Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life - Part II

Part II/II - This short treatise clearly and powerfully explains the true purpose of each and every human being: union with God, or Theosis. Fr. George (Kapsanis), former Abbot of the St. Gregorios Monastery on Mount Athos who reposed in the Lord on Pentecost 2014, presents the Orthodox understanding of Theosis and the essential path towards receiving this divine gift. In part II, he focuses on the practical matters of Theosis, what is required for attaining it, and what keeps us lost in sin. Following the advice of this spiritual father, who merely transmits the teaching of the Holy Fathers before him, will lead to a life worthy of being called successful: eternal union with God.
“If man cannot be deified with divine Grace and divine energies what purpose does his life have? Only that he becomes morally better. But moral perfection is not enough for man. It is not enough for us simply to become better than before, simply to perform moral deeds. We have as our final aim to unite with holy God Himself.” -Fr. George of Mount Athos
0:14 Qualifications for Theosis
14:08 Experiences of Theosis
24:01 Failure of many people to reach Theosis
30:34 Consequences of guidance for Theosis
34:52 Consequences of guidance that does not lead to Theosis
The text of this recording can be found here, and in many languages: orthodoxinfo.co...
A reflection on the life and works of Fr. George by His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos: www.johnsanido...
This channel is dedicated to sharing the prayers, hymns, teachings, and service texts of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Glory to Jesus Christ!

[@johnanon9907]

This message is needed now more than ever. Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us all.

[@d0g_0f_Christ0s]

Just wow. As a dying Protestant this 2 parter on Theosis, be it brief, is definitely the 'icing on the cake', the feather that has broken my Protestant back. 'Becoming God'? (Be it God-like) was pretty much blasphemy to my corrupted Protestant mind so I left this one out for a month. The last couple of days I have been restless about watching it, well, restlessness gone. This is the path I've been searching for, for the past 2+years. I can now say in truth, I am not a Christian, 34 years of delusion, not including the 14 before it. Please pray for me, I feel like I've just taken the red pill (Matrix), this old ship is about to hit turbulence. I have started going to church, real church but I literally have no one to confide in, my whole life has been Protestant. But, God wouldn't land me outside the gate if He wasn't going to give this old dog a shot, right? I'm sure I'm being melodramatic... Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, for doubt. God bless & keep you, His most precious church.

[@OrthodoxWisdom]

God bless you. Be patient and give thanks. You said you are going to church…have you spoken to the priest yet? You can’t become Orthodox or go deep into the faith alone. If you need help getting connected to a priest let me know and I can try and help.

[@d0g_0f_Christ0s]

@@OrthodoxWisdom finally, our priest has returned from Mt Athos, and I made contact last Sunday. And it seems, with his return, a whole bunch of people have surfaced. So I've made contact(s) 🙏🙏🙂

[@caleb2507]

@@d0g_0f_Christ0sMay G-D bless and keep you brother. I pray for Jesus Christ Mercy and Grace upon you. Time is meaningless to our Father, it is the works and faith you hold in this life. Blessings and prayers to you my friend.

[@angiebatelli160]

Lord Jesus Christ, God Help Us Have Mercy On Us All Lord Have Mercy On Me A Sinner We need this mow more than ever We get lost at times with all that is going on Dear God In Heaven Have Mercy AMEN

[@OrthoVox]

Beautiful reading of a beautiful text. This is so important, thank you for reading this.

[@OrthodoxWisdom]

Thank you! I love that you are going through Spiritual Warfare. People, go subscribe to OrthoVox!

[@graceoverall]

@@OrthodoxWisdom Good call. Done!

[@tuliovasquez3389]

Glory be to God. The Holy Orthodox Church is the most spiritual treasure.

[@Tommx1967]

God bless you for sharing all these precious jewels of life-giving Patristic wisdom with a world so in need of them.

[@lizziepavlakou4440]

This video was amazing and beautiful!Glory to God .

[@guiasenorin7692]

thank GOD for this wonderful message.

[@CK-ub7jf]

This is gold.

