Journeying Towards the Divine Light, Our Calling: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Theosis

What is our divine calling? For Orthodox Christians, the concept of man's divine calling is clear. Rooted in Scripture, the experience of Church fathers including the teachings of revered figures like Saint Sophrony and Saint John the Theologian, this perspective illuminates a path towards communion with God, encapsulating the essence of humanity's spiritual journey.

Saint Sophrony, a beacon of spiritual wisdom who experienced God directly as light, encapsulated the essence of humanity's divine purpose when he proclaimed, "man was called by God to the fulness of divine life, to abide eternally in the infinite light." This declaration encapsulates the fundamental belief that each individual is beckoned towards a transcendent union with the divine, where the radiance of God's grace and light permeates every aspect of existence.

Echoing this sentiment, Saint John the Theologian articulates the nature of God as light, devoid of any shadow of darkness. In his profound words, "God is light, and in Him there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5), we find an invitation to immerse ourselves in the boundless luminescence of the Divine. This illumination serves not only to dispel the shadows of ignorance and sin but also to guide humanity towards a higher state of being, where the soul is enfolded in the brilliance of God's presence.

Moreover, Saint John's assertion regarding humanity's potential transformation further elucidates the divine journey. He proclaims, "Now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." This anticipation of likeness to God underscores the transformative nature of communion with the Divine, wherein individuals are transfigured to reflect the very image of their Creator.

The Orthodox Christian perspective, therefore, presents a compelling narrative of human existence as a journey towards the infinite light of God. It beckons believers to embark upon a path of spiritual ascent, guided by the radiant beacon of divine revelation. With humility through prayer, sacraments, adherence to the teachings of Christ and His Church, and continual repentance, individuals are invited to partake in the divine life, wherein the barriers between humanity and the transcendent are dissolved in the ineffable radiance of God's love.

In conclusion, the Orthodox Christian perspective offers a profound insight into the nature of humanity's divine calling. Rooted in the teachings of Saint Sophrony and Saint John the Theologian and others, it illuminates a path towards communion with God, wherein individuals are called to dwell now and eternally in the infinite light of His grace. As humanity continues its journey towards the divine, may we find solace in the promise of transformation and the assurance of likeness to God, as we behold Him in all His radiant glory.

Reference: Alive From the Dead: Homilies on Great Lent, Archemandrite Zacharias Zacharou

Flying High - Love

When you ascend high into the heavens in a physical way on an airplane and gaze out of the window from 40,000 feet above the surface of the earth, you cannot help but be drawn to the awesome nature of God. Having gone through the normal hassle of boarding a crowded flight in a small island airport in Greece, I sat by the window of the plane and watched the normal sights disappear. As we took off piercing the clouds, a new dimension emerged. I could no longer see the steep inclines that moments earlier had strained my legs as I walked the narrow streets of Pyrgos, Santorini. Soon, the vast expanse of the Adriatic Sea was all I could see. Then, as we encountered an area with a vast layer of clouds, there was nothing but the endless varied formation of clouds covering the earth below. Staring out the window I could only think of God. I picked up a book I had brought and here is what I read:

While still a child I would pray for those who gave me offense. I used to pray, "O Lord, lay not sins on them because of me." But though I loved praying, I did not escape sin. Still, The Lord remembered not my sins, and gave me to love people, and my soul longs for the whole world to be saved and dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven, and see the glory of The Lord, and delight in the love of God.  

I judge by my own case: if The Lord so loved me, it must mean that He loves all sinners in the same measure as He loves me. 

O love of God, no power can describe it, for it is immeasurably great and wonderful.

These are the profound words of St Silouan the Athonite. His words of love filled my heart and made me reflect on the simple truth he expresses in these few sentences. How can we have hate for our brothers and sisters of this world when we know how God loves us? Truly, God loves all His creation, each and every person, just as He loves us. 

Flying high above the earth the differences that we so great when on the ground disappear. Even the mountains are barely distinguishable. When I think of God and my own sinfulness I see that from His perspective even my own defects disappear and are forgiven out of His Love. 

This view from 40,000 feet in the air is the way we need to view our brethren. We err when we focus on their failings and are not able to see the image of God in each of us.

Let us remember always how deficient we are and how much God loves us. Like Him we need to love in the same way. This is the way to peace in the world, to peace in our city or parish, and harmony in our family.

We are about to descend into the busy airport in London. I will soon see if can hold on to this view of Love.

