Deification Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This Book Review was published in Nov/Dec 2021

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- Eastern Christianity, Thomas Aquinas, Athanasius, Deification

In the biblical theophanies of Isaiah 6 and Daniel 3, divine condescension and human ascent constitute reciprocal ecstatic moves towards a divine–human encounter. The christological interpretation, widespread in early Christian reception history, further discerns in Isaiah 6 and Daniel 3 an anticipation of the radical condescension of the Logos-made-human and, conversely, an anticipation of the deifying ascent of humanity in Christ. Finally, the early Christian reading of Isaiah 6 and Daniel 3 as ‘christophanies’ – that is, as manifestations of the Logos-to-be-incarnate – also allows us a glimpse into the performative aspect and experiential claims of early Christian exegesis, broadly construed to also incorporate hymnography, iconography and ritual.

- by Bogdan G Bucur
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- Patristics, Early Christianity, Orthodox Theology, Mysticism
- by Ons Geestelijk Erf
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- Medieval Literature, Laughter, Mysticism, Cistercians
- by Pablo Argárate
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- Patristics, Liturgical History, Theosis, Incarnation of Christ

Are Scandinavian monarchs worshipped as state gods, as part of an inherited mystery apotheosis cult? Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is the supreme authority of the state Church of Denmark (Den Danske Folkekirke.) Supreme authority means; she is the greatest,utmost in power, rule and dominion of the Imperial cult temples of Denmark. Could her Majesty the Queen be in-fact the implied divinity (deity/god) worshipped by the state cult religion, alongside the deceased and deified monarchs of old?
In ancient Scandinavia, reigning monarchs claimed divine lineage to the pagan gods Odin and Freyr. In Christianized Scandinavia this legitimation of the divine right of monarchs would be based on descent from saintly kings. In order to understand this mystery, we must turn to the bible and history, making a careful examination in order to determine which god (or gods) are truly being worshipped in Scandinavia, under the state religion.

- by Royal House Zerrubabbel
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- Comparative Religion, History of Religion, Saints' Cults, Mystery cult

Christ came to save us from sin and death. But what did he save us for? One beautiful and compelling answer to this question is that God saved us for union with him so that we might become "partakers of the divine nature" (1 Pet 2:4), what the Christian tradition has called "deification." This term refers to a particular vision of salvation which claims that God wants to share his own divine life with us, uniting us to himself and transforming us into his likeness. While often thought to be either a heretical notion or the provenance of Eastern Orthodoxy, this book shows that deification is an integral part of Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and many Protestant denominations. Drawing on the resources of their own Christian heritages, eleven scholars share the riches of their respective traditions on the doctrine of deification. In this book, scholars and pastor-scholars from diverse Christian expressions write for both a scholarly and lay audience about what God created us to be: adopted children of God who are called, even now, to "be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19).

- by Jared Ortiz
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- Orthodox Theology, Protestantism, Catholic Theology, Ecumenical Theology

This article describes the ontological problem of theosis or deification in terms of two dimensions: the relationship between the finite and the infinite, and the relationship between human nature and sin. Both problems are clarified through the thinking of Saint Maximus the Confessor and his distinction between logos and tropos, that is, the constitutive nature of a thing and its existential mode of being. Theosis is presented not as a transformation of the human nature, but a transformation of our mode of being by its healing and elevation by divine grace. Maximus’ theological anthropology explains how the effects of sin should not be situated at the level of human nature but its mode of being. His conceptual distinctions may help to clarify the thought of Luther, at least as it is presented in the Finnish interpretation of Luther.

