|
Achieving Your Potential in
Christ:
X Theosis
X
Plain Talks on a Major
Doctrine of Orthodoxy
By Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris
Edited by D. A. Riewe
AT
BAPTISM WE SING the beautiful words of St. Paul, "For as many of
you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" Alleluia
(Galatians 3:27). The fact that at baptism we have "put on Christ"
has tremendous implications. If we have put on Christ, then we have
put on His love, His forgiveness, His peace, His joy. If we have put
on Christ, we have put on His servanthood: "If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's
feet" (John 13:14). If we have put on Christ, then we shall suffer
as Christ, suffered; we shall be persecuted for the truth as Christ
was persecuted.
If we have put on Christ, we shall be resurrected as Jesus was. We
shall be glorified as Christ was glorified; we shall ascend to the
Father as He ascended to the Father. We shall sit at the right hand
of the Father with Jesus. We shall partake of His divine nature and
share in His life and glory, becoming "gods by grace" as He is God
by nature and essence.
Thus, theosis began for us in baptism. When we were baptized we "put
on Christ," i.e., we received the life of Christ within us, the same
life that enabled Christ to walk this earth for 33 years without
sinning. Thus, on the day of our baptism, we became new persons,
with a brand new potential: theosis or union with God.
X It
Has Already Happened
Theosis is not something new. It has already
occurred at the Transfiguration when the human body of Jesus was
transfigured and shone more brightly than the sun. Here we see the
great potential of human nature in Christ. Here we see the potential
spirituality of man in its highest form! Here we see the dust of the
flesh transfigured into God's likeness in divine glory! Here we see
the human body as God originally created it to be - radiant,
resplendent and glorious! Here we see what human nature can again
become in Christ by God's grace.
The following troparia of the Feast of the Transfiguration bring
this out:
"Transfigured today on Mount Tabor in His disciples'
presence, Christ revealed the original beauty of the image...
"Transfigured, You have made Adam's nature, which had grown
dim, to shine once more as lightning, transforming it into the glory
and splendor of your Godhead."
X "I'm
Only Human!"
How often we hear people trying to excuse their
sins and failure by saying, "I'm only human!" You are human, but God
became human in Christ to show us what it really means to be human.
To be human means to be able to share in God's life. To be human
means to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in our bodies, making them
temples of God. To be human means to have the Lord Jesus sitting on
the throne of our heart, making us palaces of God's presence. To be
truly human means to be able in Christ to transcend human weaknesses
and frailties and to become like Christ in whose image we were
created.
One who is truly human:
truly fulfills God's commandments-
he makes his body a throne for his mind,
his mind a throne for spirit,
and his spirit a throne for soul.
Then his soul too becomes a throne
for the light of the Presence
that rests upon him.
The light spreads forth around him,
and he, at the center of that light,
trembles in his joy.
- Hasidic Saying
X Spiritual
Dwarfs
But all of this presupposes ascesis, struggle and
constant growth in the life of Christ. Without this ascesis and
constant spiritual growth, not only do we not attain our potential -
theosis - but we also become moral and spiritual pygmies or dwarfs.
Leslie Brandt writes:
There is a method of stunting trees so that they never grow
higher than a couple of feet. It is done by tying off the
taproot so that the tree is forced to live off its surface
roots.
These trees beautify unique little gardens making them places of
supreme beauty, but perform little service beyond that. They are
rather useless in terms of supplying lumber for building or for
shelter against raging typhoons. They become potted plants
instead of the forest giants they were originally intended to
be.
A baby in a crib is a beautiful sight to behold, but if that
creature, plagued by some crippling disease, remains a crib-baby
after twelve or fifteen years, it become a tragic and pitiful
sight indeed.
Even more tragic, though of far less concern to people, are the
moral and spiritual dwarfs who have never attained to the height
and stature they are destined for and who are potted plants
instead of forest giants because their taproots are tied off and
they have never gone deep into an intimate relationship with God
to draw on divine sustenance and strength.[3]
Created to be giants, we end up as dwarfs when the taproot, designed
for an in-depth relationship with God, is cut off and we live on the
surface of life.
