Gluttony is a form of slavery. The sin of gluttony: definition, meaning and method of struggle. What is the sin of gluttony called?
Death from cardiovascular disease at the beginning of adulthood - what could be sadder for your spouse, children and friends? A common cause of such diseases is overeating and associated complications in the form of excess weight, high cholesterol levels and inactivity (with excess body weight you don’t want to move, the vicious circle is absurdly closed). And the reason for an abnormal attitude towards food in Christian asceticism is called gluttony. This is a grave sin in both the Orthodox and Catholic traditions. Why?
Satiety as the goal of life
It is believed that a person infected with this illness of the spirit puts his satiation and pleasure from eating above everything in life, including above the Lord God. This submission to the lower needs of the body is, in essence, a form of slavery. How many people want to lose weight without trying to overcome the cause of this problem - an abnormal relationship with food!
Not just gluttony
In the minds of many people, gluttony is excessive consumption of food. In fact, gluttony is just one of the demons that torment the soul. The second is the addiction to tasty food. Such a social phenomenon as gourmetism, the desire to “understand” tasty things, is very dangerous from a spiritual point of view.
Anorexics are gluttons too
You've probably noticed that many people who are losing weight begin to be painfully attentive to food, plan every meal and spend hours imagining what exactly they will eat tomorrow morning, when it will be “possible” to eat what is forbidden in the evening? They are obsessed with gluttony! Bulimia and anorexia are also a manifestation of an abnormal attitude towards physiology.
How should you eat?
So, there is only no need for extremes, we are not monks, and therefore absolute severity is beyond the reach of many. You just need to try to eat especially attractive food on holidays, preferably church ones, and limit yourself to just one small portion without additives. Then we will not sin. The main thing is not to dream about the holiday a month before the event, making gastronomic pleasures the most important thing in the “program”.
At a wrong time
The third demon that torments the soul of a glutton is impatience with meal times. That is, when a person eats earlier than the time that is usual or assigned for him. It turns out that the ideal Christian is one who is able to do without “goodies”; he eats in moderation and on a schedule. Gluttony is a disease of the soul because it makes the sinner dependent on food. For a person, all the diversity of phenomena in the world turns out to be overshadowed by the opportunity to receive pleasure “here and now.”
Mother of passions
Gluttony is a mortal sin because it is with it that all other passions begin. In particular, a person who has allowed himself too much develops excessive or inappropriate sexual desire, laziness leading to idleness, and despondency (from excess weight, for example). It can even come to the point of pride (when a person is hurt by the fact that he, the “titan of will,” took and was defeated).
Is there a specific one, no, but it makes sense to pray to Mary of Egypt, who was haunted by passions during many years of torment in the desert. But magic “from God” does not exist; it is best to pray to Christ himself for help, remembering that it is impossible to completely overcome the passion of gluttony; even the great ascetics failed to do this. You just need to try to keep yourself within limits every day. And ask God for strength to fight. Gluttony is also non-observance of fasts...
Why does the Church judge so strictly the increased need of the human body for nutrition? If God gives food and drink to maintain the health of the body, the temple of God, and a person takes food with thanksgiving to the Almighty, then why is gluttony a sin? More on this later in the article.
Historical aspect
Pleasing the flesh demonstrates the victory of the flesh over spirituality, allowing all passions to flourish in the Christian body.
What the Church says about the passion of gluttony
It was passions that destroyed the earth before the flood, when the Creator did not see God’s reflection in people, He destroyed His creation. Gluttony makes a person ugly, disfiguring the temple of God, which is a great sin. A filled belly becomes a heavy weight for the spiritual soul, constantly pulling it down towards passions.
In Ancient Rome, the top of the nobility was so mired in pleasing their flesh that through gluttony they did not even remember the things above. In some cases, the worship of the stomach reached the point of absurdity, when the body could no longer take food, and the throat demanded the continuation of the banquet, gluttons induced vomiting with special feathers and continued to stuff themselves with food.
What is the difference between regular eating and gluttony?
By eating healthy food every day, in accordance with the fasts and restrictions established by the Church, and even doing this with family and friends, we strengthen not only physically, but also mentally. Some priests call the eating of food by Christians in joint prayer of thanksgiving as a continuation of the Liturgy.
Secret prayer for those who eat immoderately
(read orally afterprayers for meals)
I also pray to You, Lord, deliver me from satiety and lust and grant me in peace of mind to reverently accept Your generous gifts, so that by tasting them, I will receive strengthening of my mental and physical strength to serve You, Lord, in the short remainder of my life on earth.
Prayer of St. John of Kronstadt
Lord, our sweetest Feast, which never perishes, but arrives in the eternal belly: cleanse Thy servant from the filth of gluttony, all that is made flesh and alien to Thy Spirit, and grant him to know the sweetness of Thy life-giving spiritual Feast, which is Thy Flesh and Blood and the holy, living and Thy Word is efficacious.
