Be firmly assured that the evil is
kindled in your heart by the enemy; he chiefly assaults the heart
through a full stomach. This is from experience.
Excerpts from the diary of St. John of Kronstadt
Sin
is foolish and destructive. For instance, a drunkard, from the
excessive use of spirituous liquors, becomes ill, and indulges in
various dissipations and shameful acts, which he himself is ashamed to
think of and remember afterwards. And yet he continues to give himself
up to drink. A glutton, after excessive eating, feels a heaviness, his
capabilities become obscured, his tongue is bound, and he himself sees
that he has become like an animal or bestial in nature, because he often
breathes malice and spite against those who live with him, or who daily
ask alms of him. He is subjected to oppression and affliction; he is
deprived of peace and tranquillity; he becomes incapable of meditating
upon heavenly things, or of being a true Christian, of living for the
highest purpose of existence. And yet he continues to be greedy after
dainties and eating.
...Having lost their strength and health in
dissipation and drunkenness, they become prematurely aged, decrepit,
dull, fall ill and die.
If you wish to live long on the earth, do
not hurry to live in a carnal manner, to satiate yourself, to get
drunk, to smoke, to commit fornication, to live in luxury, to indulge
yourself. The carnal way of life constitutes death, and therefore, in
the Holy Scripture, our flesh is called mortal, or, " the old man, which
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts."[1381] If you wish to live
long, live through the spirit; for life consists in the spirit: "If ye
through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall
live,"[1382] both here on earth and there in heaven. Observe temperance
and simplicity in food and drink; preserve chastity; do not foolishly
squander the balsam of your life; do not seek after riches, after
luxury; strive to be contented with little; keep peace with all, and do
not envy anyone — respect and love all; and, above all, strive ever to
bear Christ in your heart, and you shall live in peace and felicity for
many years.
And how a man lowers himself by gluttony and
drunkenness! He perverts his nature, created after the image of God, and
becomes like unto the beast, and even worse. O, woe unto us for our
attachments, for our iniquitous habits! They hinder us from loving God
and our neighbours, and from fulfilling God's commandments; they implant
in us criminal carnal self-love, the end of which is everlasting
destruction. Thus the drunkard does not grudge money for the sake of
gratifying his flesh and stupefying himself, while he grudges giving a
few pence to the poor...
When your heart is struck by avarice,
say to yourself: "My life is Christ, the Beloved of all. He is my
inexhaustible wealth, my inexhaustible food, my inexhaustible drink. Our
blind flesh dreams of finding life in food and in money, and bears
ill-will against those who deprive it of these material means of life.
But be firmly persuaded that your life is not money and food, but mutual
love for the sake of love for God. Remember that God is Love, uniting
all things animated by the laws of love, and bringing forth life from
the union of love.
Take care; do not forget, Christian; never
lose hearty faith in Him Who is your invisible Life, your Peace, your
Light, your Strength, your Breath; that is, in Jesus Christ. Do not
believe your heart when it becomes gross, darkened, unbelieving, and
cold from plenteousness of food and drink, from worldly distractions, or
finally when you live by the intellect, and not by the heart; that is,
when you exercise the intellect and neglect the heart, or, when you
enlarge and adorn the net, leaving the fisherman himself in poverty and
need; for the heart, comparatively speaking, is the hunter or fisherman
whilst the intellect is the fisherman's net.
Do not rejoice when
your countenance is bright from pleasant food and drink, because then
the inward face of your soul is hideous and deadly, and at that time the
words of the Saviour Christ are applicable to you: "For ye are like
unto whited sepulchres, which, indeed, appear beautiful outward, but are
within full of dead men's bones"[520] — that is, of hypocrisy and
iniquity.
You must pay most strict and active attention to this
your daily action of eating and drinking, for from food and drink, from
their quality and quantity, your spiritual, social, and family activity
very greatly depends: " Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness."[715] Tea and
coffee also pertain to drunkenness if indulged in unseasonably and to
excess. O, woe unto us who are full now, and frequently look
neglectfully upon God's gifts.
