By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
After
purification of the heart and illumination of the nous comes
glorification, which is the third stage of the journey towards
perfection. Glorification is linked with theoria, which is the vision of
the glory of God. When we say glorification we mean vision or theoria
of the uncreated energy of God, which is seen as glory, as Light.
Purification – the rejection of all thoughts (logismoi) from the
heart and the transformation of the passible part of the soul (desire
and anger) – must come first, as well as illumination of the nous, which
is noetic prayer.
It should be stressed at the outset that glorification is an experience; it is not speculation or philosophy.
“Glorification is an empirical state. It has nothing to do with metaphysics.”
Man is not
capable of arriving at this state on his own, but he is empowered by
God. Thus glorification is a gift of God to the one who has struggled to
keep His commandments. The Psalmist writes: “In Your light we shall see light” (Ps. 35[36]:10).
“There is no
question of man being capable of knowing God. This is impossible. Only
someone who is within the uncreated Light sees the uncreated Light. One
must be in God to see God. Man sees God through God.”
In the
patristic tradition this ability to see God is called “an uncreated
self-revealing eye”. There are many words that define what glorification
is. Someone who is glorified, who is in this spiritual state, sees the
uncreated Light of God. He shares in the Light and this is
called glorification. Then man participates in the glory of God.
Glorification is participation in the glory of God, in the uncreated
Light. It is also referred to as man’s union with God.
“Here union means glorification, divine vision.”
When someone
participates in the Light, in God’s glory, he acquires union with God,
and this offers knowledge beyond human knowledge.
“In the tradition, union itself is called the glorification of man or theosis. Man becomes god by grace, during the vision of God, if he ever reaches this point.”
“This is
called glorification. When man is glorified it means that he sees the
glory in which he stands. This experience of glorification fills the
pages of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Occasionally some
clever professor here in Athens would ask me, ‘Where do you find theosis in the Old Testament? It isn’t there; the word ‘theosis’ is not there.’ Theosis is
not there, but glorification is. The Apostle Paul uses the word
‘glorified’. When someone is glorified, he says that we ought to rejoice
with the one who is glorified (cf. 1 Cor. 12:26). Who is the one who is
glorified?”
He is the one who undergoes theosis, because then man is sanctified by the grace of God.
“Man’s sanctification means theosis, participation in glory.”
Glorification (theosis) is also described as divine vision or the vision of God.
“For the Fathers of the Church, glorification is nothing other than divine vision. When the Fathers say ‘theosis’ or
‘glorification’ they are referring to divine vision, seeing God’s
glory. When someone sees the glory of God, this means glorification. So
the fact that the Prophets in the Old Testament see the glory of Christ
means that they reach glorification. And as there is glorification in
the Old Testament, it also exists in the New Testament.”
“Divine
vision is glorification, theoria. Glorification is divine vision because
without attaining to divine vision, glorification, man cannot see God.
He sees God through God.”
“Glorification
is the surest knowledge about God. Glorification transcends
understanding, which is why St Gregory the Theologian says, ‘It is
impossible to conceive God’. Even the one who reaches glorification does
not conceive God. It is not only to unbelievers and non-philosophers
that he says, ‘It is impossible to conceive God’. Conceiving God is
impossible for everyone, including the glorified.
Even someone
who arrives at glorification does not conceive God and he understands
that he does not conceive Him. So he knows without knowledge, he
conceives without understanding, he hears without hearing, he sees
invisibly, and so on. All this patristic terminology, when they talk
about glorification, is a terminology based on reality.”
The experience of God as Light is called glorification, theosis, divine vision, union and knowledge. This state is an experience of Pentecost.
“Every
glorification is nothing other than a repetition of Pentecost for us. So
those who reach glorification have equal grace with the Apostles at
Pentecost. There is no difference, at least from the patristic point of
view.”
Glorification is linked with man’s salvation.
“Man was
created for glorification. Nowadays we say that glorification is
salvation. But man fell from the state of glorification.”
As has been stressed elsewhere, there are degrees of theoria.
“What is
theoria according to the patristic tradition? There are two stages of
theoria. Theoria is illumination, in other words, noetic prayer, and
also glorification. Both are called theoria. These are the two stages.
