November
4, 2001
"The
Eight Thoughts (Vices)"
-- Abba Evagrius
Before we get into this issue, there are a couple
of new links you might want to check out. The first one is www.orthodox.tv
and it has a lot of good audio and video feeds on it. Not all the
information there is free-of-charge, but much is and it's worth a look.
Also, there is a site devoted to those who choose to live the eremitical
life and has a lot of interesting stuff to read. This is an inter-faith
venture devoted to the solitary life so some readers might not agree
with everything they read there. Nevertheless it is worth a look and
there is much of interest to read there, especially in the area of
real-life experiences of living the solitary life in today's world.
Check it out at www.op.org/ravensbread.
Abba Evagrius is well-known to students of the
Philokalia. He was a monk of Sketis, born around the middle of the
fourth century to a priest. He was known to such contemporary teachers
as St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Gregory the
Theologian. He attended the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople,
but he left there after a short while for Jerusalem. There he became and
monk and returned to Egypt a short while later. He lived in Nitria for
two years, then in the area known as "the Cells," and finally
in Sketis. He was a student of St. Macarius of Egypt and St. Macarius of
Alexandria. Abba Evagrius wrote many texts which were translated and
read widely in both the Greek-speaking and Latin-speaking Churches. His
works were translated and carried to the West by his disciple, Rufinus.
This teaching from Abba Evagrius is written in
the form of a letter to Anatolius and is about the eight vices from
which all other thoughts stem.
TO ANATOLIUS: ON THE EIGHT THOUGHTS
BEGIN: -- There are eight principal
thoughts, from which all other thoughts stem. The first thought is of
gluttony; the second, of fornication; the third, of love of money; the
fourth, of discontent; the firth, of anger; the sixth, of despondency;
the seventh, of vainglory; the eighth, of pride. Whether these thoughts
disturb the soul or not does not depend on us; but whether they linger
in us or not and set passions in motion or not -- does depend on us.
-- The thought of gluttony suggests to a monk
that he make haste to give up his ascetic life, depicting to him
diseases of the stomach, liver or bile, dropsy or some other long
illness, the lack of medical remedies and the absence of physicians.
Moreover, it brings to his memory brethren who actually contracted such
diseases. At times the enemy urges brethren, who have suffered such
diseases, to visit monks who are fasting and to relate what has happened
to them, adding that this was due to too strict an abstinence.
-- The demon of fornication excites carnal lust,
and insidiously attacks abstainers, striving to make them abandon their
abstinence, thinking that it brings them no profit. Polluting the soul,
it urges it also towards such actions and makes them say and hear
certain words, as though the act itself were before their eyes.
-- Love of money conjectures a long old age,
inability to work with one's hands, hunger, illness, the hardships of
want and the grievousness of accepting from others the wherewithal for
bodily needs.
-- Discontent is sometimes caused by the loss of
what is desirable, and sometimes accompanies anger. When caused by the
loss of what is desirable it happens thus. Certain thoughts come first
and bring to the soul memories of home, relatives and the old way of
life. When they see the soul does not oppose them but goes with them and
mentally spreads itself in enjoying them, they seize it and immerse it
in discontent, both because the objects of their thoughts are absent,
and because by the statutes of a monk's life he cannot have them. So the
more eagerly the poor soul spreads itself in the initial thoughts, the
more it is stricken and grieved by the sequel.
-- Anger is the quickest passion of all. It is
aroused and inflamed against a man who has done, or seems to have done
one an injury. It hardens the soul ever more and more; it particularly
captures the mind during prayer, vividly bringing up the face of an
offender. At times, lingering in the soul and passing into enmity, it
causes nightmares, depicting physical tortures, the horrors of death,
attacks of poisonous snakes and beasts. These four phenomena
accompanying the birth of enmity, bring with them many thoughts, as
every observer will find for himself.
-- The demon of despondency, which is also called
the noonday demon (Psalms 90:6), is more grievous than all others. It
attacks a monk in about the fourth hour (about ten in the morning) and
whirls the soul round and round till about the eighth hour (two o'clock
in the afternoon). It begins by making a man notice dejectedly how
slowly the sun moves, or does not move at all, and that the day seems to
have become fifty hours long. Then it urges the man to look frequently
out of the window or even to go our of his cell to look at the sun and
see how long it is till the ninth hour, at the same time making him
glance hither and thither to see if some of the brethren are about. Then
it arouses in him vexation against the place and his mode of life itself
and his work, adding that there is no more love among the brethren and
no one to comfort him. If in these days someone has offended him, the
demon reminds him of it to increase his vexation. The it provokes in him
a longing for other places, where it would be easier to find the
wherewithal to satisfy his needs by adopting some craft which is less
strenuous and more profitable. He adds that to please God does not
depend on the place; God can be worshipped everywhere. He connects with
this thought memories of relatives and former well-being; and prophesies
here a long life with the hardships of asceticism, and uses every wile
to make the monk end by leaving his cell and taking flight from his
career. This demon is followed by another, but not at once. However if a
monk fights and conquers, this struggle is followed by a peaceful state,
and the soul becomes filled with ineffable joy.
-- The thought of vainglory is the most subtle of
all. It comes to those who lead a righteous life, and begins to extol
their efforts and collect praise from men, making them imagine the cries
of demons being cast out, the healing of women, crowds pressing round a
man to touch his garments. Finally it predicts his consecration into
priesthood, brings to his doors men to seek him who, on his refusal,
bind him and lead him forcibly away against his will. Having thus
kindled idle hopes in him, the demon withdraws, leaving the field for
further temptations either by the demon of pride or the demon of
discontent, who at once suggests to him thoughts opposed to these hopes.
At times he even surrenders to the demon of fornication, this man who,
only a short time before, saw himself as a holy and venerable priest.
-- The demon of pride is the cause of the most
grievous fall of the soul. It counsels the soul not to profess God as
its helper, but to ascribe to itself its righteousness and to puss
itself up before its brethren, considering them to be ignorant because
not all of them think so highly of it. Pride is followed by anger and
discontent and by the final evil -- going out of one's mind, frenzy and
visions of many demons in the air. END
from E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer, trans.,
"Early Fathers from the Philokalia," (London: Faber
& Faber, 1981), pp. 110 - 112.
Although this book has long been out of print,
you can occasionally find it used on Amazon.com. See if you can order "Early
Fathers from the Philokalia" today!
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