My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ God,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
"GOD IS UNCREATED"
Saint Gregory Palamas laid great emphasis on the Uncreatedness of the Divine Essence and the Uncreatedness of God’s energy (activity). The word ‘UNCREATED’, is applied to God. GOD IS UNCREATED. He has NOT been created but IS BEFORE ALL THE AGES. There IS NO BEGINNING IN GOD. Man and the entire creation WERE CREATED BY GOD, AND ARE THEREFORE CREATED. Hence the uncreated is identified with the Divine.
Saint Maximos the Confessor writes, "All immortal things and immortality itself, all living things and life itself, all holy things and holiness itself, all good things and goodness itself, all blessings and blessedness itself, all beings and being itself are manifestly works of God. Some began in time, for they have not always existed. Others did not begin to be in time, for goodness, blessedness, holiness, and immortality have always existed." …It is clear, then, that goodness, blessedness, holiness, and immortality are energies of God, which are eternal and uncreated.
"Therefore God’s energies are WITHOUT BEGINNING, ETERNAL AND UNCREATED. And, as God’s essence is Divine, so are His energies as well. This is important for orthodox theology. For if we regard God’s energies as created, then WE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MAN TO BE DEIFIED. That it to say, if God communicates with the world through created energies, then we can attain union and communion with God ONLY through created energies, WHICH MAKES SALVATION IMPOSSIBLE, God then remains entirely UNKNOWN TO MAN, or if we commune with the essence of God, then the difference between created and uncreated is lost.
"In the Tradition of the Church, a clear distinction is made between THE NOUS and the intelligence. When the nous is functioning according to nature, it acts in the heart, and that is where it should be. Because of the fall of man, the NOUS instead of being in the heart spreads out into the surroundings and becomes enslaved to created things. Moreover, this is what CONSTITUTES THE FALL OF MAN and THIS TRULY IS SIN….Saint Athanasios the Great says that the seat of the intelligence of the soul is in the brain. Saint Makarios the Great says that the SEAT OF THE ENERGY OF THE NOUS IS IN THE HEART…The entrance of the nous into the heart manifests its purity and the fact it is capable of receiving Revelation since man’s nous is the organ of the vision of God…The NOUS, then, IS THE ORGAN THROUGH WHICH MAN SEES THE Divine Light, which IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE FOOD OF THE ANGELS, but since the nous is joined to the holy, therefore, when the Saints attain Divine Grace, then by its power THEY SEE "WITH THE SENSE OF SIGHT AND WITH THE NOUS THAT WHICH SURPASSES BOTH SENSE AND NOUS." Thus man SEES THE Divine Light also with the eyes of his sense of sight, but this is because these have previously been transformed and empowered by the Uncreated Grace of God. Moreover, it is known that Uncreated Grace is also TRANSMITTED BY THE SOUL TO THE BODIES OF THE DEIFIED (Theosis).
In the 14 century, which was dominated BY HUMANISM, just as it is today, there were those who maintained that man’s UNION with Christ is through EXTERNAL IMITATION OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST, by an external conforming of our life to the commandments of Christ, WITHOUT LOOKING TO GRACE, which exists THROUGH DOING THE COMMANDMENTS, AND WITHOUT LOOKING FOR AN INNER TRANSFORMATION, WHICH THE COMMANDMENTS CONSTITUTE; IT TAKES PLACE THROUGH A DEVELOPMENT OF MAN’S RATIONAL NATURE, THROUGH FINE THOUGHTS, WITHOUT GOD’S DEIFYING ENERGY. In the "Hagiorite tome", which is a confessional text and received catholic and conciliar recognition, the teaching of the Church is presented as saying that MAN’S COMMUNION WITH GOD IS NOT A HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT, IT IS NOT A WORK OF HUMAN NATURE, BUT A FRUIT OF PARTICIPATION IN THE DEIFYING ENERGY OF GOD. The DEIFICATION (THEOSIS) OF MAN and HIS UNION WITH GOD IS ABOVE HUMAN INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE AND ABOVE EVEN THE VIRTUES THEMSELVES.
DEIFICATION (THEOSIS) is NOT a work of nature, but A GIFT OF GOD WHICH IS OFFERED TO THOSE WHO HAVE TEH APPROPRIATE PRECONDITIONS FOR RECEIVING IT. THUS the Grace of deification (Theosis) IS ABOVE NATURE, VIRTUE, AND KNOWLEDGE, AND NATURALLY, ALL SUCH THINGS FALL SHORT OF IT. Virtue and the imitation of God make a man fit for union with the Deity, "BUT IT IS THROUGH GRACE THAT THIS INEFFABLE UNION IS ACCOMPLISHED." Therefore, it is NOT by virtue that we acquire UNION with God, but IT IS ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH THE UNCREATED DEIFYING ENERGY OF GOD. Through deifying Grace God in His entirety PENETRATES THE SAINTS IN THEIR ENTIRETY AND THE SAINTS IN THEIR ENTIRETY PENETRATE GOD ENTIRELY, IN THE WAY THAT THE SOUL EMBRACES THE BODY. (Source: Saint Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 