§ 2: On the Origin of the Soul According to the Church Fathers

The holy Church Fathers, following the teaching and spirit of the Sacred Scripture, all held a view in agreement with it. The great Athanasius says: “The soul is spoken of in two ways: one is the irrational soul, which belongs to beasts, the other is the rational soul, which belongs to humans. And the soul of beasts derives its creation from the earth, according to God’s command, as the divine Scripture says. But man has received his soul from the divine breath, and therefore he knows divine things, pursues heavenly things, contemplates the supernal realities, and is rational and intelligent.” And the theologian Gregory versifies the following concerning the soul.

“A fleshly soul, inexplicably arising from without, falls upon the earthly frame. He who mixed them knows—how first He breathed and bound the image of earth.”

The divine Chrysostom says the following: “The body of man receives its being from the earth; his soul God Himself creates and fashions, not drawing it from His own substance, so that when the body dies or the man perishes, we do not despair concerning the soul.” And “Why is it that the body is buried in a tomb? Do not expect the soul to be there as well. For it was not taken from the earth, nor does it go into the earth.” And the great Basil holds that man is composite, made of an earthly body and a heavenly soul. “Man is composite, made of soul and body; his flesh is from the earth, his soul is heavenly.” Cyril the divine, of Alexandria, says: “The Creator of all fashioned man from the earth, that is, the body; and having ensouled it with a living and intellectual soul, in the way He knows, He implanted in it naturally the desire and knowledge of every good thing.”

The philosopher and confessor Maximus says: “The generation of the soul does not come from underlying matter, as do bodies, but by the will of God through living inspiration, in an ineffable and unknowable way, as only its Creator knows.” The most wise Photius says: “Through the spirit—that is, through the breathing—the human soul was directly created.” The holy Gregory Palamas says: “God, creating our forefather Adam according to His image and likeness, placed no evil or fault in him, but along with the soul breathed into him the grace of the divine spirit, which preserved him in newness and maintained him in likeness.” And the sacred Theodoret: “God made man from things that are and things that are not: the body He formed by fashioning dust taken from the earth, but the soul He created from non-being. Indeed, the most divine Moses first wrote that Adam’s body was fashioned, and then God breathed the soul into him. For God took dust from the earth and fashioned man, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. That breath, we do not say, is a part of the divine essence, but through it we understand the nature of the soul to be signified—that the soul is a spiritual and intellectual spirit.” “This doctrine concerning soul and body the Church learned from the divine writings.”