3.
The Incarnation of God: The Cause of Man's Theosis
The Church Fathers say that God became man in order to make man a god.
If God had not taken flesh, man would not be able to achieve Theosis.
In the years before Christ, many wise and virtuous people had appeared.
For example, the ancient Greeks had reached quite high standards of philosophy
about the good and about God. Their philosophy, in fact, contained seeds
of the truth, the so-called ‘spermaticos logos’. Moreover,
they were very religious people, but of course they did not know the true
God; they were idolaters, yet very pious and god-fearing people. They were
not atheists, as certain ill-informed contemporaries of ours represent
them; those who do not know enough about these things. For this reason,
by attempting to remove its faith in God from the psyche of our devout
people even without their consent, educators, teachers, politicians and
civil governors act in a way inconsistent to the memory of the Greek race,
and so they commit ‘hybris’[1] in the ancient meaning of
the word. In essence, they attempt to de-hellenise our people, because
the
Tradition of the Greeks, throughout our ancient, recent and modern history,
is a Tradition of piety and respect for God. All the worldwide cultural
contribution of Hellenism was and is based on this piety and respect
for God.
In the philosophy of the ancient Greeks we can perceive a certain yearning
for the unknown God … for the experience of God. They were faithful
and devout, but they did not have the true and completed knowledge of
God, as they still lacked communion with God, so that Theosis was not
possible
for them.
In the Old Testament, we also find many just and virtuous people, but the
full union with God, Theosis, only becomes possible ... is only achieved
... with the incarnation of the Divine Logos.
This is the purpose of the incarnation of God. If the purpose of man's
life was simply to become morally better, there would be no need for Christ
to come into the world, or for all these events of divine Providence to
happen; for the incarnation of God; the cross, the death and resurrection
of the Lord, and all that we Christians believe to have happened by Christ.
The human race could have been taught to become morally better by the philosophers,
by the righteous men and teachers, or by the prophets.
We know that Adam and Eve were beguiled by the devil and did not want to
collaborate with God; they desired to become gods not through humility,
obedience, or love; but based on their own power, their own willfulness,
egotistically and autonomously. That is to say that the essence of the
fall is egotism. Thus, by adopting egotism and self-assertion they separated
themselves from God, and instead of attaining Theosis, they attained exactly
the opposite: spiritual death.
As the Church Fathers say, God is life. So whoever separates himself from
God separates himself from life. Therefore, death and spiritual necrosis
(i.e. physical and spiritual death) are the outcome of the disobedience
of the first-created.
[1] Hybris has the same root as hybrid. Hybris originally meant to go against
nature. In ancient Greece, the whole of nature was intimately connected
with the divine, so by transgressing nature divine harmony was severed.
Its modern meaning of overweening pride is also implied in that classical
context.
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Source: Praxis
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