The gravest sin. Mortal sin. What are the sins of a person in Orthodoxy

It is difficult to find a person who at least once in his life did not think about such a concept as "sin". And, despite the fact that this term is on everyone's lips, not everyone understands what it really means. Indeed, very often the interpretation of this word is incorrectly interpreted and used for other than its intended purpose. Moreover, some individuals, committing this or that offense that contradicts the scriptures of the Bible, are proud of it, because a bad action, and in our case it is a sin, allows you to gain “significance” among acquaintances or create scandalous popularity around yourself.

But this is temporary because even the smallest sin committed by man requires atonement. And if it does not follow, the sinner, who did not realize his guilt and did not repent of his actions in time, will certainly suffer the appropriate punishment both during life and after death.

So what is sin

If you delve a little into history, you can see that the term "sin" originates from ancient Greece and means literally "wrong act, some mistake or oversight".

The Bible interprets the commission of sin as a departure from the true nature of a person, completely opposite to his conscience and morality. By committing one or another bad deed, a person goes against not only his nature, but also the commandments of God, thereby causing irreparable damage to his soul.

What is mortal sin

In Orthodoxy The most terrible atrocities, according to the writings of theologians, are mortal sins. Moreover, many misunderstand this phrase, since “mortal” does not at all mean the physical death of a person. Mortal sin means the death of a person's soul, which can be cured only after complete repentance and confession in the church. Otherwise, the soul of the sinner after physical death does not go to Paradise, but to Hell.

Despite the fact that in Orthodox teaching there are only seven major mortal sins, they cannot be read about in the Bible or in God's direct revelations, since the list of terrible sins appeared in theology much later.

Deadly sins are called not because a person will face imminent death after they have been committed, but because with the systematic occupation of them, a person goes deeper and deeper and commits more and more serious and irreversible acts that unequivocally lead to the destruction of spirituality, the destruction of the soul and distance from God.

The worst sins in the Bible

So, the most terrible, according to church teaching, are precisely the mortal sins, of which there are traditionally only seven. At the same time, it is important to note that the Bible does not describe them, since the list of these deeds was compiled a little later, and initially it included not seven, but many more mortal sins. Subsequently, in 590, the list was reduced by St. Great Gregory to only seven main positions..

In Orthodoxy, the most terrible sins are human misdeeds, as a result of which a person deliberately departs from God, while he does not feel remorse and repentance, and also loses touch with the Almighty. As a result, the sinner enters the path of earthly joy, and his spiritual needs fade into the background - the soul gradually becomes callous and loses the ability to go to Paradise and be closer to God after the death of a person.

The only thing what can return such a person to the true path is sincere repentance and confession in the church. Only in this way can you atone for your unrighteous deeds.

Seven most terrible sins according to the teachings of Orthodoxy

So, in Orthodoxy, a list of seven sins is distinguished, which are considered mortal for the sinner's soul and entail its death and removal from God:

