Why did God appoint a cherub to guard the way to Paradise?

The cherub is closely related to our salvation. He appears in the earliest books of the Holy Bible, holding a flaming sword to guard the way to paradise, so that whoever rebels against God cannot reach the tree of life (Gen. 3:24); for the fallen nature of man is incapable of approaching the mystery of life. The cherub bears no hatred for humanity, but, together with the twenty-four presbyters, they sing together with us the praise of the Lamb, which is the song of our salvation (Rev. 5:9).

God set a powerful guard around the Garden of Eden and appointed to this task an angel from one of the highest ranks in heaven, thus urging us to appreciate the danger of rebelling against God, and to know that reconciliation between God and humanity requires divine intervention.

I now quote the poetic account of St. Jacob of Sarug about an imagined encounter between Dimas the thief on the right hand of Christ who went to Paradise (Luke 23:39–43), and the cherub who guards Paradise:

“While [the thief] was breaking in through the foundations of the great flames, A cherub met him and questioned him in wonder.

He said to him: O man, who are you? Where are you from? How did you come along this path of terrifying flames?

How did the winds carry you on their shoulders? Why have the buffeting flames not consumed your weakness?

How did you traverse the great winds filled with fire? How did you pass through the billows of flame without burning?

O you who are scattered dust, who helped you to rest upon the storms? How were you not destroyed by their violence?

How did your feet tread upon the flames, And not be melted by its boiling heat?

O grain of dust, how did you sail on the ocean of fire; Your dirt falling between the waves without disintegrating?

Are you Adam molded by the hands of divinity? Or the brilliant Seth (Gen. 4:26) surrounded by the mysteries of the One?

The thief cried out: O son of the flames, do not be angry! I will tell you who I am, and who sent me.

I am a thief who behaved vilely, and bathed in the blood of others on the roads.

I snatched treasures from traders and hoarded them. I made rulers needy because of the treasures [I stole from them].

I killed with death and bathed in human blood.

I tortured elders and felt no pity for young men.

I barricaded roads against passing travelers, And traders cowered in the shelter of their homes, [deprived of] their profits.

I deprived countless people of their wealth, And in the wilderness I swam in wickedness as one swims in water.

On hearing this startling discourse, the fiery cherub was confused. He summoned the awesome fiery multitudes with trembling. The vigilant [cherub] and the powers said together: O unclean man, what are you doing in this pure place? O you who are bloodstained, what path brought you here and how did the billows of fire not sweep you away as you traveled? O thief of treasures, our race’s home cannot be stolen. O killer of people, there is no way to kill the vigilant [heavenly creatures]. O exploiter of the free, you cannot plunder the vigilant. Consider now, and go back to your own place, lest their wings burn you … Behold the key to the kingdom: who can remove it? And the wall of fire, you cannot take its foundations by storm. The spear of fire flares up and instills fear. If you are insolent enough to approach, O weak grass, it will annihilate you. O man of dust, you disdained the flames, yet the fearful waves of fire did not sweep you away.

The thief replied to the child of flame: O you who are spirit, hear me as I tell you the truth. I was a thief, but mercy has fished me out of vice and washed away the evils with which I was stained. I would commit evil all the day long, but mercy caught me up in the net of repentance in the evening. My evil deeds drew me to die on a tree [a cross], but through repentance, mercy drew me to inherit life (Luke 23:42). The King, your Lord, granted me life, for I confessed His name, and He opened before me the door of light, that I may enter Eden. O you who are spirit, you ought to rejoice over him who was lost and has now returned,

for your Lord rejoices over him … All the vigilant [angels] rejoice over one sinner who repents, and those of the right hand exult, for he becomes an heir with them (Luke 7:15). And you, are you sad? Why? Because I have come, and the Son of the King and His powers rejoice over my return?”⁶⁸²