“Christ the Eternal Tao” by Hieromonk Damascene Christensen

A talk delivered at the Annual Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, San Diego, California, February 28, 2003. 1. The Misuse of the Incensive Power Since we are approaching Forgiveness Sunday, I’ve chosen, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Longin, to speak on the subject of Anger, Judgment, and Resentment, and on their cure: Forgiveness and Reconciliation. First I will speak about the problem and then I’ll discuss the solution. Anger, judgment, remembrance of wrongs, grudges, resentment: these are passions with which all of us struggle in one way or another. Why are we prone to them? According to the Holy Fathers of the Church, the power that causes anger was part of man’s original nature, which was created “good” by God (cf. Genesis 1:31). The Fathers say that man’s soul was originally created with three powers: the intellective or “knowing” power, the appetitive or “desiring” power, and the incensive or “fervent” power. Man was supposed to use his intellective power to know God, his appetitive power to yearn for God, and his incensive power to courageously repel temptation—beginning with the temptation of the serpent in the Garden. Instead of using their incensive power to repel temptation, however, Adam and Eve succumbed to their first temptation: they ate of the forbidden fruit. According to the Holy Fathers, the essence of the serpent’s temptation lies in these words: “Eat of this fruit and you shall be as gods” (cf. Genesis 3:5). St. John Chrysostom says that Adam “expected to become himself a god, and conceived thoughts above his proper dignity.” [1] This is a key point which we’ll keep coming back to. When the primordial Fall occurred, man’s original nature, created in the image of God, became corrupted. He acquired what the Holy Fathers call a fallen nature. He still had the image of God in him, but the image was tarnished: “buried,” as it were, under the corruption of his nature. Now he had an inclination toward sin, born of his desire to be God without God’s blessing. All of us share that fallen nature; there is a part of each one of us that wants to be God. In popular modern terms, that part of us is called the “ego.” When man fell, the three powers of his soul became subject to corruption, along with his body, which became subject to death and decay. Now man used his intellective power to puff up with knowledge and be superior to others; now he used his appetitive power to lust after other people, after the things of this world, after sinful pleasures, wealth, and power; and he used his incensive power, not against temptation, but against other people, against things, and sometimes against life and God Himself. The incensive power expressed itself as sinful anger and wrath. The first man born of woman, Cain, got so angry and jealous that he murdered his own brother, Abel. So, here we are, all members of the family of Adam and Eve, possessing a fallen nature that wants to be God, and a corrupted incensive power that gets angry at the wrong things. Very clear teachings on anger and the incensive power can be found in the first volume of The Philokalia, in the teachings of St. John Cassian, a Holy Father of the fifth century. According to St. John Cassian, all anger directed at other people—all such wrong use of our incensive power—blinds the soul. He writes: “We must, with God’s help, eradicate the deadly poison of anger from the depths of our souls. So long as the demon of anger dwells in our hearts … we can neither discriminate what is good, nor achieve spiritual knowledge, nor fulfill our good intentions, nor participate in true life…. Nor will we share in divine wisdom even though we are deemed wise by all men, for it is written: Anger lodges in the bosom of fools (Eccles. 7:9). Nor can we discriminate in decisions affecting our salvation even though we are thought by our fellow men to have good sense, for it is written: Anger destroys even men of good sense (Proverbs 15:1). Nor will we be able to keep our lives in righteousness with a watchful heart, for it is written: Man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness of God (James 1:20)…. “If, therefore, you desire to attain perfection and rightly pursue the spiritual way, you should make yourself a stranger to all sinful anger and wrath. Listen to what St. Paul enjoins: Rid yourselves of all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and all malice (Eph. 4:31). By saying ‘all’ he leaves no excuse for regarding any anger as necessary or reasonable. If you want to correct your brother when he is doing wrong or punish him, you must try to keep yourself calm; otherwise you yourself may catch the sickness you are seeking to cure and you may find that the words of the Gospel now apply to you: Physician, heal yourself (Luke 4:23), or Why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother’s eye, and not notice the beam in your own eye? (Matt. 7:3). “No matter what provokes it, anger blinds the soul’s eyes, preventing it from seeing the Sun of righteousness…. Whether reasonable or unreasonable, anger obstructs our spiritual vision. Our incensive power can be used in a way that is according to nature only when turned against our own impassioned or self-indulgent thoughts. [2] Here St. John Cassian is telling us that, when we use our incensive power against temptation—against impassioned or self-indulgent thoughts—we are using this power as it was originally intended to be used, according to our original, virtuous nature, created in the image of God. However, when we use our incensive power against anything else—especially against other people—we are misusing it, according to our fallen nature. 2. Playing God Often anger is evoked in us because of our pride. This again is a function of our fallen nature: that part of us that wants to be God. As would-be gods, we want to be in control, we want things to go our way. When things don’t go our way, when other people don’t follow our lead and go along with our program, we get angry. This leads us to judge others. Judging others is one way of playing God. God is King, and He is Judge. Of course, it’s best to be a King. Therefore, in trying to play God, our ego first of all tries to get above others and above life itself by playing King. We can try to be King in many ways. It may be by trying to run the show and get our own way. It may be by seeking acceptance, approval, praise, respect, popularity, earthly security, or an important position. It may be through our achievements and abilities, which are used toward ultimately selfish ends. It may be through vanity over our looks, our intellect, and so on. Even if we were to have the world at our feet all the time, and thus confirm our King-status in our own mind, we would eventually feel conflict—for we’re not meant to be King. You can see this vividly in the lives of celebrities, many of whom, having risen to the “top” in the eyes of the world, are filled with inward conflict. Most of us, however, find it impossible to play King all the time. The world is not at our feet. We try so hard to get our own way and make things work out exactly like we want, but it just doesn’t happen that way. People don’t want to cooperate with our own way of doing things. We don’t get enough of the respect and admiration we need in order to keep up the illusion of our Kingship. On the contrary, we often experience the exact opposite: rudeness, disrespect, neglect, abandonment, injustice. What is the ego—our fallen nature—to do in this case? How can it still play God? How else than by judgment ? As we said, God is King and He is Judge. When we can’t be King, we take the loser’s way of playing God: we become the Judge. No matter what happens to us, or what people have said and done to us, we can always seem to get above them by being their Judge. For a time it feels great! Other people and the circumstances of our life made us feel less like a god; they have hurt and humiliated us. But we can still be a god in our own mind by judging! Judgment brings with it an exhilaration of false power. Its energy comes from the wrong, prideful use of our incensive power. But, like playing King, playing Judge eventually leads to inward conflict. If we are setting ourselves up in God’s place, our soul cannot fulfill its original purpose of worshiping, serving and loving God. Thus, each time we judge, we’re placing a barrier between ourselves and God. A wall immediately goes up. 3. Resentment If left unchecked, anger and judgment will pass into what the Holy Fathers call “secret anger,” “remembrance of wrongs,” or “resentment.” Resentment—prolonged anger—is deadly to the soul. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk says: “Just as fire if it is not extinguished quickly will swallow many houses, so anger if it is not stopped right away will do great harm and will cause many troubles. [3] The Holy Apostle Paul tells us: Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil (Eph. 4:26–7). “If we take St. Paul’s saying literally,” writes St. John Cassian, “it does not permit us to keep our anger even until sunset. What then shall we say about those who, because of the harshness and fury of their impassioned state, not only maintain their anger until the setting of this day’s sun, but prolong it for many days? Or about others who do not express their anger, but keep silent and increase the poison of their anger to their own destruction? They are unaware that we must avoid anger not only in what we do but also in our thoughts; otherwise our mind will be darkened by our anger, cut off from the light of spiritual knowledge and discrimination, and deprived of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. [4] Why is resentment such a deadly sin? The Holy Scriptures tell us that God is love. Therefore, explains the Russian Holy Father St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, “Resentment or rejection of love is rejection of God. God withdraws from a resentful person, deprives him of His Grace, and gives him up to spiritual death, unless the person repents in good time so as to be healed of that deadly moral poison, resentment. [5] If for whatever reason we do not forgive someone and hold onto our anger, it will truly be to our own destruction. It can poison our entire lives, make us the captives of the devil, and eventually prevent us from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. To help us not to lose our salvation due to resentment, God allows us to feel inward conflict. This inward conflict helps us to become aware of the fatal danger of the malady of resentment, and to seek to be cured by the Supreme Physician, Jesus Christ. The inward conflict may take many forms. We may feel weighed down, unable to breathe lightly or freely, as if we are captives. We may experience irrational fear, commonly known as anxiety. We may become susceptible to physical ailments. In most cases, we will feel an inward emptiness. That emptiness comes from the fact that, by holding onto our anger and judgment, we have separated ourselves from God. We no longer have His Grace, His Life, inside us, and without that we are just hollow vessels. Our spiritual emptiness may express itself in a generally dissatisfied and cynical attitude, in which we’re always attracted to negative thoughts and words about others. We may try to fill the void with drugs or the excessive use of alcohol. Interestingly, the Alcoholics Anonymous “Big Book” says: “Resentment is the ‘number one’ offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stems all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. [6] Sometimes our resentment hurts the person we are resenting, sometimes it does not. However, in either case we gain nothing; we only lose, for in either case we are the ones who are hurt the most. Let’s say someone has actually wronged us. If that person repents, he will be forgiven by God. But if we hold onto our anger, we will not be forgiven and will suffer the consequences. 4. Forgiveness Having looked at the malady of anger, judgment, and resentment, let’s go on to look at the cure. What are we to do to be freed of this sickness? Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us clearly: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. And to him who smites you on the one cheek, offer also the other (Luke 6:27–29). Rather than resenting those who wrong us, we are to love them, and we express this love by blessing them and praying for them. We do this because we are commanded to do so by Christ. He has commanded this for our own sake, for our own salvation, because He loves us; and we do it for His sake, because we love Him. Our fallen nature rebels against this: “What? Bless and pray for that person who wronged me?” But for Christ’s sake, we go against our fallen nature, and force ourselves to pray. We ask God to bless and have mercy on the person who hurt us, we wish good things for him, we wish his salvation, just as our Lord wishes his salvation. In this way we begin to become like God Himself, Who, according to the words of Christ, is kind to the unthankful and the evil (Luke 6:35). In going against our fallen nature, we return to our original nature—the image of God in us—and we grow in the likeness of God. Abba Dorotheus, a Desert Father of the sixth century, says that we can be healed of the sickness of resentment “by prayer right from the heart for the one who has annoyed us. We can pray such words as, ‘O God, help my brother, and me through his prayers.'” “In this,” says Abba Dorotheus, “we are interceding for our brother, which is a sure sign of sympathy and love, and we are humiliating ourselves by asking help through our brother’s prayers. [7] When we continually force ourselves to bless and pray for others in this way, we will find that our Lord Jesus Christ will change, renew, and refresh our hearts. It may take some time and persistence, but gradually, almost imperceptibly, we will be changed. The poison of resentment, by the Grace of Christ, will leave our system. Again our Lord has told us: Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven (Luke 6:37). The cure for anger, judgment, and resentment is forgiveness, pure and simple. No matter what terrible afflictions and unspeakable injustices have befallen us, we can be free of their negative effects on us through forgiveness. I once asked a Romanian Orthodox priest named Fr. George Calciu about this. For twenty-one years he had been locked in Communist prisons, where he had endured the most unimaginable horrors ever perpetrated by human beings. And yet when I met him here in America, he was happy, joyful, like a child, totally free of any negative effects of this torture on his soul. He had found the secret of forgiveness. I asked him, “How can people overcome judgment?” He looked at me, almost with astonishment, and answered, “It’s simple. Just don’t judge!” It’s truly simple. But we must keep in mind that we can’t do it on our own: We need God’s help to heal our fallen, wounded nature, to humble our pride. Therefore, as we pray for those who have hurt us, we should pray that God will help us to forgive, that He will soften our hard hearts, warm our cold hearts, and grant us a loving, merciful, and forgiving spirit. Elder Sampson (Seivers) of Russia, who reposed in 1979, was a man well-equipped to speak on the subject of forgiveness. As a young novice monk, he was arrested by the Communist authorities, shot in a mass execution, and thrown into a common grave. By Divine Providence he survived the shooting, and was pulled out of the grave still breathing by his brother monks and nursed back to health. Later he was arrested again and spent nearly twenty years in Communist concentration camps. But he never held onto bitterness and resentment: He completely forgave both his executioners and his torturers. In his later years, when he was serving as a spiritual father to many people, he was especially tough when his spiritual children refused to forgive someone, even for some petty annoyance. He said: “I’ve always concluded: this means that they still have not gotten the point, that the whole secret, that all the salt of Christianity lies in this: to forgive, to excuse, to justify, not to know, not to remember evil. “The Holy Fathers are the children of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. The result of this action of Grace is when the heart excuses. It loves, it can speak well of someone and pray for him. It does not remember offense or evil. “Therefore,” said Elder Sampson, “it is impossible to forgive and not excuse. This is a psychological fact. The heart is made this way. It was not the brain, not the nervous system—as science attempts to teach, and the psychiatrists especially—but it was the heart that was made this way by God. It is called a Christian heart. It excuses, it does everything possible in order to justify and excuse. Isn’t that so?! That is a Christian quality! “The pagan or the Moslem does not know about this … the action of the Grace of the Holy Spirit…. Try telling a Moslem to justify and excuse, to love his enemy. He will kill you. [8] Once Elder Sampson was asked, “What can an angry person do?” He replied, “He must pray and pray for healing. For the sake of his faith, for the sake of his insistence, the Lord will change his heart.” [9] 5. Watchfulness and Prayer The Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers affirm that, as we pray for spiritual healing from passions like anger and resentment, we must also practice constant watchfulness or attention over our thoughts. Christ spoke much about watchfulness, both directly and in parables. At the conclusion of one such parable, He said: What I say to you I say to all: Watch (Mark 13:37). Later, as He was going to His final Passion, He told His disciples: Watch and pray , lest you enter into temptation (Mark 14:38). Watchfulness and prayer are closely connected. St. Symeon the New Theologian explains this connection as follows: “Watchfulness and prayer should be as closely linked together as the body to the soul, for the one cannot stand without the other. Watchfulness first goes on ahead like a scout and engages sin in combat. Prayer then follows afterwards, and instantly destroys and exterminates all the evil thoughts with which watchfulness has already been battling, for attentiveness alone cannot exterminate them. [10] The evil one wants to trap us. He tempts us with evil thoughts against our brothers and sisters, trying to sow the seeds of judgment and resentment against them, inciting our fallen nature so that we will stray far from our first-created image and be separated from God. We must not take the bait. Whether our anger arises from our own fallen nature or from the suggestions of the evil one, we need to cut it off at once. And to recognize it at once, we must practice watchfulness over our thoughts. St. Theophan the Recluse writes: “The passions and desires rarely attack by themselves—they are most often born of thoughts. From this we can make a rule: cut off thoughts and you will cut off everything. [11] In The Philokalia, the growth from a thought to a passion is described with scientific precision. First comes the provocation of the thought, then the conjunction of the thought with emotion, then the joining or agreement of the will with the thought. If the soul does not pull back at this point, the thought becomes a habit, and the mind is constantly preoccupied with the object of the passionate urge. Finally the person falls into the captivity of the urge, and rushes to satisfy it. [12] From this it can be seen why it is so important to cut off angry and judgmental thoughts at the time of their provocation. St. John Cassian writes: “If we wish to receive the Lord’s blessing, we should restrain not only the outward expression of anger, but also angry thoughts. More beneficial than controlling our tongue in a moment of anger and refraining from angry words is purifying our heart from rancor and not harboring malicious thoughts against our brethren. The Gospel teaches us to cut off the roots of our sins and not merely their fruits. [13]” The more we entertain thoughts of anger, the more they will grow and harden inside of us, making it harder to uproot them later on. Abba Dorotheus uses the analogy of a tree to explain this: when the tree is young and small, it is easy to pull out of the ground; but when it matures, it is much more difficult to uproot. In another place, Abba Dorotheus uses the analogy of a spark on tinder, which, if it is not put out, can grow into a raging flame. He writes: “Someone who is lighting a fire first sets a spark to the tinder. This is someone’s provoking remark, this is the point where the fire starts. Of what consequence is that person’s remark? If you put up with it, the spark goes out. But if you go on thinking, ‘Why did he say that to me, and what should I say back to him?’ and ‘If he did not want to annoy me, he would not have said that,’ then you add a small bit of wood to the flame, or some bit of fuel, and you produce some smoke: this is a disturbance of the mind. This disturbance floods the mind with thoughts and emotions, which stimulate the heart and make it bold to attack. This boldness incites us to vengeance on the person who annoyed us…. If, therefore, you put up with a sharp retort from someone, the little spark is extinguished before it causes you any trouble. Even if you are a little troubled and you desire promptly to get rid of it, since it is still small, you can do so by remaining silent with a prayer on your lips and by one good heartfelt act of humility. But if you dwell on it and inflame your heart and torment yourself with thoughts about why he said that to me, and what should I say to him, you are blowing on the embers and adding fuel and causing smoke! From this influx of thoughts and conflicting emotions the heart catches fire and there you are—in a passion.” [14] When a thought of anger or judgment arises in our mind, therefore, we are to cut it off or repulse it at once. In this way we use our incensive power in the way it was intended to be used: to cut off temptation. Cutting off thoughts does not mean arguing with them or struggling against them. St. Silouan of Mount Athos affirms: “It is best of all not to argue with thoughts. The spirit that debates with such a thought will be faced with its steady development, and, bemused by the exchange, will be distracted from remembrance of God, which is exactly what the demons are after. [15] Our struggle should not be against thoughts, but towards remembrance of God. It is enough just to observe our thoughts through the practice of watchfulness. We will thereby recognize our angry and judgmental thoughts right away. We see them, we know that we don’t want them because they separate us from God, and we simply let them go. If we do not align ourselves with the thoughts, they will naturally disappear. The fifth-century Desert Father, Abba Pimen, says: “If we do not do anything about thoughts, in time they are spoiled, that is to say, they disintegrate. [16] The thought may come again and again, but each time we are to cut it off in the same way. When the thoughts are continual, it is especially important to turn to God in prayer, asking for His forgiveness and for deliverance from the continual thoughts. This prayer, as mentioned earlier, should include a prayer of good will for the person at whom we are angry or irritated. In the practice of watchfulness and prayer, we have no better tool than the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” There is no more powerful name on earth than the name of Jesus Christ to oppose the proud fallen spirits. And, in the words of the Holy Apostle Peter, There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). When we ask Christ to have mercy on us, we are also humbling our proud fallen nature. We are admitting that we are not God, and that we need God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. In seeking God’s forgiveness, we are acknowledging the infirmity of our nature, and this helps us to forgive and have mercy on others who share our fallen, wounded nature. Since the Jesus Prayer is so short and single-pointed, it lends itself to the practice of watchfulness. We can keep our attention on the words of the Prayer more easily than we can with other prayers. This helps us to learn how to repulse or cut off intrusive thoughts, and to keep our attention raised to God. It helps us to develop the habit of inward attention. At the same time, by means of this Prayer we are calling down Divine Grace into our hearts, for we are calling upon the Source of Grace, Jesus Christ. As we seek to forgive people for whom we feel bitterness, we should also call upon the Mother of God to help us forgive. When Elder Sampson was once asked how he was able to forgive his executioners and torturers, he said: “One need only pray to the Mother of God and the offense is taken away. It is taken away if you only ask the Mother of God. It is enough for your heart to have some kind of direct contact with the Mother of God, and that horror, offense, injury, sorrow and slander will be taken away.” [17] 6. Reconciliation Through Self-Accusation Now we’ve looked at the sickness—anger and resentment—and we’ve looked at the cure: forgiveness and the cutting off of angry thoughts by means of watchfulness and prayer. But what if anger and resentment have already poisoned our relationship with someone else? What then are we to do? Both the Gospels and the Holy Fathers tell us that we are to humble ourselves and seek reconciliation. Christ says: You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother will be in danger of the judgment…. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matt. 5:21–24). The Holy Fathers tell us that, in order to be reconciled to someone with whom we are at odds, the first thing we are to do is to accuse ourselves, not the other person. If we do not accuse ourselves, we will never find rest, and we will never make true and lasting peace with our neighbor. We will always be holding onto our pride. Abba Dorotheus provides us with a good example of this from his own experience as the Superior of a monastery. He says: “Once there came to me two brothers who were always fighting. The older one was saying about the younger one, ‘I arrange for him to do something and he gets distressed, and so I get distressed, thinking that if he had faith and love towards me he would accept what I tell him with complete confidence.’ And the younger was saying, ‘Forgive me, reverend father, but he does not speak to me with the fear of God, but rather as someone who wants to give orders. I guess this is why my heart does not have full confidence in him, as the Holy Fathers say.’ Notice that each blames the other and neither blames himself. Both of them are getting upset with one another, and although they are begging each other’s pardon, they both remain unconvinced ‘because he does not from his heart show me deference and, therefore, I am not convinced, for the Fathers say that he should.’ And the other says, ‘Since he will not have complete confidence in my love until I show him deference, I, for my part, do not have complete confidence in him.’ My God, do you see how ridiculous this is? Do you see their perverse way of thinking? God knows how sorry I am about this; that we take the sayings of the Holy Fathers to excuse our own will and the destruction of our souls. Each of these brothers had to throw the blame on the other…. What they really ought to do is just the opposite. The first ought to say: ‘I speak with presumption and therefore God does not give my brother confidence in me.’ And the other ought to be thinking: ‘My brother gives me commands with humility and love, but I am unruly and have not the fear of God.’ Neither of them found that way and blamed himself, but each of them vexed the other. “Don’t you see that this is why we make no progress, why we find we have not been helped towards it? We remain all the time against one another, grinding one another down. Because each considers himself right and excuses himself, all the while keeping none of the Commandments yet expecting his neighbor to keep the lot!” [18] Abba Dorotheus points out a possible objection to this teaching on self-accusation. Someone might say: “Suppose a brother troubles me and I examine myself and find that I have not given him any cause, how can I accuse myself?” To this Abba Dorotheus replies: “If a man really examines himself, in the fear of God, he will usually find that he has given cause for offence, either by deed or word or by his attitude or bearing. But if, in scrutinizing himself, he sees that he has given no cause in any of these ways at that moment, it is likely that at another time he has offended him either in the same circumstances or in others, or perhaps he has offended another brother and he would want to suffer on that account or for some other wrongdoing. If he examines himself in the fear of God and gropes about diligently in his own conscience, he will always find cause for accusing himself.” [19] Here is a recent example of what Abba Dorotheus was writing about. It comes from the wonderful book Counsels for Life: the Life and counsels of a modern Greek Elder, Fr. Epiphanios Theodoropolos, who reposed in 1989. In this book we read: “A former spiritual child of the Elder, acting aimlessly and against the counsel of the Elder, was ordained. Fr. Epiphanios was deeply grieved and declared this to him. Of course, the Elder’s grief was misinterpreted by that youth. Thus, one day, the young man came to the Elder’s house and, full of anger, without controlling himself, started scolding Fr. Epiphanios and calling him passionate, bitter, envious, egotistical, etc. Bowing and speechless, the Elder listened to him. And while we awaited from moment to moment for the Elder to cut him off like a rushing stream and make him recover from this misbehavior, the Elder suddenly lifted up his eyes and in tears told him, ‘Thank you, my child, for all you said. And, furthermore, if you open my heart, you will see that I am worse than what you call me.'” [20] From this account we see that, according to Abba Dorotheus, “The habit of accusing ourselves will work out well for us and bring us much profit, and nothing else that we can do will bring this about. [21]” It sometimes happens that, after a quarrel, one person will come to the other and say, “Forgive me, but …” and then go on to justify himself. In other words, “Forgive me, but I’m right after all.” This is not good enough. Yes, the outward form of saying “Forgive me” is there, but behind that outward form is a heart that is still refusing to accuse itself. Our apology should rather be unconditional . We need to acknowledge our own sins, not call attention to the sins of another. We’re not responsible before God for the other person’s sins, we’re only responsible for our own. As the above examples indicate, if we are at odds with another person, we should not wait for the other person to come to us in repentance before we ourselves apologize. It sometimes happens that a person who is older or of a higher rank will think that his inferior should apologize first. But our Lord Jesus Christ has never said that the lesser one should first ask for forgiveness. If the younger one does not have the sense to take the first step toward reconciliation, then by all means the one who is older or in higher rank should be the first to humble himself. A moving example of such humility is found in the Life of St. John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, who lived in the seventh century. Once, when St. John was serving the Divine Liturgy, he suddenly remembered that one of his subordinates from the lower clergy was angry with him for something. Then St. John, the Patriarch, left the holy throne, called the lower clergyman to himself, and fell at his feet, asking him for forgiveness. The clergyman was disturbed and ashamed by the great humility of the Patriarch, and himself fell at the Saint’s feet and cried with tears, “Forgive me, Father.” In this way, St. John showed by example that even those with higher status can ask first for forgiveness and that the humility of the greater affects their subordinates very powerfully. [22] Yet another example of the power of humility and forgiveness comes from the Life of the above-mentioned Greek Elder, Fr. Epiphanios Theodoropolos: “Someone thought that the Elder had treated him unjustly. He did not want to accept his explanations for anything. So he went to the Elder, full of anger, and showered him with a storm of accusations and curses. As he peeled an apple, the Elder listened to him silently till the end. As soon as the angry one finished cursing, the Elder offered him a piece, telling him, ‘Would you like, my child, a little apple?’ “A second shower of cursing: ‘Not from you, hypocrite!’ “The person got up abruptly to leave. Then the Elder stopped him and told him: ‘I will only tell you one word. Life has many changes. If you ever end up in need and think that I might be able to help you, don’t hesitate to knock on my door, fearing that I will remember these things you told me today. I have already forgotten them. Go with God’s blessing, my child!’ “Sure enough, a few years later, the person knocked on the Elder’s door—a plain shipwreck of life. Not only was he then aided and supported, but, crushed and humble, he also became a frequent visitor of the Elder’s confessional.” [23] 7. Endurance All of the stories I’ve related so far have ended in the mutual reconciliation of the parties involved. It happens in life, however, that no matter how many attempts one person makes to be reconciled to the other, the other person remains hardened in his malice and will not be reconciled. What is one to do in such cases? The Holy Scriptures and Holy Fathers clearly tell us: Endure. He that shall endure to the end will be saved, says our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 10:22). Our Lord has given us the ultimate example of endurance and forgiveness when He, the Incarnate God, suffered without complaining on Golgotha and prayed on the Cross for his enemies: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). St. Stephen the Archdeacon acted in the same way by praying for his murderers while they were stoning him: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge (Acts 7:60). According to the Holy Fathers, when we endure injustices without harboring bitterness—this is a kind of martyrdom. It is unto our salvation. Our Lord has told us: Blessed are you, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy: For behold, your reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:22–23). In his book Strife and Reconciliation, Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev points out: “If we make peace with our enemy, our success is double: we have snatched both ourselves and him from the claws of the evil one. If we do not succeed in persuading our enemy to be reconciled, we should not continue in our spitefulness toward him. We should not hate him as he hates us, so that the loss will not be doubled and our soul not perish together with his. In such cases, the wisest thing to do is to forgive him, so that if he perishes at least we will not be devoured by the devil.” [24] In The Prologue of Ohrid, St. Nikolai Velimirovich relates a profitable tale that powerfully illustrates this point. In the entry for February 9, the Life of the Holy Martyr Nicephorus, we read: The biography of this martyr clearly demonstrates how God rejects pride and crowns humility and love with glory. There lived in Antioch two close friends, the learned priest Sapricius and the simple layman Nicephorus. Somehow their friendship turned into a terrible hatred for each other. The God-fearing Nicephorus attempted on many occasions to make peace with the priest. However, at no time did Sapricius desire to be reconciled. When a persecution of Christians began in the year 260, the presbyter Sapricius was condemned to death and brought to the place of execution. The sorrowful Nicephorus followed after Sapricius, beseeching him along the way to forgive him before his death, so that they might depart in peace. “I beseech you, O martyr of Christ,” said Nicephorus, “forgive me if I have sinned against you!” Sapricius did not even want to look at his opponent, but quietly and arrogantly walked toward his death. Upon seeing the hardness of the priest’s heart, God did not want to accept the sacrifice of his martyrdom and crown him with a wreath, so He mysteriously withheld His Grace. At the last moment, Sapricius denied Christ and declared before the executioners that he would bow down before the idols. So it is with blind hatred! Nicephorus implored Sapricius not to deny Christ, saying, “O my beloved brother, do not do that; do not deny our Lord Jesus Christ; do not forfeit the heavenly wreath!” But all was in vain. Sapricius remained adamant. Then Nicephorus cried out to the executioners, “I too am a Christian; behead me in place of Sapricius!” The executioners informed the judge of this, and the judge ordered the release of Sapricius and beheaded Nicephorus in his place. Nicephorus joyfully lowered his head on the block and was beheaded. Thus, he was made worthy of the Kingdom and was crowned with the immortal wreath of glory. [25] 8. The Law of Forgiveness Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a spiritual law: If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt. 6:14–15). Elder Sampson affirms that this Divine law is absolute: “No virtue,” he says, “can atone for the lack of forgiveness. No podvig [ascetic undertaking], no almsgiving can atone for the refusal to forgive. “ And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matt. 6:12). That is the only condition for being heard by God, for salvation. You cannot buy off God with formalities. The law of God is an absolute law! That is why it is so painful and difficult for us when we meet souls which are not Christian, that is, souls which have no intention, or even the desire, to forgive.” [26] In the Lives of the Saints, there are many accounts which show that Christ’s law regarding forgiveness is truly absolute. For example, in The Spiritual Meadow we read the account of the Desert Father, Abba Isaac: “Once,” says Abba Isaac, “a demon approached me in the form of a youth. ‘You are mine,’ the demon said. I asked him how he could say that. ‘Because three Sundays running you have received Holy Communion while being at daggers-drawn with your neighbor,’ he said. I told him he was lying. But he said, ‘Are you not harboring a grudge against him because of a plate of lentils? I am the one who is in charge of grudges, and, from now on, you are mine.’ When I heard that, I left my cell, went to the brother and prostrated myself before him in order to be reconciled with him. When I returned to my cell I found that the demon had burned my mat on which I prostrated myself, because he was so consumed with jealousy for our love.” [27] An even more sobering tale is found in the Russian Lives of Saints for February 27: the Life of St. Titus of the Kiev Caves, who lived in the twelfth century: In the Russian monastery of the Kiev Caves there lived a hieromonk by the name of Titus. He and the deacon Evagrius loved each other very much and got along very well. Everyone marveled at their sincere friendship, but the devil then embroiled them so badly that they could not stand each other. When one of them was censing the church, the other one ran away from the incense; and even if he could not escape in time, the first one did not cense him. A long time passed and they lived constantly in this sinful darkness, and thus irreconciled they dared to take Holy Communion. The brothers pleaded with them to make peace, but they would not hear of it. It was God’s Providence that the priest Titus should fall fatally ill. He then began to cry bitterly for his sin and sent people to ask the deacon Evagrius for forgiveness on his behalf. The deacon not only did not forgive him, but he cursed him with bitter words. The brothers, when they saw that Titus was already in agony, brought Evagrius by force to reconcile them. The sick man stood up with great difficulty, fell at the feet of the deacon, and begged him with tears in his eyes, “Forgive me, Father!” But Evagrius callously turned his face away from him and said, “I do not want to forgive him, either here or in the life to come!” As he said these words, he tore himself from the hands of the brothers and fell to the ground. They wanted to lift him up, but they found him dead. At the same time, the blessed Titus was immediately healed. Everyone was terrified by the occurrence and began asking Titus what it meant. Then he told them what he had seen with his spiritual eyes: “When I was ill and I did not give up my anger towards my brother, I saw that the angels were withdrawing from me and were crying over the death of my soul, and that the demons were rejoicing at my anger. That is why I asked you to go to the brother and implore him for his forgiveness for me. When you brought him to me, and I bowed before him and he turned away from me, I saw an angel who was holding a fiery spear and who struck the unforgiving one with it. Immediately, he fell dead. But to me the same angel gave his hand and helped me up, and here I am healthy again.” [28] In the book Strife and Reconciliation, Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev comments on this story: “How often in life it happens that embittered and irreconciled Christians suddenly leave this world and set out for the Kingdom of Eternity with anger in their souls! What pardon can they expect from God if they themselves have not forgiven those who have sinned against them?! It is terrible to live irreconciled, but it is even worse to die irreconciled! Bitterness and strife make the soul unfit to bear Divine Grace, and thus they destroy it…. “In the Life of St. Basil the New it is