Слово 6. О ненасытном чреве, служащим для иночествующих причиною бесчисленных зол

O womb, shameless and never satiated, for the sake of which we, foolish monks, become the playground of godless demons! You serve as the cause of unclean outflows, immeasurable sleep and various types of spiritual death. From you comes the rejection of the Gospel commandments, endless concern for acquisitions and various quarrels. With all this, mortal memory, divine love and fear of God are completely destroyed from the souls of monks; pure prayer and tears and tenderness disappeared, and the innermost activity of the mind ceased. Instead, they entered: pride, malice and flattery, lies, envy and various vain desires and the source of all evil - the love of money and the abominable charging of harmful growths; all this will be followed by terrible inhuman extortion and the wrath of God descending from above will be attracted. Oh, shameless womb, because of which we, foolish monks, fall into the very bottom of the destructive womb of hell! Blessed is the one who conquered you with his mind and with all his soul loved poverty and a non-covetous life. Such, truly, is the only one who has known himself; only he is a true servant of the Most High and he alone is free. We all, who obey you, are the evil slaves of yours and the passions generated by you, and we are likened to dumb cattle, having been created from the beginning by God’s holy hand, in His Divine image. You might be interested in: