Hymns on Paradise

I loved this book! St. Ephrem’s metaphors give a perspective on life (and Paradise) in ways that I have never heard before, and the whole collection expands the Faith by stirring the imagination. The introduction notes that Syrian culture was close enough to Hebrew culture that they did not try to cleanly define the center and boundary around it like Greek philosophy did, but rather they highlight opposing pieces and thereby reveal the area. I could not identify the contrasting ideas, but I really loved the creative and insightful metaphors.

It seems that St. Ephrem considered the mind and “the spiritual” to be related. This seems understandable, since the mind can imagine things that are not. Modern mathematics—quite a mental endeavor, can understand higher-dimensional that we can never experience viscerally. Still, it seems limited, since it extracts the mind from the emotions, and both from the body, all of which are essential. (To be fair, St. Ephrem expects Paradise to be unpopulated until the Resurrection, and its future inhabitants will live in mansions along the outside of the Garden’s wall.)

St. Ephrem’s description of Paradise uses metaphor to describe non-physical aspects of Paradise. Presumably there is a bodily existence of some sort, since we will be Resurrected, but he is certainly not describing that. The begin with, the mountain of Paradise, as described, fits on top of the world, so it clearly is not of this world, and in one of the hymns he specifically says not to that this literally. It is likely that the things described in Paradise are metaphors for other things, such as the breeze/wind of Paradise being the Holy Spirit, and the Tree of Life being the symbol of God’s Glory. Even the Fall is likely to be metaphorical, for Adam and Eve progress down the mountain of Paradise as they sin. The book includes a section of St. Ephrem’s commentary on Genesis where they clothe themselves with fig leaves a little down from the Tree of Knowledge, then they have to go farther down when they are exiled. As they go farther down they clothe themselves in thicker skins: fig leaves to animal skins, and then Cain’s descendants clothe themselves in a city wall, and finally in violence, which is where the Flood narrative picks up—humanity has clothed itself in violence and reached the waters of chaos, which undo Creation. (It also explains the bit about the sons of God going down to the daughters of men: the godly descendants of Abel’s “replacement” brother go down to the daughters of Cain’s descendants, who live farther down the mountain.)

I have tried to summarize St. Ephrem’s metaphors in a poetic summary:

I meditated on Moses, applying wisdom and doctrine,
   which guided my mind to a vision of Paradise.
The mountain of Paradise is greater than all other mountains;
   its edges entwined around the edges of the [flat, circular] earth like branches in a wreath,
The Flood which covered all mountains,
   barely kissed the feet of the mountain of Paradise.
The top of Paradise is the glory of God, and even the Tree of Life which is its symbol,
   cannot be comprehended, though it lights up all of Paradise.
Farther down is the Tree of Knowledge,
   which hides the higher Glory like the curtain in the Sanctuary.
God made a gentle boundary so Adam could willingly obey,
   instead he defiantly ripped the curtain down.
When he saw the Glory, he knew his nakedness and shame;
   the gift God intended became a curse when taken wrongly.
Had they conquered the serpent, allowed there so they could victoriously obey,
   they would have been given the Tree of Glory in their purity.
They fled down the mountain to the fig trees,
   and in their exile were forced down still farther.
From Paradise’s foothills Cain’s descendants
   slipped even to the valley in their sin.

Praise to Christ who by his Tree has opened Paradise again!

The trees and fountains of paradise are full of wondrous fruits,
   the spices of its breezes sustain life.
Gemstones are tossed over the wall of the Garden,
   lest they defile the beauty of the ground inside.
The months in Paradise are mild and pleasant,
   they have not picked up anything from earth to make them harsh.
The fountains of Paradise are waters of beauty,
   which water the earth with life, albeit in diminished radiance.
The trees bend down inviting the saints to climb up,
   to recline on flowers and eat from a ceiling of fruit.
The wedding bowers of the saints are beautifully decorated,
   one with the beauty of many good deeds, one with just a few.
The children God plucked as babies cavort like lambs,
   the lame leap and the chaste and lonely are satisfied.
Paradise yearns to welcome those whose good deeds have made them beautiful;
   its gate fits itself to those it loves but throws out those who are unlike it.
Animals live only for desire but would yearn to be like us if only they knew of Paradise,
   so why do we insist on living as an animal and forge no key to enter?
“Blessed is the person who has toiled to be first;
   woe to him who has made no effort even to be last.”

Lord grant that I may live within Paradise, and if I am too stained, at least grant that I may live just outside the wall, and eat the crumbs of the Banquet inside.

