The category of the human spirit in the soteriology of St. Theophan the Recluse

Annotation. This publication examines the category of the human spirit as a spiritual and moral force. This approach to the disclosure of the topic allows us to see under the name of the human spirit something that unites intelligence, morality and desires into a harmonious system of spiritual and moral development of a person. The human spirit is an independent force that manifests itself in the combination of conscience, consciousness and freedom involved in the search for God and in all spheres of human life. The main conclusion of this publication is a statement of the deep conviction of Saint Theophan that it is the spirit with its energy that directs a person to God-likeness and moral improvement, and conscience is the guide to salvation. The teaching on salvation of St. Theophan (Govorov), the recluse of Vyshensky, contains a true wealth of spiritual and moral paternal instructions. The reader finds this spiritual treasure in letters to various persons, and in interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, and in moral and ascetic theological works. Anthropological issues occupy a central place in the soteriology of St. Theophan, since man and his personal path to salvation in God is the main subject of the Right Reverend’s thoughts. It was important for him to convey to the consciousness of his contemporaries a clear understanding that the whole person is ontologically distant from God due to the deep sinful damage of human nature and needs to be reunited with the Creator through healing in Christ. The relevance of the topic of the article lies in the fact that, according to the views of St. Theophan the Recluse, the human spirit is the main and primary force of human nature, through which real and complete reunification with God is possible. This thought is fundamental in the course of his reflections on the path of salvation and restoration of man to the previous state in which he was before the Fall. The category of the human spirit can be considered in both philological and philosophical meanings, abstracting from a specific human personality. But in the works of the Vyshensky Recluse, the human spirit appears primarily as a living and active force of communication with God and knowledge of God. The conceptual idea of ​​the publication is to consider the category of the human spirit as a spiritual and moral force. This approach to the disclosure of the topic allows us to see under the name of the human spirit something that unites intelligence, morality and desires into a harmonious system of spiritual and moral development of a person. Our research methodology is based on a specific approach to human nature. It is Christian anthropology that is taken as a basis, where the emphasis is on the deep damage of human nature, and as a consequence, on the heredity of sinful passions and infirmities. This methodological approach allows us to talk about the human spirit as an independent force, which manifests itself in a combination of conscience, consciousness and freedom involved in the search for God and in all spheres of human life. This method of description allows you to see a complete picture of the manifestations and characteristics of the concept under study, focusing attention on the meaning of the category of the human spirit in the soteriology of St. Theophan the Recluse. A number of important reservations and clarifications should be made, without which it is impossible to set the correct guidelines for research activities. First of all, when revealing the stated topic, we should talk about the human spirit as an active force participating in the process of spiritual and moral development of a person. The human spirit is a self-propelled, living concept in the sphere of moral and spiritual categories. The spirit strives for the ideal, participates in the search for its Prototype, rushes about and seeks peace for itself only in God. If expressed in patristic terms, then “spirit is a stream of the invisible Divinity” [2, p. 33], this is the impulse of life, this is an ever-flowing source that flows from somewhere from the depths of human nature and revitalizes the whole person. Man lives and moves thanks to his participation in the spiritual, invisible world, that transcendental region of the universe, which was also created by God. Consequently, the second statement is that the human spirit is involved in another invisible, spiritual dimension, which is comprehended through faith and contemplation (πίστης καὶ θεορὶα). The third facet of the question of spirit concerns the area of ​​moral consciousness and human freedom. In this depth and elusiveness of the internal movements of the soul, it is more difficult to describe the manifestations of the spirit, for this is an area of ​​faith rather than knowledge. Based on the statement of the Christian faith that a person’s connection with God is carried out through prayer and life according to God’s commandments, a logical conclusion is drawn: the human spirit is by its nature similar to uncreated Divine energies and is able to communicate with the living God precisely because of