The salvation/healing of the entire human nature and its deification is accomplished in the Person of the incarnate God-Word and is bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon every baptized person, who is united with Christ within the Church. However, both salvation and deification are only possibilities for the baptized person: they must assimilate the gift in their whole being. Here lies the role of the spiritual life, of asceticism.

Asceticism in the Orthodox Church does not have the narrow meaning that is often attributed to it in the West, but signifies what each Christian is obliged to do in order to benefit effectively from the salvation offered through Christ.

Tradition understands the salvation accomplished by Christ as the healing of the sick human nature and its restoration to its original health. Similarly, it is logical for asceticism, through which a person becomes familiar with Grace, to be considered by Tradition as a process of healing and return to a state of health.