[@whyhastherumgonesam2]

Thank you so much for this, now i realise what ive been missing! ❤

[@areyoutheregoditsmedave]

listened to both one and two. God bless you for your work. thank you so much ☦️🙏

[@dantesdivinecomedy6963]

Excellent treatise, thank you! Also interesting to discover how closely the process in Dante's Purgatory and Paradiso follows the Eastern Tradition and movement towards Theosis.

[@patri1689]

Very very timely. You've no idea how much I need to hear this and just came kn time as though from no where 🤔😁🙏🤲 Thank you so much. May God bless you 🙏

[@OrthodoxWisdom]

I’m so glad. Glory to God!

[@joycethomsen-blake851]

Oh Lord Christ our God, Have mercy on me a sinner.

[@timothydeneffe249]

Thank you so much. I see you are a small channel. Much thanks for your generosity, having just begun my journey towards orthodoxy, i am so blessed by the grace imparted in your clear readings and material choices. May God bless you.

[@Cross0987]

Gnosis is about knowing God within through prayer, ethics, chastity etc. I don't see how Theosis is different than that. Let us not point fingers for that is not humility but boasting,let us just talk by experience aka. self(know thy Self(what you have/are within-God)) knowledge-gnosis. May we all become worthy, by doing the will of God and achieve at least the lowest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. 🙏

[@bethanychamberlain7047]

Thank you, brother.

[@brambes7110]

Much love and grace.

[@florinapleter7804]

Great wisdom 🔥 greatest purpose - to keep understanding and follow my pathway into theosis - 💓🕊️ Thank you🙏🏼🏳️

[@Walte25]

Thank you!

[@DJK-cq2uy]

Great 🔥 wisdom

[@sathsojourns]

Glory to our Triune God. I don't know if you remember me but I was an EO inquirer who commented on the first part of 'Theosis: The True Purpose of Human Life'. I kept this to myself but since that day, our precious Lord Jesus Christ kept convicting me in my heart that His true Body is none other than the Orthodox Church. I confess the Orthodox Church is the True Apostolic Church to the glory of our Triune God. Any advice on what I should do as I find a local EO Church? Thank you so much for your videos. Through the prayers of the Saints, the Theotokos and the Holy Angels, Lord Jesus Christ save us ☦

[@OrthodoxWisdom]

Glory to God! You heard God’s loving call and came back to him like the prodigal son. Thank God. I would suggest going to liturgy and introducing yourself to both the priest and at least one parishioner during coffee hour. Tell the priest you’ve been learning about Orthodoxy and have become convinced it is the true Church. If you have multiple churches in your area it’s perfectly fine to see what they are like. Meet with the priests for coffee too, if you can. The priest is more important to the parish than the bishop in terms of day to day relationships. So be prayerful and humble and look for where God is calling you. It may not be the place you “like” the most, but the place you will have the most spiritual fruit and be able to best serve others. I hope you find a wonderful parish. Even if what you find isn’t ideal, there is an abundance of spiritual fruit that can be attained by being there and do everything you can to love your brothers and sisters and be at peace. God help you!

[@sathsojourns]

@@OrthodoxWisdom Thank you so much for the practical advice. Keep abiding in the True Vine as a branch and continue to defend the true faith! God bless you too brother, I'll be checking out your channel more often now haha! Christ is Risen!

[@joebarbosa1942]

Beautiful 💟

[@bethanychamberlain7047]

Even better the second time!

[@margaret5113]

This is a gem! Thank you!

[@selfwitness]

Thank you. Amen

[@jessecoffins8832]

This is present in my faith as well. The purgative, Illuminative, and unitive way, seen allegorically all throughout sacred Scripture. Theosis and Transforming Union are one and the same

[@Cross0987]

Donum Dei

[@Exiled35]

Yes. Yes. I have been trying to grasp why Genesis says we were created in his image. The word image is refer the idols that are placed in the temple as the gods’ presence. Add that Genesis 1 is structured as building a temple to be filled with God’s presence. “Created in God’s Image” is to live as Gods presence in the world. Theosis, therefore, is the better understanding of our union with the creator.

