Talks on passions

Priest

DANIEL SYSOEV

TALKS ON THE PASSIONS

Translated by Anthony Williams

The Rev. Daniel Sysoev Missionary Center Benevolent Fund Moscow 2014

LBC 86.372 UDC 271.22 C 95

Approved for publication by the Publications Board of the Russian Orthodox Church PB 12-121-2169 C 95

Priest Daniel Sysoev Talks on the Passions. Rev. Daniel Sysoev Missionary Center Benevolent Fund, Moscow, 2014. — 128 p.

ISBN 978-5-4279-0030-0 Know your enemy, it is said. The passions and those who help them take root are the seed of the devil. The fight against this seed lasts one’s whole life, and only he who turns to God will emerge victorious.

But where are we to learn the tactics for this fight? Drawing on the experience of the Church and the works of the Holy Fathers, Priest Daniel Sysoev explains how sin works in a persons soul, and how to combat it.

This book will provide the reader with food for thought regarding the need for concentrated effort to cleanse one’s heart for God.

LBC 86.372 UDC 271.22

© Rev. Daniel Sysoev Missionary Center Benevolent Fund, 2014 © Yulia Sysoeva, 2014

MAN’S SOUL

The soul is a certain distinct force The Concept present in man that comprises his highest element; it gives man life, and of the Soul gives him the ability to think, sympathize, and feel. The words soul and breathe have a common origin. The soul is created by the breath of God, and is indestructible. It cannot be said that it is immortal, because only God is immortal by nature; our soul, then, is indestructible, in the sense that it does not lose its consciousness, does not disappear after death. However, it does have its own “death”: ignorance of God. In this respect it may die.

This is why the Scriptures say: the soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezek. 18:20).

The soul is a living entity: simple and immaterial, invisible by its nature to bodily eyes, rational and intellectual. It has no form, and occupies an organ provided to it — the body — giving it life, growth, and feeling, and creating strength. It has a mind, but not as a thing separate from itself, but as its purest element; for as the eye is to the body, so is the mind to the soul. The soul is self-governing and able 5

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to desire and act. It is changeable; that is, it changes voluntarily, since it is created. It received all this by nature from the grace of Him Who created it, from Whom it received its very being.

Certain sectarians, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists, reject the immortality of the soul, considering it to be simply a part of the body. Here they falsely refer to the Bible, to the text from Ecclesiastes, where the question is posed as to whether the soul of a man is like the soul of an animal: For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity (Eccles. 3:19). Then the Ecclesiastes himself answers this question, which sectarians disregard. He says: Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it (Eccles. 12:7). It is precisely from this that we know that the soul is indestructible, but can also die.

If we turn to the legacy of the Holy Fathers, we see that in the soul three basic energies are distinguished: mind, will, and senses, which are manifested in various faculties: intellect, desire, and appetite.

That said, however, it must be understood that the soul has other energies as well. They are all divided

The Energies of the Soul

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into rational and irrational energies. The irrational principle of the soul is composed of two parts: one is insubordinately rational (it is not subject to reason), the other is subordinately rational (it is subject to reason). The mind, will, and senses pertain to the highest energies of the soul, while to the irrational energies pertain the energies which are vital: the energy of the heartbeat, the productive energy, the energy of growth (which forms the body), etc.

The action of an energy of the soul enlivens the body.

God deliberately made the vital energies not subject to reason, so that human reason would not be distracted by controlling the heartbeat, breathing, etc.

There exist various techniques for controlling the human body which attempt to influence this vital energy. The yogis practice this intensely: they try to control the heartbeat, change their breathing, control the inner digestive processes — and are dreadfully proud of this. There is actually nothing here to be proud of: God deliberately freed us from this concern, and it is silly to occupy oneself with it.

Imagine that, in addition to your ordinary job, you are forced to do the work of your apartment’s housing department: organizing trash-collecting, shingling roofs, controlling gas distribution, electricity, etc. Many people are now greatly taken with all sorts of occult, esoteric arts; they pride themselves in having a certain degree of control over this vital energy of the soul that is not subject to reason.

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In reality, they are priding themselves on having exchanged a job as a university professor for a job as a sewage-pipe cleaner. This is due to the foolish idea that, allegedly, reason can manage the body better than the irrational part of the soul. I would reply that it actually manages worse. It has long been known that any attempts to arrange life along rational lines lead to highly irrational consequences.

If we try to use the power of our reason to control our body properly, it will result in utter nonsense.

The particular nature of the soul consists of piety and thought, which come from the soul but manifest themselves through the body. There is not a single virtue that pertains to the soul only, without involving the body. John Damascene writes that “the rational principle by nature governs the irrational, but not everything is obedient to it.

There is also a part of the soul’s irrational principle which is submissive and is obedient to reason.”1 This is anger and lust. The generally irrational part of the soul is called the passionate and desirous principle. The soul inclines towards that part which is obedient to reason. “It should be known that some

The Particular Nature of the Soul and Its Three Forms of Existence

1 St. John Damascene, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II, Chapter XII. (–Trans.)

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things are good, others– bad; thus, anticipated good things will give birth to desires.”2 Anticipated desire is born from an anticipated good. The question is, is the good always real and beneficial? An existing good leads to pleasure; in a similar way, an anticipated evil gives birth to fear, and an existing evil — to sorrow. It should be kept in mind that when we are speaking of good, we are speaking both of actual good and of apparent good. The same is true of evil, because there is evil which appears to be evil, but is actually good. Sufferings can be good, although they seem evil to us. For instance, is war good or evil? It is evil for those who initiate the war, and, if a person becomes embittered during the war and begins to hate, then that war becomes evil for him as well — in the truest sense of this word. If a person understands that war is sent to him and his nation for their sins, and repents, as was the case during the Great Patriotic War, then that war acts as redemption for him.

The soul has three forms of existence: the natural form, the unnatural, and the supernatural. The soul’s faculties were manifested in their natural form in man before the Fall. There is a state after the Fall: the state of sin, our state. It is a state of disease and is unnatural. And there is a supernatural state which is given by redemption: it is given to those 2

Ibid. (–Trans.)

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who have been mystically initiated, have acquired mystical energy, and eat the mystical food. The mystical initiation is baptism, the mystical energy is chrismation, and the mystical food is Communion. These sacraments are an imparting of certain of God’s mystical energies which elevate and transform all the soul’s properties and put them in order.

We can and should distinguish good from evil. In the Book of Isaiah God says: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isa. 5:20). This is a very important precept, and attempting to reject it results in the soul’s destruction.

