God created man and gave him the ability of communion with the Creator via the uncreated divine grace, i.e. via the life-creating energy of the Holy Spirit.
In this environment of the divine love, man had the ability to cultivate the communion, developing a free and unselfish love towards God and his neighbour.
Therefore man himself should have reached perfection, staying of his own free will in the environment of God, always though having the ability to deny the perfection should he wish to do so.
Unfortunately man was deceived by the Devil, denied the loving relationship with God and moved away from the grace of the Holy Spirit. As a result, he became spiritually dead, since he separated himself from the life-creating energy of God.
The natural death that followed the spiritual one was a natural result of sin. Thus, death came into the life of man as a parasite, as the result of a free act of man: his separation from God (c.f. John 3: 36, 8: 51. 1 John 3: 10-14).
God did not prevent death; He allowed it so that evil would not become eternal, and in order to give man a chance to repent, but also to reshape and "anoint" him a new creation "in Christ" (2 Corinth, 5: 17. Gal. 6: 15).
Of course, God could have created man morally perfect, so that he could not move away from His love. This however would remove man's freedom, the ability that is to choose immortality freely, without being pressured by anyone.
The above reveal that the Orthodox Church makes a distinction between the creation of the world and its fall by Satan's deceit.
By falling, man moved away from the divine life and lost the `undecaying'-making energy of the Holy Spirit and his nature got sick. Thus "wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned", i.e. all men sinned because of the fear of death (Romans 5: 12).
The salvation of man essentially boils down to the restoration of his immortality, i.e. his return to the communion with God via the uncreated divine acts.
Of course the apostle says that, while we were "enemies", "we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Rom. 5:10) but, as St. John Chrysostom mentions characteristically, it wasn't God that hated man, but we hated God; the cross of Christ presupposes infinite love, not hatred (John 3:16. 2 Corinth. 5:19).
Salvation refers to the therapy of man's sick nature, to his deliverance from the bondage of the Devil and the bondage of death, and to his return on the path to immortality.
Salvation is realised in the face of Christ, who "took part of the same", i.e. took over the whole of man, "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage". (Hebrews 2: 14-15; see also 12: 28. Luke 11: 20).
The salvation therefore of the human nature coincides with the nature's receipt by the Son and Word of God and its restoration inside the divine communion (2 Peter 1: 4). It is fruit of the 'undecaying-making' energy of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinth. 15: 45-49. 2 Corinth. 3: 6).
It is impossible for man to save himself neither by his actions nor even by faith: "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinth. 15: 50). This though does not mean that man's flesh cannot be saved. Of course the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God but it can be inherited by the Holy Spirit, dress 'undecayingness' and immortality and be transported to the Kingdom of Heavens (1 Corinth. 15: 51-54. Rom. 8: 11). This way salvation refers to the whole of man who is thought of as a psychosomatic unity.
Salvation is a gift from God (c.f. Acts 2: 47. Rom. 7: 15. Eph. 2: 8-9). But God does not act blindly; He respects man's freedom. Man decides in the end if he will accept or reject the grace of God, standing against the energy of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinth. 6: 1).
God wants the salvation of man, but man must accept God's invitation (Matt. 23: 37. Acts 7: 51. Revel. 3: 20); to believe consciously and with consistency in God's gift. Then, God counts to him this faith of his as justice (Rom. 4: 2-11).
Without a spiritual struggle with the purpose of staying in the love of God and of our neighbour, salvation is impossible (1 John 3: 14). And even if the faith is there, it is dead, leading to death and not life (Matt. 21: 31-46. James 2: 26). Therefore the actions are necessary, even though they are not of an appeasing nature. They express the irrevocable wish of man for salvation and keep him watchful against the cunning of the devil that threatens to remove the grace from him (Eph. 6: 10-18). They keep the faithful "open" to the grace and the fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit, something that does not happen without his consent and cooperation (Gal. 5:22-25).
The salvation was realised of course "in Christ" once and for all. But the Christian who received the grace must always stay watchful. God gives the salvation as a present to man, and man can be sure for that which depends on God (Matt. 1: 21. Acts 4: 12. 10: 43. 1 Tim. 2: 5-6). But in all that is related to man, there is no certainty for salvation, for his nature is changeable. The faithful can fall any minute, even if he has achieved a high level of holiness. All it takes is one moment of conceit! This is why the apostle cautions "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinth. 10: 12); "lest ye should be wise in your own conceits" (Rom. 11: 25).
