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Orthodoxy does not teach, nor has it ever really taught (though a Father here and there has) the “atonement” theory. Orthodoxy looks to the Incarnation, Death and resurrection of Christ as a ransom of mankind from imprisonment by death and the Evil One.

This is rather interesting Kolo. The early western church fathers taught a blood atonement in their writings so I wonder how the western and eastern churches reconciled this until the great split in 1000AD? Here are a very few excerpts from a very few of some great Church fathers who taught a blood atonement:

St. Clements (150AD)

1 Clem. 7:4 Let us fix our eyes on the blood of Christ and understand how precious it is unto His Father, because being shed for our salvation it won for the whole world the grace of repentance.

1 Clem. 12:7 And moreover they gave her a sign, that she should hang out from her house a scarlet thread, thereby showing beforehand that through the blood of the Lord there shall be redemption unto all them that believe and hope on God.

1 Clem. 49:6 in love the Master took us unto Himself; for the love which He had toward us, Jesus Christ our Lord hath given His blood for us by the will of God, and His flesh for our flesh and His life for our lives.

St. Mathetes

He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal.

St. Iraenus

As far as concerned the apostasy, indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as regards us who have been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For He fought and conquered; for He was man contending for the fathers, and set free the weak, and endowed His own handiwork with salvation, by destroying sin.

Justin Martyr

And as the blood of the passover saved those who were in Egypt, so also the blood of Christ will deliver from death those who have believed.

My understanding is the Catholic thinking on the atonement NOW is very similar to Eastern thought. I'd be interested in the names of some eastern authors around the 1st-3rd century (perferably NOT in Greek). :O)

Can you do a "blood atonement in 25 words or less (fewer)?

I mean like:

1 Classic or Dramatic: Jesus womps the devil and death.

2 Exemplary: Jesus overcomes our separation from God by Showing who God is and what He wants and how we can give it to Him.

3 Propitiatory: Man owes God a debt he cannot pay, an obedient life. Jesus by His life pays that debt and by his death pays our debt.

4 Expiatory: The Blood of Christ shed on the Cross supplies our deficiency ("... for the blood is the life ...") and makes divine life (in all its fullness - moral as well as 'vital') available to us. (okay, that's more than 25 words. Guess which line of thought intrigues me the most.)

5 Ransom (maybe related to 3 or 4): By sinning Man sold himself to the devil -- we owe the devil a life (this is the White Witch's argument in "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" -- then Aslan pays the debt and then womps the White witch -- see (1) above.) (does whomp have an 'h'?) and Jesus pays our debt.

I'm afraid I have a classics comix mind and tidy (glib?) summaries help me understand, or at least approach, the complexities which underlie them.

And for those who are keeping score, I think all of these are true, none is true enough.

Even the much despised exemplary has merit. I kinda thought strength involved, you know, guns and muscles and money. I thought happiness involved, well, babes and bourbon. Come to learn strength is like a baby in a barn or a man pinned back like a frog in a dissecting pan, and divine bliss is a voice crying, "Why have you forsaken me?" I learn I don't know diddley, which helps me turn to God with an urgent request for assistance in radical metanoia -- Clean up! Demented sinner in aisle 4!
Exemplary won't get me there, but it might get me off my behind.