Theosis 1

www.stnickbyz.com - Archimandrite Damon Geiger - St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church, Barberton, OH - February 23, 2012
Theosis ("deification," "divinization") is the process of a worshiper becoming free of hamartía ("missing the mark"), being united with God, beginning in this life and later consummated in bodily resurrection. For Orthodox Christians, Théōsis (see 2 Pet. 1:4) is salvation. Théōsis assumes that humans from the beginning are made to share in the Life or Nature of the all-Holy Trinity. Therefore, an infant or an adult worshiper is saved from the state of unholiness (hamartía - which is not to be confused with hamártēma "sin") for participation in the Life (zōé, not simply bíos) of the Trinity - which is everlasting.