Called to become, by grace, what God is by nature, man can fulfil his longing for perfection through the love 1 which restores the unity of his nature and his communion with God. Indeed, ‘Orthodoxy can conceive of faith only in conjunction with the love of God’2, for it is ‘the spiritual force through which the believer is united with God and, in God, with all creation’3 and it is “the sole force that unites creation with God and all creatures with one another in the same mind”4. It is “like an uncreated energy, communicated by the Holy Spirit, a divine and deifying energy, through which we truly participate in the life of the Holy Trinity”5.
This presupposes, in an existential sense, the act of life consisting of giving and receiving, following the archetypal model of the Holy Trinity, for ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8), and ‘divine love flows from the Self to the Self, flows within God and has its foundation in itself’6; for this reason, Saint John the Evangelist expresses the fullness of God’s being and presence through the word ‘love’.
For this reason, Orthodox theology affirms that the sole source of love is the Holy Trinity, ‘the structure of supreme love’7; it is ‘the very life of the divine nature’8, being indistinguishable from His nature, as though it were an abstract quality. Love, therefore, is intrinsically linked to God; the intra-Trinitarian unity is experienced as a unity of love, yet the self-revelation of each Person is achieved through self-giving to the other Persons.
God is a Trinity of Persons, Who communicate with one another and share equally, a fact which reveals to us that love is not uniform, but is ‘a love of the Father, of the Son, and a hypostatic communication between Them, in the Person of the Holy Spirit. The Father’s tenderness towards the Son takes the comforting hypostatic form of the Holy Spirit. The Father rejoices together with the Spirit in the Son’9”. The fullness of existence, proper to the divine Being, cannot be experienced by a single ‘I’, and ‘God could not have been a God of love had He not from all eternity been a Father Who gives Himself to His Son from all eternity with His whole Being, giving birth to Him; and, moreover, without a third Person to whom to reveal Their love and joy, and the joy they share with Him, so that He, too, as the Third Person, might bear witness to the love between the Two, as Saint Gregory of Nazianzus points out. ‘The Holy Spirit is the One necessary for the fullness of love and joy’10 Through the Holy Spirit, the love of the Trinity is shown to be truly holy, spreading (pouring out) outward. In other words, the Spirit brings intra-Trinitarian love into creation, raising creation to the level of intra-Trinitarian love and deification. ‘The third is the litmus test of true love between two. Only through the third does the love between the two prove itself to be generous, capable of extending to subjects beyond themselves. Exclusivism between two makes it impossible for love to pour out generously over the wall of the prison of the two. In this sense, the name of the Holy Spirit is so closely associated with love, for He is the sign of perfect love in God. Only the third person implies the complete liberation of love from selfishness. ‘Through the Holy Spirit, the love of the Trinity proves itself to be truly holy’11 explains Father Dumitru Stăniloae.
The fullness of existence, proper to the divine being, cannot be experienced by a single ‘I’, and ‘God could not have been a God of love if He had not from all eternity been a Father Who gives Himself to His Son from all eternity with His whole Being, by begetting Him; and, moreover, without a third Person to whom He might reveal Their love and joy, and the joy they share with Him, so that He, too, as the Third Person, might bear witness to the love between the Two.
The interpersonal love of the Trinity preceded creation, constituting the reason for bringing the world into being out of nothing12ly (thus revealing it to be life-giving) and it was this same love that embraced all creation, making it—through the deification of humankind by grace—a partaker in the ineffable divine goodness, so that it might share His infinite love with others besides Himself. Thus, love ‘is not confined to God, but extends to the whole of creation; it gushes forth from everywhere, from all things and circumstances, manifesting itself in every way’13 It appears as an existential manifestation of the divine Trinitarian life, externalised through the outpouring of love beyond the divine being, through its uncreated energies, so that other beings may also share in it.
God created the world out of His love, to make it a partaker of the love within the Trinity, so that it might attain full communion. The world itself is the work of God’s love, both in terms of its creation and of the salvation of humankind through the sacrifice of His incarnate Son. For this reason, He shared His love at the creation of the world, but also after mankind’s fall into sin, when God did not turn away entirely from His creation and ‘so loved the world that He gave His only, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). God has not forgotten the work of His hands, nor His love for the whole of creation and, in particular, for humankind, whom He has made partakers of the epiphany of God. Through kenosis, the Son of God takes on the form of a servant (Philippians 2:6–11), and humankind comes to know the Incarnate God, who offers Himself with divine love so that we may experience the joy of communion with God. The birth of Christ the Saviour into the world is a reflection of incarnate love. The Son of God became incarnate to show us the boundless love of the Godhead: ‘Just as the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you’ (John 15:9), which He established as the foundation of love and communion amongst people: ‘Love one another, just as I have loved you’ (John 15:12).
