The end of the first century AD, Christianity was established all over the Mediterranean Sea.[1] During this era much theological fermentation occurred upon philosophical issues; Plato’s philosophical ideas were subject to considerable development, [2] and the early Christianity was mingled with it, ‘creating unchangeable religious dogma’.[3] One of the most prominent Plato’s ideas was regarding the nature of the soul,[4] a concept, which to a great extend was adapted by the Christian Theology.[5]
This article will most particularly examine how and to which extent the Platonic philosophy about this topic has influenced the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church. In order to provide an adequate answer, several authors, describing Plato’s ideas about the soul [6] and some key Eastern Church Fathers [7] whose concept on soul’s nature are found in Orthodox literature, are going to be examined. This research is taking place, since it is importand to the modern Theology scholar or believer to be aware of the source, which is the contributor to the formation of the precise doctrine of the Orthodox Theology. This article will examine from both perspectives, the relation between the body and soul, the components of the soul and what happens to it after body’s death. Τhere is going to be a description about how Plato developed his philosophy about the nature of soul and it will be given an account of the Orthodox Theology about the subject. There’s going to be a comparison between the two concepts, and at last there is going to be provided the conclusion and the evaluation of Plato’s contribution on this particular Orthodox doctrine.
Plato’s Philosophy
Ideas do make a difference; they often have a much greater influence than the people who initially conceived them. This is exactly what happened with Plato.[8] Plato’s writings, ‘influenced by the mystical Pythagorean philosophy which was directly connected with the Dionysiac-Orphic religion’ [9] provided a mind-body dualism.[10] He introduced the so-called “theory of forms”, according to which, the entire empirical world was an inferior manifestation of pure forms,[11] which existed in the metaphysical world.[12] This theory was the axis on which his description about the nature of the human soul was rotating.
Body and Soul
Plato claimed that it was absolutely impossible for anyone to acquire the knowledge of the forms through the sensory experience but only through cognition whose locus was the soul.[13] He supported that the soul before it was implanted in the body, was dwelling among the pure and complete knowledge of the forms because they were kindred one to another.[14] Consequently, all knowledge was a reminiscence of soul’s experiences before it entered the body.[15] The superiority of the soul comparing to the body, led Plato to claim that each person, was not identified by his body, but only by his soul that was the determinant of who one is, and therefore the greatest existential consideration, should be its amelioration.[16] In these terms, Plato lifted up the soul and diminished the body referring to it as the ‘prison of the soul’.[17]
Plato moved one step furthermore. The body, according to him, was interposed as a foggy curtain between the soul and the truth. Removing this curtain, the soul would enjoy the pure and perfect viewing of forms. Therefore death was the ultimate act of soul’s liberation from the ‘evil’ body, which was the obstacle to soul’s pure cognitive activity. However, the ‘black horse’, an irresistible desire of soul’s reunion with the body and the world of senses, threatened this ecstatic state. If this desire would dominate the soul, it would be reborn and relegated in the terrestrial world, in a bodily life, entering a cycle of births and deaths. [18] Plato echoing once more the Pythagorean philosophy about transmigration,[19] claimed that an‘impure’ soul, which loved the body, would become a ghost, roaming around the sepulcher, or it would enter the body of an animal.[20]
Components of the Soul
According to Platonic philosophy, the soul was consisted by three components. The first one was the appetitive aspect. This part was indicative of bodily needs,[21] which should be satisfied and it was playing a significantly incentive role in one’s life. The second one was the courageous aspect, related to human emotions.[22] These two components were mortal since they were part of the body. The third one was the rational aspect, which was immortal. This part was striving to control, postpone or inhibit the immediate gratification of the bodily needs, anytime it was necessary for one’s benefit. By doing this, the rational part was concentrating on rational pursuits [23] and therefore it was attaining true knowledge. However, Plato believed that it was not every individual capable of performing rational thinking, but different individuals would develop respectively the appetitive, the courageous or the rational components.[24] The life of every human was determined by the prevalence of one of the three aspects over the other two. People dominated by the rational part were becoming just and wise philosophers; those dominated by the courageous part were becoming the courageous people; those dominated by the appetitive part [25] were the lower people, slaves of their bodies. Plato was attributing to these three parts of the soul, different bodily locations. The rational part was located to the brain, the courageous to the heart and the appetitive to the bowels and the genitals.[26] By doing this categorization, Plato deliberately divided the society in three different layers, consisted by superior and inferior citizens. He and his likeminded thinkers used to honor philosophers, and to underestimate the laborers.[27] Aditionally Plato by doing this distinctive description of the soul’s components was not trying to make just a metaphysical or social analysis, but also to retain an ethical approach and highlight three different sources of motivations and satisfaction on people.[28]
After Death
Another aspect of Plato’s nature of the soul concept had to do with its fate after body’s death. When the soul was free, was passing through a divine judgment.[29] Every injustice practiced on earth was revealed. If these ‘iniquities’ were possible to be treated, the soul would be purified in temporary afflictions.[30] Otherwise, tormented in eternal agony, it would become a warning or example to others.[31] After death, the souls were consecrated and guided by spiritual entities into Hades, the place of the dead. There they were separated and led by the spirits either to Tartarus, either to the blessed residency.[32] For every good or evil the souls practiced when they were dwelling to their bodies, they were rewarded or punished twice as much. Sometimes several souls under punishment, were trying to reach the ‘fresh air’ however some fiery entities were pulling them back to the interior part of the earth.[33] Surely the idea of an immortal soul, which was not ceasing to live before or after its bodily life, was the pick of Plato’s philosophy about the soul.