Only when someone attains to illumination or glorification, particularly
illumination, which is the first degree, is he permitted to theologise
and to teach others, to be a spiritual father.”
“Theoria has
two levels. The first is the state of prayer; but enlightenment, vision
and continuous vision are also called theoria. Enlightenment is the
beginning of glorification. At the lowest stage of theoria there is no
glorification yet. At the higher stages there is glorification as well.
In those
moments when someone is in a state of glorification, prayer ceases. The
divine vision itself takes the place of prayer, so one does not pray but
has the vision of God. When the experience of glorification comes to an
end, one returns to prayer. The state of glorification is not a
permanent state.
A book has
now come out that has a chapter on glorification, and it gives the
impression that the state of glorification is permanent. It is not a
permanent state. Glorification can be enlightenment lasting one second;
then there is the vision that can last from five minutes, half an hour, I
don’t know how long; then continuous vision for forty nights – it could
go on for a year, as long as God wills, and this is called continuous
vision. However, glorification comes to an end.”
“There is
theoria associated with glorification and theoria associated with
illumination. Both these states are divine inspiration. The state of
glorification, however, is not permanent. It may be enlightenment, it
may be a simple vision that lasts a few seconds or a few minutes, I
don’t know how long. It may even be continuous vision. But it is never
permanent because anyone who reaches glorification comes back to
illumination.
There are
those in the state of illumination who never reach glorification,
because they did not have the spiritual need to reach glorification.
Glorification is given by God, not just to meet the personal need of the
glorified but usually to meet the need of other people.”
During theosis-theoria-divine
vision-glorification, the whole human being, both soul and body,
participates. It is not a psychological or sentimental state affecting
the soul. The human body is also glorified. Patristic teaching speaks
all the time about theosis and defines what it is. It links theosis with
glorification, the vision of the glory of God, divine vision, union,
communion and knowledge. All the same, it can be observed that various
Christians misinterpret this experience of divine vision.
“Augustine
had no idea about illumination and glorification. He completely missed
the point on these issues, because he followed the path of the
Platonists. The Franks copied his writings and read them, and
Augustine’s whole spirituality and piety entered theology up until the
modern era.”
“The
Apostles who saw Christ in glory reached glorification. There is a
problem here on account of the modern Russian preoccupation with the
subject of glorification, which has also influenced the Greeks here in
Greece. They imagine glorification as an injection of divinity: that we
do an inoculation and give it to people and fill them with divinity;
that this is something that comes into us through the Mysteries and so
on.
This,
however, is not how the Fathers understood glorification, because
according to the Fathers glorification means seeing Christ in glory.
Glorification is beholding Christ in glory. In the Old Testament when a
Prophet saw Christ in glory that is the Prophet’s glorification.”
“There is obviously some confusion on these issues.
Glorification
has now disappeared from modern Greek theology, and if you look at the
old textbooks you will rarely find a mention of glorification, very
rarely. Only now and again, when they refer to the Fathers, they may use
the word ‘glorification’. It has mostly been replaced by the word
‘sanctification’.”
Glorification
exists in the Old Testament as well, but there is a difference between
glorification in the Old and New Testaments.
“In the Old Testament we also have glorification, theosis. There is no disguising the fact that when a Prophet is within the glory of God and sees His glory, this is glorification.”
There is,
however, a difference, because in the Old Testament those who beheld God
were taken to Hades, as death had not yet been abolished.
Also, the major difference between glorification in the Old and New Testaments concerns the human nature of Christ.
“In the Old
Testament when someone reaches glorification he has a divine vision, but
he does not see Christ in the flesh, because He is not yet incarnate.
He sees Christ unincarnate, bringing the Father in the Holy Spirit. The
experience of glorification is therefore a revelation of the Holy
Trinity in the Old Testament. As we have a revelation of the Holy
Trinity in the Old Testament in the experience of glorification, the
fundamental question is: What is the difference between the Old and New
Testaments?
