Christ, the Word Incarnate, abd Deification.
All of this is achieved through Christ, the Word Incarnate. He
tries to make us gods. He assumes our flesh to redeem the age and to make the
flesh immortal. The Word of the Father is an "unchanging Image" who "comes to
its own image." He "unites himself with an intellectual soul for the sake of our
souls, to purify that which is similar to Himself through His own similarity."
The reason that Gregory objects so strongly to the doctrine of the Apollinarians
is that he considers the intellect to be the highest of man's attributes. "The
most important things in human nature are the image of God and the strength of
the intellect." It is primarily through his intellect, which is formed in the
image of God, that man can approach the Divinity.
Gregory supports the bold formulation of Basil: man is a
creature but has been commanded to become a god. The path "deification" is a
path of purification and the elevation of the intellect, καθαρσις. This is achieved through renouncing the
material world of the senses, because the senses darken the mind. It is also
necessary to concentrate on the self, to fight against the passions, and
to attain a state of impassivity or apathy. In Gregory's conception an ascetic
is a wise man and a philosopher, and he has much in common with Clement of
Alexandria's "gnostic." As a youth in Alexandria Gregory had studied with
Didymus, who shared many of Clement's ideas. Gregory's image also shows the
influence of Hellenism and can be compared to the ideals of the Stoics and
Platonists. It is especially similar to the ideal of Plotinus. To a certain
extent the whole system of Plotinus is a doctrine of "purification" as the way
God, a goal to which the spirit is drawn by desire, love, and the aspiration to
completeness and perfection. Man yearns for full consciousness. To reach this
end, it is necessary to renounce the body and to "go into oneself" in order to
attain simplification and ecstasy.
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