God, Who created humankind and planted within their very depths the power to comprehend the divine, surrounds them with inexpressible love and places no bounds or limitations upon them in their dialogue with Him, in the mystery of prayer. In this experience, God, as boundless love, reveals Himself mysteriously to man ‘face to face’. Thus, man turns his face towards God and his image becomes the icon of God, for the contemplation of God becomes for him a source of life and immortality.
There is no other way for the believer to attain perfection than that which springs from the power of Christ1e, Who has assimilated the infinite divine energies into His humanity, making them part of it, yet at the same time accessible to us. The Holy Spirit unites man with Christ and thereby enables him to share in the holiness and infinite deification which is in the body of Christ or in His human nature. Christ Himself is present in the grace communicated to us through the Holy Spirit, and ‘where there is a direct and intimate relationship with Christ, and through Him with other believers, there is also holiness’2). The role of the Holy Spirit is to enable us to make these energies of Christ our own, along with the gifts that bring us closer to His likeness 3. The presence of the Sanctifier brings about a transformation of the senses—not a natural one, but one that transcends nature—through which ‘the veils of the passions’ have been removed from ‘their power of understanding’.
Our drawing near to God, as a state of holiness which we must attain, is not realised as a sharing in or drawing near to the very being of God, but to His work, and this is proper only to rational beings4, in whom the power of the Holy Spirit is imprinted, in an inexpressible manner, through the Sacrament of Baptism. Thus, God’s Grace initiates our sanctification through Baptism, sustains the state of sanctity and causes us to grow exponentially within it, so that we may attain sanctity and deification.
Saint Gregory Palamas considered that the deification of man is not simply a moral state which man can attain through philosophy concerning God, but a grace-filled reality which presupposes purity of heart and is fulfilled through partaking of the uncreated energies of the Godhead. However much a person may improve, they cannot become divine through their own powers. Deification is a gift from God to humankind 5.
Man receives uncreated Grace and is united with God through partaking of the Holy Mysteries, and must remain close to the Body of Christ, because sanctification is not limited to certain stages of life 6, but extends dynamically to encompass all phases and all forms of human existence 7. In this sense, human freedom is manifested through the awareness with which a person willingly surrenders to God, partaking of Him, ‘for the path to union is not an unconscious process; it requires the ceaseless vigilance of the mind and the steadfast endeavour of the will’8. Within the Church, the believer is called to become, by grace, what God is by nature.
It is truly marvellous that the human being can experience the reality of his deification even in this present life. Like most Eastern mystical theologians, Saint Gregory Palamas linked the experience of unceasing prayer—whose aim is none other than eternal communion with God—to the contemplation of the uncreated Light. The divine Light is not a symbol of divine glory, but the surest testimony to the deification of man.
Human beings can experience the reality of their deification even in this present life. Like most Eastern mystical theologians, Saint Gregory Palamas linked the experience of unceasing prayer, the sole purpose of which is eternal communion with God, to the contemplation of the uncreated Light.
Man can be united with God in two ways, says Saint Gregory Palamas in his Treatise on Prayer 9: firstly, through communion with the divine virtues, and secondly, through prayer. Through the former, man becomes capable of receiving union with God, without actually being able to bring it about; only the power of prayer can bring about the effect of union with God.
Prayer lifts man from earth to heaven and, transcending all that is heavenly—namely, name, height and worthiness—presents man to God, Who is above all things 10.
Maintaining that union with God is cultivated and then perfected by the power of prayer, he does not attribute it to man’s personal power, but relates it to this virtue which provides the prerequisite for the work of renewing the human being through the Grace of God 11.
Prayer is a spiritual means of raising man up to God: ‘neither the singing of psalms nor prayer can save us in and of themselves, but only the power of God, before Whom these things are performed’ 12. We call upon God ceaselessly in our prayers, so that we may be ceaselessly with Him 13, yet the purity of prayer is commensurate with that of the heart and mind of the one who prays. If a person’s soul is dominated by passions, they cannot draw near to God, nor receive His Grace.
Prayer is a spiritual means of lifting man up to God (…) Yet the purity of prayer is commensurate with that of the heart and mind of the one who prays. If a person’s soul is dominated by passions, they cannot draw near to God nor receive His Grace.