- by Oskari Juurikkala
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- Theological Anthropology, Ecumenical Theology, Maximus the Confessor, Theosis
- by Eduard Borysov
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- Deification, Pavel Florenski, John Meyendorff

This dissertation explores the implications of the christology of Cyril of Alexandria for contemporary evangelical spirituality.
Cyril’s christology is traced through his soteriology to his spirituality, giving attention to the foundations and boundaries christology provides for soteriology and spirituality in Cyril’s thought. Consideration is given to how Cyril has been appropriated in the Reformed tradition before exploring how Cyrillian thought can chasten and enrich contemporary evangelical spirituality.
Cyril’s single subject christology unites the two natures of Christ in the single personal subject of the Word, allowing for a communication of properties. Cyril thus preserves the distinction of Christ’s natures whilst avoiding a division between the natures.
Cyril’s christology provides the foundations and boundaries for a soteriology in which deification is a central feature and presents the anthropological dimension of salvation as participation in Christ. Through participation in Christ believers become by grace what Christ is by nature, resulting in the restoration of the divine image in holiness and incorruptibility. Only if the Word is the personal subject of Christ can believers participate in the divine life.
Cyril’s christology and soteriology provide the foundations and boundaries for a spirituality in which the Eucharist is a central feature and emphasises the Christian life as participation in Christ. In the Eucharist believers truly participate in Christ, by faith and the agency of the Spirit, and Christ thus imparts his life to them. Only if the flesh believers feed on in the Eucharist is that of the Word can it be efficacious to impart life to those who receive it.
Whilst Cyrillian soteriology and sacramentology are alien to contemporary evangelical thought, aspects are evident within earlier Reformed thought. Most notable is John Calvin, who demonstrates Cyril’s thought to be compatible with and complementary to a Reformed framework.
Cyril’s thought chastens evangelicalism where its focus has been overly narrow and neglected important aspects of soteriology and spirituality. Cyril encourages evangelicals to widen their focus from ‘conversionism’ to the whole of the Christian life, and from ‘crucicentrism’ to the whole work of the incarnate Christ. Cyril challenges evangelicals to consider how their almost exclusive soteriological focus on forensic aspects, and neglect of participatory aspects, has resulted in a minimisation of sanctification and the Lord’s Supper in evangelical spirituality.
Cyril’s thought can enrich evangelicalism through his vision of the Christian life as participation in the divine, which is a more deeply personal account of of the Christian life than is typically found in evangelical spirituality. Cyril’s account of participation in Christ can encompass both juridicial and transformational aspects of soteriology, connect theology and spirituality, and recover the importance of Lord’s Supper as a true means of communion with Christ and appropriation of his benefits.
An appropriation of Cyril’s thought is recommended as beneficial to evangelical spirituality.

- by Simon Donohoe
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- Patristics, Spirituality, Christology, Eucharist

This paper is a critical essay clarifying the issues at stake in the contemporary discussion of the relationship between justification and sanctification from a Lutheran perspective. Through out it contrasts these doctrines with the understanding of other churches (Roman Catholic, Reformed etc.) In addition it closely engages with three articles from Bayer, Chester and Marshall as well as a range of other articles and books appropriate to the level of this unit. Some brief comments have been made about these doctrine’s implications for Pastoral Ministry. Through out my research I have learned that deification is orthodox and contrary to popular opinion—is compatible with Lutheran doctrine. Whilst theosis raises more questions than can answered on a practical level, I have grown much in appreciation of theology from the Eastern Orthodox tradition, New Perspective(s) on Paul and how this all contrasts with Lutheran theology.

- by Peter Noble
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- Theosis, Deification, New Perspective on Paul, Lutheran Theology

In this essay I offer a novel interpretation of Calvin’s eschatological imagination and the ways the latter shapes Calvin’s overall theological narrative. In addition to his explicit, infralapsarian eschatology, which circles around the reconciling work of the incarnate Christ, Calvin also has an implicit, supralapsarian eschatology, according to which human beings were created for an upward journey toward God, mediated by the non-incarnate divine Word. Tracing the contours of this eschatology sheds new light on Calvin’s account of mediation, incarnation, and expiation, his understanding of the end of Christ’s mediatory work, and the contemporary discussion about Calvin and deification.