How does our intellectuThe Intellectual Faculty al faculty operate? “The intellectual faculty deals with of the Soul judgment, approval, and the inclination to act, as well as repulsion and rejection of an action. In particular, this activity governs perception of what can be comprehended, virtues, knowledge, rules, art, thinking before acting, and free choice. This same faculty operates in dreams which come from God, foretelling us the future. The Pythagoreans, after the manner of the Hebrews, maintain that such dreams are the only true form of prophecy. The organ of the intellectual faculty is the middle cerebral cavity and the vital 10

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spirit contained in it.”3 Here Saint John Climacus4 says that an intellectual faculty exists — the highest faculty of the soul, which manifests itself through reasoning. Judgment, this essential manifestation of the intellectual faculty, is the ability to pass judgment on some object, to evaluate it. Certain people think that we must not only rid ourselves of condemnation, but of judgment as well. This is wrong: if we try to rid ourselves of the ability to evaluate the world around us, we consequently destroy our highest faculty. Our task is not to destroy it, but rather to direct it in the right way, as man’s judgment was directed before the Fall. Why did Anthony the Great say that a monk must ask his superior’s blessing before drinking even a few drops of water? In order to free a monk’s mind as much as possible from earthly cares. The object of obedience is the direct opposite of that of yoga. Whereas yogi or an occultist tries to control his body with the aid of his mind, an Orthodox monk completely frees his mind from care for the body in order to turn his mind fully over to God. Prayer is the highest form of the soul’s activity; but besides prayer there are also knowledge of God and communion with God, which constitute the 3

Ibid. (–Trans.)

The quote is actually from St. John Damascene, not St. John Climacus. (–Trans.).

4

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highest manifestation of the soul’s intellectual faculty. And it is these specifically which require that the mind be freed from everything unnecessary. The sole task of obedience is to free the mind. This is precisely why obedience is concerned exclusively with external affairs. Thought, as Saint John Damascene says, “can even foresee the future through dreams”.

This clairvoyance of sorts is characteristic of the human soul, and its cause is that the soul pertains to a world comprehendible by the mind: the spiritual world. It can raise itself above the ordinary passage of time, not living outside of time, as God does, but raising itself a little above it, as is characteristic of spiritual beings.

The very highest part of the soul is its intellectual faculty. Thanks to it, there exist various arts, the ability to create, the ability to turn away from evil, pursue good, make choices, and give advice. It is also home to the virtues. The fact is that the intellectual faculty in and of itself can produce certain information. But in order for this information to be objective, there needs to be unity between man’s soul and God’s mind, the “great mind which gave birth to the world”, as Gregory the Theologian says.

In its normal, natural state, human reason functions correctly, being in a state of contemplation of God, Who gives His revelations directly to the human mind. A similar state of mind was present in Adam and, even after the Fall, in certain of the righteous.

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How did the Bible originate? God acts when man’s mind is cleansed by prayer and his heart is not overcome by the raging of the passions. Then, in an ineffable way, God inscribes certain knowledge in the mind, which the mind transforms into words. It is not words that God puts in the mind, but knowledge — simply put, information. Our mind then clothes the knowledge with words. The result is a certain cooperation between man and God. But God ensures that no errors are made in communication. We know for a fact that there are no errors in the Word of God; it is infallible, unerring. But because people’s minds are different due to their various educations, personalities, and peculiarities of thought, the sacred texts vary in style. The prophet Amos, who was a shepherd, had one style; the prophet Isaiah, who was a great poet and courtier, had another style; and King David had a third style. The Gospel of Mark is written in very simple language.

The holy fathers have said The Predominant Disease that the intellectual faculty of the soul is simple and of the Human Soul without form. Normally, the human mind does not withdraw into itself or examine itself, but looks to God, because it is simple and without form, unfamiliar with the practice of fantasizing. The predominant disease of the human soul’s intellectual faculty is fantasy, which consists 13

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of dreaming up things which are not there. Fantasy, as a matter of fact, does not start by thinking about the outside world, but by thinking about one’s own self. This is why the holy fathers say that to be opinionated is one of the predominant diseases of man.

To have an opinion, as such, is natural for man, who forms his own opinions about anything and everything. But how does this ability to form opinions about anything whatsoever differ from a sinful opinion? A sinful opinion is when, instead of conforming my view to reality, on the contrary I say that reality is what I think it is. When Hegel was told that his theory contradicted the facts, he replied: “So much the worse for the facts.” This is precisely the logic that is typical of an opinion. I said so, so it is so, and you can keep your proofs to yourselves. In its original state, man’s mind was open to God, Who enriched the human mind with knowledge. Man, being simple and dispassionate, cooperated with God. The energies that are irrational and not subject to reason — the energies of desire and appetite — did not affect reason: reason affected them. This is the normal state of man; but following the Fall, man began to experience problems.

The first problem is fantasies: when the mind begins to turn away from God, turns in toward itself, and begins to develop a reality on its own. The most extreme phenomenon that stems from this is the philosophical theory according to which I am the 14

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only one who really exists, and you are all my hallucinations. This is an absolutely irrefutable theory because, in principle, no hallucination is able to refute you. Fantasies begin to create a world, and the mind’s energy becomes exhausted; everything created has a limited amount of energy, the soul included.

And so all the talk about our having no limits either on land or in the sea is a lie. The mind has a limited storage capacity. Reason that functions incorrectly begins to exhaust itself, and deterioration of reason ensues, until it reaches that critical point at which a man becomes insane. This is precisely what happens when fantasy’s effects reach their logical conclusion: a person ends up living in a world that is absolutely fictitious. What is a paranoiac? A paranoiac is a classic example of fantasy at its worst. He thinks that everyone is out to get him, or that he is Napoleon Bonaparte — he lives entirely in this reality.

God set limits on the use of reason so that man does not simply exhaust his energies completely.

Human reason, once it has turned away from God, does not remain alone. The spiritual world is inhabited by spirits, and reason begins to contact and communicate with other beings: angels who have also turned from God. Like attracts like, and this is natural. Hence, fantasy is not restricted to what a man thinks up himself: others begin adding to it. The fact is that angels, unlike people, do not possess the ability to create; they are by nature her15

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alds of God’s will. At the moment they were created they were given various abilities which man lacks, and man was given abilities which the angels lack.

What does a rebellious angel do, and how does a person’s consciousness function while lost in fantasy? While the person is fantasizing, a demon gives him a certain thought, a certain bit of information, a picture perhaps, and the person begins to create a sinful illusion based on that information, using the creative ability of the intellectual part of his soul.

Thus, man and demon begin a joint creative effort. The demon, having no creative ability, is always a parasite. God, however, being the Creator, creates side by side with man. God and man create together; the result is co-creation. A man’s reason thus becomes strengthened and enriched when he cooperates with God. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of wisdom and reason, counsel and strength, knowledge and piety, and the fear of the Lord; these are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. But when a man associates with demons, his reason declines even faster than if he had fantasized all on his own.

