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(1) About changes in soul and body that occur from the elements, food and demons. 1. Every Christian has the duty not only to know the changes and alterations that occur in the soul, but also to know the reasons from which they arise and happen. Sometimes, for example, joy suddenly comes to the soul, and sometimes sadness and extreme hardship comes to it, also suddenly; sometimes she is contrite and tender, sometimes she is insensitive and hard as a stone; sometimes she is humble and meek, and a minute later she begins to be proud, and angry, and angry with all the brothers; sometimes she is absent-minded and careless about every good deed, and sometimes she is attentive and zealous to every obedience, so that she turns away those with whom she lives together from evil and encourages them to do good; sometimes she is filled with fear and reverence, and other times she is fearless and irreverent; sometimes he remembers those who are absent with love and calls them to himself, and at other times he doesn’t even want to look at those present; sometimes he grieves, aches and is burdened even by life, and sometimes he rejoices and is so happy that he is unable to contain his joy within himself. All this happens naturally according to the natural flow of the movements of the soul and body, when we strive to do virtues and fulfill the commandments of Christ. But as the soul changes, so does our mind; he too is subject to change, and sometimes he is sharp and quick to generate thoughts, and quick to discuss his thoughts, and sometimes he is inactive and sluggish in both his thoughts and his reasoning; sometimes he seems senseless, wordless, dumb and deaf, sometimes he is thoughtful, eloquent and judicious; sometimes he is blind and darkened, and sometimes he is enlightened and strives to ascend to a height of contemplation that exceeds the measure of human nature; sometimes he is simple and freely ready for any contemplation, not remembering any of the bad things that happened before him, and not thinking about anything similar, and sometimes he is very complex, agitated by thoughts, suspects what is not and did not happen, it happens, like a light covered with smoke from damp wood, he not only thinks evil about those inherent, but also about those that are not present, often composing vain thoughts. and false. It happens that the soul grieves and does not agree with the mind in its wrong thoughts, but it does not bring any benefit, because it is not strong enough to distract the mind from such vain and useless thoughts. And this is what we had to say about the changes and transformations of our mind and intelligent soul. As for the irregularities that occur in the body, although it seems to us that they are obvious and easy to recognize, this is not the case in reality, for there are extremely many changes that occur in the body by its nature. The soul by nature and essence is unchangeable; along with it, God and the mind were equally and unchangeably created from the Creator. They are led by will and, of their own free will, practice either virtues or vices, and for this they inherit either light or darkness for all eternity. According to their own will, as I said, and according to their own will, they cleave either to good and become good, or to evil and become evil. But the body is naturally perverse, because it is complex and fluid in its essence, as created from corruptible and fluid matter, and has its composition and composition from such things that are opposite to each other. The wise in this regard say, and indeed it is true, that the essence of the body consists of four opposites: cold and warm, dry and damp. But the body itself has neither will nor arbitrariness and, to tell the truth, does not even have movement; perhaps someone would call the natural flow of the body towards the end or decay a movement, which movement is wordless, and if wordless, then, of course, it is sinless and innocent before God. And righteous: for what is a necessary consequence of nature is not subject to condemnation. It is not the body that seeks carnal lust, marital or celibate intercourse, pleasures, guttural rage, gluttony, excessive sleeping, lazy inactivity, foppishness and many other similar things, as many unpunished (uninstructed - Ed.) think, just as it does not seek this when it is dead, but the soul seeks this through the body, finding it pleasant, and enjoys it, since it is closely connected with this with dust, that is, with the body, it loves to wallow in sensual defilements, like a pig in sewage, and thirsts for carnal pleasures, due to this connection with dust. However, let no one think that the soul is forcibly drawn to such things from the body, for this is not the case. How does it happen? Listen carefully. God took dust from the earth, and, having created man, the Lord God blew into his face, and man became a living soul, rose from the earth and began to walk, because his soul, which was in the body, moved this body with dominion and authority; there was no trace of burning or lustful movement, wordless rage and womb-rage then, but there was a peaceful and carefree life in man. Let's see now, isn't it because at that time there was still no wife and dishes, which usually move a person to lust, that he did not feel the movements of lust and gluttony? So, what does Divine Scripture say about this? And God still grew from the earth every tree that was red for vision and good for food... And the devil was both naked, Adam and his wife, and not ashamed (Gen. 2:9, 25). Do you see that neither the fact that Eve was in front of Adam nor the fact that both of them were naked caused any harm to their chastity? And they were naked and did not know each other, and were not moved by the nature of their bodies to mix, and were not ashamed. But after transgressing the commandment, when they left paradise, they were naked from the grace of God and fell from divine glory, then, as it is written, Adam knew his wife and conceived (Gen. 4:1). So, my brother, if you sincerely love God and stand firm in this love, then no passion will prevail over you and no need of the body will overcome you. For just as it is impossible for the body to be moved to any task by itself without the soul, so it is impossible for the soul, having