On Gluttony and Avarice. Priest Daniel Sysoev

Approved for distribution by the Publishing Board of the Russian Orthodox Church PB 13-314-2075 48 pp. Priest Daniel Sysoev. On Gluttony and Avarice.

Daniel Sysoev Inc, New Jersey, 2018.

ISBN: 978-5-4279-0080-9

Curbing gluttony and avarice is a means of curbing self-love, and not an end in itself. Some passions run deeper, while others are more superficial. The latter emerge from the former, like a stalk from the root. The very first passion was the passion of egoism, in which a person considers himself the most important thing in the world. Without curbing the superficial passions, however, we cannot contend with those that run deeper. In this small book, based on The Ladder by Saint John Climacus, you will learn how to fight the passions of gluttony and avarice and to acquire their opposite virtues.

Booklet 7 of 12 from a series of talks given by Priest Daniel Sysoev entitled “How to Inherit Eternal Life.”

Protected by USA Federal copyright law. Reproduction of this book in whole or in part is prohibited. Any attempt to violate the law will be prosecuted.

© Daniel Sysoev Inc, 2018 © Yulia Sysoeva, 2018

CONTENT

ON GLUTTONY How Gluttony is Linked to the Other Passions �������������������������������������������� 4 The Consequences of Gluttony �������������������������� 6 The Three Types of People ���������������������������������� 8 The Wiles of the Devil ������������������������������������������ 9 One Passion’s Victory Over Another ���������������� 11 Strictness of Life and the Gifts of the Spirit ���� 13 The Struggle Against Gluttony �������������������������� 15

O N AVA R I C E The Passion of Avarice ����������������������������������������25 The Conditions Under Which the Passion of Avarice Surfaces ������������������������26 The Effects of Avarice ����������������������������������������28 Avarice Quickly Draws One Away From God �������������������������������������������������������������� 31 The Meaning of Almsgiving ������������������������������ 32 Acquiring Non-possessiveness. ������������������������38 The Attributes of Non-possessiveness ������������40 Detachment ����������������������������������������������������������44

ON GLUTTON Y

How Gluttony is Linked to the Other Passions

Gluttony

is a deadly passion. I would like to draw your attention to a certain episode from the Bible. There were two brothers: the younger was Jacob and the elder was Esau; they were the sons of the righteous Isaac. One of them— the eldest son—was to inherit the birthright, from the line of which the Messiah, Christ, was to be born. One day Esau came home from the field tired and hungry, and saw his brother Jacob making himself some lentil soup. Esau asked him to give him some of the soup, and sold his birthright to Jacob in exchange for it.

Due to gluttony, Esau lost his birthright forever; he lost his right to become a blessing for all mankind.

The essence of gluttony lies in a person’s being dependent on his stomach. No one on earth can survive without eating. Eating is not a sin, but overeating is. When a person sees himself as a person of no little importance, he 4

begins to indulge in the passion of gluttony. It is important to remember that the passions are all interrelated, both by cause and effect and by degree. There are passions that are more deeply entrenched, and there are those that are superficial. The latter grow from the former as a stem grows from a root. The very first passion is egotism, when a person considers himself to be more important than anything on earth. Gluttony gives birth to sensuality, which in turn strengthens self-love. Without curbing the stomach, we will not be able to cope with the passions that are more deeply entrenched. Alcoholism and drug abuse are a symptom and special case of the passion of gluttony. These are an attempt to solve one’s spiritual problems by consuming various foods. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Phil. 3:19). A person who is fixated on food, on satisfying the stomach, is doomed to torments in the next life. Not knowing how to rejoice in God, not knowing how to find in Him the fulfillment of his inner desires, he sentences himself to continual and everlasting torments.

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The Consequences of Gluttony

John Climacus says the following: “As we are

about to speak concerning the stomach, as in everything else, we propose to philosophize against ourselves. For I wonder if anyone has been liberated of this mistress before settling in the grave.”* The passions are dangerous in that they are closely related to what is essential for us; the most dreadful kinds of evil are right on the verge of good. “Gluttony is hypocrisy of the stomach; for when it is glutted, it complains of scarcity; and when it is loaded and bursting, it cries out that it is hungry.” Gluttony is a particular property of the senses that makes a stomach that is already full feel hunger. “Gluttony is a deviser of seasonings, a source of sweet dishes. You stop one spout, and it spurts up elsewhere; you plug this too, and you open another.” Gluttony is especially noticeable in the first few days of a fast, when there is a lot of “good stuff” left over in the refrigerator, and it seems a pity to throw it away. Fasting is very * All quotes from The Ladder of Divine Ascent are taken from the edition published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, MA. All rights reserved.–Trans.

