Living statues where God dwells
In each of those who, as far as they are able, have imitated him in this too, there is the statue “after the image of the Creator,” which they make by gazing on God with a pure heart (Matthew 5:8), having become “imitators of God” (Ephesians 5:1). In short, all Christians try to set up altars such as we have described and statues such as we have shown. These are not lifeless and senseless, nor fit to receive the greedy demons who lie in wait by lifeless things. They are fit to receive the Spirit of God, who comes to dwell in the statues of virtue we have spoken of, and in what is “after the image of the Creator,” as in his own home. So too the Spirit of Christ settles upon those who are, if I may call them so, of one form with him.
It was because the word of God wished to set forth such things that it recorded God making this promise to the righteous: “I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16); and the Saviour saying: “If anyone hears my words and does them, I and my Father will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).
Let anyone who wishes, then, compare the altars I have described with the altars Celsus speaks of, and the statues in the soul of those who are devout toward the God of the universe with the statues of Phidias and Polyclitus and their like. He will see clearly that those are lifeless and decay with time, but these remain in the immortal soul for as long as the rational soul wishes them to remain in it.
Greek
Καὶ ἐν ἑκάστῳ δὲ τῶν κατὰ δύναμιν ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἐν τούτῳ μιμησαμένων ἐστὶν ἄγαλμα τὸ „κατ᾿ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος,“ ὅπερ κατασκευάζουσι τῷ ἐνορᾶν θεῷ καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ, „μιμηταὶ“ γενόμενοι „τοῦ θεοῦ.“ καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς πάντες Χριστιανοὶ ὁποίους εἴπομεν βωμοὺς καὶ ὁποῖα παρεστήσαμεν ἀγάλματα πειρῶνται ἱδρύεσθαι, οὐκ ἄψυχα καὶ ἀναίσθητα οὐδὲ δαιμόνων λίχνων ἐφεδρευόντων τοῖς ἀψύχοις δεκτικὰ ἀλλὰ πνεύματος θεοῦ, τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀγάλμασι τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῷ „κατ᾿ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος“ ὡς οἰκείοις ἐπιδημοῦντος· οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῖς, ἵν᾿ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, συμμόρφοις ἐφιζάνει. καὶ τοιαῦτά γε βουλόμενος παραστῆσαι ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ἀνέγραψε τὸν μὲν θεὸν ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ τοῖς δικαίοις λέγοντα· „ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἔσομαι αὐτῶν θεὸς, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔσονταί μου λαὸς,“ τὸν δὲ σωτῆρα· „ἐάν τις ἀκούῃ μου τοὺς λόγους καὶ ποιῇ αὐτοὺς, ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ἐλευσόμεθα πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ μονὴν παρ᾿ αὐτῷ ποιησόμεθα.“ συνεξεταζέτω οὖν ὁ βουλόμενος βωμοὺς, οὓς διηγησάμην, βωμοῖς οἷς Κέλσος λέγει, καὶ ἀγάλματα ἐν τῇ τῶν εὐσεβούντων εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ψυχῇ ἀγάλμασι Φειδίου καὶ Πολυκλείτου καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων· καὶ σαφῶς εἴσεται ἐκεῖνα μὲν καὶ ἄψυχα εἶναι καὶ χρόνῳ φθειρόμενα, ταῦτα δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀθανάτῳ μένειν ψυχῇ ἐς ὅσον μένειν ἐν αὐτῇ ἡ λογικὴ ψυχὴ βούλεται.