Section 08: Anthropology and Grace

The theological foundation beneath St. Theophan’s whole ascetical system: his anthropology of body, soul, and spirit, with the heart as the center of the person, and his teaching on grace and freedom — the synergy that is neither self-salvation nor passivity. This section also treats his twofold critique of the modern world — against dry rationalism and against mere sentiment — and the celebrated theologoumenon dispute with St. Ignatius Brianchaninov over the nature of the soul and the angels.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox (canonized 1988)

Contents

File Topic
The Heart as Center The threefold person (body/soul/spirit); the spirit as the God-ward faculty (fear of God, conscience, thirst for God); the heart as the center where everything falls and the passions lodge; the awakening of the dulled spirit as the whole ascetic program
Grace, Freedom, and the Modern World Synergy — the cooperation of grace and free assent; the critique of a modern education that forgets the spirit and of sentimental religiosity that mistakes feeling for the spirit; the soul/angel materiality controversy with St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

How to Use

  • Read The Heart as Center for the picture of the human person on which everything else rests — and for why the awakening and re-attuning of the spirit is the work of the whole spiritual life.
  • Read Grace, Freedom, and the Modern World for the doctrine of synergy and the cultural diagnosis that gives his pastoral writing its edge, together with the even-handed treatment of his disagreement with St. Ignatius.
  • This anthropology underlies the systematic teaching of Section 05 and the prayer of Section 07.

Cross-References