Thus exalting the importance of the heart for human life, the sacred writers knew clearly and definitely that the human head, which science recognizes primarily as the seat of the soul, has a really close and close connection with the phenomena of mental life and serves as their most important organ. Thus, since the human body ends with the head, and since, in relation to the goals of life and their attainment, it is not the body that bears the head, but the head the body that governs it, Jesus Christ is called the head of the Church as his body (Heb. 5:23, Col. 2:19). The one who blesses lays his hands on the head of the one who is blessed (Gen. 48:14; 49:26), and the blessing of the Lord on the head of the righteous (Prov. 10:6); also the initiator lays his hands on the head of the initiate (Lev. 8:10). Blessing and consecration, like the oil of anointing (Psalm 132:2, Lev. 8:12), must extend from the head to the entire human being and penetrate it in all directions. The Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues of fire on the heads of the apostles, and by this miraculous ordination revived and enlightened their entire spiritual being (Acts 2:3-4). In the same way, the physician lays his hand on the head of the one being healed (Matt. 9:18). The governmental dignity of the high priest in the Church is marked by the adornment of his head (Lev. 8:9). As the king is the head of the public body, as a sign of this, a stone of honor is placed on his head (Psalm 20:3).

The face of the head serves as an expression and, as it were, a living mirror of the spiritual states of a person, so that in general from the sight of the poenan will be a man, and the face of the face of Knowledge will be wise (Sir. 19:26). A man's wisdom shall shine upon his face, but he that hath no cold shall hate his face (Ecclesiastes 8:1). Communion with God, which Moses was vouchsafed on Sinai, was revealed in the special illumination of his countenance: the flesh of his face was glorified (Exodus 34:29). In the most glorious transfiguration of our Lord, His face shines forth like the sun (Matt. 17:2). The joy and triumph of the angel, sent down to the Lord's tomb to bear witness to people about the resurrection of the Savior, were reflected in his luminous face: "His vision was like lightning" (Matt. 28:3). Therefore the face of God signifies the full revelation of God's glory, which man is incapable of receiving in this life: "Thou shalt not be able to see my face," said the Lord to Moses, "for man shall not see my face, and he shall live" (Ysh. 33:20).

Thus, the sacred writers knew about the high importance of the head in the spiritual life of man; Nevertheless, we repeat, they saw the center of this life in their hearts. The head was for. they seem to be the visible summit of that life which is originally and immediately rooted in the heart. "The head," says one interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, "is to an external phenomenon what the heart is to the inner activity of the soul, and only in this respect is it ascribed a dominant significance from the biblical point of view." Incidentally, the above-quoted passages of Holy Scripture give a very definite idea that the head has the significance of an organ intermediating between the integral essence of the soul and those influences which it experiences from within it or from above, and that at the same time it has a governmental dignity in the integral system of mental actions. Psychology cannot but agree with these general definitions, whatever may be its special conceptions of this subject. But it can also be assumed in advance that the phenomena of mental activity shown in the head do not yet exhaust the entire essence of the soul; By the necessity of thinking, we must admit a certain primordial spiritual essence, which needs the named mediation and governmental action of the head. This primordial spiritual essence, according to the teaching of the word of God, has the heart as its closest organ. In the following explanations we shall see more definitely the meaning and foundations of these propositions, and now we will say, as a consequence of the preceding, that if Jesus Christ is called the head of the Church, then this does not yet fully and completely designate His relationship to the Church. He is the head (Ephesians 8:23) and the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), the light and life of the Church (John 1:4). He is the Creator of the Church (Matt. 16:18), and for this reason Her extraordinary Head, from Whom all the flesh and sorrows are given and supposed, brings forth the return of Her (Col. 2:19). These remarks show how harmonious and consistent the Biblical teaching on the human mind is, not only in itself, but also in its applications to the explanation of higher dogmas. It is obvious that we have here a definite psychological view which does not agree with many of the propositions of the modern science of the soul. We consider it useful to enter into an examination of the reasons on which science does not agree with the biblical teaching about the heart as the seat and center of man's spiritual life. Perhaps it will be revealed that the biblical view is not so indifferent to the interests of our knowledge that we can ignore it in the study of the soul. Perhaps we shall also find an inner correlation between this view and our moral and religious demands, which in this case will give it special significance, if not within the narrow confines of the sciences, then in the sphere of the unlimited strivings of the human spirit for the perfect, for the good, for God.

