The opposing virtues must be immediately planted in place of eradicated passions. The Holy Fathers enumerate these virtues in the following order: (1) abstinence is opposed to gluttony, (2) chastity is opposed to fornication, (3) non-acquisitiveness is opposed to avarice, (4) meekness is opposed to anger, (5) blessed tears about one’s sins are opposed to despair, (6) sobriety is opposed to sorrow, (7) humility is opposed to vanity, and (8) love is opposed to pride.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
The Struggle for Virtue: Asceticism in a Modern Secular Society p.135
Archbishop Averky’s book, the Struggle for Virtue, is an excellent book to read and re-read often. He addresses head on the question, “What is asceticism?” The Archbishop counters the many false understandings that exist and shows that the practice of authentic asceticism is integral to the spiritual life and the path to blessed communion with God.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev) taught and served in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Germany before being assigned in to teach at the Holy Trinity Seminary in New York. In 1960 became the abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery and was heavily involved in the formation of the seminary curriculum and the daily life of the seminarians and monks.
“Archbishop Averky was one of the last giants of 20th-century Orthodoxy . . . . [He] was an Orthodox scholar in the unbroken tradition of patristic thought which has come down to us from the ancient Fathers to our own days.” —Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), author, The Orthodox Word
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