St. Alexy, man of God
O servant of Christ, holy man of God Alexy! Look mercifully upon us, servant of God (names), and stretch out your honorable hands in prayer to the Lord God, and ask us from Him for forgiveness of our voluntary and involuntary sins, a peaceful and Christian death and a good answer at the Last Judgment of Christ. To her, servant of God, do not disgrace our trust, which we place in you, according to God and the Mother of God; but be our helper and protector for salvation; and through your prayers, having received grace and mercy from the Lord, let us glorify the love of mankind of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and your holy intercession, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
O great and wonderful servant of Christ, Holy Hierarch Father Ignatius! Graciously accept our prayers offered to you with love and gratitude! Hear us, the orphaned and helpless (names), who fall to you with faith and love and your warm intercession for us before the Throne of the Lord of Glory of those asking. We know that the prayer of a righteous man can do much, propitiating the Lord. From the years of infancy you have passionately loved the Lord, and having desired to serve Him alone, you have considered all the red of this world as nothing. You have denied yourself and, having taken up your cross, you have followed Christ. You chose the narrow and regrettable path of monastic life for yourself, and on this path you acquired great virtues. With your writings you filled the hearts of people with the deepest reverence and humility before the Almighty Creator, and with your wise words you taught sinners who had fallen in the consciousness of their insignificance and their sinfulness, in repentance and humility to resort to God, encouraging them with trust in His mercy. You rejected none of those who came to you, but you were a loving father and a good shepherd to all. And now do not leave us, who fervently pray to you and ask for your help and intercession. Ask us from our Humane-loving Lord for mental and physical health, confirm our faith, strengthen our strength, exhausted in the temptations and sorrows of this age, warm our cold hearts with the fire of prayer and help us, who through repentance have cleansed the Christian death of this life, receive and enter the palace of the Savior adorned with all the elect and there with you we will worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
We should not forget that man was taken from dust and will be transformed into it, while the food in the stomach is constantly transformed into excrement.
You must learn to hate that fetid load that is decomposing in your own body.
When putting food on a plate, you should gradually remove a fourth, third, and then half portion from it each time, which can be eaten in 2-3 hours if hunger arises, but it does not arise so quickly.
The devil will whisper in your ear that limited food intake is harmful to health, but this is only his lie.
Advice! Household and close people should support the glutton in his struggle by switching with him to proper nutrition.
Principles for achieving victory
- Minimize the use of spices, herbs, salts, and especially seasonings containing monosodium glutamate.
- Completely give up sweets and sugar, replacing it with honey and natural sweeteners.
- Boycott fatty foods.
- Chew food thoroughly, eating in silence, without watching TV or reading. Being distracted by extraneous information makes it difficult to control the amount of food eaten.
- While chewing your food, you should read prayers, which you can write down on a piece of paper, until they are imprinted on your mind.
Archpriest A. Tkachev on the sin of gluttony
After Maslenitsa ends, the gym is waiting for you for pancakes.
Pancakes available in 5, 10 and 15 kg.
Gluttony as a personality quality is a tendency to excess and greed in food, leading a person to a bestial state.
One man ate a lot. He understood that this was unnatural, but he could not help himself. He was fat and ugly. It all started in childhood, when he was told that he needed to fast and limit himself in food. He read that you need to limit yourself in everything, because this develops the will and leads to liberation. But the more he thought that eating a lot is a sin, and the more he tried to suppress his hunger, the more he wanted to eat. Sometimes he would not eat for several days, but then he would destroy everything indiscriminately. As a result, he overeated, and then again regretted breaking his oath. Finally, he decided that it was impossible to follow the righteous path while living at home, and went to the mountains. There he found a secluded cave and settled in it. His family were upset, but supported his decisive actions in the fight against the disease! And after some time, the wife, deciding that her husband must have already overcome this weakness in himself, sent him a letter and a bouquet of flowers by messenger. She wished him a speedy “recovery” and a safe return home. Soon the messenger returned and gave his wife a note. It said: “Thank you for the flowers. They were very tasty!”
The glutton, without hesitation, says: “I like to have fun. Especially to eat." In the fable “The Ungrateful Guest,” Sergei Mikhalkov described one of the adherents of this vice:
He was invited to a Dagestan house for dinner,
And there he had to taste Caucasian dishes:
Shish kebab, khingal, dolma, miracle -
Well, in a word, all kinds of homemade food.
The owner poured, the hostess treated,
But everything seemed to the guest: not enough! Few!
And he drank so much and ate so much at once,
What's wrong...
In the hospital he lies in the silence of his room
And he whispers to himself: the Avars are to blame!...
Gluttony ranks third on the pedestal of sinful passions after pride and fornication. On average, a person spends up to four years in his life at a desk. The forms of manifestation of gluttony are curious and exotic, for example, laryngeal madness - holding food in the mouth for the purpose of pleasing the taste, secret eating, polyeating, sweet eating. The opposite of gluttony is the virtue of abstinence. The allegorical figure of Gluttony can be of any gender. This is a fat man, gorging himself and getting drunk. Sometimes vomiting. May be crowned with a grape wreath, like Bacchus, and hold a platter of fruit. Animal companions: a greedy wolf, a pig, a honey-loving bear, and a hedgehog, who, according to legend, collected fruits on his needles.
“Any excess is disgusting to Nature,” said Hippocrates. He was not opposed to tasty and healthy food. The great healer believed that a person should eat no more than that to replenish his energy losses. Therefore, a nutritious diet should contain enough energy for a joyful life. In this case, the laws of nature are not violated - a person does not take more than he needs. When eating food uncontrollably, he shows excessive pretentiousness and aggression towards the outside world. This behavior is vicious, for which one has to pay with serious illnesses and accidents.
