I recently received an e-mail from my Church Educational System (CES) supervisor, Thomas F. Olmstead–I will soon be starting my second year as a volunteer early-morning seminary teacher–who informed me of a great book that deals with the doctrine of deification as it was passed on in the Greek Orthodox tradition. I have not yet got my hands on a copy, but Bro. Olmstead highly recommended it.

The book is by Norman Russell and is entitled The Doctrine of Deification in Greek Patristic Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2004). He also mentioned that it was reviewed not long ago in BYU Studies, vol. 46, no.1 (2007).  From the back cover:

“The book traces the history of deification from its birth as a second-century metaphor with biblical roots to its maturity as a doctrine central to the spiritual life of the Byzantine Church. It begins with two chapters on the doctrine’s antecedents in Graeco-Roman and Jewish culture which draw attention to the contribution of Rabbinic exegesis, and also to the fact that in speaking of the soul’s ascent to God as deification Christian writers anticipated the pagan Neo-Platonist. Although the first enunciation of deification is in Irenaeus’ celebrated ‘exchange formula’. it was in Alexandria that the doctrine was fully elaborated. Two important chapters discuss and contextualize the different Alexandrian approaches from Clement to Cyril, bringing out the pervasive influence of Origen, who develops the idea of the rational creature’s participation through the Son and the Spirit in a dynamic divinity deriving from the Father. The technical vocabulary of deification becomes problematical for Cyril of Alexandria, who replaces it with references to 2 Peter 1:4 (‘partakers of the divine nature’). It was therefore through Pseudo-Dionysius and Maximus the confessor rather than Cyril that deification entered the Byzantine tradition.
Maximus’ many discussions of deification (or ‘theosis’) are examined in detail, for in his concept of theosis as God’s gift of himself to human beings through participation in the divine energies the patristic doctrine of deification comes to full maturity…. Two appendices review deification in the Syraic and Latin fathers, and present a survey of the Greek vocabulary of deification to the end of the fifth century.”

From the Introduction:

“They crystallized for me something for which I had been searching, a vision of man transfigured by the divine energies” (intro. p.4).

“Appendix 2 summarizes my lexical findings. Briefly, then, Christian usage of deification terms expressing the soul’s ascent to God precedes the pagan usage rather that the other way round, as is often assumed” (intro. p.8).

My thanks to Bro. Olmstead for introducing me to this book!

New Articles by Dr. Andrei Orlov

Dr. Orlov recently sent me the following links to some new articles that he has written. I thought they would be of interest to this audience.

IN THE MIRROR OF THE DIVINE FACE: THE ENOCHIC FEATURES OF THE EXAGOGE OF EZEKIEL THE TRAGEDIAN http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/mosesmetatron.pdf

The Vessels of Light: The Luminous Aeon Traditions in 2 (Slavonic) Enoch http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/vessels.html

Praxis of the Voice: The Divine Name Traditions in the Apocalypse of Abraham
http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/jbl.pdf

 I’m sure I will be discussing these articles on this blog at some point in the near future. Until then, please have a look at the links and tell me what you think of these new articles.  Our thanks to Dr. Orlov for the links and for his tireless and excellent research!