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St. Gregory

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Submitted By Gemini2851
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St. Gregory of Nyssa I found the dialogue in St. Gregory of Nyssa very interesting. In some ways I could relate to his feeling quit well. After learning that he was mourning the death of his brother, which is something I have I done for the past ten months the story caught my attention for this reason as well as others. After losing my brother I to wondered why everyone grieves in different ways. I also wonder what happens after death. Is there a heaven? Do we move on to a better place, as I have been told for so many years? What is it like to die, and do you know when it happens? Then learning that when he went to his sister for consolation he found out she was dying. I could not imagine how that felt. I know my sister is the only sibling I have left and the thought of losing her is too much to bare.
This is when Macrina asks Gregory what makes him fear death. It appears that Gregory doubt the immortality of the soul. He raises two objections first being, if the soul is complex and composed of the elements as the body, it is dissolved in death together with the body. Secondly, if the soul is of different nature than the body, the soul cannot exist at all considering there is no other place it could be. “Therefore, he concludes, the soul does not exist after the death of the body” (Roth, p.15). I feel that everyone ponders these questions from time to time. As any sister would do Marcina tries to console her brother. He then asks about Hades, which I love Marcina’s philosophy on this subject. Marcina believes that Hades cannot be a dark place because the earth is sphere and as it turns all sides are illuminated. I never thought of this and feel it is a great theory. She then states that “it is not a place, because the souls are incorporeal and do not need to be in a place. Instead, we should understand Hades as a change in the soul’s condition” (Roth, p.18). I personally think of the soul in the same sense. I feel that what the soul is or becomes is how the person was in life. So if the person were an evil person in life so would be their soul in death.
Later in this dialogue as they speak of resurrection is where I feel I get lost or it may be because I had never really thought of our after life in this sense. I have always related the word “resurrection” to Jesus only. However, I do find it interesting to think that this may be what happens after death. Overall, I have really enjoyed this dialogue. I feel that St. Gregory and Marcina’s philosophy on the human soul, death, and the after life are very interesting and a lot like mine.

Work Cited
Roth, Catharine P. The Soul and the Resurrection. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary, 1993. Print.

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