In Eastern Orthodoxy, I am confronted with an uncomfortable fact: the work of my salvation is in progress.
In my Protestant years, I basically learned, “You’ve already been saved, everything is done, now go and enjoy life.” But Orthodoxy confronts me with an entirely different path of salvation. Here, I am taught that God accomplished everything on His part to save me. But now I must do my part.
It is not enough to say, “I am a son of God!” or “Jesus, I want to go to Heaven!” I must live like a son of God, like a heavenly creature.
In the Eastern Orthodox understanding of salvation, God became a man, putting on the human nature and uniting it to the divine nature. This divinized Man then took upon Himself all of our human frailty. “That which was not assumed cannot be redeemed,” and in his ineffable love, our Lord Jesus even assumed death itself in the most humiliating and public manner, nailing the sin of the world onto the cross, and bearing its weight into the grave. After releasing the captives in Hades, He arose on the third day, ascended into Heaven, and seated His divinized human nature at the right hand of God.
The afterlife is the culmination of this life. If we are struggling to be like the God-Man Jesus Christ and unified to him in every thought, word, and deed, then we are slowly becoming sons of God. However, if we disregard that calling, then we are becoming sons of darkness.
Heaven and Hell are not places that we will go when we die, but rather states of being in which we will find ourselves when we all meet God. Either through our struggles and repentance we will find that we are unified to the Divine Consuming Fire or through our lack of repentance we will find the Fire to be hostile to our inner state of being.
If we have struggled to become like God, then we will find that our soul has been restored to both the image and likeness of God. In the end, Like will meet with like, and the fiery divine love will be consummated to perfection within us.
However, if we have pursued our own will, if we have not thrown off all worldliness and we still cling to the sinful pleasures and attachments of this life, then when we meet God there will be no likeness to Him within us. We will find the Consuming Fire to be the antithesis of our existence and experiencing God will be something horrible.
During this first week of Great Lent, as we sing through the Canon of St. Andrew, I am reminded that no matter how hard I have tried, no matter how much I have struggled toward God, I have still failed miserably.
This admission of failure has been one of the most freeing things for me in Orthodoxy, as odd as that might sound. In my Protestant years, my thoughts were more like, “I am a son of God, I am ‘more than a conqueror,’ I am perfect through Christ’s sacrifice, so why am I still a mess? Why am I so restless all of the time? Why am I ensnared in a continual cycle of sin? Why, if I am already free, do I feel like a slave to sin?”
In those days, I realized that my internal state did not match up with my theology. Something had to change, and fortunately, God led me out of a self destructive path and into the Orthodox Church.
Here I am confronted with what I already knew intuitively: my life is a mess, and that is not ok. I am powerless to change myself, but I must still make an effort to do so. The grace of God then comes and fills all that is lacking.
So, we ask for mercy and forgiveness, from God and one another. We sing penitential songs, we weep for our sins, and we find the words of scripture to be true,
Every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 18:14)
Bless Father… Amen and Amen…
From Protestant background… Glory to God for Orthodoxy and the Truth…
God Bless
Thank-u
Dear Mary, glory to God for Orthodoxy indeed. I am not a priest, but may the Lord bless you.
Well-stated. I had a similar experience within Protestantism, with my internal state not matching the theology I was raised in. This lead me to Lutheranism and ultimately, to Rome. It’s ironic that now, with an understanding of salvation largely the same as yours, I have much greater peace even though I have no absolute assurance that I’m definitely going to be saved. Our of curiosity, does Orthodoxy have any notions similar to purgatory, where our remaining imperfections and sinful attachments are purified before God after death?
Steven, Orthodoxy rejects the doctrine of purgatory, as can be seen in the writings of St. Mark of Ephesus. St. Mark lists numerous reasons that we cannot accept the concept of a purifying fire as attested to in the doctrine of purgatory, but I won’t go into all of it right now.
I think some people may attempt to link the toll house concept found in Orthodoxy and numerous early church fathers to purgatory, but it is not one and the same. With the toll houses, there is no process of purification, but it is rather a metaphor of what happens when the soul is “weighed” and tested by the demons at death. If the soul is found to have sympathy with evil, then it is bound and dragged into Hades to await the Judgement.
In Orthodoxy, we generally see a teaching that this life is for repentance and turning the heart toward God. However far we move along the path of purification in this life is not as important as being on that path. So, the thief on the cross next to Christ oriented his heart to God and found “a little corner of Paradise” rather quickly. Those who have purified their hearts more deeply in this life will have a keener vision of God in the next life, but none of us will remain static. We will all continually move from “glory to glory” deeper into God’s uncreated energies, or we will move further into death and non-existence.
So, I think the “remaining imperfections and sinful attachments” you referenced would be something that simply drops off of a soul at death if that person has struggled against those things all of his life. However, if he has not, and he has served his passions, then he cannot hope for a purifying fire to take care of anything remaining after his death. In other words, my understanding of Orthodoxy is that it is not so much about becoming 100% pure before being able to experience God as it is about orienting the heart completely to God so that those little things brush off of us when we leave this world.
I hope that helps.
That does, thank you.
Hi I am Protestant but find the orthodox view of salvation as more believable too.
The only thing is it terrifies me!
I try to strive against sin and I spend time with God but I know I’m very imperfect.
What do I have to do to get to heaven?
How many good deeds?
How will I know I’m ever doing enough?
Hannah, I’m glad you have discovered Orthodoxy. When as Protestant I first heard the Orthodox view of salvation, I also found it to be superior. In answer to your questions:
You will never do enough to earn salvation. God offers us salvation as a gift. However, we struggle to make ourselves more like God, and to make our lives pleasing offerings to Him. In that sense, we can never do enough no matter how much we do. But also, that means that God is pleased with whatever genuine efforts we’re putting toward living a holy life.
Find an Orthodox church near you and begin attending services there. Salvation is worked out in the midst of a community of believers, and under the direction of our local priest.