FAQ

"Clarifying" this question is somewhat difficult, as it belongs to the category of "you will die, and then you can ask." Nevertheless, I will try to formulate a few words. The Bible does not dwell on this question directly, although some indirect hints can be found in it. The essence of the matter comes down to the following. When the Creator formed man "of the dust of the ground," this "dust" was likely quite complex in its organization. In the process of the gradual creation of the world as a whole and of living nature, a gradual increase in the complexity of living beings took place. In different ways and within the framework of their respective paradigms, both the Bible and the theory of evolution speak quite consistently of this gradual increase in complexity (in antiquity, when the first books of the Bible were composed and written down, conceptions of simpler and more complex creatures and their genealogy were not the same as in the 19th and 20th centuries).

One way or another, we can refer here to the opinions of such authoritative Christians as St. Seraphim of Sarov and St. Theophan the Recluse. St. Seraphim, in his conversation with Motovilov ("On the Goal of the Christian Life", published many times), said: "Before that moment when God breathed the breath of life into him, Adam was like the other animals" (note that this was said nearly half a century before Darwin's works). St. Theophan wrote in one of his letters (also published on numerous occasions): "There was an animal in the image of man, with the soul of an animal. Then God breathed His Spirit into him, and from an animal he became a man."

Thus, in the constitution of the soul of man and animal there is much in common, stemming from their kinship. Details can be found in any manual on psychology and ethology, zoopsychology, and the physiology of higher nervous activity. Many elements of the psyche are common: individuality, affection for other representatives of one's species, and the capacity to experience pain and joy... Even many manifestations of reason and conscious behavior, as it turns out, are characteristic of animals to varying degrees, depending on their level of biological development. These functions of the soul and psyche became that material, the dust, from which man was created.

However, besides the common features, there is a radical difference between man and animals. It is personhood, the spirit, the spiritual component of man, that in which we (unlike animals) are made in the likeness of the Creator. In the human personhood, the psycho-emotional qualities of a living being, which are also characteristic of animals, find their fullness and, on the other hand, occupy a subordinate position. If an animal is guided entirely by its emotionality and the rudiments of reason, man subordinates all of this to free will and moral choice. It is this that makes man the mediating link between the Creator and creation, conditioning our belonging to both the visible and invisible worlds. I hope that this answer has somewhat "clarified" the question...