GLUTTONY II

GLUTTONY II

 

(The following is a journal entry left by the 4^th century monk, Evagrius Ponticus concerning his discovery of “the eight deadly sins”)

 

Dear God,

 

I have awoke this morn with a savage grumbling in my stomach.  I needed to stop

that grumbling, so firstly, as with everything, I got on my knees and prayed to you

dear Lord.  I asked you if it was okay that I ate early.  I asked you if I myself could

indulge my anticipations of the food that existed on my own person, in my own

abode, as I felt the need to consume food for my own nutrition---my own health. 

 

But you did not answer.  You did not answer and had I not begun to eat, my own

stomach would rumble forever, I feel.  I know lord that I have sinned, but I must

eat, and so I do continue.  I have eaten everything in my place, and I now go forth

outside my own abode to eat the food of my neighbor who has not risen yet. 

 

I, a devoted man of the cloth, now exiled in the Egyptian desert on account of my

guilt for having lived a life in sin, in the face of all these stories about your greatness, I still hear nothing back.  On my knees, or in flight toward another sin, I still hear nothing. 

 

Your Faithful Servant,

 

Evagrius, AD 375