Eastern Catholic Spirituality
The Word became flesh to make us 'partakers of the divine nature'
2 Pet 1:4
For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son
of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus
receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.
St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres
For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.
St. Athanasius, De inc.
The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to
make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made
man, might make men gods.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Opusc.
The Eastern Catholic tradition emphasizes a number of beliefs or attitudes
regarding the spiritual life. These include:
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A profound and humble respect for the Holy Mysteries of God
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A focus on the reality of divinization, the partaking the the divine nature of the Triune God
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A 'public' life of liturgical worship, fellowship and service
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A 'secret' life of prayer, fasting and sharing
The central emphasis of Eastern Catholic spirituality is on the important
belief that we are called "to become partakers of the divine nature"
(2 Peter 1:4), not merely to be 'saved' from sin. We truly do become filled
with the Holy and Gracious Life of the Triune God at Baptism, and do become
true children of God.
This participation in the divine nature is commonly called "divinization"
or "deification." We are invited to live the very life of God,
to be intimately related to God, to be united to Christ, and to have the
Holy Spirit dwell within us! The Church Fathers saw this as the reason
for Christ's coming: "God became man so that man might become God." (St.
Athanasius).
Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor,
the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call
to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature
and of eternal life.