its God-likeness. In his book “The Path to Salvation,” Saint Theophan describes in some detail the process of renewal of the human spirit in the sacrament of Holy Baptism and its ability to come into contact with grace. This is real and irrefutable only if the human spirit is strength, energy. Being a created energy within a person, the spirit is able to rise above other spiritual forces and become the head of all movements, ordering them into a single god-like structure of the personality. Only then does a person find harmony in himself when the spirit or spiritualized mind reigns in him, sitting in the heart on the throne of conscience [4, p.786], according to the word of St. John Chrysostom. I. Analysis of the terminology used Spirit – πνεῦμα. According to Saint Theophan, the human spirit is a personal force, “the mistress of the soul” [23, p. 67], which is combined with intelligence, freedom, conscience, desires. The spirit qualitatively influences the state of the soul, because a person’s moral choice in favor of good or evil largely depends on spiritual priorities. Strength – δύναμις. The Greek concept of force or energy in the context of talking about the human spirit allows us to establish a direct connection between created human nature and uncreated Divine energies. For man these are spiritual and moral forces led by the spirit (πνεῦμα), and for God it is Divine uncreated grace. Conscience - συνείδησις. Conscience is a central concept in the sphere of human moral consciousness. Thanks to conscience, the striving for a moral ideal and becoming like God is realized. Freedom is the most important factor in spiritual life. The human spirit lives and acts only in the free element of moral choice. Mind – νοῦς. Often in the patristic works one can find the identification of mind and spirit. But this is only true from the point of view of the rational power of the soul. The mind as a rational force is spirit in its pure form, invisible, elusive and self-propelled. However, the unity of mind and spirit allows us to see not only their identity in nature, but also their distinctive “hypostatic” properties. The simplest of them is that the mind is directed to mental activity, and the spirit to contemplative activity, that is, seeking God in prayer. Also, the mind is thought of as an unborn force, constantly giving birth to thought (the word is λόγος), and the spirit of a person, as it were, constantly emanates from the mind and revives a person in all spheres of activity. The word internal (thought) and spoken is λόγος. The word itself, like the mind, has a spiritual nature. The word contains meaning, spirit, a certain content of moral order. This is the power of the word. And also, according to the apostle, a person’s word must be “always with grace, seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6) in order to benefit those who hear. The unity of word and spirit according to ontological characteristics is undeniable. II. Historiographical review of sources The works of St. Theophan the Recluse, which serve as the main sources for revealing the topic of the publication, in turn, have their own biblical, patristic and scientific-theological foundation. Interpretations on the epistles of the holy Apostle Paul, “Inscriptions of Moral Teachings,” collections of letters, and individual spiritual and moral teachings of the saint in their content represent an expanded commentary on the Orthodox Church teaching about God, the world and man. Due to the fact that the word of God and the teaching of the holy fathers constitute the basic directions of the thought of Saint Theophan, we should begin a review of the biblical sources that form the basis of his interpretations and reflections. The topic of the human spirit, discussed in this article, covers a large part of the exegetical works of the saint. First of all, these are interpretations of the epistles of St. ap. Paul (Rom.8:10; 1 Cor.2:11, 5:5, 6:17, 7:34, 14:14-16, 15:45, 16:18; 2 Cor. 2:13, 7:1-13; Gal.5:17, 22, 6:1, 8, 18; Eph.4:23, 6, 18; Phil.2:19, 3:3; Col.2:5; 1 Thess. 5:23; Phil.1:25, etc.), where the apostle uses the Greek term πνεῦμα - spirit. According to Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern), this word is “perhaps the most obscure term in the anthropology of the apostle. Paul" [5, p. 79]. And for St. Theophan the Recluse, spirit is the key term thanks to which the Russian interpreter of the apostolic epistles can understand the anthropology of the Apostle Paul. Saint Theophan sees the main position regarding the spirit as an integral part of human nature in the fact that it is the presence of the spirit that distinguishes a person from other living and nonliving beings. Spirit is a specifically human characteristic: “Like a small world, man combines within himself all types of life that appeared in his predecessors along the ladder of creation. In him there is plant-animal life, and animal-soul life together with soul-human life, and spiritual life, which exclusively belongs to him and characterizes him. These are what the words mean: body, soul and spirit” [16, p. 295]. The spirit belongs “to the essential needs of human nature” [21, p. 569] leads Saint