Having put on something new, bright, and fragrant, who, unless he has lost sense, would agree to put on old, ugly, and foul-smelling rags again? If someone, after taking off one garment, remained naked, perhaps he would be drawn to put on again what he had cast off. He might do this even after recognizing it as good for nothing. But since, at the very time of putting off, there is also a putting on, such an act is unthinkable for those of sound mind. It is unthinkable for those fully conscious of themselves and of everything around them. It does happen, but always as a result of the darkening of the mind. The brightness of the state in grace, consciously known and felt, always has been, is, and will be the strongest motive for laying aside the passions that deprive one of this state. Therefore this is given not only to be known, but also to be felt by all who flee to the Lord. It is given both in the sacrament of Baptism and in the sacrament of repentance. “Who is renewed in knowledge.” He has put on the new. What further renewal is there? How can the new still be renewed? Putting on the new is not a completed work. It is only a beginning, a seed, a germ, a root. From this moment of putting on the new, renewal itself begins and goes on without interruption. It unfolds more and more fully and strives to reach its prototype, hidden in Him who created it. This shows us that there is no end to renewal. “The new man does not grow old, but blossoms and grows ever more through knowledge of God and divine things. He always and forever appears to be growing younger. Yet he becomes stronger the fuller knowledge he acquires, and the greater things of which he is made worthy” (Blessed Theophylact). “You have put off the old and have put on the new instead of it. Do not expect the same thing to happen to this one, that is, that he should grow old. On the contrary, the more he lives, the more he approaches not old age, but youth, which is better than the former. For the more he acquires knowledge, the more he is made worthy. He blossoms more and has more strength, not only from youth, but also from the image to which he draws near” (Saint Chrysostom). “Such is the property of the virtuous life according to God: it is forever young. Though it seems bodily to grow old, spiritually it always blossoms” (Oecumenius). “Who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of Him who created him.” Renewal proceeds properly according to the image of the Creator, as is self-evident. What, then, is “in knowledge,” εις επιγνωσιν? This indicates either the goal of renewal or the consequence that accompanies it. That is, the believer, recreated in Baptism, is renewed according to the image of the Lord who has created him anew here, in order to know and be enriched with knowledge. Or he is renewed in this way and through this is enriched with knowledge. Neither the Lord, who orders our salvation, nor man, who has sought salvation in Him, has knowledge as the goal. Knowledge is one part. Salvation embraces the whole nature in all its manifestations, and renewal likewise proceeds comprehensively. Yet this is undoubtedly true: knowledge, meaning spiritual knowledge whose object is the order of spiritual life in God, always follows in the footsteps of spiritual renewal. Only such knowledge is true, firm, and trustworthy. But it is received, not sought. The spirit that meets it rejoices as one who finds great spoil, but not as a merchant who receives a profit calculated beforehand. It always appears suddenly. This is how it comes. The one being renewed, while being renewed, meets something new. This new thing does not pass consciousness by, but makes itself known to it. The acting person, receiving it into his consciousness, becomes acquainted with it and begins to know it. The bodily eye saw a thing and knows it. So also consciousness perceives what is within itself and knows it. All spiritual knowledge is obtained only by this path. It is recognition. In it, the one who knows says within himself: now I know. I see, I experience, I feel, and I know. The new man is renewed according to the image of Him who created him. They ask what image is meant here. Is it the image according to which man was created, or the image according to which he is recreated? Are these not the same? Is not the Creator and the Recreator one and the same? And is not the image, there and here, one and the same? Man was created according to the image of God, but he lost it. Now he is recreated into the same image and is unceasingly renewed, so as to come to the measure of that image. Blessed Theodoret writes: “In the beginning, the God of all created us and impressed in us the exact features of the divine image, which sin damaged. Now in Christ Jesus they are created anew. The Apostle said this also in the Epistle to the Romans: ‘Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son’” (Rom 8:29). Oecumenius added his own word to this: “Such a one, that is, one renewed by grace, always keeps within himself the image of the God who created him pure. He does not allow features borrowed from the lower realm, false and delusive, to be mixed with it.” In holy Baptism we put on Christ. This putting on is sacramental and grace-filled. It is the reception in the spirit of the prototype. Then follows the transfer of all the features of Christ the Lord to the corresponding members of our nature. In this lies the labor of the will, the struggle of the whole life, and the work of renewal. Or, as in the Epistle to the Ephesians, it is creation according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth (cf. Eph 4:24). Blessed Theophylact writes: “‘According to the image of Him who created him,’ that is, of Christ. Christ did not come to old age, but was always so beautiful that it cannot be expressed: ‘fair in beauty above the sons of men’ (Ps 44:3). For He did no sin, which ages and corrupts. We, who have been created by Him according to His image, must cut away from ourselves every sinful corruption and aging. By creation the Apostle means both what occurs in Baptism and what occurs through a beautiful manner of life.” Why did Saint Paul mention the image here? The course of his speech required it. Before this he gave a commandment about laying aside the passions of irritation. The strongest motive for suppressing the very rise of such movements is the remembrance that we are according to the image of the all-good and all-forgiving Lord. We see the same setting side by side of sickness and its remedy in the words of the Lord in the Gospel: “Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who abuse you and persecute you. Thus you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. Therefore be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:44-48). That is: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36).
THEOSIS