The Institutes 4.35–5.16

"Our cross is the fear of the Lord. Just as one who is crucified no longer has the power to move or turn his limbs anywhere as his mind pleases, so we too must direct our wills and desires, not according to what is pleasant and delightful to us at present, but according to the law of the Lord, wherever it binds us. And just as one who is fastened to the gibbet of the cross no longer looks at present things, nor thinks about his affections, is not distracted by anxiety and care for tomorrow, is moved by no desire of possessing, is inflamed by no pride, no contention, no rivalry, does not grieve over present injuries nor remember past ones, and, while he still breathes in the body, believes himself dead to all the elements, sending the gaze of his heart ahead to the place where he does not doubt he will at once pass over — so we too, crucified by the fear of the Lord, must be dead to all these things, that is, not only to the vices of the flesh but to the very elements, having the eyes of our soul fixed there where we ought to hope to depart at any moment. For in this way we shall be able to have all our desires and fleshly affections put to death."

"Beware, then, lest you ever take back any of the things you cast away in renouncing, and, against the Lord's prohibition, be found to have returned from the field of gospel work to clothe yourself again with the tunic of which you had stripped yourself; and lest you fall back to the low and earthly desires and pursuits of this world, and against Christ's command come down from the roof of perfection and presume to take up anything you gave up in renouncing. Beware lest you remember your parents or your former affection, and, called back to the cares and anxieties of this world, putting your hand to the plough and looking back, you cannot, according to the Saviour's saying, be fit for the kingdom of heaven. Beware lest at any time, when you have begun to taste some knowledge of the psalms or of this profession, you gradually become puffed up and think of reviving the pride which you have now trampled on as a beginner in the ardour of faith and full humility, and, according to the apostle's saying, by building again what you destroyed, make yourself a transgressor. Rather, persevere to the end in this nakedness which you have professed before God and his angels; and in this humility and patience, with which you persevered for ten days at the doors and begged with many tears to be received into the monastery, not only persist but also advance and grow. For it is wretched enough that, when you ought to advance from your first rudiments and beginnings and reach towards perfection, you should begin to fall back even from them to lower things. For it is not he who has begun these things, but he who has persevered in them to the end, who will be saved."

"For the crafty serpent always watches our heel, that is, lies in wait for our end, and tries to trip us up right to the end of our life. And therefore it will profit nothing to have begun well and to have taken up the first beginnings of renunciation with full fervour, if a fitting end does not likewise commend and conclude them, and if the humility and poverty of Christ, which you have now professed before him, is not kept by you to the very end of life as it was taken up. To be able to fulfil this, always watch his head, that is, the first beginnings of thoughts, bringing them at once to the elder. For so you will learn to crush their harmful beginnings, if you are not ashamed to reveal any of them to your elder."

"Therefore, according to the saying of Scripture, having come out to serve the Lord, stand in the fear of God and prepare your soul, not for rest, not for security, not for delights, but for temptations and hardships. For 'through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God'; for 'narrow is the gate and hard the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.' Consider, then, that you have been made one of the few and the elect, and do not grow cold through the example and lukewarmness of the many; but live as the few, so that you may deserve to be found with the few in the kingdom. For 'many are called, but few are chosen,' and it is 'a little flock' to which 'it has pleased the Father to give' the inheritance. So you should know that it is no light sin for one who has professed perfection to pursue imperfect things. This state of perfection is reached by these steps and in this order."