Theophan to consider his origin in the very act of human creation. In another place, where he considers the words of the Apostle Paul about the natural and spiritual man (see 1 Cor. 2:14), it is directly stated that God breathed spirit into man at creation: “We have in our nature a spiritual element - a spirit breathed into the face of the primordial” [15, p. 148–149]. This doctrinal position is repeated by the saint in his interpretations of the following passages (Rom.7:14, 8:2, 13; Gal.5:16; Eph.1:18; Col.3:3; 1Thess.5:23; 1Tim.5:6, etc.) [21, p. 557, 594, 642; 18, p. 518; 19, p. 138; 20, p. 221; 16, p. 295–296; 17, p. 479]. That is, the very appearance of man chronologically coincides with the gift of the spirit to him, for man became such only at the moment when God breathed into him the “breath of life”: and the Lord God created man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Saint Theophan reflects on this matter: “Just as in the beginning God breathed His breath into a body formed from dust, and man became a man, so now in those who have grounded us with passions and lusts - who have become non-humans, by calling to faith, He breathes in the Spirit of grace, and we become human again. Without spirit, a person is not a person. But after the fall, the spirit is clogged with passions and lusts and all kinds of sins. The Spirit of grace descends, revives the spirit of man, and man is again a man, only with a different name, a Christian man, as if anointed with the Spirit of grace” [19, p. 204–205]. Consequently, a person by his name is determined by the presence of a spirit within himself. It is also important to note some patristic sources indicating that, due to sinful damage, a person is restored to his rank and returns to well-being only through Holy Baptism [3, p. 37; 8, p. 404; 24, p. 23–24]. If in the context of these patristic explanations the conceptual series being-non-existence-good-being is used, then for St. Theophan this is equivalent - the spirit of a person - the spirit of a non-human - the spirit of a Christian. This is a fundamental understanding of the dependence of existence on the state of the human spirit, which allows us to constructively talk about the spirit as the most important spiritual and moral force of man. “Everyone has a spirit,” writes Saint Theophan, “but for everyone it is closed and clogged to varying degrees, however, depending on the predominance of bodily and mental aspirations and skills over it, according to their instructions and passion” [19, p. 138–139]. In the article “On the relationship between the categories of spirit and personality in the anthropology of St. Theophan the Recluse,” Hierodeacon Peter (Aleksenko) makes a remarkable conclusion that the human spirit cannot be a separate hypostasis in human nature and cannot be the bearer of personality. “Understanding Theophan the Recluse’s interpretation of the anthropological concept of the ap. Paul's spirit, we can say that its content comes down to localization in man, and its realization in God. In other words, the spirit is a part of human nature that has a religious and moral manifestation. Thus, the spirit is not a personalistic concept; it is not understood by the saint as the hypostatic center of man” [6, p. 174]. As an example, Father Peter cites St. Theophan’s interpretation of Romans 7:25: “The Apostle says: I work both with the mind and the spirit, and with the flesh I work. It should be noted that man: spirit - soul - body - and, moreover, in their right and wrong states. The face of a person, conscious of itself and freely acting, is one and the same. When consciousness and freedom are on the side of the spirit, a person is spiritual; when he is on the side of the soul, he is soulful; when he is on the side of the flesh, he is carnal" [21, p. 558]. Consequently, the spirit is the natural power of a person “in its right and wrong” state, but not the bearer of personality. Thus, in the moral and soteriological views of Saint Theophan, the human spirit is “a natural-ethical concept, but not a hypostatic-personalistic one” [6, p. 179]. The category of the human spirit is conceived and manifested in human nature in a special moral quality. It is this conclusion that allows us to confidently continue the analysis of the relationship between moral consciousness and the spiritual life of a person in the structure of the Christian consciousness of the individual, where consciousness and freedom are recognized by the saint in “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” (1891) as “inalienable accessories of the individual” [9, p. 309], and in his interpretations of the Apostle Paul he referred to the nature of the spirit. III. Phenomenology of the human spirit in the teaching of St. Theophan the Recluse on salvation In the book “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching,” St. Theophan the Recluse writes that the human spirit should be considered as the highest force through which communion with God is accomplished: “The fact that knowledge, desires and feelings appear in us not only at different degrees, but even in opposite directions, forces, in addition to other reasons, to admit three