Fr. Alexander Elchaninov writes, "The man who denies his
relationship with God, who refuses to be His son, is not a real man
but a man stunted, the unfinished plan of a man. For to be sons of
God is not only granted us as a gift, but is also entrusted to us as
a task, and only the accomplishment of this task, through the
conscious putting of Christ and God, can lead to a full disclosure,
a full blossoming, of each human personality.[4]
X Our
Aim in Life
It is no wonder that the Orthodox Church
considers our aim in life to be union with God, or theosis! We were
created to share in God's life. This is what makes us different from
animals. We were created to be receptacles of God's life, without
which we cease to be truly human.
When someone asked an Orthodox priest one day what he thought was
the main emphasis of the Orthodox Church, he replied with one word,
"Theosis." And he was right.
It is said that the greatest compliment God ever paid man was when
He said to him, "be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is
perfect" (Matthew 5:48).
X Let
Loose the Slumbering Christ Within You
Leslie Newbigin said once, "I know and believe
that each person I see, has a capacity to let loose in him the Risen
Christ, now often slumbering, but there incontrovertibly..." To let
loose the Christ who is within you, will be the beginning of a
personal transformation and transfiguration that will be nothing
less than theosis, union with God.
X Two
Caterpillars
Two caterpillars sat watching a butterfly flying
overhead. After some time, one caterpillar remarked to the other,
"You wouldn't get me up in one of those things for a million
dollars!" Of course, the unsuspecting caterpillar was little aware
that he was gazing upon his own destiny.
My hope through these talks on theosis is that you will catch a
glimpse of your own future destiny. For we are destined to share in
Christ's glory. His victory over death was our victory over death.
His Pascha, His resurrection, has become our Pascha, our
resurrection. His transfiguration, our transfiguration; His
ascension, our ascension; His glorification, our glorification.
X The
Seedling's Strength
I read recently that the strength exerted by a
tiny little plant as it pushes its stem above the surface of the
ground is roughly 450 pounds per square inch. Four hundred and fifty
pounds of pressure in those delicate little plants pushing their way
above ground!
I was amazed and awed by the power God has placed even in the
tiniest of His creations. And then I thought to myself, 'If God has
given an organism of the size of my fingernail such strength, how
much more energy must I have within myself, untapped?'
Indeed, God has placed untapped reservoirs of strength within us to
enable us to attain theosis and union with Him. Think of prayer, the
Bible and all the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. These are
all ways for us to achieve union with God.
In many ways, we are like a chick within an eggshell. Awakening to
the fact that he is cramped in the shell and needs food and space,
he begins to peck his way out. Suddenly, he discovers a brand new
world of freedom, light and food.
X You
Have a Rendezvous with Glory
We live much of our lives as if in a shell. We
are forever like the chick and his shell - within an inch of true
life and living.
Within each one of us, God has placed the capacity for unlimited
growth. Yours is the privilege of giving birth to this new
potential, this new life by breaking out of your shell. You have a
rendezvous with glory. You have a rendezvous with fullness of life
in Christ! You have a rendezvous with "Christ in you, the hope of
glory" (Colossians 1:27). You have a rendezvous with greatness!
Vladimir Loloviev, a Russuan religious philosopher, wrote,
"Your tendencies and ambitions come from God. They are
remote calls from His kindness... If you wish to be upraised unto
God, if you wish to be so united with God, that God is all in you,
if you despair because, eager to share in the divine nature, you
have a glimpse of it in its inaccessible infinity, then, take
assurance. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are calling you,
indeed, to ascend unto them.
"They are ready to come down towards you and in you, in
order to live as the habitual guests of your soul. They promise to
your whole being, in exchange for what is good in it, a
transformation, at first mysterious and invisible, but soon
resplendent and glorious, a union and assimilation that will
divinize you."
It is important that we keep the spark alive in us.
A person at prayer is like a bed of coals,
As long as a single spark remains, the great fire can be
kindled.
But without that spark, there can be no fire.
Always remain attached to God, even in those times when you feel
unable to ascend to Him.
You must preserve that single spark - lest the fire of your soul
be extinguished.
- Hasidic Saying
V V V V V
[theosis/_private/footer.htm]REFERENCES
[3] "Christ in Your Life," L. Brandt.
Concordia Publ. Co., St. Louis Mo. 1980. P. 140.
[4] "The diary of a Russian Priest," A Elchaninov. Faber and
Faber. London. 1967. P. 44
|
|