The most
fundamental difference is certainly that whenever the Word appears in
the Old Testament He is unincarnate, whereas in the New Testament He
appears in the flesh, as the incarnation comes in between. The most
basic difference, therefore, is the incarnation. After the incarnation
it is impossible for anyone to experience glorification and the vision
of God without the human nature of Christ.”
“In the Old
Testament there is glorification without the human nature of Christ.
Every Prophet reached glorification without encountering Christ’s human
nature, as the Word was not flesh. Every Prophet, however, knew Christ
Himself. He spoke with Christ as friends speak to one another. Thus
Christ appears to His friends both before and after His incarnation.
Christ is already in communion with His friends in the Old Testament.”
There was
theoria of God in the Old Testament and before Pentecost, but it was
markedly different from theoria of God after Pentecost.
“According
to the Fathers who interpret Holy Scripture, the experience of Pentecost
is the highest experience of glorification prior to the Second Coming.
There is nothing higher than Pentecost, nothing superior to Pentecost.
Why? Because it is the glorification that existed in the Old Testament
with the addition of the incarnation. In the Old Testament glorification
has neither the incarnation nor salvation. It is glorification without
salvation, so even the glorified died. They were in the power of death.
There was no salvation and no incarnation in the Old Testament. Now,
however, at Pentecost we have incarnation.”
Man was created for the purpose of reaching the vision of God, theoria of God’s glory, glorification.
“Man was formed to be in a state of illumination or glorification.”
“The aim of Holy Scripture is to lead man to divine vision, to glorification, that he might see Christ in glory.”
Everyone can reach this state of glorification.
“Let me tell
you something. The way things have turned out, one can at least suspect
that it is easier today to reach glorification in the world than in a
monastery. There are monasteries and monasteries, monks and monks. That
is the problem.”
During the
experience of glorification-theoria various changes occur in man’s
psychosomatic constitution. He remains the same, he does not lose touch
with reality, but he is transformed and experiences Adam’s state before
the Fall, and the state of the saints after the Second Coming of Christ.
“He who is glorified goes beyond words and concepts and beholds uncreated reality, which bears no resemblance to them.”
“If someone
sees a created thing and thinks he is seeing God, this means that he
will never arrive at glorification, because he has reached the state of
seeing created things that come from demonic energies and thinking that
he sees God. He has only reached glorification when he sees what is
uncreated.”
In the course of theoria Holy Scripture, dogmas and even noetic prayer itself are done away with.
“Everything
is abolished in glorification. Of course, when someone returns from the
state of glorification, when his divine vision ceases, he continues once
again with dogmas and his prayer. The Holy Spirit prays again within
him, as before. The state of glorification is not permanent in this
life.”
The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians about “visions and revelations of the Lord”, when he was caught up to Paradise and heard ineffable words (2 Cor. 12:1-6).
He also writes that during the vision of God prophecies and knowledge are done away with and prayer ceases. “But
whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are
tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish
away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which
is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” (1 Cor. 13:8-10).
“According
to patristic theology, prayer will come to an end in the state of
glorification. Prayer ceases to exist as long as glorification lasts.
When glorification ends, prayer comes back again.
Knowledge
too vanishes. Theology is no more. Because when it says ‘knowledge’ here
it does not mean knowledge in general, only knowledge about God, not
every kind of knowledge. Knowledge about God is abolished, because one
sees Christ now ‘face to face’, one sees God Himself. But the knowledge
of created things that someone has is not abolished, because he does not
lose his senses. The Apostle Paul was blinded by the Light, but he
spoke and heard while in this state. He did not eat or drink for three
days, because that aspect of his natural functions ceased. However, when
one returns from this state and prayer and prophecy begin again, one
continues the work of edification. One preaches and teaches and so on.”
“If someone
reaches glorification now and again, a couple of times perhaps, the
prayer of the heart ceases in the experience of glorification, it is
abolished. So knowledge vanishes away as well, that is to say, the
rational knowledge of the faith ceases, together with the knowledge
associated with illumination. It ceases because someone in this state
sees God by means of God. He sees the uncreated Light through the
uncreated Light, and sees God through God.
Man on his
own cannot behold God, because God can only be seen by means of
revelation. Man sees with a vision that transcends vision. He hears with
a hearing that transcends hearing, smells with a sense of smell that
transcends the sense of smell and so on. This is not a natural state. It
is not part of man’s natural knowledge, but neither is it a
supernatural revelation in the Western sense of supernatural
revelations, because there is no understanding.”
“There is no
noetic prayer in the experience of glorification. Noetic prayer stops.
And when the experience of glorification, of divine vision, ceases,
noetic prayer starts up again. When someone is in the state of
illumination, he prophesies and theologises using theology and Holy
Scripture. When, however, he reaches glorification, he no longer knows
God in prophecies and knowledge and prayers, but knows Him directly.”
As long as
glorification lasts, noetic prayer stops, because the nous beholds the
glory of God. Rational prayer, however, does not cease. The one who sees
God may be present in the Divine Liturgy and simultaneously see
uncreated reality. He does not undergo Neoplatonic ecstasy during the
vision of God.
“In
glorification prayer ceases, and when one speaks to a colleague in a
state of glorification, one uses names. Someone in a state of
glorification is able to celebrate the Liturgy and to say the prayers of
the Church as usual.
The prayer
of the Holy Spirit with those words has been abolished within him,
because he sees what is uncreated. When he sees what is uncreated, the
prayer within him comes to an end, but rational worship does not cease.
He can celebrate the Liturgy.”
There is a connection between praxis and theoria.
“We have
praxis that comes to completion in theoria. During theoria, however,
praxis is never abandoned. Never. Perhaps a classical example of
Orthodox theoria is St Symeon the New Theologian. In his biography,
written by Nikitas Stithatos, we see the following paradox. The Apostle
Paul underwent glorification first and was baptised afterwards, which is
a strange phenomenon, because first he saw the uncreated glory on the
road to Damascus and ascended to the third heaven, as he writes himself,
and after this experience of glorification he was baptised. Something
similar happened to St Symeon the New Theologian. First he had the
experience of glorification and afterwards he was tonsured as a monk.
When someone
attains to glorification, for as long as this experience lasts
asceticism stops, because of the state he is in. He does not eat or
drink or sleep or – forgive me for mentioning it – go to the toilet,
because the natural functions of his body are suspended while he is in
the state of theoria of the uncreated glory of God. When, however, he
comes out of this state, he continues practising asceticism again. He
fasts and prays and keeps vigil and has noetic prayer. In the state of
glorification, however, single-thought noetic prayer, the remembrance of
God, comes to an end as we have God Himself. Remembrance goes; it is no
longer needed.
Thus the
highest form of theoria, which is glorification, is not a permanent
state, whether it takes the form of enlightenment for a limited period,
or the form of vision, which can last forty days and nights, as in the
case of Moses. When someone returns to the state of illumination,
although he has noetic prayer and so on, he practises asceticism, keeps
all the fasts and is self-restrained. Asceticism is not abolished.”
Although
there is no suspension of the rational faculty, bodily functions are
suspended. The saints teach from their experience that during divine
vision the natural and blameless passions are suspended and the devil is
rendered powerless.
“We know
from the experience of Moses on Sinai and the experience of the saints,
who like Moses reached theoria before their bodily death, that during
this experience of glorification the natural and blameless passions are
suspended in such a way that there is no hunger, thirst, tiredness,
fear, uneasiness or sleep. The state of perfection is such that the
devil becomes for the most part, if not completely, powerless.”
When the
glorified human being is in the state of glorification he lives within
the glory of God. He is aware of the suspension of the natural functions
of his body, though not of his soul, but he is in a natural state.
“In every
other way he is in a natural state and talks and walks and so on in this
condition, and teaches, until the vision of God ceases and he returns
to illumination. Then noetic prayer, which had stopped during
glorification, begins again. This is our Orthodox saint. Our saints are
vastly different from the Hindus, they have nothing in common. The only
similarity with the Hindus is the distinction between nous and reason.
There is also no affinity at all with the ecstasy of the mystical
religions or Neoplatonism.
Is it not of
interest to dieticians that it is possible for someone to go for a year
without eating, sleeping, drinking or going to the toilet? Such a state
can last a week, a fortnight, a month, forty days, forty nights, or it
can continue for a whole year.”
