Due to the fall of man, our nous is clouded and therefore the soul is darkened. Since the darkened soul doesn’t look up to God, nor finds Divine Grace dwelling within the heart, it looks to the bodily senses for its knowledge. Focusing upon the natural world alone, the rational mind ponders the worldly feedback from the bodily senses. Reasoning with its natural faculties ignorant of, or purposefully ignoring, God’s commandments, man will inevitably come see himself, or nature, as god. Making god out of himself, or the created order, he uses his autonomy and all the powers of the soul to please himself alone. Through repeated sins, the body develops habitual misuses of both the rational and passible powers of the soul. These habitual misuses corrupt the natural powers of the soul, and they are what we call the passions. In this way our heart is given over to the sickness of sin, and we are totally enslaved to sinful passions.
The Church is the only hospital that can cure us from the illnesses of sin and passions. Through the ascetic practices of the Church (fasting, vigil, reading scripture, etc.), and her Sacraments (the Eucharist, Baptism, Confession, etc.), the whole person is slowly healed; man is transformed, by Grace, into a son of God (Rom. 8:14). In the Church, we receive help from the Priests, Spiritual Fathers, and prayers of the Saints. Just as there are different ailments needing different medicines, so the Church uses different means to cure and transform different passions. There is a particular source in the Church that contains a multiplicity of medicines in itself – the Psalter, or the Book of Psalms.
Not a few Fathers of the Church speak emphatically about the Psalms as medicine for the soul. If we feel overcome with a particular passion, we’re instructed to flee quickly to the Psalms, and let it soothe the heart into victorious resistance. The Psalms are Inspired for that exact reason, and that is why monastics are typically instructed to read and recite the Psalms daily. For this reason too, the church uses Psalms throughout every kind of service, and even in our morning prayers, all Orthodox Christians recite Psalm 50 (LXX). Saint Basil the Great gave a homily [10] praising the Psalms, and part of it reads as follows:
“ ‘Every Scripture is God-inspired and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness, in order that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work [2 Tim. 3:16-17].’ Scripture was composed by the Spirit for this reason, namely, that all men, as if in a general hospital for souls, may select the remedy for his own sufferings…. Now, the prophets teach one thing, historians another, the law something else, and the form of advice found in the proverbs something different still. But the book of Psalms has taken over what is profitable from all. It prophesies coming events; it recalls history; it frames laws for life; it suggests what must be practiced; and, in general, it is the common treasury of good teachings, carefully finding what is suitable for each one. For, the old wounds of souls it cures completely, and to the recently wounded it brings speedy restoration; the diseased it treats, and the unharmed it preserves. On the whole, engaging in the psalms takes away, as far as is possible, the passions, which subtly exercise dominion over souls during the lifetime of men, and it does this with a certain orderly persuasion and sweetness which produces sound thoughts.
“When, indeed, the Holy Spirit saw that the human race was guided only with difficulty toward virtue, and that, because of our inclination toward pleasure, we were neglectful of an upright life, what did He do? The delight of melody He mingled with the doctrines so that, by the pleasantness and softness of the sound heard, we might receive, without perceiving it, the benefit of the words – even as wise physicians who, when administering the fastidious rather bitter drugs to drink, frequently smear the cup with honey. Therefore, He devised for us these harmonious melodies of the psalms, that they who are children in age, or even those who are youthful in disposition, might to all appearances keep melody and be nursed up from childhood; but, in reality, they might be become trained in soul. For, never has any one of the many remiss gone away easily holding in mind either an apostolic or a prophetic message, but they do chant the words of the psalms, even in the home, and they spread them around in the marketplace. If perchance, someone becomes exceedingly wrathful, when he begins to be soothed by the psalm, he departs with the wrath of his soul immediately lulled to sleep by means of the melody.
“A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms clamoring and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it sobers. A psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. Who, indeed, can still consider as an enemy one whom he has uttered the same prayer to God? So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also the greatest of blessings, agape. A psalm is a city of refuge [cf. Num. 35:25] from demons; a means of inducing help from the angels, a weapon in fears by night, a rest from toils by day, a safeguard for infants, an adornment for those at the height of their vigor, a consolation for the elders, a most fitting ornament for women. It peoples the desolate places; it moderates the marketplace; it is the elementary exposition of beginners, the improvement of those advancing, the firm support of the perfect, the voice of the Church. It brightens the feast days; it creates a sorrow in accordance with God [2 Cor. 7:10].’ For, a psalm calls forth a tear even from a heart of stone. A psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly conduct of life, the spiritual incense.
“O the wise invention of the teacher who contrived that while we were singing we should at the same time learn something useful! By this means, too, the teachings are in a certain way impressed more deeply on our minds. Even a forceful lesson does not always endure, but what enters the mind with joy and pleasure somehow becomes more firmly impressed upon it. What, in fact, can you not learn from the psalms? Can you not learn the grandeur of courage? The exactness of justice? The nobility of self-control? The perfection of prudence? A manner of penance? The measure of patience? Indeed, can you not learn whatever other good things you might mention? Therein is perfect theology, a foretelling of the coming of Christ in the flesh, a threat of judgment, a hope of resurrection, a fear of punishment, promises of glory, an apocalypse of mysteries; all things, as if in some great public treasury are stored up in the book of Psalms.”1
Following such a praiseworthy summary by Saint Basil, let us all delve into the Psalms that we may, with God’s help, turn away from evil and do good (Ps. 36:27), war against the passions, and cleanse our souls from our spiritual illnesses. Amen.
References
- Saint Basil the Great, In Praise of the Psalms, The Orthodox Psalter. 4th Edition. (Buena Vista, Colorado: Holy Apostles Convent, 2021).