Theosis

THEOSIS: PARTAKERS OF DIVINITY WITH GOD
PROF. M. M. NINAN
(Clement of Alexandria. "Instructor 3: 1." Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Alexander Roberts. Vol. 2. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1905.
271. Print.)
"On this wise it is possible for the Gnostic already to have become God. 'I said, Ye are gods, and sons of the
highest.' And Empedocles says that the souls of the wise become gods, writing as follows: 'At last prophets,
minstrels, and physicians, And the foremost among mortal men, approach; Whence spring gods supreme in
honours.'"
(Clement of Alexandria. "Stromata 4: 24." Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Alexander Roberts. Vol. 2. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1905.
437. Print.)
"By thus receiving the Lord's power, the soul studies to be God; regarding nothing bad but ignorance, and
action contrary to right reason. ... And the perfect inheritance belongs to those who attain to 'a perfect man,'
according to the image of the Lord. ... But 'it is enough for the disciple to become as the Master,' saith the
Master. To the likeness of God, then, he that is introduced into adoption and the friendship of God, to the just
inheritance of the lords and gods is brought; if he be perfected, according to the Gospel, as the Lord Himself
taught."
(Clement of Alexandria. "Stromata 6: 14." Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Alexander Roberts. Vol. 2. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1905.
506. Print.)
"Knowledge then is followed by practical wisdom, and practical wisdom by self-control: for it may be said that
practical wisdom is divine knowledge, and exists in those who are deified; but that self-control is mortal, and
subsists in those who philosophize, and are not yet wise. But if virtue is divine, so is also the knowledge of it;
while self-control is a sort of imperfect wisdom which aspires after wisdom, and exerts itself laboriously, and
is not contemplative."
(Clement of Alexandria. "Stromata 6: 15." Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Alexander Roberts. Vol. 2. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1905.
509. Print.)
"It leads us to the endless and perfect end, teaching us beforehand the future life that we shall lead,
according to God, and with gods; after we are freed from all punishment and penalty which we undergo, in
consequence of our sins, for salutary discipline. After which redemption and reward and the honours are
assigned to those who have become perfect; ... Then become pure in heart, and near to the Lord, there
awaits them restoration to everlasting contemplation; and they are called by the appellation of gods, being
destined to sit on thrones with the other gods that have been first put in their places by the Saviour."
(Clement of Alexandria. "Stromata 7: 10." Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Alexander Roberts. Vol. 2. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1905.
539. Print.)
"What, then, shall we say of the Gnostic himself? 'Know ye not,' says the Apostle, 'that ye are the temple of
God?' The Gnostic is consequently divine, and already holy, God-bearing, and God-borne."
(Clement of Alexandria. "Stromata 7: 13." Ante-Nicene Fathers. Ed. Alexander Roberts. Vol. 2. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1905.
547. Print.)
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