PASSION ACCORDING TO CHRISTIAN TEACHING: DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION

Contrary to popular belief, the expression “seven deadly sins” does not at all indicate certain seven actions that would be the most serious sins. In reality, the list of such actions can be much longer. And the number “seven” here indicates only the conditional grouping of these sins into seven main groups.

For the first time such a classification was proposed by St. Gregory the Great in 590. Although, along with it, another classification has always existed in the Church, numbering not seven, but eight main sinful passions. Passion is a skill of the soul that was formed in it from repeated repetition of the same sins and became, as it were, its natural quality - so that a person cannot get rid of passion even when he understands that it no longer brings him pleasure, but torment. Actually, the word “passion” in the Church Slavonic language precisely means suffering. St. Theophan the Recluse writes about the difference between mortal sin and less serious sin: “A mortal sin is one that robs a person of his moral Christian life. If we know what moral life is, then defining mortal sin is not difficult. Christian life is zeal and strength to remain in communion with God by fulfilling His holy law. Therefore, every sin that extinguishes jealousy, takes away strength and relaxes, distances one from God and deprives Him of grace, so that after it a person cannot look at God, but feels himself separated from Him; every such sin is a mortal sin. ...Such a sin deprives a person of the grace received in baptism, takes away the Kingdom of Heaven and delivers it to judgment. And all this is confirmed in the hour of sin, although it is not accomplished visibly. Sins of this kind change the entire direction of a person’s activity and his very state and heart, forming, as it were, a new source in moral life; why do others determine that mortal sin is the one that changes the center of human activity? These sins are called mortal because the falling away of the human soul from God is the death of the soul. Without a grace-filled connection with its Creator, the soul dies and becomes incapable of experiencing spiritual joy either in a person’s earthly life or in its posthumous existence. And it doesn’t really matter how many categories these sins are divided into - seven or eight. It is much more important to remember the terrible danger that any such sin poses, and to try in every possible way to avoid these deadly traps. And also to know that even for those who have sinned such a sin there remains the possibility of salvation. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) says: “Let him who has fallen into mortal sin not fall into despair! Let him resort to the medicine of repentance, to which he is called until the last minute of his life by the Savior, who proclaimed in the Holy Gospel: he who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live (John 11:25). But it’s disastrous to remain in mortal sin, it’s disastrous when mortal sin turns into a habit!” And the Monk Isaac the Syrian said even more definitely: “There is no unforgivable sin except unrepentant sin.”

Seven deadly sins 1. Pride

“The beginning of pride is usually contempt.
The one who despises and considers others to be nothing - some are poor, others are people of low birth, others are ignorant, as a result of such contempt he comes to the point that he considers himself alone to be wise, prudent, rich, noble and strong. ...How is a proud person recognized and how is he healed? Recognized because it seeks preference. And he will be healed if he believes the judgment of Him who said: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). However, you need to know that, although he will fear the judgment pronounced for pride, he cannot be healed of this passion unless he abandons all thoughts of his own preference.” St. Basil the Great Pride is a self-satisfied intoxication with one’s own merits, real or imaginary. Having taken possession of a person, she cuts him off first from people he doesn’t know well, then from his family and friends. And finally - from God himself. The proud man does not need anyone, he is not even interested in the admiration of those around him, and only in himself does he see the source of his own happiness. But like any sin, pride does not bring true joy. Internal opposition to everything and everyone dries up the soul of a proud person; complacency, like a scab, covers it with a rough shell, under which it dies and becomes incapable of love, friendship and even simple sincere communication.

What is the basis

Passion is based on desire and attraction that is unnatural for a person. Their strength in comparison with the usual state of the individual is much greater. Emotions irritate the sensitive part of the human psyche.

Another component of passion is a high tone of feeling. It is much higher than the normal physiological indicator. When combined, attraction and feelings contribute to the fact that a person loses his original tone.

That is why, from the outside, it seems that the personality has become different: the demeanor, attitude to current events and reaction to them have changed. In some cases, aggression manifests itself, which comes out if the actions of others interfere with the achievement of the goal of the one obsessed with passion.

It cannot be denied that passion is based on the mind and imagination of a person. They are the ones who contribute to the activity of the individual. So, she uses all the possibilities of her mind, imagination and fantasy to get closer to what she wants.

Together with the soul and feelings, the mind receives pleasure from translating plans into reality. This makes a person become more sensitive and passionate. Thoughts about one thing keep the mind in constant motion. It is the source of thoughts and subsequent actions aimed at satisfying needs.

An equally important component is fortitude. The human will is completely subordinated to passion and becomes hedonic, carnal, or takes another form.

However, according to the works of M. Weber, N. Elias, M. Foucault, the basis of passion is self-control. Researchers have refuted the theory that capitalism suppresses emotions. On the contrary, a person who does not restrain passion in himself, without knowing it, learns self-control. Some desires and needs cannot be accepted by society (for example, passion in intimacy), so a person develops self-discipline. And this is much more effective than an external ban.

Envy

“Envy is sadness because of the well-being of one’s neighbor, which <…> seeks not good for oneself, but evil for one’s neighbor.
The envious would like to see the glorious dishonest, the rich poor, the happy unhappy. This is the purpose of envy - to see how the envied person falls from happiness into disaster.” Saint Elijah Minyatiy This location of the human heart becomes a launching pad for the most terrible crimes. And also countless large and small dirty tricks that people do just to make another person feel bad or at least stop feeling good. But even if this beast does not break out in the form of a crime or a specific act, will it really be easier for the envious person? After all, in the end, such a terrible worldview will simply drive him into a premature grave, but even death will not stop his suffering. Because after death, envy will torment his soul with even greater force, but without the slightest hope of quenching it.

DEFINITION OF PASSIONS

The most important consequence of the Fall was the disruption of harmony in the human being. Evil acquired through a violation of harmony is passion
, and the opposite of the state that is in the innocent nature of man, while maintaining harmony, was called dispassion (Ponomarev. 1899, pp. 82-83).

The etymological origin of the word “passion” is interesting.

.
The Greek word
passion - "παθος" ("pathos") - comes from the verb "πασχειν" - to suffer and means such a state of a person when he is under some kind of internal or external unnatural influence, when he is tormented by it and as a result is in abnormal condition (ibid., p. 83).
This, by the way, is where the currently widely used concept of “ pathology
” comes from.

