What does the Original require of the image?

There ought to be a dialogue between the image (i.e., the human being) and its Original (i.e., God), a mutual conversation with God, and the entering into a covenant with Him. St. Jacob of Sarug says, “[God] engraved His likeness upon him, He bestowed His image upon Him, He wove His love into His image, He strengthened His handiwork with His mercy, He established His covenant with His image, and He made him master of creation … He made him gentle so that whenever He might converse with him He converses with His own image, and whenever He appears to him, He appears as His own image. Therefore, He speaks to our race in our own language .”⁴⁷⁴