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beneficial in that it limits a person’s opportunities to be gluttonous; after all, it is not the food that is sinful, but the burning desire inside, when one’s heart becomes inflamed.

Next, John writes: “Gluttony deludes the eyes of others; while appearing to receive in moderation, it intends to devour everything at once.” Gluttony compels a person not to be guided by what his body actually needs. Often this practice is formed as early as in childhood, when some mothers feed their little children by force, pushing them into eating too much.

Thus, both gluttony and the habit of trying to get the things one wants by force are born. This habit is very destructive to the soul. When parents encourage gluttony in a child, this encourages his self-love and egotism as well; and this means that the child will behave rudely to his parents. “Satiety in food is the father of fornication; but affliction of the stomach is an agent of purity.” When a person overeats, he is inclined towards fornication. The explanation for this is purely medical: in a person’s body there are no more than five liters of blood, which are distributed unevenly. When a person eats, the blood flows to the stomach, the intestines, and the glands located there, which in turn arouses 7

sexual passion. It is also a well-known fact that a person can think better when he eats lightly.

Goethe, for instance, fasted while he was writing Faust, although he was not in the least a Christian; he merely understood that the blood would move from his stomach to his head. By God’s providence a person’s blood is intended to flow most in the head and heart, facilitating activity of the mind and heart. The soul is connected to the body. If a person controls his stomach and eats only as much as is needed, it is easier for him to preserve bodily purity.

The Three Types of People

“He who fondles a lion often tames it, but he

who coddles the body makes it still wilder.”

If a person coddles and pampers his body, he will become dull and foolish; if one allows his body everything it wants, a person will gain nothing, either on earth or in heaven. The Bible talks about three types of people: spiritual, sensual, and physical. Spiritual people are obedient to the Holy Spirit; they are also called holy. Sensual people think that most important are the sensual qualities (harmony, a sense of beauty, human relations). These people pos8

sess sensual wisdom. The apostle James says that this wisdom is demonic: This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish (Jas. 3:15). But if they repent, they have the opportunity of coming to God. And then there are people who are carnal, about whom the Book of Genesis says: And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh (Gen. 6:3). Atheism and materialism arise from debauchery and lust; this kind of person turns into an animal. A person must put his body in its place, not cater to it.

One’s body must be treated like a donkey: it should be fed, but in moderation.

The Wiles of the Devil

John

Climacus writes: “The Jew rejoices on Sabbaths and feast days; and a monk who is a glutton on Saturdays and Sundays. He counts beforehand the days till Pascha, and he prepares the food for it several days in advance.

The slave of his belly calculates with what dishes he will celebrate the feast, but the servant of God considers with what spiritual gifts he may be enriched.” Here is a good test for anyone: what are one’s thoughts concerned 9

with during the fast? What does one think about? If it is about how best to prepare this or that dish, then the diagnosis is quite obvious.

“If a stranger comes, the slave of the stomach is moved to love entirely from gluttony, and he regards laxity for himself as consolation for his brother. When others are present, he deems it right to allow himself wine; and thinking to hide his virtue, he becomes a slave of passion.”

This is a common pitfall: to prepare fancy dishes for guests so that we can enjoy them as well, and to justify one’s conscience by saying that it was not for oneself, but for others. This care for guests is no more than a means of gratifying one’s passion.

“Laugh at the demon who, after supper, suggests that you should take your meal later in future; for the next day at the ninth hour, he will urge you to reject the pact which you made with yourself the previous day.” The demons will tempt a person with thoughts of exercising restraint the next time and eating a little later, but these thoughts usually come after a meal.

“Know that often a devil settles in the belly and does not let the man be satisfied, even though he has devoured a whole Egypt and drunk a River Nile.” This concept exists even 10

in the world of medicine, in the form of bulimia, when a person exhibits insatiable hunger.

Often a person’s hunger is not caused by lack of food, but by the demons. “But after one has taken food, this unclean spirit goes away and sends against us the spirit of fornication, telling him of our condition and saying: ‘Catch, catch, hound him; for when the stomach is full, he will not resist much.’ With a smile the spirit of fornication comes, and having bound us hand and foot by sleep, does with us all he pleases, defiling soul and body with its impurities, dreams, and emissions.”

