Abba Poemen

A person’s will is a brazen wall and a stone hurled between himself and God. If one puts it aside, he can say the words of the psalm: “In my God I shall go over a wall” and “as for my God, his way is undefiled.” If righteousness assists the will, then a person does good.

He [Poemen] also said, “If a monk hates two things, he is able to free himself from the world, and these are,” he said, “the gratifications of the body and vainglory.”The same old man also said, “Wrath is a natural thing in a person, it is his nature, but it must be used to cut off evil passions. Hunger is natural in a person, but it must be employed [in satisfying] the needs of the body and not [to gratify] the feeling of eager lust [to eat], even as the blessed David said, “With him whose eye is lofty and whose heart is greedy I have not eaten.” Sleep “too is natural in humankind, but [it must not be indulged] to satiety.”