Theosis, Apokatastasis,
Perichoresis and Leiturgia:
It’s All Greek to Me!
By:
Joseph A. Bound, Ph.D.
Director of Education
Diocese of Green Bay
THEOSIS
Sanctification
Theosis - Sanctification



The deification of men and
women.
God dwelling in us and us
dwelling in God.
For Byzantine Catholicism
humankind’s salvation and
redemption means deification.
Theosis - Sanctification



Deification is something intended for all.
The fact that a man or woman is being
deified does not mean that he or she
ceases to be conscious of sin.
Deification is a process – it always
presupposes a continued act of
repentance in this life.
Theosis - Sanctification

2 Peter 1:4 – “…Through these
promises you may become
partakers of the divine nature.”
Theosis - Sanctification

St. Athanasius – the purpose of the
Incarnation – “God became man
that we might be made god.”
Theosis - Sanctification

The concept of theosis or deification
is found in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church in sections
# 460, 1129, 1265, 1812, 1988,
1999.
Theosis - Sanctification

Catechism of the Catholic Church
#1988 says:
“[God] gave Himself to us through
His Spirit. By participation of the
Spirit, we become communicants in
the divine nature…For this reason,
those in whom the Spirit dwells are
divinized.”
Theosis - Sanctification

The concept is found in the United
States Catholic Catechism for Adults
on pages 41, 79, 80, 87, 93, 193,
328 and 329.
Theosis - Sanctification


The idea of theosis must always be
understood in light of the distinction
between God’s essence and His
energies.
We can know or experience the
energies of God but not his essence.
Theosis - Sanctification

St. Gregory Palamas (1296–1359)
Theosis - Sanctification


St. Gregory Palamas was a
monk at Mount Athos in
Greece.
Clarified the distinction
between the essence and
energies of God.
Theosis - Sanctification

Essence of God (ousia)









God as God is,
unapproachable,
unknowable,
uncreated,
incomprehensible,
beyond all states of consciousness and
unconsciousness,
beyond being and non-being,
beyond something and beyond nothing.
He necessarily is apart from what He does.
Theosis - Sanctification

In the Divine Liturgy the prayer just
before the Holy, Holy, Holy says:
‘…for you are God ineffable,
inconceivable, invisible,
incomprehensible, ever existing,
yet ever the same …’
Theosis - Sanctification

Energies of God (energeia):
revealed
 divine light
 activities in the created world/universe,
 comprehensible
 experience-able (i.e. love, beauty, faith,
goodness, kindness, truth, humility, and
wisdom)
 God as what He eternally does

Theosis - Sanctification



A person is not absorbed into God’s
essence in theosis.
Union with God means participation
in the divine energies, not the
divine essence.
The Church rejects all forms of
pantheism.
Theosis - Sanctification


The mystical union between God
and individuals is a true union, yet
in this union the Creator and the
creature are not blended into a
single being.
A person, when deified, remains
distinct though not separate from
God.
Theosis - Sanctification

Participation in the energies of God:

Love

Life everlasting

Light
Theosis - Sanctification



A person does not cease to be human
when he or she becomes godlike.
We remain creatures while becoming
godlike by grace, as Christ remained God
when becoming man by the Incarnation.
A person does not become God by nature,
but is merely created godlike by grace.
Theosis - Sanctification



A person is not just a soul. A person is
composed of body and soul.
Therefore theosis involves both the body
and soul.
Since Christ came to save and redeem
the whole person, it follows that a
person’s body as well as his or her soul
will be deified.
Theosis - Sanctification



The full deification of the body must wait
until the Last Day – When the bodies are
resurrected and sanctity will be externally
manifested.
The person is so full of the Holy Spirit that
the glory of the Holy Spirit will come out
from within.
The bodies of the saints will be outwardly
transfigured by divine light (energy of
God).
Theosis - Sanctification


There is nothing esoteric about the
methods which we must follow in
order to be deified:
Participate in Divine Liturgy (Mass)
Theosis - Sanctification

Receive the Holy Mysteries
(sacraments) regularly.
Theosis - Santification

Pray to God daily as St. Seraphim of
Sarov (1759 – 1833) did.
Theosis - Sanctification



Read the Gospels.
Follow the
Commandments.
Put others first, not
yourself.
Theosis - Sanctification


Deification is not a solitary process.
It is a social process. – love of God
and love of neighbor.
There is nothing selfish about
theosis.
Theosis - Sanctification

The Ladder of the Divine Ascent
FINAL THEOSIS
Purgation
Final Theosis - Purgation


We all will experience the intense
love of God in the afterlife.
Depending on how we lived our life,
we will experience this in different
ways.
Final Theosis - Purgation

Those who loved God, acquired the
love of God in their lives, and loved
their fellow kind in a perfect way
will experience God’s love in the
afterlife as paradise, as heaven.
Final Theosis - Purgation

St. Joseph would be a good
example of this.
Final Theosis - Purgation

Those who did not love God, follow
His commandments, or love their
fellow kind, who were extremely
egotistical will experience God’s
intense love as hell.
Final Theosis - Purgation

