(Latin: "imitation of God")
A theological term describing religious rituals which constitute the deliberate imitation of divine or sacred events from history or myth.
Examples of imitatio Dei include the Jewish Passover, the Christian Eucharist, and the Muslim Hajj.
A separate, but closely related phenomenon is the imitatio Christi ("imitation of Christ"), a late mediaeval form of pious devotion: living a life of voluntary poverty and service, in imitation of Christ.