Fresh for the New Day
The life of the body is one of flux and change. The human being cannot exist except in ceaseless motion like the flow of a river.
To relax tension we have sleep. When we wake up, the motion starts up again. Neither of the two states lasts very long. But it is thanks to their alternation that we are refreshed.
A constant tension would provoke a collapse: a continuing relaxation would result in the dissolution of the individual. The regular change at the right moment from the one state to the other is the secret of preserving human vitality.
So, if the body is tired, sleep takes over. Just as horses that have competed in the hippodrome are allowed to rest, so sleep is granted to us to restore us, relax us, and make us fresh for the new day.
Gregory of Nyssa, The Creation of Man, 13 (PG44, 165)
When you Sleep do not Leave your Light Outside
After our meal, we thank God for our share in the good things he has given us and for the day that is past. Then our thoughts turn to sleep.
For some people expensive mattresses, pillows shot with gold, valuable blankets, thick purple rugs and soft bed-clothes are sweeter than sleep itself. They sleep on such floppy feather-beds that the body sinks into them as if in a ditch. They cannot even turn over because the mattress keeps lifting up all over the place. Anyone who has a harder bed sleeps better and is more rested on the following day.
Falling asleep is a bit like the fall into death: emptiness of mind, loss of feeling. The closed eyelids shut out the light.
Yet we are children of light, so let us not leave our spiritual light outside the door. Let us try not to sleep too much, especially when the days are short. Let us wake up early, perhaps to dedicate some time to reading.
Sleep is like the tax-collector; it robs us of half our life.
Clement of Alexandria, The Teacher, 2, 9, 77 (Stahlin, I, p.204)
~Thomas Spidlik, Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary, Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World
