Memra 29: On the Discipline of the Body

Memra 29: On the Discipline of the Body My body, which does not subdue the flesh and enslave the flesh, says Paul. Lest I have preached the flesh to the nations, the flesh has rebelled against me. The flesh makes my body a slave, and it subdues the flesh, and it does not allow the flesh to clothe itself, to eat, to be adorned, and to be at ease according to its desire; and it does not allow the flesh to be honored as it wishes, nor to sleep in honor. Rather, it enslaves the flesh to me by hunger and thirst and nakedness, and by vigil and weariness, and by toil and hardship, and by frequent fasting and frequent prayer, and by supplication and powerful groans, and by many and sharp tears, and by humility, and by patience, and by poverty of spirit. And it enslaves the flesh to me for my standing, so that like a slave it honors everyone, and that it stands before every person, and that it greets everyone first, and that it bows its head before everyone.

He makes his body like a servant that runs on its feet, and he goes to pasture his enemies while not begrudging them his own flesh; and he bows his head before one smaller than himself, just as Marʿa bowed his head before Yoḥannan and was baptized by him, though Yoḥannan was smaller than him and had no authority over him. And that great one was blessed by that small one, who was his servant and his creature, so that he might be a teacher for us of how we should do service to one smaller than ourselves who has authority over us, just as Yoḥannan had authority over Marʿa. And he makes his body like a servant that trips the feet of his enemies and inquires after the welfare of his murderers, just as Marʿa gave a greeting to the Scribe and prayed for his murderers. And he makes his body like a servant that calls “my father,” “my mother,” “my brothers,” “my sisters,” “my lords,” and “my parents” to his fellow-servants, just as the Lord called his servants “my brothers.” For he said, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers.” And he also said to the Scribe, “Why have you come, my friend?” If, then, for the sake of his economy he called “my friend” to his murderers, how much more should he call them thus who gave themselves for his sake? He leads his body like a servant to a place where he does not wish to go, to his enemies and to those who persecute him, just as Marʿa went and taught his persecutors and his enemies.

He makes his body like a servant that runs on its feet, and he goes to pasture his enemies while not begrudging them his own flesh; and he bows his head before one smaller than himself, just as Marʿa bowed his head before the wicked and the arrogant who were smaller than him. And just as God bowed his head before his people for good, that they might be exalted, but they became arrogant in evil and killed him and stoned him with stones, as it is written in the Old Testament that they stoned him with stones. And as it is written in the Evangelion: that which was his came, and that which was his did not receive him. But those who did receive him, he gave them authority over the children of God that they might be. And because of this, that Paul writes to you: Discipline your bodies, and then you will eat the body of the Lord and drink his blood. For if a man does not subdue his body and afflict it and enslave it until he subdues it and it obeys him, then he eats the body of the Lord and drinks his blood; it is for condemnation that he eats and drinks. And because you do not discipline your bodies with fasts, and you do not entreat the Lord to heal you, for this reason many among you are sick and ill, and many sleep and many are drunk and become foul and are despised, because you do not discipline yourselves and subdue your bodies.

Also, sin was mixed with the passions through the transgression of the commandment, and it inclined them to the works of frivolity and vileness, and of pride and arrogance, and of gluttony and the ticklings of trembling limbs, and of deceit and shamelessness, and of drunkenness and mockery and foolishness. But even the governor of the passions loved these lower works, just as from the beginning, because of them, the passions obeyed sin by their own will. For sin also, because it knows that the governor rejoices in these works, inclines him to go after them, so that in that which the passions love, they may be caught while rejoicing; that is, that without a battle they may go after that which they love. And if Paul had not known that his body was a companion to sin, and he struggled with that deadly thing of life which is little in his mind, and he wished to kill it along with sin entirely, so that it might not be healed for the house of life, he would not have spoken thus: that my body is the one that subdues the passions, so that it may not be stamped along with sin, which struggles with the passions both from without and from within—it and the daughters of its kind, the evil spirits. For it is written thus: that he was inflamed for food; that is, for the stomach and for gluttony. But when he wishes that the Lord dwell in him, he constrains his body and serves the Lord with those fruits of the spirit that are written in the Apostle.

