Mortifying the Body in the Spirit of the New Life

The distinctive mark here is the mortification of the flesh. To mortify the flesh means not to gratify it in any desire, or not to do anything with self-indulgence. Neither food, nor drink, nor sleep, nor movement, nor sight, nor hearing, nor other senses or impressions should be received as if they were good, but received as if in passing, as something foreign, without attention to them before or after, and indeed even more – with some deprivation, not according to the measure of the flesh’s desire, but according to reason and proper intention. Give your body what is needful with slight deprivation and, leaving it, turn yourself wholly to the soul. The holy fathers call this fleeing from the flesh’s comfort – an illness most dangerous and opposed to God. Who spares the flesh cannot have the Spirit of God dwelling in him. And even small, fragmentary gratifications of the flesh arising from inattention and negligence cool the spirit. What then shall we say of those for whom fleshly pleasure has become a law? Comfort of the flesh for the spirit is like water for fire. The flesh is the seat of all passions, as Cassian teaches and as anyone can verify by experience, and therefore mortifying it is the drying up of passions. Whoever gratifies the flesh even in small things cannot be inwardly gathered; he is dispersed in that which gratifies the flesh, and therefore is cold. The soul cleaving to the flesh becomes fused with it; for this reason it grows heavy, weighs toward the earth, is unable to freely perceive spiritual things with the mind. On the contrary, how clear is the sight of one who mortifies the flesh, how easily he gravitates inward, how harmless passions are to him, and altogether how visibly the spiritual life in him is quickened! “The outer self wastes away, so the inner self is renewed day by day” (see: 2 Cor. 4:16). The flesh, if it grows strong, grows strong at the expense of the spirit; and the spirit, if it matures, does so only at the expense of the flesh’s mortification. In no saint do we find an easy life: all lived harshly, in mortification, weakening, drying up, and affliction of the flesh. Therefore, in the writings of Saint Isaac the Syrian, mortifying the flesh is considered a condition of salvation. One who spares the flesh stands on a delusional, slippery, deceitful, uncertain path.

One must mortify the flesh in all its parts, members, and functions, so as to present all its members as instruments of righteousness.

Of the members of our bodily life, some are animated and sensate – the immediate instruments of the soul’s activity – while others are purely animal, instruments of animal economy, nutrition, and growth. The first have more freedom, are less bound; the latter are more bound, more physical, coarser.

To the first belong: the senses, the tongue, movement; to the latter: nutrition, sleep, sexual function, and various bodily sensations – heat, cold, softness, and so forth.

From this follow the following rules for mortifying the flesh:

Master your senses, especially sight and hearing; restrain your movements, control your tongue. Whoever does not bridle these three has his interior life in plunder, in debility and captivity; he is not even inwardly present, for these are the passages through which the soul goes out from within, or windows that let the inner warmth escape.

Express your authority over them by forcefully drawing them toward objects that are beneficial now. Before, they rushed irresistibly to where self-regard and the chief passion could be fed. Now you must turn them toward what builds up the spirit.

Measure the food necessary for your body – simple, healthful – weigh it by measure and weight, determine it by type and time, and be at peace in that. Do the same with sleep. Mortify the sexual function by drying up the flesh. Externally, keep your body in some affliction, in coldness, harshness, and so forth, so there is no softness.

Having ordered all things, struggle with the flesh until it quiets and, becoming accustomed to this modest and afflicting state, becomes a silent servant. The mortification of the flesh comes at last. One must keep this in view and strive for it as a reward for labors. Through bodily ascetic practices are developed bodily virtues: solitude, silence, fasting, vigil, labor, patience in deprivations, purity, virginity.

One must, however, remember that this companion sits with us until the grave. They say: do not trust the flesh – it is deceitful. And as soon as, in hope of its mortification, you relax, it will seize you and overcome you. The struggle with it continues beyond the grave, but it is hardest at first, and then easier and easier, until finally only watchfulness over order remains, with light sensations of the flesh’s stirrings.

For more lasting success – and this is necessary above all in bodily ascetic practices – one must observe the law of gradual progression. Here is general counsel: first keep your body under the law of abstinence in all respects, directing all your attention to inner work. When the passions begin to be calmed, warmth will arise in the heart; then, as this inner heat increases, the body’s needs will themselves naturally diminish, and great bodily ascetic practices will begin, as if naturally.

The principal bodily ascetic practices that mortify the flesh are: fasting, vigil, labor, and purity. The last is more effective than all others, more necessary and needful. Therefore, virginity is the quickest path to Christian perfection. Without it, a person cannot acquire such strength or such gifts. One must only remember that there is also soul-purity besides bodily purity, which may not exist even in one who has preserved bodily purity to the grave. It is far more significant than bodily purity. Therefore, even married people can to a certain extent draw near to virgins through soul-purity. God helps the laborer devoted to Him with His grace. This is why we see married people possessed of spiritual perfections.