The pleasure-loving heart is a prison of the soul


Another disease of the heart is the love of pleasure. Instead of focusing its pleasure and delight on the love of God, such a heart will be self-loving, serving only bodily pleasures, which are not pleasing to God. The heart that loves pleasures is a prison for the soul, especially in the last hour. Saint Mark the Ascetic remarked: “The heart that loves pleasures, at the time of its departure, becomes a prison and a chain for the soul.”

The passions of the soul can be satisfied as long as the body lives – but when the soul leaves the body, it can no longer fulfill them, because it lacks the material framework; no longer being satisfied, such passions, especially the love of pleasures, will strangle the soul. That is why in the patristic writings we are told about the devils who love pleasures. Let us remember, then, that the pleasure-loving heart is a prison and a chain for the soul at the time of its departure from the body.

A sick soul or one overwhelmed by passions transmits its disease to the entire psychosomatic structure: everything such a soul thinks or desires is dead. Abba Dorotheus said that as long as we are slaves to passions, we should not have the slightest confidence in our hearts or let ourselves be guided by it, for a corrupt guide will corrupt even the just and honest. And Saint Mark the Ascetic advises us: “Before uprooting evils, do not listen to your heart.”

Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

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