How does the Orthodox Church teach about the human soul?
The Orthodox Church teaches that the human soul received independent existence from God and is never destroyed. Although at a certain time a person's body becomes a corpse and decays, yet his soul continues and will exist until the Lord raises (restores from the dust—Job 19:25) the body, when the soul and body will be united for a blessed life, or for joint torment.
Are there really people who teach about the soul differently from the Orthodox faith?
Such are the Adventists, who assert that the soul is destroyed together with the body: when a person dies, his soul, in their opinion, perishes, and the body rots and is destroyed, and thus the person disappears. In the opinion of the Adventists, the soul and body are one and the same: the soul is the blood in the body, and blood, as is known, is destroyed together with the whole body in which it flows everywhere.
Do the Adventists correctly understand that the body and soul of a person are one and the same?
No, they do not, because the soul and body are completely different from each other: the body is from the earth, "from the dust of the ground" (Gen. 2:7), while the soul is the "breath of Divine life" (Gen. 2:7). And indeed, the body and soul were created separately.
How is the creation of man described in Holy Scripture?
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). Therefore, the body of man was created separately, and the soul received existence separately.
Why, then, in some places of Scripture, is the soul called blood (Lev. 17:14; Deut. 12:23)?
This speaks not of the human soul, which came from the divine inbreathing, but of the soul of animals; the animal soul received its origin not from the divine inbreathing, but from the irrational nature, acting by God's command. So it is said in Holy Scripture: "Then God said, 'Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures'... Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind'" (Gen. 1:20, 24).
Therefore, it is said (Deut. 12:23) that the soul of animals can (but, of course, should not) be eaten; of the human soul, however, it is nowhere said that it can serve as food.
Therefore, one must strictly distinguish the human soul from the soul of the animal, and the Adventists do not do this, thus considering themselves equal to animals and reptiles.
Does Scripture show the difference between the body and the soul of man?
Besides the indicated difference in the creation of the soul and body, there are many other teachings in Holy Scripture that the soul and body are completely different from each other. "The spirit indeed is willing," says the Savior of the sleeping Apostles, "but the flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41). Of the death of man, it is said thus: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7).
How, then, is the soul united with the body?
The soul, according to Scripture, lives in the body as in a dwelling. The sick king Hezekiah, expecting death, thus prayed to the Lord: "My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent" (Is. 38:12). In the book of righteous Job, we read of people as of those "who dwell in houses of clay" (Job 4:19). Therefore, the human soul is represented as entering and leaving the body. Of the resurrection of the youth by the prophet Elijah, it is said thus: "So the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived" (1 Kings 17:22).
Is there further confirmation of this representation of the soul in Scripture?
Yes. The Apostle Paul writes: "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Therefore, the Apostle Paul understood that the soul, even without the body, can be in paradise and hear. But the Adventists do not admit this.
Where does the soul go after its separation from the body?
We have no precise indication of this, because it is beyond our power to understand this, just as one born blind can have no conception of red, or blue, or any other color. By trusting those who see, he can only know that various colors exist, but what they are like and how they differ from each other, he cannot know until he receives his sight. Exactly so, we, although we know that there is somewhere a place for our soul, but where it is and what it is like, we cannot know until we die. In Holy Scripture, this place is called by various names: sometimes "house": it is said that after death "man goes to his eternal home" (Eccl. 12:5); sometimes "dwelling": Tobit prayed to God, saying: "command that I be released... to the everlasting place" (Tob. 3:6); sometimes "Sheol (the grave/the underworld)": Jacob said: "For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning" (Gen. 37:35); sometimes "the land of darkness and shadow": the long-suffering Job said that he would depart to "the land of darkness and the shadow of death, a land as dark as darkness itself, as the shadow of death, without any order, where even the light is like darkness" (Job 10:21-22).
How is the place of abode of the souls of deceased people represented?
It is represented as if filled with living souls. The prophet Isaiah prophesied of the king of Babylon that after his death, the Jewish people, freed from his tyranny, would thus speak of him: "Hell from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all shall speak and say to you: 'Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us?'" (Is. 14:9-10; compare Ezek. 31:3-18).
What is the separation of soul and body called in Scripture?
It is called the departure of the soul to God: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7).
By what example can we most easily be convinced that the soul of every deceased person continues to exist by itself, without the body with which it was formerly united?
By the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was both perfect God and perfect man. When the Savior was dying on the cross, crying out with a loud voice, He said: "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit'" (Luke 23:46).
Did the soul of the Savior die when He gave up His spirit?
No, it did not die, but departed, like all souls, to "its own place," to Hades (hell), although it did not remain there. The Psalmist David predicted this descent of Christ; the Apostle Peter cites this prophecy in his sermon: "For David says concerning Him... 'For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life...' he (i.e., David), foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption" (Acts 2:25, 27-28, 31). Therefore, the soul of the Savior, like the soul of all people who died in the Old Testament, descended into Hades, although it did not remain there.
