§ 6. Unnatural vices (adultery, womanizing,

Section III: The "Soulful" Man in the Struggle with the Passions. (continued)

Chapter 1. The spiritual and bodily composition of fallen man in a passionate and active-ascetic disposition.

§ 5. The general condition of the body of fallen man. Our attitude to the body according to the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Fathers and the data of modern medical science.

We have already seen that death came into the soul and body of man along with sin. And the body, from being healthy and beautiful as it had been in Paradise, became ugly and sickly.1 So that youthful, flourishing state, when it bears the name of "healthy," is in essence unhealthy. And a young man's body gets tired, prone to diseases, and I'm not even talking about girls. If a person begins to live according to his passions and lusts, then he completely exhausts himself and begins to rot alive. The body of a passionate person, being voluptuous and pampered or sickly and fastidious, of course, in this state is afraid of podvig and is incapable of it. The fears of today's people, who are afraid of fasting, long church services, lack of amenities on pilgrimages, and so on, are also understandable. Therefore, everyone who is called by the grace of God to salvation soon feels the need to take care of his body, so that it would help the soul in the struggle with the passions, and would not be a slander for it itself. The Holy Fathers have long worked out certain rules in relation to their body. They weighed everything to him "by weight and measure." They drank in moderation, ate in moderation, slept in moderation, and did physical labor in moderation. Everything in moderation, nothing superfluous. In general, their life, of course, was ascetic, but this is because they themselves sharpened their work and refined this measure. But if we discard in their ascetic work all the extremes, of which, moreover, not all of them were capable,2 then we will clearly see that the general structure of their external life was very even, normal, and quite appropriate

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laws laid down by the Creator for the existence of creatures, contributed to the highest degree to the preservation of health, both spiritual and physical, and to the prolongation of man's very life to the greatest limits. The strict attitude of the Holy Fathers to the body did not lead to suicide, but to purity of life and health.3

Unfortunately, nowadays it is customary in society to think quite the opposite. The voice of a pastor or even a prudent family member that it is necessary to live a simpler life, will now be shouted from all sides: "You want to enroll our daughters and sons as monks," "They are young, they need to have fun, to feed," "Not everyone should be ascetics," meaning that all monks get only anemia and consumption from lenten food, and migraines from lack of sleep. I am speaking, of course, about true monks. Not to eat meat, not to drink wine, not to smoke, and so on, for today's people is not only a feat, but, I repeat, suicide. Asceticism, the task of which is, among other things, to indicate the best ways of treating one's body, because it is the friend of the soul, and without it the latter cannot be saved and acquire virtues—asceticism, I say, is considered a science (if it is still a science!) unfounded, strange, extravagant. Or rather, unknown. Even in the theological academies, the corresponding departments were opened only before the war of 1914, and those who replaced them, of course, did not have time to do anything for this science, but it should be said – for the salvation of the souls of believers.

That is why the ascetic writer, wishing to be accepted and understood among the intellectuals, if not the unbelievers, who have been brought up on trust in the so-called scientific truths – I mean that part of them which unhypocritically wants to be saved and to go to Christ by His narrow path, but does not know where to look for this path – must involuntarily have support for his opinions in external sources. in the secular empirical sciences, so dear to cultured people. Purely patristic arguments would be unacceptable, incredible, incomprehensible, and unreliable for the latter. It is known that a goat is lured by hay, a pig by a muddy puddle, and a bee by fragrant flowers. To each his own. Condescending to the weakness of such people, as did Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and others in their time,

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and by showing that the best, that is, the most impartial and unblinded representatives of science, are not opposed to the basic points of view of asceticism in their views on the subject treated, the ascetic writer thereby gains the hope of attracting the interest and attention of lay people as well. They should not perish, and the Kingdom of Heaven should not consist only of monks. When they see that science, which they believe so much, approves of everything that asceticism teaches, they themselves will begin to work independently. At least those of them who want to sincerely despise the world and who have known its vanity. That is why I often use secular scientific data as positive or negative evidence in my Fundamentals, which ascetic theologians have not done so far. And for what reason, I do not need to say here. I have my own way...

In the following exposition, the duality of science will be sufficiently shown (that is, its reverse side will be revealed)5 and the teaching of the ascetic fathers about the attitude of those who are saved to their body for the purpose of mortification. Here I want to draw the reader's attention to the fact that everything set forth below has nothing to do with asceticism. There is no talk of any asceticism here, for, firstly, the ascetic rules will be spoken of later, and secondly, the doctors, whose recipes and methods of treatment and health care will be offered to the reader below, taught them not to ascetics, but to all people, and not only the healthy, but also the sick and infirm. And the latter more often than the former.

I will deliberately not cite a single quotation from the writings of the ascetics, but I will give the floor to only hygienists and representatives of the school of the so-called "natural methods of treatment" (Naturlichmethoden). And we will see a most curious thing – scientists, and doctors at that (after all, it is believed that among natural scientists the largest percentage belongs to non-believers and haters of "fasting" vows), in the role of apologists for a truly patristic way of life! This, of course, does not mean that they are advocating in the name of the same convictions, but even then it is impressive, for non-believers (or shouting: "We are not monks...") shameful that their own leaders and teachers with "scientific" diplomas trail after the monks...