On the basis of indubitable physiological facts, which we shall point out below, psychology teaches that the head, or the brain with its nerves leading to it, serves as the necessary and immediate bodily organ of the soul for the formation of ideas and thoughts from the impressions of the external world, or that this organ alone is the direct conductor and bearer of mental phenomena. This indisputably true doctrine of the bodily organ of psychic phenomena has long united in psychology a special view of the essence of the human soul, a view which, incidentally, could have had to a certain extent an independent, independent development. When the nerves concentrated in the head are set in motion by the influences and impressions of the external world, the immediate and immediate consequence of this movement is the origin in the mind of ideas, concepts, or knowledge of the external world. From this it was easy to come to the assumption that the essential faculty of the human soul is precisely this ability to generate or form ideas about the world in relation to the movement of nerves excited by an external object. That which exists in the nerves as motion is revealed, appears, and exists in the mind as a representation. Accordingly, philosophy has long been dominated by the view that the human soul is originally a being, that thought is the very essence of the soul, or that thought constitutes the whole of spiritual man. The will and feelings of the heart were understood as phenomena, modifications, and accidental states of thought. with thought, disappear in it and thus lose every kind of originality and essentiality. In these definitions the essence of the soul is made as open and easily observable as those forms of thought which, among other phenomena of mental life, are distinguished by their peculiar transparency and clarity. Thus, for the first time, we can see here at least a tendency to explain phenomena in such a way as not to give an essence of a greater and more significant content in comparison with its phenomena accessible to our observation; and whoever, on the contrary, thinks that in the human soul, as in every creation of God, there are aspects inaccessible to the limited means of our knowledge, can already see in advance the significance of the Biblical teaching about the deep heart, the mysteries of which only the divine mind knows.

Yet it is clear that the psychological doctrine we are considering cannot easily explain the possibility and reality of free will in man, nor can it easily recognize the moral dignity and significance of human action, which follows from the immediate inclinations and feelings of the heart, and is not determined by abstract thought about duty and duties. That is why philosophy has so often denied freedom in man, so often asserted that in man and mankind reigns the same irresistible necessity as in the logical deductions of thought, in which the conclusion is not determined freely, but necessarily, according to the quality and significance of the premises. In the same way, philosophy replaced the warm and vital commandment of love, a commandment that is so meaningful to the heart, with an abstract and cold consciousness of duty, a consciousness that presupposes not inspiration, not a fiery inclination of the heart to good, but a simple, indifferent understanding of phenomena. Finally, since our knowledge of God is anthropomorphic, this philosophy has necessarily arrived at an abstract concept of the essence of God, defining all the inexhaustible richness of God's life as an idea, as a thought that is always unchangeable, equal to itself, a thought that creates the world without will, without love, according to logical necessity alone.

These one-sided theories, to which we only slightly point here, are made intelligible by the proposition that the essence of the soul is thought, and nothing more; therefore, they serve for us as an indirect refutation of the very proposition that underlies them. Thinking does not exhaust the fullness of human spiritual life, just as the perfection of thinking does not yet designate all the perfections of the human spirit. Whoever asserts that "thinking is the whole man," and hopes to explain all the variety of psychic phenomena from thought, will succeed no more than the physiologist who would explain the phenomena of hearing—sounds, tones, and words—from the phenomena of sight, such as extension, figure, color, etc. In accordance with this, we can already assume that the activity of the human mind has as its direct organ in the body more than one head or brain with nerves leading to it. but extends much further and deeper into the bodily organism. Both the essence of the soul and its connection with the body must be much richer and more diverse than is usually thought. This, of course, general and as yet undefined idea of a many-sided, and not one-sided, connection between the soul and the body is contained in the biblical teaching about the heart as the immediate and closest organ of spiritual activities and states. The bodily organ of the soul can be none other than the human body. Therefore, just as the heart unites in itself the forces of this body, it also serves as the closest organ of spiritual life. The body is an expedient organ of the soul, not in its part alone, but in its entirety of composition and structure.

