You know what happens when a portrait that has been painted on a panel becomes obliterated through external stains.The artist does not throw away the panel, but the subject of the portrait has to come and sit for it again, and then the likeness is re-drawn on the same material.
Even so was it with the All-Holy Son of God. He, the Image of the Father, came and dwelt in our midst, in order that He might renew mankind after Himself, and seek out His lost sheep, even as He says in the Gospel: '' I came to seek and to save that which was lost.
St Athanasius the Great
