Омилия XXXIII 148 .

About the virtues and the passions opposite to them, and about the fact that the “world”, the “world holder” of which is the devil, is not God’s creation, but these are those who, as a result of the abuse of creation, submitted to him. Said at a prayer service. Just as someone sows something on cultivated land, he will also reap it: if he plants trees here that produce good fruits, or sows wheat or barley or some useful grain, then this same land nourishes and grows and brings to perfection; and whether the earth is left uncultivated and unsown, it indeed nourishes plants, but not useful ones, and especially thorns and thistles, according to the curse to which we have fallen; like this, if she grows a tree, then it will also be barren and useless and, usually, thorny; - the same applies to the soul: whatever dispositions someone introduces into it, they will taste. He who conducts useful conversations and listens to spiritual teaching and obeys and puts into action what it contains within himself, cultivates virtues and becomes pleasing to God, useful to other people and kind to himself. If someone’s conversations are not kind, and does not listen to spiritual teachings, but even considers what he hears to be some kind of trifles (φαῦλον), he grows wild and woody (coarsens) and nurtures bad passions and gives birth to thorns and stings of death of the soul and body, which are sins. For in the beginning the evil serpent, as you all know, bit a man through sin, made him mortal, and, casting him out of the place of pleasure, moved him into this corruptible and painful world; and if anyone does not now, through repentance, take care of the healing of his wounds, he will be sent to eternal torment and the fire of hell. But just as in wild forests and thickets of thorns animals and reptiles on the earth have lairs, so this incipiently evil dragon, the great and base beast, according to the expression of the book of Job, dwells under every tree of pleasure, and ahead of it, he says, runs destruction. Wanting you all to be above this destruction and doing everything (in this direction), I am weary of you, brothers, working both in word and in spiritual edification taught daily to visitors, in churches - and publicly to everyone, when time allows: because my spiritual instruction “cuts down” these “bad groves” and pulls out the deep roots of sin, and dulls the sting of evil, and allows one to triumph over the beginning of the evil dragon, and reveals the right path and gives saving knowledge. Since the Church of Christ, and especially in this great city, has in its number not only simpletons, but also wise men who are such either by nature or through training in the instructions taught by me or by other persons, therefore I do not make my conversation either too learned or too simple, desiring rather to raise the level of those below me than for their sake to lower the level of those above me. He who pays attention and listens attentively to the instruction, even if he is a simpleton, will by no means fail to understand everything that is said; and thanks to the fact that he is able to accept and hold and bring into action, even if it is very small, he will escape from all evil for his soul; He will expand and fulfill and save his heart, which has accepted this (divine teaching). Because, to take an example from the inspired Scripture, it is likened to that stone about which Daniel spoke, saying that it broke away from the mountain, being very small, and striking the image of these flowing (impermanent) things, broke and crushed it, and itself, expanding, filled the whole earth. Nowadays it is especially necessary, not only for the simple, but also for the wise, to listen to what is being said; because if, by way of speech, our conversation is somehow applied to simple people, however, it contains not a naive content and no small benefit: because I will present to you bad passions and virtues and, exposing the roots of each of them, I will show that they (the roots) are not identical, but are different, so that you cut down some and surround others with bliss. So, love for God is the root and beginning of all virtue; and love for the world is the culprit of all evil. That is why these two loves are opposite to each other and one destroys the other, just as the Brother of God cries out, saying: “The loves of this world are enmity to God; Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” (James 4:4). And John, beloved of Christ, says: “If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him: for everything in the world, carnal lust and worldly pride, is not from the Father” (1 John 2:15). Let us take heed, brethren, so that through love for evil pleasures and pride in our relationships with each other, we do not fall away from the love of the Heavenly Father. For in these two (sinful states), the Apostle embraced every passion that separates us from God. But the root and beginning and cause of the duality of these two opposite roots, I mean: love for the world and love for God, is another duality of love, mutually irreconcilable and hostile 149: for love for our body is the cause of love for the world: because we love the world because of the body and its pleasures. The reason for love for God is love for our spirit, i.e. to the soul: because because of our soul and peace in the world to come and good inheritance, we each love God. The great Paul also testifies that these loves are opposed to each other, saying: “The flesh lusts after the spirit,” i.e. on the soul, and “spirit on the flesh” (Gal. 5:17). But how is love for God born from everyone’s love for his soul? – Gehenna