1. What is gluttony? Types of gluttony

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) lists the passions related to gluttony:

“Overeating, drunkenness, non-keeping and permission of fasts, secret eating, delicacies, in general violation of abstinence. Wrong and excessive love of the flesh, its belly and peace, from which self-love is composed, from which the lack of faithfulness to God, the Church, virtue and people. "

Rev. John Climacus writes about gluttony:

“… The head of the passions is gluttony.

... Gluttony is a pretense of the womb, because even when it is full it cries out: "Little!", Being filled and dispersed from excess, it cries out: "Hungry!"

Abba Isaiah the Hermit:

Ahead of all virtues (stands) humility, and ahead of all passions - gluttony.

Rev. Antony the Great:

“… Above all virtues there is humility, as more than all passions there is gluttony and an insatiable desire for worldly goods.

Gluttony is a violation of the second commandment: "Do not make yourself an idol ... but do not worship them, nor serve them" - it is idolatry. "

St. Basil the Great writes:

"To subservience to pleasures means nothing else than to make the womb your god."

St. Philaret Metropolitan of Moscow explains:

"Gluttony refers to idolatry because gluttony prioritize sensual pleasure, and therefore, says the apostle, that they have a" god womb ", or, in other words, the womb is their idol (Phil. 3:19)."
(Extensive Orthodox Catechism. P. 523)

The passion of gluttony is of two kinds: gluttony and guttural delusion.... Gluttony is gluttony, where the glutton is more interested in the quantity rather than the quality of the food. Gortanobrazie is a delicacy, delight of the larynx and taste buds, a cult of culinary delights and gourmet.

Abba Dorotheos:

“… There are two kinds of gluttony. The first, when a person seeks the pleasantness of food, and does not always want to eat a lot, but wants something tasty; and it happens that such, when he tastes the dishes that he likes, is so overcome by their pleasant taste that he keeps the food in his mouth, chews it for a long time and, for a reason pleasant taste, does not dare to swallow it. This is called in Greek "lemargia" - guttural impairment. Others are again struggling with eating too much, and they do not want good food, and do not care about their taste; but whether they are good or not, he only wants to eat and does not understand what they are; he only cares about filling his womb; this is called "gastrimargia", that is, gluttony. "

Gluttony is of three kinds: the first compels to rush to dinner before the established, legal hour; the second delights in filling the womb and devouring certain foods; the third wants delicious and well-cooked food. ... just as the end of the fast cannot be allowed before the appointed hour, so the gluttony of the womb and the expensive and sophisticated preparation of food must be rejected. For from these three causes come the most evil afflictions of the soul. From the first hatred is born of the monastery, and from there the fear and intolerance of living in it grows, which, no doubt, will immediately be followed by a quick flight. From the second, fiery flames of sensuality and lust are excited. And the third braids the necks of the captives with the indissoluble bonds of love of money ...

Archim. Raphael (Karelin) writes about the types of gluttony:

“In gluttony, two passions can be distinguished: gluttony and guttural delusion. Gluttony is an insatiable desire for food, this is the aggression of the body against the soul, the constant harassment of the womb, which, like a cruel publican, requires an exorbitant tribute from a person, this is the madness of the womb, which indiscriminately devours food, like a hungry hyena prey. ...

Larynx is a constant desire for delicious and delicious food, this is the sensuality of the larynx. A person must eat in order to live, and here he lives in order to eat. He prepares the menu in advance with such a preoccupied look, as if he is solving a rebus or math problem. He spends all his money on delicacies, like a gambler loses his fortune in excitement.

There are still other types of gluttony, these are: secret eating - the desire to hide one's vice; early eating - when a person, barely waking up, takes food, not yet experiencing a feeling of hunger; hasty eating- a person tries to quickly fill the womb and swallows food without chewing, like a turkey; non-observance of fasts, the use of unhealthy products due to the lust of the larynx... The ancient ascetics also considered gluttony to drink too much water.

There are sins related to gluttony, such as eating without prayer, murmuring food, drinking too much alcohol, obscene jokes, foul language, swearing, arguments and quarrels while eating. "

2. Scripture about gluttony

“For many, of whom I have often spoken to you, and now speak even with tears, are acting as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction, their god is the womb, and their glory is in shame, they think about the earthly ”(Phil. 3, 18-19).

“A true widow and a lonely one trusts in God and abides in prayers and prayers day and night;
but the voluptuous one died alive ”(1 Tim. 5, 5-6).

“The night has passed, and the day has drawn near: so let us reject the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light.
As in the daytime, let us behave decorously, not indulging in feasts and drunkenness, or voluptuousness and debauchery, or quarrels and envy;
but put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not turn the care of the flesh into lusts ”(Romans 13: 12-14).

3. How satisfying the body's natural need for nourishment differs from serving the passion of gluttony

The person has natural need for food as a source of energy for the normal functioning of the human body. There is no sin in her judicious, sound, moderate satisfaction. The passion of gluttony grows out of abuse of satisfaction of this need. Passion perverts, exaggerates the natural need, conquers the will of man to the lusts of the flesh. A sign of a developing passion is a constant desire for satiety and delight in food and wine.

Rev. Barsanuphius and John:

86. The same brother asked the same old man: my father! What does it mean to take food on a whim, and what does it mean at the request of nature?

Answer. On a whim - means wanting to take food not out of bodily need, but to please the womb. If you see that sometimes nature is more willing to accept any of the vegetables than oozing, and not on a whim, but on the lightness of the food itself, this should be distinguished. Some, by their very nature, require sweet food, others salty, others sour, and this is neither passion, nor whim, nor stomach-eating. And to love some food especially and to lustfully desire it is a whim, a servant of stomach-eating. But this is how you know that you are possessed by the passion of the gut - when it also possesses your thought. If you resist this and respectfully take food according to bodily needs, then this is not stomach eating.

88. The same and the same. Explain to me what is the sign of stomach eating?

Answer. When you see that your thought delights in the presentation of food and compels you to warn everyone or bring some food close to you, this is stomach eating. Pay attention to yourself, so that you do not eat such food with haste, but with decency, and it is better to leave it to others who are sitting with you. As I have already said, because of stomach-eating, one should not immediately give up the food, but one must be careful not to take it indiscriminately. … Another sign of stomach eating is to want to eat ahead of time; but you must not do this without some good reason. In everything, we need to call on the help of God, and God will not leave us.

Question 335 ... Answer: You know that we need food every day, but we must not taste it with delight. When we accept it, thanking God who gave it, and condemning ourselves as unworthy, then God makes it serve us in sanctification and blessing.

Abba Dorotheos:

So, whoever desires to be cleansed from his sins, he should with great care beware and avoid these kinds of gluttony; for they satisfy not the need of the body, but passion, and if someone surrenders to them, it is imputed to him as a sin. As in legal marriage and fornication, the action is one and the same, but the goal is the difference of the action: for one copulates for the birth of children, and the other for the satisfaction of his lust; the same can be found with regard to food: eating according to need and eating to delight the taste are the same thing, and sin lies in intention. Eating according to need means when someone determines for himself how much food to eat per day: and if he sees that this certain amount of food has burdened him and needs to be somewhat reduced, then he also reduces it. Or if it did not burden him, but not enough for the body, so he needs to add a little, he adds a little. And thus, having experienced his need well, he then follows a certain measure and eats food not to delight the taste, but wanting to maintain the strength of his body. However, even that little that is consumed by anyone for food should be accepted with prayer and condemn himself in his thought, as unworthy of any food and consolation. ... we must, as I said, eating out of bodily need, condemn ourselves and consider ourselves unworthy of any comfort and even the monastic life itself, and not without abstinence take food: in this way it will not serve us as a condemnation.

Priest Pavel Gumerov:

"A person has a need for food and drink; this is one of his vital-organic needs. In addition, food and drink are a gift from God; when we eat them, we not only saturate the body with nutrients, but also get pleasure, thanks to the Creator for this. In addition, a meal, a feast is an opportunity to communicate with neighbors, friends: it unites us. By eating food, we receive joy from communication and strengthen ourselves bodily. It is not for nothing that the holy fathers call the meal a continuation of the liturgy. At the service we are united by spiritual joy from joint prayer, we partake from one bowl, and then we share with people close in spirit and physical and mental joy.

… Therefore, there is nothing sinful and unclean in eating food and drinking wine. It all depends, as always, on our attitude to this action and on the observance of the measure.

Where is this measure, this fine line separating natural need from passion? It passes between inner freedom and non-freedom in our soul. As the Apostle Paul says: “I know how to live in poverty, I know how to live in abundance; I learned everything and in everything, to be satisfied and to endure hunger, to be both in abundance and in shortage. I can do everything in Jesus Christ who strengthens me ”(Phil. 4: 12-13).

Are we free from attachments to food and drink? Do they own us? Which is stronger: our will or our desires? It was revealed to the Apostle Peter from the Lord: “What God has cleansed, you do not consider unclean” (Acts 11, 9). And there is no sin in eating food. Sin is not in food, but in our attitude to it. "

4. Causes and consequences of gluttony

The Holy Fathers say that if a person has submitted to the passions of gluttony, then all other passions, fornication, anger, sadness, despair, and avarice of money easily take possession of him.

