Sainthood

But we all are changed into the same image from glory to glory

2 Cor. 3:18

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The law of creation remains consistent: only that which bears the image and likeness of God can bear His glory and fulfill the purpose for which it was created. Creation after the fall is a universe of broken mirrors that must be remade- mankind most of all. St Athanasius writes, "the Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father, Who could recreate man made after the Image." Christ, in order to restore the image of God in mankind, became man, bore the curse of sin and conquered death in resurrection. The image broken in Adam is restored in Christ, transformed into the image of God by God, the many mirrors made to once again bear His glory. There are those few who, by the acquisition of the Spirit, become images of God in life- these are the saints.

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The doctrine of sainthood affirms the mystical reality that Christ can dwell in those who are remade in Christ; as St Paul wrote, "no longer I who live, but Christ in me." When the Word became flesh, He forever deified flesh, allowing humanity to become "partakers of the divine nature," sharing in Christ's deity as He shared in humanity. It is this foundation that inspired St Athanasius to write the daring phrase, "God became man so man might become God." This divinity is never conceived as being distinct from God as the source, but always as the reflection of Christ's glory, accomplished by grace. St Maximus describes the relationship between the archetype and the image as such, "[it is as] a seal conforms to the stamp...as air is illuminated by light and iron is wholly inflamed by fire..." Through participation in the life and death of Christ, men are made once again into vessels of glory- transformed into the same image of Christ, His glory filling all in all, made co-heirs with the Son of God and becoming sons of God themselves. They are the living icons of the Second Adam, the glorified cloud of witnesses, members of the mystical body of Christ- no longer from dust to dust, but from glory to glory.

(Part 11 of 14 of Mimetic Reality series)