According to the extremely laconic definition of Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov): “Sin that has taken possession of a person is called passion” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov). T. 4. 1993, p. 477). Despite the widespread prevalence of passions and their presence in almost every person, they are external to human nature: “Evil and passions by nature are not in man; for God is not the creator of passions” (John Climacus. 2001, p. 191). Therefore, the opposite opinion of some Western authors is completely incorrect: “Passion is an innate property of a person and a person who does not have them should be counted among the angels or animals” (Scholz. 1888, p. 231). Firstly, numerous Christian ascetics and ascetics are above passions (by the grace of God and their own labors). Moreover, every Christian should strive for such a dispassionate state. This is a natural path to its improvement, purification and, ultimately, to deification. Secondly, this was the spiritual depth of the patristic experience, that he recognized the dispassionate nature of the soul, despite the presence and wide distribution of passions. In addition, we must keep in mind that “Our Lord Jesus Christ did not ascend to the cross before He healed all human passions...” (Isaiah Abba. 1883, p. 57).

Thus, from a Christian point of view, passions are defined quite clearly negatively

, which completely contradicts everyday usage when they talk, for example, about “
noble passion
.”
Moreover, passion is usually understood as a strong feeling
that dominates others, which, of course, from a Christian point of view is completely wrong. Firstly, passion is not only a feeling or emotion: in modern psychological language, it has both cognitive and volitional components. Moreover, there is even a certain psychosomatic part in passion, which leads to the fact that mental passions negatively affect the body, and bodily passions corrupt the soul. Secondly, which is especially important from a Christian point of view, in passions emotions receive the wrong, immoral direction. Therefore, the point is not only and not so much in the strength of emotions, but in their direction: if they attract a person to the harmful, immoral, then these are passions and this is definitely from the devil, but if a person strives for God and does this with strong emotions, then this not passion, but zeal for God’s commandments and joy from their fulfillment (and many other different positive emotions, since Christianity is completely misrepresented only as a “religion of fear” with a predominance of negative emotions in it).

Gluttony

“Gluttony is divided into three types: one type encourages eating before a certain hour;
another loves only to be satiated with any kind of food; the third wants tasty food. Against this, a Christian must have threefold caution: wait for a certain time for eating; don't get fed up; be content with all the most modest food." Venerable John Cassian the Roman Gluttony is slavery to one's own stomach. It can manifest itself not only in insane gluttony at the festive table, but also in culinary discernment, in a subtle discrimination of shades of taste, in the preference for gourmet dishes over simple food. From a cultural point of view, there is a gulf between the crude glutton and the refined gourmet. But both of them are slaves to their eating behavior. For both, food has ceased to be a means of maintaining the life of the body, turning into the desired goal of the life of the soul.

Self-judgment and self-reproach

The saints, through self-condemnation and self-reproach, achieved that the veil fell from their spiritual eyes, and they began to see purely and deeply. They saw themselves as inferior to all people and considered everyone to be better than themselves. They saw their own shortcomings as large, and the shortcomings of others as small, because they looked with the eyes of the soul, and not with earthly eyes. Their spiritual eyes were cleared, and they acquired vigilance, so they saw their own shortcomings - knots like logs.

We, although our shortcomings are like logs, see them as knots, if we see them at all. And we look at others through a microscope. Other people's sins seem great to us, but we do not see our own, because the eyes of our souls have not been cleansed.

Fornication

“... consciousness is more and more filled with pictures of voluptuousness, dirty, burning and seductive.
The power and poisonous fumes of these images, enchanting and shameful, are such that they crowd out from the soul all the sublime thoughts and desires that captivated (the young man) before. It often happens that a person is unable to think about anything else: he is completely possessed by the demon of passion. He cannot look at every woman as anything other than a female. Thoughts, one dirtier than the other, crawl in his foggy brain, and in his heart there is only one desire - to satisfy his lust. This is already the state of an animal, or rather, worse than an animal, because animals do not reach the level of depravity that humans reach.” Hieromartyr Vasily of Kineshma The sin of fornication includes all manifestations of human sexual activity contrary to the natural way of their implementation in marriage. Promiscuous sex life, adultery, all kinds of perversions - all these are different types of manifestations of prodigal passion in a person. But although this is a bodily passion, its origins lie in the realm of the mind and imagination. Therefore, the Church also classifies as fornication obscene dreams, viewing obscene materials, telling and listening to obscene anecdotes and jokes - everything that can arouse in a person fantasies on the topic of intercourse, from which the bodily sins of fornication then grow.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF PASSIONS

Ultimately, all the powers of the soul are subject to passions, according to the division of which it is possible to create a complete classification of mental passions: “All vices have one source and beginning; and according to the quality of that part and (so to speak) member that is damaged in the soul, it receives various names of passions and damages” (John Cassian. 1993, p. 618). That is, one can share the passions of each of the powers of the soul: mind, will, feelings (emotions), words, memory, imagination, attention, etc.

In addition, the entire person is subject to the influence of passions - through pride, conceit, complacency, self-confidence

etc. No wonder, St. the fathers called pride the mother of passions: “Do you want to get rid of passions all at once? “Renounce the mother of passions - self-love” (Avva Thalassy. 1900, p. 292). Various passions are manifested in a person’s attitude towards other people (vanity, theft, love of fame, man-pleasing, philanthropy, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, deceit, pretense, indulgence, arrogance, suspicion, cunning, slander, condemnation, envy, etc.), the world ( love of money, love of peace, “clinging” to it, naturalism) and God (pride, insensibility). Having summarized and supplemented everything that has been said, we present a table of the general classification of passions.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF PASSIONS

(main passions are highlighted in bold

)

As we see, the main passions

were unevenly distributed among the powers of the soul - the largest number of them fell on feelings (emotions), which is understandable, since they are the most mobile and their hypertrophy leads to anger, and the wrong direction leads to despondency and sadness.
Therefore, we would supplement the historically established main passions in such a way that it would include one main passion in relation to the other forces of the soul, as well as passions in relation to the soul and body as a whole (we have highlighted them in italics
).

Anger

“Look at anger, what signs of its torment it leaves.
Look what a man does in anger: how he becomes indignant and makes noise, curses and scolds himself, torments and beats, hits his head and face, and shakes all over, as if in a fever, in a word, he looks like a demoniac. If his appearance is so unpleasant, what is going on in his poor soul? ...You see what a terrible poison is hidden in the soul, and how bitterly it torments a person! His cruel and pernicious manifestations speak of him.” Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk A man in anger is terrible. Meanwhile, anger is a natural property of the human soul, put into it by God to reject everything sinful and inappropriate. This useful anger was perverted in man by sin and turned into anger at his neighbors, sometimes for the most insignificant reasons. Offending other people, cursing, insulting, shouting, fighting, killing - all these are acts of unrighteous anger.

