Thursday Oct. 11/24 ns 2024 • St. Philip the Deacon; St. Theophánes the Branded; St. Philótheos (Kókkinos), Patriarch of Constantinople • St. Philip: Acts 8:26-39; Day: St. Luke 9:7-11 • On the Virtues and the Vices by St John of Damascos

. . . the passions of the soul are much worse

and much more serious than bodily passions.
If you believe you will be Judged after this life
and attentive to the consequences,

then don't content yourself with only the sentence above but

finish reading what St. John of Damascus.

Scroll down to

"On the Virtues and the Vices".

TODAY WE COMMEMORATE

Saint Philip the Deacon

Saint Theophanes the Branded;
Saint Philótheos (Kókkinos),
Patriarch of Constantinople

Philip was born in Palestinian Caesarea. He was married and had four daughters. All four were endowed by God with the gift of prophecy, and all four were vowed virgins for the sake of Christ. 

When the holy apostles chose deacons, Philip was chosen with Stephen and the others. He served the needy and widows with great diligence. When the persecution of Christians began in Jerusalem, the Apostle Philip found refuge in Samaria, and there preached the Gospel and gave witness by many miracles: driving out demons, healing the sick, and so forth. 

Seeing the miracles of the holy apostle, Simon the Magician was baptized. St. Philip also baptized the eunuch of Queen Candace. After that, an angel of God suddenly and invisibly translated him to Azotus, where he taught, preached and converted many to Christ. Philip was appointed Bishop of Tralles. He reposed peacefully in deep old age, and took up his habitation in the joy of his Lord.

Acts 8:26-39 KJV

26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.

27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,

28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?

31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:

33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.

34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

Saint Luke 9:7-11 KJV

7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead;

8 And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.

9 And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.

10 And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.

11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

On the Virtues and the Vices

St John of Damascos

Hence it is clear that someone who occasionally shows compassion is not compassionate, and someone who occasionally practices self-control is not self-controlled. A compassionate and self-controlled man is someone who fully, persistently, and with unfailing discrimination strives all his life for total virtue; for discrimination is greater than any other virtue; and is the queen and crown of all the virtues. The same is true of the vices: we call a man a fornicator, a drunkard or a liar not on account of a single lapse, but only when he keeps on falling into the sin in question and makes no attempt to correct himself.

There is something else which you must know if you really want to attain virtue and avoid sin.

Just as the soul is incomparably better than the body and in many major respects altogether more excellent and precious, so the virtues of the soul are infinitely superior to the virtues of the body. This is especially true of those virtues which imitate God and bear His name. Conversely, the vices of the soul are much worse than the passions of the body, both in the actions they produce and in the punishments they incur. I do not know why, but most people overlook this fact. They treat drunkenness, unchastity, adultery, theft and all such vices with great concern, avoiding them or punishing them as something whose very appearance is loathsome to most men. But the passions of the soul are much worse and much more serious then bodily passions. For they degrade men to the level of demons and lead them, insensible as they are, to the eternal punishment reserved for all who obstinately cling to such vices. These passions of the soul are envy, rancor, malice, insensitivity, avarice - which according to the apostle is the root of all evil (1 St. Tim. 6:10) - and all vices of a similar nature.

TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION?  

There are 2 ways to silence the conscience:  By doing extreme good or extreme evil.  + St. Maximos the Confessor (580-662 BC)

I think that St. Maximos is telling us that in becoming one with God's Will (Theosis) the conscience (God's small voice within us) is silenced.  Also, those who commit extreme and continual evil, God's voice within, gradually or instantly, becomes faint until it is silenced.  

The unconscionable mind, armed with unlimited and unbridled deceit and power, can create with ease, a state of genocide for millions of people and/or eventually slaughter them all - as confirmed in our history.  

Has there been a time when such individuals didn't exist?  Do they exist today? (Ed.)

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