So now,
when reading the Old and the New
Testaments, who do we learn has attained Theosis? In the
Old Testament it was the Prophets, and in the New Testament
it was the Apostles. But before all others in the New
Testament, it was saint John the Baptist who had attained
it. Then followed some of the Apostles. Not all the Apostles
simultaneously, because only three of the Apostles were
present at Mount Tabor. Even during the Transfiguration,
the only ones that we are certain had attained Theosis in
the New Testament were (apart from the Holy Mother of
course) saint John the Baptist and then the three Apostles:
Peter, James and John. The entirety of the Apostles
attained Theosis, only during the Pentecost. During the
Pentecost, all of the Apostles (all seventy of them)
attained Theosis, except for the traitor Judas of course,
who was replaced by Matthias. And it was not only the
Apostles who attained Theosis during the Pentecost, but
numerous others also, who were also baptized on that same
day.
Then we observe an odd phenomenon: that
the first among idolaters – the first Gentile in the New
Testament to attain Theosis – was the centurion Cornelius,
who attained Theosis before his baptism. This example
is reminiscent of Job in the Old Testament, who, even though
he was not a Hebrew but an idolater, nevertheless attained
Theosis. But we also have another example of a person
attaining Theosis and being baptized afterwards: that of
Paul the Apostle.
The Spirit “moves where He wills”. That
is why Peter had said in the case of Cornelius: “Who am I to
contradict the Holy Spirit Who gave Cornelius the same Grace
that we received on the Pentecost, and refuse to baptize
him?” But, it is one thing for God’s will to not be
confined when leading someone into Theosis, and another
thing for us to claim that we all partake of the
Grace that leads to Theosis, which would be a foolish thing
to assert. God’s Theosis-giving energy acts only on those
who have reached (by the Grace of God) the required state of
receptiveness for Theosis.
This Theosis-giving energy of God acts in
stages, that is, gradually. Its first stage is called
“ellampsis”
(an inner ‘flickering’ of light). The duration of the state
of “ellampsis” ranges from one second up to a few minutes;
in other words, only for a short while. Then follows the
second stage, during which we speak of a “viewing of the
uncreated Light”. Those who have experienced a viewing of
the uncreated Light (theumens) are the ones who have reached
the stage of Theosis. Then there is the third stage, the
stage of the perfected ones, during which we have a
continuous viewing of the uncreated Light. These are the
classifications of the experience of God’s Theosis-giving
energy.
God’s enlightening energy is not the same
thing. Because this energy is the enlightening of the heart
by the Holy Spirit, which, at its higher level, relates to
the noetic prayer. At its lower level, that of the
neophytes, this condition is usually not accompanied by the
noetic prayer.
This is the condition of those
newly-baptized during Great Saturday of the Holy Week of
Easter, the neophytes. Those neophytes are supposedly going
to become enlightened, through further catechism, between
Easter and the Pentecost. Of course, not everyone will
undoubtedly reach the state of noetic prayer on the day of
the Pentecost (that is, in 50 days), because they may
require sixty or a hundred days, or a year, two years, three
years, or they may never reach that state at all. Reaching
it will depend mainly on the neophyte, in other words, on
how persistently he struggles – and legitimately at that –
and also on how proper a guidance he has received from an
experienced spiritual father. According to Patristic
tradition, if that person never attains that desired state,
it means that he has fallen into some kind of spiritual
stagnancy.
Man’s catharsis from the passions of the
soul and the body cannot be achieved merely through
knowledge. Knowledge of the dogma is of course required, as
well as a knowledge of the content of the Holy Bible, a
knowledge of the prayer, etc.. In other words, logic is
useful for man to make his calculations, to determine what
his therapy entails, and even to decide on whether he wants
to be cured or not. In this way, Man can weigh and evaluate
the potential results of his decisions, and then proceeds to
decide.
All the aforementioned are processes of
Man’s logic. Naturally, the Holy Spirit Who acts upon Man’s
intellect and his heart through his conscience helps Man
choose the right direction. However, the Holy Spirit does
not compel Man to do anything, if he does not desire it; but
once Man has decided to follow the narrow and sorrow-ridden
path that leads to Life, that is when a particular education
from God begins for Man.
One
may be able
to obtain a University diploma
“under the table”, however, the diploma of enlightenment
cannot be obtained this way, but only with one’s worth, with
one’s personal labors. You are enlightened, or you are not.