"The beginning of our salvation and its safeguard is the fear of the Lord. For through it are gained, by those who are being trained in the way of perfection, the beginning of conversion, the cleansing of vices, and the safeguarding of virtues. When it has penetrated a man's mind, it produces contempt of all things and begets forgetfulness of parents and horror of the world itself. And by contempt and deprivation of all possessions humility is gained. Humility is proved by these signs: first, if a man has all his wills put to death in himself; second, if he hides nothing of his own from his elder, not only of his actions but also of his thoughts; third, if he entrusts nothing to his own discernment but everything to the elder's judgment, and listens to his advice eagerly and gladly; fourth, if in all things he keeps the gentleness of obedience and the constancy of patience; fifth, if he not only does injury to no one, but does not even grieve or become sad over injury done to him by another; sixth, if he does nothing and presumes nothing that is not urged either by the common rule or by the examples of the elders; seventh, if he is content with every lowliness and judges himself, like a bad workman, unworthy of everything given him; eighth, if he declares himself inferior to all, not with the surface of his lips, but believes it with the inmost affection of his heart; ninth, if he restrains his tongue and is not loud in voice; tenth, if he is not easy and quick to laugh. By such signs and others like them true humility is recognized. When it has been possessed in truth, it will at once lead you on by a higher step to the love that has no fear; through it you will begin to keep, without any labour and as if naturally, everything that you formerly observed not without the pain of fear, no longer from regard for punishment or any fear, but from love of the good itself and delight in the virtues."

"To be able to reach this more easily, while you live in the community you should seek examples to imitate and of the perfect life from a few, indeed from one or two, not from many. For besides the fact that a life tested and refined to purity is found in few, there is also this advantage: one is more carefully trained and formed for the perfection of this purpose, that is, the coenobitic life, by the example of one person."

"To be able to attain all this and to persevere always under this spiritual rule, you must necessarily keep these three things in the community. According to the saying of the psalmist, 'But I, like a deaf man, did not hear, and like a dumb man who does not open his mouth; and I became like a man who does not hear and who has no rebukes in his mouth,' you too should go about as if deaf, dumb, and blind. Apart from the one whom you have chosen to imitate because of his perfection, be like a blind man and do not see whatever you see that is less edifying, lest, encouraged by the authority or example of those who do such things, you be led over to what is worse and what you had previously condemned. If you hear someone disobedient, insolent, slandering, or doing anything otherwise than as you have been taught, do not be offended or overturned by such an example into imitating him, but let it all pass by as a deaf man who has not heard these things at all. If abuse or injuries are inflicted on you or on anyone, stand unmoved, and as regards answering in kind listen like a dumb man, always singing in your heart this little verse of the psalmist: 'I said, I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue. I set a guard on my mouth while the sinner stood against me. I was dumb and was humbled and kept silence from good things.' But cultivate above all this fourth thing, which adorns and commends the three we have mentioned: make yourself a fool in this world, according to the apostle's precept, that you may be wise; that is, do not discern or judge anything that is commanded you, but always show obedience with all simplicity and faith, judging that only to be holy, useful, and wise which either the law of God or the elder's examination has enjoined on you. Grounded in such a training, you will be able to endure under this discipline for ever and will not be driven out of the coenobium by any temptations or schemes of the enemy."

"So you ought not to hope for your patience from the virtue of others, that is, to possess it only when no one has provoked you — for it is not in your power to ensure that this does not happen — but rather from your own humility and long-suffering, which depend on your own will."

"And so that all these things, which have been set out at greater length, may be more easily impressed on your heart and cling most firmly to your mind, I shall gather from them a kind of summary, by which you can hold everything in memory through the brevity and conciseness of the commands. Hear, then, in a few words the order by which you can climb to the highest perfection without any labour or difficulty. The beginning of our salvation and wisdom, according to the Scriptures, is the fear of the Lord. From the fear of the Lord is born saving compunction. From compunction of heart proceeds renunciation, that is, nakedness and contempt of all possessions. From nakedness humility is produced. From humility is begotten the mortification of wills. By the mortification of wills all vices are uprooted and wither away. By the expulsion of vices the virtues shoot up and grow. By the budding of the virtues purity of heart is gained. By purity of heart the perfection of apostolic love is possessed."

This fifth book is now being composed with God's help. For after the four books that have been set out on the institutions of the monasteries, we now intend, with the Lord strengthening us through your prayers, to take up the struggle against the eight principal vices: first, gastrimargia, which means the desire of the palate; second, sexual immorality; third, filargyria, which is understood as avarice, or, to express it more properly, love of money; fourth, anger; fifth, dejection; sixth, acedia, which is anxiety or weariness of heart; seventh, cenodoxia, which means vain or empty glory; eighth, pride. Entering on this contest, we now need your prayers more urgently, most blessed father Castor, so that we may be able, first, to investigate worthily their natures, so minute, so hidden, and so obscure; next, to set out their causes adequately; and third, to offer fitting cures and remedies for them.

