How lovely are Your dwellings
Today we contemplate the words of the Psalm:
“How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.” (Ps. 83:1)
“How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts!”
The first question that comes to the mind of one who meditates on this psalm is:
What are the lovely dwellings of God?
They may be the heavens, or the heaven of heavens, for that is the dwelling place of God. They may also be the holy Church, for it is called the House of God. They may likewise be the heart of the believer, for the human heart is the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in it.
The holy person rejoices in the sacred places and the place where the Spirit of God abides. He also rejoices in the places of the saints and their dwellings.
He is blessed by these places which God Himself has sanctified, and they have a deep influence upon his soul and become a shrine for him. Truly, God is present everywhere—“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein.” Yet there are particular places blessed by the Lord, full of sacred memories, where the Lord was glorified or performed divine works. What are these places?
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The Fearsome Dwellings of the Lord:
The first place in the whole world called “the house of God” appears in the story of Jacob, the father of the patriarchs, when he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and angels ascending and descending upon it. There God spoke to him, saying: “Behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go.” (Gen. 28:15).
Jacob called that place Bethel, meaning “the house of God.” He said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” He anointed the place with oil, made a vow there, and it became a place of remembrance.
We also hear of “holy ground for the Lord,” when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and spoke to him from the fire, saying: “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” (Ex. 3:5).
Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Surely, in his heart were the same words Jacob once said: “How awesome is this place!”
The same applies to “the mountain of God, Horeb,” where the Lord gave Moses the Law. “Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.” (Ex. 19:18). The people feared to approach the mountain: “Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.”
“And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.’” (Heb. 12:21). Thus Jacob’s saying applies again: “How awesome is this place!”
The same awe and reverence applied to other holy places of God in the Old Testament—His dwelling places such as the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies. Fearsome places indeed—whoever touched the Ark would die, and none could enter the Holy of Holies except the High Priest, and that only once a year.
If all this was so awesome, how then could David the Prophet say: “How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts”?
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Your Dwellings Are Lovely:
This expresses the stage of divine love reached by the saints. David the Prophet says: “I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” And again: “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.” He also says: “My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord,” and “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
Thus, dwelling in the house of the Lord became a blessing: “Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You.”
He calls upon the worshipers: “Bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord who made heaven and earth bless you out of Zion.”
The lovely dwellings of the Lord brought joy to the hearts of people.
And what are these lovely dwellings? The first and foremost, without doubt, is heaven.
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Heaven:
“The heaven of heavens is the Lord’s.” It is His throne, while this earth is but His footstool.
Therefore, the contemplation of the saints in heaven fills them with joy. Their hearts soar toward the dwelling of God, His throne, and His angels in the third heaven, in the heaven of heavens, in the heavenly Jerusalem, in the Kingdom of Heaven. Among the assembly of angels and saints, they say with longing: “How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.”
Out of love for heaven, the dwelling of God, the saints desired to depart to it.
St. Paul says: “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” Thus lived the saints, “confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” and “seeking a better, that is, a heavenly country—the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb. 11).
It is as though they chant: “Your lovely dwellings—heaven—is more beautiful than earth; the company of angels there is sweeter than the company of men; the light and purity of heaven are far greater than the darkness and defilement of the earth.”
Thus the journey to heaven became a joyful one for the children of God.
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The Church:
Since people could not reach heaven quickly, out of their love for it they made the Church a likeness of heaven, to remind them of it.
The dome of the Church symbolizes heaven; just as heaven is filled with stars and celestial lights, the Church is filled with lamps and chandeliers. The great chandeliers represent the great heavenly lights—the sun and moon. As there are angels in heaven, so also are the pastors of the Church called angels, as it is written: “The angel of the church of Ephesus,” “the angel of the church in Smyrna,” and so on. As the will of God is done in heaven, so must it be fulfilled in the Church.
Whoever enters the Church feels as though entering heaven itself.
He leaves the world and worldly things outside, and enters with a pure heart, chanting: “Holiness befits Your house, O Lord.” As there is nothing in heaven but the pure, so also in ancient times only the holy were allowed to enter the Church, while sinners were kept outside.
The churches are God’s lovely dwellings, for there you meet Him, are purified, and receive the work of the Holy Spirit through the holy sacraments.
There you receive the forgiveness of sins, peace for your heart, and blessing. You live in a heavenly spiritual atmosphere—of prayer, worship, hymns, incense, and profound, mystical rites.
In the Church you commune with God, enter His house, and invite Him into yours. You live, even for a short while, away from material cares, in a spiritual environment.
Amid all these blessings, you cry from the depths of your heart: “How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.”
In the past, churches were always open, their priests many, and one could always find a priest serving at any time. Their lamps were always lit, cared for by a servant called the qandilafte, whose duty was to tend the lamps and light the candles.
“How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts.” Whenever I wish to meet the grace of the Holy Spirit and the blessings of priesthood, I enter the Church; whenever I long for the blessings of the saints, I enter the Church.
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Monasteries and Cells:
The lovely dwellings of God can also refer to monasteries and to the monks’ cells and caves—even if they contain no churches.
When someone enters a monk’s cell, he often removes his shoes at the door or in a corner inside, out of reverence.
These cells were inhabited by the Lord and sanctified by psalms, prayers, hymns, prostrations, and the pure lives of the holy fathers for many generations.
There is a great difference between living in a new cell or monastery and living in one where thousands of prayers and psalms have been offered through many years or centuries.
For that reason, for new cells or houses, there is a Church rite for their consecration: incense is offered, water is blessed and sprinkled in the place, and thus prayer precedes habitation.
When we enter an ancient monastery, with its old churches where hundreds of liturgies have been celebrated, we cry out from our hearts: “How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts.”
Lovely are they, for they are places blessed with prayer—places of peace, stillness, contemplation, and the work of the Holy Spirit, over which hover the spirits of the saints.
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The Human Heart:
Scripture says: “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Therefore, the pure hearts open to the Lord are His beloved dwellings, for He says:
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (Jn. 14:23).
Thus the heart becomes the dwelling of the Holy Trinity.
We look at this heart and say: “How lovely are Your dwellings, O Lord God of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints, for the courts of the Lord.”
My soul longs to enter this heart, to see its love for God and the work of God within it—to behold its burning emotions and perceive how the Lord finds rest there. For it is written in the Psalm:
“This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.”
When I look at the icons of the saints, I say within myself: These are the lovely dwellings of the Lord; in these, the Lord found a place to lay His head.
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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Al-Keraza Magazine, Year Six – Issue Thirty, July 25, 1975.
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