1. perhaps the most terrible sin can be considered as pride - excessively high self-esteem, vanity and arrogance, as well as unshakable faith in one's own strength and superiority over God and other people. Of course, you need to develop your talents, and without faith in yourself, this cannot be done. However, exalting his own "I" to unprecedented heights, a person simply begins to unjustifiably overestimate himself, which subsequently leads him to the path of making numerous mistakes in life. All the talents that a person has, he received from God, and the manifestation of such a sin as pride makes the sinner forget about it and move away from the Almighty. As a result, the sinner begins to constantly think only about himself beloved and his imaginary or true achievements;
2. such a mortal sin as greed is also terrible for any person. It manifests itself in an excessive desire to have a lot of material goods: money, social status, expensive things, prestigious work, and the more the better. A person who is consumed by greed eventually stops thinking about the spiritual, his only concern is the accumulation and increase of capital, even if he does not need it at all. In addition, greed can also manifest itself in such weaknesses as greed, greed and the constant need to acquire new material goods. By multiplying what is already there and chasing profit, the sinner turns into a greedy, self-centered person with accumulated internal anger and discontent. The worst thing for a greedy person is the loss of finances and the loss of acquired wealth;
3. no less terrible human vice is envy. If a sinner is constantly upset because of the well-being and achievements of other people, if he is nervous and discouraged by other people's merits and successes, then he is simply jealous of him. Such a state is manifested in a clear awareness by the sinner of injustice towards him and towards the one whom he greatly envies. And this only indicates that the sinner is dissatisfied with the order established by the Almighty. Angry at the successes of others, often the envious person begins to build various intrigues for them, not shunning methods - just to annoy them. This leads to the inevitable destruction of the soul and negative emotions. It should be remembered that other people's successes and well-being are from God, and envying other people, the sinner exposes himself to inevitable punishment, and if he does not realize in time the wrongness of his behavior and attitude to the situation and does not repent before God, his soul will harden and move away from the Almighty. The worst thing that this vice can lead to is the murder by a sinner of someone to whom he has a feeling of envy;
4. along with other mortal vices, such a sin as gluttony (gluttony) can be considered terrible - this is greed and excessive consumption of tasty food. Servicing one's body and saturating the body at the slightest desire by many people is not at all perceived as some kind of terrible vice. That is why millions of people around the world suffer from this disease. What it looks like: a sinner without a twinge of conscience constantly fills his belly with various dishes and spends a lot of money on them just to satisfy his needs, while a large percentage of the world's population is dying of hunger. It should always be remembered that food is a means to maintain life, and not a means to satisfy one's base needs and fill one's belly. Simply put, gluttony is slavery to your own stomach. And if a person is a slave to his body, then he goes into opposition with God;
5. adultery or fornication is another mortal vice, which is a dissolute and lustful life contrary to real feelings, devotion and fidelity. It can manifest itself in different ways: infidelity, sexual life before marriage, incest, frequent and chaotic change of sexual partners, voluptuous thoughts or indecent conversations. All these and many other similar actions of a person lead to adultery and impel to immoral actions, even if they occur only in thoughts;
6. such a vice as anger is no less dangerous for the human soul, since irascibility, aggression, constant irritability, indignation, the desire for revenge and rage can cloud the mind of any person. This also includes the desire to shame, slander, offend, condemn and much more. All these negative feelings and emotions are caused by anger and can make a person do drastic and thoughtless actions that can lead to irreversible consequences. This vice is also terrible because anger makes the sinner lose self-control, and this can result in the murder or beating of the person on whom the anger was brought down. This vice should be fought with all your strength, and the only key to this is the answer with good even to injustice and evil, as well as restraint and humility;
7. despondency or laziness is the last sin from the list of seven terrible mortal vices of man. Unwillingness to do good deeds, apathy, depression, lack of fear of the Almighty, carelessness, physical and mental weakness, despair and pessimism only contribute to the fact that a person simply does not want to overcome difficulties and move forward. Laziness and despondency pull a person to the bottom, turning him into a source of unfulfilled goals and desires, and thereby transforming him from a personality into an amoeba. The soul, like the body, is constantly obliged to work.

All these terrible vices to which people are subject can be eradicated, and this requires constant work on oneself and one's spiritual qualities. If a person is faced with a difficult life situation and for some reason sinned, do not panic and do even more rash acts. You should understand yourself and the reasons that led to sin, and try to take the path of correction on your own.

If you can’t cope on your own, confession and repentance will help in the fight against vices.

Classification of other terrible sins often committed by a person

In addition to the fact that there are seven most terrible mortal vices, sins in Orthodoxy are also divided into two main groups:

1. which are aimed at harming oneself or one's neighbor;
2. that are directed directly against God.

In the first case, such terrible deeds as murder, humiliation of honor and dignity, assault, beatings, refusal to help those in need, failure to fulfill promises, hypocrisy, slander, ridicule, infidelity, etc. are considered mortal atrocities. After all, God teaches that people treat their neighbors in the same way as they treat themselves. God teaches forgiveness and humility. Therefore, one should never condemn other people, one should always forgive, not hide evil and not engage in slander.

In the second case implies such vices as refusal to observe the commandments of God, conscious distance from the Almighty, belief in omens and superstition, turning to fortune-tellers and mediums, pronouncing the name of God in vanity and without urgent need, idolatry, disbelief in the existence of the Almighty and other similar sins . In order not to go astray from the true path, you need to read the Bible, constantly pray and try to enrich yourself in the spiritual direction.

How to atone for your sins

Here we must immediately make a reservation: a person cannot atone for the sins committed by his own efforts, since they are not forgiven by us, but by the redeemer, in the role of which only the priest can act. Only the redeemer is able to help completely rid the sinner of the burden of vice, and for this he must, of his own free will, agree to listen, confess and take on other people's vices.

In this way You can atone for your sinful deeds with the help of repentance and kind-hearted actions towards others. A person who does not experience pangs of conscience and repentance from a crime committed will never be able to get rid of past sins, and his soul will never go to Paradise. It should be remembered that the lack of connection between the soul and the Almighty contributes to the mortification of the soul, its hardening. A person in this state will never be able to experience earthly joys for a long time, and over time he will be oppressed by mental anguish and torment.