The causes of these passions, once they have been disclosed by the traditions of the elders, are at once recognized by all; but before they are revealed, although we are all ravaged by them and they dwell in all men, they are unknown to all. We trust, however, that we can explain them to some extent if, through your intercessions, the word of the Lord uttered through Isaiah is directed to us too: "I will go before you and humble the mighty of the earth; I will break the gates of bronze and shatter the bars of iron, and I will open to you hidden treasures and the mysteries of secret things." So may the word of God, going before us too, first humble the mighty of our earth — that is, these same harmful passions which we wish to overcome, which claim for themselves dominion and a most savage tyranny in our mortal body — and make them submit to our search and exposition; and so, breaking the gates of ignorance and shattering the bars of the vices that shut us out from true knowledge, may it lead us to the mysteries of our secret places, and, according to the apostle, reveal to us, once enlightened, the hidden things of darkness and manifest the counsels of hearts. Thus, penetrating the foul darkness of the vices with the purest eyes of the soul, we may be able to lay them bare and bring them out to the light, and to explain their causes and natures both to those who have been free of them and to those who are still bound by them. And so, according to the prophet, passing through the fire of the vices that burn our minds most cruelly, we may at once pass unharmed through the water of the virtues that extinguish them, and, bedewed with spiritual remedies, deserve to be brought out into the refreshment of perfection by purity of heart.

So our first contest must be entered against gastrimargia, which we have said is the desire of the palate. And being about to speak first of the measure of fasting and the kind of food, we turn again to the traditions and ordinances of the Egyptians, in whom, as everyone knows, there is a higher discipline of continence and a perfect method of discernment.

For there is an old and admirable saying of blessed Antony, that a monk who, after the coenobitic life, strives to reach the summit of higher perfection, and, having gained the power of discernment, is now able to stand by his own judgment and to reach the height of the anchoritic life, ought by no means to seek all kinds of virtues from one man, however eminent. For one is adorned with the flowers of knowledge, another is more strongly fortified by the method of discernment, another is grounded in the steadiness of patience, another excels in the virtue of humility, another of continence, another is decorated by the grace of simplicity; this one surpasses the rest in magnanimity, that one in mercy, another in vigils, another in silence, another in zeal for work. And therefore a monk who wishes to lay up spiritual honey ought, like a most prudent bee, to gather each virtue from those who possess it most intimately and store it carefully in the vessel of his own breast; he should not inquire into what anyone lacks, but consider only what virtue he possesses and zealously pluck it. For if we wish to borrow all of them from one person, examples fit for imitation will be found with difficulty or, rather, never. For although we do not yet see Christ made all in all, as the apostle says, we can nevertheless find him in this way, that is, in parts in all. For of him it is said: "who became for us from God wisdom, justice, sanctification, and redemption." While, then, wisdom is found in one, justice in another, holiness in another, meekness in another, chastity in another, humility in another, Christ is now divided limb by limb among each of the saints. But when all come together into the unity of faith and virtue, he is restored as the perfect man, completing the fullness of his body in the joining and proper character of the individual members. So until that time comes when God will be all in all, God can for the present be in all in the way we have described, that is, through parts of the virtues, although he is not yet all in all through their fullness. For although the end of our religion is one, yet the professions by which we tend towards God are various, as will be discussed more fully in the conferences of the elders. And therefore the pattern of discernment and continence is to be sought by us especially from those in whom we see these virtues flowing more abundantly through the grace of the Holy Spirit; not that anyone can acquire alone what has been divided among many, but so that in those goods of which we can be capable we may strive to imitate those who have obtained them more especially.

