Échos de la théologie de l’image de Dieu chez Grégoire de Nysse dans l’oeuvre du père Dumitru Stăniloae

One of St. Gregory of Nyssa’s concerns was related to Christian anthropology. In his understanding, man is a mystery whom he tried to explain obviously by reference to God, who created him and in relation to whom he can be understood. One aspect of this relationship is the image of God in man. The exegesis of the Fathers on Genesis 1:26: “Let us make man in our image and likeness” includes many aspects of God’s image in man: reason, ability to know and to understand, freedom, self-determination, the dignity of ruler over all creation, the capacity to participate in God through grace, the character of being destined for communion etc. The Cappadocian Father pays close attention to the relationship between image and model or prototype, showing man’s kinship with God, through this image implanted in him, as a mirror of “divine beauty”. Echoes of St. Gregory of Nyssa’s anthropology are also found in the thinking of Father Dumitru Stăniloae, one of the representative contemporary theologians of the Orthodox Church. The present study aims to make an analysis of the way in which the conception of St. Gregory of Nyssa about the image of God was received and used by Father Stăniloae.