Transfiguration

As I shared in the last issue of this article, Christian teaching asserts with courage the possibility of a “union” of man with God. In Eastern Christianity this is referred to as “Theosis” or Divinization. There are many varied references to divinization in the writings of the Church Fathers. I would like to begin to share some of these references so that you might realize that Theosis has a very real foundation in the Church.

In the second century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons (c. 130–202) said that God “became what we are in order to make us what he is himself.” Irenaeus also wrote, “If the Word became a man, it was so men may become gods.” He added: Do we cast blame on God because we were not made gods from the beginning, but were at first created merely as men, and then later as gods? Although God has adopted this course out of his pure benevolence, that no one may charge him with discrimination or stinginess, he declares, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are sons of the Most High.” For it was necessary at first that nature be exhibited, then after that what was mortal would be conquered and swallowed up in immortality.

At about the same time, Clement of Alexandria, (c. 150–215), wrote: “Yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god.” Clement further stated that “If one knows himself, he will know God, and knowing God will become like God. His is beauty, true beauty, for it is God, and that man becomes a god, since God wills it. So Heraclitus was right when he said, ‘Men are gods, and gods are men.'” Clement of Alexandria also stated that “he who obeys the Lord and follows the prophecy given through him, becomes a god while still moving about in the flesh the flesh.Justin Martyr (c. 100–165) insisted that in the beginning men “were made like God, free from suffering and death,” and that they are thus “deemed worthy of becoming gods and of having power to become sons of the highest”.

In the coming weeks I will continue sharing what the Fathers have said about divinization or Theosis. It is, perhaps, the most important spiritual concept in our Church. It truly places a very different emphasis on the meaning and purpose of life than is seen in Western spirituality.
More to come