One Passion’s Victory Over Another

“Often

vanity proves an enemy of gluttony, and between themselves they quarrel over the wretched monk as for a purchased slave. The one urges him to relax, while the other proposes that he should make his virtue triumph.

The wise monk will shun both, at the right time shaking off each passion by the other. As long as the flesh is in full health, let us observe abstinence at all times and in every place. When it has been tamed (which I do not suppose is possible this side of the grave), then let us hide 11

our accomplishment.”

If one’s flesh is raging, it is imperative that he force himself to exercise restraint. A person cannot fight against all the passions at once.

The devil’s mode of operation is as follows: to discover the passion to which a person is least susceptible, and to get him to struggle against that passion. In the end, no struggle against an actual passion will have taken place. Therefore, our task is to find the passion that assails us the most, and to struggle against it.

John writes: “I have seen aged priests mocked by the demons; and on the feasts, they gave their blessing to young men not under their direction to use wine and all the rest. If those who give permission have a good witness in the Lord . . . then let us also permit ourselves within limits. But if they are negligent, let us not give a thought to their blessing, especially when we are in the actual heat of the struggle with our flesh.”

If a person is inclined towards some passion—drunkenness, or lust—he must do all he can to avoid things that arouse it; and even if a priest were to bless him to have a little wine, he should pay no attention and continue to abstain, because what is most important is the soul’s salvation.

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Strictness of Life and the Gifts of the Spirit

“Evagrius,

afflicted by an evil spirit, imagined himself to be the wisest of the wise both in thought and expression. But he was deceived, poor man, and proved to be the most foolish of fools in this among many other things. For he says: ‘When our soul desires different foods, then confine it to bread and water.’ To prescribe this is like saying to a child: ‘Go up the whole ladder in one stride.’ And so, rejecting his rule, let us say: When our soul desires different foods, it is demanding what is proper to its nature. Therefore, let us also use cunning against our most wily foe. And unless a very severe conflict is on us, or penance for falls, let us for a while only deny ourselves fattening foods, then heating foods, and only then what makes our food pleasant. If possible, give your stomach satisfying and digestible food, so as to satisfy its insatiable hunger by sufficiency, and so that we may be delivered from excessive desire, as from a scourge, by quick assimilation. If we look into the matter, we shall find that most of the foods which inflate the stomach also excite the body.”

Evagrius was an instructor of monastics from the late 4th to early 5th centuries, but he 13

fell into heresy: he falsely taught the preexistence of souls—that the soul exists before the birth of the body—and this is why he allowed for the possibility of the transmigration of souls. He likewise erroneously taught that God would allegedly save everyone. John Climacus writes very wisely that one must not make huge demands of oneself; there is no need to immediately restrict oneself to bread and water. There is a maxim that goes as follows: strict is not always good. If a person lives a strict life—eating lightly, not sleeping much—this is good, but not enough, and it may even be harmful! For instance, if a person does not eat or drink much because he considers food to be a creation of the demons (as do the Manicheans), then he is nothing more than a devil-worshiper, and it would be better for him to overeat and overdrink than to think as he does, because he is blaspheming God, Who provided us with food. Strictness of life must be supplemented by the gifts of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5: 22–23). And if these fruits of the Spirit are not present, then strictness of life is useless and meaningless.

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The Struggle Against Gluttony

Curbing

gluttony is a means of curbing selflove, but it is not our main goal. One must limit oneself gradually and in the following order: first, one should give up rich (fattening) food; then spicy, arousing food; and only then sweet food. This is the way towards gradually curbing our master, the stomach. “One kind of abstinence is suitable for those who behave irreproachably, and another for those subject to weaknesses. For the former, a movement in the body is a signal for restraint; but the latter are affected by such movements without relief or reconciliation till their very death and end.

The former always wish to preserve peace of mind, and the latter propitiate God by spiritual lamentation and contrition.�

If a Christian has fallen into sin, he continues fasting until his death, exercising constant restraint. A person who has not fallen into any mortal sins since becoming churched is less disciplined with himself. Thus, fasting holds more significance for those who have fallen into sin than for those who have not. “The perfect find their time of gladness and consolation in freedom from care in all things; the war15

rior-ascetic delights in the heat of the battle; but the slave of the passions revels in the Feast of feasts and the Festival of festivals.� When a person is perfect, he does not take notice of whether the time for breaking the fast has come or not. Many great saints ate very little, simply because they were sorry to waste time on it.