A person has within him a number of deterrents which God has placed there, both age-specific and formative. The foremost of these is the conscience, which holds a person in check. The evil spirits help a person to break through the conscience’s restrictions. As Cosmas of Aetolia said, “destruction will come from the knowledgeable.” This does not mean 16

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that knowledge is a bad thing, but that destruction will come from those who use their knowledge for evil. The fact is that the conscience gradually grows dull. It is rare for a person to cross his conscience directly; more often he will go round it. Why is it that the world has so many moral systems? The Muslims consider one thing to be good, the Buddhists — another, someone else — yet another. The answer is very simple: the conscience’s voice is drowned out by a false conscience that appears to be real.

There comes a time when the intellectual faculty begins to wander under the influence of evil spirits, becoming confused by the false conscience, and mistaking evil for good. An example is the commandment concerning jihad. A healthy conscience could never say that killing a person, and an innocent one at that, could be considered good. This is crystal clear to any conscience; the commandment “thou shalt not kill” is ingrained in the heart of man.

But the false conscience implanted by Islam distorts the healthy conscience, and the result is, as one Wahhabite acquaintance of mine said: “If Allah told me to roast a child alive, I would do it.” The intellectual faculty should control the faculties of desire and appetite. The faculty of desire is the ability to want, to desire. John Damascene writes: “It should

Diseases Caused

by Reason’s Subjection to the Will and Desires

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be known that nature has implanted in the soul that force which craves what is in accordance with its nature, and which retains all that is essential to its nature: a force called desire. For the essence strives toward both existence and life, toward activity of the mind and of the senses, desiring what is inherent in itself, what is in accordance with the laws of nature and of its entire being. And that is why natural desire is defined as follows: desire is both a rational and a vital craving, which depends solely on what is natural. Therefore, desire is that natural, vital, and rational craving for all that is required for our nature’s endurance — a simple faculty. For the cravings of dumb beasts, being irrational, are not called desires.”5 To want is to crave what is natural.

It is the ability to want what is in accordance with nature: to eat, drink, bear children, breathe, move, and live. These are all things that the Creator has ingrained in us, and they are natural. The problem is that all these natural forces may be used incorrectly, because they can leave reason’s control, which itself has left God’s control.

What diseases arise when the will begins to govern reason? After turning away from God, a person’s mind attempts to rely on its own self: it begins to develop a fantasy that cannot be relied on because 5 St. John Damascene, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II, Chapter XXII. (–Trans.)

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the intellectual faculty requires logicality. Logic is one of the main requirements for man’s existence, as Saint Gregory Palamas said. There is a law laid down by God called the law of sufficient reason, which states that for every premise there must be a basis. In order to think, one needs to have a basis for the thought. And now just think: the mind has turned away from God; it has lost its first premise.

The mind starts to work in vain. A person begins to think about what he should base his decisions on.

The mind can rely either on the faculty of desire, or on the faculty of appetite. And what happens is that instead of commanding the desires or appetites, the mind begins to take its cues from the will or the desires. This is why diseases of the mind arise.

Self-will is the when the will has authority over the mind: the subordinate commands the superior.

Ideally, the intellectual faculty would take the will of God for its basis. And what is happening in a distorted mind? It has buried itself in fantasies and lost the criteria for proper evaluation. This sort of mind is like a donkey standing between two haystacks, not knowing which way to go. In our soul we have various energies, including irrational ones, that must be subject to reason. The will may simply allow chance to dictate its actions. A healthy soul’s mode of operation is as follows: God says: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy (Matt. 5:7). “I will be merciful,” a person responds. He commands his 19

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will to show mercy, to find some unfortunate person, to serve, clothe, and feed him. The mind received a command from God, contemplated it, transmitted it, and passed it over to the will and feelings: to feel pity for that person. This is what a healthy person does. And the body, on receiving the command from the soul, goes with its feet and carries it out with its hands, showing mercy. This is an example of functioning normally, an example of functioning properly.

Abnormal functioning is when reason is dominated by the will or feelings. A willful person’s approach is: “I want to, so I will.” Many say that a good person is a willful person, but this sort does not deserve to be praised. There are people that are sentimental, who are dominated by their feelings. This is a disease of the mind, of the intellectual faculty, that occurs due to one’s thoughts taking their cues from the appetitive faculty instead of from God. Many begin to wonder whom they are going to fall in love with while still in grade school. They start thinking: “I’m already 13 years old, and still nobody has fallen in love with me” (or “I haven’t fallen in love with anybody”). This is the mind relying on emotions, on feelings. In these instances people say: “Your heart won’t deceive you; listen to your heart.” It will lie to you, however, because man’s heart is extremely corrupted, as the Scriptures say, and that is the simple truth. When a person lives by his feelings, his reason is so enveloped by emotional appetitive energy 20

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that, like a slave, he serves his appetites instead of the other way around. A person starts doing absolutely crazy things because that is what his emotions are urging him to do. This is where jealousy and adultery stem from, as well as various passions connected with hatred and malice. All this arises when emotions control the mind. This disease leads to a person’s ruin, since emotions run dry as well.

The soul’s energies deplete themselves. Very often toward the end of their lives willful people turn into limp rags, because the will is supposed to draw energy from the mind, but instead it begins to draw it from itself, and not just for itself, but also in order to nourish the mind. In the same way, emotional people very often become absolute “cold fish” with age. It is well known, for instance, that clowns are some of the darkest people there are; and this is because they have used up all their emotional energy. Thus, a person begins to deteriorate: the soul collapses, the dysfunctional soul causes spiritual illness, and the person begins, as it were, to disintegrate. Ultimately, his body suffers; he falls mortally ill. And the process progresses and continues on into eternity: being unable to draw energy from the surrounding world, and having no connection with God, the person continues to devour his own self; and this state is called hell. The cause is very simple: the person forgets that God is the Source of life, the Criterion of truth, the Source of the will, the Source 21

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of the power of love. Consequently, when a person turns away from God, he loses love, will, and reason.

He loses everything, and in the end he loses his life.

A person who is living without God does not have a sound worldview. In general it is extremely rare to find someone with a proper worldview. But the Word of God awakens the suppressed conscience, and rifts begin to occur within the soul and mind: the person is resisting, in that his reason is demolishing the false programming of his soul and mind. The change begins when reason returns to its proper place. In what way? First, it fully receives God’s Revelation and adheres to the following logic: “Let it not be as I want it to be, but as God wants it to be.” The person receives faith, without which it is impossible to please God. Faith is a system of knowledge received from God on trust: it does not contradict knowledge, but is rather its highest form. The person places his trust in the great mind of God, Who is infinitely more talented and wise. Without any dispute, he accepts His Revelation as an absolute truth, as the axiom from which he begins to construct all the rest. A knowledge of Christianity’s dogmas is required for this, because heresy is a frightening thing: it distorts Revelation and gives a false point of reference. It is essential to follow the dogmas of the Church exactly, without adding or subtracting.

