Eastern Orthodox atonement theology prioritizes the Christus Victor framework—Christ's conquest of sin, death, and the devil—and the recapitulation of human nature in the Incarnation, over the Western satisfaction or penal substitution models. St. Athanasius's formulation in De Incarnatione captures the Orthodox vision: Christ assumed human mortality and corruption to heal and transform them from within; his death and resurrection constitute the decisive victory over death itself. The Paschal proclamation 'Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life' expresses this theology in liturgical form.

Orthodox theologians have been broadly critical of Anselm's satisfaction theory as introducing forensic-legal categories foreign to patristic thought and as implying a quasi-independent divine justice that had to be 'satisfied' before God could forgive. While Orthodox theology does not deny the significance of Christ's sacrifice, it frames it primarily as the healing of human nature, the victory over the power of death, and the restoration of communion with God—rather than as a legal transaction. The Eucharist is understood as the ongoing participation of the faithful in Christ's victorious Pascha.