All this is not theoretical but is recorded in the lives of the saints, in the Synaxaria of the Church, which are the real history of the life of the Church.
“Again and
again in the lives of the saints, not only in the East but in the West,
in the Western saints, the Western Romans, we find this phenomenon of
glorification together with the suspension of bodily functions. If it
lasts a week it can last a month. It can go on for a year or years on
end. It depends on how long God wants someone to remain in this state,
and on his own needs and his surroundings.”
The hermits
and stylites lived this phenomenon, strange as it seems to human reason.
They not only returned to the state before the Fall, but ascended
higher and lived states beyond the end of time. They had a foretaste of
the life of the saints in Paradise.
“What
did the monks do there in the desert? Why do we have those troparia
about deserts and tears that watered the desert, and about those who
lived where there was nothing to eat? How did they live? What were the
stylites? They saw St Daniel the Stylite, who was covered with frost and
snow every winter, and they did not know whether they would find him
alive in the spring. How did he live in the ice and snow? How did the
naked ascetics wander around in the mountains in the snow?”
Divine
vision and theoria offer true theology. True theology expresses the
experience of seeing God. Someone begins to theologise on reaching
illumination. If God counts him worthy of reaching the vision of God and
seeing His uncreated energy, at that moment of divine vision even
theology stops, because he sees God Himself. When the experience of
seeing God ceases, theology begins.
Theology is the expression and formulation in created words and concepts of uncreated reality.
“We ought to
stop making a clear-cut distinction between Western and Eastern
theology, as we usually do, and go in search of the result of theology.
Wherever there is glorification, correct theology inevitably exists.
Where there is no glorification, correct theology probably does not
exist, even if those who put forward those types of theology are
allegedly Orthodox.
The criteria
should not be formally dogmatic but purely therapeutic. Only
therapeutic theology is correct theology. This is the theology expressed
in the lives of the saints.”
“In
patristic theology, noetic prayer is the foundation of theology and
theologising. In the early Church someone was allowed to theologise only
when he had reached illumination. He was called a theologian when he
reached glorification. Someone theologises when he has noetic prayer,
and he is called a theologian once he arrives at glorification. This is
the historical usage of these terms.”
“Someone
starts being a theologian when he becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Without becoming a temple of the Holy Spirit, how can anyone become a
theologian? And the theologian of the Church is pre-eminently the one
who has reached glorification. He is a theologian.
That is why
in our Church we very rarely gave the title of ‘theologian’ until the
modern Greek state was founded. Before the foundation of the University
of Athens, the theologians of the Church were St Gregory the Theologian,
St John the Theologian, St Symeon the New Theologian, and after them we
find a few others who are referred to as theologians in the Church. The
main characteristic of those called theologians is that they reached
glorification and beheld God. Such people are theologians in the highest
sense, but what sort of theologians? Because in the state of
glorification theology is abolished.”
“The theology of the Church is an expression of the experience of theosis, man’s
glorification, when he attains to the revelation. Theology comes from
the divine vision of the Prophets, Apostles, saints and all those who
have been glorified.
It is an
expression of an inexpressible reality. This expression cannot be
comprehended rationally, but its only aim is therapeutic. Orthodox
theology has no other purpose; its aim is therapeutic not philosophical.
It never had a philosophical aim.”
“Theology is a means. It is not an end in itself. Concepts are not an end in themselves; they are means.”
“Orthodoxy
theology means that someone sees, and on the basis of the experience of
divine vision and glorification, he theologises. What does he see in the
state of glorification? He sees all the dogmas.”
“Essentially
a theologian is someone in whom theology has been abolished, as he has
reached the experience of glorification. Theology ceases in him, and
because he lives in the state of illumination, he knows the aim of
theology and prayer, which are the same thing. The one who prays
theologises, and the one who theologises prays. Theology and prayer are
the same thing.”
Theology ceases during the experience because what the God-seer sees cannot be described using the data of human wisdom.
The one who beholds God sees that God is uncreated, which means that there is a vast difference between Him and created things.