For any person who has sinned, there is always a way to get out of the trap - you just have to give up such a terrible feeling as despair. Humility, repentance and confession with a clergyman is the path to complete spiritual healing and rapprochement with the Almighty.

If a person is asked: “What do you think is the worst sin?” - one will call the murder, the other - theft, the third - meanness, the fourth - betrayal. In fact, the most terrible sin is unbelief, and it gives birth to meanness, and betrayal, and adultery, and theft, and murder, and whatever.

Sin is not an offense; transgression is a consequence of sin, just as a cough is not a disease, but its consequence. It often happens that a person has not killed anyone, has not robbed, has not done any meanness, and therefore thinks well of himself, but he does not know that his sin is worse than murder, and worse than theft, because he is in his life passes by the most important.

Unbelief is a state of mind when a person does not feel God. It is connected with ingratitude to God, and not only people who completely deny the existence of God are infected with it, but also each of us. Like any mortal sin, unbelief blinds a person. If someone is asked, say, about higher mathematics, he will say: “This is not my topic, I don’t understand anything about it.” If you ask about cooking, he will say: “I can’t even cook soup, it’s not in my competence.” But when it comes to faith, everyone has their own opinion.

One states: I think so; other: I think so. One says: fasting is not necessary. And the other: my grandmother was a believer, and she did this, so you need to do this. And everyone undertakes to judge and judge, although in most cases they do not understand anything about it.

Why, when questions relate to faith, everyone strives to express their opinion without fail? Why do people suddenly become experts in these matters? Why are they sure that everyone here understands, everyone knows? Because everyone believes that he believes in the very degree to which it is necessary. In fact, this is absolutely not true, and it is very easy to check. The Gospel says: "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, and say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move." If this is not observed, then there is no faith even with a mustard seed. Since a person is blinded, he believes that he believes enough, but in fact he cannot do even such a trifle as moving a mountain, which can be moved even without faith. And because of lack of faith, all our troubles occur.

When the Lord was walking on the waters, Peter, who did not love anyone in the world as much as Christ, wanted to come to Him and said: "Send me, and I will go to You." The Lord says, "Go." And Peter also walked on the waters, but for a second he was frightened, doubted and began to sink and exclaimed: “Lord, save me, I am perishing!” First, he collected all his faith, and as long as it was enough, he went through so much, and then, when the "reserve" dried up, he began to sink.

That's the way we are. Who among us does not know that God exists? Everybody knows. Who doesn't know that God hears our prayers? Everybody knows. God is omniscient, and wherever we are, He hears all the words we speak. We know that the Lord is good. Even today's Gospel confirms this, and our whole life shows how merciful He is to us. The Lord Jesus Christ says that if our child asks for bread, shall we give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, shall we give him a snake. Who among us can do this? Nobody. But we are evil people. Can the Lord who is good do this?

Nevertheless, we grumble all the time, we moan all the time, we all the time disagree with one thing, then another. The Lord tells us that the path to the Kingdom of Heaven lies through many sufferings, but we do not believe. We all want to be healthy, happy, we all want to do well on earth. The Lord says that only those who follow Him and take up their cross will reach the Kingdom of Heaven, but this again does not suit us, we again insist on our own, although we consider ourselves believers. Purely theoretically, we know that the gospel contains the truth, but our whole life goes against it. And often we do not have the fear of God, because we forget that the Lord is always there, always looking at us. Therefore, we sin so easily, we easily condemn, we can easily wish evil to a person, it is easy to neglect it, offend him, offend him.

Theoretically, we know that there is an omnipresent God, but our heart is far from Him, we do not feel Him, it seems to us that God is somewhere out there, in the infinite space, and He does not see us and does not know us. Therefore, we sin, therefore we do not agree with His commandments, we claim the freedom of others, we want to remake everything in our own way, we want to change our whole life and make it the way we see fit. But this is completely wrong, we can’t manage our lives to such an extent. We can only humble ourselves before what the Lord gives us and rejoice in the goodness and the punishments that He sends, because through this He teaches us the Kingdom of Heaven.

But we do not believe Him - we do not believe that it is impossible to be rude, and therefore we are rude; we do not believe that it is impossible to be irritated, and we are irritated; we do not believe that it is impossible to envy, and we often put our eyes on someone else's and envy the well-being of other people. And some dare to envy spiritual gifts from God - this is generally a terrible sin, because everyone receives from God what he can bear.

