As Orthodox Christians, we hear the term “passions” used quite often. In the hymns of the Church, in the Scriptures, in the writings of the Fathers. We even hear this word in the prayers we recite every morning and night. We hear things like, “Save my passionate soul,” “Halt the onslaught of the passions,” and “Protect me from trials coming from men or demons or passions or any other unseemly thing.” But what does this word mean? What is a passion? Is a passion the same thing as a sin? How can we do battle against the passions and win the fight against them?
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What are passions?
To understand what the passions are, we must first understand what the virtues are. St. Basil defines both quite beautifully:
- A virtue is the proper use of the faculties and gifts God created inside us, using these gifts to turn toward God and make ourselves into His likeness.
- A passion, on the other hand, is the improper use of our faculties, turning them toward something that is temporal/created, rather than toward the Creator.
Put another way, the passions are the opposite of the virtues. They are the uncontrolled desires that come from our bodily needs, desires that place our own will and needs above God’s. While there are innumerable passions that can lead us to sin, the Orthodox Church names eight main ones. Each passion comes with its corresponding virtue:
| Passion | Virtue |
|---|---|
| Gluttony | Temperance |
| Lust | Chastity |
| Avarice | Generosity |
| Anger | Mildness |
| Dejection/Sadness | Happiness |
| Acedia (sloth/dejection/apathy) | Diligence |
| Pride | Humility |
Keep in mind, this list is by no means exhaustive. There are other passions, like envy, vainglory, and fear. Likewise, there are other virtues, like faith, hope, and wisdom. All passions lead us to sin, but with proper discipline, they can be tempered.
Where do the passions come from?
Above, we mentioned that the passions are the uncontrolled desires of the flesh. But where did these desires come from? When God created humanity, He created us perfect, with free will. It was through the exercise of our free will and choosing our own will over God’s that sin came into the world. The passions were not part of the original image of God that was placed inside us. They only came about as the result of the misuse of free will and our separation from God. Therefore, our natural state is one of virtue.
St. Macarius the Great writes: “Through the first man’s disobedience, we received in ourselves an element alien to our nature: the malice of the passions, which having passed into habit and inveterate disposition has become our nature.” In other words, our nature changed because the passions entered the world through mankind’s first sin. What once used to be unnatural is now normal, celebrated even.
Passions and sins are not the same
Many make the mistake of thinking a passion and a sin are basically synonymous. However, this is incorrect. The Church uses these terms very deliberately to describe two entirely separate things. Essentially, a passion is a desire or predilection, while a sin is the result of giving in to that desire.
In other words, all sins are born from the passions. War, discrimination, fornication, greed. And these sins flourish inside each of us whenever we give in to the temptations set before us by demons.
How do passions develop into sin?
All sin begins with the stirring of one of the passions. Some of these passions are unnatural, like anger, while others might stem from biological needs; our desire to eat, for example. Let’s take a look at each hypothetical, to learn how these seemingly harmless desires can morph into sin.
Example 1: Anger at another person
You are having a conversation with your spouse about something important. Finances, holiday plans, etc. During the conversation, your spouse disagrees with your ideas and expresses a different opinion. This suggests to you that your spouse is against you on this. As a result, you begin to feel angry. You might struggle against the anger and try to force it back. But perhaps your spouse says something else and disagrees with you.
Now, that feeling of anger seems rather attractive. You want to rebuke your spouse, to prove him/her wrong. You want to prove that you are right. Now you have fully accepted the anger into yourself and decide to take action. Perhaps you yell at your spouse. Perhaps you shut down and refuse to communicate anymore. Whatever action you take, that action was based upon your giving in to the passion. When you give in, you become enslaved to it. You reacted with selfish, indignant anger, which is a sin.
Example 2: Overeating
Our desire for food is perhaps the most basic of all the passions. We cannot live without food! This is a natural and good desire that God gave us for our well-being. Food itself is not sinful. Neither is our desire for it sinful. The sin lies in eating for pleasure, rather than for the health of our body. Does this mean we cannot enjoy the food we eat? No! We can (and should) enjoy and give thanks for the food the Lord provides for us. But when our appetites control us, when we eat cake just because we can, when we overindulge and eat things we know are not good for our health… That is sinful. It is a misuse of our desire.
This strong desire for food is why the Orthodox Church puts such an emphasis on fasting. In her wisdom, the Church understands that this particular passion – if we master it – can give us the strength to deal with the others. It is the natural first step in controlling our passions.
Related: 5 Lessons We Can Learn From Fasting
Slavery to the passions makes us spiritually sick
When we allow our passions to enslave us, something happens inside of us. We become addicted to the sin and cannot seem to control our actions. We know it is wrong, but we do it anyway, because we cannot seem to stop (Romans 7:15-20). The Fathers of the Church speak of passions as if they turn a person mad/crazy. Why? Because the passions push people to do things that they would not naturally choose to do.
This is how sin develops and persists. This is how sin makes us spiritually ill and in need of healing from Christ and His Church. The cure to this illness is repentance. Repentance, along with cultivation of the virtues, provides us medicine to heal from our sickness. It takes us out of that cycle of reacting and forces us to pause, reflect, and respond when our passions are roused.
While true repentance is not always easy, it is integral to our spiritual well-being. The path to our salvation calls us to develop control over each of the passions. And we cannot do so if we do not repent of our actions and try to change.
How can we fight these passions?
Thankfully, we are not powerless in this battle against the passions. The Church offers us many solutions in the Fathers, the lives of the Saints, and in the life of the Church itself. St. John Cassian writes:
Like skillful doctors who not only treat existing diseases, but also know how to prevent future ones and to take precautions with wise advice and medicine, in the same way these true doctors of the soul treat the emerging diseases of the heart in advance with their spiritual teaching like a heavenly antidote, and do not allow them to grow in the minds of the young ones, instructing them both in the causes of their present temptations and the means to cure them.
To fight the passions, you can:
- Pray for God’s help
- Maintain a regular prayer life
- Participate in worship as often as possible
- Read the Scriptures regularly
- Fast in accordance with the Church’s calendar
- Read the writings of the Fathers
- Go to confession
- Receive the Eucharist
- Cultivate the virtue for the passion you struggle against
Perhaps the best cure is the last in this list. If you struggle with lust, work with your spiritual father to cultivate chastity. If it is greed, then generosity. Pride, humility. It is through discipline and divine grace that the virtues blossom. And making conscious efforts to keep our passion in check and develop its corresponding virtue will, with God’s help, bear incredible fruit over time.
Conclusion
In summary, the passions are desires that, if we do not keep them under control, can lead us into sin and spiritual illness. If we hope to be victorious over the passions, we need to actively battle against them. We can do this through prayer, participating in the life of the Church, and cultivating the virtues in our life.
Keep Reading: Ancestral Sin: The Fall And Its Consequences