The incorporeal enemy enters the
heart of man through satiety and drunkenness — this can be felt by
anyone who is observant. This is the reason why, with the growth of
drunkenness, the inclination to drunkenness increases so terribly
(because the power of the enemy over the man increases) — this is why
you notice in drunkards a power involuntarily drawing them to satisfy
their passion or their inward craving for wine. The enemy is in the
hearts of these unhappy people. How can the demon of drunkenness be
driven out? By prayer and fasting. The enemy enters the hearts of men
because they have given themselves up to a carnal mode of life — to
gluttony, and because they do not pray. It is, therefore, natural that
he can be driven out from them by opposite means — that is, by prayer
and fasting.
The Word of God says, "Be not drunk with wine";
[1350] whilst you builders of public-houses say, "Get drunk with wine,"
and have built thousands of public-houses to tempt your brethren. And
yet you go to church and pray in your homes.
Those who go to
attend the Divine service after having eaten much, voluntarily lay upon
themselves an unnecessary and injurious burden, and deaden their hearts
beforehand to prayer, obstructing the access of holy thoughts and
feelings to it. We must be most careful not to eat before Divine
service. We must remember that "The kingdom of God is not meat and
drink,"[1214] that is, that God cannot reign in the heart that is
overburdened with surfeiting and drunkenness.
If you see a
drunken man, say in your heart: "Lord, look mercifully upon Thy servant,
allured by the flattery of the belly and by carnal merriment; make him
understand the sweetness of temperance and fasting, and of the fruit of
the spirit arising therefrom." When you see a man passionately fond of
eating, and finding all his happiness in this, say: "Lord, Thou art our
sweetest Food, that never perishes, but leads us unto life eternal!
Purify Thy servant from the filthiness of gluttony, so carnal and so far
from Thy Spirit, and grant that he may know the sweetness of Thy
Life-giving, spiritual food, which is Thy Flesh and Blood, and Thy holy,
living, and acting word. "In this or in a similar manner pray for all
who sin, and do not dare to despise anyone for his sin, nor be
vindictive, as through this you would only aggravate the wounds of those
who sin; but rather correct them by means of such advice, threats, and
punishments as may tend to stop or restrain the evil within the limits
of moderation.
Do not believe, brethren, in the enemy's
enticements, not for one single moment, when the matter concerns food
and drink, however plausible they may apparently be.
By feeding
largely, one becomes a carnal man, having no spirit, or soulless flesh;
while by fasting, one attracts the Holy Spirit and becomes spiritual.
When cotton is not wetted with water it is light, and if in a small
quantity flies up in the air; but if it is wetted, it becomes heavy and
at once falls to the ground. It is the same with the soul. O, how
important it is to preserve it by fasting!
Unfortunate is he who
is passionately fond of eating and drinking, cares for surfeiting and
enjoyments: he will indeed find, when he begins to labour for the Lord,
that food and drink, if we set our heart upon them, are a heavy burden
for the body, affliction and destruction for the spirit, and that man
can be really satisfied with very, very little and simple food.
One
cannot eat and drink and smoke continually. One cannot turn human life
into constant eating, drinking, and smoking (although there are men who
do eat, drink, and smoke almost uninterruptedly); and thus the spirit of
evil has turned life into smoking, and made the mouth, which ought to
be employed in thanking and praising the Lord, into a smoking furnace.
The less and lighter the food and drink you take, the lighter and more
refined your spirit will become.
When during prayer the enemy
suggests within you a craving for food, despise this material, nervous
irritation, strengthen your heart more powerfully by prayer, inflame it
by faith and love, and say to the tempter the following words of the
Lord: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God."[328] Prayer is my best food,
fortifying and enlightening both the soul and the body.
Do not
let the enemy shame you for laying your hopes upon such earthly dust as
money and food, more than upon God, but shame him himself by your firm
trust in God and in His Holy Word. For "man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."[463]
Mark; "by every word." For every word of the Lord Creator can support
your life, just as every word can create and transform thousands of
creatures. "For He spake and it was done; He commanded and it stood
fast."[464]
We amuse ourselves with food and drink, gratifying
ourselves by them, instead of only using them for the necessary
nourishment of our body and the support of our bodily life.
What
infinite nothingness our food and drink represent on the one side, and
what infinite grandeur the man himself who is fed by them represents on
the other side! Is it not the greatest insanity for man, for his image
of God, for this partaker of the divine nature, for whom God may be all —
"God may be all in all"[446] — to grudge food, drink, clothing,
dwelling, and anything else earthly! Let the dust be dust — but let the
immortal image of the immortal God be always exalted and preferred
before everything earthly, corruptible and transitory! Therefore, do not
let us be sparing of anything for our neighbour! O, what a great honour
it is — to feed, to clothe, to give rest to the image of God!
