Communion with God, A Proposal for Understanding the Outcome of Theosis in the Writings of Maximus the Confessor
Communion with God, A Proposal for Understanding the Outcome of Theosis in the Writings of Maximus the Confessor

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to examine and elucidate the soteriological implications of an ontological understanding of koinonia in relation to the understanding of theosis in the writings of Maximus the Confessor. The paper begins with a brief analysis and interpretation of Maximus the Confessor’s understanding of theosis with special reference to Thunberg’s phrase “energetic communion”. Alongside this is set a brief analysis of an ontological understanding of the category of koinonia. This is followed by a more detailed analysis of the ontological interpretation of the concept of koinonia as argued by John Zizioulas in relation to the writings of the Cappadocian Fathers, which is compared and contrasted with Maximian triadic formulas. In conclusion I set out the tentative outcomes of this discussion for our understanding of Maximus as well as for our understandings of theosis for the human person. I argue that the Maximian understanding of theosis can be related to the Cappadocian’s / Zizioulas’s understanding of the divine koinonia, through the use of the category of energeia as bridge concept.

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