Orthodox Theology on Body and Soul
The Orthodox Theology provides a definition about the soul, as the spiritual element of existence[34] and describes the soul as the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit that animates the body.[35] However, soul has not only energy, but also substance because it lives in itself and has logical and intellectual life different from the life of the body.[36] Orthodox Tradition claims that the soul does not pre-exist,[37] in the unchangeable world of ideas, is not unborn, but it is created just like the body.[38] The church,[39] and St. John Damascus, emphasized the simultaneous creation of body and soul.[40] From its creation, God gave to soul immortality by determining an endless life to it. However there is not dualism but the whole man is composed of soul and body. The body is not considered as a prison of the soul, but after the fall it became mortal. At the Second Coming of Christ, the whole man, including the body acquires the potential of resurrection.[41]
Components of the Soul
According to the Orthodox Fathers, the soul is according to the image of the Holy Trinity.[42] More precisely the soul is consisted by three active parts. The courageous is activated against our external self and Satan. The appetitive is focused to God and to the virtues. The rational is dominating over the other two with wisdom, according to the will of God.[43] The rational component prevails to the thoughts and concepts, the courageous is moved by the animalistic passions and the appetitive retains a memory of the animalistic appetite.[44] The human passions sometimes are directed at the courageous, or the appetitive and sometimes to the rational.[45] Additionally the rational part of the soul is divided to the ‘inward word’, which is the soul’s meditative movement, and the ‘spoken word’ that is pronounced with the tongue and mouth.[46] Finally as St. Gregory Palamas said: ‘the soul is everywhere in the body, but not as in a particular place, nor as being contented to it, but because it holds, contains and animates the body, having also in this subject the image of God.’[47] However the rational component is locused in the heart, which is man’s hegemonic instrument. Therein are lying the mind and every thought of the soul [48] and thus it becomes essential for one’s salvation.[49]
After Death
According to Orthodox Theology, after body’s death the soul continues to live, not ceasing to exist even for a moment, being conscious more than before.[50] The state of the soul, during the period between death and Resurrection is not doctrinally very clear. Theologians with reverence and respect avoid the very detailed description of this stage since to a great extend there is ignorance and mystery, which will be revealed in its perfection to the future.[51] They call it Intermediate State of souls, and it is a peculiar, unatural situation, of the soul living separately from the body, to which was inter-connected, after its creation by God.[52]
At the time of soul’s exit becomes a court between angels and demons. The progress of the soul through this aerial world is described as an anode through the hobs,[53] which are also called the ‘lords of the Tartarus or Hades’. [54] There starts the so-called Partial Crisis, which aims to determine the suitability of the soul to dwell in Paradise.[55] The deamons present all sins commited throughout one’s life accusing him. Angels present his good deeds. If deamons win, then the soul is eternaly condeamned but if the soul comes out victorious, receives freedom; deamons are rebuked, and angels take up the soul in enormous glory and joy to heaven.[56] The Orthodox Fathers propose that as one is afraid to view fearsome people, likewise he should be afraid at soul’s exit when it will see threatening angels and evil forces standing violently beside it. Because of such lack of fear, the soul, which is separated from the body, laments in vain.[57] However the divine goodness allows some souls, to come back to the body, and eventually to begin fearing the torture of hades, that they saw.[58] Finally, for any Christian there are only two eschatiological options: heaven and hell [59] namely the invisible Paradise of God, which constitutes the spiritual rather than physical reality [60] and the eternal rejection and punishment. The divine justice gives to others eternal life and to others eternal hell proportionately according to their works and the way they lived this present life.[61]
Critical Assesment: Body and Soul