Why and how it goes

Passion is, in psychology, first of all, an emotion. And as is their nature, they can come and go. Their presence in a person’s life is not constant. Therefore, passion is a temporary phenomenon. This rule concerns feelings for another person.

Passion is a response to the existential needs of a living being. During the period when a person is susceptible to this emotion, many substances are produced inside him that act like drugs. Being under their influence, the person experiences elation, she is emotionally excited. All actions and actions are aimed at satisfying needs.

When a person gets what he wanted or achieves what he wants, the phase of pleasure begins. He feels satisfied with what is happening. Knowing that a goal has been achieved gives a lot of positive emotions. Thanks to the hormones released, all senses are heightened.

However, passion is an unnatural state of the body. It takes a lot of resources to constantly maintain such a range of feelings. And this is a very expensive business, and it cannot last for a long time.

Otherwise, there is a risk of emotional burnout, which will certainly follow after the end of the passion. To prevent such a drastic change, the body developed a defense mechanism - it simply limited the time of passion, without endowing it with constancy.

When a person has mastered the subject of passion, he is under the influence of hormones for a short time. After the active phase, a gradual awareness of what happened begins. The person gives a realistic assessment of what happened and accepts the fact of the action. At this time, the body produces less and less hormones, gradually bringing their levels closer to their natural state.

After this, the person returns to normal life. He is no longer tormented by an obsessive desire or need because it has been satisfied. It is for this reason that psychologists consider passion a sign of selfishness. Because a person, first of all, thinks about himself and his desires, and not about his other half.

Passion passes painlessly or leaves a person devastated. In the first version, the person was most often obsessed with passion for a short time. For example, in a relationship it lasts 2-3 years or less. After passing through such a stage in life, a person returns to his old rut without moral worries.

In the case where the passion was an obsession and lasted for a long time (for example, 10 years), then even after achieving the desired, the person does not experience a feeling of satisfaction. The individual feels joy and all the accompanying emotions during passion, but when it passes, he is left empty. This phenomenon is similar to the meaning of existence that a person has lived by for a long time.

Passion became a habit, shaped lifestyle, behavior and needs. When the goal has been achieved, the person does not understand what to do next. After all, all the previous years, passion ruled his life. When she was gone, actions and motives lost meaning. Often such people fell into depression and apathy. A psychotherapist helped them overcome difficulties.

Greed (selfishness)

“Care is an insatiable desire to have, or the search and acquisition of things under the guise of benefit, then only to say about them: mine.
There are many objects of this passion: the house with all its parts, fields, servants, and most importantly, money, because you can get everything with it.” Saint Theophan the Recluse Sometimes it is believed that only rich people who already have wealth and strive to increase it can suffer from this spiritual illness. However, a person of average income, a low-income person, and a completely beggar are all subject to this passion, since it does not consist in the possession of things, material goods and wealth, but in a painful, irresistible desire to possess them.

How it manifests itself

Passion (also called affect in psychology) can be studied not only from a theoretical point of view. During a period when a person is under the influence of strong emotions, his brain actively uses the dopamine system. This was found out thanks to an MRI.

Using this device, it was possible to photograph the active areas of neurons in real time. A person’s joyful state was achieved through the production of the happiness hormone. To experience pleasant emotions, brain activity concentrates attention on the desired goal and develops motives.

The dopamine structure is capable of controlling human movements, the activities of the cardiovascular, endocrine and digestive systems. She develops a dependence on things that bring joy. Thus, dopamine produced by the brain helps a person concentrate all his attention on the object of passion. Along with this comes a surge of energy, a desire to possess an object (a living being). The amount of serotonin also increases.

When his indicators are normal, then emotions do not cause problems for a person. In a state of passion, serotonin levels go through the roof. This leads to a natural obsession with the desired object.

The processes occurring inside the body affect a person’s life, his behavior, and manner of speaking. A person under the yoke of passion denies any goals that will distract him from what he wants. All actions and actions are unconsciously controlled by needs.

The negative side of this phenomenon is that people underestimate real problems. Existing life troubles are devalued. Until the main goal is achieved, everything becomes insignificant. Only the object of passion has priority.

Dejection (laziness)

“Despondency is a continuous and simultaneous movement of the furious and lustful part of the soul.
The first is furious over what is at its disposal, the second, on the contrary, yearns for what it lacks.” Evagrius of Pontus Dejection is considered to be a general relaxation of mental and physical strength, combined with extreme pessimism. But it is important to understand that despondency occurs in a person as a result of a deep mismatch between the abilities of his soul, zeal (an emotionally charged desire for action) and will. In the normal state, will determines for a person the goal of his aspirations, and zeal is the “engine” that allows him to move towards it, overcoming difficulties. When despondent, a person directs zeal at his current state, which is far from his goal, and the will, left without an “engine,” turns into a constant source of melancholy about unfulfilled plans. These two forces of a despondent person, instead of moving towards the goal, seem to “pull” his soul in different directions, bringing it to complete exhaustion. Such a discrepancy is the result of man’s falling away from God, the tragic consequence of an attempt to direct all the forces of his soul towards earthly things and joys, while they were given to us to strive for heavenly joys.

Functions and role

Passion (this is always the engine in psychology) motivates a person to take any action. From this follows a number of functions that are characteristic of a person under the influence of such a strong emotion.

These include:

• Regulation. A person deliberately controls psychological processes and personal emotional manifestations. All of them have the status of subordination, since they must serve a single purpose.
• Expression. A person expressively conveys his experiences, feelings and emotions.
• Synthesis. All disparate feelings are woven together.
• Grade. A person characterizes his capabilities. This helps establish the future path of movement. So, to achieve what you want, you have to realistically evaluate personal qualities and eliminate shortcomings.
• Motives. Passion makes a person do things, take any action.
• Sensemaking. A person has a certain meaning. He is clear, he has clear boundaries.
• Activation. A person moves from theory to practice. He takes actions, works, does everything to achieve what he wants.

Passion for work or science allows you to make new discoveries. This emotion acts as the engine of progress. On the other hand, this feeling can have a destructive effect on the psyche. After all, passion often flows into obsession – its negative side.