As God clothed himself in metaphor for our limited understanding,
   thus I have clothed Paradise because it is ineffable.
The Church is like the Garden of Paradise;
   in life we willingly forbear to pluck forbidden fruit.
The saints of their free will, for God they plant a garden,
   and the fruits of Paradise look with awe on the deeds of the righteous.
Just as the fruits of Paradise ripen all seasons at once,
   so the saints are young and old and middle-aged together.
The glorious scented wind in Paradise is God’s breath in Adam;
   Paradise recognized its own at Pentecost, breathing out its fragrance.
We purify our eye on earth;
   God pours out as much of himself as we can hold.
Why then do we mourn the dead and complain that we will die,
   when we leave our life we are born in Paradise?
“Adam was heedless as guardian of Paradise, for the crafty thief stealthily entered;
   leaving aside the fruit—which most men would covet—he stole instead the Garden’s inhabitant!
Adam’s Lord came out to seek him; He entered Sheol and found him there,
   then led him out to set him once more in Paradise.”

Praise to Christ, for the knowledge of his Tree grants entry to the Tree of Life!

Review: 10

▶ Notes

Hymn 1: Paradise—seen through the eye of the mind—is a mountain higher than the peaks of the mountains, and encircles the (circular) earth, entwined with it like a wreath. Adam was cast out onto its lower slopes, with Cain even further down (hence, the men of the children of light “went down” to the descendants of Cain), but they were cast off the mountain by the flood. The damned can see Paradise, but the children of light cannot, so that they cannot be held captive by family members and friends requesting assistance.

Hymn 2: Paradise yearns for those whose deeds have made themselves beautiful and the door fits itself to them, but rejects those who it dislikes, so forge a key with your life here. Those who valued worldly things find themselves “robbed” when they discover those things are worthless, while the afflictions of the righteous become valuable. Paradise cannot be climbed from outside, but on the inside the mountain makes it easy. The fountains in Paradise are beautiful, but when they reach our lands they waters take on the taste of our land. At the boundary are fig trees. There are three levels of Paradise (with the Divine Presence at the top), just as there were three levels on the Ark (Noah [the divine via his representative] on top, the birds in the middle, and the animals on the bottom), and just as there were at Mt. Sinai (Moses at the top, the priests in the middle, and the people at the bottom).

Hymn 3: The top of Paradise, where God dwells, cannot be comprehended, not even its symbol (the Tree of Life). Perhaps the Tree of Life is a sun that lights the rest of Paradise. Adam was created with his eyes open, but he did not know that he was naked (no shame), and he did not know of the Glory, because the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil hid the Glory, like the veil in the sanctuary. The snake could not come in to the Garden, so Adam and Eve had to go out to it, and it was able to deduce the nature of the fruit from what they said. The Tree was a test, so that Adam’s choice would determine his reward. If they passed the test, the fruit would have clothed them in light and shown them the Glory. But having taken the fruit themselves, and ripped open the veil of their own will (like Uzziah), they saw the Glory and also saw that their nakedness separated them from it. So the fruit that was a gift became a curse because they took it incorrectly.

Hymn 4: God had made a gentle boundary of words, but when Adam trampled that, he saw he needed to make a more forceful boundary with a sword. The Holy of Holies, as well as the Garden, loves only that which is like it, and spews forth that which is unlike it, thus it spewed forth Adam. Christ has removed the sword blocking Paradise. Eve stained Adam’s garment, but Mary made a new robe. Moses was prevented from crossing the Jordan and Adam prevented from entering Paradise; at the Resurrection, Moses crossed the Jordan and Adam returned to Paradise. Even the area just outside the fence of Paradise (where we go after we die but before the Resurrection of the body) is more wonderful than we have ever experienced. Pray for me that I may go there.

Hymn 5: The Word [is this the Bible?] of the Creator is like the rock in the wilderness (which 1 Corinthians says followed the people): it had no water inside it, but what gushed forth was created by God. As I meditated on Moses’ description of Paradise, my eyes read and my thoughts rested, and then my eyes rested and my thoughts continued, and the lines of the page lifted me up and kissed me, carrying me into Paradise, where I wandered among things the text did not describe. I saw the (wedding) bowers, decorated with the good deeds done in life: some resplendently, and some very austerely. I wondered if Paradise was large enough for everyone, but realized that a legion of demons had lived in one man, and that ten thousand beams of light fill a house from one lamp, and that the mind expands or shrinks to fill the thoughts therein. Just as I was leaving, I learned that Paradise was not empty as I supposed (the Resurrection of the Body having not happened yet), but I heard worship of God. Well-being stayed behind in Paradise, and I returned to pain and suffering. We live in a comparative dungeon, so it is silly to weep when we leave it to be born into Paradise! God, grant me at least to live by the fence of Paradise, so that I may at least receive the crumbs from the banquet within!

