{"id":1398,"date":"2026-11-05T00:52:03","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T05:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/?post_type=question&#038;p=1398"},"modified":"2026-11-05T00:52:03","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T05:52:03","slug":"what-do-orthodox-christians-mean-by-theosis","status":"publish","type":"question","link":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/questions\/what-do-orthodox-christians-mean-by-theosis\/","title":{"rendered":"What do Orthodox Christians mean by &#8222;theosis&#8220;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the Orthodox Church, salvation is not only the forgiveness of sins or an acquittal from a distance, but participation in God himself. The Fathers call this <em>theosis<\/em>, deification: the human person, united to Christ, is filled with the uncreated life, light and glory of the Holy Trinity, becoming god by grace while God alone remains God by nature.<\/p>\n<p>The teaching is biblical. St Peter writes that God &#8222;has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature&#8220; (2Pe 1:4). The Lord prays &#8222;that they may be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us&#8220; (Joh 17:21). The calling was written into our very making: &#8222;Let us make man in our image, after our likeness&#8220; (Gen 1:26). The image is given; the likeness is the goal toward which we grow.<\/p>\n<p>St Athanasius summarized the whole Gospel in one sentence: &#8222;God became man so that man might become god.&#8220; Theosis is not achieved by human effort alone but received as a gift, through Baptism and the Eucharist, prayer, repentance and the keeping of the commandments, in cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Its fulfillment is the promise of Christ: &#8222;One who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with me on my throne&#8220; (Rev 3:21).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theosis, or deification, is the goal of the Christian life: real union with God, in which we become by grace what God is by nature, &#8222;partakers of the divine nature&#8220; (2Pe 1:4).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","audience":[],"liturgical_season":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1398","question","type-question","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/question"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1406,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1398\/revisions\/1406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"liturgical_season","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/liturgical_season?post=1398"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}