Status Updates From Theosis: The True Purpose o...

Enlightening.

"Our holy God has molded us for Theosis, so if we are not deified, our whole life is failure."

The holy Fathers certainly say that within the Church we can attain Theosis. But at the same time they say Theosis is a gift from God, it is not something we can attain on our own. Of course, we must desire, struggle, and prepare ourselves so that we are worthy, capable, and receptive enough to accept and guard this great gift from God,[...] but at the same time, Theosis is a gift of God.

God is not only essence, as the West thinks: He is also energy. If God was only essence, we could not unite with Him, as was written: Never will man see My face and live (Exodus 33:20).

If we grasp a bare electric wire, we will die. However, if we connect a lamp to the same wire, we are illuminated. We see, enjoy, and are assisted by, the energy of electric current, but we are not able to grasp its essence.

"Everything in the Church leads to Theosis [...] Only within the Church can man become a god, and nowhere else: not in universities; not in social services; not in any of the fine and good things that the world has. None of these are able to offer what the Church offers, however good they may be."