Overview of Spiritual Warfare - Saint John Cassian the Roman — Part 2
When grace comes, the energy of the spirit awakens and higher aspirations are established in man that turn him away from everything earthly. Exposing itself to their influence, the will can no longer remain indifferent and lukewarm, and it gains zeal for the better and sacrifices everything lower to it. Nevertheless, the inclination to the former tranquility of indifference remains in it, and it is very inclined to return to it again. To prevent this from happening, movements remain in the body that are hostile to higher aspirations, to which the will that has tasted higher treasures cannot be inclined, and as soon as it senses them, all zeal immediately awakens in it and it courageously guards its higher treasures. However, it happens that the will falls into a lukewarmness that is contrary to God, as a result of which the struggle of the body rises and stimulates the lukewarmness to action. From this it is evident that we would remain forever in the state of the aforementioned lukewarmness that is contrary to God if the struggle that arises within us did not lead us out of it. For when, in the midst of it, we, enslaved to self-indulgence, desire to make ourselves some relief, the body immediately rises up, and, wounding us with the stings of sinful movements and passions, does not allow us to remain in the comforting and desired purity, and leads us to a cooling and unwanted pleasure, that is, as if it drags us onto a path strewn with thorns. However, this awakens the dormant zeal for God, and it rises up and pursues those enemies who have approached. Working daily in us, this struggle leads us to a beneficial resolution to, having rejected a broad and carefree life, with great effort and contrition of spirit, acquire purity of heart, to preserve purity of body with strict fasting, hunger, thirst and sleeplessness, to enter into a good constitution of spirit through reading, reflection and constant prayer.
Moreover, something mysterious is expressed in God's decision concerning the nations hostile to Israel, as we read in the Book of Judges: And these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, that they might learn war (Judges 3:1-2). The Lord organized such a war, not because He did not want peace for Israel or because He did not care for its welfare, but because He saw that it was very useful for it. Exposing itself to the almost constant attack of these nations, Israel could not help feeling a constant need for God's help. For this reason, it was obliged to remain in constant recourse to Him, in hope and prayer. Not having the possibility of abandoning the work of war, it had no time to give itself up to carelessness or to weaken from laziness and idleness. For peace and happiness often overthrow him whom misfortune could not overcome.
Why do we find a sleeping soul in eunuchs in the body? It is precisely because of the delusion that, having been freed from this bodily need, they do not need the effort of physical restraint and contrition of heart. Those who are broken by such carelessness do not worry about acquiring true perfection, or about purifying their hearts from spiritual passions. Such a state, although it rises above the physical, nevertheless remains only spiritual. According to the Lord himself, it is worthy of rejection because, having passed from cold to lukewarm, it has stopped at an undesirable heat.
Therefore, at the very beginning of renunciation, when we cease to be carnal, that is, when we begin to separate ourselves from the customs of the world and abstain from obvious bodily impurity, let us hasten to immediately adopt a spiritual state with all our strength, lest we begin to imagine that, simply by renouncing the world according to the external man, or by cutting short the defilement of carnal fornication, we have already attained perfection, and that we become lazy and careless in removing the causes of passion. Otherwise, it will happen that we will stop midway between the body and the spirit and will not attain the degree of spiritual perfection, thinking that for it it is enough to separate ourselves in an external way from worldly life and pleasures, and to simply be far from debauchery and carnal ties. For if we remain in this state of lukewarmness or indifference, which is considered the worst, we will be vomited out of the mouth of the Lord, as He says: But because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth (Rev 3:16).
The Lord justly declared that those whom He received into the bosom of love, and who proved to be cold, would be turned back with a certain disgust. For it is easier for a carnal man, that is, a worldly man or one who does not know God, to be converted to salvation and to ascend to the summit of spiritual perfection, than for one who has accepted the yoke of Christ, but has not entered upon the path of perfection, but has allowed the first fire of spiritual zeal to grow cold. For the former, being humiliated by sensual passions and becoming conscious of his impurity through bodily defilement, will come to contrition and have recourse to the Eastman of all purity and perfection, and will hate the cold state of unbelief and carelessness in which he was. Burning with spirit, he will ascend more easily to perfection. On the contrary, he who coldly accepts the works of the Lord and without humility and due diligence enters upon the path of this calling, once defeated by this miserable infection, can no longer make himself wise for the better, nor receive reasonable instruction from others. For he says in his heart, according to the word of the Lord: I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing , although what follows is more fitting to him: And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked (Rev. 3:17). In this way, he becomes worse than a worldly man, for he loses the consciousness of being wretched, blind, and naked, that he needs correction in many things, that he has great need of instruction and reasoning from others. As a result, he does not accept a single saving word, not realizing that in the future life he will inevitably be subjected to severe judgment and punishment.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PASSIONS AND THE STRUGGLE WITH THEM
There are eight main passions: gluttony or overeating, fornication, avarice, anger, sorrow, despondency, vanity, and pride.
We divide them into two types: natural, which are born from natural needs, such as gluttony and fornication, and unnatural, which have no root in nature, such as avarice. Their actions are expressed in four ways: some act only in the body and through the body, such as gluttony and fornication, and some are expressed without the participation of the body, such as vanity and pride; then, some are awakened from without, such as avarice and anger, and some arise from internal causes, such as despondency and sorrow. Such an expression of the action of passions gives us reason to allow for two more genera in them, dividing them into bodily and mental. The bodily are born in the body and nourish and delight the body, while the mental arise from mental inclinations and nourish the soul, while they often have a destructive effect on the body. Mental illnesses are treated by simple internal treatment of the heart, while physical illnesses are treated by dual remedies: both external and internal.