In relationships between people, when passion is directed towards a living object, this emotion contributes to a vivid expression of feelings. The impact on a person’s life depends on his mental health.

In mentally ill people, passion can take different forms. For example, in some it causes an irresistible urge to kill. Passion will not harm psychologically healthy people. On the contrary, it will be the engine for new discoveries. A person will concentrate all his forces around the object of passion and will do everything possible to achieve the goal.

One example is this:

Elder, I very often look at the brothers and sisters around me and judge them, some are in a hurry in prayer, some are slurred in their reading, some are late, some get confused in the service or yawn and rub their eyes, this really bothers me .

The answer was simple: “Look with compassion on those who make mistakes. There are people who, even when committing serious crimes, have mitigating circumstances, so the situation is not always the way a person sees it, and at the same time condemns many with his incorrect judgment. I wish you purification and sanctification of your mind and heart.

When a person learns to rejoice in the successes of others, Christ will give him all the successes of others, and he will rejoice as all others combined rejoice, and then his successes and joy will be enormous.”

The presentation of the ascetic patristic teaching on the passions in modern Orthodox so-called “popular” (albeit quite good) literature is usually limited to the characterization of passion as the beginning of sin that takes possession of a person and dominates him, a statement of the sinner’s slavery in relation to this spiritually destructive habit, as well as well-known a list of eight main passions, indicating the necessary ways to combat both each of them and the passionate principle in a person as a whole. At the same time, in such literature, unfortunately, two most important components of the patristic teaching on the passions are usually not taken into account, namely: its relationship with the patristic teaching about human nature and about the human vocation to deification. In today's report I would like to briefly touch on both of these essentially interdependent topics.

1. The concept of “passion” and human nature

First of all, we will be interested in the “anthropological” dimension of the concept of “passion”: that is, the question of how the passionate principle in man and the passions born in us are interconnected with the content and structure of human nature - first created by God “very good” (Genesis 1 , 31), and then damaged - through heavenly disobedience - and enslaved to ancestral sin. Is the passionate principle in a person in relation to his nature something completely extraneous, alien - brought in from the outside, introduced through demonic excuses - and only then “carefully” cultivated by the egoistic aspirations of our will? Or does this passionate principle still have its organic basis in human nature, thereby turning out to be, albeit distorted, but still a realization of our own ontological powers and abilities, inherent in us by the Creator at creation?

First of all, it should be emphasized that the ascetic Christian tradition has always understood any sinful “passion” living and acting in the human soul as an abnormal and destructive phenomenon that requires its immediate overcoming and decisive victory over it. The ancient Holy Fathers unanimously affirm the danger and destruction of any sinful passion for the human soul. According to the bright words of the Venerable Abba Isaiah, “passions are the wounds of the soul that separate it from God. Blessed is he who is pure and free from passions..."[1].

However, such statements do not prevent the ancient Holy Fathers and teachers of the Eastern Church from often using this concept - “passion”, “πάθος” not only in such a negative sense, but also in, so to speak, a “morally neutral” context and even in an evaluative-positive meaning. As for the positive meaning of this concept, we will have to return to it a little later. Now let us turn to the patristic definitions of “πάθος”.

It should be noted that the patristic definitions of the concept of “passion” (very similar to each other - no matter what century they belong to) were largely borrowed by the Fathers and teachers of the Eastern Church from the Hellenic philosophical tradition. Found in the heritage of such prominent Christian authors as Nemesius of Emesa, St. John of Damascus and a number of other Fathers and teachers of the Church, the general characteristics of the term “πάθος” often repeat almost verbatim the ancient pagan sages. So, for example, defining the concept of “passion” in its “general” sense, St. John of Damascus reproduces not only a similar statement found in Nemesius[2], but also (in the first half of his phrase) Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics”[3] : “In general and in a general sense, the passion of a living being is that which is followed by pleasure or sadness - after all, passion follows sadness; and it is not passion itself that is sadness, because the insensitive, while enduring, does not experience pain”[4]. It should be noted that in this definition the concept of “passion” does not yet appear in its brightly colored “moral-negative” meaning, which is familiar to the reader of ascetic literature; This definition reflects a completely different meaning of this word - “passion”, “πάθος” - as undergoing something.

Another, also partly borrowed by Christian writers (and Nemesius, and the Monk John of Damascus, and a number of other authors) from the ancient tradition, this time probably from Galen [5], the definition of the concept “passion” entirely concerns spiritual passions: “passion is unreasonable movement of the soul due to the idea of ​​good or evil. The idea of ​​good arouses lust, and the idea of ​​evil arouses anger.”[6] In parallel with this, another definition of spiritual passions appears in the patristic tradition: “passion is a sensual movement of a desirable ability[7], due to the imagination of good or evil”[8]. Let us note that here, based on these definitions (as well as in the first case, where “πάθος” acts only as passion), the concept of “passion” cannot be considered as denoting a certain sinful reality. This is all the more obvious since the terms “lust” (ἐ̓̓πιθυμία) and “anger” (θύμος) present in one of the above definitions also do not have any moral connotation in this context, but only name those originally inherent in human nature by God - even at the creation of Adam - the powers, abilities of the soul.

Let us emphasize that, thus, in patristic writing, the concept of “passion” (following the ancient tradition) can sometimes designate a completely natural, normal and “impeccable” movement for human nature of that component of the unreasonable (ἄλογον) part of the soul, which is terminologically defined as “ passionate." This “passionate” component, if it is naturally, “normally” set in motion by the higher rational part of the soul, and does not act on its own, as if “breaking out” of subordination to a higher principle, turns out to be capable of fulfilling its destiny in accordance with the forces, the possibilities and calling of human nature, with the Divine plan for the way of its life and existence. Such a “spiritual passion”, which the two patristic definitions given above actually speak of - as the natural movement of the irrational part of the soul - certainly cannot be designated by us as sinful, because the very term “πάθος” here only describes completely characteristic and natural processes of being and activities of human nature.

We should, perhaps, dwell on this in a little more detail, having examined at the same time the patristic teaching about the mechanism of activity of this “passionate” principle in the human soul and at the same time finding out how such “passion”, which is completely natural for human nature, correlates and interacts with the existence of sinful elements in the human soul. passions.