Most-gracious and Most-bountiful God! fill our hearts with mercy and
bountifulness!
The corrupted man continually wishes to eat and
drink, to continually satisfy his sight, hearing, smell, and feeling;
carnal men satisfy themselves with dainty food and drink, fine sights,
music, smoking, magnificent edifices, and outward splendor.
O,
how fearful it is to use food and drink for amusement, to eat and drink
in excess! A full stomach makes a man lose faith and the fear of God,
and makes him unfeeling in prayer, thanksgiving, and praise to God. A
satiated heart turns away from the Lord, and becomes as hard and
unfeeling as a stone. This is why the Saviour carefully warns us against
surfeiting and drunkenness: "And so that day come upon you
unawares,"[873] because of the wrath of the Lord upon us for heedlessly
and idly spending the time in eating and drinking.
Food and drink
must only be used for strengthening our powers, and not as dainties,
and we must not eat when nature does not require it. Many of us (and I
myself the first), if we do not repent and correct ourselves, will be
condemned for having eaten and drunk unseasonably, and thus for having
lived, having understanding, like the brutes that have no understanding,
and for having darkened our foolish hearts. You have amused yourselves
with food and drink, and have often eaten and drunk when there was no
need for you to eat and drink: "Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall
hunger."[713] "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton;
ye have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter."[714]
The
Devil takes captive and conquers man in this world by excessively
exciting his natural spiritual and bodily needs, such as: the need of
food and drink (and as everything has to be bought with money, therefore
of money, too), the need of clothing, the need of pleasures, the need
of honours or fame, and of a good name. All these and other similar
requirements of man, which God has put into the very nature of man, are
continually perverted by the Devil, who carries them to extremes,
sometimes quite needlessly (for instance, with eating and drinking), and
thus ruins both soul and body, and diverts the soul from God through
its attachment to material things, and through its falling into
sensuality and into the passions of malice, pride, envy, despondency,
slothfulness, gluttony, fornication, drunkenness, covetousness,
ambition, and so forth. And therefore fasting, chastity,
disinterestedness, kindness, meekness, humility, faith, hope and love,
prayer and meditation, are necessary.
Health and the belly, these
are the two idols — especially with men of the present age, of whom I
myself, a great sinner, am one — for which we live, and which we
continually serve, even to the neglect of the duties of our Christian
calling — for instance, to the neglect of the reading of the Word of
God, which is sweeter than honey and honey-comb; to the neglect of
prayer, that sweetest converse with God, and of the preaching of the
Word of God. To walk a great deal for health, and to incite the
appetite, to eat with appetite — such are the objects of the desires and
aspirations of many of us. But through our frequent walks, through our
fondness for food and drink, we shall find that one thing has been
neglected, and another irrevocably missed, whilst others have not even
entered into our minds; for can the time after a good dinner or supper
be really a good time for any serious work! Even if we would like to
occupy ourselves with work, the belly, full of food and drink, draws us
away from it, and constrains us to rest, so that we begin to slumber
over our work. What sort of work can it be? Indeed, there is nothing
left, if it is after dinner, but to lie down and rest, and if it is
after supper, after having prayed somehow or other (for a satiated man
cannot even pray as he should), to go to bed and sleep — the miserable
consequence of an overloaded stomach — until the next morning. And in
the morning there is another sacrifice to your belly ready in the shape
of a dainty breakfast. You get up, pray, of course not with your whole
heart — since with our whole heart we can only eat and drink, walk, read
novels, go to theatres, dance at evening parties, dress elegantly — and
thus you pray, out of habit, carelessly, to save appearances, only as a
form, without the essence of the prayer, without lively faith, without
power, without any fervour in your petitions, praises, and thanks to the
Lord God for His uncountable mercies, and then you hurry again to food
and drink. At last, when you have eaten and drunk so much that now,
scarcely able to move, you are ready to begin work, if it really is
work, and not rather inactivity — such, for instance, as trading with
some worldly vanities, accompanied by an abundance of swearing, lying,
and cheating. In such or a similar way, with many and many of us, our
