Ah, FK, you need more +Gregory Palamas. You'll never get that M.Div in Orthodoxy Theology at this rate:
"After our forefather's transgression in paradise through the tree, we suffered the death of our soul - which is the separation of the soul from God - prior to our bodily death; yet although we cast away our divine likeness, we did not lose our divine image. Thus when the soul renounces its attachment to inferior things and cleaves through love to God and submits itself to Him through acts and modes of virtue, it is illuminated and made beautiful by God and is raised to a higher level, obeying His counsels and exhortations; and by these means it regains the truly eternal life. Through this life it makes the body conjoined to it immortal, so that in due time the body attains the promised resurrection and participates in eternal glory."
And this:
"Death, properly speaking, is this: for the soul to be unharnessed from divine grace and to be yoked to sin ... Let us cast away, let us reject all things, bid farewell to all things: to all relationships, actions and intentions that drag us downward, separate us from God and produce such a death. He who is frightened of this death and has preserved himself from it will not be alarmed by the oncoming death of the body, for in him the true life dwells, and bodily death, so far from taking true life away, renders it inalienable."
Thanks for the quotes. With only a couple of bumps and bruises, I really saw myself getting through both quotes pretty much OK. :)
In the first one, the most interesting thing was the description of theosis being wholly compatible with my idea of salvation. I really liked that and was "yupping" all the way through. :) The second most interesting thing was the phrase "Thus when the soul renounces its attachment to inferior things and cleaves through love to God ...". I have no idea whether it was intentional, but this exact wording actually allows a person like me to fully agree. The focus is not on the "how" (which is where I think there would be disagreement) but rather on the actual thing that is happening. Since I agree that this happens, I can participate here.
The second quote is similar and I think I can agree in principle to it with one hitch: "He who is frightened of this death and has preserved himself from it ...". I think there could be some wiggle room here, but it just struck me as something possibly intended to convey an accomplishment by man's self, rather than God through man. But maybe I'm reading too much into it. :) In any case, I felt reasonably receptive to both quotes.