FATHER PHILip KRILL Priest of Archdiocese of St. Louis since 2011 Associate Pastor, Holy Spirit Parish Theological Passions: Liturgical Theology Ressourcement Theology Theological Vision of Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Benedict XVI Ancient and Eastern Christianity

Theosis: our destiny in christ “In Your light, O Lord, we see light itself” (Ps. 36:6) “His divine power has given us all things...that we may become partakers of His divine nature...” (2 Pt. 1:3-4) “"And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one....and of His fulness we have all received" (Jn. 17:22-23; 1:16) Do not your own prophets say, “You will become as gods?...” (Jn. 8:29, cf. Ps. 89:6)

We have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may become partakers of the divine nature… ~2 Peter 1:4 The Son of God became what we are in order to make us what he is in himself. ~ St. Irenaeus (d. 200) The Word became man that you may learn how it is possible for man to become God. ~ St. Clement of Alexandria (d. 216) God became man that we might become God. ~ St. Athanasius (d. 373) He gave us divinity, we gave him humanity. ~ St. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) What is not assumed is not healed. ~ St. Gregory Naziansius (d. 389) He became a partaker in our weakness, bestowing on us a participation in His divinity. ~ St. Augustine (d. 430) 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 (d. 1274) Deification: The Vision of the Tradition

Theosis in Scripture The exchange formula (“the Son of God became the Son of Man, so that the sons of men might become the sons of God”) is anchored in the exchange Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 8:9. The centerpiece of divine filiation – becoming “sons of God” – is found in both Paul and John (Gal. 4:4-6; Rom. 8:14-17, 29; 1 Jn. 3:1-2) The notion of becoming “gods” is rooted in a Christological interpretation of Psalm 82:6 (Jn. 10:34-35), and our vocation to be “partakers of the divine nature” is directly stated in 2 Peter 1:4. The goal of our redemption as transformation into his image and likeness is described by Paul (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18); the New Testament teaching on maturity (Mt. 5:48; Heb. 5:14; 6:1; 1 Cor. 14:20; Col. 1:28; Eph. 4:13; Jas. 1:4) and growth in virtue (2 Pt. 1:5-8; Rom. 13:12-14; Gal. 5:19-24; Eph. 4:17-32; Col. 3:5-17) show what results from a person deified in Christ Deification as including an ongoing participation in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ is attested by Paul (2 Cor. 4:10-12; Phil. 3:7-11; Rom. 8:17). The use of the concept of “participation” by the Fathers is grounded in and confirmed by the biblical description of our redemption in Christ in terms of participation and sharing (Heb. 2:14; 2 Pt. 1:4; Heb. 6:4; 2 Cor. 13:13; Phil. 2:1; 1 Cor. 10:14-22). The overarching biblical narrative for the doctrine of deification is Christ as the New Adam (1 Cor. 15:22), a theme that St. Irenaeus used to buttress his use of Christus Tri-forme, linking in divine continuity Creation and Redemption, Nature and Grace, Old Covenant and New Covenant, Christ and His Church, and the Eucharist and the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. The doctrine of divinization is a biblically and doctrinally rich elaboration of what Paul states as our destiny in 1 Corinthians 15:47: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

Father and Son

Spiritual Father & Son