He restrained his body and his soul from those carnal works that are written. For the body, in which sin is mixed, is inclined toward carnal works; and the spirit of God is inclined toward its fruits. Do you see how Paul commands you to stand firm in your standing, until there is in you the power to restrain his commandments and to submit to the Lord? See, my son, and understand how much power is hidden in these praises of the Lord, and perform them as a matter of habit and not as a matter of passion. For this reason, the words of God do not produce good works in you, because you do not give them a place in your soul where they can strike root. For even the wicked desire to learn the words of the Lord as a matter of habit, while they serve in their temples and do the will of demons. For when one teaches another a psalm, and says to him, "Be inclined away from anger, and be inclined away from wrath," neither does the teacher bring it to his mind, nor does the disciple understand how his master teaches him. Do they not stand in habit, and not in passion and in understanding? And because they do not do what they say, they become companions without knowing. For this reason the prophet said: "Let my heart see, and let my mouth speak, and let my voice be heard." That is, let me know what I say. As a tree that bends over the surface of the water, so also my soul bends toward you, O Lord.

and it is thirsty for you, my soul, for the living God: when will he come and I see your face? And it is not as the teachers teach, nor as one does who knows, nor does a man remind you how you ought to act; they say, "It is sin." Is it not like a dead bellows in which there is no living soul, that the words of God strike upon it, and it is by habit that sin learns, and not by pain and the inner mind? What do they say, that an evil heart has passed over you and does not know evil, and they goad one another to sin, so that even the word of the mouth or the peace of the lips do not provoke one another to sin? And there are those who even cast evil accusations upon one another and repay one another with evil deeds. Has not the truth been hidden from the mind, just as they do not teach sin to their members, and as by habit they teach others? I humbled myself by fasting and prayer, and I made a sackcloth my garment, and ashes my bread. And I became ill in my knees from fasting, and my body withered from oil. And I was a laughingstock to my brothers and a mockery to the sons of my mother. And the cares of the world were not equal to me; the skins of lambs and goats were my clothing, and nothing in this passing world was enough for me.

and they sin, the teachers, they sin toward others: they do not teach themselves. But they eat sin with flesh and they drink sin, wine without measure, while their first companions ate ashes and drank their own tears in weeping. And they clothe themselves in adorned garments and they adorn themselves for the desire of their flesh, while their companions wore goatskins and coarse haircloths. And you have possessions and you become lords of the house of the father. And they sin against strangers, while their companions were made strangers and foreigners to their brothers and their fathers, and they possessed nothing in this world, except for a modest sustenance and a simple covering. And those first teachers were fasting and humble before all the living. And you desire to be raised above all the living. They walked in afflictions, and you wish to walk in ease and in comforts. What do they say about these things and you do not do? Have you not learned that you have not learned? Do you not know how you have learned? Therefore he said: Blessed is the people who know your praises. O Lord, by the brightness of your face they walked, and by your name they rejoiced every day, and by your righteousness they were raised. Because the praise of your people is you, and by your will the honor of your people is raised.

I have seen that they do not know and do not perform the praises of the Lord; rather, they walk in the pride of his face, and they are troubled by the salvation of his name, and they are raised up, they read in the victory of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, they worship him. I desire to speak to you, my brothers, of the humility and lowliness of Christ, that you may set up your bodies as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice in a rational service. For something that is killed is called a sacrifice; something that is living is not so called. But they, because while they are living they are killed, are called a living sacrifice. For the affliction of hunger and thirst, and by measure he ate bread and salt, and by measure he drank water, and he was crucified before bread and water and was not satisfied, like the death that ate Hezekiel and drank by measure and by weight, and he was tormented by hunger and thirst and was not satisfied, and he was strangled, he ate by prayer and by humility and by the mind of the spirit: these ate his limbs and the death of the body. My brothers, hear and understand: that many fasts are commanded by God to the sons of men, that you may fast and be helped and be humbled and be enriched. For whenever one fasts from all foods, and passes over from all evils, and does all goods, his fast is fully known.