threatens with unquenchable fire; and, at the same time, the eternal kingdom of God is promised; the eternal kingdom is for those who listen and do God’s commandments; Gehenna of fire is for those who do not demonstrate faith in the Gospel of Christ through works. So, truly believers and those who love their souls, and want to preserve them for eternal life, listening to these promises and these threats, immediately conceive desire and fear in themselves: fear of endless torment in the face of the threatening fiery Gehenna; the desire for the kingdom of God, according to the promise, and the joy that ever abides in it. So, wanting to receive this pure and divine joy, and fearing this fiery torment, they renounce passionate and sinful and earthly relationships, and strive to cleave to God, through fervent prayer, as the only one who has the power and authority to free from suffering in Gehenna and to be worthy of eternal joy that transcends the mind; and in this way they generate love for God, and through it, uniting even more closely with God, they also acquire all virtue: for when God acts in us, then every kind of virtue descends with us; when God does not work in us, then everything we do is sin. Therefore, the Lord says in the Gospel that: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). And realizing this, true doers of virtues are not puffed up by any of their good deeds, but, humbled, glorify God, the Source of virtues, from Whom they are filled with a beneficial radiance. Because, just as the air is filled with light from the sun, showing us not their own, but the sun’s glory and radiance, so those who cleave to God by doing God’s commandments are, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “the fragrance of Christ” and possess the fragrance of Christ and proclaim the virtues of Him who called them out of darkness into His wonderful light. Thus, in this way, through spiritual instruction, consciousness about the future arises in us, and, through the true love of each for his soul, desire and fear for future things are born in us believers, and, as a result of this, fervent and unceasing prayer and supplication to God, and, as a result of unceasing prayer, love for Him and devotion, and, because of this devotion, every virtue is born, giving humility to the knowledge of Him, Producing virtues in us 150. But how, as a result of love for the body, is love for the world born, and, as a result of this love, bad passions, and a multitude of sins are created? – Just as the soul, by its nature, strives for future pleasure, so the body strives for the present and fleeting, and this pleasure is sensual and occurs through our senses 151 and stems from sensory things that represent the world; therefore he who loves the body is a lover of the world. Because of this same love for the body, we, immoderately desiring worldly pleasures and chasing after them and loving them, clothe ourselves in the many-faced ugliness of passions. For since worldly pleasure is accomplished through the senses, and we have many senses and they are varied, then the pleasures associated with them are many and varied, as are the passions that correspond to them: some (passions) stem from sight; others from hearing; others from the sense of smell; again others from touch; and others from taste. But it is not food that is the cause of bad passions associated with taste, but immoderation in relation to food, i.e. – promiscuity: and this is expressed in gluttony, laryngeal madness, excessive consumption of wine and drunkenness. The womb, for the sake of delighting the taste, accepting excesses in food and drink, provides abundant material for evil, being, as it were, a kind of source, full of uncleanness and emitting uncleanness, which supports base passions, such as fornication, adultery, debauchery, disorder and all carnal uncleanness. And these, having enslaved hearing, sight and smell, make them lovers of dirt, shameful words, lewd songs, satanic round dances, rubbing, for the purpose of seduction, with fragrant oil, disgusting massages, dressing up with precious clothes and headdresses, which adorn passionate people on the outside, but inside, like an ugly mask, clothe dishonest passions, and, indeed, liken them to watered-down coffins, on the outside they seem to be decorated, but on the inside they are filled with stench and all uncleanness: because the sense organs, being enslaved to evil, both on the outside and on the inside, attract hateful (sinful) impressions close and from afar, and thus, through the “windows” inherent in our nature, sin not only comes out, but also enters us, leading to death. For: “what comes from the mouth comes from the heart, and it defiles a person” (Matthew 15:18); and: “Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). And such a soul, pleasing to its body, mastering in every way the pleasure provided by the senses, and from everywhere collecting material for pleasure, delivered through touch, taste and other feelings, gives birth to love for things and love of money; and those, in turn: theft and untruth and theft and every kind of greed. But there is another feeling besides these, which does not have a bodily organ, this is a comprehensive, internal feeling: imagination about oneself, from which other pleasures and passions arise among lovers of the world, among whom are: arrogance, arrogance and pride. But again, from sensory perception and conceit, some other mixed passions are composed, such as: people-pleasing, vanity and arrogance. But the pleasure of the soul, which comes from God and from divine things, is pure and dispassionate and unmixed with