I would like to begin by talking about divinization as it is described in the Eastern tradition. Divinization is called ‘theosis’ in ancient Greek.

‘Theosis’ is understood to have three stages: first, the purgative way, purification, or katharsis, which takes place through ‘metanoia’ (repentance) which purifies the mind, body and soul to the level of ‘theoria,’ which is the interior purification of our souls as we pursue greater union with God. In a purgative way, God’s grace leads us through a re-living of the Paschal Mystery – Christ’s own passion, death, and resurrection – which purifies, heals, and reconstitutes who we are in Jesus Christ.

Second stage: illumination, the illuminative way, the vision of God, or ‘theoria’ or the Latin (contemplatio, contemplation; is “looking at”, “gazing at”, “being aware” of God or the Divine. ‘Theoria’ is the illumination from the vision of God or the purification of the heart. It is the neotic prayer and the vision of the uncreated Light. The remembrance of God in a person reveals communion with God and is therefore like a prayer. The effort of constantly calling upon the holy name of Christ using the prayer ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, the sinner’, continually renews the remembrance of God and communion with God. It’s because of this that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians saying: ‘Pray unceasingly’.

With the remembrance of God and prayer, people reveal the true nobility of their nature, which is the border between the visible and invisible world and ‘deification in Christ’. They overcome physical necessity and extend their existence to God, feeling free from anything which holds them captive on earth.

The third stage is called ‘apatheia’ which in Greek means a: – ‘without’ and pathos: – ‘passion’. It refers to a state of mind in which one is not disturbed by the passions. It can also be translated into impassability or passionlessness. In the Eastern tradition, ‘theosis’ or divinization is very much the purpose of human life. ‘Theosis’ is the everlasting life that consists of growing in the likeness of God through intimate communion with Him, sainthood, the unitive way, or ‘theosis’. It is the holy life of God, given in Jesus Christ to the believer through the Holy Spirit. It is expressed through the three stages of ‘theosis’, beginning in the struggles of this life, increased in the experience of the knowledge of God, and consummated in the resurrection of the believer, when the victory of God over fear, sin, and death, as accomplished in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ is made manifest in the believer forever.

The journey towards ‘theosis’ – the ascetic practice, includes many forms of praxis. The most obvious is that which is given to us was through the monastic life of the Desert Fathers. In the monastic life, ‘hesychasm’ is the most important way to establish a direct relationship with God.  When living in the community of the church and participating regularly in the sacraments, the Eucharist, even more than the other sacraments, is taken for granted as an imperative sacrament.  Also important is cultivating the ‘prayer of the heart’ and ‘constant prayer’ as the Apostle Paul writes it in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The unceasing prayer of the heart is a dominant theme in the writings of the Desert Fathers, especially in the Philokalia. The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks were early Christian hermits who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. They consider that one can reach ‘theosis’ by living an impeccable Christian life, crowned by faithful, warm, and ultimately silent, continuous Prayer of the Heart. ‘Hesychasm’ (comes from the Greek hesykia – conscious resting in God) is the ascetic praxis of praying the inner, continuous Jesus prayer ‘the prayer of the heart’ together with particular breathing exercises, to overcome one’s lower, self-centered nature and regain identity with God.

Perfect prayer is noetic and at the same time ‘of the heart.’ The mind prays within the heart, which is the centre of our existence. Thus, the whole person, from his/her innermost self and his/her centre prays, fulfilling the injunction of God: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbour as yourself.’ The whole person is offered to God. For this prayer, the ‘prayer of a single thought’ (‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, sinner that I am’) is used, with which its concise invocation helps in the concentration of the intellect and immersion of the mind into the heart. From their experience, the holy- Niptic- Fathers wrote about the way and method of this prayer. There is a collection of these works by these holy Fathers called the Philokalia. And the word philokalia (which means love of the beautiful).

What is Noetic Prayer of the Heart? “Concerning noetic prayer, the prayer of the heart, and watchful prayer”

First say, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner. This prayer, which is referred to principally as noetic prayer, is also called ‘prayer of the heart’ and ‘watchful prayer.’  When you say the prayer with your intellect and repeat it mystically within you in stillness, using your inner voice, it is referred to as noetic prayer.  When you say the prayer from the depths of your heart with great tension and inner force, then it is referred to as ‘prayer of the heart.’  It is referred to as ‘watchful prayer’ when, because of your prayer or because of the infinite goodness of God, the grace of the Holy Spirit visits your soul and touches your heart, or you are granted a divine vision, upon which your mind becomes watchful and fixed. When you practice noetic prayer and repeat it as you should, and the grace of the Holy Spirit visits your soul, then the name of Christ that you are meditating upon with your intellect becomes greatly consoling and sweet to your mind and soul, so much so, that you could never repeat it enough.

When you practice the ‘prayer of the heart’ and the grace of God touches your heart (that is when your heart happens upon it), causing it to conceive compunction, as the Theotokos (“God Bearer”, the Virgin Mary) conceived the Word of God by the Holy Spirit, then the name of divine Jesus, and all of Holy Scripture, becomes ineffable sweetness to the heart; and every spiritual notion of the heart (if I may put it this way) becomes a sweet flowing river of divine compunction that sweetens the heart and wondrously makes it fervent in eros and love for its Creator and God. Sometimes, when practicing the ‘prayer of the heart’ with the pain of an enfeebled heart and with the sorrow of a humbled soul, one’s soul clearly feels the consolation and visitation of the Lord.  This is what the prophet says: ‘The Lord is near those who are broken hearted.’  The Lord invisibly draws near when one crushes one’s heart with the prayer, as we said, in order to manifest some mystical revelation.  The Lord shows the prayerful individual some vision in order to make him/her more fervent towards the spiritual work of his/her heart.

