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Author Topic: Theosis and the West  (Read 1827 times)

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Re: Theosis and the West
« Reply #5 on: August 18, 2022, 12:59:24 PM »
I was sort of joking around a little but that's how i feel about the Greeks. "Theosis" and "divine energies" for them and their belly buttons, but no filioque for God the Son.

The Greeks don't have the rosary either. The Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity of St. Mary are a lot and then the Cross. It seems the only way to "partake of the divine nature" is to end up dying with Jesus, so there goes the way of the cross again. I don't think the Greeks have the way of the cross either.

The Buddhists can have the lotus  flower and the Greeks the belly button, the Latin rite can have the cross.
By "belly button" do you mean their concept of "nous"?

I remember some EO priest talking about how us Catholics have too much of a focus on the Passion, when we should be more focused on the Resurrection and Theosis. The ironic thing is that the Cross is literally the way Our Lord told us to follow Him (Matt. 16:24), so of course we would fixate on it. It's amazing how they elevate their religion because it supposedly holds to Tradition as opposed to "innovations" when this "tradition" hasn't sufficiently purged out its errors or led to "Orthodox" unity.

Re: Theosis and the West
« Reply #6 on: August 18, 2022, 03:19:10 PM »
By "belly button" do you mean their concept of "nous"?

I remember some EO priest talking about how us Catholics have too much of a focus on the Passion, when we should be more focused on the Resurrection and Theosis. The ironic thing is that the Cross is literally the way Our Lord told us to follow Him (Matt. 16:24), so of course we would fixate on it. It's amazing how they elevate their religion because it supposedly holds to Tradition as opposed to "innovations" when this "tradition" hasn't sufficiently purged out its errors or led to "Orthodox" unity.
You don't know about the Greeks and their belly buttons? They sit around and zone out on their belly buttons and get "deep", "deep" with the spiritual energies. Deep divine energies and they belly button. It might even be something like JP2's "theology of the body", but more oriental mystery to it.


Re: Theosis and the West
« Reply #7 on: August 18, 2022, 04:02:21 PM »
You don't know about the Greeks and their belly buttons? They sit around and zone out on their belly buttons and get "deep", "deep" with the spiritual energies. Deep divine energies and they belly button. It might even be something like JP2's "theology of the body", but more oriental mystery to it.
Oh, you're talking about Hesychastic prayer; where they position their heads in such a way (like some eastern pagans) in an attempt to "see" the "Divine energies".

Re: Theosis and the West
« Reply #8 on: August 18, 2022, 04:09:29 PM »
Some of the old Greek monks have a knack for it more than the others, but first they eliminate the filioque then focus on their belly button with deep breathing exercises.

Re: Theosis and the West
« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2022, 10:13:25 PM »
They do something called hesychasm. They do not believe in using your imagination or reasoning in prayer. They empty their mind and repeat the Jesus prayer while concentrating on their heart and His divine presense within them. From my little bit of study on mental prayer it seems that they are trying to force contemplation. Generally in the west the saints have said to begin mental prayer by using the imagination and reasoning and speaking with God. Gradually with spiritual progress in your prayer life you end up having less and less need for as much reasoning and imagination and most of the time is spent just speaking to God from the heart. You go from what's called discursive prayer to affective prayer. Basically as time goes on your prayer becomes more and more simple until God brings you to contemplation. Before contemplation you did most of the work with much effort. Now God begins to take a much more active role, infusing you with knowledge and love of Him. My point is that only God can bring you into contemplation when He wants to. It seems like in the east hesychasm is trying to skip straight to contemplation even though this is only done when God decides to. Of course God could work with this but it's different. It seems like the east and western approach to prayer begin differently but intend to lead to the same place, contemplation and union.