A possible example? Joseph Stalin
Final Theosis - Purgation


The fire of hell is considered a
metaphor in Eastern Christian
theology.
Those who are damned are not
deprived of God’s love, but
experience it as torment.
Final Theosis - Purgation

As Vladimir Lossky stated in The
Mystical Theology of the Eastern
Church, “The love of God will be an
intolerable torment to those who
have not acquired it within
themselves. Because they rejected
the lover, they experience His warm
embrace as torment.”
Final Theosis - Purgation

Question:

What about those of us who die who
aren’t perfect enough for heaven and
not bad enough for hell?
Final Theosis - Purgation


Those who loved God and their fellow
kind in a less than perfect way, whose
remaining selfishness and egoism need to
be eliminated, will experience God’s love
in the immediate afterlife as a purgative
experience.
They will be purified by God’s love.
Final Theosis - Purgation

A possible example?
Joseph Bound,
your presenter
Final Theosis - Purgation

A person’s intense awareness of
their sinfulness and imperfections
as a result of experiencing God’s
love will burn them with the desire
to become perfect so that they can
experience God’s love in the most
intense way.
Final Theosis - Purgation



Roman Catholics, Byzantine Catholics,
and Eastern Orthodox believe that
purgatory or final theosis …
1.) is a state of transition/transformation
for those en route to heaven, and
2.) prayer is efficacious for the dead in
this state.
Final Theosis - Purgation

It refers to the process of deification
or theosis, in which the remnants of
our human nature are transformed,
and we come to share in the divine
life of the Holy Trinity.
Final Theosis - Purgation



Byzantine Catholics don’t see final theosis
as a place to sit and suffer in a literal fire.
The Eastern Fathers of the Church
described final theosis as being a journey.
While on this journey we can experience
hardships but there are also powerful
glimpses of joy.
APOKATASTASIS
Transformation
Apokatastasis – Transformation



Refers to the transformation of the
world and the universe at the end of
time.
It is the redemption and
glorification of matter.
This is when God creates a new
heaven and earth.
Apokatastasis - Transformation
Apokatastasis – Transformation



A person’s body has to turn to dust before
it can be transformed at the resurrection.
The earth also has to go through a form
of death before being renewed.
Nature, too, affected by Adam’s sin has
become punishment for him and his
descendants. Thus, it needs to be
transformed, as well.
Apokatastasis – Transformation



With this radical transformation or
transfiguration, all creation will harmonize
with the glorious existence of risen
mankind.
Then the victory over sin will be
complete.
These new heavens and new earth
become part of the eternal bliss to be
enjoyed by the just.
Apokatastasis – Transformation


Risen folks will be immune to
defects, pain, suffering, and sorrow.
The blessed in their glorified bodies
will be capable of penetrating
material things, for they will not be
restricted by matter in any way.
Apokatastasis - Transformation
Apokatastasis – Transformation



They will also be able to move from place
to place in an instant, body and all,
merely by an act of the will.
Their bodies will show outwardly the
bright beauty of their soul.
There will be no labor, anguish, or fears
but only the wish to please God which is
full of delight.
Apokatastasis – Transformation


Hell exists as a final possibility for some,
but several of the Eastern Fathers have
none the less believed that in the end all
will be reconciled to God.
It is heretical to say that all must be
saved, for this is to deny free will, but it is
legitimate to hope that all may be saved.
Apokatastasis – Transformation


Until the Last Day comes, we must
not despair of anyone’s salvation,
but must desire and pray for the
reconciliation of all without
exception.
No one must be excluded from our
loving intercession.
Apokatastasis – Transformation

In fact, St. Gregory of Nyssa (335 –
395) said that Christians may
legitimately hope even for the
redemption of the Devil.
PERICHORESIS
In-dwelling
Perichoresis


The in-dwelling of the three persons
of God in each other.
The divine unity and
interdependence of the three
persons in one God.
Perichoresis

The mutual, ceaseless exchange of
love among the three persons.
Leiturgia
People’s Work
Leiturgia



The work of the people.
The Byzantine Catholic Mass is
called the Divine Liturgy.
There is a constant dialogue
chanted between the priest and the
people.
Leiturgia


The priest leads the congregation in
worshiping God through the use of
prayer, chant, incense, candles, and
icons.
The church building is designed to
represent heaven on earth.
Leiturgia
Iconostasis and Nave of the Church
Leiturgia

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

Liturgy of St. Basil

Liturgy of St. Gregory (Presanctified Liturgy)
Leiturgia

Prothesis – Rite of Preparation of
the Gifts. First part of the Liturgy.
Leiturgia

Liturgy of the Catechumens
Leiturgia

Liturgy of the Faithful.
Conclusion

I encourage you to attend the
Divine Liturgy at a Byzantine
Catholic parish. It will fulfill your
Sunday obligation.
Conclusion

Any Catholic can receive Holy
Communion at a Byzantine Catholic
church since we are all in
communion with the Pope.
Conclusion

For more information, please feel
free to contact me.
Dr. Joseph A. Bound, Dir. Of Education
Diocese of Green Bay
jbound@gbdioc.org
(920) 272-8266