And if he eats bread and water alone, again he becomes fat; and if he eats bread by weight and drinks water by measure, so that he is not satisfied even with dry bread and cold water, again he becomes fat and casts a shadow. And if he sprinkles ashes on the bread and eats, as it is written: "Ashes are like bread for me to eat," while humbling himself before everyone and making peace with everyone, by these things he greatly breaks his body, and his spirit is strengthened by the Lord, and the Lord has mercy on him and saves him. And if he fasts from choice foods and from everything that is pure, and becomes purified and sanctified and is without desire, and his mind is with the Lord all the days and nights, quickly the Lord saves him and perfects him. For because of great foods and choice foods, people are led astray by desire and are hindered and remain far from God and are without fruit. Just as, therefore, among foods there are many fasts, so also among persons, those who are beneath these fasts of which I spoke and are in marriage, when they loosen the bonds of iniquity and cut the saws of sin and release the imprisoned to freedom, they fast indeed, as it is written: "He who chooses this fast before God, that a person passes from evil deeds and eats foods, from him who fasts from foods and does evil deeds." And if a person passes from evil deeds and does righteous deeds.

and he saves the afflicted and gives relief to the distressed. Again he becomes fat and grows stout in his fast, while he eats and drinks properly, and while he dresses well, and while he stands in the churches, and he is in a good state. For fasting and prayer clothe him against evil deeds and urge him to do good deeds. When he passes, then, from all evil deeds, and becomes purified and sanctified, and observes these fasts which I mentioned above, he who does thus—he fasts for the world, and is able to pray and keep the commandments of the Lord, and the Lord gives him power to be according to his will, the great, receptive, and perfect one. Just as there are many fasts, so there are many kinds of breaking of the fasts that begin many fasts. For just as when one indulges in many foods and many wines, and eats greedily and drinks intemperately, he becomes fat and grows stout and sins, so when one does his will in anger, he becomes fat and grows stout and sins. And when one does his will in pride, and when one does his will in excessive garments, and gratifies the desire of his flesh, he becomes fat and grows stout and sins. And those who break the fasts are not able to know the truth. And they are not free. But even if they do what is good while they are in the state of breaking the fasts, their deeds are very small, and they are already deficient; they are like slaves in the place of the Lord, and not like free men or sons and heirs.

and whoever steals, or oppresses, or plunders, or wrongs: he is examined and found guilty. And in fornication, and in vileness, and in enmity: and in song, and in entertainment, and in speech: and in laughter and in evil habits: he is examined in his mind and judged. And in sorcery, and in murder, and in deceit: he is examined in his mind and dies. And in afflictions, and in incantations, and in whisperings, and in everything evil: and in every vain and foolish word: he is examined in his mind and is found guilty and convicted. And if he does not repent and desist from these, he is condemned and judged. But if he refrains from all these and fasts and humbles himself, he conquers and is delivered. For God is not pleased with fasts, nor is he satisfied with examinations; but because God knows that through these fasts the house of life is built, and through them again the evil one is conquered. For this reason he commands you to fast diligently. And because the Lord knows that through examinations and through strivings the sin is strengthened against you at all times, and Satan destroys you, for this reason the Lord warns you against examinations and against strivings; because through examinations and through strivings all evil deeds are accomplished, and through fasts and through prayers and through humiliations all good deeds occur.

and he who commands your Lord that you be firm in prayer: not that your Lord is angry at prayer, but that he who prays and entreats and begs from him that your Lord may love you and protect you and give you good requests, and deliver you from all afflictions, and save you from trials, as it is said: pray that you do not enter into a trial. But by your grace and your mercies, save and rescue from evil. Glory to him, our Savior and our Victor, forever and ever, amen. Not, then, that foods are harmful in themselves, nor because they are placed in the mouth of a human being that they are harmful, but the body is corrupted and constricted and stretches the mouth to something that harms it, and weight is placed on the head from foods, and there arises in it a place for sin. And it makes him sleep from truth, and he eats greedily and drinks intemperately, and he hears from commands and rebels, and he causes your Lord and his commandments to err, as it is written: Israel heard and rebelled, and caused the strong one who redeemed them from Egypt to err. And because of this, your Lord commands that you beware lest you burden your hearts with eating and drinking and the abundance of wealth, and you cause truth to err and you sleep from righteousness, and you stray from my commandments and you sin. Awake and beware, for you do not know when the bridegroom will come.

