The Body and the Soul
You consist of body and soul. But you may not be just in dealing with them together: many times you give the body its demands and deprive the soul of its rights, as though you were only of body, without a soul. So what is your position toward:
The Body and the Soul¹
A struggle between the body and the soul:
Your body is of a material composition, and it may incline toward matter and be affected by it, if it is far from the control of the soul. Your soul, on the contrary, is in the image and likeness of God; it longs for God and desires to depart to Him. Therefore it often stands in conflict with the body. And as the Apostle Paul said: “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another” (Gal. 5:17). Yet in this struggle we would like to point out that the body in itself is not evil.
The body is not evil:
The body was created by God. And God does not create evil. Indeed, when God created man with this body, “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). If the body were evil in itself, God would not have created it.
Likewise, we see many saints who lived in the body a righteous life. Their bodies were holy; they were able through them to serve God and glorify Him, in vigils, in fasts, in prostrations, and in the toil of service.
Their bodies participated with their souls in spiritual work, and as the Apostle said: “Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20). The body, then, is not evil, but evil is the lusts of the body.
The body is not sin in itself, for we venerate the bodies of the saints, place them in churches, honor them, rejoice in obtaining them, offer incense to them, and anoint them with spices. And many of these pure bodies miracles proceed from them.
If the body were evil in itself, we would not venerate the bodies of saints. And also, if the body were evil, Christ could not have taken a body.
And if the body were evil, God would not grant it the kingdom, for our bodies will rise and enjoy eternity. But they will be spiritual bodies…
Since the body, then, is not evil, where is the evil? And what is the secret of the frequent talk about the struggle of the body with the soul?
The body is not evil. But evil is living according to the body, the independence of the body from the control of the soul, and its rebellion against it.
Living according to the body:
The Apostle says: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live… For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace… There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 7). If this is so, what then is our position toward the body?
The Apostle says that a person nourishes and cherishes his body (Eph. 5:29). And he also says: “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27).
We therefore do not kill the body, but we suppress its lusts. Killing the body is a sin. And for this reason we do not pray over the one who has committed suicide, for he is a person who died in sin, having killed his body. And asceticism in Christianity is not the killing of the body, but the subduing of its desires, so that the soul may be given its opportunity to work, freed from the weight of the body.
Care, then, for your bodies in a spiritual way, and also care for your souls. Establish a balance between the two, not caring for the body while neglecting the soul.
Let us now ask ourselves in justice and truth: Do we truly care for our souls as we care for our bodies? The saints had all their concern for the soul. Have we even reached the level of mere equality in concern between body and soul? We shall try to answer this in detail in the following points:
1– Nourishing the soul and the body:
You give the body its food every day, with multiple meals each day—do you treat the soul likewise?
And you do not suffice with giving the body daily food with multiple meals, but you also give it all the essential elements it needs; do you treat the soul likewise?
You give the body sugars, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals… You examine, for example, each type of vitamin lest the body become ill if one of them is lacking, and what is lacking in food you supply through medicine. And you care about building your body: giving it proteins for building tissues, calcium for building bones, iron for building blood… Thus you manage your bodily affairs with great wisdom, and fall short in none of its requirements. Do you treat the soul in the same way and fulfill all its needs?
The soul likewise needs multiple elements for its nourishment. It needs to be nourished by prayer, meditation, reading the Holy Bible, reading spiritual books and the lives of the saints. It is also nourished by hymns, chants, spiritual meetings, fasting, and partaking of the Body and Blood of God…
Have you given your soul all these foods completely? And have you given them daily and with multiple meals as you do with the body? Or do you nourish your body faithfully, but not with the same faithfulness and care in nourishing your soul…!
Do you not know that the soul can become ill just as the body becomes ill, if it does not receive its daily food with all its elements?
And you do not suffice with giving the body daily food, with multiple meals and all necessary elements, but you also require that this food be in sufficient quantities… You cannot take a spoonful of rice and say, “I have given the body what it needs of starches,” but the quantity must be sufficient.
So do you give the soul its nourishment in sufficient quantity as you give the body?
Do you think that the few minutes you give to the nourishment of your soul throughout the day are enough to create the necessary balance with the body?… God has granted your soul an entire day each week, in addition to its daily portion. Do you give it its due right? Does the time you spend in worldly matters balance or correspond with the time you give your soul? Is the nourishment of your soul in the quantity it needs? Be just in your answer.
And you do not suffice with giving your body daily food, in multiple meals, complete in all its elements and in sufficient quantities, but you also require that it be appetizing in taste and well-cooked. So it must be with the soul.
Unripe fruit may harm you instead of benefiting you. Raw meat not fully cooked may injure your health instead of nourishing you. Food must also be acceptable in taste (if not delicious) so that you may be able to taste it and accept it.
Likewise the food of the soul must be well-prepared and pleasant in taste, so that you may benefit from it.
It is not enough, for example, to pray; your prayer must be good and acceptable, with faith, with humility, with understanding, with fervor, with feeling, with reverence…
As you put salt and spices on your food, so place such spiritual seasonings on your prayers and on all your spiritual works.
Let your readings be accompanied by understanding and meditation; your almsgiving mixed with tenderness and love; your prostrations with contrition and reverence. Let your fasting include the subduing of the desire for food, and let it be accompanied by spiritual nourishment… Let your spiritual food be well-prepared.
Let us move to another point in the matter of balancing the treatment of the soul and the body, namely illness and healing.
The illness of the soul and its healing:
As the body becomes ill if its food is insufficient or defective, likewise the soul becomes ill. The body may suffer weakness, emaciation, anemia, or tuberculosis, and likewise the soul may suffer the same illnesses.
And as the body, if lacking for example in vitamin A, may have its eyes become diseased, likewise the soul, if you do not give it sufficient reading, preaching, and spiritual meetings, may have its spiritual sight weakened and lose discernment, understanding, and spiritual perception… and so in other matters.
And as the body, when it becomes ill and weak, needs treatment, doctors, and medicine, likewise the soul, when it becomes weak, needs spiritual physicians, fathers, and guides, and needs medicine and healing.
The adornment of the body and its clothing:
You care for the adornment of your body, its appearance, the beauty of its clothing, its elegance. Likewise the soul needs adornment—“the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,” as Scripture says.
The soul is adorned with virtues, with love, joy, peace, and the rest of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is said of the heavenly Jerusalem (the community of believers) that it is like a bride adorned for her bridegroom. So what is your spiritual adornment, blessed child? Where is your perfume and incense? Where is the sweet aroma of Christ that emanates from you?
And where also are your clothes? Where are the wedding garments upon you? Where is your white robe, which is the righteousness of the saints? Do you not know that to the sinful angel of the church of the Laodiceans the Lord said that he is poor and naked, and He also said to him: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18).
The death of the soul:
Saint Augustine said: “The death of the body is the separation of the soul from the body, and the death of the soul is the separation of the soul from God.”
It is said, “We were dead in trespasses,” and it is said of the prodigal son that he “was dead and is alive again.” And just as God can raise the body from death, so He can also raise the soul through repentance.
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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine, Year 5 – Issue 6, 9–11–1974
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