WORD of the Week: Christian


WORD of the Week: Christian

An Orthodox Patristic Definition


“And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.”

— Acts 11:26, ESV 

“It is not the name, but the way of life that makes a Christian.”

—St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Magnesians

To be called a Christian (Gk, Christianos, Hbw, Meshichi) in the Orthodox Patristic tradition is not a cultural label, an ideological subscription, nor a moral, identity. The term was originally --in all likelihood-- a neutral label or possibly one with dismissive or even mocking connotations at the time.   It is, rather, an ontological and ecclesial reality: the Christian is one:

1. Who has been united to Christ (Christos), 

2. who lives by His life, and 

3. who is progressively transformed into His likeness through divine grace (charis), synergistic asceticism (synergeia), and sacramental communion in the life of the Church (Ekklēsia).

The name Christian was not a self-appointed title, nor was it adopted casually. It signified a radical new identity, one born of participation (metochē) in the mystery of the crucified and risen Lord. As St. Cyril of Jerusalem taught, “Having become partakers of Christ (metochoi tou Christou), you are rightly called Christians” (Catechetical Lectures, 21.1).

This understanding is deepened by the Apostle Paul’s profound image in Romans 11:17–24, where he describes the believer as being “grafted in” (enekentristhēs) into the cultivated olive tree, a symbol of the covenantal people of God now fulfilled in Christ and His Church. This grafting is not metaphor only—it is a mystical, existential union. The wild olive shoot, referring to the Gentiles, is inserted into the root and nourished by the same sap (chōrēgēma)—the divine life of Christ flowing through the sacramental and ascetical life of the Church.

St. Paul writes: “If some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches… remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you” (Rom. 11:17–18). Here, the Christian is revealed to be not merely an observer or admirer of Christ, but one inserted into His life. This is precisely the meaning of the Orthodox notion of being in Christ (en Christō).

St. Maximus the Confessor interprets this ontological grafting in terms of theosis (divinization): “The one who loves God in truth is a genuine Christian, and such love is not shown in word alone, but in action and transformation.” 

The Christian becomes by grace what Christ is by nature—son of God (huios tou Theou), clothed in the virtues of Christ, and reflecting His image (eikōn).

This is why St. Basil the Great writes: “The Christian is one who imitates Christ in everything—thought, word, and deed—as far as is possible according to human nature.” Such imitation is not merely ethical but ontological. The believer becomes an ikon of Christ, a living manifestation of His presence in the world, not through performance, but through participation and inner transformation.

This transformation begins at Baptism (Baptisma), where the old man (palaios anthrōpos) is buried with Christ and a new creation (kainē ktisis) is born (cf. Romans 6:3–6; 2 Corinthians 5:17). The believer is then sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit in Chrismation (Chrisma) into the New Law, enters into Eucharistic communion (koinōnia), and through repentance (metanoia), prayer (proseuchē), and ascetical striving (askēsis), is gradually purified (katharsis), illumined (phōtismos), and united (henōsis) to God.

This journey is not merely private or interior. It is inherently ecclesial ⁸and sacramental. As St. Cyprian of Carthage famously declared, “He cannot have God as his Father who does not have the Church as his Mother.” To be a Christian is to live as a member of the Body of Christ (Sōma tou Christou), to obey His commandments (entolai), to bear the fruits of the Spirit (karpoi tou Pneumatos), and to walk in love (peripatein en agapē) as He has loved us (cf. Ephesians 5:1–2; Galatians 5:22–25).

Romans 11:22 warns with solemnity: “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” The grafting into Christ is not a static status—it is a living and dynamic union that must be sustained by faith (pistis), humility (tapeinōsis), and obedience (hypakoē).

Therefore, in the Orthodox Patristic tradition, a Christian is:

One who, having been engrafted into Christ through Baptism and nourished by the mysteries of the Church, is ontologically united to Him and daily conformed to His image through grace, synergy, ascetic struggle, and love—becoming by participation what Christ is by nature: a true child of God.

To bear the name Christianos is to walk the path of Christ’s own Cross (Stavros), to live not for oneself but for Him who died and rose again (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:15), and to become, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “a living sacrifice” (thysia zōsa), holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).



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