Your enemy Satan is vigilant and rages like a lion, and he desires to devour you while you are still alive. And it is not the soiled garments that he seeks to tear, but your own garments: your eyes are raised, your heart is puffed up, and you transgress the law and loosen the commandments, and you become guilty on the day of the Lord who quickens all. For this reason the Lord said that this race of Satan and of sin does not depart except through fasts, humiliations, chastisement, and good works. For there are days when a person fasts, and days when he eats. And a person is not turned toward prayer and humility, but toward fasting. And a person is not raised up and strengthened, except through the austerity of foods and soiled garments. For when the body is strong from foods, then sin grows strong against the body and against the soul in all evils, and it sins against the whole person. For when the body is weak from fasts and humiliations, then the spiritual power of the soul is in the spirit and in prayer. Therefore, just as fasts are many, so also are the commandments; just so, humiliations are many, which conquer sin, so that in the peace of this you may ask.

Bow down to this one, honor that one, stand before this one, and call that one "my brother" and "my sister." To these, "my father" and "my mother"; to these, "my son" and "my daughter." To this one, learn; to that one, teach; to this one, love; to that one, be severe; to this one, be gentle; to that one, be harsh; sit with this one, and hunt with that one. Ask from this one, and be asked by that one; be at ease with one, and fear another because he is evil. And if you can, honor the humble one and do not harm him. And to every person, let your humility be known in its proper measure and order, so that you may know what and to what extent you owe each one of these virtues, and to what extent two of them, and to what extent three and four, and to what extent you owe all of them, to the one who brings you to perfection and to complete nourishment, as it is written: that your humility may be known to all people in their lives. And you do not know what each person owes you: to what extent peace, to what extent love and affection, to what extent fear and honor. And to no person do you owe anything except one to another for the sake of love. And the Lord of peace will be with you from God your Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus again, my brothers, understand that many are the hard things that have come to pass.

just as when someone strikes or beats or persecutes, he is bound and guilty, so also whenever someone sins against another, and when he becomes angry or envious or puffed up or exalted, or fears from a sinful man, and does not remain in his own mind and submit himself, then the sin of sins sins, and when he falls, he says "Hear," but the man is cautious of himself in these and those like them, he is bound and sins.

and when he looks at the honor of his companion, and when he holds a grudge in his heart, and when he rebels against instruction, and when he scoffs at the word of truth and oppresses the truth, and when he fears because of these things that are transient and passing, and when he spreads a rumor about someone from a distance without having seen him or followed him, and when he utters a word that is not right and not in its proper measure against a person, and when he accuses unjustly, or persecutes without mercy, and when he strikes in secret and speaks unjustly, and when he is unjust and insolent, and when his eye is evil, and when he lies and does not keep his word, and when he has something and does not share it with one who is in need, and when he is small-minded and fills his mouth with foul speech, and when he does not apportion honor to whom it is due, and when he speaks slanderous words about the good, or mocks the righteous, or blasphemes against the virtuous, and when he throws, carries, and brings something in a disorderly manner and does not leave it for a person, and when he oppresses strangers and wrongs hired workers, and when he reveals his companion's secret, and when he oppresses a person or reveals his secret—everyone fears and flees from him as from a roaring lion. All these things and the rest that are like them: a person is guilty in them, and is estranged, and is cut off, and sins, and is separated from God and from human beings.

