GLUTTONY II

GLUTTONY II

(The following is a journal entry left by the 4th 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