Hymn 6: The mind is spiritual, and Scripture, by means of doctrine, brought me to Paradise, which surrounded and overwhelmed me, so that I was inebriated by its beauty. But the beauty of humanity makes the beauty of Paradise look shabby, for Paradise did not make Adam but was made for Adam, and it was God’s Son who rode the cross and threw the doors of Paradise back open. Rational speech is better than fruit and love is sweeter than the scent of flowers. God build the Church on the Tree of Knowledge, implanting his Word, which brings joy but also fear. The assembly of saints is a pattern of Paradise: every day the fruit of the tree is eaten by eating Christ (the Blessed Sacrament); the serpent is bound with the curse; Eve is silenced but uses her voice “as a harp” to praise God. The saints are not naked, for they have “put on glory” through Christ, and as we purge the poison of the serpent our stained garments are whitened. God planted the garden with no effort, but with the effort of our free will the Church has planted a Garden for God, and we run into his garden carrying our fruit of good deeds (which overshadows the fair fruit of Paradise). Likewise the flowers of Paradise are overshadowed by the beauty of the virgins and the chaste. Nature praises the glory of the human intellect and free will, but even more glorious are the deeds of the victorious. “Blessed the person who has toiled to be first; woe to him who has made no effort even to be last.”

Hymn 7: God’s “treasure house is not so paltry that we should doubt his promise”, and his treasure is intended for us, so use the keys he gave us. Gemstones are thrown out of Paradise, because they would defile the ground inside, which is much more beautiful. There will be no anger, lust, and “the limb’s vile emotions”. In Paradise those who gave to the poor will find the trees stretching their limbs to them with fruit. The virgins who scorned marriage and endured a life alone will find the trees enclosing them and companionship at the wedding feast. The married who lost babies and young children will find that God “plucked” them mercifully, and that they cavort like lambs. The crippled with run and walk, and the deformed will fly around. People will find themselves beautiful without and pure within, and clothed in garments of light. Thinking on the saints fills me with tears because I am stained and defiled. May those children of light pray for me, that I may enter the Garden, and if nothing stained may enter, then at least grant that I may live near the wall, that I may be like the dogs who eat from the crumbs of the banquet.

Hymn 8: I was comforted by hearing the reading concerning the Thief, who was granted entry to the Paradise I long for. But, also, I discovered it is unwise to try to understand the hidden things: if the soul can see and hear without the body, why is it imprisoned in it? And if the body is dead, why should the soul be put to death? For surely the soul is like an embryo and cannot perceive anything outside the body: if the ears fail that the soul cannot hear, and if they eyes fail, the soul does not see. The soul requires “its mate, its instrument and lyre” to perceive Paradise. But Paradise is not deficient, so the souls live in mansions outside the wall of Paradise, and do not enter until the Resurrection, when they are given back their instrument to praise God. For “Adam was heedless as guardian of Paradise, for the crafty thief stealthily entered; leaving aside the fruit—which most men would covet—he stole instead the Garden’s inhabitant! Adam’s Lord came out to seek him; He entered Sheol and found him there, then led him out to set him once more in Paradise.”

Hymn 9: In Paradise, the trees desire the saints to enjoy their fruits, bending their limbs to make the climb easy, and providing flowers on which to recline, with fruits as the ceiling. But it is the ruach [wind/breath/spirit] which nourishes. Just as ruach (wind) nourishes the (physical) wheat and fire requires air to “live”, so the ruach (Spirit) nourishes the soul in Paradise with different “fragrances”. The body is lesser than the soul, which is lesser than the spirit, which is lesser than God, but in Paradise the body will be as glorious as the soul, which will be as glorious as the spirit, which will be “raised to the height of God’s majesty”. There, awe and love will keep the spirit both from going too high as well as holding back too much. As we “purify our eye” for him here on earth, and as make ourselves a receptacle for him, he gives us more of himself, for he only gives us what we can receive.

