How is beating one’s breast a way for the body to participate with the soul in worship?

In the parable of the haughty pharisee and the humble tax collector, the latter was “standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” (Luke 18:13). The actions of his body reveal the humility in his soul: his standing at a distance; his lowering of the eyes in shame before heaven; and his beating his chest. Through these actions he confessed that he was not worthy to approach the sanctuary. By bowing his head, he confessed his shame over those things of which he was guilty; and by beating his chest, he confessed that instead of welcoming the kingdom of God within him, he had opened the door of his heart to the devil, the enemy of good, and to sins. Here, the body and the soul cooperated together; and in humility, he confessed his need for God’s mercies if he was to receive the forgiveness of his sins.

In the “Paradise of the Fathers” we read that an elder once said, “Let us fast, pray, bow down, and beat our chests before the cross of our Lord. With tears and a broken heart, let us ask Him for help and salvation, for He is near to us at all times, and more so, He dwells within us, as it is written: ‘The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart’ (Ps. 34:18). The Lord also says: ‘Indeed, the kingdom of God is within you’ (Luke 17:21).” And Abba Hipparchus the priest says, “A monk who beats his chest and sheds tears draws down to himself the mercy of heaven.”

St. Ephrem the Syrian says, “I have no favor before You, O You who searches my heart and my inner depths. I have no pure thoughts, nor tears in prayer; even if I sigh and fall on my face filled with shame, and beat my breast, which is the abode of passions and the workshop of evil thoughts.”

St. Jerome says, “The publican’s prayers overcame God (Luke 18:10–14), although God is invincible.”²³ “Pride is opposed to humility, and through it Satan lost his eminence as an archangel … Think, brother, what a sin it must be which has God for its opponent.”²⁴

St. Cyril the Great says, “But what of the publican? He stood, it says, ‘afar off,’ not even venturing, so to speak, to raise up his eyes on high. You see him abstaining from all boldness of speech, as having no right thereto, and smitten by the reproaches of conscience: for he was afraid of being even seen by God, as one who had been careless of His laws, and had led an unchaste and dissolute life. You see also that by his external manner, he accuses his own depravity … he is afraid of his Judge, he smites upon his breast, he confesses his offenses, he shows his malady as to the Physician, he prays that he may have mercy. And

23 St. Jerome, Letters 16.1 (NPNF II/6:20).

24 St. Jerome, Letters 12 (NPNF II/6:13).

what is the result? Let us hear what the Judge says, ‘This man, He says, went down to his house justified rather than the other’ [Luke. 18:14].”²⁵