ŽUPINA Miroslav - Acta Patristica, volume 10, issue 20/2019
VISION OF GOD (THEOPTIA) IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ACCORDING TO THE EXAMPLE OF THEOPHANY TO THE PROPHET OF MOSES
/TEOPTIA V STAROM ZÁKONE NA PRÍKLADE ZJAVENÍ SA BOHA PROROKOVI MOJŽIŠOVI/
Miroslav ZUPINA
lecturer, Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Presov in Presov, Masarykova 15, 080 01 Presov, Slovakia, miroslav.zupina@unipo.sk, 00421517724729
Abstract
The present study brings a theological view of the question of seeing (maturing) God in the context of the teachings of the Holy Scripture, namely the Old Testament in those contexts that directly affect the life and work of the Prophet Moses. The theme of seeing God (theoptia) is not new in the New Testament, because the Old Testament already brings several revelations of God to man. In our article, we look in more detail at the theological examination of the three revelations of God to Moses. We come to the general conclusion that in the Old Testament man could not look at God's face, he saw only God "from behind", while the New Testament man could look into Christ's radiant face. The vision of God is realized through the deification of man, and man thus participates in the worshiping energy of God, and the more mature and fuller maturation of God will only be possible in the next age.
Keywords
The Old Testament, Moses revelation, theophany, theoptia, the vision of God, light, cloud, metamorphosis, eschatological renewal, deification
SUMMARY
Several conclusions are drawn from this study, which we will try to summarize. First, teoptium itself is always a movement, activity, a dynamic educational and educational process, in which God reveals and reveals to man, thus experiencing him personally with God's grace (energy). Second, the gradual revelation of God, that is, the individual theophanes, lead Moses to an ever greater knowledge of God - teognosis. Third, theophania or the vision of God by the apostles or later by different saints are more perfect from Moses as well as from all the Old Testament apparitions, because the vision of God in the Old Testament was only partial and incomplete, while in the New Testament it is fuller and clearer. A better vision of God will only be possible in the next age, when by participating in God's life one can experience eschatological renewal and become a member of the community of theosis - deification.
(Language: slovak)