So a uniform rule cannot easily be kept about the measure of fasting, because the same strength is not in all bodies, and fasting is not, like the other virtues, achieved by the firmness of the mind alone. And therefore, since it does not consist in strength of mind alone (for it shares in the capacity of the body), we have received the definition handed down to us on this matter: that the time, measure, and kind of refreshment are different according to the unequal condition of bodies, age, or sex, but that there is one rule of self-discipline for all as regards continence of mind and virtue of soul. For it is not possible for all to prolong fasts for weeks, nor even to put off taking food by a fast of three days or two. For many who are worn out by sickness, and especially by old age, cannot bear a fast even until sunset without distress. Not everyone can digest a diet of soaked beans, nor is a sparing diet of plain vegetables suitable for all, nor is a strict meal of dry bread allowed to everyone. One man does not feel full after two pounds; another is weighed down by eating one pound or six ounces. Yet in all these there is one aim of continence: that no one should be burdened by gorging himself to the measure of his capacity. For not only the quality but also the quantity of food blunts the edge of the heart, and when the mind is fattened together with the flesh, it kindles the harmful and fiery tinder of the vices.

A belly filled with any kind of food produces the seeds of lust, and the mind, choked by the weight of food, cannot steer the helm of discernment. It is not only drunkenness with wine that usually intoxicates the mind; an excess of any food makes it unsteady and wavering and robs it of all contemplation of integrity and purity. The cause of the overthrow and lust of the Sodomites was not drunkenness with wine but fullness of bread. Hear the Lord rebuking Jerusalem through the prophet: "For how did your Sodom sin, except that she ate her bread in fullness and abundance?" And because through fullness of bread they had been kindled with the inextinguishable heat of the flesh, they were burned up by the judgment of God with fire and sulphur from heaven. But if excess of bread alone drove them through the vice of satiety to such a sheer precipice of shameful deeds, what should be thought of those who, with a vigorous body, presume to take meat and wine with immoderate freedom, taking not what their weakness requires but what the desire of their mind has suggested?

Weakness of the flesh is no obstacle to purity of heart, if only what frailty requires, not what pleasure demands, is taken. We have more easily seen men who abstained entirely from richer foods than men who used what was allowed them for their need in moderation; more easily those who denied themselves everything for love of continence than those who, taking such foods on the pretext of weakness, kept to the measure of sufficiency. Bodily weakness too has the palm of its own continence, provided that, when foods are allowed for the failing of the flesh, it defrauds itself of refreshment while it still needs it, and allows itself only as much food as the strict discernment of temperance judges sufficient for the needs of life, not as much as the appetite of desire demands. Richer foods, just as they procure health for the body, do not take away the purity of chastity if they are taken with moderation. For whatever strength is gained by eating them is used up by the labour and weakness of illness. Therefore, just as the virtue of frugality is taken from no state of life, so neither is the fullness of integrity denied to any.

Most true and most approved, then, is the saying of the fathers, that the measure of fasting and continence consists only in the measure of frugality and restraint, and that this is the goal of perfect virtue common to all: that in the food we are compelled to take by the need of sustaining the body we restrain ourselves while we still have an appetite for it. For although someone may be weak in body, he will possess perfect virtue equal in all respects to the strong and healthy if by firmness of mind he restrains the desires which the frailty of the flesh does not require. The apostle says: "And make no provision for the flesh in its desires." He did not forbid care for it altogether, but refused that it should be taken in its desires. He took away pleasure-seeking attention to the flesh; he did not exclude the management necessary for life: the one, lest by indulging the flesh we fall into the harmful business of desires; the other, lest the body, damaged by our own fault, cannot fulfil its spiritual and necessary functions.

The sum of continence, then, must be gathered not only from the reckoning of time nor only from the kind of food, but above all from the judgment of conscience. For each one ought to impose on himself as much frugality as the battle of the body's struggle demands. The canonical observance of fasts is indeed useful and to be kept in every way; but unless a frugal eating of food follows it, one cannot reach the goal of integrity. For the hunger of long fasts followed by bodily fullness gains temporary weariness rather than the purity of chastity. Integrity of mind goes together with an empty belly; one who is not content to keep a constant evenness of temperance does not have the purity of lasting chastity. Strict fasts are made void by excessive relaxation afterwards and at once collapse into the vice of gluttony. A reasonable daily meal with moderation is better than a hard and long fast at intervals. Immoderate fasting is known not only to weaken the constancy of the mind but also to make the efficacy of prayer feeble through bodily weariness.

