Grace

What Is Grace?

Most people can tell you what grace does, but few can say what grace is.

Grace is uncreated (St. Gregory of Nyssa, 4th Century). The only uncreated is God. Grace, therefore, is God at work in us. Grace is not something we get from God. Grace is God working -- justification, sanctification, theosis, divinization, etc. -- in us. Grace is a very intimate thing. It draws us closer to God.

See this book, by James R. Payton Jr.

"[W]e as Orthodox view forgiveness of sins [that is, grace] only as the first step in the process of salvation." - Fr. James Bernstein, The Illumined Heart Podcast, May 22, 2008 (see Theosis)