Reference: St Silouan the Athonite, by Archimandrite Sophrony,  pp 270-271

A Healing Prayer by Elder Sophrony

Elder Sophrony writes, "If any of  my readers is suffering from some psychological wound occasioned by failure in life, he can attain to regal freedom of spirit and radically change his whole life if he turns to God every day with a personal prayer such as this, for example:"

Prayer at Daybreak
Eternal King without beginning, You who are before all worlds, my Maker, Who have summoned all things from non-being into this life: bless this day that You, in Your inscrutable goodness, give to me. By the power of Your blessing enable me at all times in this coming day to speak and act for You, to Your glory, in Your fear, according to Your will, with a pure spirit, with humility, patience, love, gentleness, peace, courage, wisdom and prayer, aware everywhere of Your presence.
Yes, Lord, in Your immense mercy, lead me by Your Holy Spirit into every good work and word, and grant me to walk all my life long in Your sight without stumbling, according to Your righteousness that You have revealed to us, that I may not add to my transgressions.
O Lord, great in mercy, spare me who am perishing in wickedness; do not hide Your face from me. And when my perverted will would lead me down other paths, do not forsake me, my Savior, but force me back to Your holy path.
O You Who are good, to Whom all hearts are open, You know my poverty and my foolishness, my blindness and my uselessness, but the sufferings of my soul are also before You. Wherefore I beseech You: hear me in my affliction and fill me with Your strength from above. Raise me up who am paralyzed with sin, and deliver me who am enslaved to the passions. Heal me from every hidden wound. Purify me from all taint of flesh and spirit. Preserve me from every inward and outward impulse that is unpleasing in Your sight and hurtful to my brother.
I beseech You: establish me in the path of Your commandments and to my last breath do not let me stray from the light of Your ordinances, so that Your commandments may become the sole law of my being in this life and in all eternity.
O God, my God, I plead with You for many and great things: do not disregard me. Do not cast me away from Your presence because of my presumption and boldness, but by the power of Your love lead me in the path of Your will. Grant me to love You as You have commanded, with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and with all my strength: with my whole being.
For You alone are the holy protection and all-powerful defender of my life, and to You I ascribe glory and offer my prayer.
Grant me to know Your truth before I depart this life. Maintain my life in this world until I may offer You true repentance. Do not take me away in the midst of my days, and when You are pleased to bring my life to an end, forewarn me of my death, so that I may prepare my soul to come before You.
Be with me then, O Lord, on my great and sacred day, and grant me the joy of Your salvation. Cleanse me from manifest and secret sins, from all iniquity hidden in me; and give me a right answer before Your dread judgment-seat.

source
Reference: His Life is Mine, pp 52-53

Dealing with Thoughts in Prayer

Fr. Sophrony writes:

By prayerfully fixing his attention in his heart, the ascetic strives to preserve his spirit from all thought.  Thoughts may be natural in everyday life but they can also be consequent on satanic influence.  In prayer, the ascetic renounces for the time being, to the degree that he finds possible (Which differs from person to person), the needs of his nature.  Thoughts of demonic origin,one excludes altogether.  This means that the mind at prayer rejects all thought, both natural and demonic....

He then warns about lights that may appear during prayer

Sometimes something occurs in deep-set prayer that is difficult to explain.  lights appear around the mind, trying to attract the mind's attention to themselves, and if the mind refuses to pay attention, they, as i were,say to the mind, 'We bring you wisdom and understanding, and if you refuse us now, maybe you will never see us again.'  But the experienced mind pays no attention whatever and they depart, not only unaccepted but even unacknowledged.  The mind does not know for sure if it was an evil enemy or a good angel; but it does know by experience that if it stops to consider the brilliant thought, it loses prayer, and with great pains must seek it again.  Experience shows that in the hour of prayer we must not listen even to good thoughts because if we do, other ideas will occur and, as elder Silouan said, 'You will not continue undistracted.' Nothing can compensate for the loss of pure prayer." (Sophrony, His LIfe is Mine, p 114)

The key is not to expect not to have thoughts but do not accept or consider them during prayer.  When they come politely reject them and return your attention to your prayer.


More on Attention in Prayer 

His Divine Presence - More Thoughts from His LIfe is Mine

In prayer, especially, we are aware of the divine Presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  There is nothing greater than to have this personal relationship with our Creator.  Savor these thoughts given to us by Archimandrite Sophrony:

In Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit God gave us the full and final revelation of Himself.  His Being now for us is the First Reality, incomparably more evident than all the transient phenomena of this world.  We sense His divine presence both within us and without: in the supreme majesty of the universe, in the human face, in the lightning flash of thought.  He opens our eyes that we may behold and delight in the beauty of His creation.  He fill our souls with love towards all mankind.  He indescribably gentle touch pierces our heart.  And in the hours when His imperishable Light illumines our heart we know that we shall not die.  We know this with a knowledge to prove in the ordinary way, but which for us requires no proof, since the Spirit Himself bears witness within us.