of a man who overcomes evil and rises above all these, and is with the Lord in spirit and does all good deeds, and has compassion on every man, both good and evil, and in his great love does not cease from any man until he calls him and brings him to the house of life. Blessed is he who does thus, for he is with the Lord. And concerning that which was said by the Spirit in Isaiah: that it is not the fast that bends a man's neck like a hook, and eats sackcloth and ashes, but rather the fast that is chosen, that loosens the bonds of iniquity and cuts the fetters of restraint. It is not that this fast is not good that Scripture says, for the Lord did not reject sackcloth and ashes and the one who bends his neck like a hook in hunger and thirst, and in poverty and in haircloth and in solitude; but the Lord, through Isaiah, condemned the deceivers, whose bellies were filled with anger and plunder and robbery among their neighbors, and who oppressed free men with servitude, and devoured the houses of orphans and widows, and did every evil, and falsely wore sackcloth and ashes under their feet, and fasted from bread deceitfully, because they showed themselves to men, and bowed their stature and lowered their faces and prayed in the streets to be seen by men as righteous, while they practiced hidden wickedness.

he, therefore, who overcomes the deceivers who fast in pride and humble themselves in deceit, the Lord has denied and said: He does not accept a false humility and a deceitful fast; and he has commanded a man to eat and drink and wear white, and not to do evil deeds while fasting and wearing sackcloth and afflicting every man with the evil deeds he commits. But the rest, for every man who passes beyond all these evil deeds and runs after good deeds, the Lord desires that he fast and humble himself, and wear sackcloth and eat ashes and prostrate himself all his hours until he is saved by his Lord and conquers all heresies and is comforted. And from this, know that the Lord denied the deceivers through Isaiah: for behold, the prophets and apostles humbled themselves and wore skins of lambs and goats, and wrapped themselves in sackcloth, and ate by weight and drank by measure and ate ashes, as it is written: The Lord rejoiced in them and did not deny them, but spoke good things about them and increased them. And thus today the Lord desires in a man whom he chooses for the grace of solitude and who loves holiness, and desires that he purify his heart and see the Lord in his glory, and be perfected and dwell in him, that he mortify his body as Paul said, and humble himself and put his body to death, and fast continuously and pray, and be stripped and sanctified and take up his cross, and tread in the sufferings of the Savior.

otherwise, he cannot be equal to him and be perfected, and attain the reward that reached the saints through toil. The rest, however, every man as he is able, and he repays every man according to his deeds, and he does not wrong a man who gives a cup of water or a piece of bread. Nor does he wrong a man who fasts for one hour in separation and passes the time of the beginning, and prays and thus receives a reward. And when a man sins greatly, he cannot receive a cup of water nor a piece of bread, nor can he receive the sandals of the feet and the bandages of the sick and the garments of strangers; a man who has a house cannot receive them. Nor can a man receive beautiful words and a kiss of love, unless he wishes to be evil. But God, who sees the toil of those who are in the world, who wish to receive through their poverty the things of the tables, and are constrained because they have transgressed his commandments, he wearies them with these visible things, and gives them these that are gentle and invisible. It is said concerning a man, a word that is false or deceitful or true, and the speakers of these words are ready; for these vain words will be given a judgment on the day of judgment, and they will bring forth a spirit upon them; they and those who cause them to be loosed and who err after their speakers, when they have not seen them clearly nor touched them truly.

For this reason, the righteous guard themselves, so that even when they see those who say, "Do not let one person stumble another," they are not ensnared by that on the day of judgment and of their deceit. From your words you will be justified, and from your words you will be condemned. And an account will be demanded of you concerning them on the day of judgment. For this reason, everyone who fears the coming judgment guards himself from those things for which he would be condemned, and flees from many sins. For if to this earthly king and his scribes nothing escapes of the deeds of the kingdom, how much more so to that heavenly king and that scribe of the Spirit does nothing escape of the deeds of the sons of men? For he examines everything in an orderly manner and says thus: "So-and-so, what did you say in such-and-such a place? Come, give an account." And if he says, "I heard it from so-and-so," that person is not accepted from him, but rather, "Give me an account of the word: why did you let it go and proclaim it when you did not see it?" Again, he says in Isaiah: "This is my rest: spread out the nets." I have seen how the doers of righteous deeds spread nets, and they spread them for the Lord, and He spreads them for them on His great day. And in this world He does not let them go, for David said, "I have not seen a righteous man who was abandoned, nor has his seed lacked bread.

