Theosis
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THEOSIS: PARTAKERS OF DIVINITY WITH GOD<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
many are called sons, there is one real and natural Son; ... just so though many are called christs there is<br />
one Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all things."<br />
(Theodoret of Cyrus. "Letter 146." Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Philip Schaff. Vol. 3. New York: Christian Literature, 1892.<br />
319. Print. Ser. 2.)<br />
Saint Diadochos of Photiki (about 400 to before 486 CE)<br />
“Only when [the intellect] has been made like God ...<br />
does it bear the likeness of divine love as well.”<br />
"Divine grace confers on us two gifts ... The first gift is given to us at once, ... the image of God ... The<br />
second - our likeness to God - requires our co-operation. When the intellect begins to perceive the Holy<br />
Spirit with full conciousness, we should realize that grace is beginning to paint the divine likeness over the<br />
divine image in us. ... Our power of perception shows us that we are being formed into the divine likeness,<br />
but the perfecting of this likeness we shall know only by the light of grace. ... Only when [the intellect] has<br />
been made like God ... does it bear the likeness of divine love as well. ... then it is evident that the image has<br />
been fully transformed into the beauty of the likeness." (Diadochos of Photiki. "On Spiritual Knowledge and<br />
Discrimination 89." Philokalia. Ed. G.E.H. Palmer. Vol. 1. London: Faber and Faber, 1981. 288. Print.)<br />
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (ca. A.D. 500): “Deification … is the attaining of likeness to God and<br />
union with him so far as is possible.”<br />
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