Maladies of the Soul

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Maladies of the Soul

• The Fathers
• on Evil Thoughts

MASI Study Days 2009 ?2009 Andriy Chirovsky
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7 Deadly Sins

• CCC 1866 Vices can be classified according to
  the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the
  capital sins which Christian experience has
  distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St.
  Gregory the Great. They are called "capital"
  because they engender other sins, other vices.
  Cf. St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, 31,
  45 PL 76, 621A.
• 1They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust,
  gluttony, and sloth or acedia.

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7 Deadly Sins

• CCC 1866 They are
• Pride
• Avarice
• Envy
• Wrath
• Lust
• Gluttony
• Sloth or acedia.

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Hieronymus Bosch 15c
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Where did this list come from?

• Evagrius Ponticus (late 4th cent.)
• St. John Cassian ( his disciple)
• St. Gregory the Great (late 6th cent.)
• Medieval and later permutations

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Evagrius, Praktikos 6

• There are 8 general and basic categories of
  thoughts in which are included every thought.
  First is that of gluttony, then impurity,
  avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and
  last of all, pride.

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Evagrius, Praktikos 6

• It is not in our power to determine whether we
  are disturbed by these thoughts, but it is up to
  us to decide if they are to linger within us or
  not and whether or not they are to stir up our
  passions.

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The 8 Logismoi (Thoughts)

• Gluttony
• Impurity
• Avarice
• Sadness
• Anger
• Acedia
• Vainglory
• Pride

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Lets compare lists
Logismoi Deadly sins

• Gluttony
• Impurity
• Avarice
• Sadness
• Anger
• Acedia
• Vainglory
• Pride

• Pride
• Avarice
• Envy
• Wrath
• Lust
• Gluttony
• Sloth or acedia.

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5 Stages of the Battle with Thoughts

• Assault -Suggestion (no guilt here)
• Handling - Bargaining
• Consent ( the beginning of sin)
• Struggle (may precede consent)
• Passion - captivity/obsession (Life-destroying)

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Dealing with Thoughts

• Nepsis - Be aware of what you are thinking
• St. Maximus the Confessor
• Thing, representation, passion -- all differ.
• Centuries on Love 342

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Dealing with Thoughts

• Custody of the heart
• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• Human beings have powers in the soul fashioned
  by God as instruments for them, but they have
  become dangerous to us because the mind has lost
  control over them.
• On the Making of Man 18
• cf. On the Soul and Resurrection

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Dealing with Thoughts

• Notice them but let them go
• St. Isaac the Syrian
• What is human dispassion (apatheia)? It consists
  not in not feeling the passions, but in not
  welcoming them.
• -Ascetical Homilies 81

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Dealing with Thoughts

• Dont do it yourself.
• Live within the Tradition (Liturgy)
• Do not fall into the delusion of trying to save
  yourself.