898
edits
Changes
Note on Universalism
The sole purpose of Orthodox Christianity is the salvation of every human person, uniting him to Christ in the Church, transforming him in holiness, and imparting eternal life. This is the Gospel, the good news, that Jesus is the Messiah, that he rose from the dead, and that we may be saved as a result.
[[Image:Rublev Trinity.jpg|left|thumb|The [[Hospitality of Abraham]], an [[Old Testament]] pointer toward the [[Holy Trinity]].]]
==God==
''Main article: [[Holy Trinity]]''
The Church is the Bride of Christ, the [[eschatology|eschatological]] spouse of the Son of God, united to him in faith and love, for which he gave himself up on the cross. The intimacy of a husband and wife is an earthly image of the intimacy that Christ has with his Church, and the union of an earthly marriage is a shadow of the union of that marriage of the Lamb of God with the Church.
The community of the Church is the locus of [[soteriology|salvation]] for mankind; it is truly the Ark in which mankind may be saved from the flood of corruption and sin. In it, Christians [[Holy Mysteries|sacramentally]] work out their salvation with fear and trembling ([[Philippians|Phil.]] 2:12), worshipping the Holy Trinity in spirit and in truth. The Church is the pillar and ground of truth ([[I First Epistle of Paul to Timothy|I Tim.]] 3:15) and thus may be relied upon in the Christian's struggle to apprehend the one truth for himself. The Church is eternal, and the gates of [[Hell]] will never prevail against it ([[Gospel of Matthew|Matt.]] 16:18).
The Church consists of the [[prophet]]s and [[saint]]s of both the Old and New Covenants, the [[angels]] and the concrete, historical community of believers in this earthly life. Those who have gone on before us are known as the ''Church Triumphant'', while those in this life are known as the ''Church Militant''.
In theosis, man becomes filled with the divine life. He takes on God's attributes, but he does not become merged with the Holy Trinity. There is union without fusion. Man can become a god by grace, not in a polytheistic sense, but rather in terms of becoming a son or daughter of the Most High by means of adoption. Thus, a classic [[Church Fathers|patristic]] image of theosis is a sword held in a flame—the sword gradually takes on the properties of the flame (light and heat), but remains a sword.
The Orthodox Church does not take a position on exactly whom will be saved or what happens to those who are not in the world to come. There are some who take a position of [[Universalism]], like [[Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia]] or [[Theodore of Mopsuestia]] while remaining Orthodox.
==Clergy==