Theosis

George95 said:

I'm curious to know more about it. Someone here on CF pretty much said it's equal to the LDS doctrine(non Orthodox poster), so I wanted to ask about it.

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It is NOT the same as LDS teaching.

Their teaching both of who God is, and what we shall become - is NOT the same as Orthodox theosis.

I am not qualified to explain theosis, lol. I could probably write pages on it, and there would be much more to say - and in there I'd probably get some things wrong.

Simply put, I think it's safe to say that it involves us becoming more and more Christlike, so that we may share unity with God. We will always be creatures, we cannot BE what God is (His essence) but we shall be like Him. (With His help and by His grace!)

When you quote St. Athanasius and say "God became man so that man might become god" people tend to misunderstand and get all upset.

The most frequent reference point for this is from 2nd Peter 1:4 in which we are to become partakers of the divine nature which happens when we pursue virtue in living our faith.


2nd Peter

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.



St. Peter concludes:

grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ


https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2 Peter 3&version=NKJV



I have no idea of or inclination to ponder any LDS concepts (no offense to them).



"The grace of deification (theosis) is, therefore above nature, virtue, & knowledge and, according to St. Maximos, all such things infinitely fall short of it. For all the virtue we can attain and such imitation of God as lies in our power does no more than fit us for union with the Deity, but it is through grace that this ineffable union is actually accomplished." St. Gregory Palamas, The Declaration of the Holy Mountain..." (in defense of hesychasm), Philokalia vol.4.

LDS people believe that in their afterlife they become "gods" with their own planet to rule over.


Orthodox theosis is more like filling our souls with God's energy to max capacity.

It is not even close.

God created us in his image, but it is up to us to continue the process of spiritual growth by seeking to get as close to him as possible. We are called to grow as close to him as humanly possible, to maintain the upmost spiritual unity, but not to become gods ourselves.

LDS believe each of us become our own individual deity, therefore, as there are (have been) billions of people, there'll be billions of gods.

Big, huge, fat No No!

there is no difference for the LDS God and what you can potentially be. they believe God is a man (a creature) who became a God. so since we are also men, if we follow Mormon teaching, we can become a God after our Resurrection.

their theosis is a weird cocktail of heresy.

Pardon me for stepping into this thread, but from what I've read above, theosis seems to be similar to the concept of sanctification, at least in protestant churches (I honestly don't know how EO/OO describe it). Is that the case?

HumbleMan said:

Pardon me for stepping into this thread, but from what I've read above, theosis seems to be similar to the concept of sanctification, at least in protestant churches (I honestly don't know how EO/OO describe it). Is that the case?

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I think it is safe to say that theosis encompasses sanctification. Perhaps the Orthodox don't use that word because we don't delineate sharply a moment of salvation/justification as opposed to sanctification. For us, theosis IS salvation, and it encompasses sanctification.

But it is much deeper and more complete. Not only a shedding of sinful inclinations while in the flesh, but the becoming one with God in eternity (as Christ prayed that as He and Father are One, that we shall likewise become one in them).

(But we are forever creatures, and never will we have God's own nature, or even fully understand it.)

Hmmmm. I hope I'm not muddying the waters. Correction is appreciated by my brothers and sisters if I have.

I don't think that understanding the nuts and bolts is that important - most important is understanding that salvation is a journey similar to lent - in fact, I think in many ways that lent is the cliff notes version and that's why it's important to do it every year. The church is the ark of salvation that will carry you on your WAY, therefore you must participate in her fasts and feast - her liturgical life and through this experience, theosis will become more clear. It's not a sprint - more of a marathon, so be patient and persistent.

"God made us so that we might become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) & sharers in His eternity, and so that we might become like Him (cf. 1 John 3:2) through deification (theosis) by grace. It is through deification that all things are reconstituted and achieve their permanence; and it is for its sake that what is not is brought into being and given existence." St. Maximos the Confessor, 1st Century (grouping) of various texts, # 42, Philokalia vol. 2.

HumbleMan said:

Pardon me for stepping into this thread, but from what I've read above, theosis seems to be similar to the concept of sanctification, at least in protestant churches (I honestly don't know how EO/OO describe it). Is that the case?

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yep, it's like how if you stick iron in fire, it takes on the properties of fire (gives light and heat, turns color, etc) without actually becoming fire. remove the iron from the fire and it becomes cold and dark again. Mormons say the iron actually becomes fire.

similarly, the human who embraces God becomes eternally more like Him (more loving, more peaceful, more kind, etc.) with no way of becoming Him.

makes sense?