I’m delighted to confirm that my paper proposal has been accepted for participation in the XXIII International Association for the History of Religions World Congress 2025 at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Here is my paper abstract:
Theosis, Theurgy, Telestike: Esoteric, or integrally Orthodox?
Several practices termed “esoteric” in Western scholarship are an inherent part of Orthodox liturgy, ritual, and lay practice and are insufficiently understood in the scholarly literature.
Current definitions of esotericism are unhelpful as they are particular to socioreligious developments in the West, neglecting developments in the Orthodox world.
Theurgic statue animation and theosis described in late antique Hermetic and Neoplatonist material illustrate this conceptual divide.
The Hermetica reads: “Not only does [man] advance towards God, but he also makes gods,” (Ascl. 23). Statues are compared to “mirrors” that reflect divine entities (CH XVII).
Proclus writes of statues as receptacles for the “illumination” of gods using symbols and synthēmata; Iamblichus describes details of the theurgic art. Self-deification is described as ‘full participation in God’s … incorporeal imagination…filled with the noēmata of all that is.” (CH XI 18).
In the Western reading, these practices are wholly esoteric and lie at the core of esoteric theory and practice.
In Orthodox Christianity, the theology of icons acknowledges their role as repositories for the essence, but not hypostasis, of the prototype (Damascene; Stouditis). These too, are “illuminated” through consecration by the Holy Spirit.
The Greek Patristic tradition and especially the contribution of St Maximus canonised the concept of theosis. Rather than ‘importations’ of esoteric notions, these are full integrations within the Orthodox faith accessible to all.
With telestike and theosis as illustrations, this paper argues for a reevaluation of the definition of esoteric practices and their entanglements when engaging with Orthodox discourse and practice.