Archimandrite Sophrony in His LIfe is Mine, p22-23

To develop this relationship with God takes time and effort.  In Scripture we can observe how slowly He revealed His full nature to His disciples.  At the very end of His time on earth He told them, "The Holy spirit...shall teach you all things to your remembrance, whosoever I have said unto you." (John 14:36)  "When the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13)  They prepared themselves for this with several years of His teaching and many days of prayer and fasting. It is in a life of prayer that we receive inspiration from Him, sending down on us His unlimited love.  The relationship we can develop with Him is one that cannot be put into words.

For us, Christians, Jesus Christ is the measure of all things, divine and human.  "In Him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead" (Col 2:9) and of mankind.  He is our most perfect ideal.  In Him we find the answer to al our problems, which without Him would be insoluble.  He is n truth the mystical axis of the universe.  If Christ were not hte Son of God, then Salvation through the adoption of man by God the Father would be totally incomprehesible.  With Christ man steps forward into divine eternity.

Archimandrite Sophrony in His LIfe is Mine, p 31

More on prayer of the heart...

Returning to God - Thoughts from His LIfe is Mine

One of the things I had to come to terms with in my spiritual journey was to understand why there was so much suffering in life.  Why did God make it so difficult.  In the beginning I was willing to put this burden on God.  Eventually I came to see it differently.  Here is how it now makes sense to me.

In the beginning we were created in the image of God and endowed with a free will.  This gave us the capability to love God as He loves us.  It also eliminated the possibility of predestination as we can use this free will with full liberty.  We can choose to go against what God asks of us like Adam and Eve.  But there is a catch.  With this freedom we have there are consequences of our actions.  We all are made to seek perfection by striving to become like the image of God we have been created with.  In our efforts to grow in this way, we collectively make imperfect choices and experience suffering and pain.  In this is a creative turmoil. But this is precisely what leads to our further growth.  In our suffering we come to know our limitations, imperfections and need for renewal and transformation.  Often, out of fear,  we seek to avoid all pain and the reality of death. This serves to draw us into contemplation about the meaning of life and the purpose of our struggle.  It is in this struggle that we grow.  As we grow we learn to accept the difficulties that come our way as further opportunities for our growth.  We become thankful and each new encounter leads us closer to God.

Archimandrite Sophrony puts it this way,

We Christians accept the wondrous gift of life with thanksgiving.  Called by Christ, we strive for the fullest possible knowledge of the Primary source of all that exists.  From our birth onwards we gradually grow and enter into possession of being.  Christ is for us "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  With Him our path lies through a great and intricate spiritual culture: we traverse cosmic chasms, more often with much suffering but not seldom win rapture as understanding increases.  For a while the growing process is bound up with our physical body; but the time soon comes when, liberated from terrestrial chains, mind and spirit can continue their progress towards the Heavenly Father.  We know  that He loves us and because of this love reveals Himself to us without limit.  It may still be only partly, but we know that in Him is our immortality; in Him we shall arrive at everlasting Truth.  He will grant us with indescribably joy of sharing in the very Act of the Divine creation of the world.  We hunger for complete unity in Him.  He is Light, Beauty, Wisdom, Love.  He gives the noblest meaning to our life and the bliss of boundless gnosis.

Archimandrite Sophrony, His Life is Mine, p 35 

Yes, we need to learn to be thankful for whatever difficulty we are called to face, as it will lead us to an inward peace and union with Christ our God. The reward is as Archimandrite says, "He reals Himself to us without limit." and "He will grant us with indescribably joy of sharing in the very Act of the divine creation." This then gives us the meaning we seek out of life.

The reality of life is that as we humble ourselves, accept our weakness, and recognize our self-centeredness, the Holy Spirit makes its home in us and we come to know Christ with certainty and have no lingering doubts about our eternal life with Him. The Gospel is transformed from a book into a clear description of the true love of God for us.  As we walk this path, we learn that we must deal with our sinfulness.

In my case this took many years.  I led a life for over forty years without having any realization that I was living in sin.  I was successful in my career, had a loving wife and healthy kids.  I was in control and everything was going my way.  Eventually, the reality of death and a persistent conscience began to have an impact.  I began to feel the pressure on my job and wondering about the purpose of this hectic way of life.  I began to search for the truth.  This eventually led to a thirst to be become part of God's Kingdom, but the path was one with many detours.  It wasn't until I learned how to pray that I began to make any progress in this search for true peace.  The truth I found was that it is only through an inner process of searching, involving contemplation, prayer, fasting and regular participation in the sacraments of the Church, that the Holy Spirit becomes active within and makes its home within us.

