СТРАСТИ

He who gives himself over to passion carries in his soul countless wars, battles and turmoil, is in fear and anxiety and cannot be in a good mood for the slightest time. But the one who has freed himself from passions is not like that; on the contrary, he remains in a quiet haven, enjoys wisdom and is not exposed to any such trouble. That is why the prophet, enjoying this gift of God’s Providence himself, said: “I lie down calmly and sleep” (Ps. 4:9), expressing that for a person who does not have this world, not even the harbor common to everyone is open, but even that, the harbor of sleep and night, is blocked. Passions even disrupt the rest given by nature and completely overcome the power of sleep with their cruelest violence. Devoted to envy, hatred, covetousness and theft, carrying war with them everywhere and having hidden enemies inside, wherever they go, they cannot escape this struggle anywhere; even if they stayed at home, even if they lay on their beds, they are exposed to a cloud of arrows, confusion that is stronger than any waves, they endure murders, screams, groans and other disasters that are much crueler than those that happen in war. But the righteous man is not like that: while he is awake, he enjoys tranquility, and during the night he indulges in sleep with great pleasure (2). There are people who reveal the ferocity of animals and act even more ferociously towards their fellow tribesmen. The beast, having attacked once, leaves its rage and leaves or, being driven away, does not attack again; and people often, after failure, attack again, trying to tear apart the very body of their neighbor. So reckless is the anger, so seething and bubbling this passion! How can we eradicate this disease? If we are reasonable, if we think about death among those who die every day, if we delve into our very nature, which is earth and ashes. When the beauty of a face seduces your soul, then go to the monuments and tombs of your ancestors and look at those lying there, how they turned to dust - and you will receive from this sight a great disposition to contrition. Do not reproach my words for cruelty. Just as those possessed by a fever, freed from illness, need clean air, so those raging with passions, coming to the monuments, seem to find a healthy location and get rid of many diseases. In fact, one type of urn is enough to humble the proudest man. From here, transport your thoughts to the future terrible day, to those tortures and condemnations, to those punishments in which there is no consolation, from which no one will protect you. With all this, pacify passions. Remember also about those people who in this life fell from wealth to poverty, from glory to dishonor; and if you want to be angry, then be angry not at your brother, but at the evil spirit. This is who you can direct this passion towards; never make peace with him, pour out and exhaust your anger on him, set a trap for him, never stop waging war against him (2). When passions are alive, it is impossible for us to live, but we must die. If we don’t have time to kill them here, they will kill us there. Or rather, even here, before that death, we will be subjected to the most severe punishment. Each of these passions is cruel, painful, insatiable, and eating us every day, is not satisfied with anything. Their teeth are like lion teeth, and even more terrible than lions. When the lion is full, he immediately leaves the body he comes across. But passions are never satisfied and do not lag behind, until the person caught by them is drawn to the devil. Such is the power of the passions that they demand from their captives the same slavery into which Paul surrendered to Christ, despising both Gehenna and the Kingdom for Him. Anyone who falls into carnal love, or love of money, or ambition, begins to laugh at Gehenna and despise the Kingdom, just to fulfill the will of those passions (6). Not all passions act in us at all times; but at an early age there is usually more unreason and cowardice, later lust acts more strongly, and then, at the next age, covetousness (6). God, as a lover of mankind, always gives sinners time to repent, but a carefree person destroys his soul through his negligence. Because of love for the vain, earthly and temporary, he is deprived of the enjoyment of heavenly blessings; appointed by the Creator and God as king and lord of all, he becomes a slave of sin because of worldly passions. “They do not know, they do not understand, they walk in darkness” (Ps. 81:5), says David about those who do such things. And Christ, referring to such sinners, says: “For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed” (John 3:20) (9). It is impossible for all passions to take possession of us at one age; but they are separated, and this is due to God’s love for mankind, so that, having attacked us together, they would not become invincible and the fight against them would not be too difficult for us. What foolishness is it to be unable to conquer separate passions, but to submit to them at all times and still be proud of the fact that it is not our efforts that are tamed, but age itself! Don't you see what effort, and exercise, and labor the charioteers put in, eating bread and everything else, so as not to be thrown off their chariots and dragged [on the ground]? Do you see how much art there is? Often an adult cannot cope with one horse; and the boy, having skillfully taken two horses, easily leads and controls them. Among the Indians, they say, a great and terrible beast - the elephant - obeys a fifteen-year-old boy with great humility. Why am I saying all this? Because if, with diligence, we tame elephants and wild horses, then all the more [we can tame] our passions. Why are we so careless throughout our lives? We never tried to acquire this art; Never in our free time, when there is no fighting, did we talk with each other about anything useful. We can then be seen standing on a chariot when the struggle has begun, and that is why we are worthy of ridicule. Have I not often said, Let us exercise ourselves on our household before temptation? We often get angry with our children at home; let us keep our anger here so that we can easily curb it in front of our friends. If we practiced this way in everything else, then during the struggle we would not be ridiculed. For other arts and feats, now there are weapons, and exercise, and effort; for virtue it is nothing. The farmer will not dare to touch the grapes before he has learned farming well; and the helmsman will not stand at the stern until he becomes knowledgeable in this matter; and we, being completely inexperienced, want to gain primacy. We should remain silent, we should have no communication with anyone, either in deed or in word, until we tame the beast that is within ourselves. Do not anger and lust attack us more fiercely than any beast? Do not go out into the square with these animals until you have put a good bridle on them, until you have tamed them, until you have made them tame. Don’t you see those who lead tamed lions around the square, what profit they make and how surprised they are that they brought such meekness into a dumb animal? But if this beast suddenly became furious, it would disperse everyone in the square, and the driver himself would be in danger and become the culprit of the death of others. So you, too, first tame the lion and then take him with you, not to collect silver, but to receive a profit that has no equal. And indeed there is nothing equal to meekness, which brings great benefit both to those who have it and to those on whom it acts (10). There is nothing so harmful to a person as excessive passion. I call immoderate passion the passion for pleasure, idle glory, domination, and in general for everything that is beyond need. The one who leads a luxurious and dissolute life seems to be the happiest of all, but in fact he is the most unhappy of all, because he betrays his soul into the power of cruel mistresses and tormentors. This is why God made our present life full of labor, in order to save us from such slavery and lead us to complete freedom; This is why He threatens with punishment, this is why He has given our life cares, in order to curb the tendency towards indolence. So the Jews, while they were busy digging clay and making bricks, were submissive and constantly called on God, and when they received freedom, they began to grumble, grieve the Master and plunged into thousands of vices. But what can we say about people, you ask, who, under the influence of grief, often change for the worse? Such damage is not the result of grief, but of human weakness. If someone, having a sick stomach, cannot take a bitter medicine that would cleanse it, and dies, then we blame not the medicine, but the weakness of the organ; so here the reason is the weakness of the soul. If a person has become corrupted in need, then much more will he be corrupted in abundance. If he falls when he is tied—and such is a man in need—then he will fall even more when he is untied. If one gets spoiled in tight circumstances, it is even easier to get spoiled in prosperity (11). I exhort those who have not yet been overcome by passion not to indulge in it, because it is easier to abstain than, having indulged, to free yourself from it; and to those in whom it has settled and caused harm, I promise the hope of perfect healing by the grace of God, if they want to accept healing. If they imagine people who have fallen into the disease of passion and then freed themselves from it, they will receive good hope of healing from the disease (12). You might be interested in: