[wmfights]

I sincerely doubt that any Orthodox here said we would share the Divine Essence.

That was my mistake. I was asking about the quote by Athansius "God became man so man could become God".

Just as a matter of curiosity, what do Protestants think happens to those who have attained theosis?

I don't know. I am not a Protestant.

I know you've tried to explain theosis before but it is all greek to me. Is it similar to what we call sanctification, which occurs after we are justified and is the process whereby we turn more toward God in thought, word and deed.

[Kolokotronis]

"I was asking about the quote by Athansius "God became man so man could become God"."

Ah! You know, I love that quote in great measure because of the consternation it causes. +Athanasius, like all The Fathers, has to be read with an understanding of the consensus patrum. In this case the Eastern Fathers are uniform in their testimony that the fulfillment of our created purpose, to be fully in the image and likeness of God (theosis)occurs when we share fully in the uncreated Divine Energies of God. This is what the "ultimate perfect state" is for us. I still can't figure out what people outside The Church (I was going to say Protestants, but I seem to get in trouble with that word; I'm getting so I don't know what to call you guys!)call that state. As I said elsewhere, it is not deification but rather divinization. At such a point, we have died to the self and the eye of the soul, the nous, focuses completely (not simply turning more and more, though that is part of the process) on the uncreated Light of God (as at Mt. Tabor in the Theophany). As someone else here said, in such a state, if it becomes apparent in this life, a person can become nearly transparent and luminous. Creation around such a person is itself transformed into its created state, that state which existed before it was corrupted by sin. The Desert Fathers told many stories about this and in fact it happens to this day, usually among monastics either living as hermits or in a Skete. Maybe it is what you call sanctification, but I really don't know what that, or justification for that matter, means.

[D-fendr]

Is it similar to what we call sanctification…

Was listening to an Orthodox speaker and she said that in Protestant terms Theosis was comparable to justification and sanctification. She said also that Protestant have a habit of dividing things that aren't divided.

:)

[kosta50]

is[theosis] similar to what we call sanctification, which occurs after we are justified and is the process whereby we turn more toward God in thought, word and deed" [?]

No. It's a lot more involved than that.