So Nemesius of Emesa (again, following Aristotle [9]), dividing the soul into two parts - rational (λογικόν) and unreasonable (ἄλογον), - argues that the unreasonable soul, in turn, has two components: subject to reason and not subject to it[ 10]. At the same time, the part of the unreasonable soul, subject to reason, is divided into two main forces: sensual-desirable (τὸ ε̕πιθυμητικόν) and affective, or emotional (τὸ θυμικόν)[11] (while the second - not subject to reason - contains the part of the unreasonable soul in itself the beginning of all physiological forces of a living organism: nutritional, pulse and spermatic [12]). Sensory-desirable and emotional abilities are closely related to the concept of passion (πάθος)[13], which is generic for them, and lust itself (ἐ̓̓πιθυμία) (broader - the desire for what is missing, the desire to enjoy various pleasures) and anger (θύμος) (as an instrument of reason , awakening anger towards everything worthy of just indignation [14]) are subtypes of the passionate principle and the abilities of the unreasonable passionate part of the soul. It is these forces that can manifest themselves (and manifest themselves this way in a fallen man) negatively, destructively, when they are freed from the power of reason and cease to obey it. In this case, lust becomes the lust of sinful pleasures[15], and anger manifests itself as a “desire for mutual vengeance”, like temper, anger and hatred[16]. Here lies the beginning of the existence of sinful passions, the basis of their existence, rooted in the unnatural activity of the “passionate” unreasonable part of the soul, called by God Himself at creation to obey reason, but escaped from such submission.

Sinful human passions (starting from the 4th century, classified by the ancient Christian written ascetic tradition - in the East for the first time, probably by Abba Evagrius [17] - in the form of an eight-part scheme) are, as it were, “subspecies” of various manifestations of these two, which have emerged from the subordination of a sinful person to the mind of the most important abilities of the unreasonable soul - lust and anger. As you know, these eight passions are gluttony (γαστριμαργία), fornication (πορνεία), love of money (φιλαργυρία), anger (ὀργή, a word, according to the thought of St. Isidore Pelusiot, in contrast to anger - θύμο ς, which no longer means anger as a short impulse, but old anger and thirsty for revenge [18]), sadness (λύπη), despondency (ἀκηδία), vanity (κενοδοξία), pride (ὑπερηφανία).

We remember that in the patristic written heritage, these passions are usually divided into physical and mental. It should, however, be taken into account that patristic thought insists: in human nature, the “initiator” of our enslavement of passion - be it mental or physical passion - is always the human soul (spirit). According to the words of St. Gregory Palamas, “our spirit is the source of all passion...”[19]. And according to the thought of St. Maximus the Confessor, “passion is” precisely “an unnatural movement of the soul...”[20]. Thus, any passion is, first of all, an unnatural “act” of the soul, violating God’s plan for both the human soul and the human body; passion is precisely its action and initiative, carried out in the very depths of human nature. And it is the soul that sometimes readily responds in us to the enemy’s pretext or thought.

Thus, every passion has its source primarily from spiritual desire. However, the flesh is, as it were, a “collaborator” of the soul in the carnal passions that arise in the sinner, possessing desirable abilities for them.

So, in the event of a weakening of the power of reason over the aspirations of our nature, albeit natural, but still lower and called to be subordinated, thoughts are born in a person. These thoughts, if they are not given an immediate rebuff, lead the sinner - with the help of the mind already enslaved to these thoughts - to the emergence in the soul of an increasingly stronger passion [21].

However, initially God designed man differently, creating him free from passions. Summarizing the patristic teaching that expounds this idea, the famous Russian pre-revolutionary patrolologist F. S. Vladimirsky writes: “the soul itself, by its God-like nature, is dispassionate, ἀπαθής (Isaac the Syrian, Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Meletius the Monk, etc.), so that “passions are not characteristic of her” (Gregory of Nyssa, John Chrysostom, Isaac the Syrian, Ilya of Crete, etc.). From here it is clear that “πάθος” is something “unnatural”, abnormal, “coming from outside” into the soul (Isaac the Syrian, Macarius the Great, Elijah of Crete...); it is an “illness of the soul” and, moreover, accidental (Basily the Great, Isaac the Syrian, etc.)”[22].

Thus we see: the ancient ascetic tradition emphasizes that passions do not have their organic source in human nature itself, created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27), and therefore, “by definition” does not possess any ontological principle of sin. Sinful passions are introduced into human life from the outside - along with man’s retreat from God and from the Divine plan for human existence. However, sinful passions, having the beginning of their existence outside human nature - in the enemy's excuses, nevertheless turn out to be closely interconnected with human nature - as a nature fallen by sin - and even seem to represent a distorted mode of its activity. They “parasitize” this nature in some way, using it to manifest themselves in it. In this sense, the patristic tradition also insists that the sinful passions operating in man are partly even some energetic “derivative” of our nature, however, we repeat, a nature damaged and distorted by sin.

It is in this sense that sinful passions are not only our attachment to one or another specific spiritually destructive habit and consistent sinful striving for its implementation, but also - in a broad sense - any (whether conscious, spontaneous, sometimes carried out as a random impulse) an effort of human nature that is contrary to the will of God and carried out in defiance of it. Such an ungodly action, distorted “energy”, unnatural movement of human nature is directly called “passion” in the ancient Christian theological tradition. So, for example, Meletius the Monk very clearly distinguishes the concept of “energy”, which is a normal action of our integral spiritual-physical nature, “in accordance with nature”, and “passion”, which is “a movement of παρὰ φύσιν - contrary to nature”[23]. Similar ideas are expressed by other Fathers and teachers of the Eastern Church. Here is what Nemesius of Emesa writes (his thought is generally repeated by the Monk John of Damascus[24]): “Energy is called passion... whenever it manifests itself contrary to nature. After all, activity (energy) is movement in accordance with nature, and passion is contrary to nature. Thus, in this very sense, energy is called passion when it is excited not in accordance with nature, whether someone is excited by himself, or from another... Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the same thing is called both passion and energy ( activity). After all, since movements originate from the most passionate principle of the soul, they are some energies, and since they are immoderate and inconsistent with nature, they are no longer energies, but passions. Thus, the movement of an unreasonable soul is passion in both senses”[25].

We see: passion realizes itself when nature acts and strives for sin as if “in spite of itself,” freely and consistently deviating from its own purpose, and thereby violating the creative Divine law established in its relation. That is why any such passion is “unnatural,” because by its very existence it dooms human nature to a distorted existence, dooming us to spiritual death. This is how St. Maximus the Confessor speaks about the unnatural nature of passions: “passion... is an abuse of a natural action, and such an abuse of the method of [natural] action appears when the movement inherent in any force [of nature] is directed towards the unnatural”[26].

