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Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center

"For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."

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"For the Son of God became man so that we might become God" was written by Holy Father Athanasios the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, in De inc., 54, 3: PG, 192B, in his refutation of Arius during the First Ecumenical Council
Some people think that St. Irenaeus of Lyons may have said it before Holy Father Athanasios the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria.

Holy God the Son within the Holy Trinity / Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ is both fully Holy God and fully Man..

Holy God the Son within the Holy Trinity / Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ became fully human at the Annunciation. This conception is called the "Incarnation".
The Incarnation is commemorated at The Great Feast of the Annunciation (Al Bisharah) of The Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary

An Explanation from Rev. Fr. Dennis C. Smolarski S.J., Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, in Handout #80.

St. Athanasius (295-373 A.D.)
God became man that we might become God

The Word of God, incorporeal and incorruptible, came among us, though he had never been far off. For he left no part of the creation void of his presence, but filled all things, living as he does with the Father. But he came among us to help us by showing us his love...

Filled with compassion for our race, taking pity on our weakness, condescending to our corruption, refusing to allow death to have dominion over us, in order that what had begun should not perish and that the work of his Father should not be useless, he took a body, a body no different from ours ...

Those who talk of the human aspects of the Word also know what appertains to his divinity... When they speak of his tears they know that the Lord shows us humanity by his tears and his divinity by raising Lazarus; they know that the Lord experienced hunger and thirst, while feeding in a divine manner five thousand people with five loaves; they know that his human body lay in the tomb and was raised as the body of God...

The Word was made man that we might be made God: he was made visible by his body that we might have an idea of the invisible Father, he endured the outrages inflicted on him by men that we might share in his immortality. He did not undergo any harm, since as Word of God he was impassable and incorruptible. But in this way he saved from danger the suffering humanity for which he endured all this.

Extracts quoted in Quasten, Patrology, III, II3f.

An Explanation from "The Tree of Life," newsletter of Holy Cross Melkite Catholic Church, Placentia, CA

The Real Meaning of Christmas: God's Gift to Us
St Athanasios of Alexandria (295-373 A.D.) wrote that "God became man so that we might become children of God." This means that God became one of us so that we could become what God is-this, divine. ¡ We who were created in the image and likeness of God lost our divinity when our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned. God could not bear to see the work of His own hands perish-that is, die. ¡ So, in the full-ness of time, God send His only-begotten Son, born of a virgin, a human being like us in all things but sin-to save us. ¡ We call this act of God becoming man Incarnation-that is, taking flesh. ¡ This is what Christmas is all about. It is God With Us. It is without doubt one of the greatest events in human history. ¡ We are invited to celebrate this Nativity of Christ with great love. ¡ Christmas today is confusing. Filled with songs about snow and reindeer; hours and hours of shopping; and so on. When it finally arrives, we are almost happy that it's over. Many mistake it for a time to visit friends and family. The reality is that we are celebrating God's gift to us. To miss out on celebrating the Birth of Christ or to replace it with something else is to miss the entire point of God's plan for us. ¡ This year, make sure that you take time to worship the God who became human, so that you can become divine.

A Explanation from Rev. Father Miguel Grave de Peralta, Priest of Saint Ignatios of Antioch Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Augusta, Georgia.

It points to the deification (theosis) we are to strive for in our lives through the energy of God's Holy Spirit. I suppose a Western way of stating it is "We are called to be by grace what Christ is by His nature."

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Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center is dedicated to my cousins: Bucky (Richard C. Liles), Shirley (Shirley Jean Liles Buck), and Donna (Donna Bertha Liles Campbell). Bucky fell asleep in the Lord on Dec. 12, 2000, Shirley fell asleep in the Lord on Nov. 8, 2001, and Donna fell asleep in the Lord on March 9, 2020.
O God of all spirits and of all flesh, who have destroyed death, overcome the devil, and given life to the world: grant, O Lord, to the souls of your servants Bucky and Shirley, who has departed from this life, that it may rest in a place of light, in a place of happiness, in a place of peace, where there is no pain, no grief, no sighing. And since You are a gracious God and the Lover of Mankind, forgive him/her every sin he/she has committed by thought, or word, or deed, for there is not a man who lives and does not sin : You alone are without sin, your righteousness is everlasting, and your word is true. You are the Resurrection and the Life, and the repose of your departed servants Bucky and Shirley. O Christ our God, and we send up glory to You, together with your eternal Father and your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and for ages upon ages. Amen.

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