Comparing Orthodox Theology and Plato’s philosophy regarding the nature of the soul, we can find differences but also many similarities. Plato explicitly declaired a dualistic model where the soul pre-existed from body, living sepertly from it in the world of forms and continuing to live after body’s death. The Orthodox Fathers emphasized that God created the soul simultaneously with the body. None of these can exist without the other. According to them there is no dualism, since a person is consisted and identified by body and soul -not merely by the soul as Plato taught- and is going to be resurrected with both of them at the Second Coming of Christ. However the soul is immortal and continues to live after mortal’s body death; in this aspect both systems of thought agree. Certainly at this point someone can discern a contradiction in the Orthodox Theology; on the one hand there is no dualism, but on the other hand the soul and the body can be separated after death. Plato believed that the ultimate goal of the soul was to be free from the evil body-prison and to be reunited with the world of ‘forms’ wereas Orthodox Theology officially rejects this idea. However in many cases its members have been unofficially indoctrinated with this belief.[62]
Components of the Soul
About the three components of the soul, both, Plato and Orthodox Fathers, use more than the same terminology. The appetitive, the courageous and the rational aspect, are almost identical in both theoretical systems. A differentiation could be that Plato was attributing to this ternary separation not only a metaphysical but also a moral and a social dimention wereas the Orthodox Theology insinuates the reflection of the Triune God in these three components; it also defines the soul both as essence and substance, and it divides the rational aspect to inward and spoken word. Plato believed that the soul was located in specific organs of the body but the Orthodox Theology teaches that the soul is all over the body, however it ascribes as the center of the soul the heart, which is the organ that controls it. Therefore the soul is distinguished from the body, however it is very closely connected with it.
After Death
Both systems of thought use the same language about the destiny of the soul after the death of the body. The immortality of the soul – which continues to live – is emphasized, while a judgment follows by spiritual beings. It is noteworthy that the word “τελώνια” (hobs), which the Orthodox Fathers use, is interchangeable with the term “lords of Tartarus” (or Hades) and is more or less the same with Plato’s description about the entities that gather the souls in the place of the dead. Also, both systems accentuate the reward or punishment of the soul according to its deeds when it was in the body. On the one hand, Plato’s philosophical approach anticipated a primitive idea of ‘heaven’, ‘hell’ and of the ‘purgatory’,[63] on the other hand the Orthodox Theology accepts the first two, but denies the exictence of the third. However Orthodox tradition implies an Indermediate State of partial crisis of the soul before the final Judgment, which differs from the Platonic approach; also it defines hell and heven with spiritual terms as invisible places, in the contrary with the Platonic description, which attributes to them earthly locuses. Finally Plato described the striving of the soul to reunite with the body and cosequently its insertion to a cycle of reincarnations; an idea totaly unacceptable by Orthodoxy which rather emphasized God’s rare permission for this reunion.
Conclusion
The prominent Orthodox Theologian and Professor John Zizioulas wrote that, the theological formation concerning the soul, ‘although has not a Christian origin, passed into the tradition of the Church. However this Platonic idea has not been adopted without terms and conditions’.[64] In these terms, this study can testify that the Platonic philosophy about the nature of the soul has influenced immensely the Orthodox Theology. Almost always the Orthodox Fathers used not only the same terminology but also the same ideas, hidden behind Plato’s concept about the nature of soul. This unification sets under further consideration to which extend this attempt is appropriate, and under investigation the legitimate use of philosophy in the ranks of Christian faith. Therefore the modern believer can make a choice by deciding which way of thought is going to follow, the ‘appealing’ way of human constructs or the Biblical way of Divine inspiration. And because ideas make a difference, this choice will determine how one is going to experience his spiritual truth and reality.
[1] Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 5th edition (Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. ; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), p. 5.
[2] McGrath, p. 9.
[3] B. R. Hergenhahn, An Introduction to the History of Psychology, 6 edition (Australia ; Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2008), p. 49.
[4] Hergenhahn, p. 48.
[5] Bertrand Russel, Ιστορία Της Δυτικής Φιλοσοφίας, (Athens: Αρσενιδης, 1990), p. 243.
[6] B. R. Hergenhahn, Bertrand Russel, Πάνος Δήμας, Mario Vegetti, Auguste Dies, etc
[7] St. John Damascus, St. John Chrysostome, St Gregory Palamas, St. Gregory of Sinai, St. Maximus the Confessor, etc
[8] Christian Overman, Aρχαία Ελλάδα Και Βίβλος, Σύγκρουση Κοσμοαντιλήψεων (Athens: ΑΡΟΤΡΟΝ, 2004), p. 150.
[9] Hergenhahn, p. 45.
[10] Russel, p. 244.
