The answer
The body is the partner of the soul in its sins as well as in its repentance. If the will is corrupted, the body becomes a burden to the soul until it destroys it; but if the will is sanctified, the body supports the soul through the practices of reading, fasting, prostration, and giving. Thus does the body fulfil the holy desires of the spirit and cherish this fellowship through which it partakes of eternal glory in fellowship with the soul. St. Gregory of Nyssa says, “a person mindful of a life lived virtuously and not in evil clearly knows that the body does not cause their sufferings but free will which gives rise to the passions.”487 He also says, “The body is the instrument of the spirit … working in company with the soul.”488
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
487 St. Gregory of Nyssa, Concerning Those Who Have Died (De Mortuis): p. 24 (PG 46:529A).
488 St. Gregory of Nyssa, In Christ, Resurrection 3.