The One Christ: St. Augustine's Theology of Deification
220 Ecclesial Reception of the Divine Life be equal, or how a human (despite his or her level of sanctity) could ever be changed into the divine nature.83 Russell thus qualifies any participation in God language for Augustine, calling his understanding of creaturely participation in the divine life "analogical," a life which will "be experienced fully only eschatologically" and one that "still remains a mystery."84 While it is true that human perfection may be realized only in heaven, by what means are Christians on earth brought into the totus Christus? Here Augustine relies on the sacraments as the channels which unify men and women with Christ's body, church, and life.
Such unity between heaven and earth is a sign of charity. If one desires to remain united with Christ, one must ensure that he or she remains in Christ's catholicity. Playing off the etymology of catholicus, Augustine delves into his Greek to make this point: "As a Catholic keeps a firm grip on the whole; holon, you see, means whole, and that's why the Church is called Catholic, because it is throughout the whole. Was it ever called Katamerike, and not Catholic? Meros, you see, means part, holon means whole; the Church is called Catholic from a Greek word, meaning 'according to the whole.' "85 The homilies for Pentecost (266–72B) are particularly replete with references to the unity God wills for his church. As we discussed in previous chapters, the work of the Holy Spirit is to unify persons—both divine and human—and at Pentecost this unity reaches its ecclesial culmination in history.
It is particularly telling that the newly ordained bishop aimed his first ever Pentecost sermon (23 May, 397 A.D.) against the Donatist schism (in uigiliis pentecostes contra Donatistas) in this way: "Each individual was speaking in all tongues, because
83. cf. nat. et gr. 33.37. 84. Norman Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 332.
85. s. 162A; Hill, Sermons (III/5), 162.