said that the last trial with which souls passing to the other world are tested is the trial of mercifulness. This is not by accident, but in accordance with God’s law. If we have observed and fulfilled all the commandments and avoided all sins, but we have remained irreconcilable and bitter towards our personal enemies, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only the merciful will be shown mercy. The man who has been lenient towards others will enjoy God’s lenience toward his own weaknesses. The spiteful will remain unforgiven. St. Tikhon of Zadonsk says clearly: ‘The doors of God’s mercy open before the thieves, murderers, fornicators, publicans, and all other sinners, but they close before the spiteful.'” [29] In his monastery in Romania, St. Paisius Velichkovsky commanded that, if some disturbance were to occur among the brethren, there must be true reconciliation on that very day, according to the Scripture: Do not let the sun go down on your anger (Eph. 4:26). And if someone were to grow hard in heart, not wishing to be reconciled, he was not allowed over the threshold of the Church, nor allowed to say the “Our Father” until he became reconciled. [30] How could he say without hypocrisy the words, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, unless he had truly forgiven? By not allowing irreconciled brothers into the church, St. Paisius made them aware that their prayers would not be heard, and they would not be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, if they held onto their resentment. As we enter the church, and especially as we approach the Holy Chalice, let us remember this. Let us remember everything that the Holy Scriptures, the teachings of the Holy Fathers, and the Lives of Saints have told us about how necessary it is to shed our resentments and have a forgiving heart. If we forgive our neighbors their transgressions, then and only then will God forgive us. Then and only then will we be able to pray boldly: And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, because He Himself has said: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. 9. Offenses as Blessings If looked at in the right way, the offences that come to us are actually blessings in disguise. They offer us an opportunity to forgive and thus receive God’s blessings and Grace. As St. Ignatius Brianchaninov affirms, “All the sorrows and sufferings caused us by other people never come to us except with God’s permission for our essential good. If these sorrows and troubles were not absolutely necessary for us, God would never allow them. They are indispensable, in order that we may have occasion to forgive our neighbors and so receive forgiveness for our own sins…. Let us force our heart to accept from our neighbor all kinds of offences and injuries that they may inflict upon us, so as to receive forgiveness for our countless sins.” [31] When we forgive, then our hearts, once darkened and weighed down by the sin of resentment, are made light and free. We receive the ability to attain true, pure prayer, undistracted by any cares or anxieties about ourselves, or by any fears and apprehensions. We live in simplicity of heart, free from care, for, as the Scripture says, Perfect love casts out fear (I John 4:18). This simplicity, this peace and lightness, is a foretaste of the heavenly blessedness that awaits all those who follow the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ: Forgive. I would like to conclude now with a poem by St. Nikolai Velimirovich, entitled “Forgiveness,” which well sums up everything that has been said thus far: That God may forgive us, let us forgive men. We are all on this earth as temporary guests. Prolonged fasting and prayer is in vain Without forgiveness and true mercy. God is the true Physician; sins are leprosy. Whomever God cleanses, God also glorifies. Every merciful act of men, God rewards with mercy. He who returns sin with sin perishes without mercy. Pus is not cleansed by pus from infected wounds, Neither is the darkness of the dungeon dispelled by darkness, But pure balm heals the festering wound, And light disperses the darkness of the dungeon. To the seriously wounded, mercy is like a balm; As if seeing a torch dispersing the darkness, everyone rejoices in mercy. The madman says, “I have no need of mercy!” But when he is overcome by misery, he cries out for mercy! Men bathe in the mercy of God, And that mercy of God wakens us to life! That God may forgive us, let us forgive men, We are all on this earth as temporary guests. [32] Endnotes St. John Chrysostom, Homilies Concerning the Statutes 11:3, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1989), p. 413.St. John Cassian, “On the Eight Vices,” in The Philokalia, vol. 1 (London: Faber and Faber, 1979), p. 83.St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, Tvoreniya (Works), vol. 2 (St. Petersburg, 1912), p. 205 (in Russian). St. John Cassian “On the Eight Vices,” p. 84.St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Arena (Jordanville, N. Y.: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1983), p. 159. Alcoholics Anonymous (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, third edition, 1976), p. 64. St. Dorotheus of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1977), p. 154 Elder Sampson (Seivers), “Discussions and Teachings of Elder Sampson,” The Orthodox Word no. 177 (1994), pp. 214–15 [i] Ibid., p. 224. St. Symeon the New Theologian, “The Three Methods of Prayer, in The Philokalia, vol. 4 (London: Faber and Faber, 1995), p. 67. St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation (St. Herman Brotherhood, 1996), p. 289. St. Hesychius the Presbyter, “On Watchfulness and Holiness,” in The Philo­kalia, vol. 1, pp. 170–71. See also I. M. Kontzevitch, The Acquisition of the Holy Spirit in Ancient Russia (St. Herman Brotherhood, 1988), pp. 39–43. St. John Cassian, “On the Eight Vices,” p. 86. St. Dorotheus of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings, p. 150. Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), St. Silouan the Athonite (Essex, England: Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, 1991), p. 66. Benedicta Ward, trans., The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Oxford: A. R. Mowbray & Co., 1975), p. 142.Elder Sampson (Seivers), “Discussions and Teachings,” p. 222. St. Dorotheus of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings, pp. 144–45. Ibid., pp. 141–42. Counsels for Life: From the Life and Teachings of Father Ephipanios Theodoropoulos (Thessaloniki, Greece: “Orthodox Kypseli,” 1995), p. 80. St. Dorotheus of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings, p. 143. Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev, The Meaning of Suffering and Strife and Reconciliation (St. Herman Brotherhood, 1994), p. 95. Counsels for Life, pp. 80–81.Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev, Strife and Reconciliation, p. 102. St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Prologue of Ohrid, vol. 1 (Alhambra, Calif.: Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, 2002), pp. 143–44. Elder Sampson (Seivers), “Discussions and Teachings,” p. 219. St. John Moschos, The Spiritual Meadow (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1992), pp. 132–33. Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev, Strife and Reconciliation, pp. 73–74. Ibid., pp. 74, 109–10. Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky (St. Herman Brotherhood, 1976), p. 109. St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Arena, p. 164.St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Prologue of Ohrid, vol. 1, pp. 208–9. Published with permission of the St. Herman Brotherhood .

Fathers – On bearing the Cross, St. Theophan Editor’s Introduction Saint Theophan the Recluse (1815–1894) was a prolific Rus- sian spiritual author, whose writings remain influential to the pres- ent day. Born George Vasilievich Govorov, the son of a priest, he became a monk at the Kiev Theological Academy in 1841. After his ordination to the priesthood the same year, he served the Church in a number of assignments, including as rector of several theological schools and as a member of the Russian Mission in Jerusalem. In 1859 he was consecrat- ed Bishop of Tambov, and four years later was transferred to the see of Vladimir. In 1866, St. Theophan petitioned for retirement, and moved to the Vysha Hermitage in the Tambov province. After six years he went into reclusion, during which time he wrote the majority of his works, which include translations, scriptural commentaries, several books on the spiritual life, and a voluminous correspondence. He reposed at the age of seventy-nine on the Feast of Theophany, January 6, 1894. He was glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988. The present work was first published in Moscow in 1885, as a sixteen-page booklet, and was published eight more times before the Revolution, sometimes separately and sometimes as part of collections. THE ORTHODOX WORD It is an inspiring work, in which St. Theophan vividly emphasizes the impossibility of salvation without the Cross, and gives the reader a practical guide in living the Christian life as a cross-bearer. Homily 1 God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14), says the holy Apostle Paul. How did this holy Apos- tle attain such a disposition that he wished to glory in nothing other than the Cross of Christ? The Cross is, in every way, affliction, oppres- sion, and humiliation—how can one glory in it? However, the holy Apostle gloried in it and, along with him, of course, all the Apostles, and after them all the other cross-bearers gloried in it as well. Why is that so? Divinely wise men had their eyes opened to the great mean- ing of the Cross, valued it highly, and gloried that they were made worthy to bear it. Instead of oppression they saw breadth; instead of grief, sweetness; instead of humiliation, greatness; instead of dishonor, glory—and they gloried in it like someone else would glory in some splendid adornment or rank. Oh, when will the Lord grant us, too, such sense and disposition as to understand and experience the power of the Cross and begin to glory in it? Here is a brief, general explanation of the meaning of the Cross: The Lord accomplished our salvation by His death on the Cross; on the Cross He tore up the handwriting of our sins; through the Cross He reconciled us with our God and Father; and through the Cross He brought down upon us grace-filled gifts and all heavenly blessings. But this is the Lord’s Cross itself. Each of us becomes a partaker of its sal- vific power in no other way than through our personal cross. When the personal cross of each of us is united with Christ’s Cross, the power and effect of the latter is transferred to us and becomes, as it were, a conduit through which every good gift and every perfect gift (James 1:17) is poured forth upon us from the Cross of Christ. From this it is evident that the personal cross of each of us is as essential to the work of salvation as the Cross of Christ. And you will not find one saved person who was not a cross-bearer. It is for this reason that everyone is surrounded by crosses on all sides—so that we will not be hampered by having to look for crosses to bear, and so that we will not be far from the salvific power of Christ’s Cross. One can say it this way: Look around yourself and you will see your cross. Bear it as you should, unit- ing it with Christ’s Cross, and you will be saved. Although everyone bears his cross reluctantly—and for the most part crosses are not simple but complex—not everyone looks at his cross through Christ’s Cross. Not everyone turns it into a mechanism for his salvation. Therefore, not everyone’s cross is a salvific cross. Let us take a look at all the possible crosses and see how one ought to bear each of them, that they might be a force unto salvation. There are many crosses, but there are three kinds: The first kind are outward crosses, consisting of sorrows and misfortunes and, in general, of the bitter lot of our earthly sojourn. The second kind are inward crosses, which arise from the struggle against the passions and lusts, for the sake of acquiring the virtues. The third kind are spiritual, grace-filled crosses, which are laid upon us through absolute devotion to God’s will. Below I will say a few words to you about outward crosses. These are the most complex and diverse crosses. They are scattered on all our paths and are encountered at almost every step. These are sorrows, misfortunes, the loss of loved ones, failures at work, every sort of deprivation and loss, family troubles, adversities related to outward circumstances, insults, of- fences, wrongful accusations, and, in general, our earthly lot, which is difficult for everyone to a greater or lesser degree. Is there anyone who does not have one or another of these crosses? And it is impossible for us not to. Neither eminence, nor riches, nor glory, nor any kind of earthly greatness will deliver one from them. They became a part of our earthly sojourn the moment the earthly paradise was closed, and they will not recede until the heavenly paradise is opened to us. If you want these crosses to be unto your salvation, make use of them in accordance with God’s intention when He appointed them to mankind in general, and to you in particular. Why did the Lord arrange that on earth no one would be without afflictions and bur- dens? So that man would not forget that he is an exile, and so that he would live on earth, not as someone in his own land, but as a stranger and a foreigner in a foreign land, and might seek his return to his true homeland. As soon as man sinned, he was cast out of paradise, and outside of paradise was surrounded by sorrows and deprivations, and every kind of discomfort, that he might remember that he is not in his own place but is under punishment, and that he might take care to seek pardon and a return to his own rank. So, seeing afflictions, unhappiness, and tears, don’t