Lenten Citation (2): St. John of Karpathos

This Lent I will be posting some citations from the Philokalia on fasting, without commentary. I hope you find them helpful in your Lenten devotional practice.

Suppose you have ordered yourself not to eat fish: you will find that the enemy continually makes you long to eat it. You are filled with an uncontrollable desire for that thing that is forbidden. In this way you can see how Adam's fall typifies what happens to all of us. Because he was told not to eat from a particular tree, he felt irresistibly attracted to the one thing that was forbidden him.

St. John of Karpathos