The salvation/healing of the entire human nature and its deification are realized in the Person of the incarnate God-Word and are bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon every baptized person, who is united with Christ within the Church. However, both salvation and deification constitute only possibilities for the baptized person: they must assimilate the gift in their entire 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 it signifies what each Christian must do in order to effectively benefit from the salvation offered through Christ.

Tradition understands the salvation realized 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.