The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Man's Purpose According to Orthodox (Union With Divine Eros)

According to the Orthodox tradition of Christianity, God’s love is an uncreated energy. The purpose of man’s life is union with Divine eros or Theosis:

Here’s the full article:

THEOSIS* - DEIFICATION AS THE PURPOSE OF MAN’S LIFE

greekorthodoxchurch.org/theosis_how.html

This agrees with the Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga in Warranted Christian Belief:

From the Orthodox Church in America:

God is love

Full article here:

oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/spirituality/the-greatest-virtue-is-love/god-is-love

Eros is most often associated with sexual arousal, but essayist Noelle Oxenhandler recognizes it’s presence in the midst of parenting. She describes the overwhelming delight of caring for her baby daughter. “I remember how palpably I experienced her too-muchness. It was a shudder in my body, an energy I had to soften, reign in, lest I squeeze her too hard, startle her with too exuberant a kiss.” She adds, “It is this feeling I want to call the eros of parenthood: an upswelling of tenderness, often with a tinge of amazement” ~~ Holy Eros, Pathways to a Passionate God, page 16 by Whitehead

To learn more about Holy Eros here’s a good book on the subject called “Holy Eros: Pathways to a Passionate God”

amazon.com/Holy-Eros-Pathways-Passionate-God/dp/1570758131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508981416&sr=8-1&keywords=holy+eros

Evelyn Eaton Whitehead is a developmental psychologist (Ph.D., University of Chicago) whose work focuses on spiritual development in adult life. James D. Whitehead is a theologian (Ph.D., Harvard University) who studies the interplay of religion and culture. In their shared career spanning forty-five years and fifteen books, the Whiteheads continue to explore the vital themes emerging in contemporary Christian spirituality.

One more quote from the book. From the chapter “Eros of Compassion”

Jesus told the story of a wayward son who returned to the father he had sorely wronged. The son’s homecoming took a surprising turn when his father did not respond in anger or withhold his welcome until after he had received an apology. He seemed uninterested in pointing out the error of his son’s ways or in ensuring that he had learned his lesson. Instead, the father rushed out to meet his son, overjoyed at his return. Sensing the boy’s humiliation and despair, his father treated him as an honored guest and planned a great celebration. Jesus tells us this is what God is like. God receives us not as judge but Abba, an extravagantly loving parent who wants our care for one another to show the same abundant concern. The lives of the godly will be marked not so much by the conspicuous good deeds of the righteous as by the humble compassion of those who to the world’s needs. Compassion is an experience of eros. Ordinarily we think of compassion as commiseration, as feeling the suffering of another person, but compassion has a more expansive meaning.

From the above article from the Orthodox church in America:

Here’s the link again:

oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/spirituality/the-greatest-virtue-is-love/god-is-love

I have this up already but I will share it here. At the cross, Satan was defeated in the spirit realm by Michael the archangel. In the Catholic tradition, Michael the Archangel is the guardian and protector of the Holy Eucharist. For the Christian, the “Holy Grail” is the Eucharist or coming into union with Christ. That is, falling in love with Christ. Here’s what Mother Mary said in an apparition on September 25 in the 90’s (on my birthday) in Medjugorje:

This language of falling in love is what the Orthodox teaches in it’s doctrine of theosis. Here’s another quote from the above Greek Orthodox:

Link

greekorthodoxchurch.org/theosis_how.html

I have this up in another thread but it fits here with the theme of Holy Eros. This is the Christian Artist KB singing a song to his baby daughter about falling in love with her:

According to the Catholic Thomas Dubay in “The Evidential Power of Beauty”:

The key to this is found in humility: