THE GREEK THEOLOGIAN PROF. JOHN KARMIRIS ON THE ATONEMENT
"The Ecumenical First Council dogmatically proclaimed the common faith of the ancient and undivided Church, which later became the faith of the entire Christian world in "the one Lord Jesus Christ ... for our sake, and for our salvation, descended and incarnated and became human, and suffered, and on the third day rose and ascended into heaven." This is how the New Testament teaching was dogmatized, that the incarnate Son and the Word of God saved the sinful and fallen human race, "delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into His Kingdom; and in Him we have redemption by His Blood and forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:13-14). "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). This salvation was realized by the Savior through all that happened during His appearance on earth, through all his redemptive work (ἀπολυτρωτικὴ δρᾶσις); "through His birth or incarnation, also baptism, suffering and resurrection, He freed nature from the sin of the ancestor, from death and corruption" [1]. In other words, he saved people through His incarnation and works of His threefold dignity — prophetic, high priestly and royal; "he became for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30), so that in him "we have redemption by His blood, forgiveness of sins, according to riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7). Precisely speaking, salvation was accomplished through the medium of incarnation, a teaching that served as a model for imitation of a propitiatory life (ἐξιλαστηρίου) The Sacrifice of the Cross, resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, the sending down of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost and the foundation of the Church by "Our Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. 1:10), "who is the Savior of all men" (1 Tim. 4:10).
Through His divine incarnation, the Savior began His redemptive work, in His teaching before the time of the Crucifixion He showed His prophetic dignity, in the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross — the high priestly, and through the resurrection, sitting at the right hand of the Father and the foundation of the Church — the royal. Thus, the salvation of the human race began from the incarnation of the Son and the Word of God, from His very conception on the day of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, His perception of human nature from the Most Pure Virgin and the combination of this nature with His Divine nature. Salvation unfolded in the teaching work and all His earthly redemptive ministry and culminated in the propitiatory Sacrifice of the Cross and His resurrection from the dead, as well as the foundation on the day of Pentecost of the Ark Church, the guardian and giver of salvation and the universal sacrament of salvation. "For the coming of Christ in the flesh, the predestination of the gospel rules of life, for suffering, the cross, burial, resurrection, so that a person saved through imitation of Christ would accept the ancient sonship thereof" [2]. Salvation will be completed at the end of time in the Heavenly Kingdom of God…
The Savior accomplished the salvation of the human race mainly through His Sacrifice on the Cross, which He offered to the Heavenly Father out of unspeakable love for a sinful man, which reconciled man to God the Father with the blood of the Savior (Rom. 5:10) and made "one of both" (Eph. 2:14). Out of great obedience to the Father, the Savior was "betrayed for our sins" (Rom. 4:25) and "died for sin" (Rom. 6:11) in order to redeem people from sin, corruption and death. He "became an oath for us" (Gal. 3:13), killed the curse and sin in Himself and combined humanity with God through himself, since all people were "sold to sin" (Rom. 7:14). So, according to the teachings of the New Testament (and above all, ap. The main source of remission of sins and salvation for people is the Savior's death on the Cross, which has a substitutionary (ἀντιπροσωπευτικόν) character, from which came the remission of sins, Divine grace and reconciliation of people with God, "because God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself, not imputing their crimes to people" (2 Cor. 5:19). This happened because God, combining love and justice, as it were, transferred the sins of people to the sinless and righteous Jesus, and His righteousness to sinful people. "He made him who knew no sin a sin offering for us, so that in him we might become righteous before God" (2 Cor. 5:21), for "He himself lifted up our sins with His body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24), washed and forgave them with "His blood" (Rom. 3:25), so that "we, having been delivered from sins, live for righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24).
The Lord descended into the world "in the likeness of sinful flesh" to deliver man "from the law of sin and death" and to free him "from this body of death" (Rom. 7:24). The true, unique and successor—less great high priest of the New Testament has descended (Heb. 4:14 et seq.), Who, as the only and only mediator between God and men, Priest and Sacrifice, offered Himself once- an undefeated, perfect and true propitiatory Sacrifice, as a merciless and sinless one The immaculate and pure Lamb of God, who takes upon himself the sins of the world (1 Peter 1:19; Jn. 1:29), whose blood "cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7; Heb. 9:11). In the same way, through His blood sacrifice, which has infinite and eternal propitiatory power, the Savior, having become "the propitiation for our sins and the whole world" (1 John 2:2, 4, 10), washed away all sins, propitiated God and reconciled us to Him, pacifying and uniting the divided. He "paid our debt by pouring out a ransom for us (Heb. 9:12), worthy of both attention and surprise, we really became free, for the blood of the Son is sufficient to plead with the Father, and worthy of reverence." [3] "He revived us who were dead in sins ... together with Him, forgiving us all sins, destroying the handwriting that was against us by teaching about us, and He took it from the midst and nailed it to the cross ... to present us holy and blameless and innocent before Himself" (Col. 2:13-14; 1:22). Thus, the Redeemer voluntarily suffered a propitiatory death, "became a slave in our place and for us" [4]; "the Word took upon itself the judgment and, having suffered in the flesh for all, gave salvation to all" [5], "grace and truth" (John 1:17).
From the above, it can be concluded that Christ's death on the Cross is a propitiatory Sacrifice, brought by him out of unspeakable love to God in a substitutionary way for all people (see 2 Cor. 5:15; 1 Tim. 2:6), which became a source of salvation for all. Therefore, through the supreme and incomparable sacrifice of Calvary, the Savior "redeemed" and "redeemed" us (see Gal. 3:13; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:18), brought His life, His Blood as "atonement" or "ransom" (Mt. 20:28; Mk 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6; Rom. 3:25; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:19); He died "righteous for the unrighteous" (1 Pet. 3:18). The fruit of His Sacrifice is "propitiation" (1 John 2:2; Heb. 2:17; Rom. 3:25), which blotted out the sin and guilt of people, which had the effect of eliminating enmity and reconciling them with God, adopting them to God and salvation (Rom. 5:10-11; 2 Cor 5:19; Col. 1:20; Ephesians 2:14-17). Thus, people regained adoption as sons of God by grace in Christ Jesus, the only Son of God in essence, who became human and suffered for them. This Sacrifice of the Redeemer's ineffable redemptive love was offered only "once" because it is absolutely perfect (Heb. 7:27-28; 10:10), has eternal efficacy (Hebrews 10:12, 14), infinite and all-encompassing (καθολική) power for all people at all times and throughout the universe (1 John 2:2; Col. 1:20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Tim. 2:6).
Only this perfect Sacrifice restored the communion of grace between the Creator and the creation, which regained adoption to God (Gal. 4:5); then a new and Divine life began for people, for "the ancient things have passed away, now everything is new" (2 Cor. 5:17). Man partakes of this new and divine life when he gets rid of sin and becomes a "partaker of the divine nature" (1 Peter 1:4), thus gaining Salvation."
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Author: John Karmiris is a professor of dogmatic and symbolic theology at the University of Athens, the largest Greek historian of the doctrine, publisher of the collection of dogmatic and symbolic texts of the Orthodox Church.
Source: Καρμίρης Ἰ. Ὀρθόδοξον Τὸ δόγμα τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ σωτηρίας. Ἀθῆναι, 1983. Σ. 5-7, 10-13
[1] John of Damascus, Rev. The exact exposition of the Orthodox faith 4, 13 // The Complete Collection of works. St. Petersburg, 1913. p. 309
[2] Basil the Great, svt. About the Holy Spirit, 15 // Creations. Moscow, 2008. Vol. 1. P. 80
[3] John of Damascus, Rev. Three words of defense against rejecting holy icons 1, 21 // The complete collection of creations. St. Petersburg, 1913. p. 358
[4] Athanasius the Great, St. The word on Arians 1, 43 // Creations. Serg. P., 1902. Vol. 2. p. 233
[5] Ibid. 1, 60 // Ibid., p. 256
