consists of “being a god and making us into gods.”9 Thus, in that epoch, “to become a god” did not mean to grow to the grandeur of the Absolute and to be elevated to the boundlessness of his perfections. The concept of god was thought to necessarily include only immortality, bliss, and superhuman fullness and intensity of life. The fundamental trait of the religious hopes expressed in the soteriology of the early Eastern Church was the yearning for physical renewal through participation in the Divine