At the same time, no one can attain perfect prayer at once—14—which is pure prayer—unless they have become accustomed to keeping God constantly in their thoughts, unless the thought of God has become a source of sweetness to them. That is why, says Father Stăniloae, pure prayer is nothing other than ‘the flame that rises ever higher from the fire of unceasing prayer’15.
Through pure prayer, the mind beholds God, and ‘the light of this vision speaks spiritually and mysteriously to the one who has been deified’16 The vision of God, the deification of man and union with Him lead to an existential, empirical or essential knowledge of God; only then can it be said that man possesses ‘truly salvific knowledge’. This does not depend on the natural powers of reason, nor on the capacity of the imagination, but on the deification of the being of the one who practises unceasing prayer and asceticism. The deifying gift of the Holy Spirit, which is a mysterious and super-natural light, clothes in light those who are deemed worthy of it. Moreover, the Spirit ‘gives them knowledge of God and life in God’17).
As one ascends the ladder of virtues, the knowledge of God that one acquires is perfected. Partaking of the Sacraments of the Church, observing the divine commandments, prayer and, moreover, the mystical contemplation of the uncreated Light, lead man not only towards union with God but, equally, towards knowledge of Him, so that true closeness to God is not presented as a result of the intellectual capacities of the human being, but as a gift of life in Christ and in the Holy Spirit 18. This knowledge is not conceptual but existential; in other words, the whole being is filled with the presence of God.
…true closeness to God is not the result of the intellectual capacities of the human being, but a gift of life in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. This knowledge is not conceptual, but existential; in other words, one’s whole being is filled with the presence of God.
To this end, the mind must also guard itself ‘against that which is shameful, evil and generally destructive, and then against that which binds it to things of a middle nature and transforms man for the worse or for the better, depending on the purpose for which he uses them’19).
Enlightened by the uncreated light, ‘through a union unknown in the sense of transcendence’, the saint sees God and is united with Him: ‘The vision of the uncreated light is not abstract; it is union and deification, and it appears in a marvellous and inscrutable manner through the grace of God, after the mind has cast off all ties to created things; it is beyond the mind, arising solely through the power of the Spirit, whilst all its own activity ceases’20 Divine light, though it has no material form, “is not something diffuse or disorganised, but within it one senses a superior harmony, a fullness of goodness and, as such, it is beautiful; it is indeed the archetypal beauty of all visible beauty’21, and is known by the saints as being ‘ineffable, uncreated, eternal, timeless, unapproachable, immeasurable, endless, indeterminate, unseen by angels and men, the archetypal and unchanging beauty, the glory of God, the glory of Christ, the glory of the Spirit, the radiance of divinity. For the body is glorified at the very moment of its reception, and the glory of the Godhead becomes the glory of the body’22 As light, the principle of manifestation, grace cannot remain imperceptible within us 23. We cannot fail to sense God if our nature is in a state of spiritual health. Having become light himself, man partakes of the uncreated light, inasmuch as he now knows even that which is above light and incomprehensible of God 24, for ‘the deifying gift of the Spirit is a mysterious, intelligible, immaterial and self-existent light, which transforms into light those who receive its fullness. The Spirit not only fills them with eternal light, but also gives them the knowledge of God and life in God’25”.
The contemplation of uncreated light is one and the same thing as the deification of man, who sees God through his own deification – and by no means through human reason 26: ‘But the union does not yet take place until the Comforter illuminates from on high the one who prays, seated in the bower of the natural heights and awaiting the Father’s promise, and until He thus carries him away, through revelation, to the vision of the light’27. Saint Gregory Palamas states in this regard that it is only through the supernatural union of the human being with the uncreated Light that we have the possibility of a ‘certain theology’28.
The vision of God ‘beyond the senses and the mind’ is imparted to man by the Holy Spirit ‘through deification’29; for ‘God is both inaccessible and approachable at the same time, as is clearly and plainly seen in all biblical texts. He is accessible through theophanies. God reveals Himself through light and glory, and man sees this glory and this light and comes to know God and His will, as far as is possible’30.