And so, when, by the grace of Christ, one’s soul beholds some vision and is filled with compunction because of his/her prayer, then one understands that ‘watchful prayer’ is nothing other than divine grace; it is the noetic and divine vision one’s mind beholds; what one’s intellect is firmly fixed upon, and one’s soul watches.  And so, as the divine grace of the Holy Spirit visits your soul, gently touches your heart, and ineffably sweetens your mind, only you can understand and comprehend it within yourself, because the compunction comes ceaselessly from your heart as from an ever-flowing spring, while your mind experiences an inexpressible sweetness, and your soul consolation.  At that moment, your soul possesses some spiritual boldness and mystically supplicates God, its Fashioner and Creator saying, “Remember me, Oh Lord, in your Kingdom,” or some other verse from Holy Scripture.

This holy and pure supplication that takes place within the soul has such power that it penetrates the heavens and reaches the throne of the Holy Trinity, before whom it stands like sweet-smelling and fragrant incense. The prophet said about this prayer, “Let my prayer arise as incense before you.”  The God in Trinity receives this holy supplication in an inexpressible and wondrous manner, and the supplication in turn receives the fruit of the Holy Spirit. This fruit, received reverently and modestly, is offered and sent to the soul as a priceless and heavenly gift from the God of all as a pledge for the future kingdom of God and its adoption. The soul that receives the heavenly and divine fruit of the Holy Spirit because of its supplication, that is, from pure prayer, acquires divine love, spiritual joy, peace of heart, and great patience during the hardships and temptations of this age; in addition to excellence and goodness in everything, unwavering faith, Christ’s meekness, and passion-killing self-control.  All of these virtues are called “fruits of the Holy Spirit.”  To our God be glory and power unto ages of ages. Amen

The one who transforms you to become divinized is the Holy Spirit, with whom the human being joins his/her will to receive this transforming grace by praxis and prayer.

Now let us turn to what God tells us in the True Life in God messages about divinization. In the messages, God speaks about how we can become divinized and become God’s by participation and His adoptive daughters and sons. Our Lord tells us that this attainment is accessible to every one of us. The first level is detachment. It is Jesus himself who detaches us. When Jesus visits our soul, we feel His Love and we see our sins. By truly calling out to God and repenting from all our heart, God purifies us, transforms us, and leads us into higher ascents of holiness.

From very early on in the TLIG Messages. In a few more recent TLIG Messages Jesus says:

“if you want to reach deification, I, God, who am indivisible in My Divinity, ask you to offer Me your will and die to yourself so that nothing is left of you; nothing! then with majesty and power I will raise you to be part of Me; I will englobe you and envelope you entirely so that all of you will be part of Me; I will render you perfect so that all that was sullied with sin, will be beautiful and radiant in My Light and in your transfiguration, divine and totally glorious; this is the way you will enter Heaven; I Am the Door to Heaven;” (TLIG Messages, 30 September 2019)

“I, the Bridegroom of the universe in all My Majesty, will come to him who would have declined wholly and My Spirit of Love will envelop him to draw him in the Bosom of the most Holy Trinity; then, such a soul having received such an intensity of light will obtain all the hidden mysteries and Riches of Heaven and will begin while still here on earth, to live as he would be living in heaven, for he will have stepped in the Beatific Vision; in other words, that soul will have a foretaste of what the Beatific Vision is like and will complete this Vision to its fullness the moment he will enter heaven ….”(TLIG Messages, 5 August 2000)

Jesus continues:

“it is written: “Happy the man You choose, whom You invite to live in Your Courts;” indeed, for the one who is invited is no longer alone; those who were alone are now in Me and blessed; they have renounced the world, their friends and their relatives, detaching themselves for My Glory; (it gives Me more glory and I receive more honour when the detachment comes from people who are living out in the world with so much temptation encircling them, but by their own free will turn their back to all those evils and willingly offer their will to Me); 

– I secure in My Divine Light
all those who are in Me; –’ (TLIG Messages, 3 February 2003)

Here is a word from the Desert Father Abba Zosimos about detachment:

“In time, through neglect, we lose even the little fervour that we suppose we have in our ascetic renunciation. We become attached to useless, insignificant, and entirely worthless matters, substituting these for the love of God and neighbour, appropriating material things as if they were our own or as if we had not received them from God. ‘What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, then why do you boast as if it were not a gift?’” (1 Cor. 4:7). He also said, “For as I always like to say: ‘It is not possessing something that is harmful but being attached to it.’”

I would like to quote from Saint John Climacus, who was born in 579 and died 649 AD; he lived in Mount Sinai. He was a Byzantine monk and author of ‘The Ladder of Divine Ascent’ (for which he is also called ‘John of the Ladder’). Here is what he wrote about dispassion:

“A person who has reached dispassion is recognized, as he who has purified himself by fasting with prayer, and the state of being awake spiritually and preserving himself in a humble state, and from all temporal evil, as if he were an Angel and exalted his mind from all earthly things in the heavens and brought under his power by mighty works, the ’servants of slavery’ all the carnal desires and movements of his soul and body, made his soul appear steadfast in the face of God, and to extend, as time passes, to the love of his God as much as possible.”

Let us conclude by hearing how Jesus Himself describes how it will be when we pass through all three ascents from dispassion into impassibility, the angelic virtues. Only God in His Glory can describe how a soul is divinized, which He describes perfectly here in this passage. No one can add or subtract anything here, because this is God him