Overview

"Mankind is created in the image and likeness of God for the purpose of sharing in the Divine Life and participating in the blessedness of the infinite glory and goodness of the Holy Trinity. This Beatific Vision is not seeing God in His essence, but rather seeing God by possessing Him within oneself. Communion with God is attained through the cooperation of the divine and human will, whereby the follower of Jesus Christ puts on Christ through the sacraments of the Church and imitates the life of Christ through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Jesus describes in the opening words of His Sermon on the Mount all that produces beatitude. The very intent of the Beatitudes is to issue the Father's divine call for man to enter in the blessedness of the Divine Life. Therefore, the Beatitudes illuminate the pathway to theosis (""deification"" or ""divinization""), which is a journey of eternal progress in the virtuous life by which a perpetual transformation is made into the likeness of God from glory to glory. The Scriptures and the patristic writings of the Church Fathers provide the theological foundation of this book, the objective of which is to provide a guide for the soul to consciously advance in the spiritual life toward the divine goal of theosis in a step-by-step, concrete way. Dr. Christopher J. Mertens is a deacon in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. He serves at the parish of Saint Basil the Great in Hampton, Virginia. He received a master's degree in Applied Orthodox Theology from the Antiochian House of Studies in partnership with the Saint John of Damascus School of Theology of the University of Balamand in the Republic of Lebanon, under the aegis of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch. He is a Knight of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch. He holds a PhD in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a Senior Research Physicist at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. His areas of research are space weather and geospace environment modeling, galactic and solar cosmic rays, space and atmospheric ionizing radiation and dosimetry. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles on his scientific research. He is a recipient of the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Metal and numerous other professional awards. Father Deacon Christopher and his wife, Rhonda, reside in Toano, Virginia. They have two adult daughters and two grandchildren. Publishers Maxim Hodak & Max Mendor"

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9781914337161

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"To be blessed ourselves, God has to be in us. Deacon Christopher Mertens uses some of the best of the Church's mystical tradition to demonstrate how we share in God's blessedness. He concisely shows how the Beatitudes are foundational to the New Covenant, and how Christ serves as the ""new Moses"" in bringing people into communion with God. This book is for those who, having been introduced to the Church's Tradition, desire to delve further into their life in Christ. Pastors will also find the work beneficial for straightforwardly instructing their parishioners. Deacon Christopher's work is well worth the read. - Bishop Thomas Joseph Diocese of Oakland, Charleston, and the Mid-Atlantic, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America- Rev. Father James PurdiePastor of Saint Basil the Great Orthodox Christian Church, Hampton, Virginia I would like to congratulate Dn. Christopher J. Mertens for publishing his Master thesis in Applied Orthodox theology, titled: ""The Beatitudes: A Pathway to Theosis."" In his thesis, Dn. Christopher gives a full account of the sermon on the mount, delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ, whose authority is greater than that of Moses, for He proclaims the new Torah, the spiritual Covenant. In the Beatitudes, Jesus describes the way of true discipleship, of the character of those who are worthy to be called children of God, and of the manner of ascending a ladder which leads to theosis. On behalf of the faculty of the Antiochian House of Studies, I commend Dn. Christopher for his work, hoping that his thesis will imbue the reader with spiritual benefits.- V. Rev. Father Michel Najim (Th.D)President of the Antiochian House of Studies, La Verne, California While there are a great many books dealing with the subject of Theosis at the level of dogmatic and mystical theology, including its elucidation in the fathers and grounding in the Scriptures, Mertens here provides a different approach. Through the interpretive lens of Gregory of Nyssa and other fathers, he utilizes Christ's own homiletic approach in the Sermon on the Mount to provide a 'way in' which connects the mystical life of the church to the life of the faithful within the world. The Beatitudes are here seen to be not simply moral imperatives or a virtue list but a means of spiritual ascent. The means of participation in the divine life described by the Beatitudes form a ladder stretching from earth to heaven and from this age to the eternal age to come.- Rev. Father Stephen De Young (Ph.D) Pastor of Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church, Lafayette, Louisiana No journey is as difficult as the one we make towards God and His blessedness. Yet, no journey has been so well-prepared and well-furnished. Fr. Deacon Christopher Mertens offers a wealth of material both in understanding as well as application in his study of the Beatitudes. Readers will appreciate what is offered to them, the treasures both new and old, of the Kingdom of God.- V. Rev. Father Stephen FreemanPastor of Saint Anne Orthodox Church, Knoxville / Oak Ridge, Tennessee"

Author Information

Dr. Christopher J. Mertens is a deacon in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. He serves at the parish of Saint Basil the Great in Hampton, Virginia. He received a master's degree in Applied Orthodox Theology from the Antiochian House of Studies in partnership with the Saint John of Damascus School of Theology of the University of Balamand in the Republic of Lebanon, under the aegis of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch. He is a Knight of the Order of St. Ignatius of Antioch. He holds a PhD in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a Senior Research Physicist at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. His areas of research are space weather and geospace environment modeling, galactic and solar cosmic rays, space and atmospheric ionizing radiation and dosimetry. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles on his scientific research. He is a recipient of the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Metal and numerous other professional awards. Father Deacon Christopher and his wife, Rhonda, reside in Toano, Virginia. They have two adult daughters and two grandchildren.

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