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Orthodox Doctrine (Summary of Christian Divinity)
Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, tr. Pinkerton, 1814
7. Part 1, Section 7: What is the Image and Likeness of God?
Man was made a partaker of this goodness, more than any other creature, being created male and female, after the image of God; formed of a body and an immortal soul.
1. The image and likeness of God consist in a similarity to the divine perfections. For example, God is possessed of intelligence, and man is likewise endowed with intelligence. God, according to his nature, only chooseth that which is good, and turneth away from all evil; and man received at his creation an innate propensity to good, and an aversion to evil. God is the supreme Lord of all creatures; and man is placed also at the head of this lower world. In this manner, it is necessary to reason of the other perfections. And because God is immaterial, as we have mentioned above, therefore the image of God cannot be material, as the Anthropomorphites foolishly argue; for this image was, at first, impressed on the soul of man. We can even attain to tolerably distinct ideas of this subject, by the assistance of our reason; but the Holy Scriptures speak still more distinctly, when they admonish us to “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Eph. iv. 24; see also Col. iii. 10. And what we have here said in regard to the image of God, belongs to both the sexes, that is, to man and woman, as is evident from Gen. i. 27. The first man was called Adam, and his wife Eve: and from these two, the whole human race has sprung.
The soul is immortal.
2. On entering into ourselves, we feel that there exists within us, a being, as it were, distinct from our body, possessed of powers to know itself, and also other objects. This being we call soul; and we cannot entertain a doubt of its immortality; because it is not material; for matter cannot be endowed with such reason and will as we feel our souls to be possessed of, put it into what form soever you please. This subject is explained by the Holy Scriptures, which inform us, that the body was taken from the earth, and God breathed into man the soul: “And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Gen. ii. 7. But we ought not to suppose from this, that God breathed like a man, or that our soul is air or vapour; for by this breathing of God, we are taught, that our soul is a being created after the image of God, and that it stands in a nearer connection with him than all the other creatures. However, let none from this imagine, that our soul is a part of the divine nature: God cannot be divided into parts; for if God possessed parts, then they, like himself, must also be uncreated.