In order to reach the goal of Theosis, prayer, humble service, meditation and similar exercises are not only necessary but also highly recommended. The notion of merit – that is that we can do anything to merit union with God – is truly foreign to the Eastern tradition. While it is true that Eastern tradition indicates that cooperation with the workings of God’s Spirit is essential in order to achieve Theosis, this does not mean that we can merit Theosis. In general, the attitude of Eastern tradition towards grace (God’s help) and free will is less reserved than in Western tradition. In the East, the question of free will has never had the urgency that it assumed in the West from the time of Augustine. The Eastern tradition never separates grace and human freedom. Therefore, the charge of Pelagianism (i.e., that grace is a reward for the merit of the human will) is not fair. It is not a question of merit, but of cooperation, of synergy of the two wills, divine and human. “Grace is a presence of God within us which demands constant effort on our part.” One of the Eastern Fathers has stated that “The Holy Spirit, acting within us, accomplishes with us our salvation” and that “being assisted by grace, man accomplishes the work of his salvation.”

I suspect that this distinction might be difficult to understand. What is being said is that when we truly cooperate with God’s Spirit we can achieve greater union with God.

One of the distinctive characteristics of Eastern theology is in captured in the following: the early Christian understanding of creation and of man’s ultimate destiny is truly inseparable from the    power of the Holy Spirit working in creation. It has always been the task of the Eastern wing of the church to keep alive this orientation of the continual working of God’s Spirit in creation. Creation itself is sustained in existence by the active power of God’s Spirit.

Some Eastern theologians have stressed that this emphasis on the Holy Spirit actively working to keep all things in existence has been lost in the West as greater emphasis has been placed on the role of Christ in salvation history. A truly healthy attitude about human salvation needs a balance between the work of Christ and of the Spirit.

Since the divine Spirit is the Giver of Life, His main work in salvation is the divinization of human beings. So the role of the Holy Spirit in Eastern soteriology (doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ) is highlighted by the ultimate goal of salvation which is Theosis. Salvation has as its ultimate realization union with God in the age to come – the deification of the created beings whom Christ saved.