“The results of the perversion of natural need by passion: voluptuousness, gluttony, idleness, and laziness develop.

All this leads to forgetfulness of God: “And [Jacob ate, and] Israel grew fat, and became stubborn; fattened, fattened and fattened; and he forsaken the God who created him, and despised the stronghold of his salvation ”(Deut. 32, 15). Satiety provokes a weakening of attention and condones the development of self-pity and self-justification. In addition, gluttony becomes the reason for the development of another passion - fornication: “The more wood, the stronger the flame; the more food, the more violent the lust ”(Abba Leonty).
(Sacraments of the Orthodox Church)

Rev. John Climacus:

“Let us also ask this enemy of ours, more than the chief chief of evil enemies, the door of passions, that is, gluttony, this very reason for the fall of Adam, the destruction of Esau, the destruction of the Israelites, the exposure of Noah, the extermination of the Gomorians, the Lot of incest, the destruction of the sons of Eli, the priest and the leader to all abominations. Let us ask: where does this passion come from and what are its offspring? who crushes it and who destroys it completely?

Tell us, tormentor of all people, who bought everyone with the gold of insatiable greed, how did you find the entrance to us? ...

She, being irritated with these annoyances, furiously and fiercely replies to us: “Why are you guilty of me, beating me with vexations and how do you attempt to free yourself from me when I am naturally connected with you? The door by which I enter is a property of food, and the reason for my insatiability is habit, the basis of my passion is long-term skill, insensibility of the soul and oblivion of death. And how do you seek to know the names of my offspring? I will read them, and they will multiply more than sand (cf. Gen. 32, 12). But find out, at least, what are the names of my first-borns and my dearest offspring. My firstborn son is fornication, and the second devil after him is hardness of the heart, and the third is drowsiness. A sea of evil thoughts, waves of filth, the depth of unknown and inexpressible impurities come from me. My daughters are: laziness, verbosity, insolence, ridicule, blasphemy, prejudice, cruelty, disobedience, insensitivity, captivity of the mind, self-praise, arrogance, love for the world, followed by a profaned prayer, hovering thoughts and unexpected and sudden misfortunes despair follows - the fiercest of all passions. "

Abba Theona:

Gluttony must be conquered not only for itself, so that it does not harm us with burdensome gluttony, and not only so that it does not kindle us with the fire of carnal lust, but so that it does not make us slaves to anger or rage, sadness and all other passions.

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky:

The Holy Ladder ... exposes three main passions struggling in obedience: gluttony, anger and carnal lust. The latter receive strength from the former, lust is kindled from gluttony and bodily rest, and anger for gluttony and bodily rest. … If, following the example of the ancient ascetics, we cannot fast, then with humility and self-reproach, let us be compelled at least to moderate and timely abstinence in food and drink.

Saint Basil the Great:

“If the water is divided into many channels, the whole land around them turns green; so, if the passion of gluttony is divided in your heart, it will give water to all feelings, plant a forest of vices in you and turn your soul into a dwelling of animals.

If you possess the womb, you will dwell in paradise, and if you do not possess it, you will become the prey of death. "

“The mind is not clouded by wine alone.

The womb, satiated with any food, gives rise to the seed of voluptuousness, and the spirit, suppressed by the weight of satiety, cannot be judicious. For not only the excessive consumption of wine deprives a person of reason, but the immeasurable consumption of food also frustrates, darkens him and deprives him of purity and integrity. So, the cause of the destruction and debauchery of the Sodomites was not only drunkenness, but also satiety, as God said to Jerusalem through the prophet: this was the iniquity of Sodom, thy sister and her daughters: in pride, satiety (Ezekiel 16:49). And since this satiety gave rise to the strongest lust of the flesh in them, the just God destroyed them with sulfur fire. So, if the Sodomites were driven to such lawlessness by satiety, then what it will not do with those who, being healthy in body, do not refrain from eating meat and wine, satisfying lusts, and not the requirement of the weakness of nature.

... And now we intend to talk about gluttony, i.e. passion for overeating, against which we must wage the first war. So, he who does not curb the passions of satiety can never suppress the excitement of fiery lust. The purity of the inner man is measured by the perfection of this virtue. Never hope that he will be able to face off against stronger opponents who are defeated by the weaker in an easier fight. For the property of all virtues is one, although they are divided into many types and names; in the same way, the essence of gold is the same, although it, according to the ability and will of the artists, seems to be different in different decorations. So, he does not possess any virtue perfectly, who does not have some of them. ... Every city is fortified by the height of the walls and the strength of the locked gates, and by the creation of one, even the smallest door, it will be devastated. For what difference does it make if a destructive enemy bursts into the city through high walls and wide gates or through a secret underground passage? "

Rev. Nilus of Sinai:

“He who fills the belly and promises to be chaste is like one who says that he will stop the fire from working with straw. Just as it is impossible to keep the swiftness of the spreading fire with straw, so it is impossible to stop the burning desire of indecency with satiety.

Rev. John Climacus:

“Saturation is the mother of fornication, and oppression of the womb is the culprit of purity.

… The mind of the fasting person prays soberly, while the mind of the incontinent is full of impure dreams. Saturation of the womb dries up the springs of tears, and the womb, dried up by abstinence, gives birth to tears.

… He who serves his womb and yet wants to overcome the spirit of fornication is like a fire extinguishing oil.

… When the womb is oppressed, then the heart is also humbled; if it is at rest with food, then the heart is lifted up in thoughts.

... Squeeze the belly with abstinence, and you will be able to block your mouth, for the tongue is strengthened from a multitude of foods. Strive with all your might against this tormentor and stay awake with unflagging attention, watching him, for if you work even a little, then the Lord will immediately help.

… Know that often the demon will squat in the stomach and prevent a person from getting enough, even if he devoured all the food of Egypt and drank all the water in the Nile.

Upon our satiety, this unclean spirit departs and sends a prodigal spirit against us, he announces to him what state we are in, and says: "Go, disturb such and such, his belly is satiated and therefore you will work a little." This one, having come, smiles and, having tied our hands and feet with sleep, does everything he wants with us, defiles the soul with vile dreams and the body with outflows.

It is amazing that the mind, being incorporeal, is defiled and darkened from the body, and that, on the contrary, the immaterial is refined and purified from rubbish.

... listen and hear the speaker: the path of gluttony is wide and wide, leading to the destruction of fornication, and many walk along it, but narrow is the gate and narrow is the path of abstinence, leading to the life of purity, and few enter it (cf. Matt. 7, 13- fourteen)".

Rev. Neil Sorsky:

“… This passion is the root of all evil in monks, especially fornication.

… Many, having obeyed the belly, fell a great fall. "

Rev. Barsanuphius and John:

"... after eating too much, there is the warfare of fornication, for the enemy burdens the body with sleep in order to defile it."

Ancient Patericon:

"They said about Abba Isidor, the presbyter: once a brother came to him to invite him to dinner, but the elder did not want to go and said: Adam was deceived by food and was expelled from Paradise. The brother said to him: you are afraid even to leave your cell! do not be afraid, son, - answered the elder, - when “the devil is like a lion, roaring, walks, seeking whom to devour” (1 Pet. 5, 8)? He often used to say: he who indulges in wine drinking will not run away from the slander of thoughts. compelled by his daughters, he got drunk with wine - and the devil, through intoxication, easily involved him in a lawless deed.

Abba Pimen said: if Navuzardan-archmagir [Chief of cooks] had not come, the temple of the Lord would not have been burned (2 Kings 25, 8-9). This means: if the lust of gluttony did not enter the soul, then the mind would not fall in the struggle with the enemy.

Abba Pimen said: as smoke drives out bees, and then the sweetness of their work is taken out, so carnal delight drives out the fear of God from the soul and destroys all its good deeds.

Abba Iperechius said ... the lion is strong, but when the womb draws him into the net, then all his strength is humbled.

The elder said: Gluttony is the mother of fornication.

The elder said: the wealth of the soul is abstinence. Let us acquire it with humility; let us run away from vanity - the mother of evil. "

Rev. Isaac the Sirin:

“What is the consequence of another reason, that is? if we started a pig business? What is this business of pigs, if not to allow the womb to know no boundaries and to constantly fill it, and not to have the specified time to satisfy bodily needs, as is characteristic of the rational? And what then comes out of this? Hence - heaviness in the head, great burden in the body and relaxation in the muscles ... darkness and coldness of thought; a mind turned white (coarse) and incapable of prudence from confusion and great darkening of thoughts, thick and impenetrable darkness, spread throughout the soul, strong despondency in every work of God, as well as in reading, because a person does not taste the sweetness of the words of God, great idleness from necessary deeds (that is, because of their abandonment), an uncontrollable mind, wandering throughout the earth ... at night, impure dreams of bad ghosts and inappropriate images, full of lust, which penetrates into the soul and in the soul itself uncleanly fulfills its desires. ... so that for this reason a person also turns away from chastity. For the sweetness of excitement is felt throughout his body with incessant and intolerable dilution. ... because of the clouding of reason in him. ... And about this, it was said by one of the great sages that if someone plentifully nourishes his body with pleasures, he will subject his soul to abuse ... And he also says: bodily pleasure, due to the gentleness and tenderness of youth, produces that soon the soul will be impressed passion, and surrounds her death, and thus a person falls under the judgment of God. "

Saint John Chrysostom:

“Gluttony drove Adam out of paradise; it was also the cause of the flood at the time of Noah; it also brought down fire on the Sodomites. Although voluptuousness was a crime, the root of both executions came from gluttony.