The final destination of each faithful is the "gathering of the Pentecost" in which the apostles and the whole of the Church of the first-born reside (Heb. 12: 23). For this reason the Christian must undertake a spiritual struggle in order to ensure he does not lose that which he obtained (2 John 8) and his battle thus proves in vain (2 Corinth. 6: 1. Gal. 2: 2. 1 Thessalonians 3: 5).
Salvation is not an instantaneous and irrevocable event. The Bible says that the Kingdom of God is like a man dropping a seed to the ground and that seed sprouting and growing and giving fruit:"first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear" (Mark 4: 26-28). The "enlightenment" with the holy baptism takes place "once and for all", for there is only one baptism (Eph. 4: 5. Heb. 6: 4). But the faithful is called to keep the heritage of the grace in order to accept the "prize of the calling from above" and thus "be counted among the first-born, among the ones written in heaven" (c.f. Baptism Service).
If we "open" ourselves to the grace
of God then the gift we received will develop inside us and show itself as the
fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is comprised of the various gifts of the Holy
Spirit (Gal. 5: 22). These gifts are not moral attributes which we count in
the eyes of the people that live away from Christ. For example, when the Church
in her hymnology uses the term "wise" she does not
mean the worldly wisdom, rather the "foolishness of the cross" (1 Corinth. 1:
21-25), i.e. the "words which the Holy Ghost teacheth" (1 Corinth. 2:
13).
The moral life of the 'spirit-carrying' man is not measured with the measures of this world, but with the measures of God; it is fruit of the Holy Spirit and not a result of "cultivation" by man, fruit of arbitrary and autonomous procedures, independent of the grace of God. The Holy Spirit resides inside the faithful. It is the spirit of adoption, that "cries" together with its own spirit, "Abba, Father" (Rom. 8: 15) and co-helps the faithful "in sicknesses", begging "for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Rom. 8: 26).
Some heterodox groups preach that God is bound and provides salvation only when someone follows a certain procedure and passes through certain stages: listening, faith, repentance, admitting, and baptism. But the Bible informs us that the love of our Lord is not tied by any law if it means to save man. The thief for instance on the cross took the assurance from the Lord that that same day he would be with Him in paradise without following these stages.
Having said that, the need for following the things of the Church for salvation (e.g. the sacraments) is not cancelled, for the thief said the famous word "μνήσθητι" (remember me) to the Lord BEFORE the Lord said the word "τετέλεσθαι" and descended unto Hades. So even though the love of our Lord is not tied by any law, this does not mean that all we have to do is ask for forgiveness a few hours before we die, having followed nothing of the things given to us during our lifetime (such as having been baptised, chrismated, confessing our sins on occasion and when prepared receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord are).
EXPLANATION OF TERMS USED IN THE CHAPTER
undecayingness = incorruptibility is the word I found closest to this concept; however, I mean the state that can never decay, hence undecayingness..such composite words I will use even if not strictly correct in the English language to be more precise, so I will use the single quotes around them to demonstrate this.
Chrysostom = name added to one of the three Hierarchs, John (Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian are the other two), meaning "having a golden mouth". John Chrysostom's Liturgy is conducted in Orthodox Churches around the globe every Sunday. Basil the Great also wrote a Liturgy which is still conducted a few times a year; it is essentially the same as Chrysostom's, whose Liturgy is an abridged version of St. Basil's. Both Liturgies are essentially identical apart from some non-sacramental prayers, and both stem from St. James' Liturgy. In all three ones (including a fourth one by St. Mark the Evangelist which is still conducted in Alexandria, Egypt, stemming again directly from St. James' one) we notice that the sacramental parts are identical. These cannot be changed for they were told by our Lord to us, so that we know exactly how to conduct the Sacrament of Eucharist, the whole setting of the remembrance of the life and crucifixion of our Lord etc. For this reason these Liturgies are called divine Liturgies.
psychosomatic = psyche (=soul) + soma (=body) = related to the soul and body together (as one).
hymnology = the set of hymns of the Church (Ecclesia).