto death, the death of the Cross, which is
His glory, and which by grace becomes their glory too. Love for
enemies is not a moral injunction, it is the fundamental criterion
for the Christian way of life. This is Salvation. Yea, this is
theosis.
Truly,
then, ''in this world there is nothing more difficult than to be
saved.'' But as we begin to perceive Salvation as theosis, so too do
the dry bones seen by the Prophet Ezekiel begin to receive
Life:
''The
hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the
Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of
bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there
were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And
he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O
Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these
bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath
to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put
breath in you, and ye shall live... And ye shall know that I am the
Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up
out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall
live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that
I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord'' (Ezek.
37:1-14).
''[I]
shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live.'' ''Even so, come.
Lord Jesus'' (Rev. 22:20).