parts in the composition of the human being: spirit, soul and body 1, of which the character of the first is detachment from the sensory, the last - immersion in it, while the middle one is the compatibility of both... The face of a person (I) is the unity of spirit, soul and body" [9, p. 254–255]. In these words of His Eminence Theophan we see specific descriptions of the human spirit as a certain spiritual and moral force that strives for communication with the Creator of the world and is directed into the spiritual world. In another place, Bishop Theophan adds: “The same is true in relation to created things: it is possible to know their innermost, placed in them from the mind of the Divine, only through the power of the divine property. This power in us is spirit, and in spirit is reason” [10, p. 238–239]. It is obvious that in the act of creation, God laid down in man a certain system of subordination of all internal forces, where the power of the spirit was in a dominant position: “The natural relationship of the constituent parts of man should be, according to the law of subordination of the smaller to the larger, the weakest to the strongest, as follows: the body should be subordinate to the soul, the soul to the spirit, and the spirit, by its nature, should be immersed in God. Man must dwell in God with all his being and consciousness. Moreover, the power of the spirit over the soul depends on the Divinity inherent in it, the power of the soul over the body depends on the spirit possessing it” [9, p. 257]. But, unfortunately, this harmonious order was disrupted as a result of the Fall: “... the spirit, having moved away from God, lost its strength and submitted to the soul; the soul, not elevated by the spirit, submitted to the body. Man, with his whole being and consciousness, is mired in sensuality” [9, p. 257–258]. The human spirit, according to St. Theophan, is the “soul” of the human soul. In a letter to his spiritual daughter, the ruler writes that in the universe there is a certain subtle, subtle element that is even subtler than light. “I admit that such a subtle element exists, it penetrates everything and passes everywhere, serving as the last facet of material existence. I believe at the same time that all the blessed spirits - angels and saints of God - hover in this element, being themselves clothed in some kind of clothing from this same element. From this same element is the shell of our soul (understand with this word also the spirit, which is the soul of our human soul). The soul itself is spirit, immaterial, but its shell is made of this subtle immaterial element" [22, p. 56–57]. Saint Theophan is deeply convinced that ontologically the soul has a spiritual nature, where the spirit is the force that animates and animates all the internal movements of the soul and body, just as an ever-flowing source of water emerges from the bowels of the Earth, setting the water in motion and forming many streams. “Man is given consciousness and freedom in the spirit, but not so that he becomes arrogant and self-willed, but then, so that, realizing that he has everything from God and in order to live in God, he freely and consciously directs everything towards this single goal. When he is so disposed, he abides in God, and God abides in him. God, who resides in man, gives his spirit the power to rule over soul and body, and further over everything that is outside of him. This was the original state of man" [22, p. 84]. The difference between soul and spirit was a strong argument of Bishop Theophan in his polemic with Darwin's theory of the origin of man from the ape. “I wrote to the people of Athos... They were frightened by the phrase that if we distinguish between spirit and soul in our inner life, then the soul must be recognized as homogeneous with the soul of animals, sublime, however, under the influence of the spirit. At the same time, Darwin and the monkey got into their heads. Meanwhile, the most powerful antidote against Darwin is the establishment of the distinction between soul and spirit. There is no way a spirit can be born from a monkey. He is from God both originally and now. The soul is born in the usual way - and the spirit is inhaled by God" [14, p. 234–235]. “You can also place soul-spirituality between soul and spirit: an idealizing mind, a will that rebuilds everything anew and creativity (in the arts). This is genius, from the mental, practical and artistic side. Spirit in the soul or soul in the spirit. These are all natural manifestations. They are not in their present form in experience due to the breakdown of forces in the fall. Grace-filled actions reveal spirit and spirituality in their present form” [13, p. 107–109]. His Grace Theophan concludes: “God created man for bliss, and precisely in Him, through living communication with Him. For this purpose He breathed into his face the breath of His life, which is spirit, as has already been mentioned. The essential properties of the spirit are consciousness and freedom, and its essential movements are the confession of God, the Creator, the Provider and the Rewarder, with a feeling of complete dependence on Him, which is all expressed in a loving view