Temptations

Unde Christus post baptismum permisit se tentari, non ante, ut tentationes baptizatis doceret immitti. Diabolus enim ante baptismum, dum eos suos esse putat, non eos ita acriter aggreditur. Filii Israel post maris transitum, id est baptismum, morantur in deserto, donec venirent ad terram promissionis, nec est dignus aliquis comedere manna, id est corpus Domini, nisi in deserto moretur, id est nisi tumultus hujus saeculi et concupiscentias, si non corpore, saltem mente deserat. Et quia tunc imminent tentationes, accingantur ad pugnam. Vide ergo ordinem: Tria sunt genera tentationum, quae dicitur tentatio oculorum, in superbia vitae. Omnia autem alia mala ex his proveniunt, sive ira, sive invidia, sive contentio, sive odium, sive homicidium, sive furtum, sive alia genera. Ex gula, luxuria, dormitionis delectatio, et voluptates aliae. De concupiscentia carnis sunt divitiae, honores, et similia. Concupiscentia est exteriorum. Superbia vitae, est vana gloria de bonis operibus. Naturaliter autem prius tentat diabolus in concupiscentia carnis, quae est homini vicinior et quasi naturalis. Postea in exterioribus. Concupiscentia vero carnis solet incipere a gula, quia satur venter luxuriam appetit, et caeteras voluptates. Et ideo debet fidelis prius gulam domare, quae est porta et initium caeterarum voluptatum; et quia contra gulam primitus insurgit, a jejunio, quod est fraenum gulae, incipit. Et cum jejunasset quadraginta diebus et quadraginta noctibus... Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput IV Source: Migne PL 162.1270c-1271a

Christ allowed Himself to be tempted after baptism, 1 and not before, so that He might teach the dismissal of temptations. Before baptism the devil does not assail so bitterly because he judges men to be his own. The sons of Israel, after they crossed the sea, which is baptism, dwelt in the desert until they came to the promised land, nor was anyone worthy to eat manna, that is, the body of the Lord, unless they were in the desert, that is, unless they had withdrawn from the tumults and desires of this world, and if not in the body then in the mind, and because trials threatened them then, so were they girded up to fight. See, then, the order of the temptations in the desert, that there are three types of temptation, which is to say the temptation of the eyes in the pride of life. For every other evil comes forth from these, whether it is anger or envy or contention or hate, or murder, or theft, or any other type. From gluttony comes luxury, and delight in idleness, and other pleasures. From the desire of the flesh comes riches, honours and similar things. Desire is for exterior things. The pride of life is vainglory in good works. And naturally the devil first tempts with the desire of the flesh, which is closer to man according to his nature. Later he turns to exterior things. The desire of the flesh is accustomed to begin with gluttony because the stomach demands pampering and other pleasures. Therefore the faithful man should first rule over gluttony, which is the gate and beginning of the other pleasures, and so because he first rises up against gluttony he begins with fasting which is the withering of gluttony. 'And when He had fasted forty days and nights...' 2 Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 4 1 Mt 4.1 2 Mt 4.2

Fasting And Conflict

Neque cautos, vigilantes, sobrios, diabolus perturbare suis superventionibus praevalebit; certe neque nos taliter armatos publico conflictu provocare audebit: dolis appetere non praesumet. Animus in coelesti speculo perseveret; diaboli fraudulentas et occultas deprimat et declinet insidias. Est quidem diabolus per se nequam, fit tamen nequior provocatus. Audi Apostolum dicentem: Diabolus sicut leo rugiens circuit, quaerens quem devoret. Jejunantibus nobis, diabolus esurit, qui nostris semper saturatur ex culpis. Ille cibum nostrum deducit in crapulam: potum nostrum in ebrietatem diffundit, ut mentem faciat amentem, carnem luteam reddat, corpus animi domicilium, animae vas, murum spiritus, virtutum scholam, Dei templum, in scenam criminum, in vitiorum pompam, voluptatem redigat in theatrum. Capit ille satietatem, voluptatem percipit, expletur epulis, quando nos luxus solvit, libido stimulat, pompa rapit, impellit ambitio, urget ira, furor implet, succendit invidia, cupiditas inflammat, curae sollicitant, lites vexant, lucra capiunt, usurae vinciunt, chirographa ligant, premunt sacculi, elidit aurum. Quando moriuntur virtutes, vivunt vitia, voluptas effluit, honestas perit, misericordia deficit, abundat avaritia, regnat confusio, succumbit ordo, prosternitur disciplina. Ista militant adversum militem Christi; istae sunt satanae cohortes, istae diaboli legiones, ista sunt quae mundum sepulcris obsederunt, debellaverunt populos, vastarunt gentes, orbem totum duxere captivum. Ista sunt quibus nullus per se potuit obviare mortalis: et ideo ad vincenda ista Deus venit ipse, coeli rex ipse descendit, ipse victor singularis advenit, jejunium quadragesimae statuens in procinctu, ut quaterna decade jejunii quadraturam mundi totam muro inexpugnabili communiret. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo XII, De Jejunio Et Tentationibus Christi Source: Migne PL 52.223b-224c