There is nothing worse, nothing more shameful than gluttony. It makes the mind fat; it makes the soul flesh; it blinds you and prevents you from seeing.

Flee from gluttony, which generates all vices, removes us from God Himself and brings us down into the abyss of destruction.

Whoever indulges in food eagerly undermines the strength of the body, as well as reduces and weakens the strength of the soul.

There is, say, some pleasure in satiety. Not so much pleasure as trouble ... Satiety produces ... worse (than hunger). Hunger in a short time exhausts and brings the body to death ... and satiety, eating away at the body and producing putrefaction in it, exposes it to prolonged illness and then the most severe death. Meanwhile, we consider hunger intolerable, and we strive for satiety, which is more harmful than it. Where does such a disease come from in us? Where does this madness come from?

Just as a ship, loaded with more than it can accommodate, sinks under the weight of the cargo, so the soul and the nature of our body: eating food in excess of its strength ... overflows and, unable to withstand the weight of the load, sinks in the sea of death, and at the same time destroys the swimmers, and the pilot, and the navigator, and the sailors, and the load itself. As is the case with ships in this state, so it is with those who are jaded: no matter how quiet the sea, not the art of the helmsman, not the multitude of shipmen, not the proper equipment, not the favorable time of the year, nothing else benefits the ship overwhelmed in this way "so and here: neither doctrine, nor admonition, [nor reproof of those present], nor instruction and advice, nor fear of the future, nor shame, nothing else can save the soul overwhelmed in this way. "

Rev. Nilus of Sinai:

Gluttony destroys all that is good in a person.

Rev. Isidore Pelusiot:

If you hope to withdraw to God, then listen to my advice and quench the fury of gluttony, thereby weakening the incitement to voluptuousness in yourself - this sets us up to eternal fire.

Reverend Simeon the New Theologian:

It is impossible to fill the flesh to its fill with food, and spiritually enjoy intelligent and divine blessings. For to the extent that someone works the womb, to the extent that he deprives himself of the taste of spiritual blessings. And on the contrary, the extent to which someone begins to refine his body, in proportion to that, he can be saturated with food and spiritual comfort.

Venerable Abba Theodore:

He who nourishes the body without abstaining from food and drink will be tormented by the spirit of fornication.

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov):

“From pleasing the womb, the heart is burdened, coarse, hardened; the mind is deprived of lightness and spirituality; man becomes carnal.

Weakness and darkness, communicated to the body by abundance and indiscriminateness in food, are gradually communicated by the body to the heart and the heart to the mind.

The root of all sins ... is the love of money, and after the love of money ... gluttony, the strongest and most abundant expression of which is drunkenness.

If you please the womb and nourish yourself excessively, then you will be thrown into the abyss of prodigal filth, into the fire of anger and rage, you will burden and darken your mind, you will bring your blood to heat. "

Abba Serapion:

“So, although these eight passions have different origins and different actions, however, the first six, i.e. gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, sadness, despondency, are connected with each other by some kind of affinity or connection, so that the excess of the first passion gives rise to the next. For from the excess of gluttony there is necessarily prodigal lust, from fornication the love of money, from the love of money, anger, from anger, sorrow, from sorrow, despondency; and therefore it is necessary to fight against them in the same way, in the same order, and in the struggle we should always move from the previous to the next. For any harmful tree will sooner wither if its roots, on which it rests, are exposed or dried. "

Archim. Raphael (Karelin):

“Gluttony is the victory of the body over the spirit; it is a wide field on which all passions grow violently; this is the first step of the steep, slippery staircase leading to the underworld. ... Gluttony disfigures a person. At the sight of a glutton, one involuntarily recalls the market where the bloody carcasses of animals brought from the slaughterhouse hang. It seems that the body of the glutton hangs from his bones, like peeled carcasses on iron hooks.

The womb, heavy with food, plunges the mind into a gloomy slumber, makes it lazy and dull. A glutton cannot think deeply and reason about spiritual things. His womb, like a lead weight, pulls the grounded soul down. Such a person is especially acutely aware of his weakness during prayer. The mind cannot enter prayer words like a dull knife - cutting bread. In this sense, gluttony is a constant betrayal of one's prayer.

It should be noted that gluttony also darkens the intellectual and creative powers of a person. "

5. Means of dealing with the passion of gluttony

The main means of fighting the passion of gluttony is fasting and abstinence from food. It is good to leave the table a little hungry. The pleasure that naturally accompanies the intake of delicious food loses its character of sensuality and becomes spiritualized if one eats with grateful feelings to God.

The Holy Fathers teach that one must wage a double struggle with this passion: bodily abstinence and spiritual care are needed. The latter includes vigilance, spiritual reading, memory of sins, memory of death, frequent contrition of the heart., "For we cannot despise the pleasures of food if the mind, surrendering to divine contemplation, does not delight in the love of virtues and the beauty of celestial objects," writes Rev. John Cassian Roman.

St. Basil the Great:

Avoiding immoderation in pleasure, the goal of eating food should be set not to pleasure, but to its necessity for life, for subservience to pleasures means nothing more than making the womb your god.

Rev. John Cassian the Roman:

“The first war must be waged against the spirit of gluttony.

So, we must first go to war against gluttony, which, as we said, is the passion for overeating.

If we do not free ourselves from the vice of gluttony, we cannot in any way enter into the struggle of the inner man.

Likewise, we should first prove our freedom by subjugating the flesh. For "whoever is conquered by whom, the same is his servant" (2 Pet. 2:19). “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). ... For it is impossible for a well-fed womb to enter into the struggle of the inner man; it is impossible for the one who is defeated in an easier battle to fight the strongest.

How can you overcome the passion of gluttony?

So, first we must suppress the passion of gluttony. And the mind must be so refined not only by fasting, but also by vigilance, and reading, and frequent contrition of the heart about what it recognizes itself as deceived or defeated, now lamenting from fear of vices, now inflamed with the desire for perfection and integrity, while engaged in such care and reflection, does not realize that eating was allowed not so much for pleasure as it served as a burden to him, and will consider it a necessary need of the body, not the soul. Engaged in this exercise of the mind and contrition, we suppress the lust of the flesh, which is intensified by the heat of food and the harmful sting of it; and thus the furnace of our body, which is kindled by the Babylonian king (i.e., the devil), constantly giving us reasons for sins and vices that burn us like oil and tar, we can extinguish with an abundance of tears and hearty crying, until the heat of carnal lust is completely gone will be extinguished by the grace of God, which blows in our hearts with the spirit of its dew. So, this is our first competition, our first experience, as in the Olympic battles, with the desire for perfection to exterminate the passion of gluttony and gluttony. For this, not only the excessive desire for food must be suppressed for the sake of virtues, but also the most necessary for nature I write, as contrary to chastity, must be accepted not without heart grief. And the course of our life should be established in such a way that at no time should we be distracted from spiritual pursuits, unless only when the weakness of the body prompts us to condescend to the necessary care for it. And when we submit to this necessity, then, satisfying more the needs of life than the lust of the soul, we must hasten to leave it as a distraction from saving pursuits. For we cannot despise the pleasures of food if the mind, surrendering to divine contemplation, does not delight in the love of virtues and the beauty of celestial objects. And thus everyone will despise everything that is present, as transient, when he continuously directs the gaze of the mind to the unshakable and eternal, while still in the body, he will contemplate bliss future life.

… For otherwise we will in no way be able to fight them and do not deserve to enter into spiritual warfare if we are defeated in the battle with the flesh and broken in the fight with the womb.

On the property of gluttony, compared to an eagle.

The image of this passion, which even a monk of spiritual and lofty life necessarily obeys, is quite rightly indicated by the likeness of an eagle. Although in an exalted flight he rises beyond the clouds and hides from the eyes of all mortals and from the face of the whole earth, but at the request of the womb he is forced to descend again on the lowlands of the valleys, descend to the ground and feed on carrion. This clearly proves that gluttony cannot be suppressed, like other vices, or completely destroyed, but only excessive excitements and desires can be limited, curbed by the power of the soul.

