As I indicated in the Easter issue of my Bulletin, it is my hope to share with my readers thoughts about redemption and salvation during this time of Pentecost. Why? Because they are so intimately connected with Pascha and are, I belief, understood by our Greek Catholic Church in a different way than in the Roman Catholic Church. I also believe that understanding this true difference is critical to the development of a true spirituality that resonates with our liturgical practice and theology.

As I began to share in the last issue, in the Western world the idea that Jesus’ death on the Cross was a reparation for the sins of mankind. It has to be understood that Western theology became greatly influenced by the philosophy of Aristotle and, therefore, became focused on finding the “cause” for the things that happened. It tried to answer the question: Why did Jesus die on the Cross? In fact one of the great Western theologians, Thomas Aquinas, posited the notion that the Lord’s death on the Cross was the “effective and sufficient cause” of our salvation. Also the expression “meritorious cause” has often been used in Western Christianity. Salvation, in the West, has a lot to do with achieving a defined measure of “merits”. Redemption is something transactional – something that happens because of things that we do.

When we read the early Church Fathers, especially the Greek Fathers, we find something different. If the goal of redemption is the union of man with God, then the Incarnation is far more than a condition for our salvation. Rather it served as the effective model and exemplar of salvation. Indeed the Church Fathers insisted that the “full humanity” of Jesus Christ was essential to man’s redemption because

“whatever was not  assumed was not redeemed.”

The principle enunciated in this simple formula was the foundation of much of the dogmatic work of the ecumenical councils.

When we read St. Basil we come to understand that the foundation thesis for our understanding of salvation is that what Jesus accomplished on our behalf, and for our benefit, depended entirely on WHO HE WAS.

When you read the Fathers closely, you discover that the RESURRECTION of Christ was essential to the causality of redemption – that the Resurrection was just as essential as His death on the Cross.

This will all become clearer as I continue to share thoughts on this subject.