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The Canons of John the Faster teaches that “Anyone having committed masturbation is penanced forty days, during which he must keep himself alive by xerophagy and must do one hundred metanies every day.” (Canon 8) The Interpretation of this canon explains that: “The present Canon decrees that anyone who is guilty of masturbating at any time is obliged to refrain from communing for forty days straight, passing these with xerophagy, [the practice of eating dry food, especially food cooked without oil] or, more explicitly speaking, with only bread and water, and doing every day metanies to the number of one hundred each time. As concerning masturbators and fornicators, St. Meletius the Confessor asserts that they are making a sacrifice of their semen to the Devil, which semen is the most precious part of their body.”

The word Metanie means “A reverent physical movement indicating repentance (Greek: metanoia), made by making the sign of the cross with the right hand and either bowing at the waist and knees until the hand on its downward final stroke touches the ground (small metanie), or lowering the whole body onto the knees and bowing down fully until the forehead touches the ground (great metanie). Metanies are prescribed at specific liturgical times, particularly during the Lenten prayer of Ephrem the Syrian, but are proscribed from Pascha through Pentecost. They are a part of personal prayer and are an integral element of monastic training. Metanies are distinct from the still kneeling position, and also from the bowing of clergy to one another known as the schema.”

Sixth, (as to the question why one falls back into sin), you do not use your time, money and effort to save other people from the eternal fire of hell or care enough for their spiritual welfare to lead them to a better lifestyle, and because of this, you are lacking in or are devoid of charity and love for your fellow human beings. You refuse to speak about God with your family and friends, refusing to help or convert them from sin and infidelity and you refuse to take an active part in trying to help souls in general by whatever means are necessary to you, and in so doing, choose to become God’s enemy according to Our Lord Jesus Christ’s words in the Holy Bible, which states that: “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30). All who can help their family or friends or themselves but refuse to do so will be damned for their lack of charity. Thus, “Those words of our Lord, He that is not with Me is against Me, will make you understand how destitute we here are of any friends to aid us in bringing this people to Jesus Christ. But we must not despond, for God at the end will render unto each one according to his deserts… And how severe are the punishments which God at last inflicts on His enemies, we see well enough, as often as we turn our mind’s eye to the inextinguishable furnace of hell, whose fires are to rage throughout all eternity for so many miserable sinners.” (St. Francis Xavier, A.D. 1544, In The Life and Letters of St. Francis Xavier, p. 223)

Our Lord Jesus Christ in The Revelations of St. Bridget shows us that a person who does not use his possessions for His sake “will incur a judgment” and “that every person who does not hearken to others will himself cry out and not be heard”, which means that he who does not have charity with others, using his time, money and effort to help and save them from hell “will himself cry out [to God] and not be heard” both in this life when he seeks to be relieved from his sins and sinful desires, and in the eternal fire of hell, which is the eternal abode of all who lack charity and love for their fellow human beings. Our Lord said to St. Bridget: “Reply firmly to him with the four things I tell you now. The first is that many people lay up treasure but do not know for whom. The second is that every person entrusted with the Lord’s talent who does not spend it cheerfully will incur a judgment. The third is that a person who loves land and flesh more than God will not join the company of those who hunger and thirst for justice. The fourth is that every person who does not hearken to others will himself cry out and not be heard.” (The Revelations of St. Bridget, Book 4, Chapter 81)

In truth, Catholic teaching teaches that a person is bound to give a tenth of his earnings to God, (usually to one’s local priest) and this teaching comes directly from the Old Testament which commands all God’s servants to give a tenth of their profits as a sacrifice to God. Today, however, there are no Catholic priests available to give one’s money to, and so, one must instead find a completely Catholic cause to give a tenth of one’s earnings to. When one understands that this is a law of charity that God requires all to follow, one can understand why so many are allowed to fall into sin and be unable to extricate themselves out of their sins. Their own greed and lack of charity for other souls who labor in darkness and infidelity directly causes them to be unable to defend themselves against the attacks of the devil. Thus, Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke rightly saying “that every person who does not hearken to others will himself cry out and not be heard.” In truth, those who wish to please God in all but who have not fulfilled this Law of God of tithing, should find a good and perfectly Catholic cause and then donate a tenth of all they own to it, asking God to forgive them for their many years of forgetfulness and disobedience. However, donating to heretics, schismatics or other non-Catholic religious organizations is condemned by the Church as a mortal sin, and so, this makes it necessary to find out thoroughly whether a person or an organization that one wants to donate to is affiliated in anyway with the propagation of a false, non-Catholic belief. If a person is unsure about whether a person or an organization is acceptable or not to donate to, you can always send us an email and ask us for help.

Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215: “Moreover, we determine to subject to excommunication believers who receive, defend, or support heretics.”