Romans 6:19. An interesting verse that perhaps explains why, among many great sinners, there are many great saints

[Athanasiy]

Romans 6:19
…you once offered all the parts of your body as slaves to sexual perversion and disobedience. This led you to live disobedient lives. Now, in the same way, offer all the parts of your body as slaves that do what God approves of. This leads you to live holy lives.

Sometimes among the monks, ascetics and large companions of the faith there are people with a stormy sinful past.
No, not even with a sinful past, but with a strong genetic impulsiveness that could provoke sinful promiscuous life.
And instead of creating a family, or living an ordinary gray quiet life, as some cool or nominal christian, these saints conquer the enormous heights of asceticism, heavy crosses, and holiness.
I think this verse is the answer to the transformation of repentance 180 degrees in the opposite direction, which occurs in many maximalists of human existence.
Instead of hurrying to live and run the road of unbridled licentiousness and sin, the converted person runs with great rhythm and zeal into the opposite direction, into the world of holiness.
Therefore, it is not surprising that among former sinners or people with burdened sinful nature there are many ascetics and saints.

 

[Athanasiy]

Among the legendary personalities there are quite a few people with very rabid sexual dynamics, which they have won by absolute abstinence.
These are individuals who have responded to fire of impulses with absolute fire of asceticism.
Sometimes psychologists or psychoanalysts can search for the causes of human abstinence and asceticism not where it is necessary.
The reasons may be called - problematic childhood, or constant scandals in the family, or different types of autism,
but in reality, among the legendary people of faith, there are many those who have turned the furious dynamics of possible total sinful life completely in the opposite direction — total abstinence and sanctification.