That the Sins of the Soul are Much Worse than the Sins of the Body, by St John of Damascus

St John of Damascus

St John of Damascus was born in 675 A.D. He was a Syrian monk and priest. Born and raised in Damascus, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem on December 4, 749 A.D.

A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, he is said by some sources to have served as a Chief Administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus before his ordination. He wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still used both liturgically in Eastern Christian practice throughout the world.

He is one of the Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox church and is best known for his strong defense of icons. He also wrote, "An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith" which is a classic of Orthodox Christian Theology.
Source

In his work, "On the Virtues and the Vices" he writes, "There is something else which you must know if you really want to attain virtue and avoid sin. Just as the soul is incomparably better than the body and in many major respects altogether more excellent and precious, so the virtues of the soul are
infinitely superior to the virtues of the body.
This is especially true of those virtues which imitate God and bear His name.

Conversely,  the vices of the soul are much worse than the passions of the body, both in the actions they produce and in the punishments they incur.

I do not know why,  but most people overlook this fact. They treat drunkenness, unchastity, adultery, theft,  and all such vices with great concern, avoiding them or punishing them as something whose very appearance is loathsome to most men.

But the passions of the soul are much worse and much more serious than bodily passions. For they degrade men to the level of demons and lead them,  insensible as they are, to the eternal punishment reserved for those who obstinately cling to such vices.

These passions of the soul are envy, rancour, malice,  insensitivity,  avarice -  which according to the Apostle is the root of all evil
(1 Timothy 6:10) -  and all vices of a similar nature."

St John of Damascus also mentions the virtues and actions of the soul which are a reflection of God's image in man, "Such actions consist in having deep sympathy for one's fellow men,  in mercy,  pity and love towards one's fellow servant, and in showing heartfelt concern and compassion. 'Be merciful', says Christ our God,  'as your heavenly Father is also merciful' (Luke 6:36) ...

May we too be found worthy of His sublime compassion, having conformed ourselves to Him through good actions and become imitators of all who have ever been faithful servants of Christ." St John of Damascus in 'On the Virtues and Vices', p. 340- 342, The Philokalia  vol II,  Compiled by St Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain, and St Macarius of Corinth, published by Faber and Faber 1984.

King Prophet David, His Psalms in the Life of the Orthodox Church

King Prophet David Statue of King David by Nicolas Cordier in the Borghese Chapel of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore,  Rome, Italy

"By far the largest single element in the Church's Divine services is the Psalms of David. Of them St. John Chrysostom has said: "If we keep vigil in church, David comes first, last and central. If early in the morning we want songs and hymns, first, last and central is David again. If we are occupied with the funeral solemnities of those who have fallen asleep, or if virgins sit at home and spin, David is first, last and central. O amazing wonder!

Many who have made little progress in literature know the Psalter by heart. Nor is it only in cities and churches that David is famous; in the village market, in the desert, and in uninhabitable land, he excites the praise of God. In monasteries, among those holy choirs of angelic armies, David is first, last and central. In the convents of virgins, where are the communities of those who imitate Mary; in the deserts where there are men crucified to the world, who live their life in heaven with God, David is first, last and central.

 All other men at night are overcome by sleep. David alone is active, and gathering the servants of God into seraphic bands, he turns earth into heaven, and converts men into angels." Source

"The Blessed Archbishop John Maximovitch, striving to awaken his flock to a more conscious participation in the Church's life, published the following appeal in his weekly diocesan bulletin (Shanghai, November 24, 1941, no. 503):

"Perhaps it will happen that you will die without having once in your life read in full the Psalter of David... You will die, and only then will good people read over your lifeless body this holy Psalter, which you had no time even, to open while you lived on earth! Only then, at your burial, will they sing over you the wondrously instructive, sweetly-wise-but alas, to you completely unknown-words of David: Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord... Blessed are they who search His testimonies. who keep His revelations, and seek Him with their whole heart.

 Do you hear: Blessed are they who search His testimonies, seek out the revelations of the Lord; and you had no time even to think of them! What will your poor soul feel then, your soul to which every word of the Psalmist, repeated by a reader or singer over your coffin, will sound as a strict reproach that you never read this sacred book?...

