Essence-energies distinction

Wryetui said:

Hello guys, I am glad to see you again in this forum! I came here with a question; can someone explain the essence-energies distinction to me in an easy and comprehensible way? How does it differ from Actus Purus? Thank you.

And last but not least, Christ is risen!

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Subscribing! I'll wait to hear from the others as I am not an expert on this.

For those who are like me and have no clue what Actus Purus means theologically - here is a link to a Wikipedia article about it that I found: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actus_purus

Christ is Risen!

the essence of God, is what makes Him God and will never be known by man. His energies or operations (His grace) are what we participate in. God's action in creation which is distinct from God in Himself. His energies are not identical to His essence (although indivisible from the essence) which is where we disagree.

On the one hand, God is utterly unknowable and unapproachable. On the other hand, God has made Himself known to us. The language of "essence vs. energies" simply seeks to put that into language in which we can communicate with one another.

Essence and energies:

Essence =what God is.
Energies =how God is.

You know the who and the what only by the how.

Actus purus:

What=who=how.

more thread necromancy!

ArmyMatt said:

more thread necromancy!

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Isn't this already clogging up a current thread?

you're trying way to hard to define things that are beyond defining. the essence is forever beyond man. the energies do commune with man and forever draw him ever closer to, although man will never actually reach, the essence of God. don't over complicate it.

I would add to this, in John's Gospel at the beginning, when John is saying that he beheld the glory of the only-begotten, full of grace and truth, the word for behold means to see with your physical eyes. so they beheld his glory with their material eyes.

so, in this life, we can see God as He is in His energies.

I'm not going to venture into this, but some of it seems to verge on saying the energies of God are created ... which I think could be a problem. And some also seems to imply that we experience or partake of God's Essence (though later corrected by the quotes from the OSB).

Why are people in here citing Jay Dyer, of all people? He is a conspiracy theorist and last I checked wasn't even Orthodox and only used it for publicity. He was a catechumen at one point, but didn't complete the process.

MariaJLM said:

Why are people in here citing Jay Dyer, of all people? He is a conspiracy theorist and last I checked wasn't even Orthodox and only used it for publicity. He was a catechumen at one point, but didn't complete the process.

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He has good theology and philosophy. The conspiracy theories need much more discernment though.

MariaJLM said:

Why are people in here citing Jay Dyer, of all people? He is a conspiracy theorist and last I checked wasn't even Orthodox and only used it for publicity. He was a catechumen at one point, but didn't complete the process.

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As said above, his theology and philosophy are spot on. Also he is a real Orthodox and was officially Chrismated a while ago.

And conspiracy theories are not all wrong, to dismiss somebody on that basis is ridiculous. Nobody was discussing those theories anyways, so it is irrelevant.

SingularityOne said:

He has good theology and philosophy. The conspiracy theories need much more discernment though.

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Fair enough.

ArmyMatt said:

we are totally free and self aware (image) and can exponentially grow to be like God (likeness).

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I knew free will was a part of the “image”, but I didn’t know self-awareness (meta-cognition) was a part of the “image”. Where do the Church Fathers say that?

SingularityOne said:

I knew free will was a part of the “image”, but I didn’t know self-awareness (meta-cognition) was a part of the “image”. Where do the Church Fathers say that?

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Fathers? I dunno off the top of my head. but I will say check St John of Damascus' Fount of Wisdom.

ArmyMatt said:

Fathers? I dunno off the top of my head. but I will say check St John of Damascus' Fount of Wisdom.

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Thank you father. I’ll check it out.

SingularityOne said:

Thank you father. I’ll check it out.

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no problem. it's the earliest example of systematic theology (I think), so of all places to start looking, that's probably your best bet.