be surprised— endure them and don’t be annoyed. That is how it must be. It does not befit someone who is a criminal and disobedient man to have total prosperity and happiness. Take this to heart and bear your lot with equanimity. But why, you will say, do I have more, and someone else has less? Why do misfortunes burden me, while someone else has good fortune in al- most everything? Why am I torn up over sorrows, while someone else is consoled? If this is the common lot, it would be dispensed to everyone without exception. And, in fact, it is so dispensed. Take a look and you’ll see. Today it’s hard for you, while for someone else it was hard yesterday or will be hard tomorrow, while now the Lord is permitting him to have a rest. Why are you looking at hours and days? Look at someone’s whole life, from beginning to end, and you’ll see that everyone has it hard, and very hard. Will you find anyone who rejoices his whole life? Even kings often can’t sleep at night from anguish of heart. You have it hard now, but haven’t you seen happy days before? And, may God grant it, you’ll see more of them. Be patient! The skies above you will clear. In life, as in nature, there are both bright and gloomy days. Has there ever been a time when a storm cloud didn’t pass? And has there ever been anyone in the world that thought it wouldn’t? Don’t think that way about your own grief either, and you’ll rejoice in hope. It’s hard for you. But is this an accident without cause? Lift up your head a little and remember that there is the Lord, Who takes paternal care of you and never lets His eyes drop from you. If sorrow has over- taken you, it’s not otherwise than with His consent and will. It’s none other than He Who sent it to you. He knows quite precisely what, to whom, when, and how to send it; and when He sends it, He does so for the good of the one to whom it’s sent. So, look around—and you’ll see God’s good intentions toward you in the afflictions that have overtaken you. The Lord either wants to wash away some sin, or to lead you away from a sinful deed, or to cover up a greater sorrow with a smaller one, or to give you an occasion for patience and for demon- strating faithfulness to the Lord, so as to show forth the glory of His mercy upon you later. It is, of course, one of these that relates to you. Seek out what it is precisely, and apply it to your wound like a plaster, and you’ll assuage its burning heat. If, however, you don’t clearly see precisely what God wanted to give you through the sorrow that has overwhelmed you, raise up in your heart the general, non-speculative belief that everything that comes from the Lord is for our good, and give a shove to your disturbed soul: this is what is pleasing to God. Endure! He whom He punishes is like a son to Him! Above all, pay attention to your moral state and its corresponding eternal lot. If you’re sinful—and of course you’re sinful—rejoice that the fire of affliction has come and is burning up your sins. You keep looking at sorrow from an earthly standpoint. But you will be borne away to another life. Stand at the Judgment. Gaze upon the everlasting fire prepared for sins, and look at your sorrows from that standpoint. If you have to be condemned there, what sorrows would you not want to bear here, if only not to fall under that condemnation? You’d want to be cut and burned now every day, if only not to fall under inde- scribable and unceasing torment there. Is it not better, in order not to experience that there, to bear sorrows that are not so great now, and through this to be delivered from the eternal flame? Say to yourself: “Such blows are being sent to me for my sins,” and thank the Lord that His goodness is leading you to repentance. Then, instead of fruit- less grieving, recognize what kind of sin you have, repent, and cease sinning. When you are so disposed, of course you’ll say: “This is not much. According to my sins I deserve more!” So, whether you’re bearing the common bitter lot or you’re expe- riencing personal sorrows and afflictions, endure with equanimity, re- ceiving this with thanksgiving from the hand of the Lord as a rem- edy for sins, as a key that opens the door to the Heavenly Kingdom. Don’t complain, don’t envy anyone else, and don’t give yourself over to senseless grief. For in sorrows it happens that one person is vexed and begins to complain, another loses his self-possession and falls into despair, and another immerses himself in his sorrow and only grieves, without moving his thoughts and leading his heart on high, to God. All such people do not make use of the crosses sent to them as they ought to, letting the favorable time and the day of salvation slip by. The Lord hands them the making of their own salvation, and they spurn it. Misfortune and sorrow have befallen. You’re bearing a cross. Make it so that this bearing will be unto salvation, and not unto perdition. For this it’s required not to move mountains, but to make small chang- es in the thoughts of your mind and the dispositions of your heart. Arouse gratitude within yourself, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, repent, and correct your life. If faith in God’s direction of all things has left you, return it to your bosom, and kiss the right hand of God. If the connection of your sorrow to your sins is hid- den from you, sharpen the eye of your conscience, and you’ll see and mourn over your sin and moisten the dryness of your sorrow with tears of repentance. If you’ve forgotten that the bitterness of your earthly lot redeems you from the bitterest eternal fate, revive your recollection of this and to your equanimity add the desire for sorrows, so that for the small sorrows endured here, eternal mercy from the Lord will meet you. Is all this very difficult? Yet such thoughts and feelings are the threads by which our cross is connected to Christ’s Cross, from which flows salvific power for us. Without them the cross remains upon us and weighs us down, but has no salvific qualities, being separated from Christ’s Cross. Then we’re not saved cross-bearers, and cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having told you a little of the much there is to say about outward crosses, I invite you, brethren, to walk in wisdom, redeeming the time of sorrow and afflictions with placid, grateful, repentant endurance. Then we’ll feel the salvific effect of these sorrowful crosses and will re- joice when we’re subject to them, seeing through them the light of glo- ry, and we’ll learn to glory in them not only for the sake of the future, but also for the fruits we receive from them at the present time. Amen. Homily 2 Of the three kinds of crosses, I’ve told you a few words about one, that is, about outward crosses: sorrows, misfortunes, and deprivations. Now I’ll tell you something about the second kind of cross, inward crosses. Inward crosses are encountered by us during the struggle against the passions and lusts. The holy Apostle Paul says: They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Gal. 5:24). Cruci- fied? That means that there is a cross upon which these passions and lusts are crucified. What kind of cross is this? It’s the struggle against them. To crucify the passions means to weaken them, suppress them, and uproot them. If a man fights against a certain passion a few times, he weakens it; if he fights a little more, he suppresses it; if he keeps fighting, he will totally uproot it, with God’s help. As this is a difficult, sorrowful, and painful struggle, it’s truly a cross, raised up within us. When someone is fighting against the passions, sometimes it seems as if his hands are nailed, as if he’s wearing a crown of thorns on his head, as if his living heart is pierced. That is how heavy and painful it can be for him. It’s impossible for there not to be labor and pain, for although the passions are foreign to us, nevertheless, coming from outside, they’ve grafted themselves onto our body and soul to such a degree that they’ve penetrated into all their structures and powers. Try to tear them out, and it will hurt. It will hurt, but it will be salvific, and this salvific as- pect is attained in no other way than through pain. There is a con- dition known as a polyp—a kind of foreign body arises in our body, grows, and puts out roots. If you don’t cut it out, you won’t be healed, but if you cut it out, it will hurt. Let it hurt—this pain will bring back your health. If you leave it and don’t cut it out, it will also hurt—only this pain will not be unto health, but unto the increase of the disease, perhaps even unto death. What about anthrax—how is it treated? The pustule is cut out, the spot is cauterized, and then a poison is applied and rubbed in. It’s painful, but on the other hand, it’s curative. But if you leave it as it is, the pain will be there, and what’s more, you won’t escape death. So it is with fighting against the passions or uprooting them—it’s painful, but then again it’s salvific. But if you leave the pas- sions and don’t uproot them, they’ll still cause burdens, pain, and suf- fering—however, not unto salvation, but unto perdition and spiritual death, for the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). What passion is not painful? Anger burns, envy dries one up, lust enfeebles one, miserliness does not let one eat or sleep, and offend- ed pride murderously eats away at one’s heart. Every other passion as well—hatred, suspicion, peevishness, man-pleasing, passionate attachment to things and people—all of them cause us torment, so that liv- ing with the passions is like walking barefoot across knives or coals, or like the condition of a man whose heart is being sucked at by snakes. Again, who is without passions? Everyone has them. As soon as there is self-love, there are all the passions, for this is the mother of the pas- sions, and it does not exist without its daughters. However, not every- one has them to the same degree: one person has one of them, while in someone else another one predominates and is in charge of the others. And since each person has passions, there is also torment from them. The passions torture and crucify each person—however, not unto salvation, but unto perdition. Thus, bearing the passions, one is tormented by them and perish- es. Isn’t it better to take oneself in hand and bring about suffering in oneself—also concerning the passions—but unto salvation rather than unto perdition? One has only to turn the knife around and, instead of satisfying the passions, to strike oneself with it, to strike the pas- sions with it, beginning the fight against them and contradicting them in everything. Here there will be pain and suffering of heart, but it will be a healing pain, after which there immediately follows a com- forting calmness, as occurs when a healing plaster contacts a wound. For instance, someone gets angry—it’s difficult and unpleasant for him to overcome it, but when he overcomes it, he becomes calm. But if he satisfies it, he’ll be disturbed for a long time. Someone is offended, and it’s hard for him to master himself and forgive. When he forgives, he becomes peaceful, whereas when he takes revenge, he sees no peace. If a passionate attachment has flared up, it’s difficult to extinguish it. But when you extinguish it, you’ll see the light of God, whereas if you don’t extinguish it, you’ll walk around like a broken man. So it is with regard to every passion. A passion torments one, and the fight against it causes afflictions. But the former destroys, while the latter saves and heals. One must say to every passionate person: “You’re perishing on the cross of the passions. Destroy that cross and set up another: the cross of the fight against it. And you’ll be crucified on it unto salva- tion!” All of this is clear as day, and it would appear that the choice is not very difficult. However, in fact this doesn’t always prove true. One ought to be amazed at our blindness. Someone suffers from a passion, and keeps on satisfying it. He sees that by satisfying it he brings more and more evil upon himself, but he goes on satisfying it. What inexplicable enmity against ourselves! Someone intends to take up arms against a passion, but just as soon as the passion awakens with its demands, he immediately goes after it. He again gets ready to fight it, and again yields. This happens several times, with the same success. An inexplicable enfeebling of one’s moral powers! Where is the delusion and deception? In the fact that the passion promises mountains of pleasure for satisfying it, while the fight against it promises nothing. But, after all, how many times has it already been experienced that the satisfaction of the passions does not bring happiness and peace, but torment and lethargy? It promises much, but gives nothing, while the struggle promises nothing, but gives everything. If you’ve never tried this, test it out and you’ll see. However, our trouble is that we don’t brace ourselves to test it out. The reason for this is self-pity. Self-pity is our most flattering traitor and enemy, the first offspring of self-love. We pity ourselves and bring about our own destruction. We think that we’re doing good to ourselves, but we’re doing evil; and the more evil we do, the more we desire to do evil. From this, evil grows, and our final destruction draws nearer to us. Let us be inspired, brethren, and let us go courageously to the cross of self-crucifixion, through the crucifixion and uprooting of the pas- sions and lusts. Let us turn away from self-pity and become enflamed with zeal for self-accusation. Let us acquire the heart of a physician who, when necessary, makes sharp incisions and cauterizations even on beloved and respected persons. I’m not going to show you the meth- ods and the whole process of the struggle. Get down to business, and it will clarify and teach you everything. Bring to mind that peace, that joy, and that light which will establish themselves in your heart after the overcoming of the passions, and by this enkindle your zeal to rise up against them. Light, peace, and