Donna Hawk-Reinhard - Cyril of Jersusalem's Sacramental Theosis

While secondary literature has stated that Cyril of Jerusalem’s theology contains evidence of theosis  (making divine), demonstration of this concept within his catechetical and mystagogical texts has not been explored in detail.  By examining Cyril’s use of words within the semantic range of koinonia  (communion, fellowship), his use of the verb theopoieo  (to make divine, deifying), and how the individual is incorporated into communion with both the divine Trinity and the church through the sacraments, I shall demonstrate that Cyril expressed a theology which is undergirded by a rich doctrine of theosis.  Furthermore, this implicit doctrine of theosis  is the hermeneutical key to understanding the different rhetorical strategies that Cyril employed in his teachings on baptism and the eucharist.