Was the soul of Christ indeed temporarily in Hades?
Undoubtedly, because the Apostle Paul also writes: "Now this, 'He ascended'—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?" (Eph. 4:9).
What did the Savior do in Hades when He descended there with His soul?
The Apostle explains that "Christ... being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison" (1 Pet. 3:18-19). And in another place of Scripture, we read about the same: "For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (1 Pet. 4:6).
What significance do these testimonies of Holy Scripture have for us?
Firstly, they convince us that the souls of the dead are not destroyed, as the Adventists think; secondly, we learn that the souls of the dead are in a conscious, rational state, because the souls of people who died before the death of Christ on the cross heard and understood the preaching and the good news of the Savior who descended to them in Hades; thirdly, comforted by the cited testimonies of Scripture, we "might have hope" (Rom. 15:4) that we will not die in soul, as the Savior did not die in His soul, and will live "according to God in the spirit," as did those to whom the Lord preached in Hades: the soul of the Savior did not die, and we are like the human nature of the Savior, according to what is said, that He, being God, "made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself" (Phil. 2:7-8).
How else can it be proved that the dead indeed live in their souls?
This can be proved by the fact that there have been cases when deceased people appeared to someone still living on earth. For example, Samuel appeared to the witch of Endor, rebuked the ungodliness of King Saul, who was present there for sorcery, and predicted death for him and his sons, saying: "Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me," which came to pass.
The prophet Samuel, therefore, lives after his death a fully conscious life and even knew what would happen to the Jewish people and their king Saul (1 Sam. 28:11-19).
What do the Adventists answer when one points out to them the example of the appearance of the prophet Samuel?
They say that it was not Samuel who appeared, but the devil in the form of Samuel.
What should be said to the Adventists for this?
It must be said that they lie against Holy Scripture, because it is nowhere evident that it was the devil who appeared to Saul, and not Samuel. On the contrary, Scripture confirms that it was indeed Samuel who appeared. The wise Jesus, son of Sirach, says of Samuel: "Even after he had fallen asleep he prophesied and revealed to the king his death, and lifted up his voice from the earth in prophecy, to blot out the wickedness of the people" (Sir. 46:20).
Do the souls of the dead indeed live a fully conscious life in the afterlife?
Yes, because God "is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him" (Luke 20:38).
Is it really impossible to destroy the soul by any means?
No, it is impossible. The Savior said: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt. 10:28).
Did the Savior testify to these words by His deed?
He did. To the penitent thief crucified with Him, in response to his confession, the Lord said: "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).
Do the Adventists believe these words of the Lord?
No, they do not. The Adventists say that the Savior could not have said that, because the thief had not even died yet on that day when he heard these joyful words from Christ.
Do the Adventists speak correctly?
No, they do not. When the Savior spoke His words to the thief (Luke 23:43), "Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour" (Luke 23:44). According to our reckoning, this was from 12 to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. At this time, the Lord gave up His spirit. "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out" (John 19:31-34). Therefore, the thief died on Friday, and the Lord immediately brought him into paradise.
Do the Adventists realize their error with such a clear exposure of it?
No, they do not. Most of them are Germans who do not know the Russian language. And so they, not understanding the structure of Russian speech, say that the Savior said to the thief thus: "Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." And this, they claim, means that the Lord only promised paradise to the thief, but did not indicate when exactly He would bring him there. It is clear to anyone that in that case the Savior would not have needed to say the word "today," and if it was said, then it must be understood as indicating the time when the penitent thief was granted to be established in paradise.
How is the community of believers in Christ represented after His resurrection from the dead?
It is represented as a kingdom of the living and the dead. The Apostle Paul writes to Christians: "For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living" (Rom. 14:7-9). If the dead are something non-existent, then why rule over them? A fine king, if his subjects do not actually exist. And such, precisely, a King the Adventists make Christ out to be.
Does Holy Scripture show any advantage of this present life over the afterlife?
Old Testament people feared death because they did not know what the afterlife was like, and therefore, when they were threatened with early death, they asked God for the continuation of their earthly life. The pious king Hezekiah prayed: "In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years" (Is. 38:10). Sheol (the grave/the underworld) was represented to the Old Testament people as a place far from the Lord. But when the God-Man Christ rose and brought the souls of the righteous out of Hades, then man became terrible to death, and the righteous, dying now, rejoice, and do not fear death. The Apostles said: "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you" (Phil. 1:21-24).
How is the heavenly community of Christ now represented?
It is represented as a triumphant assembly of the righteous. The Apostle Paul writes to Christians: "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant" (Heb. 12:22-24).
