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Proverbs 21:23-24:4 (4/8) Second Reading at Vespers, Sixth Wednesday
of the Great Fast

Seven Grievous Sins, Part I: Proverbs 21:23-22:4, especially vs. 22:4:
"The fear of the Lord is the offspring of wisdom, and wealth, and glory,
and life." St. Peter of Damaskos, after searching the Holy Scriptures,
set down a list of 298 passions. Of these, he asserts that the three
worst are gluttony, unchastity, and superfluous possessions, and he
ranks them as the first three among "...the eight ruling passions."
These take up residence for gluttony "...leads to unchastity, which
breeds avarice, which gives rise to anger when we fail to attain what we
want - that is, fail to have our own way. This produces dejection, and
dejection engenders first listlessness and then self-esteem, and
self-esteem leads to pride. From these eight passions...," St. Peter
concludes, "...come every evil, passion, and sin."

Others Fathers have different lists, but Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos
wisely warns: "Despite the enumeration and division of the passions we
must observe that the passions are not separated from one another in
water-tight compartments." In Unseen Warfare we are advised to
"...examine carefully with what thoughts, dispositions, and passionate
attachments [one's soul] is specially occupied, and which passion is
most predominant and tyrannically rules there. Then against this
passion first of all take up arms and struggle to overcome it." The
next two days we will examine seven grievous sins that are common to all
who struggle for purity.

Proverbs declares, "A bold and self-willed and insolent man is called a
pest..." (vs. 24). St. John of the Ladder, in characterizing pride
(Step 23), identifies it clearly as the source of imperiousness. "Pride
is...the despising of men...a source of anger...the patron of
pitilessness, the rejection of compassion, a bitter inquisitor, an
inhuman judge." All the Fathers agree with St. John Cassian that,
"...the demon of pride, [is] a most sinister demon, fiercer than all
that have been discussed up till now. He attacks the perfect above all
and seeks to destroy those who have mounted almost to the heights of
holiness....Each of the other passions that trouble the soul
attacks...the single virtue which is opposed to it....But when the vice
of pride has become master of our wretched soul, it acts like some harsh
tyrant who has gained control of a great city, and destroys it
completely, razing it to its foundations."

Again, Proverbs speaks about sloth and says, "Desires kill the sluggard;
for his hands do not choose to do anything" (vs. 25). We have strong
counsel concerning this vice from the Apostle Paul. "For even when we
were with you, we commanded you this:If anyone will not work, neither
shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a
disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies" (2 Thess.
3:10,11).

Greed, or avarice, is the subject of another parable in today's
reading. "An ungodly man entertains evil desires all the day..." (Prov.
21:26). For those who live in the world, St. John of the Ladder
asserts, this sin is the usual root of all evils, while "...in monks it
is gluttony." Of course, contemporary materialist culture does not
recognize, as the Apostles and the Fathers do, that avarice makes an
idolater of the one it dominates (Col. 3:5).

The fourth of the seven vices in today's reading is anger. Solomon
speaks of the "...ungodly man [who] impudently withstands with his
face..." (Prov. 21:29). The Lord warns that anger against a brother
without good cause is sufficient reason for being brought to judgment
(Mt. 5:22). St. Philotheos of Sinai says, "But the enemy in his turn
tries to subvert this commandment by stirring up strife and thoughts of
rancor and envy within us." May the Lord strengthen you against such
sins, making you watchful to dispel them by prayer and obedience.

Bring my soul out of prison, that I may confess Thy name (Ps. 141:10).

[

Proverbs 23:15-24:5 (4/9) Second Reading at
Vespers, Sixth Thursday of the Great Fast

Seven Grievous Sins, Part II: Proverbs 23:15-24:5, especially vss. 24:3,
4: "A house is built by wisdom, and is set up by understanding. By
discretion the chambers are filled with all precious and excellent
wealth."

Yesterday we began to survey the seven grievous sins that most commonly
plague those of us who take up the God-pleasing struggle for purity in
our lives.

Beginning, once again, with some proverbs from the wise Solomon, follow
the godly counsel of St. Theophan in his Unseen Warfare and "...examine
carefully with what thoughts, dispositions and passionate attachments
[your soul] is specially occupied, and which passion is most predominant
and tyrannically rules there." Do so with the prayer that God will aid
you "...against [each] passion...[so that you may] take up arms and
struggle to overcome it."

The first vice to consider from this passage is envy or coveting,
against which two of the proverbs in the reading take aim: "Let not
thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the
day" (Prov. 23:17); and "My son, envy not bad men, nor desire to be with
them" (vs. 24:1). Doubtless, envy begins in the heart, violating the
commandment "Thou shalt not covet..." (Ex. 20:17). Envy is certainly a
dimension of covetousness for it entails the selfish desire to have
something for one's own enjoyment or possession. As coveting is the
desire for something that belongs to another, so envy is to regard with
jealousy the one who possesses what is desired - simply because it is
his and not one's own. Coveting longs to possess an object for oneself.

Our Lord Jesus Christ pinpoints the deep source of coveting: "For where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt. 6:21). He calls
you to recognize that "No one can serve two masters; for either he will
hate the one, and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one,
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Mt. 6: 24).
Until you defeat the tyrannous desire for possessions, and your heart is
aflame with greater love for the Lord, you shall continue to envy those
who possess this world's goods. It is especially dangerous to yearn for
things held by "...sinners and bad men," for to do so may tempt you to
use sinners' devices to acquire that which you desire - a result that
would only more deeply compound your sin.

Then there is gluttony. In this passage from Proverbs. just one form of
this sin is given attention - drunkenness. "Be not a wine bibber,
neither continue long at feasts....Who has woe? who trouble? who has
quarrels? and who vexations and disputes? who has bruises without a
cause? whose eyes are livid? Are not those of them that stay long at
wine? are not those of them that haunt the places where banquets are?
Be not drunk with wine; but converse with just men, and converse with
them openly. For if thou shouldest set thine eyes on bowls and cups,
thou shalt afterwards go more naked than a pestle. But at last such a
one stretches himself out as one smitten by a serpent, and venom is
diffused through him as by a horned serpent" (Prov. 23:20,29-32). Ah,
but gluttony encompasses more! The struggle with overweight points to
it, as does the longing for comforts and the yearning for all sorts of
visual and tactile pleasures.

The last of the seven sins Proverbs warns against is lust: "...any
impure and unworthy desire for something evil." In the present passage,
the writer cautions us specifically against sexual lust:
"...every...whoremonger shall be poor..." (vs. 23:21). The sexual
imagery that saturates modern culture and the stimulation of neo-pagan
excesses that the media promotes encourage indulgence without guilt.
The Apostle warns: "Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
nor...covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers...will inherit the kingdom
of God" (1 Cor. 6:9,10).

O Lord, when passions threaten to overwhelm, strengthen me to remain
constant in Thy will.

Thank you for posting this in particular Alice. It's good to keep these warnings handy, as to be able to read them often.

Amen! Thanks so much to you for this important reminder of those sins that most separate us from Our Lord. Alice, you are our friend and our dear sister in Christ!

S