Prot. Dionysius Dunaevsky. Unbridled evil: verbosity and talkativeness in the mirror of patristic asceticism and ancient wisdomtranslated

We began our conversation about the sins of speech with foul language - with how a rotten word defiles the soul and alienates it from God. However, sins of speech are not limited to swearing alone. Continuing this conversation, let us turn to what the holy fathers call “unbridled evil” - to an ailment that is much more invisible and therefore, perhaps, more dangerous: verbosity and idle talk.

The teaching of the holy fathers about this spiritual illness is surprisingly consonant with the conclusions of the ancient moralist Plutarch, who, at the dawn of our era, dedicated a separate treatise “On Talkativeness” to the same illness. Two views - patristic and ancient - agree on the main thing: an unbridled tongue is not just a bad habit, but a deep corruption of human nature that requires healing.

Illness, not weakness

Plutarch begins his treatise with an unexpected confession: “The difficult and painful task of healing talkativeness is undertaken by philosophy.” For him, talkativeness is not a lack of upbringing, but a real mental illness, “very difficult and difficult to cure.” He compares chatterboxes to “leaky vessels”: nothing is retained in them, everything spills out.

The Holy Fathers speak about the same thing in the language of asceticism. Venerable Nicodemus the Holy Mountain...