Blessed are You Lord God of our Fathers and praised and glorified is Your name for ever Amen May Your mercy be upon us Lord just as we have hoped in You Blessed are You Lord teach me Your judgements ID: 259330
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Grant, Lord, that we may be kept this night without sin.Blessed are You, Lord God of our Fathers,and praised and glorified is Your name for ever. Amen.May Your mercy be upon us, Lord,just as we have hoped in You.Blessed are You, Lord,teach me Your judgements.Blessed are You, Master,give me understanding of Your judgements.Blessed are You, Holy One,enlighten me with Your judgements.Lord, Your mercy endures for ever,do not disregard the works of Your hands.To You is due praise,to You is due song,glory is due to You.Father, Son and Holy Spirit,now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
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Three StagesWalking the Spiritual PathRevd Dr Doru CostacheSenior Lecturer in Patristics, SAGOTCKogarah Fellowship12 / 03 / 12Slide3
The beginning of all becomingThe Christian lifestyle as a life-changing experienceThe leap of faith or the beginning of the transformative processFaith as change of mentality adopting a new, Christ-centred and Christ-like worldview3Slide4
Walking the pathThe Christian lifestyle as a dynamic process or reorientation, an ‘adventure’ (getting somewhere)Faith is the premise of the journey but actually walking the path is what makes the journey an adventure4Slide5
The methodThe journey is impossible without guidelines or a methodEcclesial tradition provides us with the necessary method yet the latter is useless without a genuine faith commitment5Slide6
Three stagesThe idea of a gradual progress in the Christian life is omnipresent within traditionCatechism – illumination – progressBaptism – wedding/monastic tonsure – ordinationThe Byzantine prayer “Grant, Lord”: learning – understanding – reaching enlightenmentOrigen the Alexandrine observed a similar pattern in three Old Testament books: Proverbs – Ecclesiastes – The Song of Songs6Slide7
Three stagesThe main Byzantine spiritual traditions held the three-stage pattern as central:Evagrius Ponticus: praxis – theory – theologySt Dionysius the Areopagite: purification – contemplation – illumination7Slide8
Three stagesPurification = an active change of life by the practice of virtuesContemplation = renunciation to false interpretations, sharpening of one’s discernmentIllumination = reaching perfection, theosis/deification8Slide9
Three stagesOrigen, First Homily on Genesis: The first three days of creation: separations, putting behind the old selfThe next three days of creation: embellishing of life by virtue and contemplationThe seventh day of creation: deification, resting in God9Slide10
A misunderstandingThe three stages are represented sometimes as a gradual process of accumulation of virtues, which ultimately leads to theosis (i.e. purification + contemplation = deification)10Slide11
A source of misunderstandingSt Dionysius defined theosis as likeness and unionLikeness = acquiring of virtuesUnion = participation in God11Slide12
A correctiveSt Maximus the Confessor distinguishes between what is natural and what is supernatural in the states of perfection experienced by the saints:‘Natural’ are the virtuous and contemplative efforts‘Supernatural’ is the actual deification, understood as a culminating union with God12