By subordinating the spirit of our being to the lower impulses, without however succeeding in totally silencing it, the passions cause a tearing and disorder in our being, and consequently, a weakening.

But their effects are not limited to the subject itself.

Passions also create disorder in the relationships between their subjects and their fellow human beings.

Often, a passion spreads from its first subject to the life of another.

One person's greed gives rise to another's greed, which seeks to protect itself from the first's greed. Almost every passion tends to reduce others to the status of objects.

The latter then seek to defend themselves, giving rise to a conflict that often goes beyond mere defense, and in turn treats the first subject of the passions as an object.

Selfishness and the reduction of oneself to the limits of the passions awaken, through defense or revolt, the selfishness, restriction and impoverishment of others. A passionate person harms not only himself, but also others.

The victims of passion are not only their own subjects, but also their fellow human beings.

Passion manifests its destructive and disordered effect not only in the one who is animated by it, but also in those around him.

It affects them, and their reaction is often similar.

Thus, the debauchee uses other people as objects of pleasure, but by his behavior he makes those people debauched themselves, who in turn seek to treat other individuals as objects.

The proud person, by imitation or reaction, arouses pride in others. The relationships of pride thus created between individuals clash with the normal relationships of harmony and fragment the human community.

Members devour each other like reptiles, as Saint Maximus puts it.

All passions are opposed to true love, the only one capable of restoring normal harmony between human beings. Thus, passions produce and maintain chaos among men.

This is why, in founding the Church, Christ seeks to restore human unity or synergy. But this restoration is not possible without the weakening of passions.

by St Dumitru Stăniloae, holy priest confessor