Methodius of Olympus, Discourse on the Resurrection Part 2

Even the portraits of our earthly kings command universal respect, regardless of whether they are fashioned from gold, silver, electrum, or ivory, or from humbler substances like plaster or bronze. People do not venerate the costly images while despising the cheap ones; they honor every likeness equally. If anyone insults any one of these portraits, he is not excused as though he had merely slighted clay, nor is he judged as though he had merely scorned gold. Instead, he is condemned for acting impiously against the king and lord himself.

We understand the golden images to represent God's own angels—the rulers and authorities—created for his honor and glory. For it seems right to me that God possesses images of himself fashioned from a purer, spiritual substance, namely the angels, just as David says, ‘He makes his angels spirits, and his servants a burning fire’ (Psalm 104:4). The images made as if from plaster or bronze represent us. Scripture says, ‘God took dust from the earth and formed the man,’ joining the earthly soul to the one made ‘according to the image of God.’

Therefore, just as every royal portrait here is honored because of the sovereign's form it bears, so too must we—who exist as images of God—be treated with inviolable dignity. Scripture affirms, ‘God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own eternity.’ It is utterly impossible for God's images to be handed over to total destruction as if they were dishonored. That is why the Word descended into our world and became incarnate, taking on a body that had long been dissolving, in order to raise it up incorruptible.