of God, unceasing attention to Him and reverent fear of Him with the desire to always do what is pleasing to Him at the direction of the law-maker - conscience and with renunciation of everything, so that the One God eat and live and enjoy Him alone” [22, p. 84]. This is how Saint Theophan describes the state of the human spirit after the Fall. “We need to focus our attention on what happened inside the person. Here's what: the spirit had power over the soul and body, because it was in living communion with God and received Divine power from Him. When living communication with God was cut off, the influx of Divine power was cut off. The spirit, left to itself, could no longer be the ruler of soul and body, but was carried away and itself captured by them. Soulfulness prevailed over man, and through soulfulness, physicality, and he became soulful and carnal. The spirit is at least the same, but without power... When such a degradation of order occurred in the relationships between the parts of our nature, man could no longer see things in their present form, could not keep his needs, desires and feelings in proper order” [22, p. 86–87]. Consciousness and freedom, which are the first manifestations of the human spirit, have deviated towards resistance to God. Following this, the entire harmony of human nature was disrupted, where the flesh began to suppress the movements of the spirit. “Even about the first antediluvian world, God said: My Spirit shall not dwell in these men, for they are flesh (Gen. 6:3). It is clear that devotion to the flesh extinguishes the spirit and alienates us from God. The prophet David says: a man who is ignorant of honor, has become like foolish cattle and has become like them (Ps. 49:13), that is, the honor of God-likeness reflected in his spirit has been replaced by bestiality, having given himself over to the flesh. The Apostle Paul says about the state of people before accepting grace in Christianity that then they were in the flesh, because sinful passions acted in them (Rom. 7:5), lived in the lusts of the flesh, doing the will of the flesh and mind (Eph. 2:3), or, as the Apostle Peter says, they followed the fleshly lusts of defilement (2 Pet. 2:10). The Apostle Jude directly calls the unbelievers bodily, having no spirit (v. 19) [9, p. 258]. Further, Saint Theophan asks the question: “Where is the spirit of this kind of people? In them, but, being subordinate to the soul and body, he is exhausted and almost does not act in the way characteristic of him” [9, p. 259–260]. With this state of spirit, the composition of human nature remained unchanged, where the spirit is the substance of the soul, and the body is its appendage, organ, home [11, p. 307]. According to Saint Theophan, the problem of the two-part or three-part nature of human nature is a controversial subject, although it’s all about words. For those who do not want to distinguish between spirit and soul, we can suggest that by the word “spirit” they understand the highest side of our incorporeal side, and by the word “soul” they mean its lower actions and directions. This can be interpreted as indirect evidence that it is incorrect to speak of the “spirit of man” as a created thing. The concept of "spirit" does not refer to created nature, but to the gift of God that transcends nature. At the same time, “the spirit turns out to be perfect in comparison with nature (fallen) and may be generally superior to it, or may be the goal of human improvement. Both points of view [among the holy fathers and teachers of the Church] are quite strongly argued and presented very authoritatively. Today we have neither theological nor any other need to reduce these points of view to one or, having accepted one, to refute the other. And you can't mix them. If we continue to regard the soul and spirit of man as a single spiritual nature in man, we will find ourselves in difficulty. If spirit and soul are one and the same nature, then the superiority of spirit over soul loses its ontological force and becomes only a moral aspect of existence. If the spirit is a different nature, spiritual and identical to the soul, then how can we teach about the creation of the spirit? How about a separate creative act of the Creator? It is obvious that the theological situation becomes more acute and tense. Is it possible to distinguish between spirit and soul without violating the unity of the creative act, the “breathing of the soul” by God? The solution, apparently, may be that in the ontological approach one should distinguish between the two natures of man created by the Lord, soul and body, and in the existential approach - three ontological levels: spirit, soul, body. (Such an understanding is the author’s assumption. There are other points of view that remain on a solid triadological basis) [1, p. 154–155]. According to the thought of Saint Theophan, which he sets out in the book “The Path to Salvation,” the restoration of the fallen nature of man is carried out due to the fact that only through the human spirit does the uncreated grace of God penetrate the soul and body: “Grace, although through visible media, always, however, invisibly and directly touches the