Grace
STEPHEN THOMAS
An important local council held on Mount Athos in 1341 defined grace as “God’s deifying gift... uncreated ... eternally existent, proceeding from the eternally existing God” (Ware et al. 1995: 419). Grace is aligned with the rays of the Divine Trinity, the energies, put forth by the Persons. These are the uncreated operations of God (Staniloae 1994: 125–39; Lossky
1998: 67–90) which transform those they encounter by divine light. Christ’s transfiguration on the mountain was not only a manifestation of his divinity but a demonstration of what is possible for the believer who pursues the contemplative life in hesychasm, or stillness. The 1341 council was concerned about what “hesychasts” might experience without delusion. Against Barlaam the Calabrian, St. Gregory Palamas’s teaching was affirmed: even in this life, one may experience the uncreated light of God, at least for a time.
However, even in heaven, the blessed never know the divine essence, so that the Latin doctrine of beatific vision is foreign to Orthodoxy (Aquinas 2002: 118, 185). What we have instead in heaven is the uninterrupted experience of the energies which were experienced only occasionally and for a time in the earthly life: in heaven, grace is complete, the divine light shining uninterruptedly, so that the blessed cannot fall back or lapse. Conversely, those who have rejected God also experience the same light of grace, but as fire. Grace is enlightening or caustic, depending upon the state of the recipient.
Orthodox writers oppose “uncreated grace” to the erroneous doctrine of “created grace” of scholastic theology and the Latin West. Roman Catholics may be surprised to learn that they believe in created grace, since they generally regard it as supernatural. However, there are nuances which give substance to the Orthodox generalizations. Aquinas’ approach is an intellectual one. He tries to explain by efficient causality the manner by which grace comes into existence in the soul, so that something in the soul is, in a sense, made: grace is a certain something supernatural coming from God (Aquinas 1997 [ST I-II.110]).
Grace is offered universally, even to the Devil (Gregoire de Nysse 2000: 262, n.2), but is not irresistible. Divine predestination expresses the foresight and desire of God but does not determine the outcome absolutely. Free will and agreement, the energy of the created being, is necessary for salvation, which comes through synergy, the union of divine grace and human will. It is a position which marks off Orthodoxy from the classic formulations about predestination of Reformed Christianity.
SEE ALSO: Hesychasm; Judgment; St. Gregory Palamas (1296–1359)
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Aquinas, St. Thomas (1997) Basic Writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Volume 2, ed A. C. Pegis. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Aquinas, St. Thomas (2002) Aquinas’s Shorter Summa. St. Thomas’s Own Concise Version of His Summa Theologica. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press.
Gregoire de Nysse (2000) Discours catechetique, ed. R. Winling. Sources Chretiennes 453. Paris: Cerf.
Lossky, V. (1998) The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press.
Staniloae, D. (1994) The Experience of God. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press.
Ware, K., Palmer, G. E. H., and Sherrard, P. (eds. and trans.) (1995) The Philokalia, Volume 4. London: Faber and Faber.