The problem of the origin of the soul in the teachings of St. Anastasius of Sinai in the context of Byzantine patrology

With the beginning of the era of Ecumenical Councils, the dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church began. One of the key aspects of that era is the doctrine of the soul, which in the context of monophyletic disputes has a soteriological significance. One of the outstanding defenders of the Orthodox teaching about the soul and, in particular, about its will was the Monk Anastasius of Sinai. The aim of this work is to characterize the approach of Anastasius Sinai to the definition of the essence of the concept of “soul”, as well as to reveal his theory of its origin. As research methods, the author focuses on such methods as analysis, synthesis, comparison. The relevance of the topic of the article is beyond doubt because this problem is not solved in modern science, remaining debatable even at the current stage of its development. And the conceptually significant observations and conclusions of Anastasius of Sinai, undoubtedly, should be taken into account for a deeper consideration of the phenomenon of the soul as a whole. The paper draws conclusions that in his work Three Words about the Constitution of Man in the Image and Likeness of God the author in question defines a person as the need for a deeply harmonious conjugation of the visible body. The human soul has the image of a tri-une Deity. The work shows the influence on Anastasius of Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor, Basil the Great, Leontius of Byzantium and others, who often expressed various theologumens about the soul.