THE ORTHODOX VIEW OF GRACE

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

THE ORTHODOX VIEW OF GRACE

The Orthodox view of Grace is quite distinct from that of the West (Roman Catholic and Protestant), especially as developed by the Scholastics from seeds in the theology of the Blessed Augustine. As the Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky explains:

[The] theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church distinguishes in God THE THREE HYPOSTASES, the nature or ESSENCE, and the ENERGIES. The Son and the Holy Spirit are, so to say, personal processions, the energies, natural processions. The ENERGIES are inseparable from the nature, and the nature is inseparable from the Three Persons. These distinctions are of great importance for the Eastern Orthodox Church’s conception of mystical life…

The distinction between the ESSENCE and the ENERGIES, which is fundamental for the Orthodox Doctrine of grace, makes it possible to preserve the real meaning of Saint Peter’s words "PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE" [2 Peter 1:4]. The union to which we are called is neither hypostatic — as in the case of the Human Nature of Christ — nor SUBSTANTIAL, as in that of the Three Divine Persons: IT IS UNION WITH GOD IN HIS ENERGIES, OR UNION BY GRACE MAKING US PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE NATURE, WITHOUT OUR ESSENCE BECOMING THEREBY THE ESSENCE OF GOD. In DEIFICATION (THEOSIS) WE ARE BY GRACE (that is to say, in the Divine energies), all that God is by nature, save only identity of nature… according to the teaching of Saint Maximos. We remain creatures while becoming God by grace, as Christ remained God in becoming man by the Incarnation [Lossky, the Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church].

Eastern tradition knows no such supernatural order between God and the created world, adding, as it were, to the latter a new creation. It recognizes no distinction, or rather division, save that between THE CREATED AND UNCREATED. For [the] Eastern tradition the created supernatural has no existence. That which Western theology calls by the name of the supernatural signifies for the East the uncreated — THE DIVINE ENERGIES INEFFABLY DISTINCT FROM THE ESSENCE OF GOD… The act of creation established a relationship between THE DIVINE ENERGIES and that which is not God… [However] the DIVINE ENERGIES in themselves are not the relationship of God to created being, but they do enter into relationship with that which is not God [i.e., His creation], and draw the world into existence by the will of God.

In short, the Orthodox understanding of the nature of Grace is that IT IS THE VERY ENERGIES OF GOD HIMSELF. Through the Trinitarian Ministry of the Holy Spirit — a Ministry involving both general and special activities — these energies are mediated to mankind. This stands in contrast to the Latin (Roman Catholic) vew flowing mainly from the anti-Pelagian writings of St. Augustine. For Roman Catholics GRACE IS A CREATED INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

GENERAL AND SPECIAL OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. As the Son is said to be working with the Father in creation and with the Spirit in consummation, so the Spirit coworks with the Father in creation and the Son in redemption (Athanasios, LCHS 1.22-27). These are viewed as general operations shared in the Divine Triad.

In this sense it is celebrated that God’s Spirit CREATES (Genesis 1:2; Psalm 104:30; Job 33:4), REDEEMS (Isaiah 44:3,23), and OFFERS GIFTS to creatures (Genesis 2:7; 41:36; Exodus 28:3; 31:3). The Spirit ILLUMINES RASON, ENABLES POLITICAL ORDER, AND RESTRAINS THE CAPACITY FOR HUMANITY TO DESTROY ITSELF. Among these "general operations" of the Spirit shared with the Father and the Son are THE OFFERING OF LIFE, supporting of the newly given, nurturing continuing life, strengthening life nurtured, and guiding life strengthened. This applies TO ALL FORMS OF LIFE, whether plant, animal or human.

IT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO CONVICTS. CONVICTION is the work of the Spirit in which one grows IN AWARENESS OF ONE’S LOST CONDITION. Through CONVICTING GRACE the Spirit WORKS TO AWAKEN THE REALIZATION OF HOW DEEPLY ONE IS PERSONALLY TRAPPED IN INTERGENERATIONAL PATTERNS OF SIN, UNABLE TO BREAK FREE (Exodus 20:5; Numbers 14:18; cf. Jeremiah 31:29, 30; 1 Corinthians 2:14)…

THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVINCES THE WORLD OF SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND JUDGMENT. The Holy Spirit penetrates the self-deceptions, evasions, defensive ploys, and indifference of the world. The Holy Spirit works to change the lowered awareness of sin into heightened awareness making the unrighteous hungry for righteousness, as if already facing the Final Judgment (An Ancient Homily by an Unknown Author (Second Clement).

We see, here, the wide range of the Holy Spirit’s Ministry in creation. In this regard, Saint Athanasius the Great, in his On the Incarnation of the Logos/Word of God, states:

"The Savior is working mightily among men, every day He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world, both within and beyond the Greek speaking world, to accept His faith and be obedient to His teaching.X"

Saint John Cassian makes similar remarks in his Conference XIII, "On the Protection of God": The grace of Christ then is at hand every day, which, while it "willeth all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," calleth all without any exception, saying: "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you."

Saint Seraphim of Sarov’s famous conversation with Nicholas Motovilov affords us further insight into the Orthodox teaching regarding Grace:

"However, that [i.e., the fact that "the Spirit of God was not yet in the world"  –St. John 7:39] "does not mean that the Spirit of God was not in the world at all," but His presence was not so apparent as in Adam or in us Orthodox Christians. "It was manifest only externally;" yet the signs of His presence in the world were known to mankind… The grace of the Holy Spirit "acting externally" was also reflected in all the Old Testament holy Prophets and Saints of Israel. The Hebrews afterwards established special prophetic schools where the sons of the Prophets were taught to discern the signs of the manifestation of God or of Angels, and to distinguish the operations of the Holy Spirit from the ordinary natural phenomena of our graceless earthly life. Simeon who held God in his arms, Christ’s grandparents Joachim and Anna, and countless other servants of God continually had quite openly various divine apparitions, voices and revelations which were justified by evident miraculous events. Though not with the same power as in the people of God, nevertheless, the presence of the Spirit of God also acted in the pagans who did not know the True God, because even among them God found for Himself chosen people… Though the pagan philosophers also wandered in the darkness of ignorance of God, "yet they sought the truth" which is beloved by God, and "on account of this God-pleasing seeking, they could partake of the Spirit of God, for it is said that the nations who do not know God practice by nature the demands of the law and do what is pleasing to God (cf. Romans 2:14). [Resources: The Non- Orthodox]

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things1"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George