The Orthodox Church and "Cur Deus Homo"

Icon by the hand of Fr. Stamatis Skliris

"the entire goal of this world and of every element and of every species in the whole of creation, and of every race and tribe of men in all ages and tribes has as its flower our lady the Theotokos and as its most beautiful fruit her only begotten Son." -Joseph Bryennios

Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians

“…according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foun­dation of the world” (1:4); “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ” (1:10); “In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance” (1:11)

Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, for in Him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in earth,... all things were created through Him, and for Him.... And He is the Head of the Body, the Church” (1:15-18)

First Universal of St. Peter

“as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.  He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” (1:19&20)

Saint Maximos the Confessor

“This is the blessed end, on account of which everything was created. This is the Divine purpose, which was thought of before the beginning of Creation, and which we call an intended fulfillment. All creation exists on account of this fulfillment and yet the fulfillment itself exists because of nothing that was created. Since God had this end in full view, he produced the natures of things. This is truly the fulfillment of Providence and of planning. Through this there is a recapitulation to God of those created by Him. This is the mystery circumscribing all ages, the awesome plan of God, super-infinite and infinitely pre-existing the ages. The Messenger, who is in essence Himself the Word of God, became man on account of this fulfillment. And it may be said that it was He Himself Who restored the manifest innermost depths of the goodness handed down by the Father; and He revealed the fulfillment in Himself, by which creation has won the beginning of true existence. For on account of Christ, that is to say the mystery concerning Christ, all time and that which is in time have found the beginning and the end of their existence in Christ. For before time there was secretly purposed a union of the ages, of the determined and the Indeterminate, of the measurable and the Immeasurable, of the finite and Infinity, of the creation and the Creator, of motion and rest-a union which was made manifest in Christ during these last times.”

Saint Nicholas Kavasilas

Indeed, it was for the sake of the new man that human nature was formed at the beginning, and for him both mind and desire were fashioned. We received reason, in or­der that we might know Christ, and desire, in order that we might hasten to Him; we have memory, in order that we might bear Him within us, since He Himself was the ar­chetype for us when we were being created. For it is not the old Adam that was the paradigm for the new; rather, the New Adam was the paradigm for the old (680A).

…Man yearns for Christ, not only on account of His Di­vinity, which is the goal of all things, but also for the sake of His human nature (681AB).  The old [Adam] was an imi­tation of the second [i.e., the incarnate Word], and the first was fashioned according to His form and image (680B).

God did not create human nature with any other purpose in mind... rather, He created it with this end in view, that, when it was fitting for Him to be born, He might receive His Mother from it; having first established this purpose [the Incarnation] as a kind of standard, He then fashioned man in accordance with it.

The Faithful…were born when Christ entered this life and was born into it. For the birth of the Head was the birth of the blessed members, for it was the birth of the Head which brought the members into existence’ (604A).

Further Reading: http://www.synodinresistance.org/Theology_en/E3c8002cGiatiEns3.pdf