B-- GOD'S ESSENCE AND ENERGIES FOR ORTHODOX
A COMMON ASSUMPTION
There is an assumption common to all the non-orthodox world views. Every non-orthodox world view assumes that we could acquire some information and knowledge about God's
nature; that is, His
essence. Even negative information, as in atheism and agnosticism, is still information.
ORTHODOXY
-
GOD-
God is a unique, intelligent being separate from the creation.
-
TRANSCENDENCE, ESSENCE-
In the my-god-is-bigger-than-your-god philosophical arms race of the early church, the holy fathers quickly came to an astonishing conclusion which forever sets orthodoxy apart from all other world views. God's
essence is infinitely
transcendent, and UTTERLY SEPARATE FROM, UNKNOWABLE, INCOMPREHENSIBLE AND INCONCEIVABLE TO ALL CREATED THINGS-- ALWAYS WAS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE SO!
IN fact, if you made a list of every single word, concept, description, etc.-- on any and every subject-- in every single language, both angelic and human (you might need an extra sheet of paper), including the most basic, "existence vs. non-existence", you could easily write above that list (I hope you left some space at the top) the following:
GOD, IN ESSENCE, IS
NOTHING AT ALL LIKE ANY THING ON THIS LIST!
This, BTW, is called apophatic (negative) theology.
If you invented a time-space machine and used it to zip to-and-fro, from one end of the cosmos to the other, and from the beginning of time to its end, you would not be one step closer to touching, grabbing, feeling, being zapped by, hit by, clubbed by, seeing, gazing at, peering at, peeking at, perceiving, envisioning, intuiting, brainstorming, daydreaming, or otherwise hallucinating THE SLIGHTEST HINT of God's essence!
Even if you became the greatest saint (and God bless you in that endeavor) and, on your death, went to the highest heaven to stand beside the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist for the next million trillion zillion years, you would not be one step closer to touching, grabbing, feeling, being zapped by, hit by, clubbed by, seeing, gazing at, peering at, peeking at, perceiving, envisioning, intuiting, brainstorming, daydreaming, or otherwise hallucinating THE SLIGHTEST HINT of God's essence! And-- guess what?-- the Virgin, the Baptist-- in fact, all saints, all angels, all created things-- are in exactly the same situation. No created thing in Heaven or Earth ever has, or ever will, even come close to perceiving the transcendent, unknowable, hidden essence of God. All we will ever be able to say about it is,
God's essence is NOT. . . .
For the last time-- GOD'S ESSENCE IS STRICTLY OFF LIMITS!
Whew!. . . now, that's what I call unknowable!
-
TRINITY-
God is also Trinity, that is, three persons. But the EOC doesn't lump all descriptions of the three persons into the one category of
relations. The western emphasis on the transcendent energy-essence" of God together with the emphasis on relations within that essence obscures and confuses the doctrine of the three hypostases/persons in the Trinity. In fact, St. Photios the Great even went so far as to call the western doctrine of the Trinity, a semi-sabellian monster (referring to the ancient heretic Sabellios, who taught that God is one, and that the Trinity is merely a kind of illusion).
When I think of the RC doctrine of the Trinity, I can't help but get a mental picture of a giant ball of glowing-plasma-like Divine essence (a definite no-no!) which then divides into two giant balls of plasma. The two then create a spark between them-- which becomes yet a third giant plasma-ball! And I'm at a loss to say why this process can't just go on forever! Why can't an infinite number of Holy Spirits be produced this way? Or, why can't the Spirit get together with the other two persons to produce yet a fourth, and so on. . .
The EOC calls each of the terms used to describe the persons of the Trinity
personal attributes, and teaches that each term means something different and specific.
Thus, the
Father's personal attributes are that He is
uncaused (i.e. He owes His existence to no-one), He
begets the Son, and He
causes to proceed the Holy Spirit.
The
Son, has the following
personal attributes: He is the
Image of the Father and the
Logos (Word) of the Father, He is
begotten of the Father, and He
receives the Holy Spirit from the Father.
The
Holy Spirit has these
personal attributes: He
proceeds from the Father, and
Rests in the Son.
What these attributes actually stand for, that is, the events themselves, are eternal mysteries; because they are embedded in God's hidden nature together with His essence. We take it on faith that each attribute means something unique and specific; so, we don't just stick them together in one vague category like relations.
-
IMMANENCE, ENERGIES, GRACE-
Well, now I've done it. I made God so distant, hidden, and mysterious that He'd need a mighty long arm to reach out from His sublime essence and do anything good for us here on earth. But we know this does happen. God is
immanent to us. After all, we have biblical theophanies, miracles, and the Church's mysteries. How can this be?
Turns out, God indeed has a mighty long arm (figuratively speaking). In fact, the
Hand of God and the
Back parts of God are biblical terms. These and other terms which refer to God's activities in the world-- positive terms such as
divine existence, divine glory, grace, creation, providence, the grace of the mysteries, divine love (as in God is love),
divine wisdom, justification, salvation, sanctification, and
Heaven,--but also negative terms like
divine wrath, divine judgment, and
hell,-- are all understood in EO theology to refer to GOD HIMSELF REACHING DOWN from His hidden nature into our created world. They are also collectively called, God's eternal, uncreated, and divine
will, activities, or
ENERGIES.
The EO doctrine of divine energies is so fundamental, that it even enriches our understanding of the Trinity. You read above that the holy Spirit rests in the Son. In palamite theology, he also shines forth from the Son. That is, He projects His divine energies back to the Father, thus completing the circle of interpersonal communion within the Trinity. So, in a way, the Holy Spirit
does proceed from the Father and the Son-- but only in His
energies, not His essence. The cause of the Holy Spirit's person and essence is ONLY the Father. That's why we don't include the phrase and the Son' (
filioque) in the creed, where proceeds' refers to the ultimate cause of the Holy Spirit.
Its interesting that in the created world, things seem to happen in a mirror image to the way they happen in the divine realm. In the Trinity, the
Father begets the
Son, and sends to Him the
Holy Spirit, who is then sent, through His energies, into the world. In the created world, we receive God's energies from the
Holy Spirit, and this illumines us to perceive Christ Who is the
Son (in His energies)
, and, of course, he who has seen the Son has seen the
Father.
Salvation happens when we learn to cooperate with God's
uncreated energies and to avoid the
created actions/energies of: the Devil, the world, and our sinful thoughts and desires.
When we look at salvation from God's end (His energies entering our world), we call everything connected with it a sacrament/mystery. This includes the Eucharist. But it's not limited to "seven sacraments". Traditionally, everything that leads to salvation, including the process of salvation itself, is called a "mystery (I suppose one could also say "sacrament")" by the holy fathers.
When we look at it from our end (what we contribute), we call it "ascesis", Orthodox spirituality" or "the Orthodox way".
It has three stages. First,
purification; when we repent and begin the struggle to purify our passions-- by praying, fasting, receiving the Eucharist, etc. (the stage most of us are in). Second,
illumination; when we are illumined (literally, "enlightened") so that inner, spiritual prayer springs up from within us constantly-- even while we think and do other things-- and God is literally "always on our mind and in our heart" (the saints attain at least this stage). Third,
theosis; when our "spiritual eyes" are opened and we see God's energies sustaining every particle of creation .
BTW, when the saints and angels see God, they actually see His energies, not His essence. Even their experience of God-as-Trinity happens through the divine energies.