Therefore, for the solitary ones, this is not a matter of meat and wine, that they might be perfected; rather, it is thus contended: that dry bread and water should not satisfy them, because thus the head is disturbed, and it cries out and trembles in fasting and in prayer, and in the afflictions of the body and in its garments. For unless the head dies in its life from the disturbances of this world, and from its pleasant comforts, and from its murderous desires, and from the guilty ones who sit upon its head, it cannot become what passes from its body with the Lord, as Paul said, and as the Lord said: "Narrow is the way for me, and straitened is my path." He who loves me, let him destroy himself for my sake. Therefore, he who stands apart from him, all his bodily pleasures whose desire is weak, and for me, he who destroys himself in afflictions, finds me, and his heart rejoices in me, says the Lord, and I do not feel that he takes his joy. For this reason, the Spirit said through the mouth of David: "Eat forever and live forever, eternally, and you shall not see destruction." Why then, in this visible labor, does he command that you come and toil? For it was not commanded that you cut stones and sink bricks and seek in pits, which tomorrow will fall or pass by; nor that you dig up treasures and place deposits in the earth, which in a short time are there, for either you die and the treasures remain in the earth, or they pass by and take them and leave you in the earth.

Brothers, everyone who does not labor in the practice of truth is agitated by the desires of the flesh and is humbled. For behold, the Lord strikes him every day of his life. But if, when he is idle from the practice of truth, he does not fall to the ground, he is greatly entangled in the desires of the murderers at all times and is condemned. But for this reason the Spirit said, "Never to them." For as long as you are in this world, labor, run, and strive in fasting, in prayer, in vigil, in supplication, in humility, in meekness, in love, in holiness, in poverty, in patience, in sufferings, in truth, and in the understanding that you may live forever. Understand, brothers, and see that the dead sin against righteousness and the living sin in sin; the strong sin in transient labor, and the weak sin in labor that does not pass; and as in the flesh, the weary sin in it and in transient things, the weary are deprived of all their strength; and your bodies die from truth, from love, and from holiness; and they live in the falsehood of the erring, which it was fitting that you flee from falsehood and from desires, and live for truth, for love, and for holiness.

and the whole of him who makes the body a partner to sin becomes its companion, because he tasted death from the beginning by the transgression of the commandment of the father Adam, and strayed from the truth, and died to good things, and lived in evil things. And unless by great labor he does not die to evil things, and lives and is established in good things. Therefore, let him be bound by fasting and vigil and prayer until he finishes from himself the old man, outwardly and inwardly. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you, the living and the dead. Also over your enemies and adversaries may they be his friends, and may they forgive you all your sins. And over your friends, moreover, may he abundantly pour out his grace, and may he cause you to reign in the hand of his Christ, amen. And those who read and are zealous and learn and do and teach in our Lord Jesus Christ, remember me in prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. For this is the name of the power of the Trinity by which the pains and afflictions of Adam and his descendants are healed, and their blemishes are covered, and their sins are healed. For it is the tree of life of the Garden of Eden, by which the living live from death, which is this life-giving spiritual tree, as Paul said: that by this name of Jesus every knee bows and by it every tongue confesses in heaven and on earth.

And thus it is fitting for us to say in our prayer: Lord Jesus, save us from evil, and make us as is your will. Father in heaven, bless Jesus the Messiah, deliver us from temptations, and make us as is your will, the receiver and perfect one. And because Paul knew that without this name nothing ascends to the head, for this reason he commanded: Everything that you do in word and in deeds, do in the name of Lord Jesus the Messiah, and keep his words, and you will conquer evil, and he will save you. The end of Memra 29: On the Discipline of the Body.