Who can describe the value of the soul that bears the image of God?

The Creator of humanity who granted us that we might bear His own image is alone able to measure the worth of the soul. Therefore, when the soul was corrupted, its Creator sacrificed His life that He might restore it to incorruption. The Lord Jesus Christ affirms the soul’s value when He says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). He wants us to care for our souls, rather than for our possessions.

St. Jacob of Sarug says, “The Creator placed the whole world on one side of the scale, and the soul on the other side; and the soul outweighed the creation. He knows how the pearl is exceedingly precious; no one can describe its value but He. He set it against the whole

470 Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) 2.11.4 (ANF 4:298).

471 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 22.

472 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 26.

473 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 67.

474 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 109.

world and set its price, for it is more valuable than the whole world, and there is nothing like it … The world shall come to an end, but the soul shall not be pass away with it; the world is like the grass, but the soul is the image of the divine . The whole world shall pass away like the shadows at sunset, but the soul does not pass away, for it is the image of the Great Being. If a person gains the whole world but loses his soul, how can he possess anything, since his soul can no longer possess?”⁴⁷⁵ “The Son of God gave us His image when He created us, and He put on our image from the womb when He saved us.”⁴⁷⁶