If you have never read it, I heartily recommend Fr.Georges (Flovorsky) article, The "Immortality" of the Soul at the following URL:
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets ... y_soul.htm
This is part of a wonderful collection of essays by Fr.Georges, which can be accessed here...
http://chrysostomosca.tripod.com/
In summary, the article goes after a falsehood which sadly many Orthodox have unwittingly imbibed from the west; namely, the notion of an "immortal soul." What follows is my own Biblical study of the subject, which I leave open to the comments/critiques of the posters on this forum.
As far as the Fathers were concerned, the soul was not itself "immortal." Immortality as such belongs to God alone, the soul being a creature (and as such) prone to corruption and dissipation if left to itself. The "ghost in the machine" view of the soul is sadly a carry over from the pagan tradition of the Roman/Hellenic tradition (though common to many other pagan traditions, whether it be those found in ancient Egypt, or India), and it never quite "died" as it should have in the Christian world. Though sometimes the soul is spoken of as "immortal" in Orthodox texts, this was always with the understanding that it was such by the grace of God (that is to say, because God "remembers" and preserves the dead in His loving hand.)
If one takes for granted that the soul is of itself "unending", this creates a problem; on an intuitive level, it cannot help but lead to the view that a disincarnate existance is preferable (or at the very least, it attacks the "logic" behind a ressurection; indeed it makes such an afterthought.) Thus, perhaps why it is only in the Orthodox Church that the ressurection has the centrality that it does (and not simply that of Christ, but also that of each and every one of us.)
Death is a tragedy. It is absolutely horrific and was not meant for us. An unbiased reading of the Old Testament makes it quite clear that ancient Israelites feared that the obvious took place when a man expired; he was dead and gone (thus not buying into the supersticion of the "ka" of their former Egyptian task-masters, or the anti-materialist ideas that developed in Hellenic philosophy, and were later carried on by the Romans.) Consider the following...
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. (Ecclessiastes 9:5-6)
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (Psalms 146:4)
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? (Psalms 6:5)
According to Genesis, it was the combination of an animating spirit and physical matter which were formed together and consistuted man (as far as the Scriptures are concerned, "soul" = man...ex. "my soul doth mangify the Lord")...
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
However, when a man dies, the vivifying principle which animates him is rent from matter, and taken back by God.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (Ecclessiastes 12:7)
So what of man's soul, is it annihilated at death? Does he "cease to be"? The short answer is, "no" - you, (your name here) are not annilated by death. But is it because the human soul is of itself unending? No - rather, you can thank Christ Jesus, our Lord and Saviour for this. Since He has made this only a temporary matter, death is not an end, but an interuption - a "sleep". Which is why He refers to it as a "sleep" when He is about to raise Lazarus from death;
These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. (St.John 11:11)
As far as St.Paul was concerned, the survival of man in any fashion after he dies, is intimatly linked with Christ raising all flesh from the grave on the Last Day;
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. (1st Corinthians 15:16-18, emphasis mine)
Thus why, in the midst of Hebrew pessimism about the fate of the dead (not having yet had the Ressurection of Christ clearly revealed to them), the Israelites of old were assured that the good Lord remembers and preserves those who have "fallen asleep"...
But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace (Wisdom 3:1-3)
It is quite obvious that we as human beings "know", via our senses. They are an essential part of who we are. However the Fathers recognized another, deeper sense, which underlies (and unifies) all of these; thus why they spoke of men perceiving "noetically". When we sleep, obviously all of our physical senses are dimmed/shut off. Thus, we don't experience things like we do when we're awake. Time moves different...sometimes it cuts out from our perception entirely. If we do experience something, it's purely within the mind, brain charges/chemicals fluctuating and causing dreams. In death, souls experience by the grace of God.
St.Mark of Ephesus rightly corrected the erring Latins at the Council of Florence, saying that as far as the Orthodox Church was concerned, those who are currently "asleep" only experience a foretaste of their final destiny. Those who were just, and fell asleep in Christ, experience a foretaste of their destiny as princes in God's court - those who died in sin, will receive a foretaste of Gehenna, the everlasting fire of the Last Day. This is why for the Orthodox (as St.Mark rightly articulated), the doctrine of purgatory was not acceptable; it represented an entire framework of thought about the soul which was incorrect, and in many respects took for granted carry-overs from the west's pagan past. While certainly there is nothing objectionable to the possibility of a man experiencing some sort of purging/cleansing of his passions when he dies (as can be found in the writings of St.Gregory the Great), this is something very different from the crystalized Latin doctrine of "purgatory" as a place the disembodied soul goes to "make satisfaction for venial sins" before it inherits the "beatific vision" in a Heaven which fundamentally does not differ from the reward/after-life scenarios of other pagan cultures (such as the Elysium of the Romans)...a scenario, I submit, which makes the Ressurection an afterthought; the "restoration of a perfectiton due to man" perhaps, but not the salvific, axiomatic event in our redemption that Orthodoxy regards it as.
As previously indicated, though the Book of Wisdom does assure us that the soul of man is not extinguished by death, it views the redemption of these fallen "just" as a future event. Just read Wisdom 3 carefully to see...
But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery: And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds. They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. They that trust in him, shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love shall rest in him: for grace and peace is to his elect. (Wisdom 3:1-9, emphasis mine)
The Wisdom of Solomon is referring to the Last Day and the Ressurection; to events which the Apocalypse of St.John also speaks of. The reference to these ressurected just as running "to and fro like sparks among the reeds" is a refference to the glorified, redeemed humanity that the just will receive at the ressurection. For as St.Paul taught, the healed, ressurected saints will have bodies like that of the risen Lord...
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (1st Corinthians 15:39-50)
Thus, rejoice when you think of Christ crucified. For though the evil one thought he had a victory over God's anointed (not truly fathoming just Who He was Who had been fixed to the wood of the Cross), in truth the uncreated Word of God was still joined to the soul and material body which the crucifixion had separated - and on the third day, the two were rejoined in glory, in the one hypostasis of God the Word which had never separated from either. Thus, the Son of God heals the human nature and elevates it. It is an accomplished fact - we only await, with joyful expectation of that day when all flesh shall be raised from it's sleep.
Our part, being submissive to the grace which the Lord showers upon mankind in these last days, is to repent of our sins and be joined to God. For while it is true all flesh will be raised on the Last Day, it us for us to decide where we stand - will we love God with our whole being and thus perceive the vision of His glory as warmth and consolation, or as terror and an unending agony of remorse and hatred? Just as God let's it rain on both the just and the wicked, or let's the sun shine both on the good and the evil, so too will all see His uncreated glory.
"People condemned God to death; with His Resurrection He condemned them to immortality." (from Condemned to Immortality: A Meditation on the Ressurection by Bl. Justin of Serbia)
Seraphim
Good stuff, and I also recommend the Fr. Florovsky text (well, I suggest reading all of his stuff, lol). I wish I had something to say... I really do (I'm right in the middle of studying Orthodox anthropology since I'm writing a text on man being in the image of God.. so I'm all geared up to discuss that sort of stuff)... but unfortunately, by the time I came to the end of your post, I didn't really have anything in my mind that I wanted to say. I thought you'd mention the last two verses of the second chapter of the Wisdom of Solomon, but you dealt with that generally so there was really no need.