Douglas Jacobsen - The World's Christians

Vladimir Lossky(1903–58) was one of the most important Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century. Born in Russia into a Russian Orthodox family, Lossky left home after the Communist Revolution and headed to Paris to study and eventually teach. Many members of the expatriate Russian community in Paris clung tightly to their religious and cultural heritage, but Lossky was more outward looking. Engaging in dialogue with non‐Orthodox western Christians, he explained and defended Orthodox beliefs and practices. In the following excerpt from his writing, Lossky argues that while the western Christian traditions tend to separate theology (thinking about faith) from mysticism (the personal experience of faith), Eastern Orthodoxy holds them together. Lossky also thought that typical western practices of prayer were not sufficiently God‐centered, a deficit that could be remedied by praying the Jesus Prayer.

In a certain sense all theology is mystical, inasmuch as it shows forth the divine mystery … On the other hand, mysticism is frequently opposed to theology as a realm inaccessible to understanding … If we adopted this conception unreservedly, resolutely opposing mysticism to theology, we would be led in the last resort to the thesis of [western Christianity which] distinguishes … the “static religion” of the Churches from the “dynamic religion” of the mystics, the former social and conservative in nature, the latter personal and creative … The eastern tradition has never made a sharp distinction between mysticism and theology; between personal experience of the divine mysteries and the dogma affirmed by the Church … Far from being mutually opposed, theology and mysticism support and complete each other. One is impossible without the other …

The mystical experience which is inseparable from the way towards union [with God] can only be gained in prayer and by prayer. In the most general sense, every presence of [a person] before the face of God is a prayer; but this presence must become a constant and conscious attitude – prayer must become perpetual, as uninterrupted as breathing or the beating of the heart. For this a special mastery is needed, a technique of prayer which … is known by the name of “hesychasm” … [Hesychasm] has only one object in view: that of assisting concentration. The whole of the attention must be given to the words of the short prayer: “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.” This prayer, continually repeated at each drawing of breath, becomes to a monk as it were a second nature … This is what all those who seek the fire of grace must do; as to words or positions of the body during prayer, these have only a secondary importance. God is concerned with the heart.

Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1976), pp. 7–9, 209–11.

Compared to the Christian world as a whole, Orthodoxy holds a view of salvation that is broad and expansive. In non‐Orthodox circles, salvation is often ascribed to the individual and to that person’s reconciliation with God. For Orthodox Christians, salvation is something that happens to groups of people – no one is saved alone, but only in community – and the goal of salvation is more than mere reconciliation. Within Orthodoxy, the point of salvation is theosis , the divinization or deification of individuals, of humanity as a whole, and ultimately of all creation. In keeping with this broad and active sense of theosis , Orthodox Christians would never claim that they have been “saved.” Salvation is a process that draws one further and further into communion with God and others. Orthodox Christians might say they are, by God’s grace, on the path toward salvation, but no one experiences the fullness of salvation in this lifetime.

The word theosis – deification – is jarring to many people who are not themselves Orthodox Christians. The image of deification is meant to be jarring; it is meant to be stunning in its claim. The claim is that the unfathomable God of the universe, maker of all that is and ever will be, has chosen to enter into a special relationship of unity with humankind. In Christ, God became human so that humanity could become divine. The goal of salvation is to move toward unifying fellowship with the Trinitarian God who is the great lover of the world and everyone in it. The eighth‐century Orthodox theologian Manşūr ibn Sarjūn (also known as John of Damascus) explained it this way: “Those who, through their own choice and the indwelling and cooperation of God, have become assimilated to God as much as possible … are truly called gods, not by nature, but by adoption, as iron heated in the fire is called fire, not by nature, but by its condition and participation in fire.” 2

The image in this description is one of God as fire and of the deified person as a piece of iron that has become bright red through contact with the fire of God. The iron remains iron just as the human being remains a human being, but what is visible is not the person, but the fiery glow of God’s presence. This image communicates the fact that Orthodox theology has a genuinely positive view of human nature – significantly more positive than either Catholicism or Protestantism. Rather than seeing people as totally lost and overcome by sin, Orthodoxy sees humanity as weakened by sin in much the same way that sickness weakens people. Salvation is less like a total transformation and more like regaining one’s strength after being sick. In fact, the consecrated bread and wine of Orthodox worship are sometimes described as “the medicine of immortality,” the means through which God strengthens people for the spiritual journey that will take them back to God.

God’s presence in anyone’s life is an expression of God’s love not just for that individual, but for everyone in the world and indeed for the entire universe. To be truly aglow with God’s presence is to be filled with God’s love for everyone and everything, so that focusing on one’s own individual salvation becomes unthinkable. Salvation reverses the human propensity to see the world in terms of self versus others. The Orthodox tradition insistently proclaims that no one can ever be saved alone, but only in the company of others.

The breadth of Orthodoxy’s vision of salvation raises the question of universal salvation: Will everyone without exception eventually be “saved”? The technical term for this kind of universal salvation in the Orthodox tradition is apokatastasis . Some church leaders and synods have condemned apokatastasis , arguing that evil humans who reject God’s grace will, like the demons, be damned forever. But others, including some of the most respected theologians in the history of the Orthodox tradition, like Gregory of Nyssa (fourth century) and Maximus the Confessor (seventh century), argue that everyone, even the demons, will eventually be restored to fellowship and unity with God in Christ.

Such debates have little to do with the personal journeys toward salvation of most Orthodox Christians. Their journeys begin with baptism, when a baby is welcomed into fellowship with God and others in the church. In the act of baptism an infant receives a new kind of life beyond the merely physical. Baptism marks the beginning of a new spiritual relationship with parents, with the godparents who are part of the ceremony, with everyone who is already in the church, with the child’s newly assigned guardian angel, and with God in Christ. As children grow up they slowly own their baptism for themselves, but they are not beginning from scratch. Even adult converts start in the middle, because others have helped them get going. No one comes to God alone.