Healing the Soul

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Any addition (or subtraction) will result in human reason once again losing its integrity. For this reason heresy is an extremely grave, mortal sin of the mind; heretics will not inherit the Kingdom of God, specifically because their minds continue to deteriorate, since they accept distorted doctrines.

After adopting Revelation as a foundation, a person begins to reexamine his entire life. Revelation consists both of dogmas concerning God, as well as of dogmas concerning man, called commandments.

He receives the commandments, given to us by the Creator, as an axiom, and begins to alter his will and feelings with reference to them. To aid this extremely difficult process, the Holy Spirit gives strength that enters a person at the time of baptism and chrismation. The Lord gives strength through His Body and Blood, which cleanse our reason from sin and fantasies, our will from self-will, and our feelings from self-centeredness. Thus, confessing and communing as often as possible helps to set one’s life straight.

One needs to commune as frequently as possible specifically for the purpose of healing one’s soul. If you commune without wanting your soul to be healed, you commune unto judgment and condemnation, because Communion, if you will, is laying up stores for the day of spiritual warfare. It is nourishment for the spirit and nourishment for the body.

Thus, a rebirth gradually takes place, and the mind returns to its rightful place. Over time it be23

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comes simplified and ceases to live in a complex world; the world becomes simple, and a person starts to look at the world through the eyes of God. That is why people say that our world is rather primitive.

This, however, is actually a compliment. Primitive means “simple.” Simple means “not consisting of parts.” Simple means “objective.” Therefore, naturally, the word primitive should be taken as a compliment when it pertains to Christians. A person’s life also becomes simplified. Complexity in life arises when one’s reason is impaired. A Christian’s life remains simple for one reason: that person receives the objective truth; he does not need to delve, does not need to build vast philosophical systems, when he already knows everything. The most interesting thing is that Christians are attacked with: “What? Do you think you have the truth or something?” To this we humbly reply: “Yes, of course. We all have the truth.”

This is the absolute and perfect truth! Moreover, this is not boasting; it is objectivity! We were given this knowledge! If we had earned it, we would be boasting; but as it is, the Truth was given to us and is a pure gift to us from God. We actually do know everything! Our task is to internalize this universal knowledge, this pure, tremendous gift from God! As you remember, Saint John the Theologian said: And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness (1 John 5:19). This is precisely the logic of a healthy Christian, and any Chris24

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tian who is ashamed to answer this way is suffering from mental illness; his will and feelings are faltering. Our task is to rush neither to the left, nor to the right — because the devil throws us off in both directions — but simply to accept Revelation as absolute knowledge, to know it and to live it.

Next, what happens with the will? When the mind begins to recover and to command the will, the will resists. Spiritual struggle and compulsion are required in order to put the will in its proper place. This is why it is said: The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force (Matt. 11:12). And the will returns to its rightful place; it subjects itself not only to the mind, but to the will of God, which the mind has clearly grasped.

The mind distinctly assigns a task, and the will must perform it. The mind compels its will to perform the task; it forbids the will to be in command, forbids it to set goals for itself. Gradually one’s will is cut off. In Orthodoxy, when we talk about cutting off one’s will, we do not mean destroying the faculty of desire which, on the contrary, flourishes and grows stronger. We mean that the faculty of desire is finally working in accordance with nature, instead of against it. The distortion is straightened out.

At long last the person starts to be in command, after dealing with his will and feelings, since it is impossible to deal with one’s feelings without first dealing with one’s will. How can one deal with something 25

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when he has no will? The person begins to control his feelings, love whom he should, and hate what he should. Both love and hate remain in the person, but they return to their proper places. The person hates evil and loves good; he loves righteousness and hates iniquity. Healthy feelings of convalescence spring up; the person acquires feelings that are godly. The person begins to feel the same way that God feels.

Thus, he develops humility, meekness, chastity, and non-covetousness. And naturally, the person keeps his body in check. Unfortunately, our Synodal translation of the Bible contains an inaccurate translation of a certain phrase. The apostle Paul says: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (1 Cor. 9:27). The fact is that the original does not have the words “keep under” or “bring into subjection”; it has the Greek word hypōpiázō, which, translated literally, means “I blacken the eyes (of my body)”. This is the way to control the body. And then the person is cleansed: when, figuratively speaking, the will and desires are the horses; the mind is the driver, tightly holding the reins; and the body is the chariot, moving towards a destination appointed by God. This is a normal, healthy person, and, having a part in the Divine Power, he may even become clairvoyant or a miracle-worker. In a word, all the rest will be added unto him.

THE PASSIONS AND THEIR COUNTER VIRTUES

It is important to understand that all the passions are rooted in our nature. Anger, as such, was placed in us by God, and its task is to be our soul’s protective force, so that it can fight against evil and be confirmed in the virtues.

There is another aspect to anger, called zeal — zeal in glorifying God. In its usual form, anger should reject evil; it should be directed against everything that wants to distance us from God, and, conversely, should compel us towards good works. The only passion that goes against human nature is avarice; it has never been inherent in people. Love of money is a foolish thing, a form of idolatry that constitutes a kind of insanity. As for the rest of the passions, they feed off certain of the soul’s attributes.

Anger, like any other passion, finds its opposite in a virtue — two virtues even — that differ like one step from another. These are meekness and freedom from anger. From now on in our study we will be

Anger

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drawing on John Climacus’s The Ladder of Divine Ascent.6 The struggle with anger is located on the eighth step leading to Heaven.

“As the gradual pouring of water on a fire completely extinguishes the flame, so the tears of true mourning are able to quench every flame of anger and irritability.”7 The passion of anger is gradually extinguished specifically because a person is mourning over his sins. Tears bring a person inner stillness; thus, in order to acquire stillness one needs to combat anger, which disturbs true mourning. Virtue precedes vice, beauty precedes ugliness, and health precedes sickness. This is why Saint John starts by identifying the virtues towards which we must strive. “Freedom from anger is an insatiable appetite for dishonour, just as in the vainglorious there is an unbounded desire for praise.” This immediately provokes the question usually asked by readers and listeners: “Why should a person desire dishonor?” Naturally, no person desires dishonor as such, of his own accord; he

Quieting Anger

6 All quotes from The Ladder of Divine Ascent are taken from the edition published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, MA, and are used with permission.

(–Trans.)

