Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food (1823) Book 1. pp.11-44
And this is said, as if the eating of raw flesh pertained to the impious. Telemachus, also, when Minerva was his guest, placed before her not raw, but roasted flesh. At first, therefore, men did not eat animals, for man is not [naturally] a devourer of raw flesh. But when the use of fire was discovered, fire was employed not only for the cooking of flesh, but also for most other eatables. For that man is not [naturally] adapted to eat raw flesh, is evident from certain nations that feed on fishes. For these they roast, some upon stones that are very much heated by the sun; but others roast them in the sand. That man, however, is adapted to feed on flesh, is evident from this, that no nation abstains from animal food. Nor is this adopted by the Greeks through depravity, since the same custom is admitted by the barbarians.
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Milk, likewise, was not produced for you, but for the young of the animal that has it.
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One of the most important passages for Christian vegetarians is the first creation narrative in the book of Genesis. After creating humans, God addresses them in chapter 1, verses 29–30 as follows:
God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
In this passage, God prescribes a plant-based diet not just for humans, but for all land-based non-human animals. Christian vegetarians and vegans point out that it was this creation—where all creatures ate plants—that God then declared “very good” in verse 31.[13][14] Moreover, that God’s initial creation was a vegan creation suggests that this is how God intendedOne of the most important passages for Christian vegetarians is the first creation narrative in the book of Genesis. After creating humans, God addresses them in chapter 1, verses 29–30 as follows:
God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
In this passage, God prescribes a plant-based diet not just for humans, but for all land-based non-human animals. Christian vegetarians and vegans point out that it was this creation—where all creatures ate plants—that God then declared “very good” in verse 31.[13][14] Moreover, that God’s initial creation was a vegan creation suggests that this is how God intended all his creatures to live.[15] This idea—that God intended for all his creatures to eat plants—is sometimes further supported by noting that the vision of the Peaceable Kingdom found in Isaiah suggests that God will one day restore creation to such a state. Isaiah 11:6–9 reads:
The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
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we want to keep ourselves from putting blame for our misfortune on anybody else, no matter how obviously it may appear to be the fault of another person. Misfortune is meant to give us a bigger purpose than looking for someone to blame. It is to draw our attention to God and our need for God to bring us to repentance.
—Dee Pennock, God’s Path to Sanity
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The saints give us this interesting way to think about the commandment to love our neighbors: They tell us that all our spiritual wealth is stored at our neighbor’s place. And all our neighbor’s wealth is stored with us. Alone in our homes, we are without funds, because the only financial assets we have are over there at our neighbor’s place. To collect some of our spiritual wealth, we have to reach out to our neighbor, where it is stored. And our neighbors, to possess their spiritual wealth, have to reach out to us. Without this reaching out to one another, we both live in spiritual poverty.
As therefore one who had his own gold buried in the house of his neighbor, should he refuse to go and there seek and dig it up, will never see it; so likewise here, he who will not seek his own profit in the advantage of his neighbor will not receive the crowns given for this. For God has placed each person’s profit with his neighbor, that we may be mutually bound together. —St. John Chrysostom
—Dee Pennock, God’s Path to Sanity
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When looking at our personal circumstances, then, we never measure them by someone else’s circumstances. The teaching of our holy counselors is: Do not compare yourself to others in anything (Barsanuphius). Just compare your performance (your response to God’s calling and purpose for you, they say, with the gifts you have been given to enable you to obey that calling. Then instead of regretting that we do not have the good fortune some others have, our only regrets are for occasions when we’ve failed to use the gifts God has given us to fulfill the blessed purpose for which he has called us.
We are all called to overcome different obstacles. You are called that you should inherit a blessing (I Pet. 3:9), says the Bible. Some people are called to overcome psychological problems, some physical illnesses, some persecution, some slavery, some injustices of all kinds, some martyrdom.
—Dee Pennock, God’s Path to Sanity
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He shows that we can dissolve envy, just by bringing an end to comparing our life situation with that of others. The Bible is full of reminders that we are all called into different circumstances in life, and for different purposes of God. As the Lord has called each person, so let each person walk (I Cor. 7:17), says Scripture.
—Dee Pennock, God’s Path to Sanity
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The greed of Self-Love, say holy counselors, will often spawn Envy. As one who is discontented looks around and sees people blessed with better lives, fewer problems, greater gifts, more secure families and friendships, envy can occur. Much discontent produces envy even of the unborn, because they are free of pain, as the Preacher showed when he said, Rather than the living, I envy the dead; better than both of these is one who has not been born to have to see evil (Ecc. 4:2,3). Another said about his life: Cursed be the day when I was born. Cursed be the man who brought the news, because he did not kill me, so that my mother might have been my grave…. Instead, I came out of the womb to see labor and sorrow (Jer. 20:14-18). For anyone gripped by dissatisfaction and pain, and hatred of the way life has gone, here’s a prayer that can lift a soul up from that discontent, if one faithfully stays with it.
Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me and deliver me from hating life.
—Dee Pennock, God’s Path to Sanity
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“It seems we don’t know how to love the ones we love until they disappear from our lives.”
—Joshua Fields Millburn, Everything That Remains: A Memoir by The Minimalists -
In time I recognized this, that I was lonely, and that my loneliness was entirely self-inflicted, but by the time I did I couldn’t do anything about it. I felt weighed down by some kind of heavier gravity. I felt like a satellite that’d fallen out of orbit — slowly drifting away into darkness, further and further away from the place I used to be.
SO GOOD QUOTES 