Napoleon Kanari

Great Christian Thinkers

Dr. Demetri Tonias
Paper 1
03/01/2019

In the early times of the Church, heresies have risen up from various situations and

topics. A lot of the early heretics proposed heresies based on incorrect interpretations of

scriptural verses and passages. One such heretic was Origen. Having been condemned

posthumously at the Fifth Ecumenical Council, he put forth the belief of the pre-existence of

souls. The Orthodox Church does anathematize Origen’s teaching, but the belief is not without

support. Origen found support for his heresy in the passages like, “Yet Jacob I have loved, but

Esau I have hated.”1 There are a few other Biblical passages that support origenism, and there are

many that disprove it. I will present a few verses a heretic could take and distort the true Faith,

and I will present Biblical verses that preserve the true teaching of the Orthodox Faith.

Saint Paul writes, “for the children not yet being born, nore having done any good or evil,

that the purpose of God according to election might stand…. ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I

have hated.’”2 If God is a just god, then it would not make sense for someone to be dealt a

consequence for something that was not done. From this logic, one can conclude, God had

disliked Esau and cursed him to serve his younger brother because of the actions he must have

done before his conception. This would be the only plausible solution since verse fourteen

clearifies God is not unrighteous. This is a prime passage which Origen managed to extract his

heresy of the pre-existence of souls from, saying, “how if we do not go back to the works done

1 Mal. 1:2-3 partially quoted. All Biblical verses are taken from the Orthodox Study Bible (OSB).
2 Rom. 9:11; 13
before this life, can it be said that there is no unrighteousness with God when the elder serves the

younger and is hated (by God) before he has done anything worthy of slavery or of hatred?”3

A prophecy from the Old Testament, about Saint John the Forerunner, is another verse

which can be interpreted as supporting Origenism. In the Gospel of Saint Mark, both Malachi

and Isaiah’s words are cited, “As it is written in the Prophets: ‘Behold, I send My messenger

before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before you.’ ‘The voice of one crying in the

wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.”’”4 In this Gospel verse, the

Greek word, “ἄγγελόν,” is used for messenger, but the Greek word for messenger also means,

“angel.” Through this verse, Origen viewed Isaiah’s prophecy, concerning the voice in the

desert, as an angel who had become incarnate. He believed Saint John’s soul had pre-existed, and

in turn, that is how the Baptist knew about the Son of God, following Him immediately.5

As Orthodox Christians, the Faithful and the Church know pre-existence of souls,

otherwise known as Origenism, is a heresy defeated by numerous patristic, ecclesiological, and

biblical proofs. To show the correct Scriptural interpretation, which is the believe souls are

created upon conception, let us look at the Book of Genesis. Upon Adam’s creation, Scripture

shows the soul was created the same time Adam’s body was formed and not before, as Genesis

writes, “Then God formed man out of dust from the ground, and breathed in his face the breath

of life; and man became a living soul.”6 The very breath of life God “breathed” into Adam was

the creation of the soul. Saint Cyril of Alexandria confirms the aforementioned interpretation,

3 “Origen: Commentary on John, Book II,” sec. 25, accessed February 27, 2019,
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/origen-john2.html.
4 Mark 1:2
5 “Origen: Commentary on John, Book II,” sec. 25.
6 Gen. 2:7
speaking about Christ, “(for He breathed, it says, into his nostrils the breath of life and man

became a living soul).”7

As Genesis, the very Biblical text which concerns the creation of man more than any

other book in the Biblical Canon, one can see the soul and body were created simultaneously.

The text of Genesis further elaborates on the creation of man, as it mentions, “He made them

male and female, and blessed them; and the day He made them He called his name Adam.”8

Recognizing the belief of the creation of the soul upon conception (of the body, in this case, the

forming of Adam’s body) within Genesis’ second chapter, the verse from chapter five affirms

God’s creation of man. The human person is composed of two properties, as Saint Panagis

Basias of Lixouriou would say, “Two, two - not three!”9 Already acknowledging the human

person possessing two properties, the soul being created the moment God created Adam’s body

and breathed life into him, and additional verses describing God as the Creator of man, the

heresy of Origenism is disproved.