present life passes away, and our days consume in vanity, [1361] whilst
we care little for that which is the most important matter on earth —
the salvation of our soul. Thus our life is spent mainly in the worship
of two brittle idols — health and the belly — and then dress; so much so
that many, by worshipping fashion, sacrifice even their health and
food, thus going to the other extreme... Christian! it is not for your
health, belly, dress, and money that you must care; you must strive
after love for God and your neighbour, for these are God's two greatest
commandments. "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in
him."[1362]
Do not fear bodily privations, but fear spiritual
privations. Do not fear, do not be faint-hearted, do not be irritated
when you are deprived of money, food, drink, enjoyments, clothes,
dwelling, even of your body itself; but fear when the enemy deprives
your soul of faith, of trust, and love for God and your neighbour; when
he sows hatred, enmity, attachment to earthly things, pride, and other
sins in your heart. "Fear not them [men] which, will kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul." [470]
O, how low has our nature
fallen through our passion for eating! O, thrice accursed Satan, who has
precipitated us, and still precipitates us, through food, into
thousands of evils! O, food and drink, that so powerfully tempt us! How
long shall we be allured by you and place our life in you? When shall we
engrave deeply upon our hearts the Saviour's words: "Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God,"[474] and bring these words into our life and actions? How long
will our greediness, self-indulgence, surfeiting, and drunkenness
continue? How long will our abominable avarice and love of money
continue? How long will our pride, animosity and malice against our
neighbour, through money, dress, houses, food, and drink last? Thousands
of Satan's deceits, by means of food, dress, and money, disclose
themselves to our spiritual vision, and yet we still continue to be
allured by his enticements as though by something real, useful to us,
whilst in fact we are caring for neither more nor less than destructive
illusions, and for that which is most pernicious both spiritually and
bodily to our own selves. Do not believe, brethren, in the enemy's
enticements, not for one single moment, when the matter concerns food
and drink, however plausible they may apparently be. "Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you."[475] "I spake not to you concerning bread, that ye
should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which is
hypocrisy,"[476] in matters of faith and piety. Pay the utmost attention
to faith and piety. "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man
shall give unto you."[477] Give away even the last that you have, if
there is need of it, remembering the words of the Saviour: "If any man
will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak
also"[478] — that is, give away the last that you have.
When
hungry, do not throw yourself upon food — else you will overload your
heart and body. Eat slowly, without avidity, with reflection to the
glory of God, remembering the God Who feeds us, and above all His
incorruptible food, His Body and Blood, that out of love He has given
Himself to us in food and drink, remembering also the holy word of the
Gospel.
The heart is refined, spiritual, and heavenly by nature —
guard it; do not overburden it, do not make it earthly, be temperate to
the utmost in food and drink, and in general in bodily pleasures. The
heart is — the temple of God. "If any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy."[690]
Do not hasten to eat and drink, but
rather hasten to perform God's service; and when performing God's
service, do not think of food and drink. Think well before Whom you
stand, with Whom you are conversing, to Whom you are singing praises; be
wholly in God, belong wholly to Him alone, pray with all your heart,
sing with all your heart, serve for your neighbour as you would serve
for yourself, gladly, heartily, not with a divided heart and thoughts.
Lord! help us; for without Thee we can do nothing. [710]
Footnotes
[328] St. Matthew iv. 4.
[446] 1 Corinthians xv. 28.
[463] St. Matthew iv. 4.
[464] Psalm xxxii 9.
[470] St. Matthew x. 28.
[474] St. Matthew iv. 4.
[475] St. Matthew vi. 33.
[476] St. Matthew xvi. 11; St. Luke xii. 1.
[477] St. John vi. 27.
[478] St. Matthew v. 40.
[520] St. Matthew xxiii. 27, 28.
[690] 1 Corinthians iii. 17.
[710] St. John xv. 5.
[713] St. Luke vi. 25.
[714] James v. 5.
[715] St. Luke xxi. 34.
[873] St. Luke xxi. 34.
[1214] Romans xiv. 17.
[1350] Ephesians v. 18.
[1361] Psalm lxxviii. 33.
[1362] 1 John iv. 16.
[1381] Ephesians iv. 22.
[1382] Romans viii. 13.
Excerpts
compiled from: My Life in Christ or Moments of Spiritual Serenity and
Contemplation, of Reverent Feeling, of Earnest Self-Amendment, and of
Peace in God, St. John of Kronstadt.
