On the Evil of the Tongue and Similar Vices
an excerpt from St. Ephraim, Confessor and Doctor

The desires of this life vary in every man, so that each one may encounter a strong conflict (Wis. x. 12), in which he may constantly exercise his soul in virtue (I Tim. Iv. 7).  For there are those who are given to gluttony and excess, while they may abhor adultery.  Others are swollen with pride, but will not commit theft.  Others, despising the pleasures of the body, are devoured by avarice. There are those who are indifferent to personal adornment, but at the same time give themselves to dissipation. Others, who delight in wine, know nothing of pride. Some will have nothing to do with fornication, but in their heart deceit and hypocrisy flourish concealed. Then there are those who condemn extravagance, yet delight in speaking ill of others.  And there are others who rise above one vice, and wallow wholeheartedly in another. Some are free from reproach in one direction, and most evilly disposed in another. Some escape one snare, and are buried alive in the filth of some other vice.
Many, and indeed endless, are the forms of vice, and they all deceive men gradually.  From the smallest beginnings they slip heedlessly into greater sins. And when the devil seeks to overcome any man, he first considers what vice is it to which his nature is most inclined, so that, delighting in his bonds, he will not even wish to free himself.  For our cunning and deceitful enemy well knows what sort of bonds he can hold us; that should he force us unwilling into his snares, our soul, quickly breaking them, would soon regain its liberty.  And so he embraces each one with bonds that to him are pleasant and agreeable, and to which he cheerfully consents.
Yet with God as our Leader the soul can deliver itself from all snares of the enemy.  But now, though held fast by them, we are happy, and even proud of our servitude.  For one who is held by the bonds of envy, since he is a stranger to lust, will believe himself wholly free. And one given to the vice of calumny believes, because he hates robbery and theft, that he is free of every bond.  Each man’s bonds are concealed from him; and like a drunkard he is unaware of the snares laid for him. Those filled with wine, because of their drunkenness, neither feel the bonds that hold them, nor see the snares laid for them.  But the most kind God, at various times lays as it were this sort of yoke on all men; and to each one according to his strength is allotted a burthen of trial.
At that time the Jews were building the Tabernacle all, both rich and poor, offered something, so as to share in its sanctification.  Each offered a gift according to his means: one gold, one pearls, another precious stones, the poor gave carpets, and dressed skins. Rich women brought silks; poor widows brought dyed wool. And in this way the entire adornment of the Tabernacle was made up from gifts of rich and poor alike; and Moses blessed them all (Ex. Xxv, xxxix).