I have never heard this “out loud”…sounds a bit extreme…though I understand it’s referring to the “human nature” and we are still creatures [etc.]. In fact, it seems this was the cause of Lucifer’s rebellion, no? He just couldn’t swallow that! Some humans can’t either!
This is the view of salvation of the Alexandrian fathers and Byzantine fathers particularly, and the rest to a lesser extent. It is intimately bound with the definitions of the councils of Chalcedon and the next three councils.
Yes, satan tempted Adam and Eve with the idea of being ‘like God’ but the thing is that this temptation was a temptation to autonomy from God. They wished to be gods apart from God. The idea of Theosis or deification in Christianity is that through the Incarnation, death, ressurection and etc. man is saved by God and granted Grace/Energies which is nothing but the divine nature. This Grace/Energy can only be recieved in communion with God. Nor is it a blurring between the creator and the created because it is not the divine Essence. The west has a sense of deification as well.
If you have never read about the Essence/Energies distinction you should do some reading about it so that you have a better understanding of this.
For a better understanding of deification you could read
Deification and Grace by Daniel A Keating, who is a western theologian and professor at Ave Maria. His purpose is to show that Deification is a common to both east and west, even if there are some differences.
No. Were Christians killing each other in the crusades? I didn’t know this…I meant during wars and persecutions…also with the Protestants…etc.
There are sad points in Christian history but I don’t think that these are examples of people trying to gain communion with the Holy Spirit.
I tried to edit my last post to add a little to it but I was a minute too late. So here is what I wanted to add.
The Eastern Orthodox (and Byzantine Catholics) tend to view theology as knowledge of God that is acquired through direct contact with God. This direct contact happens through the action of the Holy Spirit in the world. The only way we can know God is through this contact. The EO life is therefore specifically oriented toward the acquisition of the Holy Spirit through the sacraments( esp. Baptism, Chrismation, and the Eucharist), prayer, asceticism and etc. The west on the other hand has a strong emphasis on the use of reason in theology. Theology is defined according to Peter’s statement to be prepared to defend your faith if someone asks. They say that through the use of your reason you can know for certain that God exists, even if your knowledge is mixed with error.
From this different sense of theology proceeds a different ecclesiology. The EO ecclesiology views every member of the Church as a defender and propagator of the faith, especially the monks due to their relationship to God. God is the only one who is infallible and therefore the truth can only be acquired through the acquisition of the Holy Spirit or Theosis/deification. The west on the other hand has an ecclesiology that says the Pope and the bishops gathered in council with the Pope have a charism of infallibility granted by the Holy Spirit irrespective of their spiritual relationship with God.
