Theosis — Deification

Theosis (theopoiesis, deificatio) is the Eastern Orthodox doctrine that the telos of human existence is participation in the divine life — expressed in Athanasius's formula: 'God became man so that man might become God' (De Incarnatione). Gregory Palamas's critical distinction between God's unknowable ousia (essence) and God's communicable energeiai (energies) safeguards this doctrine from pantheism: the soul becomes God-like by grace, permeated by uncreated light as iron is permeated by fire, without confusion of natures. Theosis is not a future event but the ongoing work of synergeia — the cooperation of human will and divine grace through the sacramental and ascetical life of the Church.