John Cassian

“ By the fault of which error and indolence it consequently happens not only that the diverse wanderings of the thoughts shamelessly and impudently burst in upon the solitude of the mind, but also that the seeds of all original passions persist within it. ”

“ Moreover, in certain of those who are starting out and whose bodies have not yet been worn down by the extended correction of fasting, we may believe that diabolical action causes this deceit for the following reason. When he knows these people to be zealous in strict fasts, he seeks to undermine all of their attempts by this trick. Then they feel themselves not only to have made no progress towards bodily purity by stricter fasting, but even to have been more grievously assaulted. ”

“ But it is one kind of merit to arrive at the peace of idle good fortune, another to achieve the triumph of glorious virtue. For the power of the latter is the conqueror of all vices and worthy of marvel, whereas the former, whom innate good has kept safe in their idleness, is I might say more worthy of pity than praise. ”

“ The second cause of this impure discharge is if a mind empty of all spiritual endeavour and exercise, and not fixed by the discipline of the inner human, draws to itself a certain rust of slothfulness by the habit of continual inactivity, or when by not bewaring the trifles of unclean thoughts it becomes sluggish in pursuing sublime purity of heart, so that it comes to believe that the whole sum of perfection and chastity lies in the correction of the outward human. ”

“ For when food and drink is served to us late or too little or poorly prepared, if we are weighed down by the domination of gluttony, it will follow that we will also be provoked by the goads of anger. ”

“ Albeit we must confess that sometimes without any effort of mind, either through the nature of their bodies or through maturity of age, certain men are rarely contaminated, or at least are not soiled by the voiding of this flow. ”

“ But avarice, vainglory, pride, and the multitude of all the vices are joined in inseparable association, and so whichever vice, if it has begun to grow strong in us, will sponsor the importation of the others. ”

“ Which, inasmuch as they hide themselves away in the mind's inner sanctuary, then with howsoever strict fasts the body is corrected, nevertheless they disturb the sleeper with alluring fantasies, by which before the proper course of time, not yet from the necessity of nature, but rather from wicked deceit, unclean fluids are enticed out. ”

“ Which, not so much by emptiness of the flesh than by circumspection of the mind and by virtue, if they cannot be entirely prevented, at least they are led to that simple quality of an emptying, the grace of God assisting. ”