joy arise from the very beginning of this struggle, and they keep growing and rising, until at last they’re crowned by a peaceful disposition of heart, in which God rests. And the God of peace truly unceasingly abides with him who reaches this stage. Then it is fully proven that the Cross is the tree of life. The paradisal tree of life remained in paradise. In its place the tree of the Cross was set up on earth. The goal of both is the same: if a man eats, he will live. Come, cleave to it with your lips and drink life from it. You will cleave to the Cross when, having spurned self-pity, you become zealous for self-crucifixion; and you’ll begin to drink life from it when you enter into the struggle against the passions. Each conquest of the passions will be the same as receiving life-giving sap from the life-giving Cross. Do it more often, and you will the sooner slake your thirst and be filled with life. Wondrous are the properties of self-crucifixion! It seems to take away, but in taking away, it gives; it seems to cut off, but in cutting off, it imparts; it seems to kill, but in killing, it gives life. It is none other than the Cross of Christ, by which death is trampled down and life is given. What a good thing—but the labor is great! The first step is to labor—the first conquest of yourself, the initial resolution to struggle. Later, no matter how many skirmishes there are in battle, it becomes easier and easier. Zeal will flare up more powerfully, your knowledge of how to overcome will be increased, and the enemy will grow weaker. As, in ordinary battles, soldiers are only frightened to begin, while later this is no longer the case, as everything becomes easy for them, so it is in spiritual warfare. Just begin, and the battle will heat up on its own and become easier. Then, the more ar- dent and lively the skirmishes become, the sooner the end of the battle will come, and the closer peace will be. Not enough strength to begin? Pray. The Lord will send it. Surround yourself with thoughts about the danger of remaining in the passions, and in this way you’ll spur yourself on from their darkness to the light of freedom. Animate in yourself the feeling of the torment of the passions, and you’ll burn with irritation against them and with the desire to rid yourself of them. But above all, having confessed your weakness before the Lord, stand and knock at the door of His mercy, and cry out for help. Help will come! The Lord will look upon you, and the light from His eyes will burn up the self-pity in you and will enkindle the zeal to courageously arm yourself against the passions. And if the Lord is with us, who can be against us? O Lord, Thou Judge of the contest, Who hast inspired us with zeal to enter upon the struggle of the fight against the passions, do Thou Thyself give us the strength to stand therein, that under the banner of Thy Cross we might fight the good fight, looking unto Thee, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2), Who by the Cross didst establish salvation for us and therein didst grant us life. Amen. Homily 3 It yet remains to explain to you the third form of the cross that is salvific for us: the cross of devotion to the will of God. I’ll tell you a word or two about it, because a complete teaching about it exceeds my strength. It is those who are already perfected Christians that ascend this cross. They even know this, and would be able to speak about it clearly, fully, and with power. How could others speak that way? It’s impossible not to mention this, so that one of you, who has overcome one or another of the passions and has calmed down a little inwardly from the anxiety caused by it, might not think that he’s already done what he ought to do, or what is expected from a Christian. No, even in this case not everything has been done yet. Even he who has completely purified himself from the passions has not yet ac- complished the main Christian activity, but has only prepared himself for it. If you have purified yourself from the passions, now offer your- self up as a pure and unsullied sacrifice to God—one that is befitting to Him Who is Most Pure. Look at Golgotha. The cross of the wise thief is the cross of purification from the passions, while the Cross of the Lord is a cross of pure and unspotted sacrifice. And it is this one that is the fruit of devotion to the will of God—unquestioning, total, and irrevocable. What raised our Savior up onto the Cross? This devo- tion. In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed that the cup might pass from Him, but He expressed His resolute decision about it this way: Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt (Matt. 26:39). At His words I am He (John 18:5–8), those who had come to bind Him fell to the ground. But then they bound Him. Why? Be- cause He had first bound Himself by His devotion to the will of God. Under the Cross, all creation trembled and the dead received life, but He remained on the Cross, for He had given up His spirit to God. Such are all who have grown unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). They are all crucified, so to speak, on God’s will. All of their movements, thoughts, and desires are nailed to that cross. Or, they no longer have these things at all, in the usual sense—everything that is theirs has already died, swallowed up by the will of God. What moves such people are God’s beckoning and God’s inspiration, which, in a way known to them alone, are im- pressed in their heart and determine all their actions. The holy Apostle Paul, referring to himself, describes this state thus: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me (Gal. 2:20). As soon as he was crucified with Christ, he, an apostle, a perfect man, ceased to live himself, but Christ began to live in him. Or, he began to be in the kind of state about which he writes elsewhere: It is God Who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). This is the height of Christian perfection to which man is capable of attaining. It is the beginning of the future state after the Resurrec- tion, when God will be all in all (I Cor. 15:28). This is why all who are made worthy to receive it are often in opposition to all the ways of earthly existence, and either endure persecution and torment, or be- come and are considered as fools, or withdraw to the wilderness. But in all these forms of outward fate, their inward state is the same: they are alone, with God alone abiding in their heart. They live and act through Him alone, concealing themselves in the most inward, most profound stillness, in the total absence of any movement. It is said that high up in the outer limits of our atmosphere all the movements of earthly ele- ments cease. Only the universal element exists there peacefully. This is an image of those who are crucified with Christ, who have ceased to live their own life and have begun to live only in Christ, or, to put it another way, who have ascended the cross of devotion to God’s will, which alone becomes their quality of soul and acts in them with the denial of every personal judgment and action. I have nothing more to say to you about this. And this has only been said in order to give you a hint as to where the end is, where we need to be, and what we have to attain, and so that, knowing this, you would resolve to consider every good thing that you have or do to be as nothing, if you have not reached this height of spiritual life that has been determined for and expected from us. Many have the idea that Christianity is the same as other kinds of life, but this is not so. It begins with repentance, ripens through the fight against the passions, and is perfected when the pure, inner man, immersed in God, is cruci- fied along with Christ. For ye are dead, says the Apostle, and your life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Here everything is accomplished inwardly, unseen by people, and known only by one’s conscience and God. The outward here is nothing. It is, of course, a proper covering, but it is not a definite witness, nor even more so is it the producer of that which is inward. How often outward, well-ordered behavior is like a coffin that’s beautiful on the outside, but full of bones! Seeing this, brethren, let us stand at Golgotha by the crosses, and let us begin to compare ourselves to those who bore them and them to us, to see which one applies to us. Simon of Cyrene, who bore Christ’s Cross (cf. Matt. 27:32), is an image of those cross-bearers who are subjected to outward sorrows and deprivations. As to those who represent the cruci- fied wise thief and those who represent the Lord on the Cross, I have just told you above: the former depicts those who are fighting against the passions and the latter depict perfect men, crucified in devotion to God. And whom does the cross of the bad thief depict? It depicts those who serve the passions. The passions torture them, torment them, crucify them to death, without giving them any comfort or good hope. Using these images, compare your crosses to these crosses and accordingly determine who you are—Simon of Cyrene; the wise thief; an imitator of Christ the Lord; or the bad thief, consumed by the passions. Whoever you find yourself to be, expect a corresponding end. I will only add this: throw out of your head the idea that you can, through a comfortable life, become what you must be in Christ. If true Christians do have pleasures, they’re absolutely incidental. The most distinguish- ing characteristics of their existence are sufferings and sicknesses—in- ward and outward, voluntary and involuntary. We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom (Acts 14:22), and into that which is within it. The first step here is the immediate change of your will from bad to good, which consists in a heart of repentance. This is reflect- ed in a deadly pain from the wound of contrition, from which blood flows like sweat during the whole course of the battle against the pas- sions, and which only closes after the attainment of purity, which leads the Christian up onto the cross of crucifixion together with Christ in doing the will of God. Everything is sorrows, sicknesses, and burdens. One can say it this way: the state of consolation is evidence of a circu- itous path, while the state of tribulation is evidence of the right path. Pondering this, rejoice, cross-bearers! And what about you, who are comforted? Listen to the words of Abraham to the rich man in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Luke 16:19–26). Here you are comforted, while others suffer for the sake of Christ and His sacred law. But in the next world it will be the opposite: those who have walked the way of the Cross will be comforted, whereas those who were comforted will suffer. You’ll say: “So, evidently it’s forbid- den to make merry or allow yourself some kind of pleasure.” Well, do the main thing first, and later you can allow the other. For some, the only thing they do is this: today a ball, tomorrow the theater, then an outdoor party, light reading and conversation, and all sorts of amuse- ments—passing from one pleasantry to another. But not a thought for the main thing, for how to attain the state which every Christian must have. What fruit can one expect from such a life? Is our inward rela- tionship to God in Christ supposed to mature by itself, despite that outward disorder?! How is it supposed to mature? Can a candle burn in the wind? Does life increase from the ingestion of poison? No. If you want good for yourself, get rid of pleasures and enter on the path of the cross of repentance, burn up in the fire of self-crucifixion, be tempered in tears of heartfelt contrition—and you’ll become gold, or silver, or a precious stone, and in due time you’ll be taken by the Heavenly Householder as an adornment for His most bright and most peaceful mansions. Amen.

Before presenting the whole text, we have provided a bullet-point summary. See the full text below. A Summary of “On the Eight Vices” by St. John Cassian (1) “On Control of the Stomach” § There is not a single rule for fasting because we are different in many ways, but there is a single goal: to avoid over-eating and the filling of our bellies.  § The Fathers “also found a day’s fast to be more beneficial and a greater help toward purity than one extending over a period of three, four, or even seven days” (73).  § “Food is to be taken insofar as it supports our life, but not to the extent of enslaving us to the impulses of desire. To eat moderately and reasonably is to keep the body in health, not to deprive it of holiness” (74). § “A clear rule for self-control handed down by the Father is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied” (74).  § “By itself, abstinence from food does not contribute to perfect purity of soul unless the other virtues are active as well” (74).  § “No one whose stomach is full can fight mentally against the demon of unchastity” (74). (2) “On the Demon of Unchastity and the Desire of the Flesh” § “This harsh struggle has to be fought in both body and soul… bodily fasting is not enough to bring about perfect self-restraint and true purity; it must be accompanied by contrition of heart, intense prayer to God, frequent meditation on the Scriptures, toil and manual labour… humility of soul helps more than everything else… we should not trust in our own strength and ascetic practice, but in the help of our Master, God… for such a victory is beyond man’s natural powers” (75). § “We should therefore regard the defiled fantasies that arise in us during sleep as the proof of previous indolence and weakness still existing in us, since the emission which takes place while we are relaxed in sleep reveals the sickness that lies hidden in our souls” (76). § “The way to keep guard over our heart is immediately to expel from the mind every demon-inspired recollection of women” (76). § “The Fathers also say that we cannot fully acquire the virtue of purity unless we have first acquired real humility of heart” (77).  § “In addition, a great weapon has been given us in the form of sacred vigils; for just as the watch we keep over our thoughts by day brings us holiness at night, so vigil at night brings purity to the soul by day” (77). (3) “On Avarice” § The sickness of avarice can, with diligence and attention, be cut off more readily, because it enters from outside. If neglected, however, it becomes even harder to get rid of and more destructive than the other passions, for according to the Apostle it is “the root of all evil” (1 Tim. 6:10) (77-78). § Avarice is a passion deriving, not from our nature, but solely from an evil and perverted use of our free will.  § Avarice is also idolatry (Col 3:5).  § 3 forms of idolatry: 1. poor who want to acquire worldly goods, 2. those who renounced worldly goods to have regret & seek them again (Judas Iscariot), 3. those who do not completely detach themselves from worldly things (Ananias & Sapphira). § We must fight the good fight with Paul “in hunger and thirst… in cold and nakedness” (2 Cor 11:27).  § We  should therefore make every effort to cut out from our souls this root of all evils, avarice,  in the certain knowledge that if the root remains the branches will sprout freely (82). (4) “On Anger” § If you desire to attain perfection and rightly pursue the spiritual way, you should make yourself a stranger to all sinful anger and wrath (83).  § Anger blinds the soul’s eyes. Anger obstructs our spiritual vision.  § Expel malicious thoughts with anger § Our passions grow fiercer when left idle through lack of contact with other people (85). § We must cut off the roots of our sins and not merely the fruits. (5) “On Dejection” § The demon of dejection obscures the soul’s capacity for spiritual contemplation and keeps it from all good works. He prevents us from praying gladly, from reading Scripture with profit and perseverance, and from being gentle and compassionate towards our brethren… Just as moth devours clothing and a worm devours wood, so dejection devours a man’s soul. It persuades him to shun every helpful encounter and stops him accepting advice from his true friends or giving them a courteous and peaceful reply (87). § A man can be harmed by only through the causes of the passions which lie within himself… the soul’s health is achieved not by a man’s separating himself from his fellows, but by his living the ascetic life in the company of holy men (87). § The only form of dejection we should cultivate is the sorrow which goes with repentance for sin and is accompanied by hope in God (cf. 2 Cor 7:10). ‘Godly sorrow’ nourishes the soul through the hope engendered by repentance, and it is mingled with joy. That is why it makes us obedient and eager for every good work (88).  § It can be healed by prayer, hope in God, meditation on Holy Scripture, and by living with godly people (88) (6) “On Listlessness” § This demon works hand in hand with the demon of dejection.  § This demon always attacks us at mid-day, making us slack and full of fear, a deep hunger for food… (89) § he cannot be beaten off except through prayer, through avoiding useless speech, through the study of Holy Scriptures and through patience in the face of temptation (89)… through patience, prayer, and manual labour (91). (7) “On Self-Esteem” § The vice of self-esteem is difficult to fight against because it has many forms and appears in all our activities. Every task, every activity, gives this malicious demon a chance for battle… Do not do anything with a view to being praised by other people, but seek God’s reward only, always rejecting the thoughts of self-praise that enter your heart, and always regarding yourself as nothing before God (92-3). (8) “On Pride” § The demon of pride is the most sinister demon, fiercer than all others. He attacks the perfect above all and seeks to destroy those who have mounted almost to the heights of holiness. Pride corrupts the whole soul. We should guard our hearts with extreme care from the deadly spirit of pride.  § When we have attained some degree of holiness we should always repeat to ourselves the words of the Apostle: “Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10), as well as what was said by the Lord: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  § Perfection in holiness can be achieved only through humility. Humility, in its turn, can be achieved only through faith, fear of God, gentleness and the shedding of all possessions. It is by means of these that we attain perfect love, through the grace and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ. + + + From St. John Cassian, "The Conferences," (New York: Newman Press, 1997), pp. 183-196 http://www.pigizois.net/agglika/on_the_eight_deadly_sins.htm Our venerable and God-bearing Father John Cassian was a 4th/5th century monastic saint known for his writings on the monastic life and for his correctives of the anti-Pelagian writings of St. Augustine of Hippo. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is February 29th (celebrated on February 28th in non leap years), and it is also kept locally in Marseilles, France, on July 23rd. St. John was born in the Danube Delta in what is now Dobrogea, Romania, in about 360. In 382 he entered a monastery in Bethlehem and after several years there was granted permission, along with his friend St. Germanus of Dobrogea, to visit the Desert Fathers in Egypt. They remained in Egypt until 399 except for a brief period when they returned to Bethlehem and were released from the monastery there. Upon leaving Egypt they went to Constantinople where they met St. John Chrysostom, who ordained St. John Cassian as a deacon. He had to leave Comtantinople in 403 when St. Chrysostom was exiled, and eventually settled close to Marseilles where he was ordained priest and founded two monasteries, one for women and one for men. St. John's most famous works are the Imtitutes, which detail how to live the monastic life, and the Conferences, which provide details of conversation between St. John and St. Germanus and the Desert Fathers. He also warned against some of the excesses in St. Augustine of Hippo's theology whilst refraining from criticizing him by name. For this reason he has sometimes been accused of Semi-Pelagianism by the Latin and some Protestant commentators. St. John died peacefully in 435. In a community of very old men there was a man by the name of Serapion who was particularly adorned with the grace of discretion and whose conference I think is worth the effort to pur down in writing. When we had begged him to say something about the assault of the vices that would cast light on their origins and causes, he began in this way:  There are eight principal vices that attack humankind. The first is gluttony, which means the voraciousness of the belly; the second is fornication; the third is filargyria, which is avarice or love of money; the fourth is anger; the fifth is sadness; the sixth acedia, which is anxiety or weariness of heart; the seventh is cenodoxia, which is boastfulness or vainglory; and the eighth is pride.  Of these vices there are two kinds. They are either natural like gluttony or unnatural like avarice. But they have four kinds of operation. Certain ones cannot be consummated without bodily action, such as gluttony and fornication. Certain others, however, can be completed without any bodily action whatsoever, such as pride and vainglory. Some take their motivating causes from without, such as avarice and anger. Others, however, are aroused from within, such as acedia and sorrow. Let us make this still clearer not only by a short discussion as well as we are able, but also by scriptural texts. Gluttony and fornication, although they are in us naturally (for sometimes they also arise without any provocation from the mind but solely due to the instigation and itching of the flesh), nonetheless require external matter in order to be consummated, and thus they operate through bodily action. For everyone is tempted by his own lust. When lust has been conceived it gives birth to sin, but when sin has been consummated it brings forth death - "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."James 1:14-15) The first Adam would not have been able to be deceived by gluttony had he not had something to eat and immediately and lawlessly misused it, nor was the second tempted without the enticement of some substance, when it was said to him: ''And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." (Matthew 4:3). It is clear to everyone that fornication also is not committed except by means of the body, as God says to the blessed Job with reference to this spirit : ‘’Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly." (Job 40:16). Therefore these two in particular, which are exercised by means of the flesh, more especially require not only the spiritual concern of the soul but also bodily abstinence, since the mind's attentiveness is not enough of itself to check their urgings (as it sometimes does in the case of anger or sadness and other passions, which it can expel by mental effort alone and without chastising the flesh). Bodily discipline must come to its assistance, and this is accomplished by fasting, vigils, and works of penance, and to these is added living in a remote place, because just as they are generated through the fault of both soul and body, so they cannot be overcome except by the toil of both. Although the blessed Apostle has declared that all the vices in general are carnal, since he has numbered enmity (hostility) and anger and heresies among the other works of the flesh (Galatians p8-21 - "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."), nonetheless we make a distinction based on a twofold division for the sake of a more refined understanding of their remedies and their natures. For we say that some of them are carnal, while some others are spiritual. The carnal ones pertain especially to the enjoyment and feelings of the flesh; by them it is so delighted and gratified that it sometimes even arouses peaceful minds and drags them reluctantly to acquiesce in its will. About these the Apostle says: ''Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." (Ephesians 2:3). But we call spiritual those that, having arisen at the prompting of the soul alone, not only give no pleasure to the flesh but even inflict it with serious sufferings and merely provide the sick soul with the food of a miserable enjoyment. Therefore these have need of the medicine of a simple heart, whereas those that are carnal are only remedied by a twofold cure, as we have said. Hence it is important to those who strive for purity first of all to remove from themselves the very stuff of these carnal passions, by which either an occasion for or the memory of those same passions can be aroused in the soul that is still sick. For a twofold sickness necessarily requires a twofold cure. Seductive images and matter need to be removed from the body, lest lust attempt to break out into deeds, and by the same token a more careful medication on Scripture, constant watchfulness, and solitude must be applied to the soul, lest it so much as conceive this In thought. In the case of the other vices, however, human companionship is of no harm, and indeed it is even of great help to those who really want to be rid of them, since they are frequently rebuked by the presence of other people, and although aggravations more readily appear, they are quickly remedied. Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ, although he was declared by the Apostle to have been tempted in every respect as we are, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."(Hebrews 4:15). That is, he was without the contagion of this passion, having had no experience whatsoever of the pricks of fleshly lust by which we are inevitably stung, even unwittingly and unwillingly, for in his regard there was nothing like our own insemination and conception, as the Archangel said in announcing how his conception would take place: ''And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). Although these eight vices, then, have different origins and varying operations, yet the first six -- namely, gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, sadness, and acedia (anxiety, or weariness of the heart) -- are connected among themselves by a certain affinity and, so to speak, interlinking, such that the overflow of the previous one serves as the start of the next one. For from an excess of gluttony there inevitably springs fornication; from fornication, avarice; from avarice, anger; from anger, sadness; and from sadness, acedia. Therefore these must be fought against in a similar way and by the same method, and we must always attack the ones that follow by beginning with those that come before. For a tree whose width and height are harmful will more easily wither up if the roots which support it are exposed and cut beforehand, and pestilential waters will dry up when their rising source and rushing streams have been stopped up with skillful labor. In order to conquer acedia, sadness must first be overcome; in order to drive out sadness, anger must be cast out beforehand; in order to extinguish anger, avarice must be trampled on; in order to eradicate avarice, fornication must be repressed; in order to overthrow fornication, the vice of gluttony must be disciplined. But the two remaining ones, vainglory and pride, are linked in similar fashion, like the vices that we have spoken of, such that growth in the first becomes the start of the second, for an overflow of vainglory begets the beginnings of pride. But these differ wholly from those first six vices and are not leagued with them since they are not only not generated by them but even arise in a contrary manner and order. For when the former have been rooted out these sprout forth all the more, and at the death of the former these spring up and grow more vigorously. Hence we are also attacked by these two vices in a different way. We fall into one of those six vices when we have been seduced by the one that comes before it, but we