spirit and extracts it from the bonds that torment it into the light of God, into the realm of Divine life” [12, p. 151–155]. “The restorative action of God in us, worshiped in the Trinity, is His communion with our spirit. And this communication does not happen from One Person, but from God, inseparable in Three Persons. Why is it said that the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Father enter into communion with us” [22, p. 94]. “The Spirit of God secretly acts on our spirit and sets it in motion. Our spirit, when it comes into motion, restores within itself its natural knowledge of God, that God exists, contains everything, and is the Giver of Rewards. Consciousness of this restores a feeling of complete dependence on God and revives the fear of God. Both disturb the conscience - the witness and judge of our deeds and feelings, among which there is rarely anything that God would look upon with favor" [22, p. 95]. Grace acts on the human spirit through the sacraments of the Church. “So our spirit, having heeded the gospel of salvation in the Lord, pursues it with all its might, with trust and readiness to do everything in order to become a partaker of the blessings of the Gospel. This mood of our spirit makes it ready for communion with God, and the grace of the Holy Spirit, which hitherto acted from the outside, exciting, takes root inside not directly, but through the sacrament. The believer repents, is baptized, and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). This is the action of communion with God – living and active” [22, p. 97]. It is common for the human spirit to gain joy from communication with God, possessing a certain intelligent feeling, for the grace of God through an intelligent feeling leads a person to joy. Grace lurks in the depths of the mind. “An intelligent feeling is born in the soul from love for God, in detachment from external impressions and thoughts associated with them” [7, p. 51]. IV. The spirit and moral consciousness of man according to the views of St. Theophan the Recluse Christ the Savior silently calls all peoples to spiritual and moral perfection: Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). In this Divine call, even command, there is hidden a certain admonition that a person must be morally formed, grow in spirit and become like God. It goes without saying that he has moral and religious gifts, which he receives upon birth. Saint Theophan the Recluse calls the path to perfection the path to salvation. Salvation is understood in this case as a person’s desire throughout his entire earthly life to avoid evil and do good (cf. Ps. 33:15). On this path, a person, on the one hand, is saved from the influence of evil forces and the machinations of the devil, and on the other hand, he works and does everything possible to live in accordance with the requirements of his conscience and the law of God, doing good. Achieving Godlikeness on the path to salvation is the main goal of human life. To be like God, the Creator of the world and the Lawgiver of all moral norms, means to assimilate the basic Christian virtues, positive moral qualities and gifts of the Holy Spirit given by God. “True moral life is in fulfilling the duties of love: here is the root of life. With this spirit of love one must also fulfill the duties of truth. And we can say that only then, as they are imbued with this spirit, do they enter the realm of morality. After this, is it possible to place them higher than the first?! If such a rule is generalized, then we must expect a general perversion of the moral order. The moral world will be torn away from its center” [9, p. 135]. The relationship between conscience and the human spirit “Just as reason is appointed to open to man another, spiritual, most perfect world and to let him know about its structure and properties, so conscience is appointed to form a person into a citizen of the world where he must subsequently move. For this purpose, she announces to him the laws there, obliges him to fulfill them, judges him according to them, rewards or punishes him. Conscience is called practical consciousness. In this regard, we can say that it is the power of the spirit, which, conscious of law and freedom, determines their mutual relationship. According to occupations or actions, conscience is seen as a legislator, a witness or a judge and a rewarder" [9, p. 357]. “The spirit may be crushed from comparing the past with the future, but it always ends with joyful peace in God: sinner, but Your creation, I turn to You, Thy will be done! And in this burning of conscience they save themselves from the fire of the future. The peace of conscience of the saints did not exclude such a collapse of the spirit, but on the contrary, many spent all their time in tears, others were dry because, as they said, they constantly remembered the fire of Gehenna, which scorched them incessantly (Makariy Vel.)” [9, p. 371]. “The impulses of the highest aspirations of the spirit are the remnants of the image of God in man - a broken image, and therefore they are revealed like fragmented and scattered rays. It is necessary to collect these rays into one, as if to concentrate them, and