... try so that, having conquered the passion of gluttony by abstinence and fasting, do not leave our soul without the necessary virtues, but zealously occupy all the curves of our heart with them, so that the spirit of gluttony, upon returning, does not find us empty, not occupied with them and not content with opening the entrance for himself alone, he did not bring the seven passions into our souls with him. For after this, the soul that boasts that it was rejected by this world, while all eight passions dominate in it, will be more vile, dirtier, and will be subjected to a heavier punishment than when it was in the world and has not yet been obliged by either deanery or monastic name. For these seven spirits are therefore called the most evil of the previous spirit, because the desire of the womb in itself would not be harmful if it did not introduce other more important passions behind it, i.e. fornication, love of money, anger, sorrow, or pride, which are undoubtedly harmful and fatal to the soul. Therefore, he who hopes to acquire it by abstinence alone, that is, can never attain perfect purity. bodily fasting, if he does not know that abstinence is necessary so that, after the flesh is pacified by fasting, he can more easily enter into the struggle with other passions. "

“Gluttony is divided into three kinds: one kind encourages eating before a certain hour; the other loves only to be satiated with any food; the third wants tasty food. Against this, the Christian must have threefold caution: to wait for a certain time for eating; do not get fed up; be content with all the most humble food. "

Rev. John Climacus:

"Let us also ask this enemy of ours, more than the chief chief of evil enemies, the door of passions, that is, gluttony, this is the reason for the fall of Adam, the destruction of Esau, the destruction of the Israelites, the exposure of Noah, the extermination of the Gomorians, the Lot of incest, the destruction of the sons of Eli, the priest and the leader to all Let us ask: ... who is crushing her and who is completely destroying her?

Tell us, tormentor of all people ... how do you get out of us?

“... The memory of sins is at war against me. The thought of death is very hostile to me, but there is nothing in people that could completely abolish me. He who has acquired a Comforter prays to Him against me, and He, being pleaded, does not allow me to act passionately in him. Those who have not tasted His heavenly consolation in every possible way seek to enjoy my sweetness. "

“He who caresses a lion often tames him, and who pleases the body increases its ferocity.

Know that often the demon will squat in the stomach and prevent a person from getting enough, even if he devoured all the food of Egypt and drank all the water in the Nile.

... Sitting at a table full of food, imagine death and judgment in your mind's eye, for even in this way you can hardly tame the passion of gluttony even a little. When you drink, always remember the oset and bile of your Master, and thus you will either abide within the limits of abstinence, or, at least, having rebelled, you will humble your thoughts. "

Rev. Barsanuphius and John:

Question 87, the same and the same. My father! How, if passion does not fight me first, but appears at the very time of eating, what should I do then: should I leave the food or not?

Answer. Do not leave immediately, but resist the thought, bringing to your mind that food turns into a stench and that we are condemned by taking it, while others are moving away from it in every possible way; and if passion recedes, take food, condemning yourself; if he does not retreat, call on the name of God for help - and you will calm down. When passion overcomes you so that you will not be able to eat with decency, then leave the food; but lest others who sit with you notice, take a little. In case of hunger, eat bread or other food for which you do not feel abuse.

Question 499. What should I do, I am worried about the abuse of gluttony, love of money and other passions?

Answer. When the passion of gluttony fights you, then strive with all your might for the sake of not giving the body as much as it requires.

Question 500. A brother who lived with a certain elder asked the same elder John about the measure in food ...

Answer. ... Give the body as much as it needs, and you will not get harm, even if you eat three times a day. If a person eats once a day, but recklessly, then what good is it to him?

Ancient Patericon:

"Abba John Kolov said: if the king wants to take an enemy city, then first of all he holds back water and food supplies, and thus the enemy, dying of hunger, obeys him. This is also the case with fleshly passions: if a person lives in fasting and hunger, then the enemies, being weakened, will leave his soul.

Abba Pimen said: The soul is so humbled by nothing as if someone is abstinent in food.

They said about Abba Piore that he ate while walking. When someone asked him: why do you eat like that? I do not want, - he answered, - to deal with food, as a deed, but as a share. I told another person who asked him the same thing: I want my soul not to feel any bodily pleasure while I eat.

The elder used to say: send the demon of gluttony away with a promise, saying: wait, you will not hunger, and thus eat with greater caution. And the more he prompts you, the more correctness observe in food. For he so prompts a person that this one wants to eat everything, as it were. "

Rev. John Cassian the Roman (Abba Serapion):

“Since the passions of gluttony and fornication are present in us from birth, sometimes without any excitement of the soul, according to one attraction of the flesh, they occur, however, they need substance for their implementation. ... Likewise, fornication is committed only through the body, as everyone knows. And therefore, these two passions, which are fulfilled through the flesh, apart from spiritual care, especially need bodily abstinence. To curb these passions, carefulness of the spirit alone is not enough (as is sometimes the case with anger or sorrow and other passions that carefulness of the spirit can suppress, without any contrition of the flesh), unless bodily taming, which is accomplished by fasting, vigilance, contrition through labor ... fleshly [vices], as it is said, are healed with two remedies. Therefore, it is very great benefit to those who care about cleanliness that they, first of all, remove from themselves the objects of fleshly passions, from which an occasion or recollection of these passions can be given for a sick soul. For it is necessary for a twofold illness to use a twofold healing. So that carnal lust does not go into business, it is necessary to remove the seductive object and its image; but for the soul, so that it does not perceive it even in thoughts, attentive reading of Holy Scripture, sober vigilance and solitude are very useful. And in other passions, the human community does not harm at all, it even brings a lot of benefit to those who sincerely wish to leave them, because with frequent intercourse with people they are exposed, and when they are found more often, then by using medicine against them, you can sooner achieve health. "

Archim. Raphael (Karelin):

"How to get rid of gluttony? Here are some tips. Before a meal, you need to secretly pray that the Lord would give abstinence and help put a limit on the craving of the womb and throat; remember that our body, greedy for food, sooner or later itself will become food for worms, taken from earth - a handful of earthly dust; imagine what the food turns into in the womb. You need to mentally determine for yourself the amount of food that you would like to eat, and then take a quarter of it from it and put it aside. At first, a person will feel hungry, but when the body gets used to it, then it is necessary to take away the fourth part from food again - this is what the Monk Dorotheos advises in his teachings. Here is the principle of gradual reduction of food to the amount necessary for life. work and become a burden to others. ”Pets will also worry and anxiously look at his plate, persistently urging him to eat more.

The Holy Fathers advise at first to limit the use of spicy and irritating food, then sweet, delighting the larynx, then fatty, fattening the body. You should eat slowly - so the feeling of fullness sooner appears. You need to get up from a meal when the first hunger is satisfied, but you still want to eat. In the old days it was customary to eat in silence. Extraneous conversations distract attention, and a person, carried away by a conversation, can mechanically eat everything that is on the table. The elders also advised to read the Jesus Prayer while eating. "

6. Bodily taming gluttony - abstinence, moderation, fasting

Rev. Neil Sorsky writes about how to learn moderation in meeting natural needs:

“… Eating food in moderation and at the appropriate time, conquer passion.

... The measure of food is as follows, the fathers said: if someone determines for himself how much to take [it] per day, and if he realizes that this is a lot and burdens him, then immediately let him reduce it, if he sees that it is not enough and cannot thus support his body, let it add a little. And thus, having thoroughly investigated, he will establish [the amount] with which he can strengthen his bodily strength - not for pleasure, but out of need, and so he accepts, thanks to God, but condemns himself as unworthy and that little consolation. Yet it is impossible to grasp the [diversity of human] nature by one rule, because bodies have a great difference in strength, like copper and iron in comparison with wax. However, the general measure of the novices is to stop [eating, being] a little hungry; if he is sufficiently satisfied, and that is sinless. If, however, when he is a little satiated, let him reproach himself and so, thanks to the falls, wins the victory. "

Rev. John Climacus sings the cleansing effect of fasting on the soul of the ascetic:

Fasting is violence of nature, rejection of everything that delights taste, extinguishing bodily incitement, extermination of evil thoughts, liberation from bad dreams, purity of prayer, luminary of the soul, preservation of the mind, extermination of heartlessness, the door of affection, humble sighing, joyful contrition, retention of verbiage, the cause of silence, the guardian of obedience, the relief of sleep, the health of the body, the culprit of dispassion, the resolution of sins, the gates of paradise and heavenly delight.

Abba Dorotheos talks about how to observe the fast correctly:

“So, everyone who wishes in these days to be cleansed from the sins committed by him during the whole year, first of all, must refrain from a multitude of food, for the immeasurability of food, as the fathers say, gives rise to all evil for man. Then he should also be careful not to break the fast without great need, so as not to seek tasty food and not to burden himself with an abundance of food or drink.

... But we must not only observe the measure in food, but also refrain from any other sin, so that, as we fast with the belly, we fast with the tongue, refraining from slander, from lies, from idle talk, from humiliation, from anger and, in a word, from every sin that the tongue commits. Likewise, one should fast with the eyes, that is, not look at vain things, not give freedom to the eyes, not look at anyone shamelessly and without fear. Likewise, both hands and feet should keep from all evil deeds. Fasting ... a favorable fast, moving away from every sin committed by all our senses ... "

Rev. John Cassian Roman also teaches the correct approach to fasting:

"So, the fathers quite rightly thought that fasting and abstinence consist in moderation, and that all who seek perfect virtue, taking food necessary to maintain the body, should abstain while still hungry."

