On Temperance and the Passions

A desire for other places, in which the things for need are easily found and a more convenient and advancing craft is attained; and he adds that it is not possible to please the Lord in the present place; for everywhere, he says, the divine is to be worshipped. He connects this with the memory of one's own people and of the former way of life; and he traces out a long duration of life, bringing the labors of asceticism before the eyes; and he moves the whole so-called mechanism so that the monk, having abandoned the cell, may flee to the stadium. After this demon another demon does not immediately follow; but a certain peaceful state and unspeakable joy succeeds the soul after the struggle.

13 The thought of vainglory is extremely subtle, and stands beside those who succeed, wishing to publish their struggles readily and hunting the honors from men, fashioning crying demons and women being healed and a certain crowd touching his garments; and finally it predicts priesthood to him, and sets those seeking him at the doors; and how, were he unwilling, he will be led away a prisoner. And having thus made him hang in mid-air with empty hopes, it flies away, leaving him either to the demon of pride to tempt him, or to that of sorrow, which also brings upon him thoughts contrary to his hopes; and sometimes it even hands over to the demon of fornication the one who a little before was a prisoner and a holy priest.

14 The demon of pride becomes the procurer of a most severe fall for the soul; for it persuades it not to confess God as helper, but to think itself the cause of its successes, and to puff itself up against the brothers as if they were senseless, because they do not all know this about it. And anger and sorrow follow upon this, and the final evil: derangement and madness and a multitude of demons seen in the air.

15 Regarding the eight thoughts: Reading, wakefulness, and prayer steady the wandering mind; hunger, toil, and withdrawal wither the inflamed desire; psalmody, patience, and mercy calm the swirling thumos; and these become effective when done in proper times and measures; for the immeasurable and the untimely are short-lived, and the short-lived are rather harmful and not useful.

When our soul reaches for various foods, then let it be confined to bread and water so that it may become thankful, even for the bare morsel itself; for satiety desires various delicacies, but hunger counts satiety with bread to be blessedness.

The lack of water contributes greatly to temperance; and let the three hundred Israelites with Gideon who subdued Midian persuade you (Judges 7:7).

Just as for life and death to occur together in the same person is among impossibilities, so for love to coexist with money in someone is among impossibilities; for love is destructive not only of money but even of our fleeting life itself.

He who flees all worldly pleasures is a tower unapproachable to the demon of sorrow; for sorrow is deprivation of pleasure, whether present or expected. But it is impossible to drive away this enemy while we have any attachment to earthly things; for there he sets his snare and works sorrow where he sees us most inclined.

Anger and hatred increase thumos; but almsgiving and gentleness diminish the present one.

Let the sun not set upon our provocation, so that the demons, standing by at night, may not terrify the soul and make the mind more cowardly for the coming day toward the battle; for fearful phantasms naturally arise from the disturbance of thumos; and nothing else makes the mind such a deserter as disturbed thumos.

Whenever the irascible part of our soul, having seized a pretext, is disturbed, then the demons also suggest withdrawal to us as something good, so that we may not free ourselves from disturbance by resolving the causes of sorrow. But when the desiring part is heated, then again they make us, the humane ones, harsh, calling us harsh and wild, so that of bodies...