As Ostap Bender said: “Don’t make a cult out of food!” Unfortunately, modern realities are evidence that the cult of gluttony is sweeping the planet. Advertising on every corner feeds and feeds people. As if before slaughter, people recklessly consume high-calorie foods in immeasurable quantities.
And in ancient times, gluttony was held in high esteem by gluttons. Among the ancient gluttons, the Greek Philoxenus was famous. He spent hours hardening his fingers, dipping them into almost boiling water, so that he could be the first to take the most delicious hot morsels. The great gluttonous consul Lucullus became famous for his wealth and luxurious feasts. “The daily feasts of Lucullus,” says the ancient Greek writer Plutarch (c. 46-127 AD), “showed him as a man who had recently become rich. In addition to purple carpets, bowls decorated with precious stones, choirs and music, he wanted to distinguish himself before ordinary people by preparing various dishes, skillfully and at great cost cakes made.” Lucullus’s passion for luxurious feasts is evidenced by the following incident. One day Luculla was dining alone, so the servant served him a less rich dinner. Lucullus called the servant and began to reproach him. In his justification, he said that today there were no invited guests and therefore, he thought, there was no need to serve exquisite dishes. "How! - answered Lucullus. “Don’t you know that Lucullus is dining at Lucullus’s today?”
Gluttony does not take food as needed, it does not wait for a slight feeling of hunger, and in general it is not familiar with the feeling of satiety from food. The more it eats, the more you want. Seraphim of Sarov said: “Do not eat your fill of food, leave room for the Holy Spirit.” And whoever can should adhere to this rule.
How to grasp the line beyond which the joy of deliciously prepared food turns into gluttony? This is an important question, and the answer to it is clear - the voice of your own conscience. People mired in ignorance have lost the ability to hear this voice, so it is not surprising that it is their environment that supplies the overwhelming number of gluttons. People in goodness and passion hear the voice of conscience, which always gives them its verdict if they have overeaten. Often, a person, guided by the voice of a false ego greedy for pleasure, overeats, but already while eating food he hears the judgment of his own conscience. Out of inability to control himself, he tries to justify himself, but the mood is already ruined. In other words, the extent of abstinence in food is determined by conscience. Through conscience, his representation in man, God tells him: “Now you are doing wrong.” A conscientious person, being fed up and overeating, experiences mental discomfort, he is overcome by embarrassment and irritation with himself.
Gluttony provokes a person to display vicious personality traits. It, for example, promotes debauchery, because excess food and caressing the belly kindles the flame of lust. Gluttony makes the mind coarse, dulls the mind, causes people to display deceit, boasting, stupid talkativeness and uncontrolled idle talk. It can masquerade as hospitality. For example, a guest unexpectedly arrives, and the glutton is incredibly happy about him, because there is a reason to make a holiday for himself and drown out the voice of conscience.
The true glutton was the great Russian fabulist I.A. Krylov. A. Kazakevich tells about his exploits in the field of gluttony: “The main joy of “Grandfather Krylov,” as all dictionaries and textbooks call him, was food. To put it bluntly, Ivan Andreevich was an excellent glutton. As Vyazemsky once said about Krylov, it was easier for him to survive the death of a loved one than to miss lunch. At one time, in the living rooms of St. Petersburg, a story passed from mouth to mouth about how in some road tavern Krylov, at that time still a young man, thoroughly refreshed himself at a table laden with a dozen meat, fish, and other dishes. The few visitors immediately noticed the unusual eater. One of them approached Krylov and began to question him: “Judging by your appetite, I can assume that you are an unmarried person...” “Uh-huh...” answered Krylov, without ceasing to chew. - I dare to assume that you don’t have a mother either... Same answer. - She died, then? Krylov, putting another cutlet into his mouth, nods his head. - The kingdom of heaven to her! She’s exhausted, that means... Well, I hope you have a priest or is he also dead? Nod of the head. - Lord Jesus, it turns out that you are an orphan! Yes... I understood it right away... Well, do you have any relatives? Tea, not everyone died? Krylov, whose appetite was clearly spoiled by this chatter, took his eyes off his plate and angrily answered: “My dear sir!” When I eat, everyone dies for me!
Not picky, although not without preferences, Krylov performed real feats in the field of gluttony. And he chose his friends according to the principle: whoever feeds you the most is the best comrade. If they didn’t feed enough—and this happened all the time—Ivan Andreevich, coming home, arranged a “real” dinner. If there was nothing in the kitchen, he ate a pot of sauerkraut and washed it down with a jug of kvass. One day there was neither cabbage nor kvass. Having carefully rummaged around in all corners, he found somewhere under the table a saucepan of pies, long forgotten by the cook. The pies - there were six of them - were already covered with green mold. But this did not stop our “gourmet”. I tried one - it seemed okay, just a little bitter. I tried another one - indeed, the bitterness is decent. And only then did I notice mold on the remaining pies. “Well,” he said later, “if I die, I’ll die from two, I’ll die from six. And he ate all six!” And - nothing, it passed...
