Wednesday, March 16, 2005 Lenten Fast
The Martyr Sabinos of Egypt
6th Hour: Isaiah 2:3-11 1st Vespers: Genesis 1:24-2:3 2nd Vespers: Proverbs 2:1-22
Genesis 1:24-2:3, especially vss. 26, 27: "And God said, Let Us make man according
to Our image and likeness, and let them have dominion....And God made man, according to the image of God He made
him, male and female He made them." We continue in Genesis examining God's unfolding revelation of Himself as
disclosed in the account of the sixth day of creation. Herein, God discloses Himself as personal and relational in His being;
and man, made in the Creator's image, is shown likewise to be personal and relational. Further, as God is Ruler of the
creation, so also He extends to man dominion within the creation. First, notice that between vss. 26 and 27 there is a
significant moment akin to a pause. God "reflects" within Himself, among His Persons. Throughout the Genesis account,
as God creates, He says simply, "Let there be" (e.g., vs 14) or, "Let the earth bring forth" (vs. 24), and whatever He names
comes into being. However, in these two verses God first proposes "Let Us make man" (vs. 26), and only then does He act,
"And God made man" (vs. 27). The important addition to note here is the "Us." Creation is revealed to be the work of a
personal and relational Being. God proposes, deliberates, and communicates among the Persons of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Persons in a relationship of Communion with each Other is the appropriate way to conceive of God the
Creator. Since man is fashioned in the image of God, these facts concerning God's nature have immense consequence
when one considers the creature, man.
Metropolitan John of Pergamon explains that when man is made in the image of God, "he exists, he takes on God's 'way
of being.' This way of being is not a moral attainment, something that man 'accomplishes.' It is a way of 'relationship'
with the world, with other people, and with God, an event of 'communion.'" It should be noted that this way of being,
however, may only be attained fully within the life of the Church, "only as an 'ecclesial' fact." What do we mean by
saying 'person' and 'personal?' St. Gregory of Nyssa says, "There is nothing remarkable in man being the image and
likeness of the universe: for the earth passes away, the sky changes, and all that is contained therein is as transient as that
which contains it." What we can intuit from the fact that we are made in God's image and from knowing that He creates,
deliberates, proposes, decides, and communicates, is that we are 'persons' with constitutive capacities, able to do these
sorts of things. What is remarkable about Man and each man we encounter is that we bear in our breast what St. Gregory
Nazianzus calls "a divine particle," that includes the capacities for self-awareness, choice, and a modicum of freedom.
Man also is relational, as Metropolitan John indicates. As God is Communion and diversity within Himself, so we are
complete only in relation to others. We are made for Communion. This is the underpinning of our being made male and
female in the image of God (vs. 27). Let us recognize, therefore, that gender and sexual diversity are not merely natural,
but supra natural. We are not complete merely in physical union, but in spiritual Communion.
Finally, mankind's God-given mission is stated here: "Let them have 'dominion' over...all the earth" (vs. 28). Respect and
care for God's creation is implicit in this dual extension of "dominion" and "blessing." God has called us to bless the
world, to transfigure it in Communion with Him. As St. Diadochos of Photiki states, "Our likeness to God requires our
cooperation. We are to work with God in bringing blessing to the created order." "But man shall go forth unto his work,
and to his labor until the evening" (Ps. 103:25 LXX).
"Thou, O Lord, hast made [us] a little lower than the angels; with glory and honor hast Thou crowned [us], and Thou has
set [us] over the works of Thy hands." (Ps. 8:5 LXX).
