#grace

Humility is the foundation of the spiritual life in Orthodox spirituality; it is not merely a moral virtue, but the fruit of a living encounter with God and the prerequisite for receiving divine Grace. Through the kenosis of the Son of God, as affirmed by Saints Nikita Stithatus, Simeon Metaphrastes, Peter Damascene and Dumitru Stăniloae, it is shown that humility is the path by which man rises to communion with God and progresses towards deification.

The article analyses the stages of the spiritual ascent towards the vision of the divine light according to Saint Symeon the New Theologian: renunciation of the world, the choice of a spiritual father with total obedience, constant repentance accompanied by tears, and the struggle against the passions. Faith underpins the entire ascetic endeavour, and the uncreated divine light becomes accessible to the person who is progressively purified through these means.

Christian charity is examined in close connection with the doctrine of deification (θέωσις), based on the Trinitarian and Christological foundation of love as revealed in Holy Scripture and in the writings of Saints Maximus the Confessor, Isaac the Syrian, Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. The act of charity transcends philanthropy, becoming a synergistic participation in divine love, a foretaste of the Kingdom and a criterion of the Last Judgement.