[11] ‘When Plato was talking about the “empirical world” he meant objects and concepts, while when he was talking about “forms” he used the word “ideas-ιδέες”, in Greek:
[12] Πάνος Δήμας, Η Ελληνική Φιλοσοφία Απο Την Αρχαιότητα Εως Τον 20ο Αιώνα (Patra: Ελληνικό Ανοικτό Πανεπιστήμιο, 2000), p. 146.
[13] ‘The locus of the senses according to Plato was the body’ Δήμας, p. 149.
[14] ‘This idea was rooted again to the Pythagorean notion about the immortality of the soul’ Mario Vegetti, Ιστορία Της Αρχαίας Φιλοσοφίας, 10th edn (Athens: ΤΡΑΥΛΟΣ, 2003), p. 168.
[15] Hergenhahn, pp. 47-48.
[16] Δήμας, p. 150.
[17] Overman, p. 154.
[18] ‘The “black horse” myth was described in Plato’s book Phaedrus’ Vegetti, pp. 168-169.
[19] Hergenhahn, p. 35.
[20] ‘Which of the two states, was depended on soul’s character’ Russel, p. 255.
[21] ‘Such as hunger, thirst or sex’
[22] ‘Such as anger, fear or love’
[23] ‘Such as introspection’
[24] Hergenhahn, p. 48.
[25] ‘The appetitive was filled with desires and lusts’
[26] ‘According to Plato, the bowels and genitals were the center of the intense trophic and erotic desires; this idea is described in his book Timaeus’ Vegetti, p. 171.
[27] Overman, p. 154.
[28] ‘The rational part according to Plato was attracted by the satisfaction provided by knowledge and the intellectual activity; the courageous part was oriented towards engagements, which would acquire and protect one’s personal honor; the appetitive part was taking satisfaction by the lusts of the body’ Δήμας, p. 151.
[29] ‘The judge was god Zeus’
[30] ‘According to Plato that was the only way to total purification.’
[31] Auguste Dies, ΜΕΓΑΛΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ, ΠΛΑΤΩΝ (Αthens: ΣΚΑΪ ΒΙΒΛΙΟ, 2009), p. 136.
[32] ‘Tartarus according to Plato was the biggest underground chasm on Earth while the blessed residency was the surface of the Earth’ Dies, pp. 138-139.
[33] ‘This myth is described in Plato’s book Phaedon’ Dies, pp. 138-139.
[34] ‘The most accepted definition has been given by St. John Damascus: “It is a living essence, simple, incorporeal, invisible to bodily eyes, rational and mental, unformed, and uses as its organ the body giving to it life, growth, sensation and birth. It is self-determined, volitive, energetic, because it is created after the nature of its Creator.” Ιωάννης Δαμασκηνός, ΕΚΔΟΣΙΣ ΑΚΡΙΒΗΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΥ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ (THESSALONICA: ΠΟΥΡΝΑΡΑΣ, 1992), p. 153.
[35] ‘This quotation is from St. John Chrysostome’ Νικόδημος Αγιορείτης, ΕΟΡΤΟΔΡΟΜΙΟΝ (Venice: Γλυκύς Νικόλαος, 1836), pp. 73-74.
[36] ‘This quotation is from St Gregory Palamas’ ΦΙΛΟΚΑΛΙΑ, trans. by Αντ. Γαλίτης (THESSALONICA: ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΙ ΤΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΑΣ, 1987), iv, p. 303.
[37] “Τήν ψυχήν, οὔτε γάρ προϋφίσταται τοῦ σώματος, οὔτε μεθυφίσταται, ἀλλ᾽ ἅμα τῇ τούτου γενέσει κτίζεται καί αὐτή”: ‘Because the soul does not pre-exist from the body nor it exists after it, but with its birth is also created’ Ιωάννης Σιναϊτης, ΚΛΙΜΑΞ (Κωνσταντινούπολη: Σωφρόνιος Ερημίτης, 1883), p. 136.
[38] ΦΙΛΟΚΑΛΙΑ, trans. by Αντ. Γαλίτης (THESSALONICA: ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΙ ΤΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΑΣ, 1984), i, p. 213.
[39] ‘The 5th ecumenical council held in Constantinople in 553, rejected this concept accepted by Origen., ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΖΗΖΙΟΥΛΑΣ, ‘ΧΡΙΣΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΥΠΑΡΞΗ’, ΣΥΝΑΞΗ, 6 (1983), p. 82.
[40] Δαμασκηνός, p. 151.
[41] Ιερόθεος Βλάχος, Η ΖΩΗ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΘΑΝΑΤΟ (Αthens: Πελαγία, 1994), pp. 147-148.