Yet God calls man to share in divine love, not before revealing, in the light of His love, the value of man and of the whole world to God; and for this reason, Saint John Chrysostom asks: ‘What has God not done to be loved by us? What means has He not employed? What has He overlooked? We have mocked Him without Him having wronged us in any way; on the contrary, He has done us good and showered us with countless blessings. (…) Let us consider how often we mock Him even after the thousands of blessings, and yet He still comforts us; how often we flee from Him, and yet He does not overlook us, but goes before us and draws us towards Himself. If we reflect on all this, we shall surely be able to kindle within ourselves that longing and that love for Him’14
God shows His love for us so that we, in turn, may come to understand, become a dwelling place for His love, and respond with love to His love. In this way, ‘love is the bond of perfection’ (Colossians 3:14), for ‘the love of Christ compels us’ (2 Corinthians 5:14), so that the soul comes to know the work of grace, bringing to the fore the desire to be in communion, and this is realised in relationship with another person: whether the divine Person or a human person.
Thus, God’s love is shared through grace, just as, indeed, communion with God is achieved only through the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is He Who prepares within us the dwelling place of the love of the Holy Trinity. The bestowal of divine grace is not arbitrary, but depends on the person’s capacity for spiritual openness to free communion with Christ the Saviour, through the Holy Spirit. ‘God gives Himself to people according to their thirst’15; yet the more a person purifies themselves inwardly or frees themselves from passions, so much the more deeply can grace dwell within them, transforming them from within or enlightening their conscience to the same extent as their mind, which will then be able to perceive Christ through all creation. It is a personal knowledge of God that can be attained only through a mystical communion with Him; it is a ‘communion that begins with the revelation or discovery of God in the world and is fulfilled through man’s appropriate response’16). Therefore, there is almost a continuity between virtues and grace, between asceticism and prayer, ‘the path towards true communion, towards perfect communion’17; between “man’s effort of love and God’s love which sustains this effort”18, right up to the state of deification, which is one and the same as man’s union and communion with God; it is a participation in the Godhead and a deifying communion. In the light of this communion, love is, according to Saint Maximus the Confessor, ‘a good and affectionate disposition of the soul, by virtue of which it honours nothing more than the knowledge of God’19.
…the more a person purifies themselves inwardly or frees themselves from passions, so much the more can grace dwell ever more deeply within him, transforming him from within or enlightening his conscience to the same extent as his mind, which will be able to perceive Christ through all created things. It is a personal knowledge of God that can be attained only through a mystical communion with Him…
This communion also has a liturgical, Eucharistic dimension, for ‘through the Holy Sacraments and the entire liturgical life of our Church, the faithful are gradually introduced into the highest form of personal-sacramental communion with Christ and with one another’20 As the mystery of union with Christ, the Holy Eucharist fulfils the economy of God’s love for humankind, for Christ, in His perfect love, becomes incarnate in every human being and unites Himself with us for our salvation and deification. Through the Holy Eucharist, Christ’s love is bestowed upon us, so that He may remain in us and we in Him. Likewise, this is ‘a communion with a longing for perfection’21 because we pray: ‘Grant that we may partake of You, more truly, on the day of Your Kingdom that never ends’, regarding the Kingdom of Heaven as the eternal love of God. In this sense, Father Dumitru Stăniloae pointed out that ‘the true meaning of eternity can only be found in communion between eternal Persons whose love is inexhaustible. It involves a relationship with the other who responds with a similar love. The divine Persons love one another with a love that is eternally inexhaustible and unique to Them; They love one another as partners in perfect reciprocity or shared communion. It is a continuous movement passing from one to the other in a mutual exchange of the same eternal and perfect love’22
The archetypal model of the love and communion of the Holy Trinity becomes the foundation of love for one’s fellow human beings…; love for God becomes the source of love for one’s neighbour, and love for one’s fellow human beings directs us towards communion with God.