We have said above that the physiological facts by which it is proved that the brain is the seat of mental actions are beyond doubt. One of the most certain truths of physiology is that the conscious activity of the soul has its immediate organ in the brain. Thus, after prolonged and intense reflection, we feel heaviness and pain in our heads, and vice versa, heaviness and pain make a person incapable of thinking. A strong blow to the head often causes the loss of memory or one of the series of ideas. When the optic nerve is separated from the brain, even though the eye reflects objects in its mirror, there can be no sensation, vision, or consciousness of these objects. The same must be said of all the other sense-organs, on the basis of precise physiological experiments. However, from these undoubted experiments of physiology, very little follows for the psychological doctrine of the soul's presence in the body. We can only say that the activity or, more precisely, the movement of the brain is a necessary condition for the soul to be able to give birth to sensations and ideas about the world. Or, in order for a movement communicated to an organ to become a psychic sensation and representation, it must extend to the brain. If, however, it is further inferred that the soul must reside in the brain by its being, then this assumption is based on an extraneous observation taken from the world of the senses. In this world, where the two terms of interaction that are only subject to our observation are equally sensible, motion passes from one to the other by means of pressure or push; The moving body must produce a pressure or push on the spatial side of the body being moved, which on this occasion develops in itself these or other types of motion. But this pressure, this impulse, is impossible in the interaction between the soul and the body, where one member is the non-spatial being of the soul. The soul has no spatial side to which it could receive impulses from the spatial movements of the brain. Therefore, although the activity of the brain is a necessary condition for the soul to give birth to sensations and ideas, we do not see the necessity by virtue of which the soul should be in the brain as its place for this purpose. The connection between the movement of a certain part of the brain and the idea formed by the soul on this occasion is not a mechanical connection of pressures and impulses, which would indisputably presuppose the spatial unity of the connecting members, but a purposeful, ideal, spiritual connection; The soul experiences impressions not from the spatial movements of the brain mass, but from its purposeful activity, which, as is obvious, does not require the spatial compatibility of the members acting on each other.

These remarks, which a closer explanation would take us too far, prove that the most reliable facts of physiology, which confirm the close connection between the conscious life of the soul and the activity of the brain, are not in necessary contradiction with the Biblical teaching about the heart as the true center of spiritual life. It is very possible that the soul, as the basis of conscious psychic phenomena known to us, has the heart as its nearest organ, although its conscious life reveals itself under the condition of the activity of the brain.

At this point we could leave the special field of physiology and go directly to the phenomena of psychic life, which everyone can believe with his own inner self-conception. It seems to us, however, that physiology itself presents facts which mediate between the phenomena which are known to us from external experience or the study of our body, and those which constitute the content of internal experience. At the present time, physiology knows that the heart is not a simple muscle, not an insensible mechanism that only controls the movement of blood in the body by means of mechanical pressure on it.