- by Edwin Chr. van Driel
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- Christianity, Theology, Systematic Theology, Reformation Studies
- by Maurice Wahib
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- Deification, The Orthodox Church and deification

There is more that separates Western Christianity from its Eastern counterpart beyond the historical rifts of the Filioque clause. Indeed, the very nature of salvation is perceived in radically different ways. While Western Christianity (largely) views salvation as remission of guilt from sin, Eastern Orthodoxy views salvation as “becoming god” or “deification.” Some (such as Tuomo Mannermaa) attempt to minimalize (and even harmonize) these differences. This article argues that notions of theosis (as proposed by historic and modern theologians within and surrounding Eastern Orthodoxy) prevent unification of these two branches given the synergism required to its attainment.

- by Daniel Kirkpatrick
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- Theosis, Deification, Synergism, Monergism

Agreement about theosis in the Orthodox-Reformed dialogues played a strategic role in the ecumenical recovery of the patristic doctrine of deification and its emergence as a locus of Reformed theology. Ecumenical dialogue helped dispel the idea that theosis is a distinctively Orthodox doctrine incompatible with the Western tradition. This idea was first propounded in the nineteenth-century by Albrecht Ritschl, Ferdinand Kattenbusch, Adolf von Harnack and others associated with the Ritschlian school. It was later appropriated by Émigré Orthodox scholars. Orthodox-Reformed dialogue helped correct this and other misconceptions about theosis. This began informally in correspondence between Thomas F. Torrance and Georges Florovsky and continued in formal dialogue meetings. Orthodox-Reformed dialogue also highlighted patristic ways of thinking about salvation that were not then prominent in Reformed theology. However, as the Reformed participants consulted the works of John Calvin, they realized that he shared those patristic ways of thinking. Today Reformed theologians are eager contributors to the ecumenical recovery of theosis. They increasingly discuss theosis as a doctrine native to the Reformed tradition.

- by Carl Mosser
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- Systematic Theology, Ecumenical Theology, John Calvin, Reformed theology

The purpose of this research is to examine whether and in what sense one could identify an apophatic approach of the human being in Augustine’s writings. It also explores the relationship between the negative theology and the negative anthropology in Augustine’s thinking. Augustine’s conception of human interiority as dwelling place of the divine, his reflections on the deepness of the heart, on illumination, on transfiguration through love or divinisation of the human being, bring to light fundamental traits of a genuine apophatic discourse.

- by Georgiana Huian
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- Anthropology, Augustine, Deification, Patristics and Late Antiquity
- by Tanase Nichifor
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- Deification
- by David Litwa
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- Magic, Friedrich Nietzsche, Augustine, Transhumanism
- by Evgeny Baksheev
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- Religion, Mythology And Folklore, History, Cultural History
- by Michael Gibson
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- Eschatology and Apocalypticism, Trinity, Doctrine of God, Doctrine of Creation

There are few Christian doctrines as all-embracing as the doctrine of deification. For this reason alone, the doctrine of deification deserves to be included in the Oxford Handbook series, which already has excellent volumes on the Trinity, Christology, Mary, the Sacraments, and so on. But the doctrine of deification has also been a point of sharp ecumenical disagreement and controversy among Christians, especially in the last one hundred years. This is so because in the Orthodox East, there is a strong concern that the doctrine has been either neglected or rendered inoperative in the Catholic and Protestant West. Indeed, most Western theologians will admit that the doctrine has been neglected at least verbally: the term “deification” has fallen into disuse due to a fear of misunderstanding, as well as, perhaps, due to embarrassment over Christian failures and divisions. At least in general, it is safe to say that Christians hardly look like a “deified” people in any sense of this term. For many Orthodox scholars, the Western rejection of the Palamite distinction between the divine essence and the divine energies has also rendered otiose any attempt by Catholics and Protestants to reclaim the doctrine of deification, at least while continuing to reject Palamite orthodoxy.

