the soteriology of saint athanasius of alexandria the conformation of ...

208 JOHN R. MEYER
develop his theology. Besides his excellent exegetical skills, he
elucidated some of the first important principles and truths of our
Faith. Two important dogmas developed by Athanasius were the
divinity of the Son of God and that of the Holy Spirit. These
two truths are based upon the consubstantial relation of both the
Son and the Spirit to the Father. This sets the stage for
Athanasius' description of man's union with God through the
Holy Spirit, the topic that interests us in this investigation.
Some scholars believe that Athanasius advocated a «passive»
type of sanctification, the redemption of a «collective humanity».
According to this interpretation, the central event of redemption
is the Incarnation. The danger with this approach is that the application
of Christ's merits would require little human collaboration.
Shapland opines that Athanasius presents sanctification as being
primarily metaphysical and not ethical 1 . Human sanctification
is conjoined with divinization and comes to signify the elevation
of human nature toward divine incorruptibility. We disagree with
that opinion. Athanasius does propose a well-balanced scheme of
sanctification which includes both ontological and ethical dimensions.
Ethical moral conduct contributes to man's perfection. It
would seem that the ontological re-creation of the soul, which
Athanasius says takes place «in the Spirit», enables us to cooperate
with God's grace. A Christian receives a participated communion
with the divine life of God, who is love — the Holy
Spirit (C. arianos III, 23). The ontological renewal of the soul
makes it possible for men to become like God, not in essence,
but in action: «we cannot become like God in essence, but by
progress in virtue [we] imitate God.» (Ad Afros, 7).
The orthodox doctrine of the Church concerning the divinity
of the Holy Spirit would not be solemnly declared until the
Council of Constantinople in the year 381, eight years after the
death of Athanasius. Even then the Holy Spirit was not referred
to as being God but as «Lord and life-giver, proceeding from the
Father, object of the same worship and glory with the Father and
the Son.» 2 Prior to that time, God's Spirit was understood by
most Christian writers as the «force» or «energy» of the ordering
Logos who permeates the entire universe. Recognition of the personality
of the Holy Spirit was slow to develop. The first dogmas
of the Church's teaching magisterium were centered upon the uni-