[@babasavassf1761]

Amen Amin 🙏

[@estherqueen6214]

To God be the glory

[@peterandjoycevanbreemen600]

❤

[@Zek-nc5tr]

I wish to be baptised into Orthadoxy. I was baptized as a child into the Church of England. Now I live in Vietnam, and need information on my wish to fornally join the Orthdox faith...

[@OrthodoxWisdom]

Glory to God. Please email me: orthodoxwisdom1 @ gmail . com (I added spaces so KZbin won’t take the comment down.

[@LuminousClarity]

Theosis is the link between all religions

[@PsychesMuse]

To "See God" is another way of "seeing"(SEEING "AS" GOD WOULD SEE IT "TO BE"). God "Comes Here Now" As This(His Seeing) Occurs "THROUGH US"!

[@krisdabrowski5420]

No, don't re-interpret it to lower God to your level. Seeing God is seeing God as God is, the eternal life of the Holy Trinity. True purity and repentance is needed for that - not imagination, not hyping yourself up, actual repentance and a holy life.

[@PsychesMuse]

well, "imagine" HOW THAT "image"(Of God) EVEr got "imagined" were it not FOR "imagination"(On "The Part" Of God)

[@godsaveskyrieeleison5859]

@@PsychesMuse Kris is right. There is nothing to Imagine. We have been granted the wisdom by revelation. By visions into the heavenly realm. We know through the psalms also.

[@PsychesMuse]

@@godsaveskyrieeleison5859 I said that "God" had "imagination" and we stem from "THAT"(God's "imagination"/we beings made in THAT "image")

[@godsaveskyrieeleison5859]

@@PsychesMuse Completely wrong and not the interpretation of any church father. Thus this is your own invention of what it means. If you are a protestant that would explain a lot. We Orthodox do NOT have this view at all. Us being made in the Image of God and his likeness which is the most important thing here. This means that God in his wisdom and in the Divine mind created us after his image just as he created the angels after their image, but he created us after his likeness. That is why we have the ability to perceive the divine energies, to understand them through revelation. That is why we as Human being energize things in an analogous way to God. Everything is in the doctrine of the Logos and the Logie (essence and energies). The likeness between us and God is what makes us able to participate in Theosis in the first place, because Christ took on this Human nature and returned it in his incarnation and after his resurrection to the state it was always intended to be. We get to become "gods" by grace (which is an uncreated energy of God). God does not imagine anything because God is omniscient, imagination means to have a lack of information and to contemplate something which in turn means to not have the "full picture". God has the full picture since before time and thus everything that has been made, that happens and that will happen is always within his knowledge. This is why your analogy to the "imagination" of God is completely wrong. So I hope you understand this now and stop interpreting the Bible in your own way (something you can´t possibly do correctly). God bless you 🙏☦

[@orthodoxboomergrandma3561]

I can’t find part one….

[@OrthodoxWisdom]

Strange. Here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJbLlnSZo7eDo7c

[@brendonzettler1145]

Hi there, just wondering if this is a book? I looked for it but couldn't find it,

[@OrthodoxWisdom]

I have a copy that I got used at a bookstore. I don’t know if there are any copies online but at least at one point a print version was for sale

[@brendonzettler1145]

@@OrthodoxWisdom thank you!

[@alphabeta8284]

Just an added point. Roman Catholic theologians who speak of man's partaking of the divine nature use the same analogies as used by the eastern Fathers (e.g., the iron in the fire, etc..) This clearly shows that they are speaking of the same reality even though they use different theologies to understand it.

[@popscott3748]

saviors - yasha ?

[@DJK-cq2uy]

Most Protestestants would say this us heresy. I'd not commit the spiritual suicide of proetstantism.

[@johnnyd2383]

It is not easy for them to reject their individual "infallibilities" in the matters of faith. Does it resemble someone you have heard of.?

[@rosehavenfarm2969]

Thank you, brother.