Hearing and smell are the two senses St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite discusses the least and spends little time on in his Handbook on Spiritual Counsel. On hearing, he discusses three primary evils arising from sound and how our ears must guard against these so as not to arouse the mind. Because the mind is easily led astray by the body and the body easily leads astray the mind. The three evils that come with listening to certain sounds are that the soul becomes effeminate and lethargic, the mind is filled up with so many sensual passions that it eventually holds slave to them, and finally, even if the singer is not seen, and especially if the singer is a woman, these sounds are capable of impressing the imagination (Handbook of Spiritual Counsel, ch. 4).
St. Basil tells us not to "submit your souls to corrupt melodies that come to us through the ears" and St. Gregory the Theologian tells us to "not have the flute played to our hearing" and "in his Iambic poetry he wrote: 'Block your ears with wax, and foolish words hear not, nor pleasant songs or thrilling melodies'" (ibid). St. Nicodemos further makes his case by referencing the story of Odysseus. In the The Odyssey, there is a part where Odysseus and his men are sailing through an area of sirens who attempt to lure sailors to their watery graves with their songs. Their songs are so beautiful that the sailors are enchanted by them. Odysseus wants to hear the sirens so he has his men tie him up to the mast but he has his crew members fill their ears with wax. Odysseus is drawn to the sound of the sirens and even begins to beg his men to untie him but his men don't hear a sound. His men remain steadfast and obedient to the command they heard. Their ears are filled with wax and they remain unlured by the sirens.
Finally, St. Nicodemos addresses that we must not hear or regard slanderous thoughts or slanderous talking. While there is a point to make in regard to the more sensual sounds driving the mind to sensual thoughts and practices, there is a further point to make in regard to slanderous statements driving the mind to think evilly of one's neighbor. Especially unjustly, when we think of our neighbor in such ill-repute, we lead ourselves into entering into murderous libel against our neighbor for to hate our neighbor already makes us guilty of the sin of murder. He comments, without further statement or example, that the life of St. John the Merciful is filled with such examples of how we must not regard or listen to slanderous thoughts.
Smell has a similar line of thought to hearing. Once again, the fragrances of sweet-smelling perfumes lead a soul to becoming effeminate, desiring soft things, refusing to recognize its earthly origins. Sweet-smelling fragrances and perfumes "not only weaken the manly character of the soul and give it effeminate air, they also may incite the soul toward fornications and other moral licentiousness" (ch. 5). Veros of Sicily is read about in history books as a character resembling that of a wild boar. He never wanted to be without the smell of roses. He wore roses around him at all times. St. Nicodemos also comments on Marcus Aurelius "who was so immersed in the habit of pleasing his senses that he would literally fill up a pool of rose water and would swim in it with joy and pleasure" (ibid).
Seeing that these fragrances can lead even sound minds to such effeminate insanities, St. Arsenios would train himself "to endure humbly even the foul smells" and "would never change the water in which he soaked the palms of date trees and the young shoots which he braided into baskets" (ibid). This produced such a foul smell that he was eventually inquired as to why he persisted in doing this. St. Arsenios responded that it was a repayment of all the sweet smells of myrrh and perfume he had previously enjoyed from earthly kingdoms. If one refuses to remain idle, they must work. When one works, the body produces heat and the body emits sweat to regulate the cooling of the body. This leads to the body becoming stinky with the salts emitted from sweat. By sweating and remaining active we cut off the effeminate attachment to sweet fragrances and we also burn fats which fuel the libido and sexual drive. We become more able to combat passions.
St. Nicodemos also includes at the end of his chapter on smell that the clergy must not smoke. Several reasons he lists are that when people smoke through pipes, the smell of the smoke becomes caught in their lungs and they are forced to sneeze. They bring out their handkerchiefs in the sight of people and sneeze into it. The sneezing causes such a violent shaking of the head that people are driven to wish good health on the poor soul who was unfortunate enough to sneeze so violently. It also instills in the Christians that the clergy lead a good habit not to smoke themselves. Further, St. Nicodemos warns of the ill-effects of smoking. Writing around the turn of the 18th-19th century, he comments how smoking can actually lead to negative health effects. Some of the people who had smoked throughout their lives would be found after death with their lungs blackened and burnt. This also happened to their brains. Already, in the 19th century, St. Nicodemos knew that smoking was detrimental to physical and mental health. How is it no one else was able to see that but merely they skirted around the obvious?
Both smelling and hearing can lead to stirring up effeminate thoughts, inciting effeminate behavior, and corrupting the soul through attachments to effeminate things of nature. These two senses must be guarded. There must be holy sounds that fill their presence. The sound of hymns, the sound of praise, the sound of love. The smells of hard work are the best way to combat the effeminate fragrances we come across throughout the day. The smell of hard work will also greatly assist us in combatting the libido that drives the sensual passions.
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