« About the inner world of a monk and spiritual abstinence.

We have nothing to fear from an external enemy; the enemy is hiding in ourselves. We have an internal war going on every day; after victory is won in it, everything external will become weak and everything will be reconciled with the soldier of Christ and submit to him. We will not have such an enemy that should be feared outside of us, if the inside in us is defeated and subdued by the spirit. We must believe that one bodily fast cannot be sufficient for the perfection of the heart and purity of the body, if the fast of the soul is not combined with it. For the soul also has its own harmful food, having satiated with which, and without an abundance of bodily food, it will fall into lust. Backbiting is her food, and, moreover, her delicious food; anger is also its food, although it is not at all light: for an hour it saturates the soul with unhappy food, and at the same time strikes with a deadly taste. Envy is the food of the soul, which corrupts it with poisonous juices and constantly torments it, poor, with the well-being of someone else's success. Vanity is its food, which delights with a pleasant taste for a while, and then makes the soul empty, deprives of all virtue, leaves it sterile, devoid of all spiritual fruits: not only destroys the merits of extraordinary labors, but also incurs great punishment. Any lust and wandering of a fickle heart is the soul's fodder, nourishing it with harmful juices, and then leaves it not partaking of the heavenly bread. So, refraining from these passions during fasting, as much as we have strength, we will have a beneficial bodily fast. The labors of the flesh, combined with the contrition of the spirit, will constitute the most pleasant sacrifice to God and a worthy abode of holiness in the secrecy of a pure, beautified spirit. But if, while fasting bodily, we will be enmeshed in pernicious vices of the soul, then the exhaustion of the flesh will not do us any benefit, while the most precious part (soul), which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, is desecrated. For it is not so much corruptible flesh as a pure heart that is the temple of God and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, fasting according to the external person, one must refrain from harmful food and according to the internal person, whom the holy apostle especially urges to appear pure to God in order to be worthy to receive a guest - Christ (Eph 3:16, 17).

We need to exercise bodily abstinence in order to move through it to spiritual fasting.

So, we should know that we will lift up the work of bodily abstinence in order to achieve purity of the heart by this fast. However, this labor is used by us in vain if, knowing the goal, we tirelessly lift up the labor of fasting, and the goal for which we endure so many sorrows, we cannot achieve. It is better to abstain from the forbidden food of the soul (i.e. sins, vices) than to bodily abstain from not forbidden and less harmful food. For in bodily food there is a simple and harmless use of the creation of God, which in itself does not have any sin, and in food of the soul (vices) there is first a disastrous devouring of the brothers, about which it is said: “Do not love to curse, lest you be destroyed” (Proverbs . 20, 13). The blessed Job also speaks of anger and envy: "Anger kills the foolish, irritability kills, and envy kills the frivolous" (Job 5, 2). And it should also be noted that he who is angry is reckless, and who is envious is considered frivolous. He is justly considered reckless who inflicts death upon himself with anger; and the envious shows that he is stupid and petty. For when he is jealous, he thereby testifies that the one for whose happiness he is grieving is higher than him.

... Gluttony is divided into three types: one kind encourages to take food before a certain hour; the other loves only to be satiated with any kind of food; and the third wants delicious food. Against this, the monk must have threefold caution: to wait for a certain time for eating; should not get tired; must be content with any low-grade food. "

Priest Pavel Gumerov writes about the meaning of the post:

“What is the cure for the passion of gluttony? The Holy Fathers advised any passion to oppose the opposite virtue. And the demon of gluttony "is cast out only by prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17, 21). Fasting is generally a great educational tool. Blessed is he who is accustomed to mental and physical abstinence and strictly observes the established church fasts and fasting days.

Here I would like to say a little about the meaning Orthodox fasting... Many people are fasting now. But are they properly observed? In restaurants and cafes, a special Lenten menu... TV and radio announcers talk about the beginning of the fast. There are many cookbooks on sale with recipes for lean dishes. So what's the point of fasting?

Fasting is not a diet. Fasting, especially Great, the holy fathers called the spring of the soul; this is the time when we are especially attentive to our soul, inner life. Marital carnal relations and amusements cease. Before the revolution, theaters were closed during Lent. Fasting days are established so that we sometimes slow down the crazy run of the vain earthly life and can look inside ourselves, our soul. During fasting, Orthodox Christians fast and receive the Holy Mysteries.

Fasting is a time of repentance for sins and intense struggle with passions. And in this we are helped by eating lean, lighter, low-calorie foods and abstaining from pleasure. It is easier to think about God, pray, and lead a spiritual life when the body is not satiated, not burdened. “The glutton calls the fast a time of weeping, but the abstainer does not look gloomy even in fasting,” writes the Monk Ephraim the Syrian. This is one of the meanings of fasting. It helps us to concentrate, attunes to spiritual life, making it easier for us.

The second meaning of fasting is sacrifice to God and the education of one's own will. Fasting is not a new institution, but an ancient one. We can say that fasting is the first commandment to man. When the Lord commanded Adam to eat of all the fruits of the Garden of Eden, except the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He established the first fast. Fasting is obedience to divine ordinance. God does not need burnt offerings and blood sacrifices; He needs a “contrite and humble heart” (Ps. 50, 19), that is, our repentance and humility, obedience. We refuse something (at least meat, milk, wine and some other products) for the sake of obedience to Him. We sacrifice our abstinence, the infringement of our will.

Another meaning of fasting is in fostering will and submission to its spirit. By fasting we make it clear to the womb, "who is the boss in the house." For a person who is not used to fasting, disciplining himself, it is very difficult to curb passions, to fight them. A Christian is a warrior of Christ, and a good warrior is in constant combat readiness, constantly trains and learns, keeps himself in shape.

There is nothing accidental and meaningless in the Church. Those who do not fast, the jaded will never know the real taste of food, this gift of God. Even a festive meal for those who are not fasting becomes something quite commonplace, and for those who are fasting, even a modest feast after a long fast is a real holiday.

Fasting is extremely beneficial in married life as well. Spouses, accustomed to abstinence during fasting, never get tired of their intimate relationships, they are always desirable for each other. And vice versa, satiety leads either to mutual cooling, or to excesses and refinements in intimate life. "

7. Sobriety. Prayer. Contrasting evil thoughts - good thoughts

Rev. Neil Sorsky teaches spiritual warfare against the thoughts of gluttony:

“There are different ways of struggle with which we gain victory over evil thoughts, the fathers said, according to the measure of each of the ascetics: to pray against thoughts, to contradict them, to humiliate and drive them away. To despise and drive away - [the work of] the most perfect, to contradict - and this is the successful. [The business of] the novice and the weak is to pray against them and replace evil thoughts with good ones, for [and] Saint Isaac commands to replace passions with virtues. And Peter Damascene says: “The good intention of thought must be ready to turn into action,” and other fathers teach this. Therefore, if we are ever overwhelmed by thoughts, unable to pray in peace and inner silence, it is fitting for us to pray against them and offer them useful ones.

... If the thought of gutting is annoying, bringing to mind various and sweet delicious dishes so that you can eat without need, at the wrong time and beyond measure, then it is fitting to remember, first of all, the word spoken by the Lord: "May your hearts not be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness" (Luke 21 34) - and praying to the Lord Himself and calling for His help, to think about what the fathers said that this passion is the root of all evil in monks, especially fornication. "

8. Reasoning in the feat of abstinence

The Holy Fathers teach that both in the matter of abstinence and in the observance of the fast one must act with judgment, avoiding both deviations into excessive zeal and unreasonable indulgences.

Rev. John Cassian the Roman:

« Not everyone can observe one rule of fasting.

So, one rule cannot be conveniently followed with regard to the image of fasting; because not all bodies have the same strength, and fasting is observed not only by the strength of the soul, like other virtues. And therefore, since it does not consist in one courage of the spirit, but is commensurate with the strength of the body, we adopted the definition given to us that the time, method and quality of nutrition should be different, precisely according to the unequal state of the body or according to age and sex; but all should have one rule for the taming of the flesh for the continence of the heart and the strengthening of the spirit. For not everyone can fast week by week; some cannot but eat for more than three or two days, while others, due to illness or old age, find it difficult to be without food until sunset. Vegetables or dry bread are not equally nutritious for everyone. Someone needs two pounds to saturate, and another feels a burden if they eat a pound or half a pound; but all abstainers have one goal, so that, while eating as much as possible, they do not go into satiety. For not only the quality of food, but also the quantity relaxes the soul, kindling in it, as in the fattened flesh, a harmful sinful fire.

The weakness of the flesh cannot hinder the purity of the heart.