Deification is not an abstract state, but a union of man with God. He who contemplates the uncreated light has been united with God. The saint sees it with both spiritual and physical eyes, for these have been transformed through the work of God. The physical eyes are transfigured and, thus, can see the uncreated Light, which represents the radiance of the divine nature, the Glory of the Godhead, the beauty of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Light is invisible to the senses unless they are transfigured by the Holy Spirit. ‘He who has severed from his soul all connection with earthly things and has detached himself from all through the observance of the commandments and the dispassion that comes from this, has risen above all intellectual activity through persistent, pure and immaterial, and there, through an unknown union—in the sense of transcendence—is enveloped in an unfathomable radiance, having become light and deified through light. Beholding this light, he comes to know, in the vision and communion of this light, that which is beyond light and incomprehensible of God. He regards God not only as being beyond the human mind’s power of understanding – for there are many created things that are beyond it – but also as being beyond that all-supernatural vision, the only means by which the mind is united with that which lies beyond the intelligible, ‘in a divine union of minds beyond the heavens’31”.
Light is invisible to the senses unless they are transfigured by the Holy Spirit.
This state of deification is one and the same as man’s union and communion with God; it is a participation in the Godhead and a deifying communion.
The deification of the human being, which begins in this life, becomes complete and irreversible in the age to come. The full revelation and final manifestation of the true communion of humankind with God, which has begun in this present age, will not be completed until their resurrection in glory. The Resurrection will be for all, but only those who have already tasted the Kingdom of God in this life will come to experience it in its fullness. Thus, according to Saint Gregory Palamas, ‘deification can be achieved here only as a pledge, and its fulfilment will undoubtedly take place when Christ comes in the glory of God the Father and the righteous shall shine like the sun, and then He will clearly deify the sons of the resurrection, who will be eternally united with Him and glorified together with Him’32”.
Thus, this ‘face-to-face’ vision, which has begun in this age, will reach its fulfilment in the Kingdom of God. But we must not understand from this that, in the age to come, the vision of God will be static in nature: ‘like the angels, they will grow eternally in their vision’33. The ‘face-to-face’ vision of God is not a metaphor but, as Saint Gregory Palamas shows, quoting Saints Maximus the Confessor and Dionysius the Areopagite, God allows Himself to be seen by those who are worthy of it 34. In communion with God’s grace, and becoming ever more capable through this communion of receiving divine majesty, the saints will ceaselessly receive grace upon grace, the Giver being infinite and inexhaustible 35.
The particular merit of Saint Gregory Palamas was to show that Grace is an uncreated energy, which springs from the divine being of the Three Hypostases and is inseparable both from the divine being and from the Hypostases 36, whilst deification is the gift of God bestowed upon man through Grace, which affords him the opportunity to grow expectatically, in a life free from sin, so as to attain the experience of knowing God and to grow eternally in the love and communion of the Most Holy Trinity.
- 1
‘Christ is holy, first and foremost, because He is God. Holiness is an attribute of God. A creature possesses holiness only by participation […]. Wherever God manifests Himself, His holiness is experienced as something entirely distinct from the world, but which also communicates the energy of grace for the sake of purification, as a shudder of awe, veneration, or fear in man before God, because of his own sinfulness which hinders full participation in His holiness”, cf. Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. II, IBMBOR, Bucharest, 2003, p. 297.
- 2
Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. II, published by IBMBOR, Bucharest, 2003, p. 278.
- 3
Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. II, published by IBMBOR, Bucharest, 2003, pp. 316–317.
- 4
‘How, then, shall we draw near to God? By drawing near to His nature, perhaps? Yet none of all created things has, nor will ever have, any share in or closeness to the supreme nature. So if anyone has drawn near to God, they have surely drawn near to His work. How? As one who partakes of it naturally? But this is common to all creatures. Consequently, it is not through natural powers, but through those acquired subsequently, by free will, that one draws near to or becomes distant from God. And only rational beings possess free will. Therefore, of all others, it is only these that draw near to or stray from God, drawing near or straying through virtue or vice. It is only these, then, that are capable of unhappiness or happiness. ‘But let us believe that we shall attain happiness’, cf. St Gregory Palamas, 150 Chapters on Natural Knowledge, 78, in The Philokalia, vol. VII, pp. 435–436.
- 5
“Every virtue and imitation of God that is within our reach does indeed open up, for those who practise them, favourable conditions for union with God, yet only grace itself brings about the mystical union’ cf. Saint Gregory Palamas, Triad III, 1, 27; translation in John Meyendorff, Défense des saints hésychastes, pp. 608–609.
