By Elder Timothy Tzannis
As the intestine widens, so does our soul distance itself from God.
As the intestine narrows from temperance, the soul dances with the angels.
When the heart is distressed, the abdomen narrows through sacred temperance.
Big stomach, mentally a fool.
Overeating, is the mother of harlotry and oversleeping, the sister of lust.
Adultery fears temperance, as a mouse does a cat.
Wicked desires flee the body of the temperate, in which God dwells continuously.
Temperate body, God's dwelling. Gluttonous body, devil's dominion.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.