Lartin Rite, Eastern Theology

[holmj2674]

I am a Latin rite Catholic. In my readings over the last year I have come to have a great love and respect for Eastern theology including such concepts as theosis, Palamas’ energy/essence distinction, hesychasm, and the Eastern view of original sin. I even considered becoming Eastern Orthodox at one point in time… but remain Catholic. What I would like to know is if I, as a Latin rite Catholic, can formulate my beliefs in an Eastern manner, more akin to Eastern rite Catholicism?
It is a mystery to me why the Catholic church does not emphasize theosis or deification to its members. What a revolution of faith it could bring about from within if everyone understood this doctrine and the role of the church and the Eucharist within it? What a boon it would be if the practice of Hesycahsm, or stillness, were taught alongside the rosary and stations of the cross?
I may well be misunderstanding Eastern patristic theology, but it seems that the Latin church has a much more “glass is half empty” approach to theology, whereas the East is more “glass is half full.” If they are in fact in full communion with Rome this is most likely a difference in emphasis rather then substance, instead of being entirely different. Perhaps the Eastern rite Catholics believe non of these things either and I am just plain wrong on all accounts.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Remember that spirituality is like a tower, its built one brick on top of another. We started with a common foundation, Christ. Then the Apostles, then divergence. To understand and appreciate a brick you have found midway to the top, you must look at the bricks down from where it stands and see what supports it.

Ultimately when you learn about everything, you’ll see that both East and West have pretty much the same core beliefs, there’s just a different emphasis.

Why don’t you try Blessed Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body? It talks a lot about Theosis but its made for Western theology. I think its a wonderful blend of many things East and West.

 

[Cecilianus]

Also if you want a very Eastern approach to the totality of the Liturgy as opposed to a “typically Western restriction and legalistic reduction of the notion of faith”, see Ratzinger’s The Nature and Mission of Theology, which corrects these unfortunate tendencies in a very Western way. And if you want a very Western solution to the divorce between theology and spirituality that the East is always criticizing, see Catherine Pickstock’s After Writing: On the Liturgical Consummation of Philosophy.

I am confident that there is no difference of opinion between the truly Western and truly Eastern theology, only terminology and emphasis. I try to accept both theologies in their fullness.

 

[holmj2674]

Thanks for your replies. I found an excellent web site awhile ago called East2West" that basically seems to say the same thing, and does a decent job trying to explain the ways in which both teheologies are similar. It seems forced sometimes to me, aparently there are more out there whole believe the fundamentals are the same in essence and that is good to know. I will continue to try to understand how Eastern and Western theology compliment each other.

 

[twf]

Also keep in mind that the Roman liturgy is already full of references to theosis/deification - both in the mass and in the liturgy of the hours/divine office. The priest prays at every mass, for example, that we may “come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” As I attend mass and pray the divine office references to deification constantly jump out at me - but you are right that many Latin priests don’t explicitly elaborate upon it on a regular basis. In the Divine Office, for example, the Church often reminds us that we (the Church) already sit enthroned in glory at God’s right hand in the person of Christ. We sometimes say at Mass “Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life, Lord Jesus come in glory”…by rising to glory in His human body, Our Lord accomplished the glorification and deification of man, both body and soul.

Mind you I did hear one homily a couple years back where a Dominican priest did explicitly proclaim to the congregation “ye are gods” - which makes sense when you consider St. Thomas Aquinas’ (a Dominican) teaching on deification. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

CCC #460:

The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:78 "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God."79 "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."80 "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."81

78 2 Pt 1:4.
79 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 19, 1: PG 7/1, 939.
80 St. Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3: PG 25, 192B.
81 St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc. 57, 1-4.

 

[Celticnovice]

To the OP:

You should try to check out this EWTN radio show called “Reasons for the Faith”. I happened to find it one morning, it comes on at 11:00 AM. Try your local Catholic radio station.

The host of the show is Pr. Michael Barber, and he talked about Theosis in the Catholic church. I missed the beginning, but he went on to talk about how the goal of Catholic lives should be to partakers in His Divine nature. He went on to say the active life can lead you to do great things towards this goal, and should be the outcome of a deep prayer PRIOR to great action. He talked a lot more about contemplative spirituality and prayer…

 

[CopticChristian]

I am a Latin rite Catholic. In my readings over the last year I have come to have a great love and respect for Eastern theology including such concepts as theosis, Palamas’ energy/essence distinction, hesychasm, and the Eastern view of original sin. I even considered becoming Eastern Orthodox at one point in time… but remain Catholic. What I would like to know is if I, as a Latin rite Catholic, can formulate my beliefs in an Eastern manner, more akin to Eastern rite Catholicism?
It is a mystery to me why the Catholic church does not emphasize theosis or deification to its members. What a revolution of faith it could bring about from within if everyone understood this doctrine and the role of the church and the Eucharist within it? What a boon it would be if the practice of Hesycahsm, or stillness, were taught alongside the rosary and stations of the cross?
I may well be misunderstanding Eastern patristic theology, but it seems that the Latin church has a much more “glass is half empty” approach to theology, whereas the East is more “glass is half full.” If they are in fact in full communion with Rome this is most likely a difference in emphasis rather then substance, instead of being entirely different. Perhaps the Eastern rite Catholics believe non of these things either and I am just plain wrong on all accounts.

