The Three parts of the soul ~ Appettive, Incensive, and Intelligent

 

St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Gregory the Theologian, Lorenzo Scupoli, St. Gregory Palamas and Plato.

According to our wise teacher (St. Gregory of Nyssa) the soul is tripartite. 

When virtue is in the mental part it is called circumspection, sagacity and wisdom. 

When it is in the desiring part it is called chastity, love and self-mastery. 

When it is in the excitable part it is called courage and patience. 

~ Abba Evagrius the Monk(Texts on Active Life no. 61)

Every deiform soul is tripartite, according to Gregory the Theologian. 

Virtue, when established in the intelligence, he calls discretion, understanding and wisdom; 

and when in the incensive power, he calls it courage and patience; 

and when in the faculty of desire, he calls it love, self-restraint and self-control.

~ St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic (A Century of Spiritual Texts no. 24)

Our soul has three parts or powers - the thinking, the desiring and the excitable. 

Owing to their corruption, these three powers give birth to three corresponding kinds of wrong thoughts and movements. 

The thinking power gives birth to thoughts of ingratitude to God and complaints, forgetfulness of God, ignorance of divine things, ill-judgment and all kinds of blasphemous thoughts. 

The desiring power gives birth to pleasure-loving thoughts, thoughts of vain-glory, love of money and all their numerous ramifications, belonging to the domain of self-indulgence. 

The excitable power gives birth to thoughts of anger, hatred, envy, revenge, gloating, ill-will, and generally to all evil thoughts. 

~ Lorenzo Scupoli (Unseen Warfare:Chapter 1

The soul is tripartite and is considered as having three powers: the intelligent, the incensive, and the appetitive. 

Because the soul was ill in all three powers, Christ, the soul's Healer, began His cure with the last, the appetitive. 

For desire unsatisfied fuels the incensive power, and when both the appetitive and incensive powers are sick they produce distraction of mind. 

Thus the soul's incensive power will never be healthy before the appetitive power is healed; 

nor will the intelligence be healthy until the other two powers are first restored to health. 

~ St. Gregory Palamas (To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia no. 29)

Human behaviour flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

~ Plato

thanks to:

https://www.orthodox.net/gleanings/soul.html

Sayings St. Anatoly the Younger ~ The demons in Christ's Church

 

From a letter of the Optina Elder [and New Martyr] St. Anatoly the Younger
SOURCE: Orthodox Life, #3, 1993

And from that heresies will spread everywhere and deceive many people. The enemy of the human race will act with cunning in order to draw into heresy, if possible, even the elect.

He will not begin by crudely rejecting the dogmas of the Holy Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ and the virtue of the Theotokos, but he will begin imperceptibly to distort the teachings and statutes of the Church and their very spirit, handed down to us by the Holy Fathers through the Holy Spirit.

Few will notice these wiles of the enemy, only those more experienced in the spiritual life. Heretics will seize power over the Church and will place their servants everywhere; the pious will be regarded with contempt. He (the Lord) said, by their fruits ye shall know them, and so, by their fruits, as well as by the actions of the heretics, strive to distinguish them from the true pastors.

These are spiritual thieves, plundering the spiritual flock, and they will enter the sheepfold (the Church), climbing up some other way, using force and trampling upon the divine statutes. The Lord calls them robbers (cf. St. John 10:1). Indeed, their first task will be the persecution of the true pastors, their imprisonment and exile, for without this it will be impossible for them to plunder the sheep.

Therefore, my son, when you see the violation of patristic tradition and the divine order in the Church, the order established by God, know that the heretics have already appeared, although for the time being they may conceal their impiety, or they will distort the Divine Faith imperceptibly, in order to succeed better in seducing and enticing the inexperienced into the net.

The persecution will be directed against not only pastors but against all servants of God, for all those ruled by heresy will not endure piety. Recognize these wolves in sheep’s clothing by their proud dispositions and love of power. They will be slanderers, traitors, everywhere sowing enmity and malice; therefore the Lord said that by their fruits you will know them. True servants of God are humble, love their neighbor and are obedient to the Church.

Monastics will be greatly oppressed by the heretics and monastic life will be scorned. Monasteries will become scarce, the number of monastics will decline, and those who remain will endure violence. These haters of monastic life, however, having only the appearance of piety, will strive to attract the monks to their side promising them protection and worldly goods, and threatening those who oppose them with expulsion.

These threats will cause great despair among the fainthearted, but you, my son rejoice that you have lived until that time, for then the faithful who have not shown any other virtues, will receive crowns merely for standing firm in the faith, according to the word of the Lord (cf. St. Matthew 10:32).

Fear the Lord my son. Fear to lose the crown prepared (for you), fear to be cast by Christ into the outer darkness and eternal torment. Stand bravely in the faith, and if necessary, endure persecution and other sorrows, for the Lord will be with you… and the holy martyrs and confessors, they will look upon you and your struggle with joy.

But woe to the monks in those days who will be bound with possessions and riches, who because of love of peace will be ready to submit to the heretics. They will lull to sleep their conscience, saying, “We are preserving and saving the monastery and the Lord will forgive us.” The unfortunate and blind ones do not at all consider that through heresy the demons will enter the monastery and then it will no longer be a holy monastery, but merely walls from which grace will depart.

God, however, is mightier than the enemy, and He will never leave His servants. True Christians will remain until the end of this age, only they will choose to live in secluded, deserted places. Do not fear sorrows, rather fear pernicious heresy, for it strips us of grace and separates us from Christ. This is why the Lord commanded us to consider the heretic as a pagan and a publican.

And so my son, strengthen yourself in the grace of Jesus Christ. Hasten to confess the faith, to endure suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (cf II St. Timothy 2:13), Who has said, Be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life (Rev.2:10).

To Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honor, glory, and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

thanks for posting:

https://www.monomakhos.com/a-prophesy-of-future-lawlessness-by-st-anatoly-the-younger-1922/

Sayings Socrates & Confucius ~ The importance of the meaning of words

 

You may be sure, dear Crito, that inaccurate language is not only in itself a mistake: it implants evil in men's souls.

~ Socrates (Phaedo, Plato)

If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.

~ Confucius