7 Citations are frequently missing in the original Russian. Unless otherwise specified, quoted material is from The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus. (–Trans.)

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should desire it in return for righteousness, about which the Lord said: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake (Matt. 5:10–11).

This is the desire for dishonor of which Saint John is speaking here.

Freedom from anger results in a perOn Freedom son’s insatiable desire for dishonor for the sake of Christ’s name and for From Anger the sake of righteousness, because he knows that through this he will receive a great reward in Heaven. He is not only aware of this reward, but sees it; it is already accessible to his heart. Therefore, a person who has been subjected to dishonor on earth will receive honor in Heaven. In the lives of the martyrs there are wonderful accounts of how some of them had an unquenchable desire and longing for sufferings, since they knew that in exchange for a little suffering they would receive a great reward. Freedom from anger is victory over one’s human nature, imperviousness to the irritations that arise during spiritual struggle. In other words, freedom from anger constitutes a victory over our very own nature; it overcomes man’s nature. God requires us to rise above ourselves: a person must rise above his nature; he must rise above time and enter 29

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eternity, which reigns outside the limits of time, like the Ark of the Covenant that halted the Jordan’s streams so that the Israelites could pass through to the Promised Land. For a Christian, the highest virtues by this world’s standards constitute common decency that goes without saying. Freedom from anger never comes on its own: one must work at it in order to attain it. If a person conquers the passion of anger that is in him, he inevitably conquers the rest of the passions as well.

Next, Saint John passes on to something higher: meekness. The Lord says: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). And it is this same meekness of which the Lord is speaking through the mouth of Saint John: “Meekness is an immovable state of soul which remains unaffected, whether in evil report or in good report, in dishonour or in praise.” One novice asked his elder how to attain peace. The elder suggested he go to the cemetery and first berate, then praise the departed. After he returned, the elder asked him how the departed had answered him. On hearing that they had said nothing, he told his disciple to behave just as the departed had done. A person must remain in the same state of peace regardless of whether he is being berated or praised. When a person is absolutely indifferent both to praise and to abuse, then he is following the

On Meekness

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right path. In Greek mythology there is a story beloved by the Christians about Amor and Psyche.

Psyche was supposed to bring a goddess a box from the land of the dead, and on the way she was not to be distracted either by praise or by abuse, but was to walk straight on, without talking to anybody. This parable symbolizes how a person must proceed in order to bring his treasure from the land of the dead to the land of eternal life.

Saint John describes the next steps: “The beginning of freedom from anger is silence of the lips when the heart is agitated.” When you are agitated inside, you should simply keep silent.

As long as your heart is agitating you, hold your peace. This is the beginning of freedom from anger; this is where it starts. “The middle is silence of the thoughts when there is a mere disturbance of soul; and the end is an imperturbable calm under the breath of unclean winds.” Regardless of how many times the winds of the unclean evil spirits whirl through, an absolutely imperturbable calm reigns within. This is the very pinnacle of freedom from anger. But remember that the pinnacle of freedom from anger is not yet the pinnacle of meekness. Anger is the recollection of concealed hatred, that is, resentment; anger is wishing harm to someone who has offended you. Anger is caused by a person’s re-

The Two Forms of Anger

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calling hatred that is hidden inside him; it stems from resentment, as it were. Very frequently anger is evidence of hidden resentment nesting within.

Why does Saint John mention this here? To show that the passion of anger does not appear out of thin air. There are two forms of anger: anger as evidence of hidden resentment and anger as a desire to harm someone who has wronged you. These are the two forms of anger, so to speak, but they are one because it often happens that wishing harm to someone who has wronged you changes to resentment that hides itself in the bottom of the heart and then splashes up to the surface. Irascibility is when the heart becomes inflamed in an untimely fashion. The heart should constantly burn with love, but there is also inflammation of the heart that is untimely and useless.

Is there such a thing as righteous anger? Yes, of course! Did Christ get angry with people? Yes, He drove the merchants out of the Temple; this was an example of righteous anger. And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and over-

Righteous Anger

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threw the tables; and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not My Father’s house an house of merchandise. And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up (John 2:13–17). Saint Nicholas displayed righteous anger when he struck the heretic Arius on the cheek at the First Ecumenical Council, asserting the truth of Christ’s divine nature. When Abba Pimen was asked where the borderline between righteous and unrighteous anger lies, he answered: “The borderline is as follows: if you become angry with the person who has chopped off your hand, you have behaved wrongly; but if you become angry when someone tries to involve you in a wicked act, then you have behaved righteously.” If a person is facing attempts from others to turn him onto drugs, pull him into depravity, or involve him in a theft, then anger is in this case warranted and just; it was made for this very purpose.

“Bitterness is a movement of displeasure seated in the soul. Anger is an easily changeable movement of one’s disposition and disfiguration of soul.”

Our temperament is such that it is very easy for us to slip into anger. As Saint John says here, the soul loses the image of God and is left disfigured and ugly. Saint John Chrysostom said: “Again, the man in the grip of anger is drunk. In the same way as other

On Irritability and Humility

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drunkards, his face becomes swollen, his voice grows rough, his eyes are bloodshot, his mind is darkened, his reason is submerged, his tongue trembles, his eyes are out of focus, and he does not hear what is really said. His anger affects his brain worse than strong wine; it stirs up a storm and causes a distress that cannot be calmed.”8 John Climacus writes: “As with the appearance of light, darkness retreats; so at the fragrance of humility, all anger and bitterness vanishes.” What is essential, first and foremost, is humility before God, the understanding that we are worthless servants who have nothing of our own: all that we have is a gift from God. We do not have any sort of self-worth, and we would not want it even if it were offered. The more humility a person has, the more effectively are aggravation and irritability stamped out and destroyed. “Some who are prone to anger are neglectful of the healing and cure of this passion. But these unhappy people do not give a thought to him who said: The moment of his anger is his fall (Sir. 1:22).” If a person does not struggle against irritability, he will fall into sin. The very outburst of anger already constitutes a fall.

“There is a quick movement of a millstone which, in one moment, grinds and does away with more spiritual grain and fruit than another crushes 8 St. John Chrysostom, Eight Homilies Against the Jews, Homily 8. (–Trans.)

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in a whole day. And so we must pay attention with understanding. It is possible to have such a blaze of flame, suddenly fanned by a strong wind, as will ruin the field of the heart more than a lingering flame.”

When angry, the anger’s duration makes no difference, because there are times when a short outburst of rage does more damage than a long period of irritability can do. The length of a nuclear explosion is minuscule, but the result is colossal. “And we ought not to forget, my friends, that the wicked demons sometimes suddenly leave us, so that we may neglect our strong passions as of little importance, and then become incurably sick.” Sometimes people say, “It’s not a big deal. I may be hot-tempered, but I’m quick to forgive and forget, so it’s okay.” Actually, this thought is implanted by the demons; we must be well aware of this. And their goal is very simple: to keep people from fighting against anger and from seeing themselves as sick. A person flares up, then recovers; then he flares up again and recovers; and this happens more and more frequently until the disease becomes incurable.