The archetypal model of the love and communion of the Holy Trinity becomes the foundation of love for one’s fellow human beings, since love ‘is not enough when it is sustained only by words, only in theory. It must be lived out; it must be put into practice. Communion must be evident in people’s deeds for one another, in their working together, thus becoming a true enrichment of the soul’23”.
In this way, love for God becomes the source of love for one’s neighbour, and love for one’s fellow human beings directs us towards communion with God. In communion, the mystery or divine image of our own person and of other persons is revealed and actualised, for it is only from the love between the divine Persons that the power of our interpersonal love radiates. Inter24l communion is an image of the Trinitarian communion and a participation in it. Thus, the divine image in man is revealed in l communion and in love.
- 1
“Love is a place of worship; it is a church, because it is always communion and because it is pure and holy. When you are within it, you are in pure communion with God and with people, freed from the pride that isolates you from everyone and separates you from God, rendering you incapable of opening yourself up to Him and to others” cf. Philokalia, vol. VI, p. 221, note 45.
- 2
Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, The Experience of God in Orthodoxy, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 1993, p. 121.
- 3
Metropolitan Dr Nicolae Mladin, Prof. Deacon Dr Orest Bucevschi, Prof. Dr Constantin Pavel, Prof. Deacon Dr. Ioan Zăgrean, Orthodox Moral Theology, Published by the Biblical and Missionary Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bucharest, 1980, Vol. II, p. 41.
- 4
Talasius the Libyan, ‘On Love, Self-Control and the Life According to the Mind, addressed to Paul the Presbyter’, in The Philokalia of the Holy Ascetic Practices of Perfection, Translation, introduction and notes by Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, member of the Romanian Academy, 2nd edition, Harisma Publishing House, Bucharest, 1994, vol. IV, p. 15.
- 5
Rev. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Spirituality: Asceticism and Mysticism, published by the Biblical and Missionary Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bucharest, 1992, p. 256.
- 6
Philokalia, vol. VII, p. 443, note 30.
- 7
Reverend Professor Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Vol. I, 3rd edition, published by the Biblical and Missionary Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bucharest, 2003, p. 293.
- 8
Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection, P.G., XLVI, col. 196 C.
- 9
Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Popescu, Doru Costache, Introduction to Orthodox Dogmatics – Themes of the Christian Faith from a Comparative Perspective, Libra, Bucharest, 1997, p. 125.
- 10
The Five Theological Orations, The Fifth Theological Oration, On the Holy Spirit, translated from the Greek, with an introduction and notes by Rev. Dr. Acad. Dumitru Stăniloae, Anastasia Publishing House, 1993.
- 11
Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Vol. I, p. 321.
- 12
“Creation is an act of God’s love”, cf. Paul Evdokimov, The Presence of the Holy Spirit in the Orthodox Tradition, Translation, preface and notes by Fr Dr Vasile Răducă, Anastasia Publishing House, 1995, p. 8.
- 13
Philokalia, vol. VIII, p. 293, note 597.
- 14
St John Chrysostom, Commentaries or Explanation of the Epistle to the Romans, translated from the Greek, Oxford edition, 1849, by Archimandrite Theodosie Athanasiu, Bucharest, 1906, pp. 70, 72.
- 15
Vl. Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 205.
- 16
Georgios Mantzaridis, Christian Ethics, vol. II, translated by Deacon Dr Cornel Constantin Coman, Bizantină Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006, p. 25.
- 17
Fr. D. Stăniloae, ‘Community through Love’, in: Ortodoxia, Year XV, no. 1, 1963, p. 53.
- 18
Philokalia, vol. VI, p. 250, note 12.
- 19
Saint Maximus the Confessor, Chapters on Love. The First Hundred…, p. 61.
- 20
Fr. Ioan Ică, ‘Communion and Intercommunion’, in: Glasul Bisericii, Vol. XXXVII, No. 5–6, May–June 1978, p. 535.
- 21
Fr. Răzvan Andrei Ionescu, Adrian Nicolae Lemeni, Orthodox Theology and Science: Guidelines for Dialogue, published by the Biblical and Missionary Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bucharest, 2007, p. 31.
- 22
Fr Dumitru Stăniloae, Time and Eternity, SLG Press, Convent of the Incarnation, Fairacress, Oxford.
- 23
Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, ‘Community through Love’, in Orthodoxia, Year XV, 1963, no. 1, p. 70.
- 24
Rev. Prof. Dr Dumitru Stăniloae, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, vol. I, p. 275.