With the trouble of his coming, the devil shall not overthrow the cautious or the vigilant or the sober. Certainly he does not dare provoke us who are so armed to open conflict, but rather he seeks to seize us with trickery. Let the mind persevere in looking to heaven and it shall crush down the hidden deceits of the devil and undo his plots. Certainly the devil is wicked on his own but he is more wicked when he is summoned. Hear the Apostle saying: 'The devil is like a roaring lion that goes about in search of someone to devour.' 1 While we fast, the devil hungers, he who is always filled by our sins. He brings our eating to excess and extends our drinking to drunkenness, so that he might make the mind mindless, and fashion the flesh as good for nothing, and reduce the body, the house of the soul and its vessel, the walls of our spirit, the school of the virtues, the temple of God, to a stage of crimes, a spectacle of vice, a theatre of pleasure. He is filled to satiety when he receives pleasure, gorged with a feast when luxury undoes us, and lust excites, and extravagance seizes, and ambition drives, and anger compels, and fury possesses, and envy incenses, and desire inflames, and cares trouble, and disputes vex, and profits take hold, and usury conquers, and contracts bind, and money burdens, and gold crushes. When the virtues die, the vices live, pleasure bursts forth, uprightness perishes, mercy withers, avarice abounds, confusion reigns, order collapses, discipline is cast down. These war against the soldier of Christ, these are the companies of Satan, the legions of the devil, these have laid siege to the world with tombs, have destroyed peoples, lay waste nations, have led the whole world into captivity. Against these no mortal can stand on his own, and therefore God Himself came to conquer them, the king of heaven descended, the only conqueror approached, establishing the forty day fast as a preparation for battle, that the four decades of the days of fasting might fortify with an impregnable wall the four corners of the world. Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 12, On Fasting And The Temptations of Christ 1 1 Pet 5.8

Money And Treasure

Ubi enim est thesaurus tuus, ibi est et cor tuum. Hoc non solum de pecunia, sed et de cunctis passionibus sentiendum est. Gulosi deus venter est: ibi ergo habet cor, ubi et thesaurum. Luxuriosi thesaurus, epulae sunt. Lascivi, ludicra: amatoris, libido: Huic servit unusquisque a quo vincitur. Sanctus Hieronymus, In Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, Liber I, Cap VI Source: Migne PL 25.44c

Where your treasure is, there is your heart. 1 This is not only about money, but must be recognised of all the passions, The god of the glutton is his stomach, 2 therefore there he has his heart where is his treasure. The treasure of the luxurious man is feasts. Of the wanton it is pleasure, of the lover, lust, each one serving that by which he is conquered. 3 Saint Jerome, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Book 1 Chap 6 1 Mt 6.21 2 Phil 3.19 3 2 Pet 2.19

A Slavish Monk

Χαίρει Ἰουδαῖος Σαββάτῳ καὶ ἑορτῇ· μοναχὸς γαστρίμαργος Σαββάτῳ καὶ Κυριακῇ· πρὸ χρόνου τὸ Πάσχα ψηφίζει, καὶ πρὸ ἡμερῶν τὰ ἐδέσματα εὐτρεπίζει. Ψηφίζει κοιλιόδουλος ἐν ποίοις βρώμασιν ἑορτάσει· ὁ δὲ θεόδουλος ἐν ποίοις χαρίσμασιν πλουτήσει. Ξένου ἐπιδημήσαντος εἰς ἀγάπην ὅλος ἐκ γαστριμαργίας κινεῖται· καὶ παράκλησιν ἀδελφοῦ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κατάλυσιν λογίζεται· ἐπὶ παρουσίᾳ τινῶν τοῦ οἴνου καταλύειν ἐσκέψατο· καὶ ἀρετὴν δοκῶν κρύπτειν, πάθους δοῦλος ἐγένετο. Ἐχθραίνει πολλάκις κενοδοξία τῇ γαστριμαργίᾳ, καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ ὀνησίμῳ δούλῳ τῷ ἀθλίῳ μοναχῷ διαμάχονται· ἡ μὲν καταλύειν βιάζεται, ἡ δὲ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀρετὴν θριαμβεύειν ὑποτίθεται· σοφὸς μοναχὸς ἀμφοτέρων ἐκφεύξεται, ἐν οἰκείῳ καιρῷ τῇ ἑτέρᾳ τὴν ἑτέραν ἀποσειόμενος. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος, Λόγος ΙΔ', ἡ Κλίμαξ Source: Migne PG 88.864d-865a

