>The world" is the general name for all the passions. When we wish to call the passions by a common name, we call them the world. But when we wish to distinguish them by their special names, we call them passions. The passions are the following: love of riches, desire for possessions, bodily pleasure from which comes sexual passion, love of honor which gives rise to envy, lust for power, arrogance and pride of position, the craving to adorn oneself with luxurious clothes and vain ornaments, the itch for human glory which is a source of rancor and resentment, and physical fear. Where these passions cease to be active, there the world is dead…. Someone has said of the Saints that while alive they were dead; for though living in the flesh, they did not live for the flesh. See for which of these passions you are alive. Then you will know how far you are alive to the world, and how far you are dead to it.

Now post your gay little discord

> The foul fiend whispered praise into the heart of an ascetic who was striving for blessed humility, but by divine inspiration he contrived to conquer the guile of the spirits by a pious ruse. He rose and wrote on the wall of his cell the names of the highest virtues in order, that is: perfect love, angelic humility, pure prayer, inviolable chastity and others like these. And so when thoughts of vainglory began to praise him, he said to them: ‘Let us go and be judged.’ Then, going to the wall, he read the names and cried to himself: ‘When you possess all these, then you will know how far you still are from God!’

>>24501368 (OP)
sauce?

Beautiful

>>24502468
First is Saint Isaac the Syrian, one of the earlier Ascetical Homilies (before 10 at least). Second is Saint John Climacus, step 25 of the Ladder of Divine Ascent on blessed humility.

why do all christian philosophers and mystics look like wizards?

>>24501368 (OP)

If being alive is so bad, why is suicide a sin?

>>24501368 (OP)

>>24504163
Being alive isn't bad. It lets us give glory to Christ through the Holy Spirit.

>>24501378
I fully agree with most of the things said here, but I never understood why the act of prayr is even needed. Any quotes on that?

>>24504037
Not him but looks like I have some reading to do. Thanks anon.

>>24504315

>>24501368 (OP)
So the world is bad?

>>24501372
I'm the guy which used to post the discord but I'm not OP lmao, you fags are seething to much, I no longer even have a server

>>24504915
Origen's On Prayer addresses just this question pretty well and is great.

It also has some bangers:

>Good is one; many arethe base. Truth is one; many are the false. True righteousness is one; many are the states
that act it as a part. God’s wisdom is one; many are the wisdoms of this age and of the rulers
of this age which come to nought. The word of God is one, but many are the words alien to
God.
You can find it free online easily. Some of the early stuff in the Philokalia by Evagrius and Saint Diadochus cover this well too IIRC. I am also a fan of the Cloud of Unknowing in this respect.


My mistake was to try to jump to quickly into contemplation. Praying what the more advanced have learned to pray is important. I think trying to keep the the Horologian, even if it's just small compline and abbreviated morning prayers is helpful. It is arduous at first, but the words become your own.

>>24501368 (OP)
>75. Herod exemplifies the will of the flesh; Pilate, the senses; Caesar, sensible things; and the Jews, the soul's thoughts. When the soul through ignorance associates with sensible things, it betrays the Logos into the hands of the senses to be put to death and proclaims within itself the kingship of perishable things. For the Jews say, 'We have no king but Caesar' (John 19:15).

>76. Again, Herod exemplifies the activity of the passions; Pilate, a disposition that is deluded by them; Caesar, the ruler of the world of darkness; and the Jews, the soul. When the soul submits to the passions and betrays virtue into the power of an evil disposition, it manifestly denies the kingdom of God and transfers itself to the destructive tyranny of the devil.

>77. The subjugation of the passions is not sufficient to ensure spiritual happiness for the soul unless the soul also acquires the virtues by keeping the commandments. Scripture says, 'Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you,' that is, the operations of the passions, but 'because your names are written in heaven' (Luke 10;20), having been transferred to the place of dispassion by the grace of sonship gained through the virtues.

From the Century on Theology, Saint Maximus the Confessor

>>24508376
Patristic thought really is the best parts of ancient thought, all blended and improved upon. I think it reaches its height in Dante and then decays into modern pathologies.

Every single quoted orthodox monk is literally laffy taffy-tier. It's as deep as a fucking quote from Yoda.

I think keeping the mind away from the passions, to stop from being like a dribbling retard is a good thing. But I don't know if you take it too far or want to help people and go out of your way to do it, it seems kinda weird like it feels fake. But I've come to appreciate Christianity from the point of view of it being an exacerbation of good instincts like compassion as well as discipline, order, mental clarity, purity and a few other things like that.

>>24509250
The whole idea, going back to Aristotle, is that the virtuous person enjoys virtue. The communication of goodness to others is "greatness of soul." We might begin in vice, or perhaps merely continent, doing some good but hating it. But the whole point is to develop towards loving the Good. This is true self-determining freedom. Using reason instrumentally to just pursue whatever desires you just so happen to have, even if you don't think they are good, isn't freedom. You are moved by a prior darkness. To be truly, fully free means to understand why one acts, and to have control over what one desires and feels. This is the ultimate fruit of blessed dispassion.

This is why St. Paul or St. Ignatius can write sublimely from prison cells, even awaiting gruesome deaths, or why Saint Francis can be sublime in the wilderness with nothing. They have move past dependence on external goods and movement by the passions, and so are more truly self-determining. You see this in Socrates as well, particularly in the Crito, or in Boethius' Consolation.

The goal is, as Dante (who also wrote sublimely after losing everything and being under death sentence) puts it, transhumanization.