At any common table, Krylov “ate as much as the rest of the society together. Each dish served, he put on his plate as much as he could fit. At the end of dinner, he got up and, having prayed to the image, constantly said: “How much does a person need?!” These words aroused general laughter among his dining companions, who saw how much Krylov needed...” One day, a certain joker friend decided to find out the limit that would have been beyond the capabilities of the famous glutton. Having bet with friends on a box of champagne, he invited Ivan Andreevich to try Italian cuisine. When Krylov appeared, the owner said that he was late and therefore, as the guilty one, he was given a penalty dish - a whole tray with a pile of Italian pasta. Krylov executed the “fine” with noticeable pleasure. “Well,” said the owner, “that doesn’t count, now start dinner with soup, in order.” They began to bring Krylov soups, porridges, fish, game, jellied meat... Then, in order, another tray with pasta... When Krylov cleared this tray, the owner again put a whole heap on him. When the owner's supplies ran out, the owner, realizing that he had lost, asked Krylov with the last hope in his voice: “Well, how is your stomach, Ivan Andreevich, doesn’t it hurt from too much food?” - What will happen to him? - Krylov was sincerely surprised, - I’m probably ready to do something wrong again now.
Knowing Krylov’s excesses in food, many friends, fearing for his health, repeatedly advised him sometimes - “at least for a change!” - refuse the treat. Krylov reluctantly agreed. However, when it was time for lunch and the hospitable hosts over and over again offered him a new dish, then an addition, he, looking at his worried friends, answered the hosts: “I can’t...”. And after a short pause: “...to insult you with a refusal.”
Unfortunately, constant overeating could not but affect the writer’s health: he suffered three mini-strokes (or, as they used to say, strokes). But even they did not bring him to his senses: he died from overeating. Suffering from pneumonia and weakened, he allowed himself a significant excess of pureed hazel grouse porridge. His powerful body could not withstand the double load.
Petr Kovalev 2013
Adam's sin, passed down from generation to generation, contains the potential of all human sins. The Holy Fathers, who went through many years of experience in asceticism, saw the depths of the human soul - this hiding place where thoughts and desires arise. From a complex mosaic of sins, they identified and described eight main passions - eight ulcers of the soul, eight rivers of dead water flowing from hell, from which other sins originate like rivulets and streams. The beds of these rivers, like meridians, encircle the earth, and their sources and mouths connect in the underworld.The eight passions are connected to each other like links in a chain with which the devil binds people and drags them along with him as a conqueror of captives. These are the eight heads of the hydra with which every Christian must contend; This is an invisible net in which Satan has been trying to catch the globe like a trapper for the eighth millennium.
The first link in this chain is gluttony. To many people it seems like an innocent weakness that does not inspire much concern, especially since the consequences of this sin, like the scabs of leprosy, do not appear immediately, but after years. But we must remember that after the Fall of Adam, the harmony between the soul and body of man was disrupted. The body - an instrument of the soul and an organic part of the human personality - has become a substrate of passions and lust. The body is a slave of the spirit. This slave, being kindled by her soul, wanted to command her. She, like Adam's Eve, seduces the mind with the imaginary sweetness of passions, and captivates the heart with the dark mystery of sin, the way a rebel rebels against the spirit, trying to overthrow him from the throne and herself become the queen of the human trimerium - spirit, soul and body.
The body is an evil friend and a good enemy. Without a body, a human personality is not formed. Without a body, the spirit and soul cannot express themselves outwardly through words and deeds. The evil flesh is always ready to betray the soul to the devil for copper pennies of base pleasures - just as Judas sold his Teacher to death for thirty pieces of silver. The body is an insidious companion of the soul on the thorny path to the heavenly kingdom, which either obediently follows it, or tries to entice it onto the wide, stone-lined road leading to eternal death. You can compare the soul and body with a rider and a wild horse: if the rider loosens the bit, then the horse will rush wherever its eyes look, and both will fall into the pit.
Gluttony is the victory of the body over the spirit; it is a wide field in which all passions grow vigorously; this is the first step of a steep, slippery staircase leading to the underworld. In the biblical Book of Genesis it is written that God looked at the earth and saw that all people were flesh, and His Spirit could not dwell in them. Antediluvian humanity did not fulfill its destiny: the carnal principle defeated the spiritual, as if swallowing it up. It was a triumph of the flesh that was the beginning of the end. Humanity has not only plunged into the swamp of materiality, but has forgotten God; Having become earthly dust, it erected idols for itself from the dust - new dead gods. Idolatry, sorcery, sorcery, debauchery and cannibalism began to spread like a plague throughout the land. The cult of the flesh has turned human history into an endless orgy. Already before the Flood, humanity perished spiritually in the flood of its passions. The Flood, just like a gravedigger, dug a common grave for the dead and made the ocean floor a cemetery for all flesh. The bodies of the gluttons were swallowed up by the belly of the sea, and the souls of the demon-pleasers were swallowed up by the insatiable belly of the underworld.
History repeats itself. The Lord compared the times of Noah to the end times. Again, the flesh begins to triumph over the spirit, and the demon - over the flesh, corrupting, corrupting it, and mocking it in every possible way.
Gluttony deforms a person. When you see a glutton, you involuntarily recall a market where bloody carcasses of animals brought from the slaughterhouse hang. It seems that the glutton's body hangs from his bones, like flayed carcasses on iron hooks.
