Theosis. Группа авторов
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Augustine
| Conf. | Confessionum |
Basil of Caesarea
| Ep. | Epistulae |
| Eun. | Adversus Eunomium |
| Hex. | Homiliae in hexaemeron |
| Hom. div. | Homiliae diversae |
| Hom. Ps. | Homiliae super Psalmos |
| Reg. fus. | Regulae Fusius Tractatae |
| Spir. | De spiritu sancto ad Amphilochium |
Clement of Alexandria
| Paed. | Paedagogus |
| Prot. | Protrepticus sive Cohortatio ad gentes |
| QDS | Quis Dives Salvetur |
| Strom. | Stromata |
Cyril of Alexandria
| Ador. | De adoratione in spiritu et veritate |
| Jn. | Commentarii in Joannem |
Cyril of Jerusalem
| Catech. | Catecheses ad illuminandos |
| Myst. | Mystagogiae |
Epiphanius
| Haer. | Panarion seu Adversus LXXX haereses |
The Epistle to Diognetus
| Diogn. | Epistula ad Diognetum |
Eunomius
| Apol. | Liber Apologeticus |
| Apol. Apol. | Apologia Apologiae |
| Exp. Fidei | Expositio Fidei |
| Fr. | Fragmenta |
Eusebius of Caesarea
| HE | Historia Ecclesiastica |
Gregory of Nazianzus
| Ep. | Epistulae |
| Or. | Orationes |
| Carm. | Carmina dogmatica = Carm. 1.1.1–38; Carmina moralia= Carm. 1.2.1–40; Carmina de se ipso = Carm. 2.1.1–99; Carmina quae spectant ad alios = Carm. 2.2.1–8 |
Gregory of Nyssa
| Ad Theoph. | Ad Theophilum adversus Apollinarium |
| Antirrh. | Antirrheticus adversus Apollinarium |
| Anim. et res. | Dialogus de anima et resurrectione |
| Cont. Eunom. | Contra Eunomium |
| De beatit. | Orationes viii de beatitudinibus |
| De inf. | De infantibus premature abreptis |
| De opif. | De opificio hominis |
| De perf. | De perfectione Christiana ad Olympium monachum |
| De prof. Chr. | De professione Christiana ad Harmonium |
| De virg. | De virginitate |
| In Cant. | In Canticum canticorum |
| In Eccl. | In Ecclesiasten (homiliae 8) |
| In Ps. | In inscriptiones psalmorum |
| Or. Dom. | De oratione dominica |
| Or. Cat. | Oratio catechetica magna |
| Trin. | Ad Eustathimum De sancta trinitate |
| Vit. Mos. | De vita Mosis |
Ignatius of Antioch
| Smyrn. | Epistula ad Smyrnaeos |
| Trall. | Epistula ad Trallianos |
Irenaeus
| Haer. | Adversus haereses |
| Dem. | Demonstratio apostolicae praedicatonis |
Jerome
| De Vir. Illustr. | De Viris Illustribus |
John Cassian
| Inst. | De institutis coenobiorum |
Justin
| Dial. | Dialogus cum Tryphone |
Origen
| C. Cel. | Contra Celsum |
| Com. Jn. | Commentarii in evangelium Joannis |
| Princ. | De principiis |
Plato
| Theaet. | Theaetetus |
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
| CH | De caelesti hierarchia |
| EH | De ecclesiastica hierarchia |
| DN | De divinis nominibus |
| MT | De mystica theologia |
| Ep. | Epistulae |
Socrates Scholasticus
| HE | Historia ecclesiastica |
Tatian
| Orat. | Oratio ad Graecos |
Tertullian
| Bapt. | De baptismo |
Theophilus of Antioch
| Ad Autol. | Ad Autolycum |
Introduction
Vladimir Kharlamov
I would like to begin the introduction to this book with a quote from A. M. Allchin:
The Christian tradition is thus full of an affirmation of God’s nearness to humankind, and of our unrealized potential for God. The basic affirmations that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is the Christ, are affirmations about the possibilities of [hu]man, about the intimacy of relationship between human and divine, no less than about the mystery of God. They speak about the meeting, a union of God with humankind which alters our understanding, our deepest experience of what it is to be human, which gives us a new vision of the whole creation and alters the substance of our living and dying. They open up the full meaning of our calling to become partakers of the divine nature, to become sons in the one Son, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They speak of deification.1
This quote eloquently sums up the main magnetism behind the Chris-tian understanding of theosis. It never ceased to lure theologians throughout two millennia of Christian heritage, in spite of occasional uneasiness, ambiguity about its particular content, terminological diversity, and at times, open criticism and dismissal. The theme of deification intimately touches on human identity and actualization of humanity’s ultimate purpose. It is predominantly an anthropological and soteriological expression of Christian theology. At the same time, it testifies to the identity of a Christian God, divine universal design, and God’s economy, where the trinitarian and christological apprehension receives the central place. Theosis, both on an individual and cosmic scale, is not exiguous in its eschatological perspective, either. Theosis testifies to the inexplicably grand mystery of God’s divine intimacy with human beings. Deification penetrates all spheres of human existence, and can be seen as an answer to most pending ultimate questions. It is essentially practical in its manifestation and uplifting in its content, but nevertheless, always evasive and arcane in its comprehension. Being such an interconnecting tenet of different fields of Christian theology and diverse Christian traditions, deification, by no surprise, continues to be an attractive subject in theological discourse on academic and popular levels. It can amply be seen in numerous publications on the subject since the publication of our first volume in 2006.
The main interest in theosis is traditionally associated with Eastern Orthodox spirituality and the modern Orthodox literature is by no means a stranger to the discussion on theosis. On the popular side, there is a sermonic-like booklet Achieving Your Potential in Christ: Theosis: Plain Talks on a Major Doctrine of Orthodoxy (1993) by Anthony Coniaris that draws insights from Orthodox tradition, along with catchy quotes and references to a wide range of sources, including Meister Eckhart, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Ford, Thomas Merton, and Hasidic sayings, among others. Another popular, but more comprehensive, short book on theosis in English is Partakers of Divine Nature by Christoforos Stavropoulos, that was published in 1976.2 In that book Stavropoulos presents deification in the context of the general Eastern Orthodox understanding of salvific workings of the divine economy, the sacramental life of the church, and the spiritual life of prayer. Archimandrite Sophrony’s (Sakharov) book We Shall See Him as He Is (2006) offers insightful, deeply testimonial witness to the Orthodox spiritual life, where deification is one of the central themes. Anthropological, cosmological, and economic aspects of theosis received additional attention in a recent essay by Hieromonk Damascene, “Created in Incorruption: The Orthodox patristic Understanding of Man and the Cosmos in Their Original, Fallen, and Redeemed States,” Orthodox Word 44 (2008) 9–99. In this extensive essay, Damascene, in almost patristic catena style, attempts to delineate the main characteristics of the prelapsarian, current, and eschatological elements