Image and Likeness

Q & A with Fr Job:

Question: It is written: Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness (Gen. 1:26). What is the image, and what is the likeness?

Answer: The components of the image of God in man are: his eternal soul, his free will, his mind, that which distinguishes him from the animals, moral sentiments. The understanding of “likeness” indicates the measure of man’s approach to God. Therefore people who have attained holiness in the monastic life are called “prepodobny” [literally, in-the-likeness].