The Death of the Soul

Διά τοῦτό φησιν ἡ Γραφὴ, κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ὡς ἄν, οἶμαι, τῷ ὁμοίῳ Βλέπειν τὸ ὅμοιον. Τὸ δὲ βλέπειν τὸν Θεὸν, ἐστὶν ἡ ζωὴ τῆς ψυχῆς, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἴρηται. Ἐπεὶ δέ πως ἡ τοῦ ἀληθῶς ἀγαθοῦ ἄγνοια καθάπερ τις ὁμίχλη τῷ διπατικῳ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπεσκότησεν, παχυνθεῖσα δὲ ἡ ὁμίχλη νέφος ἐγένετο, ὥστε διὰ τοῦ βάθους τῆς ἀγνοίας, τὴν ἀκτῖνα τῆς ἀληθείας μὴ διαδύεσθαι· ἀναγκαίως τῷ χωρισμῷ τοῦ φωτὸς καὶ ἡ ζωη αὐτῆς συνεξέλιπεν. Εἰρηται γὰρ τὴν ἀληθῆ ζωὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐνεργεῖσθαι, τῆς δὲ ἀγνοίας πρὸς τὴν θείαν κατανόησιν ἐμποδιζούσης ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς ζωῆς τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ μὴ μετέχουσαν. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Περι Των Νυπιων

Thus when Scripture says that man was made in the image of God, 1 it was so, I think, that like might be able to see like. To see God is the life of the soul, as was said previously. But as ignorance of the true good is like a mist obscuring the perception of the soul, and that as the mist thickens a cloud is formed so that through the depth of ignorance the ray of truth cannot pierce, so it is that with the removal of the light the life of the soul departs; for it has been said that the true life of the soul is in the activity of the partaking of the Good, but when ignorance impedes the apprehension of the Divine, the life of the soul, not partaking of God, perishes. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On Infants 1 Gen 1.26