Modern psychology distinguishes various personality types, and in and of itself this categorization is neither good nor bad. However, there is an interesting description of an epileptoid personality, which is when a person is obsessed with a lust for power, when his motto in life is: “I want power over everyone!” And it’s interesting to note that, accor35

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ding to the description given by secular psychologists, the following trait is very widespread among people with epileptoid personalities: very often a person will be overtaken by an attack of ferocity and anger that increases until he “explodes”; then he will apologize in due form, saying that everything is okay, everything is just fine. And the people around him think that it does not matter; things like that happen; he just lost his temper. But the irritation starts to mount up again, and soon there is another outburst. In the end, these people with epileptoid personalities turn out to be some of the worst criminals. Secular psychologists say that if you discover someone with this disorder, it is best to keep as far away from him as possible. It is best to dismiss him from his job if the chance arises; and if your boss has an epileptoid personality, it is best to quit on your own. If you have a fiancée or fiancé who is like this, it is best to part ways in advance so as not to suffer the consequences afterwards. This is the condition of which John Climacus is speaking: outbursts of rage and anger that a person does not consider sinful, that he does not struggle against, and that become incurable.

Next, Saint John says: “But the angry person, like a wolf, often disturbs the whole flock, and wounds many humble souls.” And so, “As a hard stone with sharp corners has all its sharpness and hard formation dulled by knocking and rubbing 36

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against other stones, and is made round, so in the same way, a sharp and curt soul, by living in community and mixing with hard, hot-tempered men, undergoes one of two things: either it cures its wound by its patience, or by retiring it will certainly discover its weakness, its cowardly flight making this clear to it as in a mirror.” Why is it that the Lord often puts angry people with other angry people?

So that people will either rub each other smooth or run away in different directions. This is a unique medicine that God sends for curing anger and rage.

“An angry person is a willing epileptic, who due to an involuntary tendency keeps convulsing and falling down.” At first a person flies into rages of his own accord, but over time he completely loses control of himself.

“Nothing is so inappropriate to those repenting as a spirit agitated by anger, because conversion requires great humility, and anger is a sign of every kind of presumption.” Repentance is not compatible with anger. If you are truly repenting, but are irritated at the same time, you are lying to God during confession. If a person is repenting, but nonetheless gets angry, irritated, and offended, his repentance is insincere. When you are sorrowing over yourself, when you realize that when you are judged you will be paid in full for your evil deeds, then there is no room for resentment towards others. “If it is a mark of extreme meekness, even in the presence of one’s 37

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offender, to be peacefully and lovingly disposed towards him in one’s heart, then it is certainly a mark of hot temper when a person continues to quarrel and rage against his offender, both by words and gestures, even when by himself.” This is a sign of extreme anger, a sign of the soul’s corruption. “If the Holy Spirit is peace of soul, as He is said to be and as He is in reality, and if anger is disturbance of heart, as it actually is and as it is said to be, then nothing so prevents His coming to us as anger.” The Holy Spirit is the spirit of peace; and everyone who is angry and displays anger towards others is estranged from the Holy Spirit; He will not visit those who refuse to struggle against this passion.

“Though we know very many Outer Meekness bitter fruits of anger, we have and Inner Resentment only found one, its involuntary offspring, which, though illegitimate, is nevertheless useful. I have seen people flaring up madly and vomiting their long-stored resentment, who by their very passion were delivered from passion, and who have obtained from their offender, either repentance or an explanation of the long-standing grievance.” This person who was being tormented by resentment spoke his mind, exploded, and, consequently, was nonetheless rid of the disease that Saint John refers to as “lice in doves”: when outwardly a person appears free of an38

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ger, but inside is resentful. And this resentment is healed by an outburst, like a wound that is opened up and has the pus drain out of it. “I have seen others who seemed to show a brute patience, but who were nourishing resentment within them under the cover of silence. And I considered them more pitiable than those given to raving, because they were sullying the whiteness of the Dove with black gall.”

People who keep silent but are spiteful inside are worse than those who get wildly angry, because on the outside they are neat and clean, while on the inside they are filled with a blackness that makes everything foul. They keep silent, keeping their anger hidden and not struggling with it. By so doing they see themselves as being righteous, not realizing that they are committing a great deal of sin.

“We need great care in dealing with this snake; for it too, like the snake of carnality, has nature collaborating with it. I have seen angry people push away food, out of bitterness; and yet through their unreasonable abstinence, they only added poison to poison.”

Those who stop eating due to anger are not only failing to do anything beneficial, but are also harming themselves, killing their bodies and souls. This leads to the question of whether every fast is beneficial.

Fasting out of anger is harmful to one’s health and

Temptations When Struggling Against Anger and Resentment

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to one’s soul — repulsive to God and harmful from a medical standpoint. “And I have seen others who, on becoming irate for some supposedly reasonable cause, but really unreasonable, gave themselves up to gluttony, and fell out of a pit headlong over a precipice. But I have seen others who were sensible, who, by mixing both like good physicians, have gained from moderate consolation very great profit ... .

“When, for some reason, I was sitting outside a monastery, near the cells of those living in stillness, I heard them fighting by themselves in their cells like caged partridges from bitterness and anger, and leaping at the face of their offender as if he were actually present. And I devoutly advised them not to stay in solitude, lest they should be changed from human beings into demons. And I have also observed that people whose hearts are sensual and gluttonous are apparently meek and, as it were, fawners, affectionate towards the brethren, and lovers of beautiful faces. And I advised these to go and adopt the life of stillness, using this as a scalpel that cuts out licentiousness and gluttony, lest they should miserably fall away from a rational to an irrational nature.

But when some of them told me that they were the wretched victims of these two passions (i.e. anger and sensuality), I absolutely forbade them to live according to their own will, but, in a friendly way, I suggested to their superiors that they should allow them sometimes to live in one way, sometimes in the 40

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other way of life [sometimes in solitude, sometimes among the brethren], but that they should be entirely subject to the superior. The sensual person is liable to harm himself and, perhaps, one other intimate friend of his as well [whoever fornicates sins against himself and against the one he fornicates with].

But the angry person, like a wolf, often disturbs the whole flock, and wounds many humble souls.” One troublemaker can destroy a whole parish, demolish an entire monastery, ruin all that has been accomplished — anything whatsoever.

