Theosis is a distinctive feature that characterizes Orthodoxy and assumes central importance in its overall theological framework. It is the ultimate goal toward which all people should strive and the blessed end for which all things were made. Theosis of man constitutes central subject, prominent aim and purpose and, finally, religious ideal of Orthodoxy. In Orthodoxy, theosis is the very substance of Christianity, because it describes the descent of God to the limit of our fallen human condition and presupposes the union of the created beings with the Divinity. There is richness of forms of the spiritual life in Orthodoxy, but monasticism remains the most classical of all. The goal of the monastic life is union with God in renunciation of ...