sorrow; this world, by its very nature, brings sadness to joy; not only because of the many different changes and changes, but also because while giving everyone some insignificant part, he deprives him of more; because the world, being one, is divided for many, and perhaps for an innumerable number of people, each of whom strives and tries to master and rule the whole world. So the lover of the world, thirsting for everything, even if he had almost everything, even if he possessed more than everyone else, nevertheless he himself grieves for what he does not possess, and oppresses the one who is weaker than him with his expansion (his aggression). And the opposite of this: - when divine spiritual pleasure and joy are indivisibly given to a person, then even if he could contain it all, there is no harm from this for others; Thus, each of us fully possesses Piety (Orthodoxy) and, behold, does not harm his neighbor by this, but, on the contrary, helps him in many ways. So, this world, as I said, along with pleasure brings sorrow; and our body accepts pleasure, but rejects sadness; Therefore, this world is both pleasant and cruel for him. Those who are obsessed with love for their body, not knowing the nature of the things of this world, considering that it is not only full of pleasures, but also free from sorrows and not understanding that what they give their heart to (ὁ περιέπουσι) must leave them, saddened when sorrow happens, which, in reality, corresponds to the very essence of this world and, as if fighting in nights, not knowing the cause of suffering, blame each other every time they encounter adversity. And from here another cruel swarm of passions opens up for the unfortunate human race, such as: reproach, slander, slander, anger, hatred, quarrels, envy and every desire filled with bitterness, as a result of which wars and murders are committed throughout the universe, and especially in our generation, because love has cooled and sin has increased. But let us preserve ourselves in unanimity, united with each other by mutual peace, and moving away from all madness (anger) towards each other, which betrays both soul and body to destruction. Oh, brothers, I pray you, let us forgive each other if anyone has grudge against anyone, just as Christ forgave us; so that not only in the churches of God, but also in houses and on the street, being quiet, with one accord and one mouth we glorify our Father who is in heaven. But in this bad list of destructive passions, fraught with pleasure and sadness, there are also others that are neither painless nor enjoyable, but have the starting point of their existence as if mixed from opposite elements, such as: pretense, flattery, deceit and hypocrisy. Do you see the deceitfulness and seduction of this world, to what extent it has many faces? What are the many types of evil that cover us? in what many ways does it separate us from God? Because by making us obsessed with many passions in a variety of ways, it deprives us of peace of spirit. Therefore, the Lord Himself said: “The world lies in evil,” and called the devil “the ruler of the world,” as the prince of the darkness of this age. But do not think that the evil one owns heaven and earth and the creatures of God that exist between them, and for this reason the Lord called him “the ruler of the world.” Get rid of such an absurd thought! – Because it is not this type of world that lies in evil. Because He who measures the sky with a span, as the Prophet says, and He who holds the earth by the handful, is their only Creator; but the abuse of things, based on the management of our property full of passions, the world of unrighteousness, evil lust and pride, as the beloved Theologian says to Christ, this is not from the Father. So, this world lies in evil because of our abuse and bad management; behold, this is the world whose ruler is Satan. And this is the above-mentioned multitude of passions, which, with the assistance of the evil one, is a consequence of our sin-loving disposition, due to which those people who have not freed themselves from sins, through repentance, make the devil their autocrat. But we, who are numbered with Christ, will desire the heavenly world; let us wish for the kingdom promised to us by Christ; let us retreat from soul-lowering pleasures; Let us fear fiery Gehenna, which threatens lovers of pleasure; we flee from intemperance, drunkenness, fornication, greed, untruth, vanity, pride, hatred, anger, inhumanity: for because of these, alas, we make the evil one prince for ourselves and for this world. Let us, therefore, flee from this deceptive world and the ruler of the world and show, through our good deeds, that we ourselves are the work of the all-good hands of God. Because in this way we will make excellent use of the things of this present age, and in due time we will enjoy the promised eternal blessings, which may we all receive through the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom the Father is due glory with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. PG.151:412–424. Homilia XXXIII. De virtibus et eis opposites passionibus. Et quod mundus, cujus princeps diabulus est, non sit creatura Dei, sed ji qui spretis creatures ipsj serviunt, dicta in supplicatione publica. According to Lat. transl.: “But the root and beginning and cause of the duality of this love opposed to each other, or the duality of their roots, I mean: love for God and love for the world, is also another duality of love, which are at enmity with each other with irreconcilable hatred.” Transmitted in a somewhat free translation. "Θυρίδων" i.e. sense organs. You might be interested in: