St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite is well-known and rightly reverenced in the Byzantine rite for several things. Sadly, he is largely become known as more legalist as he writes upon the holy canons of the ancient faith. But he was also a compiler and an editor of sacred documents. St. Nicodemos also maintained many relations with Catholic theologians who approached him for counsel on Mt. Athos. Somehow, he would end up in possession of a spiritual work from one of these Catholic theologians. That spiritual work was The Spiritual Combat by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli.
Much thinking began to emerge in the 20th century specifically on the Orthodox Church which gave this illusion that there was somehow a super-mystical nature about Orthodoxy that hadn't existed in any religion before. Many westerners began thinking about Orthodoxy in thought that made it seem almost exotic. There are indeed certain characteristics that set Orthodoxy apart from Protestantism and Catholicism but it is not a sort of super-mystical entity that is far out. It's Christianity. It's not too much drastically different from Roman Catholicism either, especially as Catholicism exists in the Tridentine Mass. But theologians go crazy over these differences. There's a lot more differences with Protestantism. But the major difference is in spirituality.
It is in The Spiritual Combat where we see the differences between East and West in their given spiritualities sharply differentiated. This is not to say the differences are major. St. Nicodemos surely would have never given an adaptation to The Spiritual Combat if he thought that! However, there are peculiarities. The peculiarities are small, perhaps trivial, and definitely nuanced, but they exist nevertheless. One can see this in the liturgy and one can see this in the prayer. For the Church, the teaching is all in the lived tradition of the saints. It is better to focus on the prayers of the Church if one wants to assess doctrine. Thus it was that St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite began to revise and construct an adaptation of The Spiritual Combat which became known to Eastern readers as The Unseen Warfare. He included notes that emphasized and corrected the teaching of the Latin and brought it to a more Orthodox understanding of spirituality.
It is indisputable among both East and West that the goal of Christianity is union with God. Abbot Moses explained to St. John Cassian as such, "The goal of our profession is the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of heaven; but our immediate aim or target is purity of heart, without which it is impossible for any one to reach that goal" (Unseen Warfare, 17). Prayer was traditionally taught in the format of simplistic expressions that were summary expositions of the entire Gospel. St. John Cassian taught the prayer, "O God, make speed to save me; O Lord, make haste to help me." The prayer that became most widespread in the East was that known as the "Jesus prayer", "Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner". Such was meant to bring the Christian into a state of repose with God (22-23).
Repetitive prayers are also used in the West. The West though does not make the formulae automatic and perpetual. Though the characteristic element was to bring the soul to God, the West simply did not expound on unceasing prayer. That said, "even a in the 'work' of prayer itself a 'naked intent' of the will, a 'loving and stirring beholding' of God can suffice, without the aid of a repetitive monosyllable" (27-28). In the West, there became an increased understanding of the spiritual life as participation with Christ-crucified. We become entry into the life of God by being crucified with God. The East focuses more on the resurrection. In the Byzantine liturgy, we stand, Latins kneel. (30-31). The West has the "dark knight of the soul" whereas the East has a "bright sadness". The Eastern discipline is a purgatorial experience which leads to illumination. The Western discipline is an illumination that the spiritual eyes adjust to. (31-33). The Cross, even in the West, is ultimately "a way and not a goal" (33) but is necessary to die with Christ in order to be raised. The East certainly does not neglect this and though the Byzantine rite typically stands, we even fall all the way to the ground during the Lenten presanctified liturgies.
One concept brought up in the Byzantine rite a lot about the nature of spiritual perfection is theosis. Deification or divinization. As St. Athanasius famously states, "God became man so that men might become god." This goes strongly against such Reformed views on the nature of the atonement being a mere penal substitutionary act. "Christ died, I don't have to, I affirm him as the sacrificial Lamb." I was raised to believe this teaching growing up. I didn't even realize how theologically absurd the concept of a God demanding sacrifice to cover up sins actually was. It was just a commentary that complemented the teaching I understood at my non-denominational mega-church which held that the "Sinner's Prayer" was the start of the Christian life and the essence of justification. It was about "willing" one's way to Heaven. Which is why, understandably, I never was able to have the question answered sufficiently as to whether I was saved or not.
The Church teaching on theosis gave a whole new perspective to the meaning of the incarnation, the meaning of sacraments, the meaning of prayer, it all knit fully well together. Generally, this is neglected in the West but there is a strong presence of it. Ven. Thomas à Kempis, in his Imitation speaks of grace as "the proper mark of the elect, and pledge of eternal salvation, which elevates man from the things of the earth to the love of heavenly things, and from carnal makes him spiritual" (Bk. III, ch. 54). Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange states that "Sanctifying grace deifies our souls" (Christian Perfection and Contemplation, 240). The distinction between the mere nominalism I grew up understanding was that grace was taught as a moral concept. But rather, "grace is really and formally in the divine nature precisely in so far as it is divine, a participation n the Deity, in that which makes God God, in His intimate life" (55). St. Maria Maddalena de Pazzi describes that
"After narrating your entire charity, you narrated the eternal reward you wanted to give to every single creature, according to the fruit she received from the passion [silence] I believe that you failed to narrate to him and communicate to him the deification you wanted to give to our souls by means of your passion, because, once we respond to them, all your gifts, all your graces, make us gods by participation and, moreover, with the vestment of your Blood your passion is so powerful that we, as Jacob did, are able to deceive your eternal Father." (The Probation)
Due to the course taken in the West, much of the rich spiritual tradition had been lost even as Dom Lorenzo Scupoli writes The Spiritual Combat. Thus, there was great need to edit the text to bring it into harmony with Orthodox teaching. However, with the editing of the text by St. Nicodemos and then even further by St. Theophan the Recluse, we see that there is a great unity between Byzantine spirituality and Latin spirituality. When the ancient teachings are brought back into the Church and emphasized again, we see the fervent emphasis on supernatural grace. That the Christian life is ultimately one of supernatural essence which is carried out in both Western and Eastern expressions.
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