“It is bad to disturb the eye of the heart by anger, according to him who said: Through wrath is mine eye become troubled (Ps. 6:8).9 But it is still worse to show in words the turmoil of the soul. And to come to blows is utterly inimical and alien to the monastic, angelic and divine life.” Disturbance of the heart is very harmful, and words are even more so; but to give way to one’s hands is complete madness. “If you want, or rather intend, to take a splinter out of another person [...Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? (Matt. 7:4)], then do not hack at it with a stick instead of a lancet...” The stick signifies harsh words and rude behavior; the lancet signifies gentle correction and patient admonition.

9 All quotes from the Psalter are numbered according to the Septuagint text. (–Trans.)

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“If we are observant, we shall see that many irritable people are practicing vigils, fasts and stillness.

For the aim of the demons is to suggest to them, under the pretext of repentance and mourning, just what is likely to increase their passion.” Sometimes much attention is devoted to eating less, sleeping less, praying, and making up lengthy prayer rules; yet meanwhile the brethren are fighting among themselves. John Climacus says that these sorts of fasts, vigils, and extensive prayer rules were established by the devil, not by God. A person who stands at prayer for long periods of time without sleeping or eating enough will simply wear himself out doing so, and it will be a simple matter for the devil to push him into anger. This is why in regular monasteries there is never a general rule regarding food, for instance, given to everyone. In the monasteries of Saint Pachomius the Great, food was divided into 24 classes. The gradation was very subtle, and it depended on the measure of one’s spiritual growth, one’s bodily condition, and other things; all this was taken into account. He had 15 thousand monks under his obedience, and in order keep the menu straight every monk had a letter of the Greek alphabet (of which there are also 24) sewn onto his back.

“If, as we said above, a single wolf with the help of a demon can trouble a flock, then certainly one most wise brother with the help of an angel can make the waves abate and the ship sail calmly, by pouring, 42

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as it were, a good skin full of oil on the waters. And the condemnation of the former is indeed heavy; and equally great is the reward that the latter will receive from God, and he will become an edifying example for all.” The skin is that brother’s body; the oil is his meekness; the waves are rising anger that starts in one person, then begins to seethe all around him; and the ship signifies the monastery brethren, a group of coworkers, a monastery, or a parish. Thus, the person who reconciles the parish, monastery, or coworkers will receive a great reward from God; but the person who stirs up the parish or monastery will receive a great punishment from God. This is why it is said: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God (Matt. 5:9). “The beginning of blessed patience is to accept dishonour with sorrow and bitterness of soul.” The beginning of the struggle against anger is to bear and tolerate offenses. “The middle stage is to be free from pain in the midst of these things.” In other words, people wrong you, but you do not get upset. This, however, is just the middle. “But perfection (if it be possible) is to regard dishonour as praise.”

There was a certain elder who deliberately arranged to have a monk come and yell at him; what is more, the rule was that it had to be spontaneous.

A person begins to perceive insults not as insults per se, but as a means of self-purification. “Let the first rejoice”, says John Climacus about the one 43

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who bears dishonor, even though inwardly he may be upset; “let the second be strong” — the one who remains untroubled in the midst of insults; “blessed is the third, for he exults in the Lord” — the one who sees abuse as praise. The last ought to exult in the Lord: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you (Matt. 5:12). “I have noticed what a sorry sight angry people present by their self-esteem, though they themselves were unaware of it. For they get into a state of anger, and then they become still more angry at their defeat.

And I was astonished to see how one fall was punished by another; and I pitied them as I saw them avenging sin by sin. I was horrified at the demons’ trickery, and nearly despaired of my own life ... if [anyone] wishes to be completely freed from these vices, he should go and live in a monastic community ... Then he will be spiritually stretched and beaten by the insults and dishonours of his tempestuous brethren, and perhaps even sometimes physically thrashed, trampled on and kicked, and so he may wash out the filth which is still in the sentient part of his soul.” The soul is scoured and washed clean of anger as a person learns to suffer unfairly.

Being disparaged actually curtails the soul’s passions. Incidentally, before becoming a recluse a monk should definitely have gone through a trial period in monasteries, or some place in close contact with peo44

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ple, in order to be cleansed from anger. One monk, while assailed by the passion of anger, left to be a recluse: he took offense at everyone and was offended by everyone, so he fled into the wilderness. One time, while in seclusion, he lost his water pitcher, and when he found it he was so angry that he broke it and trampled on it. Then he realized that he had actually run away from the passion of anger, but that the passion itself had come to him; only he did not know what to do with it. It is impossible to escape from this passion in the wilderness, because there is no way to rid oneself of anger, irritability, and touchiness other than to be “dry-cleaned” by patience and belittlement from others. If a person is severely irritable, his irritability must be cured with the help of applied force. This must be done in the proper manner. How? One needs to turn this passion to one’s advantage.

“Freedom from anger in novices as a result of mourning is one thing; the imperturbability that is found in the perfect is another. In the former, anger is held in by tears as by a bridle; but in the latter, it has been mortified by dispassion, as a snake is killed by a sword.” Tears merely put a bridle on one’s anger; the anger and passion remain. In the perfect, however, it is killed by dispassion (the person has learned how to kill the snake with a sword). There was once a certain elder who went to see a virgin who was considered very righteous, but who was actually very conceited. He had learned from the Holy 45

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Spirit that she was in a state of pride. The maiden sat at home and would receive hardly anyone, in the belief that she was in a state free from anger. Then the elder led her out into the street to take a walk, and some young boys ran past, throwing rocks at them.

The virgin could not restrain herself, and flew into a rage. At this, the elder told her that she was not dispassionate, but was living in a contrived setting, and that her passions were restrained only by her location, but were living inside her. “I once saw three monks receive the same injury at the same time. One felt the sting of this and was troubled, but kept silent; the second rejoiced at his injury for the reward it would bring him, but was sorry for the wrongdoer; and the third, thinking of the harm his erring neighbour was suffering, wept fervently. And fear, reward and love were to be seen at work.” Here we see the three differences between a servant, a hired laborer, and a son. The servant simply kept silent, so as not to be punished; the hired laborer rejoiced that he would be rewarded, but felt sorry for his neighbor; and the one who loved God as a son might began to weep because the other person had suffered.