Archimandrite Sophrony says,

...true contemplation begins the moment we become aware of sin in us... To apprehend sin in oneself is a spiritual act, impossible without grace, without the drawing near to us of Divine Light.The intial effect of the approach of this mysterious Light is that we see where we stand "spiritually" at the particular moment.  The first manisfestations of the Uncreated Light do not allow us to experinece it as light.  It shines in a secret way,  illuminating the black darkness of our inner world to disclose a specticle that is far from joyous for us in our notmal state of fallen being... We become acutely conscious of sin as a sundering from the ontological source of our being.  Our s;pirit is eternal but now we see ourselves as  prisoners of death.  With death waiting at the end, another thousand years of life would seem but a deceptive flash.  

Archimandrite Sophrony, His Life is Mine, p 41

We learn that it is our sinfulness that separates us from God.  This is what sin is in reality.  It is not about violating a code of ethics. It's about having a personal relationship with God.  We discover that until we form this relationship we are living in sin.  Once we realize this state, then the desire grows with to come closer to God.  We become zealots.  We embrace repentance, feeling sorry for our separation from God, seeing to change our way of being,  and asking God for forgiveness and help.

Archimandrate Sophrony says there is no room for justification of our sinfulness.

 When we seek to justify sinful action we ipso facto sever our alliance with God.  God does not constrain us but neither can He be coerced.  He retires leaving us berift of His lumeous  presence.  Of course, man cannot altogether avoid sinning; but he can avoid the cnsquences of sin––separation from God––through repentance.  With repentance and the consequent increae of grace within us, the reality of the Divine World preponderates over the visible cosmos.  We contemplate the FIRST REALITY.  

 Archimandrite Sophrony, His Life is Mine, pp 45-50 

When we are properly prepared and ready, only then does the Holy Spirit come.  Preparation is necessary because we must first be receptive.  God does not force himself on us.  We must seek Him.  We receive the Holy Spirit when we are able to surrender our self-control and open our hearts to him, trusting in Him totally, and able to call Him "Our Father, Who art in Heaven," with heartfelt sincerity.  With this comes an intense yearning for His love.

Archimandrite Sopharony says,

 Live-giving faith consists in unquestionaling belief in Christ as God.   Only when Christ is accepted as perfect God and perfect Man does the plentitude of spiritual experience described by the apostles and fathers become possible.  

Archimandrite Sophrony, His Life is Mine, p 50 

In my case, it was prayer combined with full participation in the Sacraments of the Church that cleared the way and opened this path to union with God. My return started with the practice of the Jesus Prayer.

Archimandrate Sophrony says, "Of all approaches to God prayer is the best and in the last analysis the only means."


Quotes from His Life is Mine by Archimandtie Sophrony

True Knowledge of God - Elder Sophrony

From Father Stephen's blog: Glory to God for all Things

The Elder Sophrony made a strong distinction between the knowledge we gain by rational speculation and the knowledge of God that comes as a gift of grace. He used the term “dogmatic consciousness” to express the knowledge of God as found in the lives of the saints and great ascetics. His teachings on the “dogmatic consciousness” are not a denial of the role played by the classical dogmatic teachings of the Church, but a recognition of the utter necessity of our existential encounter with God that ineffably confirm the teaching of the Church. As a side note, it is interesting that Elder Sophrony thought that the time between the knowledge gained in such an encounter and its verbal expression generally extended for more than fifteen years . It takes time to properly assimilate such knowledge and yet more time to find words.


The dogmatic consciousness I have here in mind is the fruit of spiritual experience, independent of the logical brain’s activity. The writings in which the Saints reported their experience were not cast in the form of scholastic dissertations. They were revelations of the soul. Discourse on God and on life in God comes about simply, without cogitation, born spontaneously in the soul.


Dogmatic consciousness where asceticism is concerned is not a rational analysis of an inward experience – it is not ‘psychoanalysis’. Ascetics avoid this rational speculation because it only weakens the intensity of their contemplation of the Light but, indeed, interrupts it, with the result that the soul sinks into darkness, left as she is with a merely abstract rational knowledge devoid of all vitality.


What is the use of reasoning about the nature of grace if one does not experience its action in oneself? What is the use of declaiming about the light of Tabor if one does not dwell in it existentially? Is there any sense in splitting theological hairs over the nature of the Trinity if a man has not within himself the holy strength of the Father, the gentle love of the Son, the uncreated light of the Holy Ghost?


Dogmatic knowledge, understood as spiritual knowledge, is a gift of God, like all forms of real life in God, granted by God, and only possible through His coming. This knowledge has by no means always been expressed in speech or in writing. The soul does not aspire to expound her experience in rational concepts when God’s grace descends on her. She needs no logical interpretations then, because she knows with a knowledge that cannot be demonstrated but which equally requires no proof that she lives through the true God….


…God is made known by faith and living communion, whereas human speech with all its relativity and fluidity opens the way to endless misunderstandings and objections. (From St. Silouan the Athonite).

To read Fr.Stephen's full essay, use this link  Glory to God for All Things.