"Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly desires, which war against the soul" (1 Pet 2:11).
Are not many of those present here in this place as sojourners from other, more or less distant places? They have come to the one ancient dweller here, who became a benefactor to many sojourners and pilgrims because he himself knew how to be a sojourner and pilgrim.
But will those who are here as present inhabitants of this place refuse the name of sojourners? Let them remember that David, in his house, in his royal city, on his throne, confessed himself a sojourner before God, like all his fathers.
"I am a stranger with You and a sojourner, as all my fathers were" (Ps 38:13).
Therefore, brethren, sojourners and pilgrims, let us receive from the hospitable Apostle Peter what he offers to sojourners and pilgrims.
As provision for the journey, as guidance and protection from errors, as a weapon against the dangers of pilgrimage, he gives us his God-inspired instruction.
"Beloved," he writes, "I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly desires, which war against the soul."
What "fleshly desires" mean in the apostolic instruction can be understood from these very words, though not fully.
Desire is a wish, but not every wish is desire in this sense. Desire is, as it were, a willing after willing, a wish extended beyond the bounds of natural desire.
It is passionate, not governed by law, order, and moderation. Fleshly desire, properly speaking, is the disordered desire for bodily and sensual pleasures, opposed to self-restraint, sobriety, and chastity.
Since Saint Peter warns us against desires "which war against the soul," let us call on other sacred writers to help us recognize these dangerous enemies better.
The Apostle Paul writes that "the saving grace of God" teaches "us to renounce impiety and worldly desires, and to live soberly, righteously, and piously" (Tit 2:12).
Here we meet the name "worldly desires," which nevertheless include fleshly desires, since a sober life is set against them.
The Apostle James writes: "desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin" (Jas 1:15). From this we must conclude that desires are as manifold as sins are manifold.
The Apostle John writes: "all that is in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from this world" (1 Jn 2:16).
Saint John, so that we may more easily survey the desires that war against us, points out their three chief divisions.
First is "the desire of the flesh," of which we have already given an idea.
Second is "the desire of the eyes," the unrestrained desire of insatiable eyes. It does not wish to use the objects of the visible world prudently, but to enjoy them greedily or possess them.
This includes covetousness, love of vain adornments, and passion for spectacles.
Third is "the pride of life," the desire to exalt oneself above others and to see others beneath oneself. It is the inclination to boast and vaunt oneself over certain advantages of the visible and temporal world.
Some of these advantages are worthy of a certain respect, such as birth, rank, knowledge, and extraordinary deeds. Others are vain and insignificant, such as wealth, pomp, and luxury.
All these kinds of desires may be called "fleshly," as they are called by the Apostle Peter, because their source and aim are the flesh, not the spirit.
They may also be called "worldly," as by the Apostle Paul, because they take their nourishment from the visible and temporal world.
From what has been said so far, one can see how full of meaning is the Apostle's brief exhortation: "abstain from fleshly desires."
He teaches us to withdraw from intemperance, drunkenness, indulgence of the flesh, covetousness, love of vain adornments, passion for spectacles, pride, vainglory, and the desire to abase others before ourselves.
That desire can easily pass into wishing evil to one's neighbors.
Moreover, he teaches us to withdraw not only from the deeds in which these passions and vices manifest themselves. He also teaches us to withdraw from disordered and passionate wishes that have not been put into action.
He teaches us to withdraw from desires that have not yet given birth to actual sin.
A vicious deed defiles the whole man, from soul to body, which serves the vicious deed to a greater or lesser degree. Yet one who is free from an outward vicious deed is still not wholly clean.
He is not clean if fleshly or worldly desire nests in his soul.
Christians, according to the apostolic word, "you are the temple of God" (1 Cor 3:16), and "the temple of God is holy, which you are" (1 Cor 3:17).
Therefore your body must be recognized as the more outward part of the temple of God. Your soul, heart, and mind are the inner sanctuary, in which Christ must dwell and the Holy Spirit must breathe.
Do you sufficiently guard the holiness of this temple of God if you cleanse only its more outward part, while carelessly permitting inward uncleanness in the inner sanctuary?
A passionate thought established in the mind is an idol set up in the sanctuary of God. A lustful desire ruling in the heart is the abomination of desolation in the holy place.
Ordinary people do not see this inward uncleanness. But God, the Knower of hearts, sees it, as do His Angels and the souls of the Saints, whose inner eyes are opened.
If we are ashamed when people like ourselves see the exposed uncleanness of our deeds, let us be ashamed a thousand times more when the all-pure God and His Saints see in us the hidden uncleanness of passionate thoughts and lustful desires.
What in an outward sinful deed appears repulsive even to people who themselves are not without vice is already contained in inward desire, as grass is in the seed and a creature is in the embryo.
For "desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is committed, gives birth to death" (Jas 1:15).