You should go to an Eastern Catholic Church for a year or longer. You will find that what you have done is appreciate the Church East/West and satisfy your desires. Christ is in the Eucharist in all of them, you lose nothing and gain lots.

 

[holmj2674]

You should go to an Eastern Catholic Church for a year or longer. You will find that what you have done is appreciate the Church East/West and satisfy your desires. Christ is in the Eucharist in all of them, you lose nothing and gain lots.

I would like that, but the only Eastern church anywhere near where I live is a Greek Orthodox Church that is slowly dying away as its parishioners age. Having just checked the ByzCarth website I have discovered there are no Eastern Catholic parishes in all of Iowa

 

[5Loaves]

I would like that, but the only Eastern church anywhere near where I live is a Greek Orthodox Church that is slowly dying away as its parishioners age.

There were five other people at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral here on Friday for the Paraklisis. When I’ve been there for such services during Lent it hasn’t been much more, and clearly I Catholic and I know at least one or two others are often Catholic at these weeknight services. Their altar feast had about 25 people I think, tho at least 100 were there when it was time for the dinner.

Having just checked the ByzCarth website I have discovered there are no Eastern Catholic parishes in all of Iowa

You might try posting in the Find-A-Parish → Start-A-Parish section. The mod may know if there are any others from Iowa there.

 

[mardukm]

Dear brother Holmj,

It is a mystery to me why the Catholic church does not emphasize theosis or deification to its members.

I assume you are referring to the Latin Catholic Church? You should spend some time reading through debates between Latin Catholics and Lutherans or Calvinists. In that context, you’ll definitely get a good dose of how powerfully the Latin Catholic Church adheres to the concept of deification.

The Oriental Tradition does not normally utilize the term “theosis” either, but we adhere to and teach the same doctrine on deification as our Eastern (and Latin) brethren.

Blessings,
Marduk

 

[UnworthyApostle]

I was reading a book a couple of weeks ago by a Jesuit priest which had a whole Chapter called “The Supernatural Life Starts Here and Now”. In the chapter, he says that we must open our hearts to take in God’s grace in order to become more like Him and live a sanctefied life. He further stated that we ought to see God in everything we do and see such as doing a good deed or looking at the beauty of a flower. The priest goes into a discussion of the difference between “Refromed” theology and Catholic theology which is how the Protestants divorced a deification of mankind and just refered to a legal justification. The chapter definitely sounds eastern.The Book is a good read. I think it is called “Five Great Catholic Ideas”.

 

[Cecilianus]

I would like that, but the only Eastern church anywhere near where I live is a Greek Orthodox Church that is slowly dying away as its parishioners age. Having just checked the ByzCarth website I have discovered there are no Eastern Catholic parishes in all of Iowa

I always passed by an exit to Waterloo traveling between my home in Minneapolis and my college in Kansas. I don’t remember where exactly it was, but if it’s in the north, you might consider coming up to Minneapolis every once in a while. We have at least four Eastern churches - two Maronite, one (St. Maron’s) in Minneapolis and another (Holy Family?) which used to be in St. Paul but which I understand moved recently, and two Byzantine, a very large Ukrainian Catholic church (St. Constantine’s) unfortunately not listed at byzcath.org and a smaller Ruthenian parish (St. John the Baptist), both in northeast Minneapolis just blocks from each other (St. Constantine’s is right across the street from St. Maron’s). There’s also a Ukrainian Catholic church in St. Paul, St. Stephen’s, but I don’t think they have regular services on Sunday morning.

If you’re farther south, if you feel like making the trip down to St. Joseph Missouri there’s an extremely latinized Ukrainian Catholic church (St. Joseph’s) which you will have to call in order to find out if any services are being held, and in Sugar Creek (northeast suburb of Kansas City) is a wonderful Ruthenian parish, St. Luke’s.

 

[holmj2674]

I always passed by an exit to Waterloo traveling between my home in Minneapolis and my college in Kansas. I don’t remember where exactly it was, but if it’s in the north, you might consider coming up to Minneapolis every once in a while. We have at least four Eastern churches - two Maronite, one (St. Maron’s) in Minneapolis and another (Holy Family?) which used to be in St. Paul but which I understand moved recently, and two Byzantine, a very large Ukrainian Catholic church (St. Constantine’s) unfortunately not listed at byzcath.org and a smaller Ruthenian parish (St. John the Baptist), both in northeast Minneapolis just blocks from each other (St. Constantine’s is right across the street from St. Maron’s). There’s also a Ukrainian Catholic church in St. Paul, St. Stephen’s, but I don’t think they have regular services on Sunday morning.

I was actually thinking about this. I go up to Minneapolis about three weekends a year, and my next visit is at the end of September to go to the Ren Fest in Shakopee. My sister in law lives north of St. Paul so I will have to check this out.