You are a “theumen”, or you are not. According to modern
Orthodox Theology however, when one is baptized he is called
newly-enlightened (neophyte) and is automatically considered
“enlightened” and a “temple of the Holy Spirit”.
In fact,
nowadays,
we hear priests asserting in
sermons that since we are baptized, we are all temples of
the Holy Spirit, and since we are temples of the Holy
Spirit, everything that the Apostle Paul writes, applies to
all of us! But when we read saint John the Damascene and
specifically all that he wrote regarding the holy relics of
the Saints of our Church, all those verses by saint Paul
pertain only to the Saints, as regards who is truly a
temple of the Holy Spirit. Saint John the Damascene also
explains why the Saints were Saints of the Church. He
clarifies that they were truly temples of the Holy Spirit
and he refers only to the Saints as temples of the
Holy Spirit. Proof of this,
is their holy,
undeteriorated relics.
Based on the above, it would mean that, if all of us who are
baptized are temples of the Holy Spirit, then, according to
modern theologians of Orthodoxy, we shall all leave behind
us holy, intact relics, and we shall all become Saints,
after our departure for the afterlife! But something like
that is out of the question.
If one were to read the Fathers
carefully, one would see a certain deviation between the
Patristic teachings on the Sacraments of the Church and the
teachings that are included in modern textbooks on the
Sacraments of the Church. This is the reason that modern
Orthodoxy is at a certain stage of alienation from Patristic
tradition and Orthodoxy. This signifies a necessity for us
to return to it.
Thus, we have the Grace that provides us
with Theosis, we have the Grace that provides us with
enlightenment, and we have the Grace that provides us with
catharsis. The first stage of
spiritual life is catharsis. And this stage is the work of
the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit Who cleanses,
illuminates and bestows Theosis. The procedure for
catharsis and enlightenment is the job of the catechumen
himself, but also the job of the catechumen’s spiritual
father, whose task it is to open the eyes of the catechumen
and to prepare him for the Baptism. Of course the spiritual
father is obliged to be in a state of enlightenment, so that
he can introduce others into that state and lead them
towards Baptism, both by the water (=the cleansing of sins)
and by the Spirit, which is the visitation of the Holy
Spirit inside the heart of the one being baptized, and the
illumination of his heart.
Thus, in the ancient Church, we have
neophytes first (that is, the newly baptized), then they
proceed to undergo catechism and ascetic upbringing by their
spiritual father, and, when a spiritual father says that
someone is ready for enlightenment, then he is taken to the
temple and is “enlightened”, through his chrismation with
the Holy Unction. At a later stage, the Holy Spirit comes
and dwells permanently inside that person, because he has
love, he obeys all the commandments, etc.
Should you wish to verify these spiritual
stages, please read chapters 14 to 17 in the Gospel
according to John. These are all clearly written in there,
and that is the reason these chapters are cited in church,
during Great Thursday of the Holy Week of Easter.
In the past, those who were to be
baptized on Great Saturday of Easter were given an
explanation and were catechized as to what was expected to
happen during holy Baptism, during which the neophyte was to
be received, so that he could be introduced smoothly and be
directed properly towards the new spiritual experience. From
the neophyte stage they had to reach full enlightenment on
the day of the Pentecost. In other words, their
enlightenment had to be completed within fifty days (from
Great Saturday to the feast of the Pentecost), without this
being something absolute, as we already mentioned. During
this period, there would be an intensive catechism regarding
the stages of spiritual life. For this reason, the Gospel
according to John would be read in the temples, between
Easter and the Pentecost, because John’s Gospel is the
Gospel of enlightenment and theosis, whereas the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark and Luke are the Gospels of catharsis.
On the basis of these distinctions, we
have – apart from the other energies of God – the energy of
theosis, the energy of enlightenment and the energy of
catharsis, the latter of them being for the catechumens. In
all these energies, in other words, the cathartic, the
enlightening and theotic energies, only the Orthodox
Christians can partake. Not all Christians; only Orthodox
Christians. And not all Orthodox, but only those of the
Orthodox who have the necessary spiritual prerequisites.
Apart from these three energies of God,
we have the creative energy of God, in which all creations
participate, and God’s connective and conservative energy,
in which creations again participate. Everything in the
universe participates in the connective and conservative
energy of God, because God preserves the world. Apart from
these, there is the provisional energy of God (Divine
Providence), the loving energy of God, the chastising energy
of God, etc.