Two great elders once met and decided to eat supper together; their disciples prepared them bean porridge. The elders began to pray before their meal: one of them stood up and read half of the Gospel of Luke, the other read the epistle to the Hebrews; the first knew the Book of Isaiah by heart and recited it, the second recited the 118th psalm; and by the time they had finished reading everything it was dawn. The elders, satisfied with their meal and conversation, kissed each other and parted ways, and the novices ended up eating the porridge themselves. The perfect take no notice of food: they are enriched by the Holy Spirit. For an ascetic, the time for breaking the fast is a time of struggle because he has to watch himself very closely; but for those who are afflicted by passion, it is the Feast of feasts and Festival of festivals. “The heart of gluttons dreams only of food and eatables, but the heart of those who 16

weep dreams of judgment and castigation.”

Next, John writes: “Master your stomach before it masters you; and then you are sure to control yourself with the aid of shame. Those who have fallen into the horrible gulf know what I have said; but men who are eunuchs have not experienced this.” Climacus says that one should curb one’s stomach so as not to fall into fornication. Next he describes how to tame the stomach: “Let us curb the stomach by thought of the future fire. For some who were slaves of their stomachs have cut their members right off, and died a double death. If we go into the matter, we shall find that it is the stomach alone that is the cause of all human shipwreck.” Some have fallen into fornication because of gluttony and castrated themselves, thus dying both in this life and in the one to come. The Skoptsy* sect has survived to this day. According to the Lord’s words, such people are destined for the everlasting fire, since anyone who castrates himself is excommunicated from the Church as an enemy of God’s creation. * Skoptsy is the plural form of skopets, which in Russian means “castrated one.” The Skoptsy were a sect in imperial Russia, first noted in the late 18th century.–Trans.

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“The mind of the faster prays soberly, but the mind of an intemperate person is filled with impure idols. Satiety of the stomach dries the tear springs, but the stomach when dried produces these waters.” A gluttonous person will not know tearful repentance, but if a person curbs his stomach, he will be able to shed tears and feel compassion for others. A person who overeats will not be able to pray well. Because of this, Saint Silouan the Athonite taught people to recognize the signs of being full: if a person feels like praying after a meal, he has eaten the right amount; but if he does not feel like praying, he has overeaten. “He who cherishes his stomach and hopes to overcome the spirit of fornication, is like one who tries to put out a fire with oil. By stinting the stomach, the heart is humbled; but by pleasing the stomach, the mind becomes proud.” A person who has humbled himself by means of food, that is, restrained his stomach, becomes humble. But those who give in to the stomach often forget about God, as has happened more than once, with whole nations, even: But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly es18

teemed the Rock of his salvation (Deut. 32:15). “Keep watch over yourself early in the morning, at midday, and for an hour before taking food, and you will realize the value of fasting. In the morning, thought leaps and runs from one thing to another. With the approach of the sixth hour of the day, it becomes somewhat quieter; and by sunset, it is completely at peace. Stint your stomach and you will certainly lock your mouth, because the tongue is strengthened by an abundance of food. Struggle with all your might against the stomach and restrain it with all sobriety. If you labour a little, the Lord will also soon work with you. Leather bottles have greater capacity if they are supple; but if they are left in neglect, they do not hold so much. He who burdens his stomach with food, distends his inside; but he who wars with his stomach contracts it. And when the inside is contracted, then we cannot take much, and for the future we become fasters naturally.� One should gradually lessen the amount of food one eats, and then, on its own, the stomach will stop wanting so much. “Thirst is often stopped by thirst; but it is difficult to cut off hunger by hunger, and even impossible. When the stomach overcomes you, tame it by labours. And if 19

this is impossible owing to weakness, struggle with it by vigil. If the eyes become heavy, take up handwork; but if sleep is not upon you, do not touch manual labour, because it is impossible to occupy the mind with God and mammon, that is, both with God and manual labour.” The passion of gluttony should be tamed by labor or handwork.

