The Church Fathers and the Immortality of the Soul by Joe Gallegos
Tatian,Address to the Greeks,13(A.D. 175),in ANF,II:70
"But since this cause is seen to lie in perpetual existence, the being so created must be preserved for ever, doing and experiencing what is suitable to its nature, each of the two parts of which it consists contributing what belongs to it, so that the soul may exist and remain without change in the nature in which it was made, and discharge its appropriate functions (such as presiding over the impulses of the body, and judging of and measuring that which occurs from time to time by the proper standards and measures), and the body be moved according to its nature towards its appropriate objects, and undergo the changes allotted to it, and, among the rest (relating to age, or appearance, or size), the resurrection."
Athenagoras,Resurrection of the Dead,12(A.D. 180),in ANF,II:15
"And again to the Romans he says, 'But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.' What, then, are mortal bodies? Can they be souls? Nay, for souls are incorporeal when put in comparison with mortal bodies; for God 'breathed into the face of man the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Now the breath of life is an incorporeal thing. And certainly they cannot maintain that the very breath of life is mortal. Therefore David says, "My soul also shall live to Him,' just as if its substance were immortal."
Irenaeus,Against Heresies,5,7:1(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:532-3
"The soul, then, we define to be sprung from the breath of God, immortal ..."
Tertullian,A treatise on the soul,22:2(A.D. 212),in ANF,III:203
"But that the soul is made immortal is a further point in the Church's teaching which you must know, to shew how the idols are to be overthrown."
Athanasius,Against the Heathen,33(A.D. 318),in XIV:21
"For in the first birth they are born with animal souls which is created within man and is not thereafter subject to death..."
Aphrahat,Select Demonstrations,6:14(A.D. 345),in NPNF2,XIII:371-2
"Next to the knowledge of this venerable and glorious and all-holy Faith, learn further what thou thyself art: that as man thou art of a two-fold nature, consisting of soul and body; and that, as was said a short time ago, the same God is the Creator both of soul and body. Know also that thou hast a soul self-governed, the noblest work of God, made after the image of its Creator: immortal because of God that gives it immortality; a living being, rational, imperishable, because of Him that bestowed these gifts: having free power to do what it willeth"
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,4:18(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:23
"In fact, I said the Divine utterances seemed to me like mere commands compelling us to believe that the soul lasts for ever."
Gregory of Nyssa,On the Soul and Resurrection(A.D. 380),in NPNF2,V:431
"Such a kind of sovereignty God bestowed upon us from the beginning, and set us over all things. And not only in this respect did He confer honour upon our nature, but also, by the very eminence of the spot in which we were placed, fixing upon Paradise as our choice dwelling, and bestowing the gift of reason, and an immortal soul."
John Chrysostom,Concerning Statues, 7:3(A.D. 387),in NPNF1,IX:391-2
"The immortality of the soul and its continuance after the dissolution of the body--truths of which Pythagoras dreamed..."
Jerome,To Heliodorus,Epistle 60:4(A.D. 397),in NPNF2,VI:125
"But because the soul from its very nature, being created immortal, cannot be without some kind of life, its utmost death is alienation from the life of God in an eternity of punishment. So, then, He only who gives true happiness gives eternal life, that is, an endlessly happy life."
Augustine,City of God,6:12(A.D. 427),NPNF1,II:121
Additionally, St. Augustine developed a treatise on the immortality of the soul in A.D 387 - "De immortalitate animae"
"The soul, accordingly, is a living essence, simple, incorporeal, invisible in its proper nature to bodily eyes, immortal, reasoning and intelligent, formless, making use of an organised body, and being the source of its powers of life, and growth, and sensation, and generation, mind being but its purest part and not in any wise alien to it; (for as the eye to the body, so is the mind to the soul); further it enjoys freedom and volition and energy, and is mutable, that is, it is given to change, because it is created."
John of Damascene,Orthodox Faith,2:12(A.D. 743),in NPNF2,IX:31
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Joseph A. Gallegos © 2001 All Rights Reserved.