The weakness of the flesh will not hinder the purity of the heart if we eat only the food that is needed to strengthen the weakness, and not the food that lust requires. We see that those who abstained from meat food (moderate consumption of which in need is permissible) and for the love of abstinence refused everything, fell faster than those who, due to weakness, consumed such food, but in moderation. And with a weakness of the body, abstinence can be maintained, if only a person will eat permitted food as much as is necessary to maintain life, and not to satisfy lust. Nourishing food preserves healthy bodies and does not deprive them of purity, if only consumed in moderation. Therefore, in every condition one can maintain abstinence and be blameless.

How one can desire and consume food.

So, the fathers quite rightly thought that fasting and abstinence consist in moderation, and that all who seek perfect virtue, taking the food necessary to maintain the body, should abstain while still hungry. And the weak in body can equal in virtue with the healthy and strong, if he curbs the lusts, which are not required by the weakness of the flesh. For the apostle also says: do not do carnality in lust, that is, he does not forbid caring for the flesh, but only says that this should not be done in lust; prohibits pleasing the whims of the flesh, and not the care that is necessary to sustain life, and prohibits because we, indulging the flesh, do not become to our own detriment to fulfill lusts. Meanwhile, it is necessary to take care of the body so that, having spoiled it with neglect, we do not lose the opportunity to fulfill our spiritual and necessary duties.

How to fast.

Therefore, the essence of abstinence is not only to observe the time of eating food, and not only as food, but above all in the judicious use of it. Everyone should fast for as long as is necessary to tame the carnal struggle. It is useful and imperative to observe the canonical rules regarding fasting; but if after fasting moderation in eating food is not maintained, then observance of the rules will not lead to purity. For if, after abstaining in prolonged fasts, one uses food for satiety, then this will produce more relaxation in the body than purity of chastity; because for the purity of the spirit, abstinence of the stomach is required. He who does not know how to observe the same measure in abstinence cannot have constant purity of chastity. Strict fasts are made in vain when they are followed by excessive consumption of food, which soon reaches the vice of gluttony. Therefore, it is better to use my food in moderation every day than to doom yourself from time to time to long and strict fasts. Excessive fasting can not only relax the spirit, but, by weakening the body, weaken the power of prayer. "

Rev. Neil Sorsky:

« On discerning the same food: “From all the available delicious food should be taken a little - this is the reasoning of the prudent, - said Gregory the Sinaite, - and not one to choose, the other to postpone, - and God is grateful, and the soul does not ascend, for in this way [and] we will avoid offering and we do not abhor the good creation of God. For those who are weak, by faith or soul, abstinence from food is beneficial, because, - he said, - they do not believe that they will be saved by God; the apostle also commanded them to eat vegetables (Rom. 14: 2). " If any food is harmful to someone, either because of some weakness, or by nature, let him not force himself to accept it, but let him accept what is useful to him. After all, Basil the Great says that it is not proper to fight against it with the food that supports the body.

ABOUT discerning the same bodies... If someone has a healthy and strong body, it is fitting to tire him as much as possible, let him get rid of the passions and enslave the soul by the grace of Christ, and if he is weak and sick, give him a little rest, let him not completely fall away [from doing]. It befits the ascetic to live in poverty, not satiated, and to give the body a little less than it needs, both in food and drink. During the time of carnal warfare, from the enemy [built up], it is most appropriate to abstain, since many, not keeping their womb, fell into shameful passions and unspeakable moat of filth; and when the womb is in the decency of abstinence, there is a joint entrance of all virtues. For if you hold the womb, you will enter paradise, says Basil the Great, if you do not hold it, you will become the prey of death. But when someone, due to the labor of travel or some difficult task, descends a little to the body and adds a little to what is usually required, it is not shameful, both in food, and in drinking, and in any rest, since with reasoning, I acted according to my strength. "

Rev. John Climacus teaches to pay attention to ourselves and to identify the motives of our actions in order to cut off passion in the embryo, and thereby teaches a judicious struggle with passion:

“When a wanderer has come, the gluttonous person is all moving towards love, incited by gut, and he thinks that the opportunity to comfort his brother is a permission for him too. He considers the coming of others to be a pretext for drinking wine, and under the guise of hiding virtue, he becomes a slave to passion.

... Often vanity is at odds with gluttony, and these two passions quarrel among themselves for a poor monk, as for a bought slave. An admiration compels you to allow, and vanity inspires you to show your virtue; but the prudent monk avoids both abyss and knows how to use convenient time to reflect one passion with another.

… I saw elderly priests, mocked by demons, who were blessed to give to young people who were not under their leadership for wine and other things at the feasts. If they have a good testimony about the Lord, then we can, with their permission, resolve a little; if they are negligent, then in this case we should not pay attention to their blessing, and especially when we are still struggling with the fire of carnal lust.

... The godly Evagrius imagined that he was the wisest of the wisdom both in eloquence and in the height of his thoughts, but he deceived himself, poor man, and turned out to be the most insane of the insane both in many of his opinions and in the following. He says: "When our soul desires various foods, then we must exhaust it with bread and water." Prescribing this is the same as telling a young lad to climb to the very top of the ladder in one step. So, let's say in refutation of this rule: if the soul desires various foods, then it seeks what is characteristic of its nature; and therefore we must use prudent caution against our cunning womb; and when there is no strong fleshly warfare and there is no chance for a fall, then we cut off first of all the fattening food, then the kindling food, and then the delightful one. If possible, give your belly food sufficient and digestible so that saturation gets rid of his insatiable greed and through the rapid digestion of food get rid of inflammation, like a scourge. "

Ancient patericus tells about the reasoning with which the holy fathers acted, depending on the circumstances, either weakening or reinforcing the measure of abstinence:

“They said about Abba Macarius: when he happened to be with the brethren, he considered it a rule: if there is wine, drink for the brethren; but do not drink water for one glass of wine all day. Therefore, when the brethren gave him wine to calm him down, the elder with But his disciple, knowing the matter, said to the brethren: for the Lord's sake, do not give it to him, otherwise he will torment himself in his cell. ”The brethren, having learned this, did not offer him any more.

Once Abba Siluan and his disciple Zacharias came to the monastery: there they were asked to taste some food for the journey. When they left, the disciple found water on the road and wanted to get drunk. Abba Siluan says to him: Zechariah, now fast! Didn't we, father, eat? - said the student. What we ate there was a work of love, the elder answered, but we must observe our fast, my son!

One day the fathers went to Alexandria, being invited by Archbishop Theophilos to pray and perform a sacred rite. When they ate their food with him, veal meat was offered. They ate without reasoning at all. The archbishop, taking one piece of meat, offered it to the elder sitting next to him, saying: Here is a good piece, eat it, Abba. The elders said to this: until now we have eaten a vegetable; if it is meat, then we will not eat. And not one of them began to eat any more. (1 Cor. 8: 7 ff; 10:27 ff) ".

9. Drunkenness, smoking, drug addiction

According to Saint Theophan the Recluse, to fight with such passions as drunkenness and smoking, you can only "dare stronger." "There is no other way." But in the struggle with any passion, it is impossible to win if a person does not turn to God for help.

Priest Pavel Gumerov:

"The manifestations of the passion of gluttony, intemperance are drunkenness, drug addiction and smoking. These vices are very vivid examples of sinful, passionate dependence, dependence not only spiritual, but also morbidly physical.

Wine is far from safe, but Holy Bible does not treat it as something bad, sinful and unclean. On the contrary, Christ blessed the marriage in Cana of Galilee, making up for the scarcity of wine supplies by turning water into wine at the wedding. The Lord Himself shared a friendly meal with the apostles and His followers and consumed wine. The holy prophet the psalmist David sings: "Wine gladdens the heart of a man" (Psalm 103, 15). But the Bible also gives a warning: "Do not get drunk on wine, from which there is debauchery" (Eph. 5:18).

"Drunkards ... the Kingdom of God will not inherit" (1 Cor. 6, 10). We are given a warning: wine contains a danger, we must not revel in it, we must be careful and know when to stop.

A person does not become an alcoholic from scratch. Both alcohol and drugs are a very simple way to get instant joy, euphoria. And while alcohol or drugs are acting in the body, a person has a kind of ersatz of happiness. What he, perhaps, could not get in life, to which a lot of efforts need to be made, is given instantly. After all, to get real happiness, you need to work very hard.

Especially often a person becomes an alcoholic or drug addict when his family, personal life is unsuccessful. American researchers claim that 100% of drug addiction cases are associated with a feeling of loss of meaning in life.

... That is why the percentage of remission is so high in the centers for the treatment of alcohol and drug addiction in churches and monasteries. After all, the suffering is shown the true meaning of life - in God, in faith, in work for the good of the Church and people. They repent of their sins (and without repentance it is impossible to overcome passion), participate in the sacraments, pray together for healing.

If there is such a problem in the family and one of the members is sick with alcoholism or drug addiction, he can only cope with the support, help and love of loved ones. He should feel that he is loved, that he is not alone, they are fighting for him, they are not indifferent to his misfortune. The demons of alcoholism and drug addiction are very strong, they hold a person very tightly, their power over him is great. No wonder alcoholics, drug addicts even begin to see these dark entities in reality.