- by Paul Gavrilyuk
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- Theology, Historical Theology, Systematic Theology, Philosophical Theology

The article looks at the influences on Gregory of Nyssa's apophatic theology, and shows how the polemics with the neo-Arian Eunomius and later also with Origen influenced his notions of God's infinity and the infinity of human spiritual progress. It focuses on the relationship between revelation in words and in silence, between participatory knowledge of God and participatory unknowing of God, the kind of darkness that, according to Gregory leads towards restoration, and thus carries on the graced human journey of deification.

- by Ivana Noble
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- Theology, Patristics, Philosophical Theology, Spirituality

The patristic doctrine of deification found in such writers as Irenaeus, Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria, and Augustine is a biblical doctrine of the universal church affirmed by the Reformers and their immediate heirs. It is neither an exotic import nor invasive species in the garden of Reformed theology. Like Nicene Trinitarianism, creatio ex nihilo, and the canon of the New Testament, it is a constitutive part of the catholic inheritance which the Reformers sought to uphold and defend. Early Reformed theologians like Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and John Calvin affirmed that it is appropriate to describe the goal or telos of salvation in terms of deification.

- by Carl Mosser
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- Theology, Historical Theology, Reformation Studies, Zwingli
- by Jordan D Wood
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- Metaphysics, Christology, Maximus the Confessor, Doctrine of Creation

his article surveys various concepts of imperial deification and its historical evolution. Three stages are identified. In the first stage, an eyewitness of the apotheosis is attested and a senatorial decree awarding divine honours is issued after the funeral. In the second stage, a senatorial decree is routinely issued before the funeral and an apotheosis is performed symbolically, by the release of an eagle from the funeral pyre. In the third stage, Roman emperors are often buried in a double funeral, although the exact motives of this practice are still disputed.

- by Aleš Chalupa
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- Deification, Roman imperial cult, Apotheosis, Consecration

A popular-level summary of some of my work in progress challenging misconceptions about the Christian doctrine of deification's biblical warrant, terminology, and Protestant pedigree. It also briefly tells the story of how deification was... more

- by Carl Mosser
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- Orthodox Theology, Soteriology, Theosis, Deification

It has become a commonplace to say that the Latin Fathers did not really hold a doctrine of deification. Indeed, it is often asserted that Western theologians have neglected this teaching, that their occasional references to it are... more

- by Jared Ortiz
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- Liturgy, Augustine, Augustine of Hippo, Boethius

This Master’s thesis will explicate, analyse and discuss the Orthodox doctrine of the essence/energies distinction in three prominent 20th century theologians, namely, Vladimir Lossky, Kallistos Ware and Dumitru Staniloae. This is urgent because of the central position this doctrine occupies in contemporary Orthodoxy, together with the lack of precision one usually encounters when references are made to this distinction.
Methodologically, it will proceed by a careful reading of primary sources in order to explicate and clarify, in each theologian, the most important lines of thought concerning the essence/energies distinction. It will also explicate details which may affect, elucidate, or even put into question, these major lines of thought. As secondary sources, other Orthodox theologians as well as Greek Church fathers will be consulted.
Lossky and Staniloae, respectively, present rather clear visions about the relationship
between God’s essence and energies. As it turns out their positions are quite far from each other and, at some points, even incommensurable. Ware, on the other hand, affirms traditional and contemporary formulations, yet without providing any clear definition of his own opinion.
As regards God’s energies towards creation, the opinions of the three theologians are
pretty close; but regarding God’s eternal energies, their differences become apparent. Lossky affirms an antinomic relationship between God’s essence and energies, according to which they are mutually exclusive yet virtually identical. The essence is completely void of activity, whereas all activities are contained by the energies. Thus, even the inter-trinitarian love is outside of the essence. Staniloae affirms, on the contrary, that God’s essence is identical to the divine persons and their communion of inter-trinitarian love, through which they give themselves to each other completely. Ware remains unclear about the precise character of his opinion, and it is virtually impossible to tell whether he would prefer Lossky’s or Staniloae’s solution.

