Did the Essence or Energies become Incarnate in Jesus?

[jimmy]

I have wondered for a while whether the Eastern Christians would say that the Essence of God was in Jesus or just the Energies.

 

[mgy100]

Read some Lossky. Who are some non-Parisians to read Father Ambrose the Wise and Father Ambrose of Milian?

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

I have wondered for a while whether the Eastern Orthodox would say that the Essence of God was in Jesus or just the Energies.

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
~ Colossians 2:9

“For in Him was pleased to dwell all the fullness of the Godhead.”
~ Colossians 1:19

 

[Apotheoun]

Since the divine essence and the divine energy are common to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through perichoresis, it follows that it is only the eternal and uncreated hypostasis of the Son that assumed human nature and became man through the incarnation.

 

[Isa_Almisry]

Related question: does the Eucharist contain the Essence of God?

 

[Aramis]

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
~ Colossians 2:9

“For in Him was pleased to dwell all the fullness of the Godhead.”
~ Colossians 1:19

I was thinking of the same, and going one step further:

In the incarnation both the essence and energies must be present.

 

[The_Augustinian]

According to the fourth and sixth Ecumenical Councils, Jesus Christ possesses two natures, two wills, and two energies, both human and divine. As St. John Damascene writes:
Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith:

And so in connection with our Lord Jesus Christ, the power of miracles is the energy of His divinity, while the work of His hands and the willing and the saying, I will, be thou clean, are the energy of His humanity. And as to the effect, the breaking of the loaves, and the fact that the leper heard the “I will,” belong to His humanity, while the multiplication of the loaves and the purification of the leper belong to His divinity.

At any rate, energies cannot be present without essence, nor essence without energies since they are inseparable though distinct. This is true for created beings as well, so too for God Incarnate.

As for the Sacrament, Dr. Matthew Steenberg writes:
Fr. Dn. Matthew:

The one born of Mary is the Son by nature, God in essence. He is ‘the One Who Is’, the essential, natural reality of the divine Son; and thus when one encounters the incarnate Christ, one encounters the divine nature (essence) of God. And yet, one encounters the divine nature energetically; for even in God’s incarnation, one cannot know the nature of God qua essence. In Christ one experiences in energy the divine essence in the fullest degree.

This is true also of the eucharistic mystery. One receives into one’s body the full reality of the essentially and ever-existing God; but it is precisely in God’s energy that one thus receives him fully and truly. The experience of God ‘in his energies’ is not an experience ‘less than’ an experience of his essence. There is no such thing as a created experience of an uncreated essence qua essence; it should not be considered a ‘higher category’ of experience.

 

[East_and_West]

Since the divine essence and the divine energy are common to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through perichoresis, it follows that it is only the eternal and uncreated hypostasis of the Son that assumed human nature and became man through the incarnation.

Sounds like you are separating the person from the essence.

 

[jimmy]

Sounds like you are separating the person from the essence.

His point is that both the essence and the energies are present since they are both common to all three persons and Christ is the incarnation of the Son.

It is not to seperate essence from person. The essence of the Trinity is the Father, who begets the Son and Spirates the Spirit. So the essence can not be seperated from the three persons, it is one and the same as the persons. There is no distinction within God between persons and essence. The energies are Gods actions within the world. They are not some seperate part of God. If God did not create, it would be superfluous to talk about the energies.

 

[East_and_West]

His point is that both the essence and the energies are present since they are both common to all three persons and Christ is the incarnation of the Son.

It is not to seperate essence from person. The essence of the Trinity is the Father, who begets the Son and Spirates the Spirit. So the essence can not be seperated from the three persons, it is one and the same as the persons. There is no distinction within God. The energies are Gods actions within the world.

My point exactly.

 

[jimmy]

I modified my last post slightly to mention the energies a little more.

 

[mardukm]

Related question: does the Eucharist contain the Essence of God?

Yes. Any other answer would expose Easterns and Orientals to the di-theism polemicists impose on our belief.

Christ is FULLY present in a sacramental manner in the Eucharist. Nevertheless, the spiritual benefit of the Eucharist we obtain comes form the Divine Energy.

Blessings,
Marduk