Do these souls of the righteous preserve their full, inherent self-identity?
They all see, understand, speak, and in general live fully consciously. Therefore, the Savior said of Abraham: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). And "the gospel was preached also to those who are dead" (1 Pet. 4:6) by the Savior, and they understood. And the souls of the righteous themselves pray to the Lord. The seer John the Theologian writes: "I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed" (Rev. 6:9-11). And in another place, St. John reports: "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus" (Rev. 20:4).
How, then, do the Adventists justify their unbelief in the immortality of the soul?
They pervert the meaning of some texts of Holy Scripture, for example, Psalms: Ps. 88:10-12; 115:17; 146:4; 6:5; Eccl. 3:19; 9:5-6; Is. 38:18-19.
How do the Adventists pervert Ps. 88:10-12?
By reading the following words: "Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah. Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" Reading these words, the Adventists say that the dead cannot praise the Lord, that they are dead, and that a miracle must be performed to revive them. Therefore, the souls have died and do not exist now.
Is such a judgment of the Adventists correct?
No, it is not correct. The Adventists do not read Psalm 88 from beginning to end, and therefore cannot understand it. This psalm prophesies about Christ the Savior: about His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (Ps. 88:1-2, 14-16; cf. Matt. 26:42), about His sufferings for people (Ps. 88:3-8, 17-18), about the withdrawal of even acquaintances from Him when He was being tried and when He was on the cross (Ps. 88:8, 18; cf. Luke 23:49; Matt. 26:73-74). In verses Ps. 88:10-12, the descent of Christ into Hades is prophesied, and the necessity of this work. The dead were abandoned, deprived of the opportunity to see the face of God and the wonders of the Lord; the living were admonished by God with punishments and encouraged by mercies, but the dead could not be granted to see the wonder of God. And so, Christ appears as a prophet and lawgiver in the grave: He proclaims the mercy of God, as the Apostle Peter reports: "For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (1 Pet. 4:6). For this, Christ also "first descended into the lower parts of the earth" (Eph. 4:9), "and went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah" (1 Pet. 3:19-20; see Chrysostom 5, 882-887).
How do the Adventists pervert Psalm 115?
The Adventists take from Psalm 115 verses 17 and 18 (in the Russian numbering they use, corresponding to verses 17-18 in English), which supposedly read: "The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore" (Ps. 115:17-18), and say that the Psalmist denies the immortality of the soul.
What is the perversion by the Adventists of this passage?
The Adventists do not read verse 18 to the end, and therefore it is not clear to them what the Psalmist is speaking about. King David here speaks of spiritual (moral) dead people [cf. Matt. 8:22], of people who are dead to virtue. And that this is exactly so is evident from the fact that the Psalmist contrasts himself with the dead and says: "But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore" (Ps. 115:18), that is, also in the afterlife (Chrysostom 5, 337-338).
And further, in Psalm 116, the Psalmist prophesies how the souls of people will be delivered by the Savior from the burdens of Hades: "Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps. 116:7-9). It is this bounty and joy of death that the Apostles experience when they say: "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). Of the "land of the living" (Ps. 116:9), the Apostles speak to Christians thus: "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Heb. 12:22-24)!
How do the Adventists pervert Psalm 146 in favor of their ungodly teaching?
The Adventists read verses 3 and 4 of the psalm: "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plans perish" (Ps. 146:3-4), and assert on the basis of these words that the souls of the dead cannot know anything, if all the plans of the dying man perish; souls, therefore, are destroyed—the Adventists reason.
What is the perversion by the Adventists of the teaching of Scripture here?
The prophet David in the psalm under consideration says that one should not trust in people (in a son of man), because a person dies, and the help he promised is gone. It is better to trust in God: "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God" (Ps. 146:5). And the saying: on the day of death, all his plans perish—does not at all mean that the human soul perishes. It happens like this: a person hoped to receive help from someone, or something else, and the one he hoped for suddenly dies. Then they say to the person who hoped: all your plans have perished! This means that all hopes have perished, all projects and assumptions have collapsed. Exactly so, the Psalmist David says that one should not trust in man, because he will die, and then all his promises, all his assumptions will perish. It is better to trust in the Almighty Lord the Creator (Chrysostom 5, 529-531).
How do the Adventists pervert Ps. 6:5?
Here it is said: "Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies' sake! For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?" (Ps. 6:4-5). The Adventists understand these words in the sense that the human soul is destroyed on the day of its death.
Is such a judgment of the sectarians correct?
No, it is not correct. In the quoted prayer, the Psalmist says not a word about the mortality of the soul, but only asks that the Lord have mercy on him here on earth, because beyond the grave it is impossible for unrighteous and sinful people to become more and more adorned with virtue, even if someone wished it: the 5 foolish virgins very much wanted to acquire oil for themselves, in order to meet the bridegroom worthily with burning lamps, but could not do so (Chrysostom 5, 54-55).