- by Jonas Eklund
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- Orthodox Theology, Deification, Dumitru Staniloae, Vladimir Lossky

In his discussion of the nature of the resurrection body in 1 Cor 15:35–49, Paul employs the metaphor of God’s sowing of the natural/earthly body and the raising of the spiritual/heavenly body, distinct bodies fit for their respective habitats. In order to demonstrate this, Paul enumerates a list of the creatures who inhabit the earth followed by those who inhabit the heavens, the resurrection body being likened to the later. Scholars have generally understood the background of this list to be found in the creatures from Genesis 1, even though they do not follow the same order. Some suggest the reason for this discrepancy is that the list simply evokes the cosmology of popular Greek philosophy. This article seeks to propose an alternate answer to this problem. The enumeration of terrestrial and celestial creatures here in 1 Cor 15:39–42 follows the same order as the aniconic discourse of Deut 4:15–19. If this is the text to which Paul alludes, he is likely drawing on an exegetical tradition in the Second Temple period. This tradition reads Deut 4:15–19 as part of a wider Deuteronomic scriptural matrix employed to describe the nature of the cosmos, constructed and administered by God, having appointed the celestial bodies as divine or angelic delegates in his cosmic polis (e.g. Philo, Spec. Laws 1.13–19). This reading not only supplies a strong argument for Paul’s particular enumeration of creatures, but also provides a more robust account of the passage in its wider context, connecting the language of the abolishing of the principalities and powers (1 Cor 15:24) with his earlier discussion regarding the judgment of the cosmos and the angels (1 Cor 6:2–3).

- by David A Burnett
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- Christianity, Jewish Studies, New Testament, Jewish Mysticism
- by Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi
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- Medieval Philosophy, Philosophy of Time, Eschatology, Theosis

ABSTRACT. The “shining face” theology as luminous metamorphosis of a visionary has experienced three great challenges: the anthropomorphic controversy, iconoclastic debate and the hesychast dispute. This study attempts to make a mystagogical connection between those three theological developments which are standing all together in God’s holy fire with the ‘unveiled face’. I have imposed myself a line of research into the contemplative spirituality field, which in fact represents a hermeneutical trajectory: Glory in the NT (hidden-revealed or being-energies) – Glory in the NT (theosis as Christification) – pre-nicene Christology (eikonic and apophatic Light / glory) – Desert Fathers (“shining face” christology) – Efrem the Syrian (clothing metaphore) – Dionysius the Areopagite (veils of theurgic rays and Christ’s Presence as immanent transcendence or as tension between transcendent hiddenness and revelation) – Palamas hesychasm (christology of the uncreated light). I am the first who calls the light from the "Shining Faces" of the Desert Fathers as an uncreated light and a discovery of a Hidden pre-Nicene (apophatic) Christology. I have to emphasize that because these two aspects of my ‘disclosure’ (meaning ‘uncreated’ light and ‘hidden christology’ to the Desert Fathers) were inspired to me by the readings in the field of palamite theology which consider that this light of the ascet’s glowing face to be an uncreated light experienced by the body (aesthetically), an inner presence of Christ who identifies himself with His light (apophatic), He Himself being the deifying light as uncreated divine gift. All studies in the late antiquity ignore this visionary experience, reducing it to the level of a simple metaphor of light (completing the ascetic quest for “real self”), a metaphor in which the saint’s life is hagiographically (mystifying!) described. A second reason for this ‘blindness’ was a restraint coming from the Evagrian theology that draws attention to the danger of seeking visionary experiences, because in that light there is the risk of an illusory or deceitful demonic appearance. Another reason represints the fact that the hesychast controversy and the theology of the uncreated light as divine energy of the Saint Gregory Palamas’ theology (which in Western media has long been discredited as heretical) have played a negative role in accepting the nature of uncreated light into the “shining face” Christology of the Desert Fathers.

