Made in the Image of the Trinity we can attain to his Likeness
The image of God is revealed in us by means of the threefold division of our internal make-up.
The Godhead is adored in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Similarly, three parts can be seen in the image formed in accordance with this model, namely in the human being who adores him, who has made everything from nothing, with soul, mind and reason.
Just as the three Persons are co-eternal and consubstantial and at the same time God is distinct in three persons, though indivisible, so in the image of God there are three parts co-existent and consubstantial. From them human beings take their characteristic form of the image: by means of them they are the image of God, albeit, as we say to avoid misunderstanding, we are talking of an image made from clay.
The soul, the mind and the reason make up a unique and indivisible nature, co-existent and consubstantial, because the mind and the reason are part of the soul which is incorporeal, immortal, divine. These faculties are co-existent and consubstantial with the soul, inseparable one from the other, just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are consubstantial and co-existent, and, being indivisible, constitute a single Godhead, the Godhead who gave existence to the universe.
So much for the nature of the image. As to the likeness, it consists in justice, in mercy, in communion, in love for others. People in whom these qualities are alive and active allow us to see clearly both the image and the likeness of God.
Niceta Stethatus Treatise on the Soul, 21 (SC8I, pp.82ff.)
The Willing Slave of the Spirit
The soul is a marvelous divine invention and it deserves our admiration. When he made it, God put no vice in its nature, but created it in the image of the virtues of his Spirit. He gave it knowledge, discernment, wisdom, faith, love and all the virtues.
So long as the soul keeps knowledge, love and faith, it reveals the nature of the Lord.
He also put in it intelligence and free will, and he included in its nature another great subtlety. He made it extremely mobile, able to travel in imagination there and back instantly, ready like a willing slave to do the bidding of the Spirit.
God in fact created the soul in such a way as to be like a wife and companion to him, to be united with him in one spirit, as St Paul puts it: ‘He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.’ [1 Cor. 6:17]
The glory that Moses bore on his face was an image of the true glory. The Jews at that time could not bear to look at Moses’ face. Nowadays Christians receive the light of that glory in their souls and the powers of darkness are dazzled by it and put to flight.
The Jews were God’s chosen people and the outward sign by which they were recognizable was circumcision. Nowadays, however, God’s special people receive the sign of circumcision in the soul, internally. The heavenly knife amputates any superfluous pride, the foreskin of impurity which is sin.
With the Jews, the flesh was sanctified in baptism. With us, the soul is sanctified by baptism of the Lord in the Spirit. [cf. Matt. 3:11]
Pseudo-Macarius Homily 46, 5ff. (PG34, 796)
~ Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain, A Patristic Breviary: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
