March 5, 2000
Guarding the Sense of Taste
and the Tongue
-- St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain
Before we get into this week's continuation of the teachings on the
senses of St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain, I want to bring your attention to several
items you may find interesting. As all of you know, the situation in Kosovo seems to be
worsening every day and much of the hatred and violence has now turned toward the
remaining Serbs who have remained there. As a result, Orthodox churches and monasteries
have suffered heavily from burnings, bombings, vandalism, and other acts of desecration
and destruction. A very good article on this subject appeared in the Montreal Gazette last
week and it's well worth reading to get an overview on this issue. Just send us a blank e-mail to and we'll send it to
you immediately.
On a happier note, we have another article from the Washington Post
which appeared last September (sorry I forgot to tell you earlier!) on the use of the
Aramaic language in Syria. As many of you will recall, this is the "language of
Jesus" and is used liturgically in some Eastern Churches. It is, however, also a
living language used in a few villages in Syria. The efforts of these people, both
Christian and Moslem, to preserve this ancient tongue are certainly praise-worthy and this
article has a lot of interesting history and facts about this language and the people who
have preserved it through the centuries. Just send us a blank e-mail and we'll send it to you.
Finally, today's teaching from St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain
is about the "Sense of Taste and the Tongue" -- an especially pertinent topic
since Orthodox Lent begins soon! Therefore, you may want to start planning now for Lenten
cooking. We have three cookbooks to recommend to you -- the first one is published by an
Orthodox parish and is great! The second one is a collection of "monastic
recipes," and the third one is a collection of vegetarian recipes in general. All
would be good to have, but I would recommend them in the order given. If you only want one
cookbook, then make it the first one; that said, here they are! Just click on the
title and you can order them on-line today!
We have also added a whole new section to our bookstore on Lenten cooking (vegetarian and fish recipes), as
well as information on how to become a vegetarian year-round for those who are so
inclined.
Now, on to this week's "thought" about the sense of
taste:
BEGIN: [SUMPTUOUS EATING DEPRIVES ONE OF PIETY AND HARMS
ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE]
Sumptuous eating is harmful to all without exception, but
especially to the young. The natural reason for this is obvious. The natural warmth of the
young person is enhanced when it receives the fatty matter of various foods. The heavy
foods consumed draw out the heavy excretions of digestion in the stomach. These in turn
are converted into substances and blood and eventually into fatty tissue. The abundance of
food creates a fat body that is susceptible to the forceful temptations of one's
sexuality.
Thus treated and exposed the poor body becomes a flaming fire, a
Babylonian furnace. If the young body is a wild and untamed animal even when it lacks
essential nourishment, imagine what it is like when it is well fed! All young people know
this because they experience these passions on a daily basis. This is why St. Gregory the
Theologian said: "Its own evil is sufficient for the body. Why add to the existing
fire any additional fuel, or any more nourishment to the beast? It will only become more
difficult to control and more violent (forceful) than the mind." Solomon too said:
"It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury" (Proverbs 19:10). In
interpreting this passage, St. Basil considered the body of a young person to be "a
fool." "What is more senseless than the body of a young person prone to easy
temptations?" he asked.
Now if you cannot avoid these fatty foods completely, then set a
discipline for yourself to eat only once a day, as many spiritual persons, hierarchs, and
even worldly leaders do. In this manner the body is kept lighter and healthier and the
mind is clearer and more capable of advancing upon divine thoughts. Even then, it is
important not to overeat.
[THE THREE DEGREES OF EATING]
-- According to St. Gregory the Sinaite there are three degrees in
eating: temperance, sufficiency, and satiety. Temperance is when someone wants to eat some
more food but abstains, rising from the table still somewhat hungry. Sufficiency is when
someone eats what is needed and sufficient for normal nourishment. Satiety is when someone
eats more than enough and is more than satisfied. Now if you cannot keep the first two
degrees and you proceed to the third, then, at least, do not become a glutton, remembering
the words of the Lord: "Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger"
(Luke 6:25).
Remember also that rich man who ate in this present life
sumptuously every day, but who was deprived of the desired bosom of Abraham in the next
life, simply because of this sumptuous eating. Remember how he longed to refresh his
tongue with a drop of water. St. Basil not only did not forgive the young people who ate
to satiety but also those who ate until satisfied; he preferred that all eat temperately.
He said, "Nothing subdues and controls the body as does the practice of temperance.
It is this temperance that serves as a control to those youthful passions and
desires."
St. Gregory the Theologian has also noted in his poetry: "No
satiety has brought forth prudent behavior; for it is in the nature of fire to consume
matter. And a filled stomach expels refined thoughts; it is the tendency of opposites to
oppose each other." Job, too, assuming that one could fall into sin through eating,
offered sacrifice to God for his sons who were feasting among themselves. "And when
the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would
rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all;
for Job said: "It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their
hearts'" (Job 1:5-8).
In interpreting this passage Olympiodoros wrote: "We learn
from this that we ought to avoid such feasts which can bring on sinfulness. We must also
purify ourselves after they have been concluded, even if these are conducted for the sake
of concord and brotherly love as in the case of the sons of Job."
Surely then, if the sons of Job were not at a feast but in prayer
or some other spiritual activity, the devil would not have dared to destroy the house and
them, as Origen interpreted the passage: "The devil was looking for an opportunity to
destroy them. Had he found them reading, he would not have touched the house, having no
reason to put them to death. Had he found them in prayer, he would not have had any power
to do anything against them. But when he found an opportune time, he was powerful. What
was the opportune time? It was the time of feasting and drinking." Do you see then,
dear reader, how many evils are brought forth by luxurious foods and feasting in general?
[WHAT ONE MUST DO TO AVOID OVEREATING AND OTHER
SINS OF THE TONGUE]
-- When eating and drinking, always remember the Psalm: "What
profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit?" (Psalms 30:9). St. Basil has
advised that we recall this verse in order to help us avoid overeating and overdrinking,
as he has interpreted it in the following manner:
"What is the need for robustness of flesh and an abundance of
blood if their future is to be delivered over to the common corruption of the body? For
this reason I constrain and deprive my body, otherwise my blood becomes so robust and
overzealous that it makes my flesh to sin. Do not therefore flatter your body with sleep
and baths and soft beds, but always recall the saying: "What profit is there for my
blood if I go down to the Pit?" Why do you care for the lesser thing that will later
become corrupt? Why do you bother to make yourself fat? Do you not know that the fatter
you make your body so much heavier will be the soul's prison?"
In this sense of the mouth are also included all those sins which
are enacted by the tongue: condemnation, slander, mocking, insults, unreasonable
excommunications, curses, reprimands, obscene talk, and all the other idle and vain words.
From all these we must guard ourselves as much as possible, for as you know, we must give
an account for every vain and idle word, according to the Sacred Scriptures (Matthew
12:36). . . . END
From Chamberas, Peter A. (trans.), "Nicodemos of the Holy
Mountain: A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel," (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), pp.
109 - 113
|
View Shopping Cart / Checkout