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For a casual observer, this may seem similar to the Church's teaching of [[theosis]], but this is most emphatically ''not'' so:
:'''First''', there is a definite distinction in the Church between God and mankind, between the Creator and His Creation. God is eternal, and existed for eternity prior to (and entirely separate from) His creation(which, unlike its Creator, is ''not'' eternal), until the incarnation of the pre-eternal Word of God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, as Our Lord Jesus Christ. This was a unique union between God and His creation, which never existed before. Mormonism, on the other hand, teaches that only matter and intelligence are truly eternal (not God), and that ''all'' of their "gods" essentially "evolved" in the same fashion, from physical matter.
:'''Second''', the Orthodox Church clearly teaches that the Most Holy Trinity has ''always'' existed precisely as one God: "the Trinity, One in essence, and undivided." Mormonism, on the other hand, teaches that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one in "purpose" only, and most emphatically ''not'' one in essence or hypostasis (as the Orthodox Church teaches). They are three "gods," say the Mormons, and not "one" in anything except a common purpose and mindset. Furthermore, say they, there are potentially billions of "gods" beyond the three they acknowledge as belonging to this world. All of this is diametrically opposed to Orthodox Christian teaching.
:'''Third''', Theosis is a unification between God and mankind, not the creation of an entirely separate deity (or dieties).
In contrast, Orthodoxy teaches that while only [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] bear the ''guilt'' for their sin in the [[Garden of Eden]], they have transmitted the ''consequences'' of that sin to their posterity. St. [[Anastasius the Sinaite]] wrote this on the subject: "We became the inheritors of the curse in Adam. We were not punished as if we had disobeyed that divine commandment along with Adam; but because Adam became mortal, he transmitted sin to his posterity. We became mortal since we were born from a mortal."<ref>St. Anastasius the Sinaite, 19. Vide I.N. Karmirh, SUNOYIS THS DOGMATKHS THS ORQODOXOU EKKLHSIAS, s. 38. Quoted from Kalomiros, Dr. Alexandre, The River of Fire, ch. IV, found at http://www.orthodoxpress.org/parish/river_of_fire.htm.</ref>
In keeping with the Holy Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition, the Orthodox Church baptizes infants by triple immersion (as She does with adult converts, as well), not to cleanse them of any "[[original sin]]," but rather to give them the grace that this holy [[sacrament]] imparts, together with membership in the Orthodox Church and access to the [[Eucharist|Holy Eucharist]] and all of the other means of grace offered by the ChurchShe offers.<ref>Pomazansky, pp. 268-69,.</ref>
===Miracles and Martyrs===
