Man, the Target of God

by Zacharias Zacharou

In the theology of Saint Silouan and Elder Sophrony, man is the target of divine visitations that serve to make him aware of the image of Christ within him. Elder Sophrony referred to the image of God in man as man's hypostasis or personhood. In this book, Archimandrite Zacharias, the disciple of Elder Sophrony, presents the principle of personhood through the lives of the elders of his monastery, Saint Silouan and Elder Sophrony.

271 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Father Zacharias is a disciple of Saint Sophrony the Athonite - the Father founder of the Community of Saint John the Baptist, Essex, UK. He studied theology at the Orthodox Theological Institute of Saint Sergius in Paris and at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He has lived all his monastic life in the monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Essex where he serves as a spiritual Father and minister of the word of God to his brethren and the people that come to him.

Reviews

[Kristofer Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a relatively simple book about a difficult topic. Theological anthropology is not well developed in the Protestant world, which is itself derived from Medieval Roman Catholicism. While Roman Catholic Theological Anthropology has progressed by leaps and bounds (see 'Man and Woman He Created Them' by John Paul II), Protestant theology in this area remains stuck in the Middle Ages. By contrast, the Eastern Orthodox have always maintained their own distinct theology of the Person, which is connected to the Person of Jesus Christ, and is thereby connected to the persons of the Holy Trinity.
A few days before his death, [Elder Sophrony] asked two of his monks to write down the four central points of his theology on the hypostasis, which are briefly as follows.
1. Christ is the true Person, as was revealed to Moses in the words 'I AM THAT I AM'.
2. Man is a person, created in God's image and likeness.
3. The content of the Person of Christ is His self-emptying love unto the end, by which he accomplished the salvation of the world.
4. Man likewise proves himself a person when he acquires love for God to the point of self-hatred, pure prayer which accompanies this, and prayer for the world similar to Christ's prayer at Gethsemane.
This is a summary of the Orthodox Theological Anthropology. The careful reader will note the Orthodox approach is not to divide issues into a hierarchy of categories, nor to deal with each issue atomistically. Instead, the Orthodox prefer a holistic approach in which the connections between Western categories are emphasized. Thus in dealing with the issue of human nature, we begin with Jesus Christ, who is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit to be the image of the invisible God. Thus, the very idea of the person is connected to the hypostasis of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From there we proceed not to the Fall of Man, but rather to the creation of Man in the image and likeness of God. We connect the image and likeness of God both to the revelation of Christ as the 'I AM THAT I AM' and to His self-emptying love for man. From thence we come to the Man after the fall, whose human nature has been revived in Christ, and who is now able through self-renunciation and love for Christ to see Him as He is, and to thereby become a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

[Ted · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll rate this as something too great and marvelous for me. I'm in need of what I can do as a Christian. No matter how wonderful or holy the life of a saint, if it is inimitable for me, then it cannot inspire me.