Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

Son of God

Question:

I am a Roman Catholic and I believe in God, the Father, God , the Son and God, the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is God to me.  How is it with the Ukranian Orthrodox?  Is God - the Father and  Jesus just the son of God? 

Answer:

Dr. Alexander Roman (e-mail)

The Ukrainian and all Orthodox Christians firmly believe in the Most Holy Trinity and that our Lord Jesus Christ is true God and true Man in One Divine Person.  (I’m somewhat perplexed by your statement, “Jesus, just the son of God” – Jesus is the Son of God and equally God together with the Father and the Holy Spirit).

In fact, one can argue that the Orthodox Church emphasizes the Divinity of Christ to a greater, overt degree than the Catholic and Protestant West.  In terms of liturgical prayer, the pattern in the West is to “God the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit.”  In the Orthodox East, worship is directed to all Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity directly, as can be seen from the majority of ending doxologies.

In icons, Christ is depicted in such a way that we are reminded about His Divinity and His features are deified, divinized – as are those of Most Holy Mother of God and all the Saints.  “Theosis” or the doctrine of how we are ourselves divinized by our participation in Christ, the Incarnate Divine Word of God, through the Holy Spirit is lacking in the West (at least there is no formal discussion of it in the Catholic Catechism). 

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