What basis do we have for understanding the Psalmist's words about death in the sense of a sinful life, and not as the Adventists understand them, i.e., in the sense of the destruction of the human soul?
The Adventists cite Psalms 12 and 29 in support of their teaching about the mortality of the soul, and in them it is very clearly indicated that the Psalmist, by the death of the soul, by the sleep of the soul, means the sinful life.
How is this spoken of in Psalm 12?
"Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; lest my enemy say, 'I have prevailed against him'; lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved" (Ps. 13:3-4). It is clear that spiritual sleep is spoken of here, a state when a person is removed from a virtuous life, when his eyes are not enlightened by righteousness.
How is moral death spoken of in Psalm 29?
Here the Psalmist directly declares that his sinful life is Hades, the grave, while virtue, to which God has led him, is life. "O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit" (Ps. 30:3). If by Hades the Psalmist meant the underworld, the death of soul and body, then he would not have spoken thus, since it is known that the Psalmist died bodily only once, died and then did not rise again. Further, the Psalmist David indicates why it is precious to him that his soul has returned to righteousness: only a righteous soul can praise the Lord after death, not the decaying body.
"What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth?" (Ps. 30:9).
How do the Adventists pervert Isaiah 38?
Here is set forth the prayer of Hezekiah, king of Judah, by which he protected himself from the early death that had been appointed for him because of sin. In this prayer, the Adventists find an indication that Hezekiah supposedly did not believe in the immortality of the soul. To prove their heretical opinion, the Adventists cite the following words of Hezekiah: "For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living man, he shall thank You, as I do this day; the father shall make known Your truth to the children" (Is. 38:18-19).
Does Hezekiah say that he does not believe in the immortality of the soul?
No, he does not, but he calls sinful, proud, malevolent people dead and those in Sheol. Hezekiah calls virtuous people, who glorify God, living. And Hezekiah represents his own death as the departure of his soul into Sheol: "I shall go to the gates of Sheol" (Is. 38:10). Hezekiah did not say, as the Adventists would like, that he would be completely annihilated, but that he must go to Sheol.
Can we not think that, indeed, the Old Testament righteous meant by Sheol dead, unconscious souls?
The prophet Isaiah, who recorded the prayer of the righteous king Hezekiah, clarified what the concept of Sheol was in the Old Testament. It is as if filled with living beings, conscious and understanding souls. On behalf of the Jews, the prophet Isaiah thus speaks of the king of Babylon: "Hell from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; it stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. They all shall speak and say to you: 'Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us?'" (Is. 14:9-10).
How do the Adventists pervert Ecclesiastes chapter 3?
The Adventists read from this chapter the following passage: "For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity" (Eccl. 3:19). On the basis of these words, the Adventists deny the immortality of the soul.
Is this correct?
No, it is not correct. The book of Ecclesiastes sets forth the reasoning of two kinds of people: one reasoning of a person grieved by the injustices of life, who comes to unbelief and concludes that man is the same as an animal: he died, and that's the end of everything. The other reasoning is of a person believing in righteousness: here Ecclesiastes cites a judgment according to which man and animal are not the same, but that man is awaited by an afterlife and a judgment for every earthly deed. "I said in my heart," says Ecclesiastes, "God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work." He who does not believe in the immortality of the soul cannot speak of a judgment beyond the grave, as Ecclesiastes speaks of it. Therefore, Ecclesiastes believed in the immortality of the soul. And it is difficult to understand why the Adventists want to be like animals, when all Scripture teaches that man is higher than all animals by his nature and surpasses them precisely in his rational soul.
How do the Adventists pervert Ecclesiastes chapter 9?
Just as they do chapter 3. They read the words which Ecclesiastes cites from the mouth of an unbelieving person: "For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun" (Eccl. 9:5-6). Based on these words, the Adventists assert that souls die together with the bodies.
Does Ecclesiastes indeed think that souls are destroyed?
No. Ecclesiastes only cites the thought of an unbelieving person, who reasons about everything according to appearances; and to such a person it seems that life is only under the sun, and as soon as a person dies, everything ceases. But Ecclesiastes himself does not reason thus. He understands that a person's body decays after his death, but the soul departs to God: "man goes to his eternal home" (Eccl. 12:5); and again: "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7).
Thus also the Savior, in agreement with Ecclesiastes, said: "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit'" (Luke 23:46). And the soul of Christ, as has already been explained, did not die, but preached to the spirits in Hades (1 Pet. 3:19).
So also our souls, when we die bodily, will live, as the soul of the Savior lived when His body lay in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
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