“It is amazing to see the bodiless mind defiled and darkened by the body, and likewise the immaterial spirit purified and refined through clay. If you have promised Christ to go by the strait and narrow way, restrain your stomach, because by pleasing it and enlarging it, you break your contract. Attend and you will hear Him who says: ‘Spacious and broad is the way of the belly that leads to the perdition of fornication, and many there are who go in by it; because narrow is the gate and strait is the way of fasting that leads to the life of purity and few there be that find it (Matt. 7:13–14).’” Here he is speaking of monks who have made vows to God to live a life of fasting. “The prince of demons is the fallen Lucifer, and the prince of passions is gluttony. When sitting at a table laden with food, remember death and judgment, for even so you will only check the passion 20

slightly. In taking drink, do not cease to bring to mind the vinegar and gall of your Lord. And you will certainly either be abstinent, or you will sigh and humble your mind. Do not be deceived: you will not be delivered from Pharaoh, and you will not see the Heavenly Passover, unless you continually eat bitter herbs and unleavened bread. And bitter herbs—this is the coercion and pain of fasting; and unleavened bread—this is a mind that is not puffed up. Let this cleave to your breathing, the word of him who says: ‘But as for me, when demons troubled me, I put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer hath cleaved to the bosom of my soul’ (Ps. 34:13).”

Further, Climacus says: “Fasting is the coercion of nature and the cutting out of everything that delights the palate, the excision of lust, the uprooting of bad thoughts, deliverance from incontinence in dreams, purity of prayer, the light of the soul, the guarding of the mind, deliverance from blindness, the door of compunction, humble sighing, glad contrition, a cessation of chatter, a cause of stillness, a guard of obedience, lightening of sleep, health of body, agent of dispassion, remission of sins, the gate of Paradise and its delight. Let us ask 21

this foe, or rather this supreme chief of our misfortunes, this door of the passions, this fall of Adam, this ruin of Esau, this destruction of the Israelites [they ate to excess and began to blaspheme God], this laying naked of Noah’s shame [he became drunk], this betrayer of Gomorrah, this reproach of Lot, this perdition of the sons of Eli, this guide to impurity—let us ask her: From whom is she born? Who are her offspring? Who crushes her? And who finally destroys her? ‘Tell us, tyrant of all mortals, you who have bought all with the gold of greed: How did you get access to us? And what do you usually produce after your coming? And what is the manner of your departure from us?’ And gluttony, annoyed by these insults, raving with fury against us and foaming, replies: ‘Why are you, who are my underlings, overwhelming me with reproaches? Why are you trying to escape from me? I am bound to you by nature. The door for me is the nature of foods. The cause of my insatiability is habit. The foundation of my passion is repeated habit, insensibility of soul and forgetfulness of death. How do you seek to learn the names of my offspring? If I count them, they will be more in number than the sand (Gen. 32:12). But learn at least the names 22

of my first-born children. My first-born son is a minister of fornication, the second after him is hardness of heart, and the third is sleepiness.

From me proceed a sea of bad thoughts, waves of filth, depths of unknown and unnamed impurities. My daughters are laziness, talkativeness, familiarity in speech, jesting, facetiousness, contradiction, a stiff neck, obstinacy, disobedience, insensibility, captivity, conceit, audacity, love of adornment, after which follows impure prayer, wandering of thoughts, and often unexpected and sudden misfortunes, with which is closely bound despair, the most evil of all my daughters. The remembrance of falls resists me but does not conquer me. The thought of death is always hostile to me, but there is nothing within men that destroys me completely. He who has received the Comforter prays to Him against me; and the Comforter, when appealed to, does not allow me to act passionately. But those who have not tasted His gift inevitably seek their pleasure in my sweetness.’”

When we choose to eat savory food, we open the door to gluttony. A person becomes infected by this passion by his soul’s being insensible to remembrance of death. Whoever has not tasted of the Holy Spirit’s grace will 23

always be subject to gluttony. But the Holy Spirit subdues this passion in anyone who has experienced His grace. The only means of freeing oneself from bondage to this passion is to acquire the Holy Spirit! One must constantly remember death, the torments of hell, and the eternal fire. Only then will one succeed in curbing the passions!

Except where otherwise noted, scriptural quotes are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Quotes from the book of Psalms are taken from The Psalter According to the Seventy, published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline MA; all rights reserved.

Priest Daniel Sysoev

ON GLUTTONY AND AVARICE Translator Deacon Anthony Williams Editor in Chief Priest Nathan Williams Layout and design Kyrill Zubchenko Daniel Sysoev Inc was founded as a USA-based subsidiary of the Rev. Daniel Sysoev Missionary Center Benevolent Fund in 2014. The company offers a wide assortment of Orthodox literature in Russian and English, liturgical items, and jewelry. We distribute our products throughout the USA and Canada, on attractive terms and with significant discounts for wholesalers, Orthodox church bookstores, and monasteries. Detailed descriptions of our products may be found at mission-shop.com, with e-book editions of our titles available at danielsysoev.com mission-shop.com danielsysoev.com mission379@gmail.com +1(609)605-70-76