Open now, before it is too late, this wondrous book of the Prophet King. Open it and read with attention at least this 118th Psalm, and you will involuntarily feel that your heart becomes humble, soft, that in the words of David are the words of the merit of God, and you will repeat involuntarily, many times, with sighing of heart, the verse of this Psalm: I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost; seek out Thy slave, Lord!" Source


"Psalm 19 (RSV) God’s Glory in Creation and the Law. To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
    and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
    and night to night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
    their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice[a] goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them;
    and there is nothing hid from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern his errors?
    Clear thou me from hidden faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
    let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
    and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    be acceptable in thy sight,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Footnotes:

Psalm 19:4 Gk Jerome Compare Syr: Heb line"
from Bible Gateway

"To Sleep, Perchance to Dream”: The Middle State of Souls in Patristic and Byzantine Literature by Nicholas Constas PhD.

This very interesting paper, is available for reading and free downloading from the Dumbarton Oaks Library Website

Dr. Nicholas Constas writes,

"The Middle State of Souls: Memory and Mimesis

The intimate juxtaposition of body and soul and the nature of their relationship after death continued to exercise the imaginations of theologians as well as the patrons of sacred shrines. For all parties, the body was increasingly seen as foundational to the nature of human identity, and corporeal relics and personal objects were granted a critical role in epitomizing the material continuity of the self as it passed from life into death.

Fragments of bone and bits of clothing helped to keep alive the memories of the lives that preceded them, although they were more than just medieval artes moriendi. In venerating relics, the Byzantines embraced living saints, as well as their own death; each informed the other. The relic of the body was thus deeply marked by the presence of the soul, while the soul, after death, was equally marked by the memory of its life in the body.

The Byzantines were sensitive to the lack of correspondence between inner states and outer expressions, and they knew that one’s outward appearance by no means reveals what goes on within. 

After death, however, the soul was thought to become a mirror of the self, reflecting its inner dispositions and ruling passions. Between the body and the soul, an exchange took place producing, on the one hand, the subjective corporeality of relics and, on the other, like the picture of Dorian Gray, the corporeal subjectivity of the soul. 

The fluid self acquires, as it were, a material body and appearance as the finite is inserted into infinity. A striking example of this belief can be found in a sermon by Dorotheos of Gaza (b. ca. 506) on the “Fear of the Punishment to Come.”

According to Dorotheos, the various thoughts and mental images to which the soul is habitually attached in life will constitute its new environment and reality as consciousness is carried over into death. Thoughts and memories will have as much power over the self as they did in life, indeed more so, notes Dorotheos, inasmuch as they can now be avoided through the distractions of the body. After death, however, repressed memories and unfulfilled desires will reaffirm themselves, occurring and recurring with massive force and unmitigated intensity, from which there will be no possibility of escape, for there will be no dispassionate point of reference.

 "This psychological model is taken in a somewhat different direction by Niketas Stethatos (ca. 1005–90), who is also attentive to the role that memory and consciousness play in the period between death and resurrection. In his treatise On the Soul (written ca.1075),28 Stethatos argues that soul and body are a complex, interactive unity, and that, without the body, the human person is incomplete. 

After sorting out what faculties are proper to the body, what to the soul, and what to the union of the two, Stethatos considers what from among these survives the transition from life to death. Like “marks on a tablet,” he says, the soul registers the impressions it has received in life, each one tinting the soul’s complexion in one way or another. In addition
to the indelible etchings of memory that are common to all human souls, the souls of the saints retain various modes of noetic perception and transcendental knowledge,and after death they find themselves in exalted, heavenly places (topoi) constellated according to their distinctive charisms and affections.

Stethatos later indicates that these topoi are actually “angelic powers,” or the “shadows cast by angelic wings,” or, in one instance, “the wings of Christ”  Sheltered within these sacred pinions, the saintly soul rests in the hope of future blessings, remembering its former good deeds and sensing the prayers and works of mercy offered on its behalf. Watching over the soul is its guardian angel, who prompts the soul to a remembrance of things past and draws its attention to the good things currently being done for it on earth. Although the saintly soul is “at rest” with respect to the faculties it employed while in the body, its memory becomes clear and focused, and it is vividly conscious of the memorials, liturgies, and feasts held in its honor.

Here Stethatos gestures toward the experience of dreams in sleep as an analogy for the mind’s postmortem preoccupation with its past deeds and future prospects, as well as for its active independence from the passivity of the sleeping (i.e., dead) body. That the context for these remarks is the cult of saints and relics seems evident, as when Stethatos further notes that good souls are fragrant, a sensation frequently associated with the mortal remains of holy persons." from the Dumbarton Oaks Papers 55 (2001), p. 99-p.102.