[42] ‘St. Gregory Palamas says that: ‘As the Holy Trinity is Mind, Word and Spirit, the soul, created by God in His image, is “mental, logical and spiritual.” Γαλίτης, iv, p. 307.
[43] ‘This quotation is from St. Hesychius’ Γαλίτης, i, p. 201.
[44] ‘This quotation is from St. Gregory of Sinai’ Γαλίτης, iv, pp. 185-186.
[45] ‘St. Maximus the Confessor claimed that the Courageous and the Appetitive were attacted by the senses and the Rational was affected by forgetfulness and ignorance’ ΦΙΛΟΚΑΛΙΑ, trans. by Αντ. Γαλίτης (THESSALONICA: ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΙ ΤΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΑΣ, 1985), ii, p. 55.
[46] ‘St John Damascus uses the terms “ἐνδιάθετος λόγος” for inward word and “προφορικός λόγος” for spoken word’ Δαμασκηνός, p. 171.
[47] Γαλίτης, iv, p. 316.
[48] ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΛΑΜΑ ΑΠΑΝΤΑ ΤΑ ΕΡΓΑ, trans. by ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩΤΟΥ (THESSALONICA: ΠΑΤΕΡΙΚΑΙ ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ‘ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΣ Ο ΠΑΛΑΜΑΣ’, 1982), ii, pp. 125-127.
[49] ‘In this sense Abba Pamvo characteristically stated: “If you have heart, thou canst be saved.” ΤΟ ΓΕΡΟΝΤΙΚΟΝ, ed. by Π.Β. ΠΑΣΧΟΣ, 3rd edn (Αthens: ΑΛ. & Ε. ΠΑΠΑΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ, 1981), p. 102.
[50] Σεραφείμ Ρόουζ, Η Ψυχή Μετά Τον Θάνατο, 15th edn (Αthens: ΜΥΡΙΟΒΙΒΛΟΣ, 2014), p. 277.
[51] ‘This teaching has taken different forms through the ages. During 17th c. AD, some Orthodox writers like Petros Mogilas and Dositheus, supported something very similar to the doctrine of purgatory. However today all Orthodox theologians reject this teaching.’ Κάλλιστος Ware, Η Ορθόδοξη Εκκλησία (Nea Smyrni: ΑΚΡΙΤΑΣ, 1998), pp. 403-404.
[52] Ιερόθεος Βλάχος, Η ΖΩΗ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΘΑΝΑΤΟ (Αthens: Πελαγία, 1994), pp. 84-85.
[53] The word hob in Greek language is “τελώνιον” and it is an alternative term for the word “δαίμων”, which is deamon.
[54] Διάδοχος Φωτικής, ΦΙΛΟΚΑΛΙΑ (THESSALONICA: ΠΑΤΕΡΙΚΑΙ ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ‘ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΣ Ο ΠΑΛΑΜΑΣ’, 1986), ix, p. 286.
[55] Ρόουζ, p. 207.
[56] ‘This quotation is from Archbishop Theophilus’ ΠΑΣΧΟΣ, pp. 42-43.
[57] Ιωάννου Χρυσοστόμου Έργα, trans. by Ελευθέριος Μερετάκης (THESSALONICA: ΠΑΤΕΡΙΚΑΙ ΕΚΔΟΣΕΙΣ ‘ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΣ Ο ΠΑΛΑΜΑΣ’, 1979), xi, p. 171.
[58] ‘This quotation is from St. Gregory the Great’ Ρόουζ, p. 233.
[59] Ware, p. 413.
[60] Ρόουζ, p. 208.
[61] ‘This quotation is from St Gregory of Sinai’ Γαλίτης, iv, p. 182.
[62] ‘These frequent phrases are portraying the idea of liberation from the body and they are found in the mouth of many godfearing people: “I am tired of waiting for the real life. This world is worthy only when you look behind the death… The belief in the hereafter can alter the perception of death as a heinous event and alter it in to a desideratum… I feel the hereafter as a de facto life, not just another life.” Νικόλαος Χατζηνικολάου, Εκεί Πού Δέν Φαίνεται Ο Θεός (Αthens: Σταμούλη Α.Ε., 2015), pp. 152, 220.
[63] Russel, p. 256.
[64] ‘These conditions according to Zizioulas include, inter alia, three main things. One is that the souls are not eternal, but created. The other thing is that the soul by no means must be identified with the person. The soul is another thing from the man who is a psychosomatic entity. And the third -which is the most important- is that immortality is not based on the immortality of the soul, but in the Resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of the body.’ ΖΗΖΙΟΥΛΑΣ, pp. 81-82.