Reasons that excess consumption is immoral
First, it diminishes the rational and volitional faculties of the soul. It is a denial and rejection of the Logos, by denying and rejecting the logoi. It is the escape from God, the soul seeking its independence and liberation from its Source. It is apostasy.
Second, it is to drink too deeply of death, since the things we consume are dead things. It is to confirm slavery to death, denying the Incarnation. It is to deny the Eucharist and Cup of Life, by seeking fulfillment in a cup of death.
Third, by exaggerating dependency on the produce of the world, and by too much abandonment to enjoyment and satisfaction, it offers up the world as an end in itself. It is a denial of the sanctity of creation, the Incarnation, and embraces death as the proper end of man. It is a denial of the dignity of man and the proper subordination of nature to his intelligence, by subordinating his intelligence to nature. It is gluttony.
Fourth, it is a denial of nature, since by nature man is a rational soul. It is to seek the loss of that without which man cannot be saved. It is a denial of the Incarnation, since Our Lord took on human nature for us. It is a reversal of the order of nature.
Fifth, it is a form of obsession, which is a form of idolatry and apostasy. It is a passion.
Sixth, it is a rejection of communion with the Holy Trinity. It is the rejection of those faculties without which community is impossible. It is deafness and blindness to the energies of God.
Seventh, it is a rejection of theosis, of union with God. It is an abandoning of union by abandoning those faculties without which union is impossible. How can Christ be united to drunkenness, gluttony, or other obsession? It is a denial of His ever-presence, standing in intercession of us, seeking ever union with us. It is a denial that God lives.
Eight, it is the exaltation of empirical knowledge over revelation.
Ninth, it is the depriving of our peers of our full means of communion and service, and encouragement to despair, to hopelessness. It is despair. Despair is a passion.
Tenth, it is departure from the means of prayer, as well as the cycle and rule of prayer, and the holy calendar. It is a denial that time has significance, is redeemed, and is a creature. It makes time of no account, and denies the Holy Gospel.
Eleventh, it is a denial of the Church. It is a rejection of life lived within Her. It is apostasy.
Twelvth, it is a denial of the Theotokos, ever ready to serve Our Lord.
Thirteenth, it is a denial of the holy martyrs who disdain the world.
Fourteenth, it is a denial of the whole framework of spiritual warfare, whereby one overcomes the passions.
Fifteenth, it is to embrace death, by forgetfulness, sloth, and surrender. It proclaims death natural. It proclaims death victor, and denies the Incarnation of Him who has trampled down death by death.
Sixteenth, it is to fail to keep watch. It is to leave the post assigned. It is to deny spiritual combat, judgement, and the Kingdom.
Seventeenth, it is to deny one’s vocation, salvation, theosis, to deny the uniqueness of the individual. It is failure to build. It is to bury one’s talents. It is allow thorns to grow over the field.
Eighteenth, it is to lead others into the snare rather than to the truth. It is desertion of one’s friends. It is to leave them exposed to the enemy, and to shorten their days.
Nineteenth, it is to deny the holy ikons, whose images are ever sober. It is hypocrisy.
Twentieth, it is to lie. It is to lose faith. It is failure to love. It is the loss of the Holy Spirit.
I who always commit such things,
the unworthy