“…Scriptures proclaim—and the Liturgy celebrates, the Sacraments realize, the Icons depict, the Canons protect, the Martyrs witness, the Fathers explain, and the Saints live—the Blessed Exchange that God accomplished in the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and glorification of His Son Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit’s power, for the salvation of humanity and the whole of creation…God became human to make humans divine. God became visible to allow humans to see Him. God became touchable to allow humans to touch Him. God spoke in human words to allow humans to hear Him. God entered earthly time to make humans eternal. God took flesh to make human bodies His dwelling. God lived as a creature on earth to recreate the whole of creation.” (Fr. Thomas Hopko)
“God saves us through this ‘exchange’ no matter what terms we put it in – God takes something which is ours and exchanges it for something that is God’s. God takes on our humanity and shares with us His divinity. God takes on our sin and imbues us with His righteousness. In the incarnation God became sin, became a slave, became like us, but not to remain like us. Rather, God transfigures and transforms us, taking what is ours and replacing it with what is God’s so that we can share in the divine life.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“The Word saw that our corruption couldn’t be undone except by death as a necessary condition, though it was impossible for Him to suffer death, since He is immortal, and Son of the Father. He therefore took upon himself a body capable of death, so that by its participation in the Word who is above all, His body might be worthy to die on behalf of all of us, and might, because of the Word who had come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible After that, corruption might be held at bay from all by the grace of the Resurrection. So, by offering unto death the body He Himself had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from any stain, He immediately put away death from all of us by offering an equivalent exchange.” (Saint Athanasius)
“God was not reconciled to humans, but humans were reconciled to God. The Cross exchanged the human condition of alienation from God into the possibility of a loving relationship between humans and their Creator. The Son of God took on our fallen state and our subjection to corruption. When the Lord overcame sin and death by His crucifixion and resurrection, He gave humans a fresh start. The age-old animosity that humans had toward God, the alienation between God and the human race that began with the sin in the Garden, the rejection of God by humans, sin’s affront to God’s goodness and holiness—all that the Cross cleared away like a table is cleared of dirty dishes.” (Fr. Basil)
“If we are to understand the love we should have towards other people, or our love towards God, or His towards us, we have to understand the love shared by the Father and the Son. Otherwise, we’ll never understand what’s meant by the word ‘love’ and it’ll simply be something that calls to mind certain feelings, certain acts of tenderness and something human…The fact that the Father agreed that His only-begotten Son should become a servant- though, naturally, without ever ceasing to be God- demonstrates the enormous love of the Father….this was the ultimate humiliation for the Father: to humble His Son before the biggest circus of all time and before the whole world…the Son had to accept what would happen by emptying Himself completely. And in those final moments, while He was pouring out the last of His vigour, it was necessary that this exchange of wills should again occur: the Father to ask again and the Son to give again. This is the majesty and the glory of the concurrence of the Father and the Son. The Two are Two, but They’re also One.” (Elder Aimilianos Simonopetritis)