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mains in some relationship with him’.13 Staniloae tells us that, in the East, grace
has always been linked to man’s nature, especially his soul. Indeed, this is what
makes man unique in God’s creation and is the foundation of man’s kinship
with God. It is the soul that is in conscious dialogue with God and his fellow
beings. Even though this dialogue was intended to be unceasing, a certain rela-
tionship remains despite sin, for sin has only ‘darkened the clarity of this
communion’.14 Among others, this is perhaps one of the most striking features
of the thought of these Church Fathers, that despite the fall into sin, not only
does God remain active and present in creation, but that human beings remain
capable of creating the good, and so working towards making God visible in
creation, though, of course, the relationship between God, man and man to
nature and the world is much altered, obscured and weakened. As such, ‘the
world no longer a?ords the possibility to make easy use of the whole of its mal-
leable character’.15 Yet God’s original plan, embedded in creation itself, is dei?-
cation and this also includes the redemption of mankind. For those who raise
themselves in Christ, death does not have the last word, and existence is ex-
tended beyond death into the in?nite.16 Indeed, through Christ, the human
being is returned to communion with God and, through such, is delivered from
eternal death.17 It is that, as John of Damascus makes clear, the hope of the
resurrection has been granted through the resurrection of Christ, and he is the
?rst fruits of our resurrection.18 Ultimately, the Orthodox view is extremely
encouraging: ‘the plan for deifying creation and the human being are not
thwarted by the introduction of sin into the world’.19 Staniloae adds that ‘even
in the state of sin, it is providence that preserves and directs the world’.20 This
seems so foreign to the spirit and belief of the West today, and yet, it is exactly
what Christian communities need to hear and learn to live with con?dence.
Staniloae tells us that despite the state of sin in the world, God is always guid-
ing humankind towards salvation and dei?cation. What is striking in this view
is that our salvation does not seem to happen as an ‘event’ that could suddenly
come upon us at any time, but is rather a goal to which we are ever being

13 Staniloae, The Experience of God, Vol 2, The World: Creation and Dei?cation, p. 88.
14 Staniloae, The Experience of God, Vol 2, The World: Creation and Dei?cation, p. 89.
15 Staniloae, The Experience of God, Vol 2, The World: Creation and Dei?cation, p. 187.
16 Staniloae, The Experience of God, Vol 2, The World: Creation and Dei?cation, p. 187.
17 Staniloae, The Experience of God, Vol 2, The World: Creation and Dei?cation, p. 187.
18 Saint John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith: Book Four, from Writings, p. 338.
19 Staniloae, The Experience of God, Vol 2, The World: Creation and Dei?cation, p. 205.
20 Staniloae, The Experience of God, Vol 2, The World: Creation and Dei?cation, p. 205.

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