The Spirits, Part 1
His Holiness emphasizes that the body itself is not evil, for God created it, and God never creates evil. If the body were evil, there would be no Incarnation, no bodily Resurrection, and no miracles through holy bodies like Elisha’s bones or Saint Paul’s garments. The Church honors the bodies of saints as they participated in worship and service.
2. Sin and the Body
Evil lies not in the body but in its misuse, when its desires turn toward material things. Sin comes from deviation, not from nature. When the body cooperates with the spirit in worship and service, it becomes holy.
3. The Conflict Between Body and Spirit
When Scripture says the body desires against the spirit, it refers to the corrupted body. The spiritual person’s body works in harmony with the spirit — worshiping, serving, and doing good together.
4. The Spiritual Body
In the Resurrection, the glorified body becomes spiritual — its thoughts, desires, and emotions all pure and holy. Such a body no longer struggles against the spirit.
5. Knowing the Spirit’s Limits
His Holiness teaches humility, acknowledging that there are mysteries about the spirit we do not know. Every teaching must have a biblical or patristic foundation, not be based on philosophies or “spirit science.”
6. Warning Against Foreign Ideas
He warns against false beliefs such as reincarnation and Hindu or Greek philosophies that influenced some thinkers like Origen, whose errors led to heresies.
7. Early Human Beliefs About the Spirit
Ancient humans believed in spirits due to the difference between the living and the dead and because of dreams, which they saw as the soul’s movement. Christianity distinguishes between spiritual reality and subconscious activity.
8. The Orthodox Christian View
Orthodox faith rejects the idea that the spirit is an emanation of God, for God cannot be divided. The spirit is a created being made in God’s image — pure, rational, and free, but not divine.
Spiritual Message:
Man is called to sanctify both body and soul, neither despising the body nor surrendering to its lusts. The body is God’s gift for goodness and worship, led by the spirit toward holiness and union with God.
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