we do not “drink,” but consume immoderate quantities of tea and coffee instead.
—Tito Colliander, Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth
Category: FOOD
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And in the morning there is another sacrifice to your belly ready in the shape of a dainty breakfast. You get up, pray, of course not with your whole heart—since with our whole heart we can only eat and drink…and thus you pray, out of habit, carelessly…and then you hurry again to food and drink.
—St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ -
Satiety drives away faith and the fear of God from the heart. A satiated man does not feel the presence of God in his heart; heartfelt, fervent prayer is far from him.
—St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ -
Take a look at our life, at what motivates the majority of people in our world. Ask yourself, what is the main interest of the majority? And strange as it may seem to us who are used to hiding our true interests and presenting false and artificial ones, the main interest of the majority of people in our times is to please the taste, the pleasure of food. Beginning with the poor and on to the richest classes in society, gluttony is, I think, the main goal, the main pleasure of our life. The poor, working man is the exception only to the extent that poverty hinders him from indulging in this passion. As soon as he has enough time and means, he will emulate the upper classes and get himself the tastiest and sweetest foods… And look at the life of educated people, listen to their conversations. They are as if completely occupied with such lofty subjects: philosophy, science, art, and poetry, as well as the distribution of wealth, the people’s well-being, the education of youth. But for an enormous majority this is all a lie, all something they do in between things, in between the real business—breakfast and lunch, until the stomach is full and they can’t eat any more. The lively interest, the true interest of the majority is food. How to eat, what to eat, when, and where. Not a single festivity, not a single joy, not a single opening no matter what it is can happen without food. People pretend that dinner, that food is a matter of indifference to them; but this is a lie. Just try to replace their expected refined dishes with, I won’t say bread and water, but porridge and noodles, and you’ll see what a tempest it will arouse. And it becomes clear that in gathering together, these people’s main interest is not at all what they are trying to present, but in fact, it’s food.
—Leo Tolstoy, The First Step -
It is hard to provide and cook so simple and clean a diet as will not offend the imagination; but this, I think, is to be fed when we feed the body; they should both sit down at the same table. Yet perhaps this may be done. The fruits eaten temperately need not make us ashamed of our appetites, nor interrupt the worthiest pursuits. But put an extra condiment into your dish, and it will poison you. It is not worth the while to live by rich cookery. Most men would feel shame if caught preparing with their own hands precisely such a dinner, whether of animal or vegetable food, as is every day prepared for them by others. Yet till this is otherwise we are not civilized, and, if gentlemen and ladies, are not true men and women. This certainly suggests what change is to be made. It may be vain to ask why the imagination will not be reconciled to flesh and fat. I am satisfied that it is not. Is it not a reproach that man is a carnivorous animal? True, he can and does live, in a great measure, by preying on other animals; but this is a miserable way, — as any one who will go to snaring rabbits, or slaughtering lambs, may learn, — and he will be regarded as a benefactor of his race who shall teach man to confine himself to a more innocent and wholesome diet. Whatever my own practice may be, I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized.
—Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Higher Laws -
You wait for evening before you take food, but you spend the day in the law courts.
—St. Basil, Homilies on the Holy Spirit -
Appetites and pleasures which are in accordance with nature are not reprehensible, since they are a necessary consequence of natural appetency. For our ordinary food, whether we wish it or not, naturally produces pleasure, since it satisfies the hunger which precedes a meal. Drink: also produces pleasure, since it relieves the discomfort of thirst; so does sleep, since it renews the strength expended in our waking hours; and so, too, do all our other natural functions necessary for maintaining life and conducive to the acquisition of virtue.
—St Maximos the Confessor, Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice -
Why do we rush to a lavish table? Because we know the meaning of material food from experience. Why do we not rush to church, but try to come a little later, when a significant portion of the Divine services are already over? Because we do not know from experience the meaning of prayer, which is food for the soul, and which imparts spiritual strength to the soul.
—St. Ignatius Brianchanivov -
Do not hanker after varied and costly foods or lethal pleasures. For ‘she that indulges in pleasure”, it is said, ‘is dead while still alive” (1 Tim. 5: 6). Even with ordinary foods, avoid satiety as far as possible. For it is written; ‘Do not be deceived by the filling of the belly’ (Prov. 24: 15. LXX).
SO GOOD QUOTES 