- 6
“Therefore, let us not only purify ourselves beforehand and thus draw near, but let us be mindful of ourselves and, having received this divine gift, let us also exercise great vigilance, so that we may remain above the passions and proclaim the virtues of Him who has deigned to dwell within us, drawing upon the likeness to Him revealed to us in these things”, cf. Saint Gregory Palamas, Homily 56. On the Holy and Awesome Mysteries of Christ, 14, p. 434.
- 7
Georgios Mantzaridis, The Doctrine of Saint Gregory Palamas on the Deification of the Human Being, p. 91.
- 8
Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 232.
- 9
Saint Gregory Palamas, A Discourse for Those Who Find Peace through Piety. The second of the last two. On Prayer, in The Philokalia, vol. VII, pp. 209–242.
- 10
Saint Gregory Palamas, Second Homily. On the Gospel parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee, 4, p. 15.
- 11
Georgios Mantzaridis, The Doctrine of Saint Gregory Palamas on the Deification of the Human Being, p. 110.
- 12
Saint Gregory Palamas, Homily IX. On the Power of Fasting and Prayer, 11, in Homilies, vol. I, p. 124.
- 13
Saint Gregory Palamas, Triads, II, 1, 30; translation in J. Meyendorff, Defence of the Holy Hesychasts, pp. 284–285.
- 14
‘In prayer, the mind gradually casts off its ties to the things that exist, first those that bind it to things that are shameful, evil and generally corrupting, then those that lie in between, and that lead a person either for the worse or for the better, depending on the purpose for which they are used, for which all learning and knowledge are intended. That is why the Fathers also advise us ‘not to accept the knowledge which the enemy causes to arise during prayer, lest we be robbed of what is higher’”, cf. Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Asceticism and Mysticism, p. 238.
- 15
Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, Note 470, in Philokalia, vol. VII, p. 213.
- 16
Saint Gregory Palamas, On the Holy Light, 35, in The Philokalia, vol. VII, pp. 308–309.
- 17
Saint Gregory Palamas, Triads, III, 1, 35, pp. 626–628.
- 18
Georgios Mantzaridis, The Doctrine of Saint Gregory Palamas on the Deification of the Human Being, p. 130.
- 19
Saint Gregory Palamas, On the Holy Light, 35, in The Philokalia, vol. VII, p. 309.
- 20
Saint Gregory Palamas, Triads, I, 3, 17, pp. 146–147.
- 21
Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, no. 10, Philokalia, VII, p. 415.
- 22
‘The Athonite Volume’, in The Philokalia, Vol. VII, Humanitas, p. 415.
- 23
‘He who partakes of the divine work and has been transformed by the divine transformation is himself like a light, is united with the light and, together with the light, consciously perceives those things which, without this most great grace, remain hidden from all; thus rising not only above the bodily senses, but also above all that is known to us through our natural faculties. For God is seen by those who are pure in heart, in accordance with the true blessedness spoken of by the Lord (Matthew 5:8), Who, being light, dwells with and reveals Himself to those who love Him’, cf. St Gregory Palamas, The Virgin Mary – Prototype of the Hesychastic Life, p. 213.
- 24
Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Orthodox Psychotherapy, p. 402.
- 25
Saint Gregory Palamas, The Triad, III, 1, 35, pp. 626–628.
- 26
Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Orthodox Psychotherapy, p. 403.
- 27
Saint Gregory Palamas, ‘On the Holy Light’, 35, in the Philokalia, vol. VII, p. 310.
- 28
Saint Gregory Palamas, ‘The Triad’, I, 3, 15, pp. 140–141.
- 29
Saint Gregory Palamas, 25, in The Philokalia, vol. VII, p. 295.
- 30
Nikolaos Matsoukas, A History of Byzantine Philosophy, p. 277.
- 31
Saint Gregory Palamas, ‘On the Holy Light’, 57, in the Philokalia, vol. VII, pp. 341–342.
- 32
Fr Cristian Chivu, ‘Introductory Study’, in The Complete Works, vol. I, p. 60.
- 33
Saint Gregory Palamas, Triad II, 2, 11, translated in J. Meyendorff, Défense des saints hésychastes, pp. 340–341.
- 34
Saint Gregory Palamas, Triad III, 1, 29, translated in J. Meyendorff, Défense des saints hésychastes, pp. 610–611.
- 35
Saint Gregory Palamas, Triad III, 1, 29, translated in J. Meyendorff, Défense des saints hésychastes, pp. 688–689.
- 36
Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. II, p. 312.