Prayer 004: Prayer: A Personal Conversation with God?

Part 2 of a talk presented at Sts. Cyril & Athanasius of Alexandria Institute for Orthodox Studies Symposium “Prayer in the Church Fathers” on 17 February 2013, San Francisco, California.

[CONTINUED FROM A PREVIOUS POST]

I once heard a very interesting explanation of what spirit was. We often say that the human being consists of body, soul, and spirit. We think we know what body is, although the theological definition of the body is not exactly the same as its medical definition, which fact may cause some confusion when speaking to lay people. The soul is sometimes described to be the confluence of the rational mind, will, emotions, passions, and other such things, or the spiritual essence of man, or his very life.[1] But what then is the spirit? According to one Russian theologian, the spirit is the vector of the person, the direction in which his whole being moves, or to borrow the words of Saint Clement, it is that eagerness which gives longing to the soul. In our fallen state, our life often centers on the needs and pleasures of the body, our soul feeds on the passions of the body, and our spirit falters and deviates from true north, like a broken compass directing the “Pilgrim” away from her intended destination and toward dangerous shores.[2] Prayer can be understood as one of the tools which helps restore proper order to our being: the spirit draws the soul into longing and thirsting for God,[3] the soul is nourished by communion with God, and the body serves the soul in her service to God.