Sophia Scriptura

Octavius 32.1

Minucius Felix · Octavius · ca. 197–250 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Christians have no images or temples because man is God's image and the world cannot contain him.

Latin text · CSEL 2:45–46

Putatis autem nos occultare quod colimus, si delubra et aras non habemus? quod enim simulacrum Deo fingam, cum, si recte existimes, sit Dei homo ipse simulacrum? templum quod ei extruam, cum totus hic mundus eius opere fabricatus eum capere non possit? et cum homo latius maneam, intra unam aediculam uim tantae maiestatis includam?

English · Claude translation

"But do you think that we hide what we worship because we have no shrines and altars? For what image shall I fashion for God, when, if you think rightly, man himself is the image of God? What temple shall I build for him, when this whole world, fashioned by his work, cannot contain him? And when I, a man, dwell more spaciously, shall I shut up the power of such great majesty within one little building?

About this passage

Source
CSEL 2:45–46 · Karl Halm, ed., M. Minucii Felicis Octavius; Iulii Firmici Materni Liber de errore profanarum religionum, CSEL 2 (Vienna: Gerold, 1867), 1–56 · Latin text: K. Halm (CSEL 2, 1867), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in CSEL 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 2; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Divided there by chapter only.
Scripture

Notes

Translation notes

  • Cf. Gen 1:27; 1 Kgs 8:27; Isa 66:1; Acts 7:48–49.

Cite this passage

Minucius Felix, Oct. 32.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/32/1/).

Plain text
Minucius Felix, Oct. 32.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/minucius-octavius/32/1/).

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