Hymn 10: In Paradise the months are mild and unchanging, and the spring, summer, and autumn fruits are in season for a full three months, with the winter fruits being the crown: the flowers and buds. When the flowers are cross-pollinated they produce entirely new colors. Each month the flowers go through the cycle of birth to death [it sounds like the moon influences these]. Our poor air influences the months and causes the excessive weather. Humanity is like the trees of Paradise, because just like the fruits of Paradise have both spring, fall, and autumn fruits all at the same time, so does humanity have young, middle-aged, and old all coming the fruit together.

Hymn 11: Paradise is mildly tempered (no scorching heat, no freezing cold) and full of joys and delights; there the Church sings praises. Remember that although this description of Paradise uses descriptions of things that are seen to describe things which are seen and which are beyond our understanding; do not take them literally. Just as God clothed himself in metaphors so that we could understand him, so my description of Paradise uses metaphors. The waters of Paradise separate into four terrestrial rivers to soften the curse, and likewise the ruach (“wind”) of Paradise reduces the curse with its nourishment. The Upper Room at Pentecost was an example of the fragrances of the ruach of Paradise, for it recognized its own in that room and blew its fragrances.

Hymn 12: The serpent heard God talking to Adam about the Tree and understood what it did. God put the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden to give Adam the opportunity to win a crown through the exercise of his free will (by no means a paltry thing, even compared to the angels’ glory); had Adam obeyed, God would have given him both Trees. Adam was like Uzziah, grasping for what was not his and lost what he had (Adam: glory/Garden, Uzziah: the kingship). Adam became like a tree himself, he sprouted fig leaves, but through the other tree, the cross, he became clothed in light. The better Athlete used the same armor Adam had, but overcame Satan’s deception in the desert, and conquered Satan. It is okay to ask God without deception: even the demon(s) Legion received their request because they asked to enter the pigs without guile; God grant me to enter Paradise! The animals live only for their desires; they feel no guilt for stealing and shame when they commit adultery, but because they do not have the Resurrection, they are not condemned. But if they had been granted just a little bit of reason the wild donkeys would mourn that they were not humans, so why do humans insist on living like animals?

Hymn 13: Adam was placed in a bridal chamber, but to discipline him God had to make him leave, and he had to live in the same place the wild animals live (that is, outside of Paradise, where the wild animals were excluded). We see a type of this in Nebuchadnezzar, who was driven out of his palace and lived like an animal, until he repented and asked to be restored. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon are gone, but the Paradise, the heavenly Jerusalem remains. But Nebuchadnezzar, and Samson (who prayed for deliverance from the bondage his wife had got him into), and Jonah (who prayed that God release him from the fish, and thanked him afterwards) will condemn us. We enjoy our bondage and do not even seek release. “We think it a cause for complaint when we are release from our yoke [through death]. Yet, You, Lord, put up with us, who complain as we are rescued.” Joseph should teach us: he was released from prison to become his true stature. We should not weep for someone who has died, only weep for ourselves.

Hymn 14: We are like the Hebrew slave who, after seven years, does not want to be set free and is made a slave permanently. We love this world, a harbor of debts, with shipwrecks and stolen cargo, when in Paradise there is happiness without toil and “their delight is in the praise which they render”. God deliver me from this land of thorns and from believing Satan’s beguilements that this land is good.

Hymn 15: The place of Paradise is like the wind: we can perceive that it exists, but we cannot actually perceive the wind itself. The Tree of Knowledge is symbolic of the gate to Paradise, and through knowledge we can enter. The Wood, that is, the Cross, is the knowledge which removes the cloud of ignorance that blocks us entering. The Urim and the Thummim (in the Syriac translation) are called “knowledge” and “truth”, and it is by these in the ephod that the priest is able to enter the sanctuary; trying to enter without that knowledge (e.g. Uzziah seizing the censort, or Adam in the Garden of which the Sanctuary is a type) brings death. Mankind has come to hate creation: “having become hateful themselves, they hold creation to be hateful; by sacrificing flesh they spoil it, by defiing marriage they have set it aside, while gold they make hateful by means of their idols. Since it was through the fair fruit that Adam became odious he has made that fruit an object of hate, considering it to be harmful.” But the censor of the sanctuary is good, so the fruit of the Tree must be even better. Satan put on the serpent as a garment and deceived the innocent Adam and Eve with guile. We should rather listen to Balaam’s donkey, which saved Balaam through truth. “All this and similar thing that I have read in the Scriptures, have helped depict in my mind the Garden of Life.” May God in his mercy let me taste the fruits, or smell the breezes, or be bathed in the dews, of Paradise!