“No one who
reaches glorification has ever seen the Holy Spirit as created or the
Word as created. He knows that the glory of the Holy Trinity is
uncreated and that it is the natural glory of the uncreated energy of
God. The Word has glory from the Father by nature and not by grace, and
the Holy Spirit also has uncreated glory from the Father, not by grace
but by nature.
All these
central elements, which are the whole of Orthodox theology, come from
the experience of glorification. When the Fathers theologise they do not
theologise only from Holy Scripture, but from their own experience.”
One can only come to the knowledge of God through divine vision.
After the
experience of divine vision, the God-seeing theologian uses created
words and symbols to express the uncreated reality as far as possible.
“Expressions
about God are therefore symbolic. We have this term ‘symbolic theology’
and we use symbols to talk about God. However, the purpose of these
symbols is not that we might conceive God, but that we may be guided
through these symbols to union with God, which is glorification that
transcends understanding.”
Through this
knowledge derived from divine vision, the God-seer becomes a spiritual
father, because he knows how to cure people and lead them to
glorification. Sickness is man’s departure from God and health is
communion with Him, the vision of God.
“There is
this interpretation that the theologian is ‘advanced in theoria’, that
he is someone who has reached illumination or glorification, and he is
also a spiritual father. He knows how to cure, so knowledge and curing
people is the same thing. Knowledge is therapeutic treatment and
therapeutic treatment is knowledge: these two go together.”
The one who
sees God has divinely inspired words to guide his spiritual children to
glorification. He guides them using concepts, so that they may proceed
“through purification to illumination and finally to glorification.”
Apart from
theology, the experience of glorification also has other consequences
for the glorified. One of these is that someone who sees God is set free
from every kind of servitude to created things.
“In the
state of glorification he is also liberated from subservience to the
elements of nature, because he is nourished by God Himself and he can go
on in this state for years or months, if it continues.”
“According
to the Fathers of the Church, glorification is perfect freedom, and
purification and illumination are the beginning of freedom.”
When someone beholds God he acquires real love, which is unselfish.
“Glorification, the perfecting of man on the basis of a love that ‘does not seek its own’ (1 Cor. 13:5), is not the same as the love that a good human being has. There may be similarities but it is not the same thing.”
Since he is
freed from the passions and the greatest passion is self-love, he
acquires love for God and other people. All the glorified become equal
in their noetic energy. Equality cannot exist in human terms, because
there are differences in the level of the rational faculty and in gifts.
Those who are glorified, however, attain equality as regards their
noetic faculty and theology: they have the same knowledge. At the same
time, they detach themselves from material goods and identify with the
poor.
“We have
never ceased believing in the equality of human beings. Why? Consider
the subject of equality. Equality of human beings from the Orthodox
point of view is based on the fact that everyone has a noetic faculty,
which is separate from the rational faculty. So someone may reach the
heights of noetic energy and be glorified, and have no rational ability
at all.
In the
troparion for Pentecost, for the Holy Trinity, we chant: ‘Blessed art
Thou, Christ our God…’ and so on. Christ took the fishermen and raised
them to the heights of glorification. They were exalted above the earth
and surpassed all human beings in glorification. And who were they?
Illiterate fishermen. Their noetic faculty was raised as high as the
experience of Pentecost, but nothing changed with regard to their
rational faculty. If someone had given the Apostle Peter a mathematical
problem, it is certain that he would never have been able to solve
mathematical or geophysical or political problems. All the same, though,
he is the leader of the Apostles.
On the one
hand, someone may reach the summit of rational understanding and his
noetic faculty may be a complete disgrace and his heart may be
completely hardened. On the other hand, someone may reach the heights of
noetic perfection and of rational perfection, because he has a good
education. He may be at the highest level of both.
Again,
someone’s rational faculty may be at the lowest limit, so that he is
completely dim, unintelligent and foolish, and his heart may be
hardened. On the other hand, someone else may be half-mad and his
rational faculty may not function correctly, but he may have a spiritual
father who sets him free from the weaknesses in his reasoning, and he
may get as far as glorification, even though he is completely
uneducated.
From the
point of view of spiritual equality, therefore, there is absolute
equality between human beings, because everyone has a noetic faculty.