“As bodily fever is one thing, but the causes of this are not one but many, so also the boiling up of anger and the movement of our other passions have many and various causes. That is why it is impossible to prescribe

The Causes of Anger

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one identical rule for them. Instead, I would rather suggest that each of those who are sick should most carefully seek out his own particular cure. The first step in the cure should be a diagnosis of the cause of each disease; for when this is discovered, the patients will get the right cure from God’s care and from their spiritual physicians [priests]. And so, for instance, those who wish to join us in the Lord should enter the spiritual tribunal that lies before us, and there they should test themselves somewhat concerning the above-mentioned passions or their causes.” In summing up the chapter on the passion of anger, John Climacus now talks about what causes anger. Anger is not an elementary passion. Passions have more than one level: there are passions that are elementary, for instance, such as the passion of self-love, which manifests itself through sensuality and avarice, and from which other passions grow as a result. “‘Tell us, base idiot, what is the name of the father who begot you and the mother who brought you for evil into the world, and the names of your foul sons and daughters. And not only that, but tell us the designations of those who wage war against you and kill you.’ And anger might be thought to reply: ‘Many are my origins, and I have more than one father. My mothers are vainglory, love of money, greed, and sometimes lust. My father is called conceit.’” It is obvious that without parents there can 47

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be no children. Anger is always accompanied by conceit and other passions which produce anger. “‘But my opponents, who are now holding me captive, are the opposite virtues of freedom from anger, and meekness. She who schemes against me is called humility. But as to who bore humility, ask her in due time herself.’” Saint John writes: “So let the tyrant anger be bound with the chains of meekness, and be beaten by patience, and dragged out by holy love; and, being arraigned before this court of reason, let it be duly examined.” Anger is permanently slain by humility: before God we are nothing; our sins are the only things that belong to us. Consequently, humility is the only thing that can help us. “For the eighth step is appointed the crown of freedom from anger. He who wears it by nature will perhaps wear no other crown. But he who has won it by sweat has conquered all eight together.”

ON GLUTTONY

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 a person of no little importance, he begins to indulge in the passion of gluttony. It is important to remember that the passions are all interrelated, both by cause

How Gluttony is Linked to the Other Passions

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and effect and by degree. There are passions that are more deeply entrenched, and those that are superficial. The latter grow from the former as a stem grows from a root. The very first passion is egoism: 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 which 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 products. 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.

John Climacus says the following: The Consequences “As we are about to speak concerning the stomach, as in everyof Gluttony thing 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 50

On Gluttony

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 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 egoism as well; and this means that the child will behave rudely to his parents. “Satiety 51

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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 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.

“He who fondles a lion often tames The Three Types it, but he who coddles the body makes it still wilder.” If a person of People 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 Spir52

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it; they are also called holy. Sensual people think that what is most important are the sensual qualities (harmony, a sense of beauty, human relations).

These people possess 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.

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

The Wiles of the Devil

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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 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 54

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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.”

“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 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

One Passion’s Victory Over Another

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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.

“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

Strictness of Life and the Gifts of the Spirit

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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 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, 57

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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.

Curbing gluttony is a means of curbing self-love, 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 Struggle Against Gluttony

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the warrior-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 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 59

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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 skoptsy10 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.

“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.

10 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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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 esteemed 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 61

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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 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 62

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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 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, 63

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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 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 of my first-born children. My first-born son is a minister of fornication, the second 64

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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 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!

Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s

MAN’S SOUL The Concept of the Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Energies of the Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The Particular Nature of the Soul and Its Three Forms of Existence . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Intellectual Faculty of the Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Predominant Disease of the Human Soul . . . . . 13 Diseases Caused by Reason’s Subjection to the Will and Desires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Healing the Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 THE PASSIONS AND THEIR COUNTER VIRTUES Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Quieting Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 On Freedom From Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 On Meekness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Two Forms of Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Righteous Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 On Irritability and Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

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Outer Meekness and Inner Resentment . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Temptations When Struggling Against Anger and Resentment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The Causes of Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 ON GLUTTONY How Gluttony is Linked to the Other Passions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 The Consequences of Gluttony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 The Three Types of People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 The Wiles of the Devil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 One Passion’s Victory Over Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Strictness of Life and the Gifts of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The Struggle Against Gluttony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 ON AVARICE The Passion of Avarice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 The Conditions Under Which the Passion of Avarice Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 The Effects of Avarice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Avarice Quickly Draws One Away From God . . . . . 71 The Meaning of Almsgiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Acquiring Non-possessiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 The Attributes of Non-possessiveness. . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Detachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 The Sin of Envy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

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ON ENVY What Produces Envy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 How Is One to Avoid Envy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 The Effects of Envy and the Disposition of One Who Is Envious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 One Must Not Associate With Those Who Are Envious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96 Many Heresies Are Caused by Envy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 The Evil Eye Results From Envy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98 The Envious Can Be Known

by Their Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 How Does One Struggle Against Envy? . . . . . . . . . 101 Envy’s Last Snare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 A Test for Envy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 ON DESPONDENCY The Holy Scriptures on Despondency . . . . . . . . . . . 106 The Two Types of Despondency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Despondency Breeds Other Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 What Increases Despondency?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 The Attributes of Despondency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 What Produces Despondency? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 The Remedy for Despondency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

THE REV. DANIEL SYSOEV MISSIONARY CENTER The Benevolent Fund was established in 2010 by priest Daniel Sysoev’s wife, Yulia Sysoev, to aid the needy families and widows of clergy. Unfortunately, there are many financially disadvantaged clergy families in Russia, but the greatest financial need is felt by the widows of priests who have fallen victim to murder or tragedy, and we Christians have a duty to care for them.

In recent times we have seen a rise in sudden deaths among our intercessors before God – those who pray for us more often than others, through whom the Lord forgives our sins, from whom we receive comfort. At present the Fund has learned of and established contact with 45 such families, and is constantly searching for clergy families in need so as to provide them with uncompensated aid.

We call on Orthodox Christians to contribute their two mites to supporting the work of the Fund. Contact information and donation options are located on our website, www.missioncenter.com, in the “Charity” section. Donors, as the Word of God says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven and robe your hearts in works of charity; and you who are in need, offer up prayers for your benefactors’ salvation!

For your generous donations: 1. Wire transfers: Account number: 9345081388; Citibank, N.A. BR. #764 1760 Market street, Philadelphia, PA, 19130; Routing number: 021272655; Swift code: CITIUS33; Payment purpose: gift.

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PRIESTS HAVE DIED, LEAVING FAMILIES BEHIND …

Together we can help them!

May the Lord grant His faithful servants eternal rest in the tabernacles of the righteous! For your generous donations: 1. Wire transfers: Account number: 9345081388; Citibank, N.A. BR. #764 1760 Market street, Philadelphia, PA, 19130; Routing number: 021272655; Swift code: CITIUS33; 2. PayPal: ssv379@gmail.com with payments pls add a note, choose — for family or friends, gift.

3. With debit or credit cards. On a web-site: http://mission-center.com there is a button on the left column: Donate «For USA with PayPal or credit card»

Priest Daniel Sysoev Talks on the Passions

Translated by Anthony Williams Edited by Deacon Nathan Williams Design Igor Yermolaev Layout Olga Bochkova

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