In the name of the Lord
+++
The Lord's blessings upon you brother Mena for bringing up this very important topic of our Orthoddox faith. If I may, I would like to add the following in regards to the concept of Theosis
The ultimate goal of the saint is to imitate God and live the life of deification "Theosis".+++St. Maximos the Confessor -seventh century- writes that the saints are men who have reached theosis; they have avoided unnatural development of the soul, that is, sin, and tried to live the natural way of life (i.e., living according to created nature), turning and looking always towards God, thus achieving total unity with God through the Holy Spirit
It may be stated here that the Saints
First, are first of all "friends" of God
Secondly, through their genuine piety and absolute obedience to God, they pleased Him and have therefore been "sanctified" both in soul and body, and subsequently glorified in this world
Third, they have been accepted in God's bosom after their passing from the world into eternal life
Fourth, many of them have been given special "grace" or "favor" to perform miracles either before their departure from this world or after
Fifth, they have been granted the special gift to pray and intercede for those still living in this world and fighting the "good fight" for the glory of God and their own perfection in Christ. This intercession springs from the fact that they also are part of the "Communion of Saints
They share prayers and good works with Christians on earth and there is a constant interaction and unity between the glorified saints in Heaven and Christians who still live in the world
In Christ
brother
Sulieman, a Sinner
المفضلات