The Jew rejoices on Sabbaths and feast days; the monk who is a glutton on Saturdays and Sundays. He reckons up the days until Easter, and he prepares the food for it days before. A slavish belly calculates on what dishes it will feast, but the servant of God considers with what graces he may be enriched. A visitor arriving, he is moved to be hospitable entirely out of gluttony, and he judges laxity for himself as a comforting of his brother. In the presence of others, he thinks it right to allow himself wine, and thinking that he conceals his virtue he becomes a slave of passion. Often vainglory is an adversary of gluttony, and they fight among themselves for the wretched monk as for a purchased slave. The one drives him to relax, the other suggests that he should lead about his virtue in triumph. The wise monk flees both, at the right time shaking off the one by the other. Saint John Climacus, from Step 14, The Ladder

Endless Desires

Τὸ δ τὸν ἄπαντα χρόνον ὑποκεῖσθαι τῇ τῆς γαστρὸς λειτουργίᾳ, ποίας τιμωρίας οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνιαρώτερον; Ὂρᾶτε γάρ τοῦτον τὸν διηνεκῆ φορολόγον, τὴν γαστέρα λέγω, ὅσην ἐπάγει καθ’ ἡμέραν τὴν ἀνάγκην τῆς ἀπαιτήσεως; Ὡ κᾶν ποτε πλέον τοῦ τεταγμένου προκαταβάλωμεν, οὐδὲν τοῦ ἐφεξῆς χρέους προεξετίσαμεν· καθ’ ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἐν τῷ μυλωνι ταλαιπωρούντων ζώων κεκαλυμμένοις τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, τὴν τοῦ βίου μύλην περιερχόμεθα, ἀεὶ διὰ τῶν ὁμοίων περιχωροῦντες, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναστρέφοντες. Εἴπε σοι τὴν κυκλικὴν ταύτην περίοδον, ὅρεξις, κόρος, ὕπνος, ἐγρήγορσις, κένωσις, πλήρωσις. Ἀεὶ ἀπ’ ἐκείνων ταῦτα, καὶ πάλιν ταῦτα, καὶ οὐδέποτε κύκλῳ περιιόντες παυόμεθα, ἔως ἄν ἔξω τοῦ μύλωνος γενώμεθα. Καλῶς ὁ Σολομὼν πίθον τετρημένον καὶ οἰκον ἀλλότριον ὀνομάζει τὸν ὥδε βίον. Ὄντως γὰρ ἀλλότριος οἶκος, καὶ οὐχ ἡμέτερος, ὅτι οὐκ ἐφ’ ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἤ ὅτε βουλόμεθα, ἤ ἐφ’ ὅσον ἐπιποθοῦμεν ἐν αὐτῷ εἶναι· ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰσαγὀμεθα ὡς οὐκ οἴδαμεν, καὶ ἐξοικιζόμεθα ὅτε οὐκ οἴδαμεν. Τὸ δὲ τοῦ πίθου αἴνιγμα νοήσεις, ἐὰν εἰς τὸ ἀπλήρωτον τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀποβλέψῃς. Ὀρᾷς πῶς ἐπαντλοῦσιν ἑαυτοίς οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὰς τιμὰς, τὰς δυναστείας, τὰς δόξας, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα; ἀλλ’ ὑποῥῥεῖ τὸ βαλλόμενον, καὶ οὐ παραμένει τῷ ἔχοντι· ἡ μὲν γὰρ περὶ τὴν δόξαν, καὶ τὴν δυσατείαν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν σπουδὴ πάντοτε ἐνεργεῖτε· ὁ δὲ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας πίθος μένει ἀπλήρωτος. Τί δὲ ἡ φιλοχρηματία; οὐκ ἀληθῶς πίθος τετρημένος ἐστὶν, ὅλῳ τῷ πυθμένει ῥεων, ᾦ κᾶν πᾶσαν ἐπαντλήσῃς τὴν θάλασσαν, πληρωθῆναι φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει; Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Ἐπιτάφιος Λόγος Εἰς Πλακιλλαν Βασίλισσαν Source: Migne PG 46.888c-889a

What is more unpleasant than the exactions of the stomach, the vengeance of which is not less troubling? Do you see the ceaseless demands of its daily tribute ever slacken? What more regularly casts us down, and nothing is gained by its insistent debts. Like those beasts of the mill that are hidden from view, we tramp around the mill of life, always going round the same way and returning to the same place. I shall tell you about this circular way: it is hunger, satisfaction, sleep, wakefulness, movement, satiety. Always the same things, one succeeding the other, and never do we have rest in this circle until we are out of the mill. Solomon well names life a deep pit and a foreign house. It is a foreign house, and not ours, because it is not ours when we wish it, nor is it when we desire to be in it. We enter ignorant and we are ignorant of the time of our exit. You will understand the symbol of a pit if you turn away from desire as a thing insatiable. Do you see how men pour over themselves honors, power, glory and all such things? But such things given flow away, they are not permanent possessions. In that one who is always zealously striving after glory, power and honor is an unfilled pit of desire. What about avarice? Truly is not the pit's bottom now pierced, the whole emptying out, which not even all the seas can fill? Saint Gregory of Nyssa, from the Funeral Oration for the Empress Flacilla