Слово 12. О пресыщении и пьянстве

Let us see, if you wish, what pleasure and what price wealth has. Let us compare the table of the rich and the poor and ask the feasters which of them receives pure and true pleasure more: those who lie in bed until noon, combine dinner with dinner, swell their stomachs, dull their senses, burden the ship with an excessive load of food and, filling it beyond all measure, drown it as if during the wreck of the body, invent chains and shackles on the hands and tongue, bind the whole body with bonds stronger than an iron chain - with the bonds of drunkenness and satiety, they have neither real and serene sleep, nor can they get rid of terrible dreams, and, themselves allowing the demon to their soul, they are more pitiful than those who are raging and a laughing stock for the servants, they do not recognize any of those present, they cannot speak or hear, and are carried in their arms from the sofas to the bed; Or do those who are sober and watchful determine the measure of what they eat by need, and have hunger and thirst as the best seasoning? Truly, nothing brings pleasure and health more than if you eat food while feeling hungry and thirsty, determine the measure of satiation only by one need and do not impose a burden on the body beyond your strength. If you do not believe my word, examine the bodies of both of them and the soul of each: aren’t the bodies of those who eat food in moderation stronger, and don’t their senses fulfill their purpose with greater ease, and aren’t the bodies of those who are satiated sluggish and weaker than any wax, and aren’t they besieged by a swarm of diseases? And diseases of the legs soon attack them, and untimely trembling, and premature old age, and headaches, and distension and fullness of the stomach, and loss of appetite, which is why they constantly need doctors, incessant medicines and daily treatment. Is this pleasure, tell me? And which of the people who know what pleasure is will say this? Pleasure occurs when pleasure is preceded by desire; if there is pleasure, but the desire is completely absent, then the pleasure completely disappears and disappears. Just as a ship, loaded with more than it can contain, being burdened with the weight of the cargo, goes to the bottom, so the soul and the nature of our body, having taken food in quantities exceeding its strength, becomes overfilled and, unable to withstand the weight of the cargo, plunges into the sea of ​​destruction and in doing so destroys the swimmers, the helmsman, the navigator, the passengers, and the cargo itself. As, therefore, happens with ships in such a state, so it is with those who are satiated. Just as there neither the calm of the sea, nor the skill of the helmsman, nor the multitude of shipmen, nor the proper equipment, nor the favorable season, nor anything else brings benefit to the ship thus overwhelmed, so here neither teaching and admonition, nor instruction and advice, nor fear of the future, nor shame, nor the reproach of those present, nor anything else can save the soul thus overwhelmed. And such a person is unsuitable for real life and is not capable of any good deed. For this reason, and not for any other reason, those who constantly live an intemperate life and think that they are called to this life in order to become satiated, fill their stomachs, fatten their bodies, and with this leave here, preparing from their bodies the most abundant food for the worm, are exposed to serious and incurable diseases. So they are susceptible to trembling, relaxation, consumption, inflammation, leg diseases and many others, determined by doctors. Truly, this kind of meal is no better than poisonous drugs, and, to tell the truth, even much worse. The latter immediately kill the one who receives them and imperceptibly bring death, so that they do not sadden the dying person, but they bring life to those who care about them, which is heavier than a thousand deaths. Moreover, other diseases arouse compassion in many, but diseases resulting from voluptuousness and drunkenness do not allow those who see them, even if they wish, to sympathize with those possessed by them: the excessiveness of suffering inclines to regret, but the cause of the disease leads those who know it to irritation. In fact, they were not offended by nature, like those, and did not suffer intrigues from people, but they themselves were the culprits of these diseases, voluntarily plunging themselves into the abyss of evils. It is not so that a scorpion or a snake sitting in our insides causes destruction everywhere, as the passion of voluptuousness destroys and destroys everything. Those animals cause death only to the body, and this passion, when it takes hold, destroys the soul along with the body. So, if voluptuousness ruins everything and is an extremely ridiculous thing, then spare your own bodily health. I’m not saying that you should indulge in a harsh lifestyle if you don’t want to; Let's at least eliminate what is superfluous, cut off what is super necessary. Indeed, what excuse will we have when others do not even take advantage of what is necessary, despite the fact that they can, and we are fed up beyond what is necessary? Who will we call living in greater contentment - the one who eats vegetables and enjoys health, and has nothing unpleasant, or the one who has a sybaritic table and is filled with countless diseases? Obviously the first one. Let us therefore not look for anything other than what is necessary. He who can be content with beans and be healthy should not seek anything more; let those who are weaker and in need of eating vegetables not be forbidden to do so; if someone is weaker than that and needs moderate reinforcement with meat, we will not prohibit him. We are not giving this advice to kill and destroy