Image of God

Fallen Humanity Still In The Image Of God

A man went to an Orthodox monastery. He was a skeptic. He didn't believe in God. He was essentially an atheist, and he went to the abbot of the monastery, and he said, "I want to see God".

And the abbot said, "OK, I'll show you God".

And the man said, "You will? You'll show me God?"

And the abbot said, "Yes, I'll show you God."

And the man said, "Go ahead and show me."

So the abbot took him to the most grungy monk in the monastery. This monk was sort of shabby, and the abbot turned to the man, and pointing to the monk said, "There is God".

And the skeptic said, "That's not God. That's just an old, grungy monk!"

And the abbot said, "If you cannot see God in that man, then you will never see God at all."

What was the basis for his comment? It was that God created mankind in his own image and likeness, and therefore, even though we have fallen humanity, it is still in the image of God. - Fr. John Braun on Human Dignity and the Image of God

God Reflected In The Souls of Men

"God is resplendently reflected in the souls of His chosen ones, and these pure souls, these images of God, like the transparent glass, shine forth like gold in the sun, like diamonds of the purest water, but they shine for God and the angels, not revealing their brightness to men, although at times, by God's ordering, they do shine even for them, by the light of their faith, their virtues, when necessary, similar to a candle put on a candlestick in a room, and lighting the room with all those who are in it." (cf. Mt. 5:15) -- St. John of Kronstadt

The Coin of God is in Humanity

"The image of God is not depicted on gold but is imaged in humanity. The coin of Caesar is gold; that of God, humanity. Caesar is seen in his currency; God, however, is known through human beings. And so give your wealth to Caesar but reserve for God the sole innocence of your conscience, where God is beheld. For the hand of Caesar has crafted an image by likenesses and lives each year by renewable decree. However, the divine hand of God has shown his image in ten points.

What ten points? From five carnal ones and five spiritual ones through which we see and understand what things are useful under God's image. So let us always reflect the image of God in these ways:

I do not swell up with the arrogance of pride;

nor do I droop with the blush of anger;

nor do I succumb to the passion of avarice;

nor do I surrender myself to the ravishes of gluttony;

nor do I infect myself with the duplicity of hypocrisy;

nor do I contaminate myself with the filth of rioting;

nor do I grow flippant with the pretension of conceit;

nor do I grow enamored of the burden of heavy drinking;

nor do I alienate by the dissension of mutual admiration;

nor do I infect others with the biting of detraction;

nor do I grow conceited with the vanity of gossip.

Rather, instead, I will reflect the image of God in that I feed on love;

grow certain on faith and hope;

strengthen myself on the virtue of patience;

grow tranquil by humility;

grow beautiful by chastity;

am sober by abstention;

am made happy by tranquility;

and am ready for death by practicing hospitality.

It is with such inscriptions that God imprints his coins with an impression made neither by hammer nor by chisel but has formed them with his primary divine intention. For Caesar required his image on every coin, but God has chosen man, whom he has created, to reflect his glory."

Incomplete Work on Matthew Homily 42 (Sometimes attributed to St. John Chrysostom)

Show Me Your God

"But if you say, 'Show me thy God,' I would reply, 'Show me yourself, and I will show you my God'. Show, then, that the eyes of your soul are capable of seeing, and the ears of your heart able to hear; for as those who look with the eyes of the body perceive earthly objects ... and as in like manner also, by the sense of hearing, we discriminate either sharp, or deep, or sweet sounds; so the same holds good regarding the eyes of the soul and the ears of the heart, that it is by them we are able to behold God. For God is seen by those who are enabled to see Him when they have the eyes of their soul opened." -- Theophilus of Antioch

Made in God's Image, but not the Likeness

"All men are made in God's image; but to be in His likeness is granted only to those who through great love have brought their own freedom into subjection to God. For only when we do not belong to ourselves do we become like Him who through love has reconciled us to Himself." -- St Diadochus Photike

The Son is the Imprint of the Father

"The countenance of God the Father is the Son who is the imprint of God. But the light of God is the grace that passes into creation through the Spirit, by which we are refashioned to God through faith. We receive through God, as with a seal, the being conformed to his Son." -- St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John 3.5

Let Us Be God Centered

"Let us be God-centered and not self-centered. Let us recognize the image of God in ourselves and in one another. Let us always choose Christ, our Lord, God and Savior, who comes into Jerusalem, humbly riding upon a donkey for our salvation. Let us proclaim by our words and actions: 'Hosanna! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!' -- St. Andrew of Crete