- by Tanase Nichifor
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- Iconoclasm, Apophaticism, Iconoclastic Controversy and Iconophilia, Hesychasm

Abstract: In this study we will try to present the iconographic tradition as a form of visual theology, though it is difficult to conceptualize what it used to be like in the immediate presence of God. The Transfiguration is one of the keys that can unlock the mystery of our eschatological fate, glorified body and the participation in the energies of God. All the ascetics who had the experience of the uncreated light or were transfigures themselves describe it in very similar way and connect it with the Transfiguration of Christ. It is only in later hesychasm that we are assured theologically that these experiences were in the body. Within this context, liturgical art and aesthetics differ from secular aesthetics, as being beyond the five senses and beyond the art itself. The Fathers, from Origen to John of Damascus, refer to Christ as the visible image and consubstantial icon of the Father. Icons were anything more than vessels of the grace of God and suggest the real presence of the grace of the depicted person. In the Old Testament, God denied the wish of anyone who asked to see him directly. The desire to see God was impossible before the Incarnation of Christ. The mosaic of the Transfiguration in St Catherine Monastery on Mount Sinai shows a completely glorified Christ with eight rays emanating from his body and introduces the luminous mandorla, a symbol that symbolizes the glory of God. The mandorla of the Sinai mosaic is oval, whereas the mandorla of the Rabbula Gospels is round. These two types express the glory of God in different way, highlighting the correspondence between theological concepts and the visual language. Mandorla expresses visually the Jewish concept of kabod, that connoted a more physical, concrete presence than the abstract meaning of δόξα. Certain scholars separate two main meanings of kabod: shekinah (from shakan, “to live in a tent” or simply “to dwell”) and yeqara (from yqr, the sensory splendor of light), in order to express this visual manifestation of the two natures of Christ. So, the oval mandorla corresponds with the luminous characterists of the kabod as yeqara. Here, the three concentric oval layers, increasingly dark, represent the depiction of the excessive divine light as the darkness of the incognoscibility of God, even in revelation. The round mandorla, on the other hand, represents the manifestation of the kabod-glory of God as shekinah/tabernacle. Here, the emphasis on the spatial rather than luminous nature of mandorla described the glimpse of the Trinity, as opposed to a less-historicized reading that emphasized the continuous splendor of Christ. The Transfiguration enjoyed a renewed interest in fourteenth-century theology, and, at the same time, a mysterious complex mandorla made its appearance, the so-called “hesychastic” mandorla (first appears in the churches of Mistras and in manuscripts of the ex-emperor and hesychastic monk, John Cantacuzenos). It consists of a geometric design as two superimposed concave squares (actually a square and a rhombus) inside a circle. These three shapes circle-square-rhombus superimposed on top of each other indicate the Trinity. This ties with Gregory Palamas’s attempt to harmonize the days of the Gospel narratives: “six” (six figures who are visible) and “eight” (adds the two who were invisible but certainly present, the Father and the Holy Spirit). Therefore, in our study we analyze how the icon of the Transfiguration encapsulates the ascetic ascent to deification.

- by Tanase Nichifor
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- Apophaticism, Hesychasm, Deification, Apophatic theology

The objective of this study is to come to an authentic understanding of the Word of Faith movement at a variety of levels: its origins, its theology, and its influence, all for the purpose of laying a foundation for constructive and... more

- by Genis Pieterse
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- Christianity, Sociology, Economics, Theology

If you hope to get a copy of this research report, do not hesitate to contact me (kmmrnk@gmail.com) by email. Since its publication is supported by the JSPS (Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science) grant, you are able to receive... more

- by Naoki Kamimura
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- Intellectual History, Philosophy, History of Ideas, Theology

"While secondary literature has stated that Cyril of Jerusalem’s theology contains evidence of theosis (making divine), demonstration of this concept within his catechetical
and mystagogical texts has not been explored in detail. By examining Cyril’s use of words within the semantic range of koinonia (communion, fellowship), his use of the verb theopoieo (to make divine, deifying), and how the individual is incorporated into
communion with both the divine Trinity and the church through the sacraments, I shall demonstrate that Cyril expressed a theology which is undergirded by a rich doctrine of theosis. Furthermore, this implicit doctrine of theosis is the hermeneutical key to
understanding the different rhetorical strategies that Cyril employed in his teachings on baptism and the Eucharist."

