Animals And Passions

Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ Θεία Γραφὴ πρὸς τὰ πάθη τὰ ἐνοχλοῦντα οὕτω και τάς τῶν ἀλόγων προσηγορίας, πολλαχοῦ δὲ καὶ τῶν θηρέων τοῖς λόγῳ τετιμημένοις ἐπιτίθησι· ποτὲ μὲν κύνας καλοῦσα διὰ τὸ ἀναίσχυτον καὶ ἰταμόν· Κύνες γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐνεοὶ, οὐ δυνάμενοι ὑλακτεῖν· ποτὲ δὲ ἵππους διὰ τὸ λάγνον· Ἵπποι γὰρ θηλυμανεῖς ἐγένοντο, ἔκαστος ἐπὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον χρεμετίζοντες· ποτὲ δὲ ὄνους, διὰ τὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην καὶ τὴν ἂνοιαν· Παρασυνεβλήθη γὰρ, φησὶ, τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοὴτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς· ποτὲ δὲ λέοντας καὶ παρδάλεις, διὰ τὸ ἁρπακτικὸν καὶ πλεονεκτικόν· ποτὲ δὲ ἀσπίδας, διὰ τὸ δολερόν· Ἰὸς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀσπίδων ὑπὸ τὰ χείλη αὐτῶν· ποτὲ δὲ ὄφεις καὶ ἔχεις, διὰ τὸν ἰὸν καὶ τὴν πονηρίαν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης ἐβόα, λέγων· Ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς; καὶ ἕτερα δὲ κατάλληλα τοῖς πάθεσιν ὀνόματα ἐπάγει, ἵνα κἂν οὕτως αἰδεσθέντες ὀψέ ποτε πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν εὐγένειαν ἐπανέλθωσι, καὶ σπείσωνται πρὸς τὸ ὁμογενὲς, καὶ τοὺς τοὐ Θεοῦ νόμους προτιμοτέρους ἡγήσωνται τῶν οἰκείων παθῶν, οἴς διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδεδώκασιν. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος, Εἰς Την Γενεσιν, Ὁμιλια ΙΒ' Source: Migne PG 53.102

Because of this Scripture refers to the various passions that trouble as irrational things, often as beasts which oppress those honoured with reason, sometimes naming them dogs for shamelessness and recklessness: 'Dumb dogs,' it says, 'unable to bark;' 1 sometimes horses for lust: 'They have become like horses mad for females, each one neighing after the wife of his neighbour,' 2 sometimes donkeys for senselessness and stupidity: 'Man is like the irrational beasts, and he is made like them;' 3 sometimes lions and leopards for their grasping and overreaching appetites, and sometimes asps because of deceit: 'The poison of asps,' it says, 'is beneath their lips;' 4 sometimes the serpent and viper, because of their venom and malignancy, as the blessed John cried out, saying: 'Serpents, brood of vipers, who showed you to flee from the coming wrath?' 5 And other names are given to describe different passions, so that men might be ashamed at last and return to their good birth and make treaty with their origin, and make choice for the laws of God against the occupations of the passions, by which they so carelessly cast themselves down. Saint John Chrysostom, On Genesis, from the Twelfth Homily 1 Isaiah 56.10 2 Jerem 5.8 3 Ps 48.13 4 Ps 139.4 5 Mt 3.7