The higher reaches of theology have nothing to dc with the rational
faculty. Do you follow what I am saying? From this point of view,
Orthodox theology has an equality that exists in no other field.
Because, whatever we may say, there will never be equality with regard
to the rational faculty, because an individual’s rational faculty is
connected with his grey matter, with problems inherited from parents and
so on. Whatever we may do, one pupil will sit examinations and get into
university, whereas the other will sit examinations fifteen times and
not get in. One pupil will get a school leaving certificate, another
won’t. There is clearly no equality in these matters, but in theology
there is equality. We Orthodox theologians know more about equality that
other people in society.
Next,
equality in perfection also means equality in wealth. Someone who
reaches glorification becomes rich, although in worldly terms he becomes
poor. Because he is poor, he is on the same level as all the world’s
poor and becomes equal with the poor. So there is no social problem in
this regard, as he never identifies with the rich but with the poor.
This is automatic in Orthodox theology and cannot be otherwise, because
if someone identifies himself with the rich it shows that he does not
have noetic prayer. To have noetic prayer one must identify with the
poor.”
Another
consequence of glorification and divine vision is that the man’s body
becomes a holy relic. As the whole human being shares in the vision of
God, both soul and body are glorified. Thus when the soul separates from
the body, the grace of God remains inseparably with both the soul and
the body, and we have holy relics.
“Holy relics
are the result of glorification, as the one who has attained
glorification is suspended between immortality and corruption.
So when he
dies his body does not disintegrate; it is preserved. There is some
decay, but the identity of its cells is kept, that is to say, it is
preserved to a great extent, not completely but to a great extent.
However, this body is neither incorrupt nor does it completely
decompose.”
“What are
holy relics according to the Fathers of the Church? Holy relics are a
state that the God-seer reaches when he reaches glorification. They are
in between incorruption and mortality. We have corruption and we also
have incorruption. Someone who attains glorification has not become
incorrupt but he has experienced incorruption, because the experience of
glorification is described as incorruption according to grace.
Glorification is incorruption according to grace.
The Incorrupt body of Saint Dionysios Of Zakynthos
Someone who
has gone through this experience leaves holy relics, which keep their
biological signs, their cells. There is skin and cells – everything is
there, isn’t it? The body has not undergone corruption, but this is not
incorruption, because incorruption means that the organ is alive. This
body is dead but it has not disintegrated. This is a phenomenon.
It is not a
mummy. It is not mummified nor is this state due to chemicals, nor is it
because the body was buried in ground so dry that it could not
decompose. These relics are often found in ground that is full of
moisture.”
When someone
attains to the vision of God’s uncreated glory he acquires communion
with God. After theoria he returns to the stage of illumination of the
nous and noetic prayer is activated. If he is not careful, however, it
is possible for him to go as far as denying God.
“There was a
major dispute in the past between the ‘Pure’ [the Novatianists] and the
other Orthodox, because the ‘Pure’ said that someone who had denied
Christ under persecution should die without receiving Holy Communion.
They left him in God’s hands.
The other
Orthodox used the argument that the Apostle Peter himself first passed
through glorification at the Transfiguration, then after glorification
he denied Christ, and Christ after the Resurrection reinstated him and
he became an Apostle again – in fact, the chief Apostle. So we see that
not only after illumination but even after glorification one can give
way and make a denial.”
Glorification
is the perfecting of man, which is the purpose of his creation. Then
man transcends all merely human things and lives in the body like an
angel. People with a worldly mentality are unable to understand this
state because they live an unnatural life.
“As far as
the world is concerned, those in psychiatric hospitals are not the only
ones who are mentally disturbed. From the world’s point of view, those
in the state of glorification would be considered mad.
We are not
therefore surprised that even some Orthodox regard St Symeon the New
Theologian as being somehow mad. If someone reads St Symeon the New
Theologian without being attuned to what he writes, the reason he writes
and the state he is in when writing, it is not difficult for him to
think that St Symeon the New Theologian was mad.”
This madness
according to the worldly mentality, however, is the natural life of
man, according to the reason for his creation and its aim.
—Excerpt from Empirical Dogmatics by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
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