According to the precise definition of St. Anastasius Sinaite, “unnatural is either that which God did not create as such [as it became], or that which He did not create at all, for example, sin and death”[27]. The two meanings of the concept “passion” in its negative sense fit perfectly into both parts of this definition belonging to the Monk Anastasius: on the one hand, passion is an unnatural, falsely directed human natural energy, which God did not create as such, and which man himself distorted in himself - by his ungodly desire for sin (the first part of the definition); on the other hand, passion is also an unnatural principle of sin infused into man, not created by God at all, which, like any sin, does not have a true ontological status, its own beginning of being, parasitizing on the free will of fallen man (the second part of the definition).

Summarizing what was said in the first section of the report, we note that for a holistic and adequate understanding of such a phenomenon as passions reigning in fallen man, it is very important not only to recognize and comprehend the action and power in us of individual specific passions - as consequences of demonic attacks sent to us from the outside and only then assimilated by the sinful human mind, accepted by free will rebelling against God. No less significant is the vision of the relationship that exists between this ascetic teaching about the passions and a number of categories of Orthodox patristic anthropology. It is the ancient Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church of the Orthodox East who tell us about the natural passionate principle present in the human soul, define passion as the action of human nature contrary to this very nature (“παρὰ φύσιν”) and claim that all sinful passions that rule over us are “unnatural” precisely because they are rooted in man’s abuse of the normal and good forces of human nature invested in him by God Himself.

With this first question considered - about the relationship between the patristic ascetic teaching on the passions and the patristic teaching on the composition and natural forces of human nature - the second topic of interest to us is closely interconnected:

2. The concept of “passion” and a person’s calling to deification

If “passion” is nevertheless a consequence not only of destructive temptations external to man, but also has a basis in the distorted by sin, but still completely natural powers and abilities of our created essence created by God, then how should these forces and abilities be in are we corrected and positively realized - in accordance with the original Divine plan for them?

All human nature is called to salvation, to deification. And if this is so, can we, while unconditionally affirming the need to mortify the specific spiritually destructive sinful passions that rule in us, at the same time talk not only about victory over the passionate principle that draws us to sin as such, but also strive for it - by force? Divine grace - correction, re-creation, transformation, deification? Indeed, if the passionate principle in a person is a natural component, one of the forces of the irrational part of the soul, then isn’t this passionate principle, along with the fullness of our entire nature, called to the closest unity with God by grace, to the perfection of God’s participation? The possibility of such a deification of the passionate principle of human nature is the second question that interests us, the answer to which should also certainly be sought in the patristic tradition...

According to the thoughts of the ancient Holy Fathers of the East, such a correction of our natural passionate beginning is possible only when a Christian leads a truly godly life, fulfills the Divine commandments, weeps for sins and defeats the specific destructive passions that rule in the soul - through all this, improving in humility. According to the words of St. Gregory Palamas, the mind that was once overcome by passions, now sincerely struggling with thoughts and crying about sins, “... in accordance with the measure of this crying, receives the mercy of consolation; and if at the same time he strengthens himself in humility, he will completely transform the passionate part of the soul”[28].

So, in those who are saved, such a transformation of the passionate principle of human nature certainly occurs. What is the mechanism of this spiritual process? Such a “salvation” of the passionate power of the soul - as its correction and sanctification - is carried out in a Christian through a kind of “redirection” of the vector of these forces - from bodily pleasures and worldly sensual pleasures[29] to the Divine reality, and at the same time - through submission this passionate beginning of the unreasonable soul to our mind (as was originally intended by the Creator in relation to man), and also thanks to the achievement of a certain moderation in the manifestation of these forces, their “diminution,” as it were, normalization of the “power” of their impulses[30].

We find a vivid description of some aspects of such correction, the transformation of the passionate principle in man, and even the achievement by this passionate principle - in the unity of the entire fullness of human nature, saved by the power of Divine grace - of genuine participation in God in the works of St. Maximus the Confessor.

Speaking about this, the Monk Maxim also touches on a number of important particular moments of such a mysterious spiritual process: including, he paints a picture of what happens during such a transformation of the passionate principle with the two main forces of the passionate unreasonable part of the soul - the sensual-desirable part (τὸ ε̕πιθυμητικόν) , manifesting itself in human nature as lust (ἐ̓̓πιθυμία), as well as affective or emotional (τὸ θυμικόν), realizing itself as “anger” (θύμος): “...whoever’s mind is always with God, has desire (ἡ ἐπιθυμία) outgrows into Divine passion (τὸν θει̑ον ἔρωτα), and rage (ο̒̒ θύμος) is completely transformed into divine love (τὴν θείαν α̕γάπην). For, thanks to long-term involvement with Divine illumination, it (the mind) becomes entirely light-like, and, closely connecting its passionate part with itself, transforms it into endless divine passion and unceasing love, turning entirely from earthly things to the Divine”[31].

St. Gregory Palamas also writes about a similar “redirection” of the passionate power of the human soul from the world - with its transitory pleasures - to Divine reality, about the transformation achieved by a Christian of passionate concupiscible love for sin into love for God, no less vividly than St. Maximus. Generally speaking, it is the spiritual creative heritage of both St. Maximus and St. Gregory that turn out to be surprisingly consonant with each other in revealing this deep and important theme, located at the intersection of anthropology, asceticism and mystical theology: the theme of transfiguration and deification of the passionate principle in man. Here is what Palamas says about this: “lovers of the Beautiful (οι̒ ἐρασταὶ τω̑ν καλω̑ν) do not mortify the passionate ability (of the soul) and do not lock it inactive and motionless within themselves, because then they will have nothing to love good and hate evil, nothing with which to alienate themselves from vice and become attached to God. They destroy only the disposition of this power towards evil, completely transforming it into love for God, according to the first and great commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your strength” (cf. Mark 12:30), that is, with all your strength. With what full force? It is clear that he is passionate; after all, she is that in the soul that is capable of love.”[32]

Thus, the true holy passion here is a passionate aspiration for the Divine. But how can such statements of the Holy Fathers be correlated with the general ascetic thought that a Christian is called to mortify his passions and achieve complete dispassion (ἀπάθεια)?