united with God through love, to enter into intercourse with something else and be inclined towards desires and sensual pleasures or to be carried away by the lust of something visible and some kind of passion. Because all the aspiration of her heart, or, better yet, all her will, is tightly bound by the bonds of the sweetest love for God, and when the soul unites and unites, as I said, with its Creator, then is it possible, tell me, for it to experience a carnal burning or be moved to lust, and even more so for it to fulfill it? It's absolutely impossible. The natural changes that occur in the body are obvious. They also take place in all saints, for it naturally happens to everyone that sometimes the body is healthy when the substances that are in its composition do not fight with each other, and at other times it falls into illness, when any of the four elements from which it is composed is either multiplied too much or diminished too much as it should be, and either, multiplying, prevails over others and suppresses them, or, diminishing, itself is prevailed and suppressed by them, from which hemorrhoids, fluxes, catarrhs, and sometimes the whole body disorder and damage occur. (However, the soul remains completely unharmed from all this.) Most of this damage occurs from eating and drinking a lot, and others from atmospheric changes - winds, heat and the like. For when the air is damp, then bodies of a damp constitution are damaged and weakened, because at that time they become too damp; on the contrary, bodies of a hot temperament receive greater proportionality from this and become stronger. Again, when the air is too dry and hot, then damp bodies become stronger, and hot bodies relax. There are also changes in the body from excess food and drink or from excessive fasting, also from too much sleep or excessive vigil, from great work or inactivity and lack of movement. There are also some changes in our body from demons, with the permission of our good God and for our admonition and humility. What kind of change is this? Heaviness of the whole body, which occurs for no apparent reason, just for vanity, or pride, or condemnation, with which we condemn the brother as careless. Sometimes, and for other reasons, we are given over to the demon - for the exhaustion of the flesh, for the contrition of the soul, for the testing and exercise of it, and most of all for the demonstration of the compassion and compassion that God shows to us, so that, having recognized this, we would give all our love to Him alone with all our hearts and turn all our aspirations to Him alone. Not all people understand all this that I have said; but only those who properly understand these mental changes and physical changes who strive in the practice of virtue (there is nothing to say about those who are completely darkened by ignorance and passions). Only the ascetic, when any of the above happens to him, partially understands it. As for the changes that occur in the mind, they are understood only by those who are dispassionate and perfect, pure and free in both soul and mind. But even they do not suddenly know everything, but gradually learn through experience. For sometimes, from disturbances that occur in the mind, the soul languishes and becomes gloomy for the reason that it is thereby deprived of some of its inherent joy; however, if she shows courage, then she awakens the mind itself to vigor. Sometimes again, what the soul suffers, the mind has compassion and is forced to enter darkness; but if he resists this and strains to stand in the light, then he enlightens the soul. Sometimes, due to bodily disorder, both are violated, that is, both the soul and the mind; and sometimes they are burdened from the outside, but, feeling the burden, they keep their peaceful dispensation intact, - sometimes they are indignant from the inside, and are fought with such force that they seem completely exhausted to the point that the sufferer no longer hopes to come to the peaceful dispensation that he had before. In this way the soul and mind change from the body, and again, the mind from the soul, and the soul from the mind and body. However, both, that is, the soul and the mind, are not always indignant. Sometimes the soul alone suffers from the body, and the mind remains dispassionate, in its natural state, and comforts the soul; sometimes the mind is darkened and blinded, but the soul is freed by the power of divine light and, driving away the darkness, removes the veil from the eyes of the mind and gives it the opportunity to see and discern. That is why I told you, brothers, that it is not enough to know the transformations, alterations and changes that happen in us, but we also need to know where they come from, how and from what causes they occur, how, what winds of thoughts blow, from what sources the rivers of passions and temptations proceed and swiftly attack, in order to be able to kindly establish the church of the soul and skillfully rule the helm of the ship. Life teaches us to know all this, constantly and relentlessly guiding us according to established rules and limits. Everyone must set a limit and standard for himself and for his life in order to know correctly how to act every day and under changing circumstances, and thus freely be hampered in the practice of virtues, without encountering obstacles in his very inexperience. Whoever acts in this way (that is, determines everything in his life by reasonable rules), will soon make the path of virtues, both laborious and difficult, smooth and easy for himself, for little by little he will get used to all the doings of virtues, and good will turn into a habit for him and will become, as it were, natural. Thus progressing in goodness and ascending in his heart, that is, ascending from lesser goodness to greater and greater, more perfect and perfect, he will appear pleasing to God, and, having perfectly comprehended and understood everything said above, he will become for many others a teacher of virtue, enlightening them and teaching them both in word and by the example of his life - and, as he himself is enlightened from above by the grace of the Holy Spirit, revealing the depths of spiritual mysteries life to all who seek it with love and zeal - by the power and assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: