Review of Teosis principle vis-à-vis Church-State relations

Abstract

In the modern epoch, the role of religion has increased, and it is pronounced in Georgia. The source of power is God in religion, while the contemporary understanding of democracy says that society is the source of power. Our dissertation aims to realize how the division between secular and sacral powers in Georgia is possible so as not to break the principle of secularization and, at the same time, stay connected to God. To achieve this aim, our objective is to review the Divine-Human communion principle suggested by different authors, authoritarian theologians, and philosophers, how this principle is transformed through time from one author to another, and how this principle is realized in the relationship between State and church, religion and politics. The relationship between sacral and secular is still in the modern epoch, and the question is being discussed: What might be the frame of reference of the relationship between State and church, and how to connect it to the modernism paradigm in philosophy and theology? The principle of Divine-human communion, or theosis (θέωσις), is one of the essential principles of Orthodox Christian tradition. Many orthodox Christian authorities, like Eusebius of Caesarea, John Chrysostom, Sergius Bulgakov, Vigen Guroian, Vladimir Soloviov, Justinian I, etc., were writing about this principle. However, consensus does not exist among them about the implications of it on the relationship between church and State.In the earliest Christian documents, Christians have ambiguous attitudes towards civic and political institutions of the Roman empire. The only consensus had been about the difference between the political community and God's kingdom. According to the gospel, Christ's attitude towards political institutions had been to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" (Mt 22:21). According to Christianity, the world is a temporary place for the human, until the eternal life. All the kingdoms are understood as opposed to God's kingdom. Manichean dualism, "this world" and "the other world," is still evident in Christian thinking. This approach needs to be more discernible in the books of Acts and the Apostles of Paul. According to Paul, divine sanctions appear on political institutions (Rom 13:1). God blesses them, and Christians should strive to create a good political community. Christianized the Roman empire aligned to the kingdom of God, but without equating these two. The authors of these initiatives were emperors Constantine I, who issued the Edict of Milan, and Theodosius I, who declared Christianity as the official state religion.The form of relationship between religion and politics is well described in the writings of Eusebius, when he called Constantine as "Viceroy of God" and the empire the image of the heavenly kingdom. Divine providence guides history "toward the culminating point, the reunification of the Roman Empire under a Christian emperor."John Chrysostom said that God established government to avoid chaos and anarchy. God blesses institutions. Hierarchy is essential for keeping the peace. The division between the roles of the two highest, priest and ruler, is essential. While Justinian makes a distinction between the powers of the emperor (imperium) and priesthood (sacerdotium), the Emperor is responsible for human affairs, while the bishop "serves divine things." Vladimir Soloviev had aimed to see the divine presence in material structures. Human creation's aim is deification. Church and State are separated, but the State must defend religious pluralism and human rights, even the rights of atheists. Sergius Bulgakov expands Soloviev's philosophy and thinks that theosis should be translated into Christian political and economic visions, mostly into Christian socialism. In 1905 he formed a Christian political union and declared his vision in tractate "Urgent Task."Today there is a debate about theosis connected to state-church relations in the American context between Stanley Harakas and Vigon Guroian. Harakas tried to see American democracy through the Bizantine Symphony. While Guroian criticized Harakas and developed the idea of eucharistic ecclesiology, as it is accepted in orthodoxy, "the eucharist makes the church."The position of Aristotle Papanikolaou is between the positions of Eusebius and Chrisostomos. Christians may be in politics, using the teaching of escatology, but under the divine-human communion principle. The State needs to bring up virtues in citizens. The function of the State is to create possibilities for accomplishing theosis principle.