Unbelief is not only for people who deny God; it penetrates deeply into our lives. Therefore, we are often discouraged, in a panic, we do not know what to do; tears choke us, but these are not tears of repentance, they do not cleanse us from sin - these are tears of despair, because we forget that the Lord sees everything; we are angry, we grumble, we are indignant.

Why do we want to force all our loved ones to go to church, pray, take communion? From unbelief, because we forget that God wants the same. We forget that God wants every person to be saved and cares about everyone. It seems to us that there is no God, that something depends on us, on some of our efforts, and we begin to convince, tell, explain, but we only make it worse, because you can only be attracted to the Kingdom of Heaven by the Holy Spirit, and we don't have him. Therefore, we only irritate people, cling to them, annoy, torment, under a good pretext, turn their lives into hell.

We violate the precious gift that is given to man - the gift of freedom. By our claims, by the fact that we want to remake everyone in our own image and likeness, and not in the image of God, we lay claim to the freedom of others and try to force everyone to think the way we think ourselves, but this is impossible. Truth can be revealed to a person if he asks about it, if he wants to know it, but we constantly impose it. There is no humility in this act, and if there is no humility, then there is no grace of the Holy Spirit. And without the grace of the Holy Spirit, there will be no result, or rather, there will be, but the opposite.

And so it is in everything. And the reason is disbelief in God, disbelief in God, in His good Providence, in the fact that God is love, that He wants to save everyone. Because if we believed Him, we would not act like that, we would only ask. Why does a person go to some grandmother, to a healer? Because he does not believe either in God or in the Church, he does not believe in the power of grace. First, he will bypass all sorcerers, sorcerers, psychics, and if nothing helped, then he turns to God: maybe he will help. And the most amazing thing is that it helps.

If some person neglected us all the time, and then began to ask us for something, we would say: you know, this is not good, you treated me so badly all your life, and now you come to ask me? But the Lord is merciful, the Lord is meek, the Lord is humble. Therefore, no matter what paths-roads a person walks, no matter what outrages he does, but if he turns to God from the heart, at the last, as they say, worst end, the Lord helps here, because He is only waiting for our prayer .

The Lord said, “Whatever you ask the Father in My name, he will give it to you,” but we do not believe. We do not believe in our prayer, nor in the fact that God hears us - we do not believe in anything. That is why everything is empty with us, therefore our prayer, as it were, is not fulfilled, it cannot not only move a mountain, but cannot manage anything at all.

If we really believed in God, then any person could be directed to the true path. And it is possible to direct on the true path precisely by prayer, because it gives a person love. Prayer before God is a mystery, and there is no violence in it, there is only a request: Lord, rule, help, heal, save.

If we had done so, we would have been more successful. And we all hope for conversations, that we can somehow manage it ourselves, save something like that for some rainy day. Whoever waits for a rainy day, he will surely come. Without God, you won’t achieve anything anyway, so the Lord says: “Seek first of all the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be added to you.” But we don't believe that either. Our life is not aimed at the Kingdom of God, it is more focused on people, on human relations, on how to fix everything here. We want to satisfy our own pride, our own vanity, our own ambition. If we aspired to the Kingdom of Heaven, we would rejoice when we are oppressed, when we are offended, because this contributes to our entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. We would rejoice at illness, but we grumble and are horrified. We are afraid of death, we all try to prolong our existence, but again, not for the sake of the Lord, not for the sake of repentance, but out of our own lack of faith, out of fear.

The sin of lack of faith has penetrated very deeply into us, and we must fight very hard against it. There is such an expression - "feat of faith", because only faith can move a person to something real. And if every time in our life there is such a situation that we can act in a divine way and we can act in a human way, if every time we courageously act according to our faith, then our faith will grow, it will be strengthened.

In Christianity, many concepts that violate the great law of divine love are called sins. From them come other, less important passions that destroy the course of a person's life. Mortal sins in Orthodoxy, a list of which is given below, are considered the ancestors of suffering. They differ from those indicated in Catholicism in number - in fact, there are 8 of them, not 7, as is commonly believed. There are deadly sins in Catholicism 7. This system is followed by various Christian denominations in the West. Modern Orthodoxy has 8 deadly sins that harm the human soul the most. So what is a mortal sin, and how can it harm a person's soul? Here is what the modern church writes about it.

Why is sin considered mortal?

In fact, only 2 deadly sins for the soul are singled out in the church, which can be considered the most serious: suicide and a crime against church teaching, distortion of the truth and the word of God, heresy. If a person lays hands on himself, then, according to the canons, it is forbidden to pray for him in the temple, since he directly challenged God, and he cannot have repentance. This sin is considered the most serious, if, of course, the fact of suicide is proved, and not its imitation. In some cases, the church forgives this sin if the person was under the influence of narcotic or psychotropic substances, and also someone committed murder, which imitates that the person laid hands on himself. But this requires strong evidence.