- by Donna R Hawk-Reinhard
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- Early Christianity, Sacramental Theology, Theosis, Deification

In Rom 4:18, Paul cites the “promise” to Abraham in LXX Gen 15:5, “so shall your seed be” (οὕτως ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου) in relation to what it means to “become the father of many nations” from Gen 17:5. Modern scholars have traditionally understood the relationship Paul sees between these two texts quantitatively, as promising a multitude of descendants made up of Jews and Gentiles. Conversely, some early Jewish interpreters of Gen 15:5 (and related texts such as Gen 22:17; 26:4) such as Philo, Sirach, and the author(s) of the Apocalypse of Abraham understood the promise qualitatively, as speaking not only of multiplication but of transformation into the likeness of the stars and assumption of their power. Reading Paul’s use of Gen 15:5 in light of this qualitative interpretation places him within the context of already well-established deification or angelomorphic traditions in early Judaism that see the destiny of Abraham’s seed as replacing the stars as the divine or angelic inheritors of the nations. This tradition may provide a more fitting explanation of the relationship Paul sees between Gen 17:5 and 15:5 in the wider context of the argument of Rom 4. This reading could illuminate the relationship between a complex nexus of ideas that Paul sees implicit in the one promise to Abraham in Gen 15:5. The promise of becoming as the stars of heaven would encompass the inheritance of the cosmos, becoming a father of many nations, and the resurrection from the dead.

- by David A Burnett
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- New Testament, Apocalypticism, Pauline Literature, Eschatology and Apocalypticism

ABSTRACT. Saint Paul refers to Christ’s ability to radiate his divine light of himself while other OT luminaries like Moses could only reflect that light. This experience of theosis is being, also, described as “transformation into unveiled glory” (2 Cor. 3.7-18). By this verse deification through the vision of God become an immanent and mystical event. This aspect of deification as transformation into glory (glorification) is both an inward quality of spiritual knowledge and an outward radiance. The nature of the glory of Moses and the visible splendour shining from his face from his direct contact with God (Exod 34.29) signifies God’s visible, divine presence. As all believers encounter God directly (with unveiled faces) through the Spirit’s presence they reflect this glory as mirrors and are themselves glorified in the process (from glory to glory). The transformation into this glory is not only noetic but also embodied because it is a visible manifestation. The noetic enlightenment is associated with participation in divine glory in 2 Cor 3-4 is correlated to the somatic experience of glory in 2 Cor 4:16-5:5. Paul speaks also of this epistemic process of contemplation which generates the ontological mirroring process. And, because for us there is no veil over the face, we all see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and we are being transformed (μεταμορφούμεθα) into his likeness (τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα) with ever-increasing glory. But Luke is only evangelist to use the word “glory” (doxa) and only to mention that Jesus and the three apostle went up the mountain specifically to pray (Lk 9:29-31). This is a detail in spiritual tradition of hesychasm which was richly developed, the vision of light at the culmination of intense periods of prayer is the deification of our nature. This light is enhypostatic symbol, the uncreated radiance of God, a divine energy. This manifestation of Christ in the divine nature is not something external to ourselves. It is interiorized through the life of ascetism and prayer. Christ will radiate within us. But this pneumatic nature of Christ’s luminous body is experienced through Eucharist as well. This holy sacrament access the divine light, veiled by Christ’s visible body. Also, Sebastian Brock extends forms of light comparison to the internal light of Mary’s womb when bearing Jesus. Christ’s light transforms her body in which He resided, as it ‚gleams from within’. In her, the light-bearing Christ is ‚woven’ as a garment. Speaking of the hesychast method of prayer and transformation of the body, Gregory Palamas also uses this Pauline theology of 2 Corinthians in Tr. I.2.2. But he adds that “We carry this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7). So we carry the Father’s light in the face (prosōpon) of Jesus Christ in earthen vessels, that is, in our bodies, in order to know the glory of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, during the hesychast controversy, St Gregory Palamas defend the reality of the encounter with God of those monks who reported seeing a vision of light at the culmination of intense period of prayer. For the light is nothing less than the uncreated radiance of God – a divine energy accesible to the senses. This manifestation of Christ is not something external to ourselves.

