Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers

sloth

5 Entries

...to acquire good habits it is necessary to perform a greater number of right deeds, than the number of evil deeds required to establish bad habits; for bad habits take root more easily, since they are aided and abetted by the sin living in us, that is, by self-indulgence. Lorenzo Scupoli (Unseen Warfare

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Flee idleness and laziness; stand on guard watchfully, in all things peering closely at your thoughts, and wisely arranging and conducting the activities, demanded by your position. Lorenzo Scupoli (Unseen Warfare: Chapter 19)

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Having once tasted the pleasure of inaction, you begin to like and prefer it to action. In satisfying this desire, you will little by little form a habit of inaction and laziness, in which the passions for doing nothing will possess you to such extent that you will cease even to see how incongruous and criminal it is; except perhaps when you weary of this laziness, and are again eager to take up your work. Then you will see with shame how negligent you have been and how many necessary works you have neglected, for the sake of the empty and useless 'doing what you like'. Lorenzo Scupoli (Unseen Warfare: Chapter 20)

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Never delay in undertaking any work you have to do, for the first brief delay will lead to a second, more prolonged one, and the second to a third, still longer, and so on. Thus work begins too late and is not done in its proper time, or else is abandoned altogether, as something too burdensome. Lorenzo Scupoli (Unseen Warfare: Chapter 20)

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The good servant(4) receives the bread of his labor with confidence; the lazy and slothful cannot look his employer in the face. First Epistle Of Clement To The Corinthians, Chap. XXXIV

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