Konstantin Yur’evich Subbotin phd in philology, master of theology, rector, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680)
subb_konstantin@yahoo.com
Subbotin K. Yu. Sanctification and Theosis in Sergey Stragorodsky’s Understanding of Justification, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 80–98.
doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-80-98
Language: Russian
The article examines the soteriological concept of Sergius Stragorodsky in his master’s thesis «The Orthodox Teaching of Salvation». The author compares Stragorodsky’s position with how the concept of «deification» is used in the Orthodox tradition, and also evaluates it from the point of view of confessional Lutheran theology.
Despite the fact that Stragorodsky uses the term «deification» only once in his dissertation when quoting, the analysis of the concept of salvation in this and his other works, as well as the definition of theosis by renowned Orthodox theologians, suggests that the scope of the concept of «deification» is expressed in his dissertation in terms of «sanctification», «holiness», «unity with God». Thus, Stragorodsky describes salvation in terms close in meaning to «deification».
From the point of view of confessional Lutheran theology, Stragorodsky’s soteriology can be described as a confusion of the concepts of justification and sanctification. For Stragorodsky, justification is not an external forensic act, but an internal change. Stragorodsky describes justification as a lengthy process that takes place with the participation of the human will — the way Lutheran theology would describe sanctification. The article draws a parallel between this confusion of justification and sanctification and the views of Osiander condemned in the Formula of Concord. In addition, it is concluded that the comparison of the concept of «deification» in Eastern Christianity and the way Martin Luther used this term also has no basis.
Key words: theosis, Eastern theology, soteriology, confessional Lutheranism, justification, sanctification
URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-subbotin-2023/
