[HarleyD]

No, I’d say you had simplified it to the point of inaccuracy

Here is an interesting blog that I believe addresses (albeit limited) the Orthodoxy view and Protestant concerns on the atonement. The Doctrine of the Atonement in the Early Greek Fathers. Please note this statement which is similar to my view.

The basic paradigm of salvation universally held by these [Greek] writers is as follows:

1. Humans have free will to engage in either vice or virtue, and the ability to become more or less virtuous over time.
2. God is virtuous and desires humans to be also. He is pleased with virtue and displeased by vice.
3. Christ taught virtue to mankind.
4. By following Christ’s teachings, and by the help of the Spirit, we can progress and improve in virtue if we make the effort.
5. All men have the ability to achieve a standard of virtue acceptable to God.
6. The Final Judgment will be decided based on our level of virtue.

Each of those points, and the paradigm as a whole, are common to all the Greek writers from the period 100-400AD.

I especially like this post by St. Worm:

Excellent point, Anon. I’m a little skeptical when it comes to saying the Fathers had no concept of substitution in their atonement theology. You almost get the sense from what was posted that there is *NO* atonement at all, but only example (of course I know that’s not what’s being said in reality). I think it’s fair to say that the Greeks don’t have a penal model, per se, but that’s another matter altogether.

Also, when the Western controversy over Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism came to the fore, why wasn’t the East denounced? Either (i) the West was ignorant of the Eastern writings, or (ii) they misunderstood the Eastern writers’ use of common biblical terms (like propitiation, expiation, etc) or (iii) they understood the spirit of the writings to honor the basic tenets of orthodoxy, even if expressed differently.

I tend to go with option 3. Maybe someone else can offer further insights on this complex matter. By St. Worm

[Kolokotronis]

Well, generally, I agree except that it isn’t so much practicng virtue as it is dying to the self. The idea is to die to the self so that the eye of the soul, the nous, focuses totally on God. The practice of virtue is one way in which we “die to the self” and frankly it is a rather low rung on the “Ladder of Divine Ascent”, but there are others. It is in this fashion that we become like Christ and become divinized. All of this is accomplished only through grace which we respond to (as you know we believe). At the Final Judgment we are not judged by how many fasts we kept or how much we gave in alms or whether we went to liturgy every Sunday, but rather we are examined to see if we bear any similarity to Christ, True God and True Man.

[Kolokotronis]

A propos od little or nothing, I just ran across the following on website/blog reporting on the House of Bishop’s of the Episcopal Church meeting down in New Orleans. Apparently this is one of the official hymns for the meeting. I post this because, frankly, our differences are pretty small when compared to what passes for Christianity among the elites in this country these days. What a bunch of damnable heretics!:

“Mothering God

Mothering God,
you gave me birth
in the bright morning of this world.
Creator, source of every breath,
you are my rain, my wind, my sun.

Mothering Christ, you took my form,
offering me your food of light,
grain of life, and grape of love,
your very body for my peace.

Mothering Spirit,
nurturing one,
in amrs of patience hold me close,
so that in faith I root and grow
until I flower, until I know.

Here’s another one (to be sung at the Eucharist, no less):

All creatures of the our God, sing praise,
with thankful hearts your voices raise
O sing praises! Alleluia!
O Brother Sun with golden beam,
O Sister Moon with silver gleam!

Dear Mother Earth, who day by day
unfolds our blessings on our way
O sing praises! Alleluia!
The flow’rs and fruit that in you grow,
let them God’s glory also show!