Within the Gospel of John, God is shown, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word

was with God, and the Word was God…. All things were made through Him, and without Him

nothing was made that was made.”10 By this verse, we know that God was only here from before

the beginning, and the soul was created later. To further draw from the Old Testament,

Origenism is proven wrong within David’s psalmic praises of God, “Your eyes saw me when I

was unformed, and all men shall be written in Your book; They shall be formed day by day,

when as yet there were none among them.”11 Since man is made of two properties, as mentioned

7 P. E. Pusey, trans., “Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, LFC 43, 48 (1874/1885) Book 1.,” chap. 9,
accessed March 1, 2019, http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_john_01_book1.htm#C9.
8 Gen. 5:2
9 John Sanidopoulos, “Saint Panagis Basias of Kefallonia,” accessed March 1, 2019,
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/06/saint-panagis-paisios-basias-of.html.
10 John 1:1; 3
11 Psalm 138:16 LXX
with Adam, God willed to make that which was not formed, being man. Further along in the

Psalm, David says, “they shall be formed day by day,”12 and this is an indication of proof for the

creation of a soul upon the creation (or conception) of a body. If man is formed day by day and

we are composed of two properties, which we most definitely are, then the whole person is

formed day by day because the soul and body are inseparable for life.

To state a heresy like the preexistence of souls would provide further problems to

Christian ethics and the ontological nature of a human. For example, the theology of the

incarnation would become corrupted, and preexistence of souls could give support to

Nestorianism.13 This would lead to the doctrine of the Incarnation becoming corrupted, and it

would pollute the Gospel message of the Evangelists. One could state the Human of Jesus was in

the womb, but a claim could be made saying the Divine Logos became incarnate later on. It can

go so far as to say Jesus Christ, the Human, was created and the Divine Logos was Preexisting,

concluding two different Persons by saying the union of the Divine and the Human natures,

without confusion or mixture, did not come together in one Person at once. The Archangel

Gabriel is clear about the conception of Jesus in his salutations,

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call
His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and
the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David…. The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.14

The Scriptural interpretation of Origen’s preexistence of souls is clear. The Bible

supports the idea of preexistence of souls as a heretical belief. The text of Genesis is clear

about the physical creation of man, the creation of the soul, simultaneously, and the union

12 Ibid.
13 Nestorianism is the heresy of dyoprosopism. This heretical view taught Jesus’s humanity was deficient, and
Jesus Christ was comprised of two people: the Person of Jesus and the Divine Logos.
14 Luke 1:31-32; 35 (verse 35 is partially quoted)
of the both of them within a human person. The text of Genesis, concerning the creation

of man, is literal, as the Holy Fathers support.15 The Gospels’ genealogy also validates the

text of Genesis and its creation story. Preexistence of the souls is also defeated by the

theology of the Incarnation, with the scriptural passage from Saint Luke’s Gospel. While

there are a few verses that may support the Preexistence of souls, Scripture truly proves

God’s simultaneous creation of the human person physically and spiritually.

Bibliography

“Origen: Commentary on John, Book II.” Accessed February 27, 2019.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/origen-john2.html.

Pusey, P. E., trans. “Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John, LFC 43, 48 (1874/1885) Book
15 Fr Seraphim Rose, Genesis, Creation, and Early Man, ed. Hieromonk Damascene, Revised Second edition
(Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2011), 119–22.
 1.” Accessed March 1, 2019.

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_john_01_book1.htm#C9.

Rose, Fr Seraphim. Genesis, Creation, and Early Man. Edited by Hieromonk Damascene.

Revised Second edition. Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2011.

Sanidopoulos, John. “Saint Panagis Basias of Kefallonia.” Accessed March 1, 2019.

https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/06/saint-panagis-paisios-basias-of.html.