… Why do alcoholics see demons? Fortunately for us, the spirit world is closed from our eyes. Our earthly bodily shell, the so-called "leather robe" (see: Genesis 3:20), does not allow us to see angels and demons. But in some cases, people see them. Very often this happens when the soul is ready to part with the body. Cases are described when sinners saw crowds of demons standing at their bedside and stretching out their paws to them. A person suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction so thinns his earthly shell, being practically in a dying state, that he begins to see spiritual essences, and since he serves passions and sin, he naturally sees not the angels of Light, but quite the opposite. Therefore, a person who drinks is often an instrument in the hands of the devil. Most crimes, especially murders, are committed while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

… But, despite the strength of this passion and the power of the devil, hope always remains. If a person sincerely wants to get rid of addiction and fervently asks God for healing, the Lord will certainly help.

... A person who has embarked on the path of recovery, who wants to break with the passion of alcoholism, must be remembered once and for all: even if he gets rid of the disease, he will not cease to be sick, so even touching vodka and wine is strictly forbidden to him. What is allowed for an ordinary healthy person, that is, to receive fun from wine and observe the measure, is no longer given to him. It is not for nothing that people who attend Alcoholics Anonymous groups still call themselves alcoholics, even after they have completely stopped drinking. It is impossible to get rid of drunkenness completely without "tied up" with alcohol. No compromise is possible here. This demon is expelled only by fasting, that is, by complete abstinence. "

10. The fight against gluttony continues until death

Rev. John Climacus:

... it would be wonderful if someone, before descending into the grave, were freed from this passion.

11. The virtue of abstinence

The passion of gluttony is opposite - and overcomes it - the virtue of abstinence.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes that it includes:

“Refraining from excessive consumption of food and drink, especially from the use of excess wine. Keeping accurate posts established by the Church. Restraining the flesh by moderate and constant consumption of food in the same way, from which all passions begin to weaken in general, and especially pride, which consists in a wordless love of the flesh, its belly and its rest. "

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Nika Kravchuk

The sin of gluttony is worshiping your own stomach

Eating food is a natural process for everyone. But the danger begins when food is turned into a cult. The consumption of large portions, the desire to feast on food, secret eating and intemperance before food indicate sin of gluttony.

Sin entered the world through eating the forbidden fruit

Yes, eating is natural. Even the first people, living in the Garden of Eden, ate the fruits. Amazingly, in this way they learned God's plan for the world, learned how everything works. And then the most famous global catastrophe in the history of mankind happened - the fall of Adam and Eve. It turns out that vice entered the world precisely through the human womb (and everything began with a thought).

When Jesus Christ prayed and fasted for 40 days, the devil appeared before him and tried to tempt him with food, they say, if you are God, then turn these stones into bread. The passion of gluttony is also included in the list of the seven deadly sins. So why is she so dangerous?

Every person is dependent on food. Here are just some of the righteous achieved such a state of piety that they ate only bread and water, and even then once a week. For some, angels brought food from heaven. The Virgin Mary also ate heavenly food when her parents gave her to serve God.

A modern person even to hear this is a wonder. In addition, worldly people cannot bear such feats as monastics. And God does not order anyone to do just that. The problem is different.

The danger lies in the fact that a person becomes darkened: he does not eat in order to live, but lives in order to eat. This can manifest itself in different ways: addiction to delicious food, excess in food, delicacy, constant concern about what to cook and try something new. You can make up a whole bunch of gastronomic addictions. All of them testify to one thing: a person is very dependent.

Gluttony gluttony strife

There are different types of sin of gluttony. If a person consumes immoderate portions, this is gluttony.

If it is the taste of food that brings him pleasure, and he can talk for a long time how wonderful and refined the dishes of Catalan cuisine are, he is firmly on the hook of guttural delusion.

When a person pretends to be in public and eats in moderation, but after returning home "comes off" in private - he is not let go of secret eating.

If he woke up in the morning and first of all runs to the refrigerator, regardless of whether the feeling of hunger has come, this is early eating.

When a person in a hurry fills his stomach, without chewing, just as quickly as possible, from this he has to absorb large portions - hasty eating.

Sometimes there is a dependence on specific products: there are those who cannot live a day without meat, and someone without sweets.

Often in one person different kinds of passion of gluttony are focused. He constantly wants to "devour" something tasty and more. By the way, the Slavic "devour" means "to make a sacrifice." So to whom does the glutton sacrifice? It turns out that your stomach.

This is how easy it turns out to go from overeating to idolatry. And not only. When a person is fed up, he cannot pray normally. He also gets lazy. Remember the classic: "I ate - you can sleep"?

Moreover, gluttony, as a pleasing to the body, can cause another mortal vice - fornication, which is associated with the flesh. It is not for nothing that a riotous life is often portrayed like this: laziness, satiety not only with food, but also with alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, fornication ...

Therefore, it is very important to diagnose the disease in oneself at an early stage and to prevent a condition when metastases will spread to all organs. But how to do that?

Declaring War on the Sin of Gluttony

Since this passion is the work of demons, the well-known evangelical advice will perfectly cope with: "This kind is expelled only by prayer and fasting." (Matthew 17:21)

Every meal should be started with prayer and finished with it. Thus, we thank the Lord for giving us life and the food we need to sustain it. The Church Fathers also advise you to be very careful while eating.

There is evidence of how Paisy Svyatorets fought against guttural infestation. He ate cabbage for 18 (!) Years. It's even hard for us to believe that this is possible. But why doubt when God himself strengthens and nourishes a person?

Of course, a newly minted Christian should definitely not take this saint as an example and start eating only cabbage or carrots every day, they say, we'll hit the passion of gluttony with vegetables.

It's about self-education. You need to control your stomach. Abba Dorotheos suggests doing it this way: first, understand how much food you need to get full, and then eat a quarter less. When the body gets used to such a portion, gradually switch to a new reduction mode, until you learn to eat exactly as much as you need to maintain life.

Fasts also help to control themselves, of which there are four in Orthodoxy: Veliky, Petrov, Assumption and Christmas, as well as fast days - Wednesday and Friday. Usually at this time they abstain from meat, dairy, and at some time and fish. But the essence of fasting is not limited to this.

You can cook yourself a salad with expensive seafood, overeat "lean" sweets and say: I am fasting.

Fasting is precisely what serves to bridle his flesh: he ate in moderation and simply. Then he will not be burdened with prodigal thoughts, prayer will go easier.

But if a person only looks at the composition of the food, is constantly irritated, walks with a "lean" face and pretends to be a great righteous man, then there is no sense. On the contrary, it will only exacerbate the problem.

Another effective method of dealing with the sin of gluttony is humility.

You constantly humble yourself, including the understanding that without God's help it is difficult for you to cope with this ailment. In another case, there is a danger, along with supposedly getting rid of overeating, noticeable weight loss, to get an asterisk of pride in your forehead. And it will be even harder to fight against this.

Take it for yourself, tell your friends!

Signs of addiction

There are seven deadly sins in Orthodoxy, one of them is gluttony... There are certain points that differentiate gluttony from natural eating:

The last point is considered the most terrible and unacceptable in Christianity.

From a religious point of view, there are clear arguments why gluttony is considered a sin:

People who do not strictly adhere to religious prohibitions know that gluttony is extremely unpleasant for the physical condition. People with big bellies live much shorter lives and are regular visitors to clinics and hospitals.

Overeating as a mental problem

It should be noted that science rarely finds common points of contact with religion, but in this case they reached a consensus. Recently, gluttony in the world has become very much and no one can overcome it. The international medical community has officially recognized that binge eating is the root cause of many complex diseases.

Binge eating symptoms

The main symptoms of binge eating, from a medical point of view:

It is noteworthy that sick people are embarrassed to show in public that they are engaged in gluttony. They prefer to retire and eat, but if someone catches them doing this, the sick will be shy. Such people have a sense of guilt, they scold themselves for every bite they eat, but they do not stop.

Thoughts of the Holy Fathers

Recently, people have begun to commit this sin more and more often. For many, food has become a kind of cult: they always talk about it, add a lot of spices and spices.

As Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, says: "Gluttony is idolatry because sinners put their pleasure above everything else, for them their own womb is God, and this is nothing but an idol. "

Anatoly the Great also believes that gluttons are idolaters, because the second commandment says: "Do not make yourself an idol", but in reality many people are the strongest idols of food.

Abba Dorotheus believes there are two kinds of gluttony. In the first case, people do not tend to eat a lot of food, but they add a lot of spices, which greatly enhance its taste. A person keeps it in his mouth for a long time and chews it because of its pleasant taste, not daring to swallow it. In Orthodoxy, this kind of gluttony is called guttural delusion.

The second case of gluttony is gluttony, when people want to eat a lot. At the same time, it is not very important for them whether the food tastes good or not. They just take care of filling their womb as much as possible.

