Last time we reflected upon the issue of controlling the appetite for food, and the way in which St. John Cassian saw it as a door either to be closed or opened to other sins. Before we continue You might find it interesting to know that St. John’s eight devices served as the basis for the later formulation of the seven deadly sins. From his discussion of the control of the stomach, Cassian made good on his observation that “no one who’s stomach is full can fight mentally against the demon of unchastity,” and moved on to what he considered very much a related struggle.
On the Demon of Unchastity and the Desire of the Flesh
Our second struggle is against the demon of unchastity and the desire of the flesh, a desire which begins to trouble Man from the time of his youth. This harsh struggle has to be fought in both soul and body, and not simply in the soul, as is the case with other faults. We therefore have to fight it on two fronts.
Bodily fasting alone is not enough to bring about perfect self-restraint and true purity; it must be accompanied by contrition of heart, intense prayer to God, frequent meditation on the Scriptures, toil and manual labor. These are able to check the restless impulses of the soul and to recall it from a shameful fantasies. Humility of soul helps more than anything else, however, and without if no one can overcome unchastity or any other sin. In the first place then, we must take the utmost care to guard the heart from base thoughts, four, according to the Lord, ‘how the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, unchastity’ and so on (Matt. 15:19).We are told to fast and not only to mortify her body, and also to keep our intellect want fall, so that it will not be obscured because of the amount of food we have eaten and thus be unable to guard its thoughts. We must not therefore expand all our effort in bodily fasting; he must also give attention to our thoughts and to spiritual meditation, sense otherwise we will not be able to advance to the heights of true purity and chastity. As our Lord has said, we should ‘cleanse first the inside of the cup and play, so that they’re outside may also be clean’ (Matt. 23:26).
If we are really eager, as the apostle puts it, to ‘struggle lawfully’ and to ‘be crowned’ (2 Tim: 2:5) for overcoming the impure spirit of unchastity, we should not trust our own strength and ascetic practice, but in the help of our master, God. For such a victory is beyond man’s natural powers. Indeed, he who has trampled down the pleasures and provocations of the flesh is in a certain sense outside of the body. Thus, no one can soar to this high and heavenly prize of holiness on his own wings and learn to imitate the Angels, unless the grace of God leads him upwards from the earthly mire.
No virtue makes flesh down man so like a spiritual angel has self-restraint, for it enables those of still living on Earth to become, as the apostle says, ‘citizens of Heaven’ (cf. Phil. 3:20). A sign that we have acquired this virtue perfectly is that our soul ignores those images which the filed fantasy produces during sleep; for even if the production of such images is not sent, nevertheless it is a sign that the soul is ill and has not been freed from passion. We should therefore regard the defiled fantasies that arise in us during sleep as the proof of previous indolence and weakness still existing in us, since the omission which takes place while we are relaxed and sleep reveals the sickness that lies hidden in our souls. Because of this the doctor of our souls is also placed to the remedy in the hidden regions of the soul, recognizing that the cause of our sickness lies in their when he says: ‘whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart’ (Matt. 5:28). He seeks to correct not so much our inquisitive and unchaste eyes as the soul which has its seat within and makes bad use of the eyes which God gave it for good purposes. This is why the book of Proverbs and his wisdom does not say: ‘guard your eyes with all diligence’ but ‘guard your heart with all diligence’ (Prov. 4:23), imposing the remedy of diligence and the first instance upon that which makes use of the eyes for whatever purpose it desires.
The way to keep guard over our heart is immediately to expel from the mind every demon inspired recollection of women — even a mother or sister or any other devout woman — less than dwelling on it for too long the mind is thrown headlong by the deceiver into debased and pernicious thoughts. the commandment given by God to the first man, Adam, told him to keep watch over the head of the serpent (cf. Gen. 3:15. LXX), that is, over the first inklings of the pernicious thoughts by means of which the serpent tries to creep into our souls. If we do not admit the serpent’s head, which is the provocation of the thought, we will not admit the rest of its body — that is, the ascent to the sensual pleasure which the thoughts suggests — and so debase the minded towards the illicit act itself.
As it is written, we should ‘early in the morning destroyed all the wicked of the earth’ (PS. 101:8), distinguishing in the light of divine knowledge are sinful thoughts and then eradicating them completely from the earth — our hearts — in accordance with the teaching of the Lord. While the children of Babylon — by which I mean our wicked thoughts — are still young, we should dash them to the ground and crush them against the rock, which is Christ (cf. PS. 137:9; I Cor. 10:4). If these thoughts grow stronger because we assent of them, we would not be able to overcome them without much pain and labor.
It is good to remember the sayings of the fathers as well as the passages from holy Scripture cited above. For example, St. Basil, Bishop of Caesarea and Cappadocia, said: ‘I have not known a woman and yet I’m not a virgin.’ He recognize that the gift of virginity is achieved not so much by abstaining from intercourse with women as by holiness and purity of soul, which in its turn is achieved through fear of God. The fathers also say that we cannot fully acquire the virtue of purity unless we have first acquired real humility of heart. And we will not be granted true spiritual knowledge so long as the passion of unchastity lies hidden in the depths of our souls.
To bring this section of our treatise to a close, let us recall one of the Apostle’s of sayings which further illustrates his teaching on how to acquire self-restraint. He says: ‘pursue peace with all men and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord’ (Heb. 12:16). The more heavenly and angelic in the degree of holiness, the heavier are the enemies’ attacks to which it is subjected. We should therefore try to achieve not only bodily control, but also contrition of heart with frequent prayers of repentance, so that with the dew of the Holy Spirit we may extinguish the furnace of our flesh, Kendal daily by the king of Babylon with the bellows of desire (cf. Dan. 3:19). In addition, a great weapon has been given us in the form of sacred vigils; for just as the watch we keep over our thoughts by Dave brings us holiness and night, so vigilant night brings purity to the soul by day.
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