then an igniting ray is formed at the focus. It is this, so to speak, concentration of the rays of the spirit, individual in itself, but fragmented in the many-part soul, that produces the grace that excites it and kindles the fire of spiritual life, placing a person not in cold contemplation, but in some kind of life-giving burning. Such a gathering of the spirit comes together in the feeling of the Divine: here is the germ of life. So it is in nature: life does not appear until its forces act fragmented, but as soon as a higher power gathers them together, a living being, for example, a plant, immediately appears. So it is in spirit. While his aspirations break through fragmentarily - now one thing, then another, and one in one direction, and the other in the other - there is no life in him. When the highest, Divine power of grace, simultaneously inspiring the spirit, brings all its aspirations together and holds them in this one thing, then the fire of spiritual life occurs” [12, p. 233–234]. V. The participation of the human spirit in the matter of salvation according to the religious and moral views of St. Theophan the Recluse In the final part of the book “The Path to Salvation,” Saint Theophan describes the process of freeing the human spirit from sinful bonds and maintaining its zeal for God under certain conditions [12, p. 465–466]. To restore the saving dispensation of the spirit, a person needs to put on Christ, to be united with Him: “A person who has turned to God and in the Holy Church has been united with the Lord Jesus Christ and renewed in Him, in the Word of God is depicted in a completely opposite form... in Christ Jesus the spirit of a person becomes strong or a vessel fastened within itself” [9, p. 266–267]. A strengthened spirit allows a person to communicate with God and to know his Creator. “The subject of the knowledge of reason is the Supreme Being - God, with His infinite perfections, and the Divine eternal order of things, reflected both in the moral and religious structure of the spiritual world, and in creation and industry, or in the structure of creatures and the course of incidents and phenomena of nature and humanity. All these are hidden, mysterious objects, and the mind in its true form is a contemplator of the mysteries of the Divine, spirit and the material world" [9, p. 287–288]. “Before, the spirit forced itself inside itself, but now it is established and stands without origin. He is happy to be there alone with God, away from others, or without attention to everything external. He finds within himself the Kingdom of God, which is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). Such immersion within, or immersion in God, is called mental silence or admiration for God. It may be temporary, but it must be made permanent, because that is the goal. God is in us when our spirit is truly in God, for this is not mental communication, but a living, silent immersion in God, alienated from everything. Just as a ray of sun carries away a drop of dew, so the Lord delights the spirit by touching it” [12, p. 533–534]. The spirit of man seeks communion with God, so that “God would dwell in us and begin to walk in us, clothe himself, as it were, in our spirit, rule over His mind, will, and feeling, so that what we want and what we do would be His work, so that He would be active in everything, and we would become His instruments, or acted from Him, in thoughts, and desires, and feelings, and in words and deeds. This is what the Lord, the Lord of all, seeks, for He alone does everything in creatures through creatures. The spirit that has understood itself should seek the same thing... At this moment, the power of God enters the human spirit and begins its all-effect. So, the condition for the indwelling of God in us is a decisive surrender to Him” [12, p. 536–537]. “Dispassion is the heavenly chamber of the Heavenly King. And here, finally, communion with God and the indwelling of God is the final goal of searching for the human spirit, when it is in God, and God is in it. The good will of the Lord and His prayer are finally fulfilled, that as He is in the Father and the Father in Him, so every believer may be one with Him (see: John 17:21)” [12, p. 552–553]. In the soteriology of St. Theophan the Recluse, the category of the human spirit occupies an exceptional place, for only through the spirit is a person capable of moral improvement and achieving godlikeness. His Grace examines the path to salvation through the prism of the deep sinful corruption of human nature, where the God-established order of subordination of spirit, soul and body has been perverted. As a result of considering the human spirit as an independent force of the soul, which enlivens mental activity and is capable of communicating with the grace of Christ, a number of important conclusions can be drawn. At the creation of man, the Lord God gave him spiritual and moral strength, “the breath of His life,” that is, the spirit that was the dominant force in human nature. Saint Theophan calls the human spirit the “soul of the soul,” which manifests itself in a combination of consciousness and freedom. At the same time, the spirit and soul have a single immaterial nature, which allows a person to perceive the grace of God. As a result of the Fall, man “became arrogant and self-willed,” his spirit fell into sensuality, lost power over his soul and body, finding himself in sinful bonds. Consequently, the only way to restore the spirit to its previous state is to put on Christ, His grace-filled element. The main conclusion of this publication is a statement of the deep conviction of Saint Theophan that it is the spirit with its energy that directs a person to God-likeness and moral improvement, and conscience is the guide to salvation. 