Abstinence from food alone is not enough to preserve integrity of mind and body unless the other virtues of the soul are joined to it. So first humility must be learned by the virtue of obedience and by the grinding of work and the fatigue of the body. Not only must the possession of money be avoided, but the desire for it must also be torn up by the roots. For it is not enough not to have it, which often comes about even from necessity, but one must not even take up the will to have it, if by chance it should be offered. The fury of anger must be crushed, the downheartedness of dejection overcome, cenodoxia, that is, vainglory, despised. The haughtiness of pride must be trampled on, and the unstable and wandering rovings of the mind itself must be curbed by constant remembrance of God; and the slippery wandering of the heart must be brought back to the contemplation of God as often as the subtle enemy, trying to take the mind captive away from this gaze, creeps into the recesses of our heart.

For it is impossible for the fiery incitements of the body to be extinguished before the tinder of the other principal vices is also cut out by the roots. We shall discuss these one by one in separate books in their place, by the Lord's gift. Our purpose now is to discuss gastrimargia, that is, the desire of the palate, against which our first conflict is waged. No one, then, will ever be able to check the goads of burning lust who has been unable to bridle the desires of the palate. The chastity of the inner man is discerned by the perfection of this virtue. For you will never trust that one can wrestle with stronger opponents whom you have seen overcome by weaker and smaller ones in a lighter contest. For all the virtues have one nature, although it seems to be divided into many kinds and names; just as gold too is one substance, although it seems to be distinguished into many and various kinds of ornaments according to the skill and will of the craftsmen. So no one will be proved to possess any virtue perfectly who is known to be defeated in part of them. For how can he be believed to have extinguished the burning heat of lust, which is kindled not only by the incitement of the body but also by a vice of the mind, who could not calm the stings of anger that break out from the intemperance of the heart alone? Or how is he to be thought to have beaten back the wanton goads of flesh and soul, who could not overcome the simple vice of pride? Or how is he to be believed to have trampled on the lust implanted in the flesh, who was unable to renounce the desire for money, which lies outside us and is foreign to our substance? And by what reasoning will he triumph in the war of flesh and soul who was not able to cure the disease of dejection? However well a city is fortified by the height of its walls and the strength of its closed gates, it will be laid waste through a single back gate, however small. For what difference does it make whether the deadly enemy creeps into the heart of the city over the high walls and through the wide gateways, or through the hiding places of a narrow tunnel?

"He who contends in the games is not crowned unless he has contended lawfully." Whoever wishes to extinguish the natural appetites of the flesh should first hasten to overcome the vices that lie outside nature. For if we wish to experience the force of the apostle's saying, we must first learn what are the laws and discipline of the worldly contest, so that by comparison with them we can know what the blessed apostle wished to teach us who contend in the spiritual contest by this example. In those contests which, according to the same apostle, provide a corruptible crown for the victors, this custom is kept: one who strives to prepare himself for the glorious crown, adorned with the privilege of immunity, and wishes to sweat through the contests of the perfect games, first shows the promise of his youth and the strength of his first training in the Olympic and Pythian games. In these the younger men who wish to take up these disciplines are approved as to whether they deserve or ought to be admitted to them, by the judgment both of the president of these contests and of the whole people. When someone has been carefully examined, and has first been found stained by no disgrace in his life; next, has been judged not to be ignoble by the yoke of slavery and therefore unworthy of this discipline and of the company of those who profess it; third, if he shows worthy proofs of skill and strength, and, contending with younger men and those of his own age, has shown the skill and courage of his youth; and advancing from the wrestling of the youths, has been permitted by the president's examination to engage with grown men long proved by experience, and has proved himself not only equal to their strength by constant wrestling but has often won the palm of victory among them too — then at last he will deserve to reach the famous contests of the games, in which the right to compete is granted only to victors and to those adorned with the rewards of many crowns. If we have understood the example of the bodily contest, we ought to recognize by comparison with it what is the discipline or order of the spiritual contest too.

We too must first show our freedom by the subjection of the flesh. For "by whom a man is overcome, of him he is also the slave," and, "Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." And when the examination of the president of the contest finds us stained by no disgrace of shameful desire, and we have not been judged by him to be slaves of the flesh, ignoble and unworthy of the Olympic wrestling against the vices, then we shall be able to enter the contest against those of our own age, that is, the desires of the flesh and the movements and disturbances of the soul. For it is impossible for a full belly to experience the battles of the inner man, and one who can be thrown in a lighter conflict is not worthy to be tested in stronger wars.

First, then, we must trample on the desire of the palate, and the mind must be thinned down by not only fasts but also vigils, reading, and frequent compunction of heart over the things in which it remembers perhaps having been deceived or overcome, groaning now with horror of the vices, now kindled with desire for perfection and integrity, until, occupied and possessed by such cares and meditations, it recognizes that the very taking of food is granted to it not so much for enjoyment as imposed on it as a burden, and feels that it has been given as something necessary for the body rather than desirable for the soul. Held by this zeal of mind and constant compunction, we shall beat back the wantonness of the flesh, which grows more violent when fostered by food, and its harmful stings; and so we shall be able to extinguish, by abundance of tears and weeping of heart, the furnace of our body, which is kindled by the Babylonian king as he continually supplies us with occasions of sin and vices, by which we are burned more fiercely than by naphtha and pitch, until, by the grace of God breathing the wind of his dew into our hearts, the heats of fleshly desire can be entirely put to sleep. This, then, is our first contest, our first trial as it were in the Olympic games: to extinguish the desire of the palate and the belly by the desire for perfection. For this reason not only must the superfluous appetite for food be trampled on by contemplation of the virtues, but even what is necessary to nature must be taken not without anxiety of heart, as though it were opposed to chastity. And so the course of our life must be arranged in such a way that there is no time at which we feel more drawn away from spiritual pursuits than when we are compelled by the body's frailty to come down to its necessary care. And when we submit to this necessity, serving the needs of life rather than the desire of the mind, let us hasten to withdraw from it as quickly as possible, as from something that draws us away from saving pursuits. For we shall never be able to despise the pleasures of present food unless the mind, fixed on divine contemplation, delights rather in the love of the virtues and the beauty of heavenly things. And so one will despise all present things as perishable when he has fixed the gaze of his mind inseparably on what is immovable and eternal, contemplating in his heart, while still in the flesh, the blessedness of the dwelling to come.

It is as if someone were hurrying to hit huge prizes of skill, marked high up by certain small targets, with the keenest gaze of his eyes stretched out along the line of his weapon, knowing that immense glory and the rewards of recompense depend on piercing them: he must turn the edge of his eyes away from every other sight and direct it there where he sees the sum of reward and prize placed, since he will certainly lose the palm of skill and the reward of prowess if the edge of his gaze strays even a little.

So when the desire of the belly and the palate has been overcome by this gaze, and we have been declared neither slaves of the flesh nor branded with the mark of the vices, we shall be judged, as in the Olympic contests, worthy also of the conflict of the higher contests; and having given such proofs first, we shall be believed able to engage with the spiritual hosts of wickedness, which deign to fight only with victors and with those who deserve to contend in the spiritual contest. For this is, as it were, the most solid foundation of all the struggles: that first the incitements of fleshly desires be destroyed. For no one who has not conquered his own flesh can contend lawfully, and one who does not contend lawfully can certainly neither fight in the games nor earn the glory of the crown by the grace of victory. But if we are overcome in this contest, proved to be slaves of fleshly desire and therefore bearing the marks neither of freedom nor of strength, we shall at once be driven back from the conflict of the spiritual engagements as unworthy and as slaves, not without the brand of shame — for "everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin" — and it will be said to us by the blessed apostle, together with those among whom sexual immorality is named: "No temptation has seized you except what is human." For we who could not subdue the frail flesh that resists our spirit will not deserve, not having sought strength of mind, to experience the heavier battles of the heavenly wickednesses. Not understanding this testimony of the apostle, some have put the optative mood in place of the indicative, that is, "Let no temptation seize you except what is human"; but it is clear that he said it with the feeling, not of one wishing, but of one declaring or reproaching.