The belly, heavy with food, plunges the mind into a gloomy slumber, making it lazy and dull. A glutton cannot think deeply and reason about spiritual things. His belly, like a lead weight, pulls the earthed soul down. Such a person feels his weakness especially acutely during prayer. The mind cannot enter into prayer words, like a dull knife cannot cut bread. In this sense, gluttony is a constant betrayal of one's prayer.
It should be noted that gluttony also darkens a person’s intellectual and creative powers. Almost none of the outstanding poets and artists were distinguished by gluttony and did not have a body resembling a beer barrel. As an exception, one can point to the poet Apukhtin, who resembles the painting of Gargantua. One day, a child, seeing Apukhtin among the guests in his house, shouted in surprise: “Mom, what kind of humanoid creature is this!”
Often a glutton, tired of the weight of his own body, leading to shortness of breath and exhaustion, and of the need to constantly overcome the size of his own stomach as an obstacle, when it is necessary to bend down to pick up something from the floor or tie shoelaces, decides to declare war on the demon of gluttony and destroy it as an enemy own fat. He copies diets from magazines, and announces to his loved ones that soon his figure will resemble not a Flemish painting, but a statue of Apollo. However, such a glutton who has gone on a diet most often finds himself in the role of a gladiator who, without weapons, entered into a fight with a wild beast: at first he still resists, but then falls, torn to pieces by the claws and fangs of the predator. At first, the glutton adheres to a strict diet and looks at those around him victoriously, like Hercules after another feat, but then, unable to withstand the gnawing pain in his stomach, he pounces on food, as if he wants to make up for lost time.
In gluttony, two passions can be distinguished: gluttony and laryngeal madness. Gluttony is an insatiable desire for food, it is an aggression of the body against the soul, a constant harassment of the belly, which, like a cruel publican, demands an exorbitant tribute from a person, this is the madness of the belly, which indiscriminately absorbs food, like a hungry hyena prey. The stomach of such a person is like a bag into which a stingy owner stuffs things indiscriminately when preparing for a long journey, and then drags with difficulty the unnecessary cargo.
Laryngeal madness is a constant desire for tasty and refined food, this is the voluptuousness of the larynx. A person must eat to live, but here he lives to eat. He plans the menu in advance with such a preoccupied look, as if he is solving a puzzle or a mathematical problem. He spends all his money on treats, just like a gambler loses his fortune in excitement.
There are also other types of gluttony, these are: secret eating - the desire to hide one's vice; early eating - when a person, having barely woken up, starts eating without yet experiencing the feeling of hunger; hasty eating - a person tries to quickly fill his belly and swallows food without chewing, like a turkey; non-observance of fasts, consumption of foods harmful to health due to lust of the larynx. Ancient ascetics also considered excessive drinking of water to be gluttony.
How to get rid of gluttony? Here are some tips. Before the meal, one must secretly pray that the Lord will give abstinence and help put a limit to the desires of the belly and larynx; remember that our body, greedy for food, will sooner or later itself become food for worms, taken from the earth - a handful of earthly dust; imagine what food turns into in the belly. You need to mentally determine for yourself the amount of food that you would like to eat, and then take away a quarter of it and put it aside. At first, a person will experience a feeling of hunger, but when the body gets used to it, then one-fourth of the food must be taken away again - this is what St. Dorotheos advises in his teachings. Here is the principle of gradually reducing food to the amount necessary for life. Often the demon tempts a person, scaring him that from lack of food he will become weak and sick, will not be able to work and will become a burden to others. The family will also worry and look anxiously at his plate, persistently urging him to eat more.
The Holy Fathers advise first limiting the consumption of spicy and irritating foods, then sweet foods that delight the larynx, then fatty foods that fatten the body. You should eat slowly - this way you will feel full more quickly. You need to get up from the meal when your first hunger is satisfied, but you still want to eat. In the old days there was a custom to eat in silence. Extraneous conversations distract attention, and a person, carried away by the conversation, can automatically eat everything that is on the table. The elders also advised reading the Jesus Prayer during meals.
Regarding the measure of water consumption, it should be remembered that thirst can be natural and false. To distinguish between them, you need to hold a little water in your mouth without swallowing it: if the thirst is false, then it goes away, and if it remains, then it is natural.
All passions are related to each other; their combination looks like a colored mosaic or fancy carpet patterns. Thus gluttony can be combined with the passion of anger. Some people, in a state of anger, and in general excitement and anxiety, have a desire to chew something in order to distract their thoughts; and since an angry person is almost always excited, he gets used to constantly putting food in his mouth. Gluttons justify their passion by their mental state - the desire to get out of stress. But as a result, they gain not peace of mind, but extra pounds.
Gluttony is sometimes combined with stinginess. Such a person is ready to eat spoiled, moldy food rather than throw it away. Stingy gluttons store food as heirlooms, glad that they have supplies for a long time. Only when the food begins to deteriorate and rot do they decide to use it for food. Misers, when treating guests, in their hearts hate them as invaders, and experience torment for every piece they eat. But they themselves love to go to their friends’ houses for lunch, and even make a schedule - when and to whom to go.
Gluttony combined with vanity gives rise to secret eating. A vain person is afraid of appearing to be a glutton. He eats abstinently in front of people, but when he is alone, he hurries to satisfy his passion. He has a treasured place where he hides food from prying eyes. Looking around and making sure that no one is there, he approaches the closet, like a stingy knight approaches a treasure chest, takes out food and quickly devours it. It must be said that the Slavic word “devour” means “to make a sacrifice.” The glutton sacrifices to his belly like a pagan to an idol.