people, but to eliminate what is unnecessary; and what is superfluous is that which exceeds the measure of what is necessary. When we can lead a healthy and decent life without this, then what is added is undoubtedly unnecessary. Or don't you see who we're fighting with? With incorporeal forces. How can we, being flesh, overcome them? If one who fights with people needs to eat moderately, then it is much more necessary for one who fights with demons; if we are attached to fatness of the flesh and wealth, then how will we overcome our opponents? Just as the most perfect art becomes powerless when the strings on a guitar are soft, weak and poorly tensioned, and is forced to be a slave to the bad condition of the strings, so the soul, when the body receives great care from us, endures bitter slavery. So, let us not fatten the body and make it flabby and weak through satiety. I do not say that you exhaust yourself and lead a harsh life, but I only say that you take food in that measure that gives pleasure - true pleasure, and can nourish the body and make it an obedient and suitable instrument for the activity of the soul, well strengthened and structured. When it overflows from satiety, then even the very nails, so to speak, and connections are unable to keep from flooding - the flood, where it penetrates, destroys and washes away everything. What is sufficient in itself is food, and pleasure, and health; and what is more than that is harm, abomination and disease. And what is most difficult is that excess, along with the body, destroys the soul itself. And just as too wet earth will give birth to worms, so the lust innate in the body, being watered by intemperance, will give birth to sensual pleasures; and when the body becomes weaker, then the soul, of necessity, shares with it the harm. If those who drink strained wine are not free from censure, then what shall we say about those people who undertake overseas journeys for the sake of wine and do everything so that not a single type of grape remains unknown to them, as if they must give an answer or be subject to extreme condemnation if they do not load up on all kinds of wine? Truly, nothing is so kind to the demon as voluptuousness and satiety. Indeed, what evil does voluptuousness not commit? It makes pigs out of people, and even worse pigs. The pig rolls around in the mud and eats sewage; and the sensualist feeds on an even more disgusting table, inventing impermissible copulations and illegal loves. Such a person is no different from a demoniac. But we at least pity the possessed person, but we shun and hate such a person. Why? Because he brings madness upon himself and makes his mouth, eyes, nose, in a word, all members, conductors of sin. If you look further inside, you will see that the soul is as if numb and numb from bad weather and cold, so that even the boat cannot be of any use due to too much bad weather. After all, people who have become slaves to drunkenness and overeating do not have pure and real sleep, nor are they free from terrible dreams. Isn’t it contrary to common sense that unreasonable animals do not seek anything other than what is necessary, but rational people, gifted in the image of God, become more unreasonable than them, transgressing the limits of moderation? Indeed, how much better is a donkey than such people? How much better is a dog? Animals, whether they need to eat or drink, know contentment as the limit and do not go beyond what is necessary; and no matter how much they are forced, they will not allow themselves to go beyond the limits; and these people consider themselves and them more despicable. Moreover, they do not force animals to eat food in excess, and if anyone asks: “why?” - they will answer: “so as not to damage them”; and they no longer show such concern for themselves. They consider themselves and them so insignificant and so neglect themselves, despite the fact that they are constantly experiencing a storm. Indeed, not only on the very day of drunkenness do they suffer the harmful consequences of intoxication, but also after that day; and just as after the fever has passed, harmful traces of the fever remain, so after the intoxication has passed, the storm of intoxication continues both in the soul and in the body, and the poor body lies broken, like a ship in a wreck, and even more than that, the unfortunate soul, despite the fact that it is broken, stirs up a storm and inflames lust even more strongly. I’m ashamed to say how many evils happen to people from drunkenness, but I leave them to my own conscience, which knows this more precisely. What is more shameful than a drunken man who spins around senselessly, suffers a grave wreck and gives the foolish a reason to blaspheme the gifts of God? Indeed, I hear many people say when such a misfortune happens: let the wine perish! Oh madness! Oh, crazy! Because others sin, do you condemn the gifts of God? Did wine, man, do this evil? Not wine, but the intemperance of those who use it badly. Therefore say: let there be no drunkenness, let there be no satiety! If you say: let there be no wine, then, moving forward little by little, you will say: let there be no iron, because of the murderers; let there be no night because of thieves; let there be no light - because of slanderers; let there be no wife, because of fornication; in a word, you will destroy all objects. So, do not condemn wine, but drunkenness and the one who made bad use of good; and, turning to him sober, describe his shameful behavior and tell him: the wine was given so that we would have fun and not riot; so that they laugh, and not become a laughing stock; so that they are healthy and not sick; so that they heal the weakness of the body, and not destroy the strength of the soul. God has honored you with a gift: why do you