The second sin that the church rarely forgives is the perversion of the teachings of Christ and the attempt to organize one's own church in which a person publicly opposes the holy teachings. This sin can be corrected by repentance, if only one is sincerely aware of one's guilt.

The remaining 8 deadly sins are considered serious, but not fatal for spiritual salvation, if you sincerely recognize them and repent at confession. Here is what mortal sins are for the soul in Orthodoxy, a list.

What are these sins

1. Gluttony, gluttony. If a person leads an earthly way of life, paying attention only to his own nature without caring for his soul, thinks about how to eat more, arrange a material existence in abundance, does not share with his neighbors an excess of what he does not need, this is gluttony.
2. Perverse actions. In the church, this is the name for any sexual intercourse outside of legal marriage between a husband and wife.
3. Greed, selfishness.
4. Idleness, boredom and sadness. This is when a person is constantly bored.
5. Anger, anger, aggressive behavior.
6. Despondency, when a person begins to give up.
7. Vanity, satiety with their successes.
8. Arrogance.

The list of mortal sins in Orthodoxy can give rise to other passions, which ultimately hinder the development of the soul and can significantly disrupt the spiritual well-being of a person. Therefore, it is imperative to pronounce them at confession in the temple and try not to repeat your sins anymore, so that later you do not suffer mentally and spiritually.

In the old days in Russia, the favorite reading was always The Philokalia, The Ladder by St. John of the Ladder, and other soulful books. Modern Orthodox Christians, unfortunately, rarely pick up these great books. It's a pity! After all, they contain answers to questions that are often asked in confession even today: “Father, how not to get irritated?”, “Father, how to deal with despondency and laziness?”, “How to live in peace with loved ones?”, “Why Do we keep returning to the same sins?” These and other questions must be heard by every priest. These questions are answered by the theological science, which is called asceticism. She talks about what passions and sins are, how to deal with them, how to find peace of mind, how to acquire love for God and neighbor.

The word "asceticism" immediately evokes associations with ancient ascetics, Egyptian hermits, and monasteries. And in general, ascetic experiments, the fight against passions are considered by many to be a purely monastic affair: we are, they say, weak people, we live in the world, we already somehow ... This, of course, is a deep delusion. Every Orthodox Christian without exception is called to the daily struggle, the war against passions and sinful habits. The apostle Paul tells us about this: “Those who are Christ’s (that is, all Christians. - Auth.) have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). Just as soldiers take an oath and make a solemn promise - an oath - to defend the Fatherland and crush its enemies, so a Christian, as a warrior of Christ in the sacrament of baptism, swears allegiance to Christ and "renounces the devil and all his deeds," that is, from sin. This means that we have to fight with these fierce enemies of our salvation - fallen angels, passions and sins. The fight is not for life, but for death, the fight is difficult and daily, if not hourly. Therefore, "we only dream of peace."

I will take the liberty of saying that asceticism can be called in some way Christian psychology. After all, the word "psychology" in Greek means "the science of the soul." This is a science that studies the mechanisms of human behavior and thinking. Practical psychology helps a person cope with his bad inclinations, overcome depression, learn to get along with himself and people. As you can see, the objects of attention of asceticism and psychology are the same.

Saint Theophan the Recluse said that it was necessary to compile a textbook on Christian psychology, and he himself used psychological analogies in his instructions to the questioners. The trouble is that psychology is not a single scientific discipline like physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology. There are many schools, directions that call themselves psychology. Psychology includes the psychoanalysis of Freud and Jung, as well as newfangled trends like neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Some directions in psychology are completely unacceptable for Orthodox Christians. Therefore, one has to collect some knowledge bit by bit, separating the wheat from the chaff.

I will try, using some knowledge from practical, applied psychology, to rethink them in accordance with the teachings of the holy fathers on the fight against passions.

