О чревоугодии

The beginning of fruiting is color, and the beginning of activity is abstinence. The one who owns the womb diminishes the power of passions, and the one who overcomes the desire for food increases the power of voluptuousness. The beginning of the pagans is Amalek, and the beginning of passions is gluttony. The food for the fire is wood, and the food for the belly is food. Many woods kindle a great fire, and many foods feed lust. The flame weakens with the depletion of combustible matter, and the scarcity of food renders lust impotent. He who mastered the jaw beat the foreigners and easily loosed the bonds on his hands (see Judges 15:14). “The beating of the jaws” (Judges 15:17) produced a source of water, and gluttony, brought to inaction, gave birth to active contemplation. “The piercer” (Judges 4:21), piercing the jaw, killed the enemy, and the word of abstinence killed passion. The desire for food gave rise to disobedience, and the delightful eating disappeared from paradise. Valuable foods delight the larynx, but also feed the never-sleeping worm of intemperance. A emaciated belly prepares you to stay awake in prayer, and a satiated belly induces deep sleep. Thoughts are sober during dry eating, and a luxurious life plunges the mind into depth. The prayer of a faster is like a soaring eagle chick, but the prayer of a drunkard, aggravated by satiety, is carried down. The mind of a faster is a bright star in a clear sky, and the mind of a reveler is in an eclipse in the middle of a moonless night. The fog hides the sun's rays, and the coarse fumes of the eaten food darken the mind. A dirty mirror does not fully convey the image reflected in it, and the power of thinking, dulled by satiety, does not accept the knowledge of God. Land left uncultivated for a long time gives rise to thorns, and the mind of a glutton produces shameful thoughts. It is impossible to find the fragrance in pus, and in a glutton the fragrance of contemplation. The eye of the glutton looks for where the feasts are, and the eye of the abstinent looks for where the meetings of the wise are. The soul of a glutton calculates the days of remembrance of the martyrs, and the soul of abstinent imitates their lives. The fearful warrior trembles at the sound of the trumpet announcing battle, and the glutton at the sermon on abstinence. The gluttonous monk is a tributary of his own belly and, under the scourge, pays a daily tax. The hasty traveler will soon reach the city, and the abstinent monk will reach a peaceful state. A slow traveler stops for the night in the desert under the open sky, and a gluttonous monk will not come to the house of dispassion. The burning of incense fills the air with fragrance, and the prayer of the abstinent fills the sense of smell with God. If you indulge in the desire for food, then nothing will be enough to satisfy your voluptuousness, because the desire for food is fire, always receiving flammable substance and always flaming. A sufficient measure fills the vessel, but the belly, even when seated, will not say: “Enough!” The raising of hands put Amalek to flight, and sublime deeds conquer carnal passions. Destroy in yourself everything that gives breath to vice, and forcefully mortify your fleshly members. Just as a killed enemy does not inspire fear in you, so a slain body will not disturb your soul. A dead body does not feel the pain of fire, and the abstinent does not feel the pleasure of deadened lust. If you strike an Egyptian, then hide him in the sand and, on the occasion of overcoming passion, do not fatten the body. For just as what is hidden in fat soil sprouts, so passion blossoms in a fat body. The dying flame becomes bright again from the dry branches put into it, and the extinguished voluptuousness is ignited by the satiety of food. Do not feel sorry for the body that complains of weakness, and do not fatten it with expensive foods. If it comes into force, it will rise up against you and wage irreconcilable warfare with you until it captures your soul and delivers you into slaves to the passion of fornication. A poorly nourished body is a bridled horse and will never throw off its rider, because the horse, tied with a bridle, yields and obeys the hand of the driver, and the body is tamed by hunger and vigil and then does not tear from the hands of the thought sitting on it, does not neigh, driven by passionate aspiration. You might be interested in: