06 — The Way

Theosis is not a theory to be held but a road to be walked, and the Church has never left the road undescribed. This section sets out the way: synergy — grace and human freedom together, against both monergism and Pelagianism; the Mysteries as the ordinary and appointed means, above all the Eucharist; and then the ascetic labour, the keeping of the commandments, the prayer of the heart, and the ecclesial context without which none of it is safe.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Contents

File Description
synergy-and-the-mysteries.md Synergeia: grace prior and sovereign, freedom real and necessary; the rejection of both monergism and Pelagianism; and the Mysteries as the ordinary means — baptism, chrismation, confession, and above all the Eucharist
asceticism-prayer-and-the-church.md The threefold way of purification, illumination, and deification; the commandments and the passions; fasting, vigil, almsgiving, obedience; the Jesus Prayer and the Philokalia; and why the Church, not the individual, is the subject of deification

Reading Order

Read synergy-and-the-mysteries.md first: it establishes both that deification is God’s work and that it is not done without us, and it locates the ordinary place where it is given. Then asceticism-prayer-and-the-church.md for the labour by which what is given is appropriated.

A Warning Attached to This Section

Everything here can be turned into a technique, and a technique for acquiring divine experience is precisely what the ascetic tradition warns against most severely. The material in this section should be read together with Counterfeits and Confusions and with The Jesus Prayer: Prelest and the Need for Guidance. Nothing described here is to be attempted as a private programme.

See Also