Key Terms: Spirit and Soul

Two key terms for spiritual entities that are important in Orthodox Christian liturgy are: soul (Greek πνεῦμα pnevma) and spirit (Greek ψυχή psihi).

  1. Look at the word soul in the following texts. Write down a list of definitions of soul based on the texts.

Biblical Texts

  • And God said, “Let the water bring forth creeping things of living souls and winged things flying above the land.” (Gen 1:20, LES)

  • And God formed the human with earth from the land and blew into his face the breath of life, and the human came into being as a living soul. (Gen 2:6, LES)

  • Righteous souls are in the hand of God… They seem to have died… but they are at peace. (Wisdom 3:1, LES)