There are sins akin to gluttony, such as eating without prayer, grumbling about food, drinking too much alcohol, making obscene jokes, using foul language, swearing, arguing and quarreling during meals. Demons flock to such feasts like flies to honey and desecrate the food with invisible impurities.
We can say that the sin of gluttony represents the gradual consumption of the soul by the body, as a result of which the heavenly, spiritual principle in a person fades, and he becomes blind flesh.
It would be wonderful if someone, before descending into the grave, were freed from this passion.
Saint John Climacus
About gluttony. Its modern manifestations
Although to many people the conversation about gluttony seems outdated and archaic, this passion is firmly alive in the people of our time. True, it can be called by completely different words, more modern and more familiar to our ears. “Obesity”, “overweight”, “overeating”, “eating disorders”. All these are different names for this terrible disease, which leaves its mark on both the soul and body of a person.
The life of modern people is full of excess food. Of course, there are still many poor people and poor countries where things are completely different. However, harsh statistics show that currently every sixth person on our planet suffers from obesity. Never before have so many varieties of food been available to people. Go to any supermarket and you will easily see how sellers every time come up with new ways to present their goods in the most attractive way. And this is at a time when manufacturers make their dishes as fresh as possible, the portions for the same money are even larger, and the taste is fuller and richer. Recently, natural seasonings have been replaced by even synthetic flavor enhancers, the main task of which is to make even completely artificial food tasty, which was devoid of at least some taste before. But that's not all. The presence of such flavor enhancers (emulsifiers) in food products over time causes addiction in people. The cult of food, the stimulation of human gastronomic needs and preferences is another step towards gluttony, which, becoming a habit, causes obesity and many other diseases.
Obesity and excessive, unbridled passion for food are an additional burden on all body systems, primarily the cardiovascular system. As a result, this leads to increased blood pressure, arrhythmia, angina, etc. And undoubtedly, this also creates incredible stress on the gastrointestinal tract, which is now forced to work without rest, around the clock. The endocrine system also changes, causing metabolic disorders. In the end, one can notice the influence of gluttony on the functioning of the human brain. After an excessive meal, laziness, fatigue appear, and thinking processes slow down. A person cannot concentrate and do something as well as he did just before. “A full belly is deaf to prayer.” That is why self-restraint and fasting are necessary practices for ascetics of all world religions. And ascetics of piety - Orthodox monks - are directly called “fasters”, with this name defining the nature of their main service - pacification of the flesh through restrictions on food and other pleasures.
Eating food in moderation is a vital necessity for humans, because hunger is biologically determined. When the balance of sugar, water or another important substance in a person’s blood is disturbed, an impulse automatically appears to replenish this deficiency with what the body needs right now. The centers that regulate the process of eating are located in a special part of the brain - the hypothalamus. Its individual zones are responsible for the feeling of hunger, thirst and satiety. In a normal state, this well-coordinated system maintains the existence of our body and weight at an optimal, genetically fixed level.
However, human nature, stricken by sin, made it possible to distort this physiological need, which was completely neutral in itself. So doctors know that when the desire for food weakens, a person ceases to feel hunger and thirst, up to the complete disappearance of appetite. And vice versa - gluttony, the consumption of even obviously spoiled food, is typical for people with congenital or acquired mental retardation.
Illustration: Hieronymus Bosch "Gluttony" from "The Seven Deadly Sins", 1475-1480
Saint John of the Climacus, like other ascetics of piety, in his ascetic works noted three main ways in which a person can violate the norm established by God in spiritual terms, using the process of eating to spite and harm himself.
- 1) First of all, people sin from gluttony when they take food in excessive quantities, significantly larger than what the body actually needs. For such a person, it is important to fill his own stomach with food as much as possible, almost through force.
- 3) The third sin is secret eating. This sin is predominantly monastic, the danger of which is primarily experienced by monks living in communal monasteries. The essence of this passion lies in non-compliance with the monastic rules and daily routine, in untimely eating, more often than not, after prayer or secretly from the brethren. Of course, the laity can also sin by this, eating food not according to the daily routine, doctor’s prescription or the requirements of the church charter.
2) The second sin is voluptuousness or guttural rage. This passion is realized in a person who seeks to gain pleasure through refined food, gourmet eating, using all kinds of seasonings and unusual, complex methods of preparing dishes. In this passion, unlike the previous one, it is not the amount of food consumed that is sinful, but its delicacy, a person’s search for unusual tastes, impressions and pleasures. It should be understood that we eat not to enjoy the taste, but to give the body the necessary amount of nutrients. It is known that the enjoyment of taste almost does not depend on the refinement of dishes. Even a piece of stale bread will bring more pleasure to a hungry person than a piece of cake to a pampered gourmet in the middle of a meal.
In addition to these three main passions associated with food, Saint Climacus recalls two more, no less dangerous cases.
The first passion is an uncontrollable thirst for your favorite food, an addiction to a specific dish. Saint John the Prophet describes people affected by this weakness as follows: such a person constantly dreams, fantasizes about a specific dish, often imagines it and tells others about it, and at a meal asks to be served first or moved closer. “In the passion of gluttony, the belly, when full, cries out: “I want more!” And even sighing from satiety, laments: “I’m hungry.” This passion teaches us to devour everything that stands before our eyes” (Ladder 2.1.4: 1).