are in danger of falling into these two when we are victorious and, indeed, particularly after triumphs. Each vice, then, since it is begotten by an increase in the one that comes before it, is purged away when the one before it is diminished. Therefore vainglory must be suffocated in order for pride to be driven out. Thus, whenever the preceding ones have been overcome, those that follow fall idle, and, with the extinction of the ones that go before, the remaining passions wither away without any effort. And although the eight vices that we have spoken about are connected and joined among themselves according to the scheme that we have mentioned, yet they are divided more particularly into four couplets. Fornication is allied by a special relationship to gluttony, anger is closely yoked to avarice, acedia to sadness, and pride to vainglory. The First Evil Pair: Gluttony and Fornication. Now let us discuss individually the different kinds of each vice. There are three kinds of gluttony. The first impels a person to hasten to eat before the fixed and lawful hour. The second is pleased with a full stomach and with devouring any edibles whatsoever. And the third desires more refined and delicate foods. These three entail no small loss for a person unless he struggles to extricate himself from all of them with equal diligence and care. For just as breaking the fast before the canonical hour is never to be dared, so likewise filling one's stomach and the preparation of costly and choice dishes must be avoided. From these three causes different and very bad states of health of the soul are produced. We notice that the traces of this passion are in us when perchance, having been invited to eat by one of the brothers, we are not content to eat the food with the condiment with which it was seasoned by our host but demand with importunate and unbridled boldness that something be poured on it or added to it. There are three reasons why this must never happen. In the first place, because the mind of the person must be practiced in the discipline of endurance and moderation and must, according to the Apostle, learn what a sufficiency consists in. For whoever takes offense at a slightly unpleasant taste and is unable to restrain the pleasure of the palate even for a moment will be completely incapable of controlling the hidden and greater desires of the body. Secondly, because it sometimes happens that the particular thing that we are asking for at a given moment is lacking and we would shame our host in his need and frugality by making known this poverty, which he would prefer to be known to God alone. Thirdly, because occasionally the condiment that we ask to have added is unpleasant to others, and we discover that we are annoying many people in trying to cater to our own gormandizing and desire. Therefore this boldness in us is to be disciplined in every respect. There are three kinds of fornication. The first takes place in the union of the sexes. The second occurs without touching a woman, and for it we read that Onan, the son of the patriarch Judah, was struck down by the Lord (Genesis 38:9-10). This is called impurity in Holy Scripture. About this the Apostle says: "I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." (I Corinthians 7:8-9). The third is that which is conceived in the soul and in the mind, and about which the Lord says in the Gospel: "But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5=28). "The blessed Apostle declares that these three kinds must all be extinguished in the same way when he says: "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3:5). And again he speaks of two of these to the Ephesians: 'Fornication and impurity should not be mentioned among you' (Ephesians 5:3). And again: "For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." (Ephesians 5:5). Just as we should guard against these three with equal care, so one is enough to keep us out of the kingdom of Christ. The Remaining Vices: Avarice, Anger, Sadness, Acedia, Vainglory and Pride There are three kinds of avarice. The first does not permit renunciants to be deprived of their wealth and property. The second persuades us by a still greater covetousness to take back What we have dispersed and distributed to the poor. The third demands that we long for and acquire what in fact we did not possess before. There are three kinds of anger. One blazes up interiorly. . . Another breaks out in word and deed and effect... About these the Apostle says: "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth." (Colossians 3:8). The third, unlike that which flares up, is not finished in a short space of time but is held over for days and seasons... All of these must be condemned by us with an equal horror. There are two kinds of sadness. The first is begotten once anger has ceased, or from some hurt that has been suffered or from a desire that has been thwarted and brought to naught. The other comes from unreasonable mental anguish or horn despair. There are two kinds of acedia (anxiety or weariness of heart). One makes those who are seething with emotion fall asleep. The other encourages a person to abandon his home and to flee. Although vainglory is multiform and multifarious and exists in many subdivisions, nonetheless it is of two kinds. The first is that by which we are uplifted because of carnal and external things. The second is that by which we are inflamed with the desire for empty praise because of spiritual and hidden things. Yet in one way vainglory is beneficial for beginners, for those who are still stirred up by carnal vices. If, thanks to a word spoken at the time when they happen to be harassed by the spirit of fornication, they should think of the dignity of the priestly office or of the opinion of people who might believe that they are holy and blameless, and if only because of this consideration they should reject the impure urges of desire, judging them as base and unworthy either of their own good name or of that rank, they are restraining the greater evil with a lesser one. For it is better for a person to be troubled by the vice of vainglory than for him to fall into the fire of fornication, from which he could not or could barely be saved once he had been ruined. One of the prophets expresses this sense very well when he speaks in the person of God: "For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off" (Isaiah 48:9). That is to say: As long as you are shackled by the praises of vainglory, you will never rush into the depths of hell and sink irretrievably by the commission of deadly sins. It is not surprising that this passion is so strong that it can hold back someone who is hastening to the destruction of fornication, since the frequent experience of many people shows that once someone has been poisoned by this disease he becomes so tireless that he does not even feel fasts of two or three days. Even in this desert we have often seen some people admit that when they were living in the cenobia of Syria they were easily able to go without eating for five days, whereas now they are so hungry at the third that they can hardly keep the daily fast until the ninth hour. When someone asked why, after having lived in a cenobium where he felt no hunger and often disdained to eat for whole weeks, he should now be hungry at the third hour. Macarius replied pointedly: "Because here there is no one to see you fasting and to support and sustain you with his praises. But there the attention of others and the food of vainglory filled you to repletion." The Eight Principal Vices: How to Fight Them Although these eight vices, then, disturb the whole human race, nonetheless they do not assail everyone in the same way. In one person the spirit of fornication is dominant, in another wrath rides roughshod, in a third vainglory tyrannizes, and in still another pride holds sway. And although it is evident that we are all attacked by all of these, yet we each suffer in different ways and manners. Therefore we must so join battle against them that everyone spies out the vice by which he is particularly besieged and struggles chiefly against it, fixing all the care and attention of his mind on fighting it and keeping watch on it, brandishing the sighs of his heart and the many darts of his groans against it at every moment, employing the effort of his vigils and the meditations of his heart against it, pouring out the unceasing tears of his prayers to God, and insistently and continually demanding an end to the assault on him. For it is impossible for a person to deserve to triumph over a passion before he has understood that he is not able to obtain victory in the struggle by his own diligence and his own effort, even though in order to be cleansed he must always be careful and attentive, day and night. When he finds himself freed from it, he should once again and with similar intensity shine light on the hidden places of his heart, locate for himself whatever is still more horrible that he notices remaining, and move against it in particular with all the arms of the Spirit. Thus, when he has consistently overcome more powerful foes, he will have a quick and easy victory over the ones that remain, because the mind too becomes stronger through a succession of triumphs, and subsequent struggles with weaker foes make for readier successes in the battle. So it is with those who are accustomed to fight for prizes against all sorts of beasts in the presence of the kings of this world. These persons, I say, make their first attack against the beasts that they have noticed are stronger and fiercer, and when these have been killed they more easily destroy the ones that are left, which are less terrible and less aggressive. Likewise, it is always the case that when the more powerful vices have been overthrown and are succeeded by weaker ones we shall obtain a perfect victory without any hardship. Yet it must not be thought that whoever struggles chiefly against one vice and seemingly does not pay much heed to the darts of others can be more easily wounded at an unexpected moment. This will never happen. It is impossible for one who is concerned about the purification of his heart and has armed the attention of his mind for fighting any given vice not to have a certain fear of all the other vices and a similar watchfulness with respect to them as well. How indeed will a person deserve to obtain victory over the passion from which he yearns to be freed if he makes himself unworthy of the prize of cleansing by being contaminated with other vices? But when our heart's chief concern has been directed to fighting against one passion in particular, so to speak, we shall pray more intently about it and be especially careful and assiduous in our supplication, so that we may be worthy to watch out for it more diligently and thus obtain a swift victory. The Lawgiver himself teaches us that we must keep to this plan of battle and not trust in our own strength in these words: "You shall not fear them, because the Lord your God is in your midst, a God great and terrible. He himself will consume these nations in your sight, little by little and by degrees. You will not be able to destroy them all at once, lest perhaps the beasts of the earth multiply against you. And the Lord your God will deliver them over in your sight, and he will slay them until they are completely destroyed." But he likewise warns that we must not be proud of our victory over them: "Lest when thou hast eaten and art full," he says, "and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein. And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint (Deuteronomy 8:12-15). Solomon also says in Proverbs: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him." (Proverbs 24:17-18) -- that is, lest seeing your proud heart he cease to assail him and you be forsaken by him and begin to be troubled once again by the passion that you had previously vanquished by the grace of God. For the prophet would not have prayed and said: "0 deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever" (Psalms 74:19), unless he had known that, because of their pride of heart, some would be delivered over again to vices that they had overcome, so that they would be humbled.  Therefore we should be certain from experience and have learned from innumerable scriptural texts that we cannot conquer such great enemies by our own strength but only with the support of God's help, and that every day we must attribute to him the sum of our victory. This is recalled thus by the Lord speaking through Moses: "Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (Do not say in your heart, when the Lord your God has destroyed them in your sight: Because of my righteousness the Lord has led me in to possess this land, while those nations were wiped out because of their sins. For it was not because of your righteous deeds and the uprightness of your heart that you were led in to possess their land, but because they acted wickedly they were destroyed as you entered in. . .) (Deuteronomy 9:4-5). I ask, what could be said more dearly against that pernicious opinion and presumption of ours, by which we want to attribute everything that we do to our free will and to our own effort? "Do not say in your heart, when the Lord your God has destroyed them in your sight: Because of my righteousness the Lord has led me in to possess this land." Did he not express himself dearly to those whose souls' eyes are open and whose ears hear? Namely, when you have enjoyed a notable success in warring against the carnal vices and you see that you have been freed from their filthiness and from this world's way of life, you should not be puffed up with the success of the struggle and the victory and ascribe this to your own strength and wisdom, believing that you were able to obtain victory over evil spirits and carnal vices through your own efforts and application and free will. There is no doubt that you would never have been able to prevail over these if the Lord's help had not fortified and protected you.