SSF118 – Exploring Theosis: The Patristic Understanding of Our Participation in the Divine Nature

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (AD 130 – AD 202) said that Christ “became what we are in order to make us what He is Himself,” and Saint Athanasius (AD 296 – AD 373) wrote: “He became human that we might become divine.” This dramatic description of our salvation by these (and other) early fathers came to be known as theosis, or divinization. Characteristic of the early Ancient Church, this understanding of our salvation has come to be known as the “exchange formula”—our life for His, and His for ours. Together we will explore this salvific promise, investigating as we do, into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, and what it means to be partakers of the divine nature.