According to St. Maximus the Confessor, the true ideal of Christian life is “perfect dispassion, which removes any passionate and lightless thought of the spirit”[33]. And according to the words of the Venerable Simeon the New Theologian, “dispassion” is called “that when someone not only withdraws from acting on the attraction of the passions, but is also alien to their very lust”[34]. Is there any place left for any kind of passion, even passion “according to God,” where complete and complete dispassion should reign - like the equanimity of a sinless and passionless theosis?

The patristic tradition strongly affirms the possibility of such a theosis of passionate power in human nature. And it is based on the fact that dispassion itself should not be understood in the sense of killing this passionate principle in a person. On the contrary, dispassion is not passivity at all, not some kind of inactive peace, and especially not the killing of the passionate power of the irrational part of the soul, but, on the contrary, its highest and best ultimate energetic activity, carried out by it in accordance with the Divine plan for human nature. According to the testimony of the “Svyatogorsk Tomos”, dispassion should be understood not as “the state of death of the passionate part of the soul”, but on the contrary - “the state of its activity aimed at the better - when the passionate part has completely turned away from evil deeds and turned to good ones, having lost its bad properties and become enriched.” good” and when “the passionate part of the soul changed, was sanctified, but was not killed”[35].

In what direction does such a “dispassionate passion”, sanctified by grace, the pure energy of the passionate part of the human soul, pure and unclouded by sin, rush?

The same Saint Gregory repeats again and again that the passionate principle in human nature, when a Christian achieves such “effective dispassion”, completely and completely turns into the aspiration of Divine love. He writes that “dispassion is not the mortification of the passionate power of the soul, but its direction from worse to better and its action in a divine state, when it completely turns away from the bad and turns to the beautiful; and dispassionate for us is the one who got rid of bad states and enriched himself with good ones... Abuse of the powers of the soul breeds disgusting passions, just as abuse of the knowledge of existence turns wisdom into madness; but if a person uses them well, then through the knowledge of existence he will come to the knowledge of God, and through the passionate ability of the soul, striving for the goal for which it was created by God, he will achieve virtues... This, I say, will not be achieved by the one who kills them, because he will then turn out to be indifferent and motionless for the divine properties and states, and the one who subjugates the passionate power so that, submitting to the mind, its natural head, and obediently going to God, thanks to the unceasing memory of God, it secures the divine disposition and rises to the highest state , that is, to the love of God..."[36].

It should also be noted that, according to the Holy Fathers, such “holy passion” achieved in a state of dispassion contributes not only to the “normalization” of the existence of the forces of the irrational part of the soul, but also affects the way of existence and activity of a person’s bodily forces and aspirations. As before, in a state of sinful passion, the body acted as if it were a “collaborator” of the initiator of any passion - the soul, rushing towards sin with carnal dispositions, so now, but on the contrary, according to the thoughts of the same Saint Gregory, the body, on an equal basis with the soul, gains access to the active and active participation in the “goodness” of the sanctified and transformed passionate principle of the soul[37].

Thus, it is precisely in dispassion as the genuine and holy energy of the passionate principle that has overcome the power of sin - the unreasonable part of the soul that has again submitted to reason and (through it) to God - that our genuine and active aspiration towards God, towards the acquisition of that Heavenly Kingdom, which is “needed” only “by force” - as the constant struggle of a Christian for his own Salvation.

All this even allows St. Maximus the Confessor - paradoxically - to bring extremely close together and even almost identify in one of his texts the concepts of “passion” and “deification”: passion as being in a state of deification - this is the mystical image that we find in the works of the Saint. According to Maxim, the concept of “passion” - in its highest positive sense - can simultaneously mean two inextricably linked realities of mystical life. Here is a person’s experience of the state of deification given to him by God, and, at the same time, the human natural energetic ability of a soul cleansed of sin, in response to this Divine gift, to passionately rise to it and accept this gift. We remember that in a general sense the term “passion”, “πάθος” can equally mean both the enduring of something and the activity of the irrational part of the soul subject to reason. In his “7th Difficulty,” St. Maximus seems to combine, almost synthesize, both of these meanings of the concept “passion.” “What could be more desirable for the worthy than deification, in which God, uniting with those who have become gods, makes everything His own through goodness,” exclaims the Reverend, and then, citing various symbolic names for such a stay of the soul in a state of deification (“joy”, “pleasure” ), including directly calling it “passion”[38]. In such a state of passion-deification, as a kind of gift of vision of God, he sees two sides: on the one hand, the “suffering” of his soul, which is influenced and elevated to such a state of participation by God by the deifying Divine grace, and on the other, the “capacity for frenzy,” as to the active ascent into this abiding in God of the soul itself. At the same time, the Monk Maxim emphasizes that such a “capacity for frenzy” turns out to be impossible without dispassion and is certainly accompanied by it[39]. Thus, passion here, according to St. Maxim, is at the same time the “undergoing” of deification (here the understanding of “passion” is precisely as the enduring of something), and at the same time it is the very passionate, loving and joyful entry of the human soul into deification (her own active and passionate natural-energetic aspiration, reflecting the second meaning of the concept “passion”). Thus, in the text of St. Maximus, two meanings of the concept of “passion”, “πάθος” almost merge, in fact - are synthesized - in the description of that passionate union of love of the Creator and His creation, which connects - through mutual energetic aspiration of each other towards each other - giving His grace God and man passionately seeking this grace of deification...

So, summarizing what was said in the second section of the report, I note that Eastern patristic teaching recognizes it as possible and even necessary for the passionate part of our nature to achieve (of course, not in isolation from the fullness of human nature) the state of participation in God, deification. This can be done by overcoming the enslavement of the passionate nature of the human soul to sin; thanks to the subordination of this principle to human reason, and through reason - to God Himself; through bringing the image of existence and activity of the passionate principle of the soul in accordance with the original creative and saving Divine plan for it; through the “redirection” of natural energetic passion from worldly pleasures and attachments to the achievement of lasting heavenly blessings. At the same time, it is the passionate power of the soul - by the energies of dispassionate passions, by the attraction of lust transformed into Divine passion (ἐ̓̓πιθυμία) and by the power of anger transformed into divine love (ο̒̒ θύμος) - that is here called upon to realize the highest destiny: active ascent to God, to ever new heights of deification . And this turns out to be possible for her precisely because it is precisely this passionate force, in the words of St. Gregory Palamas, “that is what is in the soul that is capable of love”[40].

