Orthodox asceticism is training in unselfish love, turning the light of awareness round into uncreated light, seeing God with the single eye of the awakened heart, glorifying God with the deifying glory of hallowing glorification. Metanoia turns the mind back into the heart where love dwells in God, enabling seers to see God’s love with God’s eye of wisdom, theoria, opening wisdom to uncreated glory with ever-increasing love, love increasing from glory to glory, theosis. Turning renews love through love, regenerating love through God’s loving intention to save all, quietening the mind in God’s loving stillness, awakening joy in God’s ecstatic communion. God’s uncreated light communicates love beyond calculation, beyond comprehension, revealing the incommensurable glory of love. Training in love is the practice of metanoia that generates love from wisdom and wisdom from love, opening translucent vision to love’s vision of God, theoria, awakening love from love through deification, theosis. This is right-glorification that gives Orthodoxy its name, enveloping every dimension of Christian Tradition with transfiguring love.
So, in answer to the question, how does Orthodoxy train love’s seekers in increasing love, the answer is by love which sustains love, training in love through love, which is revelation of the Holy Trinity of infinite love. God is love and love knows God, revealing God’s love through love by love, Holy Trinity, whose divine life is the way and truth of love. Love’s meaning is the same mystery in every age, renewing love with love in every generation. Love of novelty is fulfilled by love, making all things new. Love of tradition is fulfilled by love’s unchanging way and love’s undying truth, lived as love’s timeless way of life, which is love’s glorification of God and God’s glorification of love. This is the stabilisation of the golden energy of uncreated love, the sevenfold enlightenment of wisdom, regenerating love through sevenfold glorification, renewing love by love, through love, love’s deification of all seven centres of love in illumined human beings.
What appears in time to be three stages of love’s unfolding, are in fact one revelation of timeless love. Because God is one, God’s love and our love of God are one. Each stage, purification, illumination and glorification is the loving expression of one love, God’s ineffable love, revealed gradually yet timelessly in one overarching embrace. This is the revelation of God’s invisible presence as the ineffable openness of love, when soaring resurrection ascends as love through ineffable love. The verification of love is tested through love by love, but it does not follow that love can be verified by science or philosophy, unless they are inspired by genuine love of wisdom. It is love that truly understands love, just as it is God who knows God. Turning knows love with wisdom’s seeing, just as seeing knows God with wisdom’s knowing, which is love. The elixir of golden love is uncreated glory, revealing love, by love, through love, training in love by love, through love.