Who plants a paradise in my soul?

God adorned the world as a palace for the man to inhabit as a king, and He prepared the Garden of Eden for Adam to inhabit with Eve as a bride and groom. God willed to cherish the depths of the human being, so through His exceeding grace, He made the human soul a fruitful paradise.

St. Jacob of Sarug says, “The soul is the earth of this blessed paradise; it cannot receive stolen seeds … it cannot receive pride or envy, the germ of evil, lest it become estranged from God. Neither can resentment, malice, or wrath dwell in it, lest the beautiful earth of the soul be corrupted … Let your soul be as the Garden of Eden, so that its seeds may flourish and bear fruit.”⁴⁹⁴

The Psalmist mentions two musical instruments: the harp and the ten-stringed psaltery,⁴⁹⁵ which means that the human being, as a gifted musician, should offer praise to God by skillfully “playing” the instruments of his body as well as his soul; his tongue as well as his heart; his voice as well as his silence. St. Augustine says, “We should not think of musical instruments in the context of theatrical performances. The intent here is internal matters, as stated in another Psalm (56): ‘In God I will praise His word; in the Lord I will praise His word’.”

The harp refers to the sanctified body that glorifies God, thanks and praises Him, not with the tongue only, but with its entire human being: the body, through its five senses; and the soul, through its senses, or its five inner faculties. The ten strings of the psaltery represent the body, soul, intellect, emotions, senses, etc. All of them praise God in unison and harmony under the direction of the Holy Spirit, through powers and abilities both seen and unseen. St. Jerome says, “Our body and soul and spirit—our harp—are all in harmony, all their strings in tune.⁴⁹⁶

492 See the section on “The Christian Giants of History” in Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995).

493 See Behnam Sony, Man in the Teaching of St. Jacob of Sarug (1995): p. 196.

494 St. Jacob of Sarug, Memre 66 On the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and on Charity and Poverty (see the text in Paul Began translated by Behnam Sony).

495 Translator’s note. Psaltery : an ancient musical string instrument like a dulcimer, played by plucking the strings. See St. Augustine, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 43.5 (NPNF I/8:139).

496 St. Jerome, Homily 21 in The Homilies of Saint Jerome , Volume 1 (1–59 on the Psalms), (FOTC 48:166).

St. Clement of Alexandria interprets Psalm 150 — which is chanted by the Church when partaking of Holy Communion — in a beautifully symbolic way. He portrays the Church, risen from the dead through her Bridegroom who has risen from the dead, as a living musical instrument upon which the Holy Spirit plays a song of true love for God.

“The Spirit, distinguishing from such revelry the divine service, sings, ‘ Praise Him with the sound of trumpet ;’ for with sound of trumpet He shall raise the dead . ‘ Praise Him on the psaltery ;’ for the tongue is the psaltery of the Lord. ‘ And praise Him on the lyre .’ By the lyre is meant the mouth struck by the Spirit, as it were by a plectrum. ‘ Praise with the timbrel and the dance ,’ refers to the Church meditating on the resurrection of the dead in the resounding skin [this refers to the dead since the skin of a drum is made from a dead animal]. ‘ Praise Him on the chords and organ .’ Our body He calls an organ, and its nerves are the strings, by which it has received harmonious tension, and when struck by the Spirit, it gives forth human voices. ‘ Praise Him on the clashing cymbals .’ He calls the tongue the cymbal of the mouth, which resounds with the pulsation of the lips. Therefore He cried to humanity, ‘ Let every breath praise the Lord ,’ because He cares for every breathing thing which He has made. For man is truly an instrument of peace.”⁴⁹⁷

St. Jacob of Sarug considered himself a lyre whose strings are useless until the Lord lovingly plucks the strings, producing praise that befits Him. God does not need our praise; but rather, by praising Him, it is we who are glorified!⁴⁹⁸