Before we start talking about the main passions and methods of dealing with them, let's ask ourselves the question: "Why are we fighting our sins and passions?". Recently I heard how a well-known Orthodox theologian, a professor at the Moscow Theological Academy (I won’t name him, because I respect him very much; he was my teacher, but in this case I fundamentally disagree with him) said: “worship, prayer, fasting is all, so to speak, scaffolding, props for erecting the building of salvation, but not the goal of salvation, not the meaning of the Christian life. And the goal is to get rid of passions.” I cannot agree with this, since deliverance from passions is also not an end in itself, but St. Seraphim of Sarov speaks of the true goal: “Acquire a spirit of peace - and thousands around you will be saved.” That is, the goal of a Christian's life is the acquisition of love for God and neighbor. The Lord Himself speaks of only two commandments, on which all the law and the prophets are based. it "Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself"(Matthew 22:37, 39). Christ did not say that these are just two of the ten, twenty other commandments, but said that "on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets"(Matthew 22:40). These are the most important commandments, the fulfillment of which is the meaning and purpose of the Christian life. And deliverance from passions is also only a means, like prayer, worship and fasting. If deliverance from passions were the goal of a Christian, then we would not have gone far from Buddhists, who are also looking for dispassion - nirvana.

It is impossible for a person to fulfill the two main commandments while passions dominate him. A person who is subject to passions and sins loves himself and his passion. How can a vain, proud man love God and his neighbors? And who is in despondency, anger, serving the love of money? The questions are rhetorical.

Serving passions and sin does not allow a Christian to fulfill the most important, key commandment of the New Testament - the commandment of love.

Passion and suffering

From the Church Slavonic language, the word "passion" is translated as "suffering". Hence, for example, the word "passion-bearer", that is, suffering suffering, torment. And indeed, nothing torments people so much: neither illnesses, nor anything else, as their own passions, rooted sins.

First, passions serve to satisfy the sinful needs of people, and then people themselves begin to serve them: "Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34).

Of course, in every passion there is an element of sinful pleasure for a person, but, nevertheless, the passions torment, torment and enslave the sinner.

The most striking examples of passionate addiction are alcoholism and drug addiction. The need for alcohol or drugs not only enslaves the soul of a person, but alcohol and drugs become a necessary component of his metabolism, a part of the biochemical processes in his body. Addiction to alcohol or drugs is a spiritual and physical addiction. And it needs to be treated in two ways, that is, healing both the soul and the body. But at the core lies sin, passion. An alcoholic, a drug addict has a family falling apart, he is expelled from work, he loses friends, but he sacrifices all this to passion. A person addicted to alcohol or drugs is ready for any crime to satisfy his passion. No wonder 90% of crimes are committed under the influence of alcoholic and narcotic substances. That's how strong the demon of drunkenness is!

Other passions can enslave the soul no less. But with alcoholism and drug addiction, the enslavement of the soul is further enhanced by bodily dependence.

People who are far from the Church, from the spiritual life often see only prohibitions in Christianity. Like, they came up with some kind of taboos, restrictions, in order to complicate people's lives. But in Orthodoxy there is nothing accidental, superfluous, everything is very harmonious and natural. In the spiritual world, as well as in the physical world, there are laws that, like the laws of nature, cannot be violated, otherwise it will lead to damage and even catastrophe. Some of these laws are expressed in commandments that protect us from trouble. Commandments, moral prescriptions can be compared with signs warning of danger: “Beware of high voltage!”, “Do not climb in, it will kill you!”, “Stop! Zone of radiation contamination” and the like, or with inscriptions on containers with poisonous liquids: “Toxic”, “Toxic” and so on. Of course, we are given freedom of choice, but if we do not pay attention to disturbing inscriptions, then we will only need to be offended by ourselves. Sin is a violation of very subtle and strict laws of spiritual nature, and it harms, first of all, the sinner himself. And in the case of passions, the harm from sin intensifies many times over, for sin becomes permanent, takes on the character of a chronic illness.

The word passion has two meanings.

Firstly, as St. John of the Ladder says, “the very vice is called passion, which from a long time has nested in the soul and through habit has become, as it were, its natural property, so that the soul already voluntarily and by itself strives for it” (Ladder. 15: 75). That is, passion is already something more than sin, it is sinful dependence, slavery to a certain type of vice.

Secondly, the word "passion" is a name that unites a whole group of sins. For example, in the book “Eight Major Passions with Their Subdivisions and Branches,” compiled by St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), eight passions are listed, and after each there is a whole list of sins united by this passion. For example, anger: irascibility, acceptance of angry thoughts, dreaming of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, clouding of his mind, incessant screaming, argument, swear words, stress, pushing, murder, remembrance of malice, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and resentment of one's neighbor .

Most of the holy fathers speak of the eight passions:

1. gluttony,
2. fornication,
3. love of money,
4. anger,
5. sadness,
6. despondency,
7. vanity,
8. pride.

Some, speaking of passions, combine sadness and despondency. In fact, these are somewhat different passions, but we will talk about this below.

Sometimes the eight passions are called deadly sins . Passions have such a name because they can (if they completely take over a person) disrupt spiritual life, deprive them of salvation and lead to eternal death. According to the holy fathers, behind every passion there is a certain demon, dependence on which makes a person a prisoner of a certain vice. This teaching is rooted in the Gospel: “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and not finding it, he says: I will return to my house from where I came out, and when I come, I find it swept and cleaned; then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and having entered, they dwell there, and the last for that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26).

Western theologians, such as Thomas Aquinas, usually write about the seven passions. In the West, in general, the number "seven" is of particular importance.

Passions are a perversion of natural human properties and needs. In human nature there is a need for food and drink, a desire for procreation. Anger can be righteous (for example, to the enemies of the faith and the Fatherland), or it can lead to murder. Thrift can be reborn into avarice. We mourn the loss of loved ones, but this should not grow into despair. Purposefulness, perseverance should not lead to pride.

A Western theologian gives a very good example. He compares passion to a dog. It's very good when the dog sits on a chain and guards our house, but it's a disaster when he climbed on the table with his paws and devoured our dinner.

Saint John Cassian the Roman says that the passions are divided into sincere, that is, coming from spiritual inclinations, for example: anger, despondency, pride, etc. They feed the soul. And bodily: they are born in the body and nourish the body. But since man is soul-bodily, the passions destroy both the soul and the body.

The same saint writes that the first six passions seem to come from one another, and "the excess of the previous gives rise to the next." For example, from excessive gluttony comes prodigal passion. From fornication - love of money, from love of money - anger, from anger - sadness, from sadness - despondency. And each of them is treated by expelling the previous one. For example, to conquer prodigal passion, you need to bind gluttony. To overcome sadness, one must suppress anger, and so on.

Vanity and pride stand out in particular. But they are also interconnected. Vanity gives rise to pride, and pride must be fought by defeating vanity. The Holy Fathers say that some passions are committed by the body, but they all originate in the soul, come out of a person’s heart, as the Gospel tells us: “Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies come from the heart of a person. » (Matthew 15:18-20). The worst thing is that passions do not disappear with the death of the body. And the body, as an instrument with which a person most often commits a sin, dies, disappears. And the inability to satisfy one's passions is what will torment and burn a person after death.

And the holy fathers say that there passions will torment a person much more than on earth - without sleep and rest, they will burn like fire. And not only bodily passions will torment people, not finding satisfaction, like fornication or drunkenness, but also spiritual ones: pride, vanity, anger; because there, too, will not be able to satisfy them. And the main thing is that a person will also not be able to fight with passions; this is possible only on earth, because earthly life is given for repentance and correction.

Truly what and whom a person served in earthly life, so he will be in eternity. If he serves his passions and the devil, he will remain with them. For example, for a drug addict, hell will be an endless, never-ending "withdrawal", for an alcoholic - an eternal hangover, etc. But if a person served God, was with Him on earth, he can hope that he will be with Him there too.

Earthly life is given to us as a preparation for eternity, and here on earth we determine what about for us it is more important that about is the meaning and joy of our life - the satisfaction of passions or life with God. Paradise is a place of the special presence of God, an eternal feeling of God, and God does not place anyone there by force.

Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin gives one example - an analogy that makes it possible to understand this: “On the second day of Easter 1990, Vladyka Alexander of Kostroma served the first service since the time of persecution in the Ipatiev Monastery. Until the last moment, it was not clear whether the service would take place - such was the resistance of the museum workers ... When Vladyka entered the temple, the museum workers, led by the director, stood in the porch with angry faces, some with tears in their eyes: “The priests are desecrating the temple of art ...” During the godfather I was holding a bowl of holy water. And suddenly Vladyka said to me: “Let's go to the museum, let's go to their offices!”. Come in. Vladyka says loudly: “Christ is Risen!” - and sprinkles museum workers with holy water. In response, faces twisted with anger. Probably, in the same way, the theomachists, having crossed the line of eternity, will themselves refuse to enter paradise - it will be unbearably bad for them there.

Serious sins

Our sins are many, but they can all be summed up in the following eight: pride, vanity, love of money, fornication, anger, obsession, envy and negligence. All of them are called mortal, because they kill our souls and are the head, root and foundation for other sins. Through the eight deadly sins, three mortal enemies are fighting us: flesh, world and devil. The flesh plunges us into fornication, overeating and negligence. The world is pushing towards the love of money and the boundless thirst for the acquisition of material wealth. The devil instills in us pride, vanity, anger and envy. Of course, the evil one pushes us to commit any lawlessness, but the demon does not work so hard on anything else as to instill pride in us and make us through this their imitators and followers.