[1] Reverend Abba Isaiah. Sermon 28 On the branches of sinful evil, 1 // Philokalia. T. 1. M., 2004. P. 400.

[2] Nemesius of Emesa. About the nature of man, 16 About the unreasonable part of the soul, which is also called passionate and desirable. M., 1998. P. 77.

[3] Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, 1105b20.

[4] Venerable John of Damascus. An accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book 2, XXII About passion (suffering) and action // Works of St. John of Damascus. Source of knowledge. M., 2002. pp. 217-218.

[5] Galenus. De placitis Hippocratis et Platonis. VI.1.

[6] Venerable John of Damascus. An accurate exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Book 2, XXII About passion (suffering) and action. P. 218. Compare, for example: Nemesius of Emesa. About the nature of man, 16 About the unreasonable part of the soul, which is also called passionate and desirable. P. 77.

[7] This is how the same St. John of Damascus defines the concept of “desire”: “Desire (boÚlhsij) is some natural desire, that is, a natural and reasonable desire for some thing. For the human soul contains the ability to strive intelligently.” (Reverend John of Damascus. An exact exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book 2, XXII On passion (suffering) and action. P. 219.)

[8] Venerable John of Damascus. An accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book 2, XXII About passion (suffering) and action. P. 218.

[9] Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. 1102a27, b28.

[10] See: Nemesius of Emesa. On human nature, 15 Another division of the soul. P. 75.

[11] See: Nemesius of Emesa. About the nature of man, 16 About the unreasonable part of the soul, which is also called passionate and desirable. P. 76.

[12] See Nemesius of Emesa. About the nature of man, 22 About the unreasonable, not subject to reason. P. 90.

[13] See, for example: Nemesius of Emesa. About the nature of man, 16 About the unreasonable part of the soul, which is also called passionate and desirable. P. 76.

[14] See: Nemesius of Emesa. On human nature, 21 On anger. P. 89.

[15] See: Nemesius of Emesa. On human nature, 18 On pleasures. From 81-82.

[16] Nemesius of Emesa. On human nature, 21 On anger. P. 89.

[17] Avva Evagrius. About eight thoughts to Anatoly, 1 // PG 40. 1272A.

[18] See: Venerable Isidore Pelusiot. Letter 223. Creations. T. 3. M., 1860. P. 137.

[19] PG. 151.393A.

[20] Venerable Maximus the Confessor. Chapters about love, 16 // Works of St. Maximus the Confessor. Book 1. M., 1993. P. 109.

[21] See, for example: St. Gregory of Nyssa. About the soul and resurrection // PG. 46. ​​61.

[22] Vladimirsky F.S. Anthropology and cosmology of Nemesia, ep. Emessky, in their relation to ancient philosophy and patristic literature // Nemesius of Emesa. On human nature (Appendix). M., 1998. P. 429.

[23] Meletius the Monk. Περὶ τη̑ς του̑ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευη̑ς. PG 64.1308С.

[24] See: Venerable John of Damascus. An accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book 2, XXII About passion (suffering) and action. P. 218.

[25] Nemesius of Emesa. About the nature of man, 16 About the unreasonable part of the soul, which is also called passionate and desirable. pp. 77-78.

[26] Venerable Maximus the Confessor. Questions and answers to Thalassia, 58 // Patristics. Works of the Church Fathers and patrolological studies. Nizhny Novgorod, 2007. pp. 53-54.

[27] Venerable Anastasius Sinaite. Guide. II.II.7 // Venerable Anastasius of Sinaite. Selected creations. M., 2003. P. 254.

[28] Saint Gregory Palamas. Three chapters on prayer and purity of heart, 1 // Quote. by: Makarov D.I. Anthropology and cosmology of St. Gregory Palamas (using the example of homilies). St. Petersburg, 2003. P. 479. For the original Greek text of the treatise, see: PG 150. 1117-1121.

[29] According to the words of St. Gregory Palamas, “...he who loves the body loves the world. And when, because of... love for the body, we immoderately thirst for worldly pleasures, [they] pursue and cherish, we surround ourselves with a multifaceted and ugly swarm of passions.” PG 151. 417BC.

[30] Let us recall the thought of Nemesius of Emesa that natural human energy and activity turns into passion, including for the reason that it becomes “immoderate.” (See: Nemesius of Emesa. On the nature of man, 16 On the unreasonable part of the soul, which is also called passionate and desirable. P. 78.) This means that the “moderation” of this activity, as a kind of its normalization, turns out to be, among other things, the path to its reverse transformation from passion to energy.

[31] Venerable Maximus the Confessor. Chapters about love, 48 // Works of St. Maximus the Confessor. Book 1. M., 1993. P. 114.

[32] Saint Gregory Palamas. Triads in defense of the sacredly silent. II.2.23. M., 1995. P. 182.

[33] Venerable Maximus the Confessor. Mystagogy // Works of St. Maximus the Confessor. Book 1. M., 1993. pp. 179-180.

[34] Venerable Simeon the New Theologian. Active and theological chapters, 165 // Philokalia. T. 5. M., 2004. P. 52.

[35] Saint Gregory Palamas. Svyatogorsk Tomos // Patristics. Works of the Church Fathers and patrolological studies. Nizhny Novgorod, 2007. P. 164.

[36] Saint Gregory Palamas. Triads in defense of the sacredly silent. II.2.19. P. 178.

[37] See: Svyatogorsk Tomos // Patristics. Works of the Church Fathers and patrolological studies. Nizhny Novgorod, 2007. P. 164.

[38] Venerable Maximus the Confessor. Difficulty 7. PG 91. 1089A.

[39] Ibid.

[40] Saint Gregory Palamas. Triads in defense of the sacredly silent. II.2.23. M., 1995. P. 182.

Passion and then love. Or not?2

Why then does passion rarely develop into love? It's all about people's emotional isolation. When faced with passion, people become afraid. They are afraid to surrender completely to the feeling, they are afraid to allow themselves too much. The feeling seems uncontrollable to them.

This thing is especially familiar to lovers. At first they are simply drawn to each other, skillfully hiding their feelings from others. Then they get tired. Some break up, while others become so indifferent that they easily advertise their relationship, despite the danger of being exposed. Passion will always come out victorious in such fights.

What if we try a different scenario? What if we use this feeling as a springboard? Passion gives everyone a unique opportunity to understand themselves. Why not try, in this case, to take the relationship to a new level? If you involve a partner in this process, the result can be stunning: love will flare up from passion.