The House of the Soul

The house of the soul (Ps. 126:1) is the name given to the conduct and inner state of every person. We are dealing, therefore, with a house of righteousness, a dwelling of manliness, and an abode of good judgment/prudence, and the like. And likewise with their opposites, such as the house of unrighteousness, the house of cowardice, of fornication, and so forth. Therefore, the word: “The hiding-places of the earth are filled with the dwellings of iniquity” (Ps. 73:21) is understood to mean that the dwellings of the soul have been filled with many and various passions, with unseemly deeds and with iniquities. And the verse from the Psalms: “Truth has sprung up from the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven” (Ps. 84:12) is understood in a moral sense, for the earth signifies the body, which brings forth the fruits of good judgment, just as the Psalmist likewise says that “my body has brought forth holiness” (Ps. 27:10), the heart of man being helped through prayer and hope. For some have rightly called fornication a lie, and good judgment/prudence, truth and true joy. And the fact that righteousness is from heaven (Ps. 84:12), that is, from the things of the mind, shows the righteousness which God, through His mercies, has revealed through the economy of Jesus Christ. For “the Lord will give goodness, and our earth will yield its fruit” (Ps. 84:13) of the spirit, that is, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and the others which Saint Paul enumerates (Gal. 5:22). The earth in the following verse we understand to be the heart, just as the Lord says: “The seed that fell on good earth brought forth fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold” (Mt. 13:8, 23).