Theosis

 

The goal of the life of virtue is to become like God. 



Give thanks unto the Lord

 

The Scripture tells of different ways of how God has fought on our behalf to attain the good so that we might have abundant occasions to thank Him for His benefits.  Psalm 106 immediately begins with ‘Give thanks to the Lord because He is good, for His mercy endures forever.’  This verse is an acknowledgement of thanksgiving; they are not merely words, for we are bidden to glorify God for His goodness only.  Both the good and salvation for mankind come from God, for all things come through His grace and goodness. 

 





Contrast virtue & sin

 

 

For virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in her way “fly like clouds” as Isaiah says, “and as doves with their young ones,” but sin is a heavy affair, as another of the prophets says, “sitting upon a talent of lead.” 

 

 

 

Joy in heaven

There is joy in heaven over those who are being saved, and Christ, like the father of the prodigal son, makes a feast for his rescued child.  

Blessed Feast Day of the All-Holy Spirit

When love has entirely cast out fear, and fear has been transformed into love, then the unity brought us by our Savior will be fully realized, for all men will be united with one another through their union with the one supreme Good. They will possess the perfection ascribed to the dove, according to our interpretation of the text: One alone is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only child of her mother, her chosen one.

Our Lord’s words in the Gospel bring out the meaning of this text more clearly. After having conferred all power on His disciples by His blessing, He obtained many other gifts for them by His prayer to the Father. Among these was included the greatest gift of all, which was that they were no longer to be divided in their judgement of what was right and good, for they were all to be united to the one supreme Good. As the Apostle says, they were to be bound together with the bonds of peace in the unity that comes from the Holy Spirit. They were to be made one body and one spirit by the one hope to which they were all called. We shall do better, however, to quote the sacred words of the Gospel itself. I pray, the Lord says, that they all may be one; that as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so they also may be one in us.

Now the bond that creates this unity is glory. That the Holy Spirit is called glory no one can deny if he thinks carefully about the Lord’s words: The glory you gave to me, I have given to them. In fact, He gave this glory to His disciples when He said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. Although He had always possessed it, even before the world existed, He Himself received this glory when He put on human nature. Then, when His human nature had been glorified by the Spirit, the glory of the Spirit was passed on to all His kin, beginning with His disciples. This is why He said: The glory you gave to me, I have given to them, so that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, I want them to be perfectly one.

Whoever has grown from infancy to manhood and attained to spiritual maturity possesses the mastery of his passions and the purity that makes it possible for him to receive the glory of the Spirit.  He is that perfect dove upon whom the eyes of the bridegroom rest when he says, One alone is my dove, my perfect one.

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

Icon appeared on johnsanidopoulos.com, June 13, 2011

How Jesus appears in us and in others

The child Jesus born within us advances by different ways in those who receive Him in wisdom, in age, and in grace. He is not the same in every person, but is present according to the measure of the person receiving Him. He shows Himself according to each one's capacity. He comes either as an infant, or a child advancing in age, or as one fully grown after the example of the cluster. Christ is never seen with the same form upon the vine, but He changes His form with time - now budding, now blossoming, now mature, now ripe and finally as wine. Thus the vine holds out a promise with its fruit. It is not yet ripe for wine, but it awaits maturity. Meanwhile it does not lack in any delight, for it gladdens our sense of smell instead of our taste with its expectation of the future; by its fragrance of hope it sweetens the soul's senses. A faith firm in a grace we hope for becomes a delight for us who wait in patience.