ÎNDUMNEZEIREA OMULUI DUPĂ IGNATIE TEOFORUL, TEOFIL AL ANTIOHIEI ŞI IPOLIT AL ROMEI
THE DEIFICATION OF MAN IN IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, HIPPOLYTUS OF ROME AND THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH

Summary/Abstract: The Deification of man in Ignatius of Antioch, Hippolytus of Rome and Theophilus of Antioch. Becoming one with God of the faithful is a long process, which started in Heaven and was interrupted by the fall of Adam, and which was resumed by rebirth “from water and the Holy Ghost (In. 3, 5), through the mystery of Baptism, and which progresses towards eschatology. Becoming one with God is a progression towards oneself, which reaches its peak when Christians become one with God. Becoming one with God, the ultimate flawlessness, is the achievement of the deepest aspirations of nature. This becoming one with God of the faithful, which has been a vital issue for Christianity at all times, has also been a favorite topic of the Holy Fathers who searched, found, experienced and showed different ways and stages of reaching the mystic union with God subsisting into three persons and of participating in the unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity by personal spiritual experiences. The ideal of Christian orthodox life is getting to know God, which also involves getting to know oneself, however not epistemologically, relying on the intellect, but rather by participating into God, while Christians, focusing on what lies before, progress into virtue towards perfection, on the one hand, by getting to know God, and on the other hand, by achieving the ultimate goal of their existence which is becoming one with God.

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