together with several other Christians, had been arrested by order of the governor of a town in Egypt, and brought before the judge, who threatened to put them to terrible torture if they would not renounce the faith and deny Christ. Thereupon Philemon begged the judge to give him permission to speak; he had an important communication to make to him. Having received permission, he further asked that a large brass vessel might be brought, and a little child also. This being done, he placed the child in the vessel, and closed the lid; he then requested some archers to discharge their arrows at the vessel. All the arrows naturally rebounded from it, and fell to the ground. Immediately Philemon removed the lid and lifted out the child. “See,” he said, “this child is unharmed by all the arrows aimed at him. So it is with us Christians. Our body is like this brass vessel; the soul is contained within it, as the child was in the vessel. You may, O judge, torture and kill our body, but you cannot injure, much less destroy, the soul.” The Christian hero was forthwith led out to death with his co-religionists.
Q. How is the soul like to God?
A. The soul is like God because it is a spirit that will never die and has understanding and free will.
The Physician’s Vision
The soul of man is immortal. St. Augustine relates the manner in which a God-fearing physician in Carthage, named Gennadius, was divinely instructed concerning the immortality of the soul.