And the apogee, the extreme point of development of the sin of gluttony, is the complete darkness of the mind towards issues of food and the pleasure of the stomach. In the language of the fathers, this sin is called the terrible word “gluttony.” A person with such mental illness lives for the sake of food, and does not eat in order to live.
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The passion of gluttony is one of the most dangerous passions of a person, known as a mortal sin in the tradition of the Western Church, and, in fact, “passion” in the tradition of the Eastern Church. Often appearing under a pious pretext, she seduces even the strongest in faith. Therefore, special wisdom is required in order to learn to distinguish objective reality from the temptation of the devil or our own passion.
"What made Esau so degraded, what made him his brother's slave? Wasn't it just the food for which he sold his birthright? And vice versa, wasn't it prayer with fasting that gave Samuel's mother? What made the great fighter Samson invincible? Wasn't it the fast that began still in the womb? (Judgment 13). Fasting gave birth to him, fasting nurtured him, fasting he grew to manhood - by that fasting, the angel commanded his mother (Basily the Great. About fasting 1.)
Only those who have managed to curb their body, their own passionate flesh, will be able to make a good start in the fight against more subtle spiritual and mental sinful states. It follows that the struggle with one’s stomach and carnal passions is the beginning of a person’s struggle with his other, more dangerous spiritual vices. Gluttony, like other bodily passions, is only a means, and the goal of demons is to subjugate the human soul through them.
No spiritual warfare can begin without fasting and self-restraint. And vice versa: weakness in food leads to the development of other passions in the human soul. For example, in the classical scheme of the dependence of some passions on others, voluptuousness (love of pleasure) gives rise to gluttony, and this, in turn, gives rise to lustful thoughts and unclean actions. Thus, in order for a person to overcome fornication, he must first overcome gluttony. From here, we can conclude that the ability to manage one’s desires, actions and dreams is important for every person, and not just for a monk. Including in the sphere of one’s own gastronomic preferences.
Testimony of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition
“Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with gluttony and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and lest that day come upon you suddenly,” (Luke 21:34)
“Be not among those who are drunk with wine, nor among those who are full of meat; for the drunkard and the one who is full will become poor, and sleepiness will be clothed in sackcloth” (Proverbs 23:20-21).
“If you have found honey, eat as much as you need, lest you become full of it and vomit it up” (Proverbs 25:16).
“He who keeps the law is a wise son, but he who associates with wasteful people (gluttons) disgraces his father” (Proverbs 28:7).
“For many, of whom I have often told you, and now even speak with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and their glory is in their shame; they think on earthly things” (Phil. 3:18-21).
“For there are many disobedient, idle talkers and deceivers, especially among the circumcised, whose lips should be stopped: they corrupt entire houses, teaching what they should not, for shameful gain. Of these themselves, one poet said: “The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts.” , lazy bellies" (Titus 1:10-11).
“But I discipline and bring my body into subjection, so that while I have preached to others, I myself may not be unworthy” (1 Cor. 9:27).
“The true widow and the lonely one trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers day and night; but the lustful one died alive” (1 Tim. 5:5-6).
“As in the day, let us conduct ourselves decently, not [indulging in] feasting and drunkenness, nor sensuality and debauchery, nor quarreling and envy; but put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not turn the cares of the flesh into lusts” (Rom. 13: 12-13).
“It is natural for a person to feel hunger. Still, one must take the food necessary to maintain life, and not for passions and not for satiety. Sleep is also natural for a person, but not to the point of satiety, pampering of the body, so that we can subdue the passions and vicious desires of the body.” (Sayings of nameless elders)
“The perfect goal of restraint is to achieve not only curbing the body, but to become more favorable for serving the needs of the soul” (St. Gregory of Nyssa).
"... Gluttony is a deception of the stomach, because even when it is full it cries out: “Not enough!”, Being filled and expanding from excess, it cries out: “I want!” (Ladder).
“Ahead of all virtues is obedience, and ahead of all passions is gluttony” (Abba Isaiah the Hermit).
“Gluttony is a violation of the second commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee an idol... thou shalt not worship them, nor serve them. It is indeed idolatry” (Antony the Great).
“Gluttony destroys everything good in a person” (Reverend Neil of Sinai).
What promotes gluttony?
Very often people serve this vice by inventing various excuses for themselves. The Holy Fathers of the Church, as subtle psychologists and experts on human souls, learned to see these cases and warn us about them.
The first and most common way to be captured by this dangerous passion is to attribute indulgences in food to concern for one's own health and a craven fear of possible diseases associated with abstinence. In fact, it is very rare to talk about such categorical abstinence from food that it could pose a threat to our life and health. The Orthodox Church preaches the “royal way” - the golden mean, from which only good can come. Its goal is not to starve us, but to teach us to control everything we do. Including, teach how to properly worry about your own body - the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
"Fasting is always useful for those who welcome it. For those who fast will not dare to be attacked by evil spirits. On the contrary. The quick guards of our lives - angels help those who cleanse their soul (and body) by fasting. (St. Basil the Great, O post 2).