We will clarify some of what has been said with a more extensive discussion.
Having their origin in the body, the passions of gluttony and fornication sometimes arise without the participation of the soul, only because of the excitement of the needs from which they arise. However, they also attract the soul because of its union with the body. In order to tame their onslaught, it is not enough to strain the soul alone, but it is necessary to tame the body also by fasting, vigil, exhaustion through labor, and to resort to temporary solitude, and often even complete solitude. They arise from the depravity of the soul and the body, and can be overcome only by their mutual labor. Vanity and pride are born in the soul without the mediation of the body. For what need has vanity for anything bodily when it leads the soul to its downfall solely because of the desire for praise and glory? Or, what bodily action had a share in Lucifer's fall into pride. He conceived it only in the soul and thought, as the prophet says: And you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, I will make myself like the Most High (Is 14:13-14). He had no movement or cause from without for such pride. It was born and fully matured within him.
Therefore, these eight passions have different origins and different effects. However, the first six, namely, the indulgence of the stomach, fornication, avarice, anger, sorrow, and despondency, are united to each other by some special relationship, that is, the excess of one leads to the next. For from the excess of the indulgence of the stomach, lust necessarily arises, from fornication, avarice arises, from avarice, anger, sorrow, and despondency. Therefore, they should be fought against in the same order, moving in the fight with them from the previous to the following. To conquer despondency, we must first overcome sorrow; to banish sorrow, we must first overcome anger; to extinguish anger, we must hate avarice; to eliminate avarice, we must tame lust; To overcome lust, we must tame the passion for the pleasure of the stomach. The remaining two passions, namely vanity and pride, are united in the same way, and the intensification of the first becomes the beginning of the second. From excessive vanity comes the passion for pride. Victory over them is achieved in the same order, because in order to eradicate pride, it is necessary to overcome vanity. However, they are not united in kind with the previous six. They are not born from them, but on the contrary, after their removal. We fall into these two passions especially after victory and triumph over the other passions. Moreover, although they are in the aforementioned mutual relationship, these eight passions are more often divided into four alliances: lustful lust is united by a special alliance with the pleasure of the stomach, anger with avarice, despondency with sadness, and pride with vanity.
None of the passions is expressed in just one way. Thus, the indulgence of the stomach is expressed in three ways: either it gives rise to a desire to eat before a certain time, or it demands food to the point of overeating without distinguishing the quality of the food, or it demands delicious food. This is why we have irregular eating, gluttony, and love of sweets. From these three passions arise various evil impulses in the soul. Thus, from the first arises murmuring against the monastic constitution, from which dissatisfaction with monastic life grows to an unbearable level, which is usually quickly followed by flight from the monastery; from the second awakens lust and sensuality; and the third leads to avarice and makes no room for the poverty of Christ.
There are three forms of lustful passion: the first is carried out through the mixing of one sex with the other; the second arises without mixing with a woman, for which the Lord defeated Onan, the son of the patriarch Judah (Genesis 38:9-10), and which is called impurity in Scripture; The third is done with the mind and heart, and the Lord speaks of it in the Gospel: " Everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:28). The apostle Paul pointed to these three forms in the verse: "Therefore, put to death your earthly members: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry" (Col 3:5).
There are also three forms of avarice: first, it does not allow one who has renounced the world to be free from all kinds of possessions; second, it encourages one who has already given everything to the poor to acquire the same kind of possessions again; third, it inflames the desire to acquire in one who previously had nothing.
There are three forms of anger: the first is that which burns within; the second is that which is expressed in word and deed; the third is that which smolders for a long time and is called resentment.
Sorrow has two forms: the first occurs after the cessation of anger, or appears in the event of damage and loss and unfulfilled desire; the second arises from fears and apprehensions about one's lot, or from unreasonable worries.
There are also two forms of despondency: one throws one into sleep, and the other drives one out of the room.
Vanity has various faces, but two main forms can be distinguished: in the first we are too exalted by bodily privileges and visible things; in the second we are inflamed by the desire for vain glory for spiritual goods.
And pride is of two kinds: the first is bodily, and the second is spiritual, which is more harmful. It especially tempts those who have advanced in some virtues.
These eight passions tempt the whole human race, although they do not attack all in the same way. For in one the spirit of fornication occupies the chief place, in another anger prevails; in one vanity reigns, and in another pride rules. Accordingly, although all passions attack all, each of us is enslaved to them in a different way and in a different order.
Therefore we must wage a struggle against these passions. Having discovered which passion is particularly harmful to him, each one should direct his main struggle against it, using every care and concern to monitor and overcome it, directing against it the spears of daily fasting, throwing at it every moment the arrows of groaning and sighing from the heart, and constantly shedding tears in prayer to God for the shortening of the struggle that troubles him. For no one can conquer any passion until he is convinced that he cannot win victory over it by his own care and effort, although, in order to purify himself from it, he himself is obliged to constantly be in every effort and every care.
When such a fighter feels that he has freed himself from his main passion, he should examine with full attention the secret places of his heart, so that, having seen which of the remaining passions is the strongest, he may raise all spiritual weapons against it. Having thus won victory over the main passion in himself, he will more quickly and more easily maintain victory over the other, weaker ones.
When you have conquered one or several passions, you should not be proud, otherwise the Lord, seeing the pride of your heart, will cease to protect and protect it, and you, left behind, will again be tormented by the passion that you, with the help of God's grace, had already conquered. And the prophet David would not have begun to pray: "Do not, O Lord, give over to the beasts the soul that confesses to you" (Ps 73:19), if he had not known that those who are exalted in heart again give in to the passions they have overcome in order to be humbled.
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