Although physiologists confess that their investigations into the composition, structure, and functions of the heart are far from being completed, yet it is probable from the foregoing that in the heart, which is a well of the blood, the two nervous systems, the real body of beings having a soul, converge and relate in a unity and interaction such as perhaps no other organ of the human body represents. Whoever does not hope to explain all the phenomena of human bodily life from a blind and dead mechanism, will at least now understand how, in the biblical view, the heart is regarded as the emanate or center of all the forces of the human body. Can we not say, without contradicting the facts of physiology, that in the heart all the most important systems of the human organism have their representative, who from this center takes care of their preservation and life? But at least from this it becomes clear; why the general feeling of the soul, or the feeling that we have about our own spiritual-bodily existence, allows itself to be noticed in the heart, so that the most imperceptible changes in this feeling are accompanied by changes in the beating of the heart. And this general feeling of the soul, as it seems to us, is one of the most important phenomena for the explanation of the biblical teaching about the heart as the center of spiritual life. The states and moods of the soul are far from being determined in their entirety by the activity of the five senses which the impression they receive on the brain is carried to the brain. If our body lacks proper materials for nourishment, or if any part of it is removed from its normal position and relation to other parts, then these mechanical changes in the body are felt by the soul as hunger and disease. These sensations, as well as all those states and moods of the soul that determine the so-called disposition of the soul, have their basis in the general feeling, for which "the whole body, each part of it, must serve to a greater or lesser extent as an organ." In this general feeling "all other modifications of the senses are contained initially, even before any external view, inseparable; therefore, it is considered as the root of all other feelings." Meanwhile, the moods and dispositions of the soul, determined by its general feeling, serve as the last, deepest basis of our thoughts, desires and deeds: "As indefinable, barely conscious upper premises, they lie at the basis of all our views in life, as well as all intentions and actions." These very truths are revealed to us by the biblical teaching about the heart as the birthplace of thoughts, desires, words and deeds of a person. While physiology indicates in the brain the physical conditions on which the activity of the soul depends, the sacred writers show us the direct, moral-spiritual source of this activity in the integral and inseparable mood and disposition of the soul being. Our thoughts, words, and deeds are not originally images of external things, but images or expressions of the general feeling of the soul, the product of our heart's mood. Of course, in everyday life, filled with worries about current reality, we pay too little attention to this intimate side in our thoughts and actions. Nevertheless, it remains true that everything that enters the soul with consciousness, through the medium of the senses and the brain, is processed, changed, and receives its last and permanent quality according to a special, particularly determined heart-building of the soul, and vice versa, no actions of excitation coming from the external world can evoke ideas or feelings in the soul, if the latter are incompatible with the mood of the heart of man. In the heart of man lies the basis that his ideas, feelings, and actions acquire a peculiarity in which his soul is expressed, and not another, or receive such a personal, particularly determined direction, by the power of which they are expressions not of a general spiritual being, but of a separate living really existing man.

In inner experience we do not notice at all how the brain changes from changes in our thoughts, desires, and feelings; on the basis of direct self-conception we would not even know that it is the organ of the conscious and thinking soul. If this relation between thought and its organ has a rational basis for the purpose of thought, which in itself must be a calm and indifferent consciousness of the reality around us, it follows, however, that both in thought and in its bodily organ the soul does not manifest itself in the full indivisibility and fullness of its rich being. If man were to reveal himself by thinking alone, which in that case would in all probability be the most authentic image of external objects, then the manifold world, rich in life and beauty, would open up to his consciousness as a correct, but at the same time lifeless, mathematical quantity. He could see through and through this magnitude, but nowhere would he encounter a true, living being, which would amaze him with the beauty of its forms, the mystery of its instincts, and the infinite fullness of its content. It seems to us that there is no such one-sided thinking in the real soul. And what would happen to man if his thought had no other purpose than to repeat in its movements the events of reality or to reflect in itself phenomena that are extraneous to the spirit? It may happen that in this case our thoughts would be as definite as mathematical quantities; but on the other hand, in our knowledge of things, we could move only to breadth, and not to depth. The world, as a system of vital phenomena full of beauty and significance, exists and is revealed first of all to the deep heart and hence to the understanding thinking. The problems which thinking solves do not arise in their ultimate foundation from the influences of the external world, from the instincts and irresistible demands of the heart.

Accordingly, the best philosophers and great poets have been aware that their hearts have been the true birthplace of those profound ideas which they have imparted to mankind in their works, and that the consciousness, whose activity is connected with the functions of the senses and the brain, has given these ideas only the clarity and definiteness proper to thought.