Therefore hasten to cast out from the soul the uncleanness that has not yet given birth, lest, when unfolded, it spread its stench through your whole being.
Hasten to weed out the tares barely rising from the soil of the heart, lest, when grown, they choke the wheat.
Hasten to crush the serpents' eggs before the venomous and deadly serpent is born.
Hasten to cast out from the inner sanctuary the idol of passionate thought and lustful desire before it demands murderous sacrifices.
"I beseech you to abstain from fleshly desires." Brethren, let us not be cold toward the exhortations of love and meekness.
Saint Peter could have taught with authority, as an Apostle, or spoken impartially, as a disinterested man. Instead, he chose to clothe his word in love and humility: "Beloved, I beseech you."
Why so? Because love and humility are inseparable and highest qualities of perfect Christians, and therefore also of Christ's Apostles.
And also because he knew the necessity of his exhortation for our salvation. He desired that the exhortation be received.
He also knew the natural action of a word of love and meekness. Like oil, it penetrates everything. Like a ray of the sun, it melts by itself even the ice of cold hearts, which is not easily broken by force.
He warns us of danger because he loves. He sacrifices his own dignity by entreating humbly, though he had the right to command.
He does this so that by his heart he may open the way to our heart and instill saving dispositions in us.
Can one fail to heed such a teacher and such instruction? "Beloved, I beseech you to abstain from fleshly desires."
So that this instruction may be more easily fulfilled, the farsighted teacher also points in passing to certain aids for fulfilling it.
The first aid is the thought that we are sojourners and pilgrims. "I beseech you," he says, "as sojourners and pilgrims."
The Apostle used the name sojourners in its simple and ordinary sense when he wrote at the beginning of his epistle: "to the elect sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1 Pet 1:1).
But this meaning cannot apply when he speaks about withdrawing from desires. Without doubt, this is equally laid as a duty on those living in their native land and those journeying in a foreign land.
Therefore the name "sojourners and pilgrims" in the Apostle's exhortation must have a higher, spiritual meaning.
The homeland from which we all are journeying is Paradise. The homeland that we all seek, or ought to seek, is again Paradise and Heaven.
With respect to this homeland, on earth and in temporal life, we are all "sojourners and pilgrims."
In sound reflection on this, one can find no small power to repel desires that assault our heart.
If, for example, fleshly desire approaches and calls you to sensual pleasure, you can answer it: depart from me. I am a sojourner and pilgrim.
On the road, people do not feast or live in luxury. A fair or poor inn, harsh or mild food, a soft or hard bed, differ little for a pilgrim.
When I have borne the privations of my pilgrimage with good courage, I shall be immeasurably rewarded with consolations in my homeland.
If the desire of the eyes presents perishable riches to the imagination and says, "Why do you have little? Why do you not strive to have more?" answer it also: I am a sojourner and pilgrim.
For a pilgrim it is often easier to carry little than much. If I preserve myself in pilgrimage, in the homeland treasures will be found for me "where neither worm nor corruption destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Mt 6:20).
If the pride of life begins to trouble you, asking why you are not exalted enough and not honored enough, say to it also: do not disturb me in vain.
I am here a sojourner and pilgrim, and I have such a lofty homeland that before it both what is exalted and what is humbled on earth is scarcely noticeable and equally insignificant.
Whether the invisible hand of Providence leads me through mountains or valleys, it is all the same, provided it leads me into that heavenly homeland.
The second aid for repelling desires is the penetrating and cautious perception that they "war against the soul."
Desire usually approaches the soul not in the form of a warring enemy, but in the form of a friend or obliging servant. It presents some pleasure or imagined good.
Now, as in the original temptation of the first human beings, the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes concerning the unlawful and forbidden suggest to the tempted one "that the tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes" (Gen 3:6).
And now pride promises, "you shall be as gods" (Gen 3:5).
But all this is only bait by which the evil hunter strives to charm and capture the poor soul.
It is the military cunning of the enemy. Pretending to be peaceful, he disposes a man to remain careless and unarmed, so that without resistance, or after only weak resistance, he may take him captive.
He casts him into slavery to a vicious inclination, binds him in the chains of sinful habit, and finally, through temporal death, transfers him into the realm of eternal death.
Bring this to mind, you who are tempted by desire. When a passionate and lustful thought offers you pleasure, understand that this is bait under which a hook is hidden.
It catches and drags into captivity and death. When it seems to caress you, think that in reality it "wars against the soul."
Immediately arm yourself with courage, and with the whole strength of a good will reject the evil desire.
Insofar as you feel the insufficiency of your own strength, hasten to flee by faith and prayer to Him Who was "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin," and Who is "able to help those who are tempted" (Heb 4:15; 2:18).
Flee to Him by divine power. Cast yourself before the Cross of the Conqueror of the sins that war against our souls. Draw near to His all-healing wounds.
THEOSIS