Clement of Alexandria on Theosis

Clement of Alexandria

It leads us to the endless and perfect end, teaching us beforehand the future life that we shall lead, according to God, and with gods; after we are freed from all punishment and penalty which we undergo, in consequence of our sins, for salutary discipline. After which redemption the reward and the honors are assigned to those who have become perfect; when they have got done with perfection, and ceased from all service, though it be holy service, and among saints. They become pure in heart, and near to the Lord, there awaits their restoration to everlasting contemplation; and they are called by the appellation of gods, being destined to sit on thrones with the other gods that have been first put in their places by the Savior.

The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II, page VII.x, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995

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More from Clement of Alexandria

The man of God is consequently divine and is already holy. He is God-bearing and God-borne.

Yea, I say, the Word of God became a man so that you might learn from a man how to become a god.

If one knows himself, he will know God, and knowing God will become like God…. His is beauty, true beauty, for it is God, and that man becomes a god, since God wills it. So Heraclitus was right when he said, “Men are gods, and gods are men.”