For reasons which it would be inappropriate to explain here, we are accustomed to regard the soul as a machine which is wound up and adjusted in exact accordance with the impulses and impressions which fall upon it from the external world. We would like to define the boundless essence of the soul, which is destined to develop not only in time, but also in eternity, solely by those states of the soul which are evoked in it by the impressions of the external world. From this point of view, a psychologist has expressed the hope that, with the further development of our knowledge of the soul, we shall be able to determine its movements and changes with the same mathematical precision with which we now determine the movements of the steam engine, so that the control of the states and movements of the soul will become as easy and correctly calculated for us as the control of the steam engine. We think, however, that this hope will forever remain an unrealizable dream, that there will always remain in the human mind a number of states and movements to which the physical law of equality between action and reaction can never be applied. In the Biblical view of the significance of the human heart for the spiritual life of man, this exceptional feature of the human soul is expressed with profound truth, in direct contrast to the mechanical view, which does not give any significance to this feature. Already in the simple conception which our thought forms on the basis of the impressions which come to us, we must distinguish between two aspects: (1) the knowledge of external objects which is contained in this representation, and (2) the state of mind which is conditioned by this conception and knowledge. This last aspect of the conception is not subject to any mathematical calculation: it expresses directly and in a peculiar way the quality and dignity of our mental mood. In our one-sided striving for knowledge, we often forget that every concept enters our soul as its inner state, and we evaluate our concepts only by the extent to which they serve us as images of things. Yet this aspect of the concept, which determines the state and mood of the soul, is of more value for the integral life of the spirit than the idea, since it is the image of the thing. If, from the theoretical point of view, it can be said that everything that is worthy of being is worthy of our knowledge, then in the interests of higher moral and spiritual education it would be absolutely fair to say that we should know only that which is worthy of our moral and God-like being. The tree of knowledge is not the tree of life, and to the spirit its life appears to be something more precious than its knowledge. But this special, peculiar life of the spirit, which does not lend itself to mathematical definitions, has the closest relation to the human heart: guard your heart with every care; for from these proceed the life (Proverbs 4:23). Here are reflected in a conspicuous way those subtle and imperceptible movements and states of our soul, of which we cannot form any clear idea. We never succeed in translating into clear knowledge that movement of joy and sorrow, fear and hope, those feelings of goodness and love which so directly change the beating of our hearts. When we delight in the contemplation of beauty in nature or art, when we are touched by the soulful sounds of music, when we are amazed at the greatness of the feat, then all these states of greater or lesser inspiration are instantly reflected in our hearts, and moreover with such originality and independence from our usual stream of mental states, that human art may forever repeat just complaints about the lack of means for expressing and depicting these states of the heart.

Here we are reminded of the Gospel account of the two disciples of Christ, who walked on the day of the Lord's resurrection on Emmaus and struggled with perplexities and doubts about the news of the resurrection of the Saviour (Luke 24:13-32). 16). The Lord, thus unrecognized, reveals His mystery to His disciples by His resurrections, His conversation does not allow them to know who is conversing with them. Only after the mysterious breaking of bread did his eyes open, and he was known (Luke 24:31). Now the disciples confess to each other with astonishment: is not our heart of grief 6 in us, when we speak to us on the way, and when the Scriptures have spoken to us? (Luke 24:32). In the case under consideration, the heart preceded the mind in the cognition of the truth. The disciples had already had thoughts of the heart, which, however, were not quickly and easily recognized by their minds. Such states are experienced by every person, especially in moments of great difficulty, when there is no time to wait for a clear syllogism, and when it is necessary to submit oneself to the immediate attraction of the heart as a kind of moral and spiritual tact. Christian ascetics often complained about the slowness of the mind in recognizing what is immediately and directly known to the heart, and often called the human mind sensual and carnal; And, of course, he may seem so if we compare his mediocre activity with those immediate and sudden revelations of truth that take place in our hearts. This, however, does not deny that the slow movement of the mind, like a slow gait, is distinguished by definiteness, regularity and calculation, which are lacking in too energetic movements of the heart. As life without order, so order without life is equally inconsistent with the purpose of the human spirit. Nevertheless, if the light of knowledge is to become the warmth and life of the spirit, it must penetrate to the heart, where it can enter into the integral mood of the soul. Treasure. Only for this treasure, and not for an abstract "thought", can a person enter into a struggle with circumstances and people; Only for the heart is podvig and self-denial possible.