- by Tanase Nichifor
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- Eucharistic Theology, Hesychasm, Theosis, Theophany

During the Transfiguration, the apostles on Tabor, “indeed saw the same grace of the Spirit which would later dwell in them”. The light of grace “illuminates from outside (ἔξωθεν) on those who worthily approached it and sent the illumination to the soul through the sensitive eyes; but today, because it is confounded with us (ἀνακραθὲν ἡμῖν) and exists in us, it illuminates the soul from inward (ἔνδωθεν)”. The opposition between knowledge, which comes from outside (ἔξωθεν) - a human and purely symbolic knowledge - and “intellectual” knowledge, which comes from within (ἔνδωθεν), Meyendorff says what it already exists at Pseudo-Dionysius: “For it is not from without that God stirs them toward the divine. Rather he does so via the intellect and from within and he willingly enlightens them with a ray that is pure and immaterial”. The assertions of the Calabrian philosopher about an “unique knowledge”, common both to the Christians and the Hellenes and pursuing the same goal, the hesychast theologian opposes the reality of the two knowledge, having two distinct purposes and based on two different instruments of perception: “Palamas admitted the authenticity of natural knowledge, however the latter is opposed to the revealed wisdom, that is why it does not provide, by itself, salvation”. Therefore, in the purified human intellect begins to shine of the Trinity light. Purity also depends on the return of the intellect (its proper energy) to itself. In this way, we see how the true knowledge of God is an internal meeting or “inner retrieval” of the whole being of man. As well as in the Syrian mystic, on several occasions we have to make the distinction between the contemplative ways of knowledge: intellection illuminated by grace and spiritual vision without any conceptual or symbolic meaning. For example, Robert Beulay shows that, “The term of ‘intellection’ first of all, is employed by John of Dalyatha to be applied to operations caused by grace”.

- by Tanase Nichifor
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- Epistemology, Aristotelian Logic, Theosis, Deification

This study is about the Byzantine historical context of the "Palaeologan revival", in particular Thessaloniki of the fourth century urban society and hesychast life. First we will describe the life of Nicholas Cabasilas as an aristocrat, politician, humanist of Thesalonic and also the intelectual independence of Cabasilas towards Gregory Palamas. But the focus is on his theocentric humanism, hesychast mariology and sacramental christification, as the anthropological content of deification to St. Nicholas Cabasilas.

- by Tanase Nichifor
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- Anthropology, Humanism, Byzantine monasticism, Sacramental Theology

Following St. Thomas Aquinas, Rahner employs the concept of participation in both a philosophical and a theological sense in order to distinguish between God's efficient presence in all created things, and his "quasi-formal" presence as grace in humanity; this latter mode of divine presence takes place through the church, the sacraments, and the theological virtues, in all of which God's self-communication is actualized in the human person as a creature of history and transcendence. This article focuses on Rahner's philosophical understanding of creation as metaphysical participation, his theological understanding of grace as divinizing participation, and his anthropological-ecclesiological understanding of human life as sharing in the divine life of the Triune God.

- by Francis J Caponi, O.S.A.
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- Karl Rahner, Deification, Divinization