The fathers even recall such a reason for the fall as careless priests, indifferent to their service, often recklessly blessing others with relaxation in fasting. Such a blessing, at first glance, may indeed look like a good deed, a deed of love, but for a person’s soul it can bring destruction, because it not only serves to satisfy the flesh. It also teaches people the idea that fasting is supposedly unnecessary for a person’s salvation, and in general, gives rise to doubts about the inviolability of church requirements, rules and canons. ("Ladder" 14:11-12)
Another way of gluttony is imaginary hospitality, the desire to visit friends or receive guests for the sake of a good meal and wine. This is a very subtle passion that not everyone can notice in themselves. This danger especially increases when great Christian or folk holidays come. It seems that on such days gluttony receives all the justifications for itself. However, there is no doubt that gluttony and drinking alcoholic beverages, as well as laziness and fornication, neither on holidays nor on any other days, are unacceptable for Christians. “Incited by the insatiability of his stomach, he believes that the opportunity to please a guest is also a permission for him to do everything” (Ibid. 14: 8)
Sometimes, the holy ascetics write, the passion of vanity wants to overcome the addiction of gluttony. This is when some people fast in order to prove to themselves and others - “How tough I am, how strong in spirit I am, how much patience I have, etc.” The desire to show oneself as the best fights for a person, as for a purchased slave. What is better: to observe a strict fast or to give yourself some relief? Overcome pride or taste the food? Saint Diodochos advises to still eat food, because a sorrowful heart will bring more benefit to the soul, reminding a Christian of his imperfections than pride about one’s own fasting. (Ibid. 14:9)
It should also be said about the psychological reasons for the passion of gluttony. The pleasure that a person receives from eating high-calorie foods can become a strong drug that can cause addiction in a person. While eating, a person produces pleasure hormones, which can temporarily improve mood and general psychological state. Thus, food, most often in combination with alcohol and tobacco, becomes a fairly simple way to ease the pain of stress or depression. Many people try to “eat up” their problems: lack of fulfillment in life, low self-esteem, unsuccessful family life, anxiety, negative emotions. And since this does not solve the problems themselves, very soon a person will need another portion of pleasure. This is how a person ends up in a vicious circle of passion and gluttony. In the desire to find happiness and get rid of suffering and slavery, people receive yet another shackles. Only an experienced specialist - a priest and a psychologist, a psychotherapist - can help with this. Of course, now we are talking only about the spiritual and mental causes of gluttony, leaving aside the physiological causes: various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, thyroid gland, metabolic disorders or invasion.
Practical steps to fight passion
As we have repeatedly mentioned, the most effective way to overcome any passion is to develop in yourself the traits and virtues that are opposite to this passion. Thus, gluttony is overcome by abstinence and fasting. Although this vice is considered first among other carnal passions, this does not mean that it is the easiest to eradicate. Vice versa. Since gluttony is the foundation of other human passions and sins, there are a number of reasons that directly or indirectly influence the development of this passion in a person and contribute to it in every possible way. Since passions are deeply rooted in human nature, in order to overcome them, efforts must be made at all levels: mental, spiritual and physical.
In the spiritual realm. First of all, a person needs awareness and honest recognition of the presence of this passion in himself. The Sacraments of Repentance and Communion, as well as an active prayer and spiritual life, can become invaluable helpers in overcoming it. Looking at a person’s sincerity, the Lord will definitely help him receive spiritual and physical healing faster.
In the mental (psychological) sphere. There are a number of effective practices that allow a person to more consciously approach the solution of psychological problems associated with gluttony and other gastronomic abuses. Of course, the greatest results here can be achieved by consulting a specialist - a psychologist or psychotherapist. And together you can try existing techniques. In particular, keeping a food diary, identifying personal reasons for gluttony, working with motivation, setting goals, overcoming situations that provoke excessive food consumption.
In the bodily sphere. First of all, medical consultation is necessary to make sure that food abuse has not yet led to irreversible changes that are life-threatening. At the same time, you need to work with a nutritionist to develop an individual diet and strictly adhere to it. And, of course, increase physical activity. A professional trainer can help you create an individual, most optimal and effective physical activity schedule.
The main means to combat the addiction to gluttony is fasting and abstinence. It's good to leave the table a little hungry. The pleasure that naturally accompanies eating delicious food loses its sensuality and becomes spiritual if eaten with prayer and feelings of gratitude to God.
Conclusion
And in conclusion, I will repeat the most important thing. According to the testimony of the majority of the Holy Fathers - ancient ascetics and ascetics - the subordination of the soul to carnal passions is direct evidence that the human soul has moved away from God. Appetite and the desire to eat in themselves cannot have a negative connotation. They can only have mental states of voluptuousness (uncontrollable desire for pleasure). That is why we consider the passion for gluttony not as an exclusively bodily vice, but as a mental and spiritual state of human fall. Careful observance of the fasts established by the Church contributes to the humility of the flesh, which weakens voluptuousness and all our other passions. Why does a person sin? Through selfishness, pride, desire for pleasure of the flesh. All this is eradicated by love for God, fear of God, sorrow for sins committed, cutting off passions, and, undoubtedly, self-restraint and self-control. Help us with this, Lord!
Archpriest Evgeny Zapletnyuk,
candidate of theology,
Ternopil.
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