1. Andrey Lorgus, priest. Orthodox anthropology. pp. 154–155 // Cited. By: Theophan the Recluse, St. Orthodoxy and science. Guide book of sayings and teachings / comp. Igum. Feofan (Kryukov). Ed. 2nd. M.: “Danilovsky Blagovestnik”, 2009. 2. Gregory the Theologian, St. Word 7, about the soul // Collection of works: In 2 vols. T. 2. Rep. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1994. 3. John Chrysostom, St. Conversations on the Epistle to the Ephesians // Works of our holy father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, in Russian translation. T. 1–12. SPb.: St. Petersburg Theological Academy, 1895–1906. T. 11. 4. John Chrysostom, St. Word I about Lazarus // Creations in 12 volumes. T. 1. Book. 2. St. Petersburg, 1885. 5. Cyprian (Kern), archimandrite. Anthropology of St. Gregory Palamas. M.: Pilgrim, 1996. 6. Peter (Aleksenko), hierod. On the relationship between the categories of spirit and personality in the anthropology of St. Theophan the Recluse (based on the interpretations of St. Apostle Paul) // Theophan’s Readings. Ryazan, 2019. Vol. 12. 7. Platon (Igumnov), archimandrite. Orthodox moral theology. STSL, 1994. 8. Theodoret of Cyrus, bl. Interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians // Works of Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus / general. ed. prof. A.I. Sidorova. M.: Pilgrim, 2003. 9. Theophan (Govorov), St. Outline of Christian moral teaching. M.: Rule of faith. 2010. 10. Theophan (Govorov), St. Outline of Christian moral teaching. T. 1, 2. Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, 1994. 11. Theophan the Recluse, St. Orthodoxy and science. Guide book of sayings and teachings / comp. Igum. Feofan (Kryukov). Ed. 2nd. M.: “Danilovsky Blagovestnik”, 2009. 12. Theophan (Govorov), St. The path to salvation. A short essay on asceticism. M., 2008. 13. Theophan (Govorov), St. Collection of letters. Issue II. Holy Dormition Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, 1994. 14. Theophan (Govorov), St. Collection of letters. From unpublished. M., 2001. pp. 234–235 // Cited. by: Theophan the Recluse, St. Orthodoxy and science / comp. abbot. Feofan (Kryukov). M., 2009. 15. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of the first letter of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Corinthians. M.: Rule of Faith, 2006. 16. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of the first letter of the Holy Apostle Paul to Thessalonians. M.: Rule of Faith, 2005. 17. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of the first letter of the Holy Apostle Paul to Timothy. M.: Rule of Faith, 2005. 18. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Galatians. M.: Rule of Faith, 2004. 19. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Ephesians. M.: Rule of Faith, 2004. 20. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Colossians. M.: Rule of Faith, 2004. 21. Theophan the Recluse, St. Interpretation of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Romans (chapters 1–8). M.: Rule of Faith, 2006. 22. Theophan (Govorov), St. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it. M., 2009. 23. Theophan (Govorov), St. Manuscripts from the cell. M., 2008. 24. Theophylact of Bulgaria, bl. Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians // Commentary on the First Epistle to the Thessalonians // Same. Interpretation of the Acts and Epistles of the Holy Apostles: in 3 volumes. M.: Siberian Blagozvonnitsa, 2009. Vol. 3. This is a controversial subject, although it is all about words. For those who do not want to distinguish between spirit and soul, it can be suggested that by the word spirit they understand the higher side of our incorporeal side, and by the word soul they mean its lower actions and directions. Anthony the Great (see Philokalia, vol. 1, saying 166) says that there are creatures gifted only with life (plants), there are others gifted with life and soul (animals), and there are also those gifted with life, soul and mind. This is a man. What is meant here by the word mind, we express by the word spirit. Isaac the Syrian also has three parts, as does Ephraim the Syrian, and many of the saints. the fathers allowed spirit, soul and body... In the Word of God three parts are understood: your spirit and soul are all perfect, and your body is blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23). In another place, the spirit and soul in us are sharply distinguished when it is said that the Word of God, living and active, passes to the division of soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12) [15, p. 254].