dishonor yourself with immoderation? If Saint Timothy, even being overcome by illness and suffering constant infirmities, did not partake of wine until his teacher allowed him, then what excuse will we have, who get drunk while healthy? To him he said: “Drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Tim. 5:23), and to each of us he will say: drink a little wine for the sake of fornication, for the sake of your constant foul language and other bad desires that drunkenness usually gives rise to. Wine is given for fun: “Wine...,” they say, “makes a man’s heart glad” (Ps. 103:15), but you are destroying this wonderful property of it. Indeed, what fun is it to be out of your mind, to experience a thousand pains, to see how everything is spinning, to be enveloped in terrible darkness, like those suffering from fever to need to moisten your head with oil, to turn days into nights and light into darkness, with open eyes not even to see what is under your feet, and to cause yourself so many such evils? For people who spend their lives in drunkenness and intemperance, indeed, the day turns into darkness, not because the sun goes out, but because their mind is darkened by drunkenness. Those who indulge in drunkenness, the more wine they pour into themselves, the more they become inflamed with thirst, and every sip becomes an arson of thirst; in the end the pleasure disappears, meanwhile the thirst becomes insatiable and leads those who have become its captive to the very brink of drunkenness. Therefore, one can be most surprised at the madness of people devoted to drunkenness, because they do not want to spare themselves even to the extent that others spare their wineskins. The wine sellers do not allow the latter to take too much into themselves, so that they do not burst, and they do not deign their unfortunate stomach even with such care, but, after filling and bursting it, they overfill everything right up to the ears, to the nostrils and to the very throat, thereby causing great difficulty in breathing - that force that governs a living being. Was your throat given for this reason, so that you could fill it right up to your mouth with sour wine and other rotten things? Not so that you send holy prayers to God, read Divine laws and give useful advice to your neighbors. River flows do not erode and force the banks to settle in the same way as luxury and pleasure easily undermine all the pillars of our health. Whoever greedily indulges in food undermines the strength of the body, as well as reduces and weakens the strength of the soul. And not only is the misfortune for the sensualist that he bursts, tears his stomach and destroys the health of body and soul, but also that he very soon parted with the dishes he had taken and could not hold them even for one day, but as soon as they were digested, he was forced to fill himself again with other dishes. So, not eating food is evil, no, but overeating, filling up beyond due measure and tearing the stomach; in the same way, not using wine in moderation is evil, but indulging in drunkenness and perverting the judgment seat of reason with excess. The Lord has united us with a body that cannot exist except by taking food; let only intemperance be eliminated; it contributes greatly to both our health and well-being. Don't you see every day how countless diseases arise from luxurious meals and excessive eating? Where do leg diseases come from? Where do headaches come from? Where does the abundance of bad juices come from? Where do thousands of other diseases come from? Is it not from excesses and drinking wine beyond due measure? Just as a ship overflowing with water soon sinks and sinks, so a person, when he indulges in overeating and drunkenness, falls into the abyss, drowns his mind and then lies like a living dead, who can often do evil, but in relation to everything good is in no better condition than a dead man. Drunkenness is such a great evil that it can even deprive one of the senses, and forces a reasonable person, who has received power over everything that exists, to lie like a powerless corpse, binding him with indestructible bonds; or rather, a corpse is worse, because the latter is incapable of both good and evil, and he is exposed to everyone’s ridicule. In fact, the friends of the drunken man, considering his shame their own, are ashamed and blush for him; and the enemies rejoice, mock and send curses, just without saying such words: “Should he even live? Should he, this beast, this pig, breathe air? - or even uttering even worse curses. Avoiding this to the best of our ability, beloved, let us try to eat food to such an extent that it gives pleasure - true pleasure, and can nourish the body, and make it an obedient and convenient instrument for fulfilling the commandments of Christ, so that we can safely pass through this present life, and achieve future blessings, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Ἐκλογαί άπό διαφόρων λόγων . Under this name are known collections of conversations compiled by various persons after the death of Chrysostom on certain topics, from those related to the topics and especially liked by the compilers of the works of the saint. The passages are given partly in a literal presentation, partly in a free retelling and are borrowed both from the original works of Chrysostom, and from works only attributed to Chrysostom, which have not only survived to this day, but have also been lost. These Eclogues (selections) were widespread and were used by both private individuals and kings. Known, for example, is the luxurious collection of Eclogues, owned by the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Botaniatus (1078–1081), registered among the codices of the Koalene Library under No. LXXIX. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: