Gluttony, the mother of defilements
The holy fathers call gluttony the mother of defilements. Of it are born not a few sins which, if they are not repented of, become for the sinner the coals of hell. From the life of Christians many examples are known of how gluttony, which often begins with sweet-toothed indulgence, is to be overcome.
To Father Tikhon of Athos there came one day a layman, grown exceedingly fat from gluttony and love of dainties, and he complained: the stirrings of the flesh and unclean thoughts give me no rest. My child, if thou wilt obey me, by the grace of Christ I shall make thee an angel, — answered Father Tikhon. The layman agreed. The venerable father counselled him to say unceasingly the Lord's prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” — and to pass all his days on bread and water, taking food with oil only on Saturday and Sunday. Besides this, he was every evening to make a hundred and fifty prostrations, to read the canon to the Mother of God, one chapter from the Gospel, and the life of the saints of that day.
Six months later the layman came again to Father Tikhon. The father did not know him — so thin had he grown that he passed freely through the narrow door of the church. “How dost thou feel now, my child?” asked the venerable father. “Like an angel, Father: neither the flesh troubles me, nor unclean thoughts,” he answered.
A great ascetic was Father Arsenius of Gareji — sometimes he took bread once in two days, sometimes after five. Therefore three demons fought against him without ceasing, but the venerable father had his hope in the Mother of God and endured hunger. One day, at the hour of the meal, one of the brethren asked him for bread. Arsenius broke off a piece for him. “Yesterday I ate no bread, and tomorrow I must go without food. What will this small piece of bread do for me?” he thought against his will, and at once came to himself, understanding that this vain thought was from the devil. He took the bread, went outside and threw it to a dog, and himself went into a cleft of the rock, beat his breast with his fist and said: “O my wretched soul! Art thou not ashamed? Even the dog is better than thou, for he took the bread without murmuring, while thou grievest over the littleness of it! For this, O evil belly, I shall give thee no food today nor tomorrow, that by the grace of Christ I may teach thee good order.”
That day and the next the venerable father passed in hunger. And afterward, when he saw again those three demons, he struck one of them, the chief of them, with his staff and cast him out in the name of Christ. After this that demon appeared to him no more; the other two still fought against him, but they had grown weak and could no longer harm the valiant soldier of Christ.
If we drink three cups, will that not be too much? — they asked Abba Sisoes. “If thou knowest that the devil is no longer alive, three cups are not so many; but if he still exists, it is too much,” answered the elder.
Our venerable father Christopher of Gareji bewailed himself thus: “A glutton art thou, monk, prodigal and sinful! Though thou eatest no meat, thou eatest bread to the full, and when thou findest it, thou drinkest wine also. Wretched monk, art thou not afraid?! Hast thou forgotten death and the parting of soul from body? Today or tomorrow he will come who shall take thee away. Prepare thyself!” — and, like a mother bereft of her children, he would begin to weep bitterly.
An elder said: when a thought fights against thee and asks of thee every kind of food, press it hard, give it not even bread, starve it and bring it to such a pass that it entreat thee and ask for bread alone.
Our venerable father Gabriel (Zyryanov) was still a novice and served in the refectory. Once he felt some strange and strong desire to eat butter. Since he was ashamed to ask leave of his spiritual father, he would take a piece of butter without a blessing and eat it. At last he resolved nonetheless to tell his spiritual father. The father was not angry; on the contrary, he permitted him to eat as much butter as he wished. Gladdened, Gabriel ran to the refectory. “Now at last I shall eat my fill,” he thought; but from whatever vessel he tasted the butter, every one was loathsome to him. The novice returned to his spiritual father and asked him to explain the cause of this. “It seems thy desire was from the devil,” his spiritual father said to him. “Through a little stealing some misfortune might in the end have befallen thee. But since thou tookest a blessing, the devil departed from thee, and with him departed also the passion for eating butter. Henceforth do nothing without the blessing of thy spiritual father.”
A certain God-bearing venerable father, who had been granted the gift of discerning hidden things, was sitting at table with the brethren and eating, praying silently the while. Suddenly he was raised to a divine vision and saw that some of the brethren were taking honey from the table, others bread, and others something unseemly. The elder was amazed. He asked himself what this vision might mean, since before them all lay one and the same thing. Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood before him and declared: “Venerable father, this is what thy vision means: those who with the fear of God and with reverence partake of bread and pray in their mind — their prayer, like incense, ascends before the Lord; these are the brethren who eat honey. Those who eat bread are they who give thanks to God for that mercy which is given them in the form of food; but he who murmurs at the food is envious and a glutton, and he eats something unseemly.”