In addition to these eight deadly sins, which we will discuss in more detail later, there are six other equally serious sins generated by these eight, which will be discussed in this chapter.

The first and most grievous of all is the vile and thrice-cursed blasphemy

stvo, generated by none other than the inventor of evil himself - the devil. Knowing that it is heavier than fornication, murder, debauchery, and any kind of outrage, and that it alone is enough to imprison a person forever in fiery hell, the devil often resorts to it. The blasphemer is the enemy of God. Excited and enraged by the evil one, he, insane, in a fit of his anger, is ready to rush with his fists at the Lord Himself or at the saint blasphemed by him, should they be in front of him at that moment. St. Augustine says about this, that those who slander Christ, the Heavenly King, sin many times harder than those who crucify Christ, the Man, on earth.

Men fall more into the sin of blasphemy. Women usually have another sin - cursing, which, however, by its nature is equivalent to blasphemy. When misfortunes befall them, they rebel with indignation against the Providence and justice of God, lamenting, oh fools, that, they say, God's judgment is unjust. If, for example, one of their beloved relatives dies, falls seriously ill, or suffers in some way, then instead of glorifying the Almighty, they curse the day of their birth, call death in despair, and indulge in uncontrollable sobs. They do not skimp on complaints against God, who allegedly "sends misfortune and grief to them." They are often forgotten

and, having completely betrayed themselves into the power of the devil, they begin to spew terrible, unheard-of satanic curses. All these are blasphemous verbs, worthy only of those tormented in hell. These words unite them, in them all who blaspheme find agreement.

So, you, who are afraid of falling into hell and longing for a sweet paradise, humble yourself and meekly bow your head before the misfortunes that befall you by the permission of God. Take them from His Divine hand as a healing potion, as a balm prepared for your salvation by the Wise Physician. Believe without a shadow of a doubt that the All-Good Creator justly and wisely sends you misfortunes and sorrows and does this solely for your spiritual benefit. For when you say that the Lord treats you unjustly, you seem to be asserting that He is not the Lord at all. And if you say that your misfortune is great and that its unbearable severity makes you spew blasphemy against God, then think wisely and understand that by your opposition to God you not only do not alleviate them, but only aggravate them.

So that your misfortunes do not seem so heavy to you, think about the following four things: 1) about the blessings and gifts sent down to you from the Lord, 2) about the countless sins you committed against Him, 3) about the torment in hell, which you become worthy by doing iniquity , and 4) about the glory of paradise promised to you by the Lord, not

despite your unworthiness. When you realize all this, any sorrows and sorrows that have befallen you will seem small and insignificant to you.

The second grave sin is perjury, that is, a false oath on the Gospel or the Holy Cross in the name of the Lord God, the Most Holy Theotokos or a saint. Like blasphemy, this sin is directed directly against God and is worse than sins directed against a neighbor. Each perjury is a mortal sin, because it is a desecration of the Divine majesty.

The third grave sin is embezzlement- appropriation of other people's things without the permission of their owner. All the time while you keep someone else's thing with you, you are under mortal sin. It is not enough just to want to return it. It is necessary not only to return this thing, but also to compensate for the damage that was caused to its owner during the absence of the stolen thing from him.

The fourth sin is a crime any church commandment or Canon of the Holy Apostles and Fathers of the Church, the observance of which should be unshakable for all Christians. Such, for example, are going to church on Sundays and holidays, confession, communion, fasting on the days established by the Church, and others.

The fifth grave sin is condemnation. Reproaching and slandering your neighbor, you

you cause him great damage, you push him to dangerous actions, because you stain his honor and dignity - something much more precious than any property and material treasure. Truly, how dare the shameless to condemn their neighbor, when they do not even know the nature of the things they undertake to judge? And even if they have such knowledge, have they never heard the words of the Lord: Do not judge your neighbors, so that God does not judge you; do not judge them, and God will not judge you(cf. Matt. 7:1). You are obligated to keep this saving commandment, even if you see someone clearly sinning. Cover his deed as far as possible, and the Lord will cover your transgressions.

The sixth and final major sin is False. A small and insignificant lie that does not entail consequences, of course, cannot be considered a grave sin. However, if a lie causes material or moral damage to a neighbor, then it becomes a grave sin. In this case, you, who are the direct cause of this harm, must correct it and compensate it at any cost. Only in this way will the Lord forgive you for the harm caused by your lies.

These are the six grave sins generated by eight mortals. Both must be carefully avoided, for they mortify our soul and lead it to eternal perdition.