Instilled in the use of food

Many of you have probably already understood how not to eat, but now you should figure out how need to eat so as not to become a glutton. The Holy Fathers report that:

There are not enough people who adhere to proper nutrition... However, God forgives everyone. And if you realized that you were behaving incorrectly, then all is not lost.

Methods for Dealing with Sin

First of all to a Christian you need to understand the severity of his sins... After that, begin to fight gluttony. Need to:

By following these simple rules, everyone can cope with gluttony.

As you can see, gluttony is a very terrible sin that carries with it endless retribution. Therefore, it is imperative not to become a slave to your stomach, to refrain from eating excessively, not to use spices for everyday food and to adhere to fasts.

We have all heard about the seven deadly sins. To remind them, I will list them: pride, envy, anger, despondency, greed, gluttony and fornication. The list, to be sure, is completely unpresentable. Many will say or ask why, among the many sins, these are the ones singled out in a special category and are the most terrible and unforgivable?

And if you briefly answer this question, then we can say that this happens because, despite its seemingly harmlessness, with the regular repetition of these sins, they lead to much more serious sins and, consequently, to the death of the immortal soul.

This is a general phrase. And its meaning, perhaps, is not clear to everyone. Therefore, today let's dwell on one of the sins of this list, consider it in a little more detail and understand what is the matter. And how exactly these sins are different from others.

And I want to stop your attention on the sin of gluttony. Everyone loves to eat deliciously? Then let's take a closer look at our addiction.

Do you remember when this sin was first committed? Right! In the Garden of Eden, in Eden! Yes, it was Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit of the tree, the fruit of which they were forbidden to eat. But if they were able to curb their curiosity or, perhaps, their appetite, could everything be different? Maybe even today all mankind would walk in the Garden of Eden ... Who knows. But be that as it may, the sin of gluttony was committed in the early days of the creation of the world.

And since then, he has pursued us, attracted, beckoned. And we often cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of eating something tasty.

But first of all, let's look at what the very concept of gluttony means. This is gluttony, excessive eating, satiety. It's kind of a gourmet-based madness and obsession.

And any madness and obsession is a sin. If food becomes a longed-for goal, an irresistible desire, then a person becomes a slave to his stomach. And sometimes this slavery brings a person to an almost bestial state. An overweight, fat, flabby person does not inspire sympathy and dispose to everyone.

The Holy Fathers argued that if a person cannot control his stomach and submit to the sin of gluttony, then such a person will easily overcome other vices.

And it is easy to find confirmation of this in the books of both the Old and New Testaments. Let's read King Solomon: “ Do not be between the drinkers of wine, between the jaded meat: for the drunkard and the jaded will become impoverished, and sleepiness will clothe them in rags". Sated means overeating in modern Russian. Also, the same king Solomon ordered: “ And put a barrier to your throat if you're greedy».

But the Apostle Paul, the closest follower of Christ and the author of several Epistles of the New Testament, wrote: “ Food does not bring us closer to God».

Now let's remember another well-known biblical episode. Old Testament. There lived two twin brothers Esau and Jacob. These, as you understood, are the sons of Isaac and the grandsons of the righteous Abraham. Esau was the eldest and, therefore, he had to inherit the blessing of his father by birthright. This has always been the case in Old Testament times.

One day he came from the field where he worked. He was very tired and incredibly hungry. And he noticed that his younger brother was making lentil stew. She was a beautiful red color, exuded a unique aroma, boiled over the fire ... Imagine how this seduced a tired, hard-working, hungry person. And Esau asked his brother to eat. But Jacob was not easy. He did not share food with Esau in a brotherly manner, but in return for a bowl of soup demanded that the birthright be surrendered to him.

Esau, in a state of absolute hunger and fatigue, agreed to everything. That he had a birthright if he felt that his strength was leaving him. Naturally, he agreed and received a portion of the coveted stew.

Can you imagine? To exchange the birthright - which meant that the Messiah should come from his family to the world - for a bowl of soup !!!

But the deed was done. And gluttony played a terrible trick on Esau. He was forever deprived of the opportunity to be the ancestor of the Savior, he lost the right to be a blessed father for all mankind ... And the notorious plate of lentil soup is to blame for everything.

That's what gluttony is. Although many of us consider this addiction not at all sinful or somehow unimportant. “I taste, I taste, I am a gourmet,” is often the excuse. But whatever you call your passion, it is sinful. And the essence of this does not change from the change of the name.

"The stomach should serve us, not we - the stomach"

Yes, indeed, the Lord created us in such a way that we cannot live without food. We must eat food at least 2-3 times a day. But! Eat in order to exist, work, engage in some kind of useful activity, and not in order to chew relentlessly, filling your womb to capacity and becoming sleepy, lazy and incapacitated. Generally speaking, the stomach should serve us, and not we - the stomach.

Again, someone, even agreeing with all of the above, may contradictably remark that gluttony, gluttony or gourmand is the smallest and, perhaps, the most harmless of all passions. And again I will argue. All passions are interconnected. Yes all. And imagine causation. Doubt? Let's figure it out!

Start over. The first sin is pride... What is this? Excessive faith in one's own capabilities, conflicting with the greatness of the Lord. That is, to put it simply, “I am the best, I need all the best. And more! I deserve it! " And everything is including food, tasty, rich, abundant, which only helps to indulge irrepressible pride.

Further. Envy... What is it? Desire for other people's properties, status, opportunities or situations. And of course, delicious. “How is it - he eats squid, and I have to choke on pasta? Nothing like this! I wish you squids - and more! " Again, there is a causal relationship with gluttony.

The next deadly sin is anger... Well, that's understandable. One has something tasty, and you are not just envious, but this state of affairs throws you off balance. We are indignant, indignant, because, again, we want to get the same and more.

Well, about greed and voluptuousness I will not even speak, their connection with gluttony on the surface.

So, not having the strength to curb our irrepressible appetite, we drive ourselves into a state of mortal sinfulness. Every day, several times during the day.

Again, I will return to the statement of the Apostle Paul: “ Whoever has a god-womb will not inherit the Kingdom of God».

Want another biblical example? With pleasure!

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus. A well-fed, gluttonous rich man lived without denying himself anything. And poor Lazarus, sitting under his house, ate some crumbs, and even then sometimes the dogs were taken from him. Both the rich man and Lazarus died. The latter, having endured enough in worldly life, but remaining a decent person, found himself in paradise. And the rich man, who had received enough from the worldly life, went to hell. Because he sinned every day, satisfying exclusively his physical hunger, without thinking about his mental hunger. The ending is quite obvious.

This passion is also terrible because it is, in general, invisible. We see a lot of obvious evil. That is why it is easy for us to fight it. It's obvious. But tell me, does someone, looking at a plate full of food, compare it with evil? Nobody, right! And this is a significant mistake! We often treat ourselves too rationally, deceiving ourselves that our soul is not connected with the body. But for the sake of objectivity, it should be admitted that many people know and understand that this is not so. And this, by the way, is confirmed in the Book of Books.

The Bible speaks of three kinds of people: spiritual, mental, and physical.

Spiritual ones are those who are submissive to the Holy Spirit, in whom the Spirit acts as an activating force. And we call such people saints.

Soulful people are people who enjoy harmony, beauty, a sense of beauty. These people can come to God because they have a soul that is not stained, not ruined. And repentance in something will bring them closer to God.

And there are people of the flesh. Remember the Old Testament: “ God looked at people and said: My Spirit will not forever be neglected by these people, because they are flesh».

Yes, there are people, and there were people who live exclusively for the sake of the body. These people turn into a stupid herd of animals, whose mind is dulled, and the most vile and base instincts come to the surface.

And such people are ruled by a bad force that whispers: “Well, look how much injustice and evil there is in the world! And you do not steal, do not kill, do not rape! You just eat! So eat your fill! " And the person ceases to resist the temptation. First, the temptation to eat deliciously, and then…. And then it can go too far.

And our task is to fight against this passion, restrain ourselves in all possible ways, resist temptation, remain human!

According to John Climacus, the first thing to do is to reject fatty, high-calorie foods. Then - sharp. And finally, sweet. This is the way to gradually curb the womb. Fish, vegetables, soups ... there are many different easily digestible foods that saturate a person and help him avoid acute gastronomic addiction.

« The gate is narrow and the path of abstinence is narrow, which introduces purity into the life, and few enter it”, - says the Apostle Matthew in his Gospel.

« The chief of demons is a fallen day; and the head of passions is gluttony"- John Climacus echoes him.

Head, do you understand? It all starts with her. And it's scary to imagine how it might end ...

We will soon be fasting. Filippov is coming, or the Nativity Fast. And I would very much like many to succeed with this fast to overcome the sin of gluttony, curb their stomachs, lose their gastronomic sophistication and draw closer to God. After all, this is the essence of fasting.

Overcome yourself, win this sin in a difficult struggle! And may prayer to God, your faith and desire to draw closer to the Creator become faithful helpers on this gastronomic battlefield. I wish you victory and the complete destruction of your dependence on the whims of the womb.

God bless you and walk on your rightly chosen path!

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