Collected Works, Volume 3

§ 47. From a delay in some sin or from the repeated repetition of a sin, an addiction or habit to sin is formed. Thus becomes addicted to drunkenness, theft, covetousness, fornication, slander, condemnation, and other iniquities.

§ 48. This addiction or habit is so strong that it is like the second nature of a person to what he is addicted to. "Great is the torment of custom," says St. Chrysostom, "and such is that it is built into the need of nature" (Discourse 7 on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians), since addiction takes root deep in the heart. And the more a person commits some sin and delays in it, the stronger the addiction deepens in his heart. Just as a tree, the more it grows, the more it puts its root into the ground, so the more sinful custom grows, the deeper its root is established in the human heart. But just as a tree, the larger it is, the more difficult it is to be pulled out of the ground, so the more the custom of sin is strengthened and established, the more difficult it is for a person to be freed from it, and not without God's help.

"Fierce warfare is to overcome custom," says Augustine in Psalm 30. And although it often happens that a person abstains from passion for a while; but by custom, as with a rope, he is attracted to the same vomit; And as fire is by the wind, so by the old custom the evil lust in him is fanned and kindled, and receives its power. We clearly see this truth in those who are accustomed to drunkenness. How bitterly many of these poor people, having sobered up, weep, weep, scold themselves, seeing their misfortune and the destruction of their souls, but on occasion, carried away by custom, turning again to passion, in this miserable, truly worthy state of weeping, they end their lives. As for the passion of drunkenness, so should we understand about other passions. We see that neither shame, nor human fear, nor the fear of God, nor the fear of earthly temporal judgment and punishment, nor the fear of God's judgment and eternal punishment, can turn thieves and covetous people away from wickedness; they would rather endure everything and perish than leave their delicacy. Of such it is said: They will not sleep unless they do evil; their sleep is lost (Prov. 4:16).

§ 49. Passion love is an inner and spiritual idolatry; for those who serve the passions revere them as idols, by the inner conquest of the heart. Thus, for those who please and serve the belly, God is the belly (Phil. 3:19); for the covetous, covetousness is idolatry, according to the teaching of the Apostle (Col. 3:5); those who serve mammon consider mammon to be the Lord (Matt. 6:24), and everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34); and whoever is overcome by someone is his servant (2 Peter 2:19).

For a sin-loving person, the sin he serves is like an idol. His sin-loving heart is like an abominable pagan temple, in which he offers sacrifice to this abominable image, for there is sin in his heart. Instead of bulls, rams, and other animals, he sacrifices his will and most willing obedience. And so, the more times a sinner deigns to commit the sin to which he is addicted, the more in his heart he denies Christ; and the more times he fulfills sin in deed, the more he offers sacrifice to that idol. No one can serve two masters, says the Lord (Matt. 6:24).

St. John Chrysostom teaches about this as follows: "Do not tell me that you do not worship a golden idol, but show me that you do not do what gold commands you. For the images of idolatry are different: one considers mammon to be the Lord, another the belly to be a god, another another most loving lust. You do not devour oxen with it, like the Greeks, but much worse, you stab your own soul; You do not kneel, you do not worship, but with great obedience you do everything that the belly, gold, and lusts are tormented by you. That is why the Greeks are vile, because they have deified our passions" (Discourse 6 on the Epistle to the Romans). How abominable and disastrous is sinful addiction! It is disgusting, for passion is revered as an idol instead of God. Miserable – for he who reveres it from Christ and God, in Whom our salvation is, denies it; and with great difficulty man is freed from this vile work. And what is more miserable, having become fossilized in this, many even in that age depart without repentance and hope of salvation and become eternal prisoners of hell and death.

§ 50. In order to get rid of this vile and difficult work for a person, it is useful to note and do:

1) Everyone should look around what condition he is in, and whether he is possessed by any passion and sinful custom; whether his heart was not captivated by the love of money and covetousness, or by fornication, or by the love of vain glory and honor; whether anger and rancor, or drunkenness, possess it; whether he is not accustomed to condemning, slandering, blasphemy, scolding, backbiting his neighbor, and so on. For passion and custom blind the eye of the soul, so that a man does not see his calamity and destruction. Therefore, it is necessary to diligently read or listen to the Holy Scriptures and other Christian books, for from them sin is known; treatment of good and pious people, from whose good life a person can know his depraved morals. In addition, we must call upon and pray to Jesus Christ, the enlightener of the blind, that He Himself enlighten the eyes of the soul. Without Him, there is no enlightenment or knowledge of the calamitous state of sin; until He touches our blind eyes, we will always be blind, and we will wander like blind men.

This trial and knowledge is absolutely necessary for everyone who desires eternal salvation; for from him is the beginning of salvation. How will you seek healing without knowing the disease? It is necessary to know the disease first. The sick require a doctor, as the Lord says: "The healthy have no need of a physician, but the sick" (Matt. 9:12). Who are the sick? Certainly those who recognize and recognize their disease. Just as we experience bodily illness in order to be healed, so we must experience spiritual illness in order to seek healing after knowing it. Just as the beginning of bodily health is to know illness, so the beginning of salvation is to know the miserable state of one's soul. For such knowledge will move a person to seek the means by which he could get rid of his misfortune. Examine yourself and know, Christian, in what condition you are. Whether you have riches or not, health or bodily sickness, glory or disgrace: what have you to do? All this will remain in the world. Test only this, what illness the soul has, and whether you have the hope of salvation, which alone is needed.

2) A person who has come to know the miserable state of his soul should not delay, but rather abandon the evil custom, for the more you delay in a passionate custom, the more it will intensify, and the more difficult it will be to abandon it; just as the longer the bodily illness continues, the more difficult it is to cure it. And although the passion will strongly struggle and attract to its former state, stand firmly against it, as a domestic enemy, not succumb to its lust, and call upon the almighty help of the Son of God. For passion is like a dog. As a dog runs after us and chases us when we flee from him, and when we stand against him and drive him away, he flees from us, so passion drives away the one who yields to it and hears it; but yields to him who opposes it.

Will, diligence and work with God's help can do everything; and although the ascetic will endure much torment from it, he will finally yield to him, strengthened by the power of God, which helps those who labor and pray. Many such examples are presented to us by Church history, in which we read that many robbers, fornicators, prostitutes and other sinners who turned from their sins to God, although they suffered much from an evil custom, nevertheless, with the help of God, finally defeated it, and crucified the flesh with passions and lusts, and thus those who were slaves of sin became Christ's servants (Gal. 5:24). Such examples are written so that lost sinners do not despair of turning and fight against evil custom, for with God's help all things are possible for man. The same Jesus Christ yesterday and today, the same forever Helper and Savior of those who convert, labor, fight, and call upon Him (Hebrews 13:8).

3) This podvig is aided and strengthened in him by frequent meditation on death, which delights everyone in every way and in every way and encloses it in eternity; meditation on the righteous judgment of Christ, on the Kingdom of Heaven and endless torment.

4) He who has abandoned an evil custom should not return to it, like a dog to his vomit and a washed pig to the mud (2 Peter 2:22); but to stand firmly against it, to conquer by the grace of God, forgetting what is behind and stretching forward (Phil. 3:13), and, according to the Lord's admonition, to remember Lot's wife (Luke 17:32), who, turning back, that is, to Sodom, from which she came, became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). The world with its lusts is lawless Sodom, from which those who flee should not turn to it, lest, having become entangled in its snares again, they be condemned with it, and should remember the Apostle's words: "Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world: whoever loves the world has not the love of the Father in him" (1 John 2:15), and again: "Whoever wants to be a friend of the world, he becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4).

Chapter 3.