The 10 commandments of God and the 7 deadly sins are considered the basic rules of Christianity that must be followed in the world. They were given by God to Saint Moses at the beginning of the development of religion. In order to save humanity from the Fall and warn against danger, because systematic occupation with them will lead to the destruction of immortal souls that go to hell. Let's learn more about what sins and commandments are highlighted in Orthodox traditions.
What is sin
Sin is what separates a person from God . There are different sins - large and small, voluntary and involuntary, serious sins and minor sins. Some of them are called "mortals" because they lead the soul to death. The soul can die while the body is still alive. First, she is struck by illness as a result of sin, becomes gloomy, and then, if no action is taken, she may die.
After every sin, the soul gets sick, and there is only one cure - repentance. Through confession, the soul is healed after the remission of sin. With tears of repentance the soul is washed and cleansed. But if a person returns to old sins, everything happens to the soul all over again.
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov wrote that returning to previous sins is not only vile, but also dangerous. And there is only one punishment for this - eternal torment. In the Gospel, Christ healed people and punished only one thing after that: “go and sin no more!” . Those. Don't go back to your old sins again. “It won’t be any worse for you!” This means that the Lord Himself warned that after returning to previous sins after healing, the consequences could be the most terrible.
The death of the soul often leads to bodily death. Because a person becomes gloomy, stops striving for something, stops believing, and loses his goal in life. Since the soul is connected to the body during this life, the body begins to suffer. And when the soul is healed, the body often recovers.
About pride
In understanding pride, mistakes are made just as often as the violation of God's commandments, of which there are 10, are mistaken for mortal sins. The list of mortal sins does not include a sense of confidence. Self-confidence is what the Lord gives, what many people pray to him for. On the contrary, lack of self-confidence is often condemned by the church.
Pride is the perception of oneself above the Lord. Lack of feelings such as gratitude to God for everything he has given in life, humility and patience. For example, a person’s confidence that he has achieved everything in his own life on his own, without the help and participation of the Lord, is pride. But faith in one’s own strength, in the fact that everything planned will work out, has nothing to do with pride.
What are the mortal sins?
In the works of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov there is a detailed listing of human passions with instructions on how to get rid of them.
Sins that lead to death are called:
- Pride. This is a sin that forces you to love yourself more than other people. A proud person exalts himself above others and considers himself better than everyone else. The proud do not tolerate reproach, criticism, or humiliation. These include: nailing the mind and heart to earthly things, reading heretical books, infatuation with heresy, stupidity of mind, unbelief, blasphemy, ridicule, disobedience to authorities, abandonment of silence and humility, loss of simplicity, ignorance, godlessness and, ultimately, death of the soul. Vanity is a type of pride that makes a person admire and admire his appearance and abilities. A vain person does not understand that this is not his merit, but a gift from God. As a result of vanity, a person exalts himself above everyone and humiliates others.
- Love of money. The desire for wealth, the love of money, profit. The love of money does not allow a person to give alms; a lover of money regrets giving even a penny to the poor. Caring about wealth does not allow a person to live peacefully, think about spiritual things, or pray. This also includes the fear of becoming poor, getting sick, growing old, being expelled, lack of trust in God’s Providence, excessive love for earthly things, and the desire to appropriate someone else’s things for oneself.
- Fornication. This is sexual activity before marriage. A variety is adultery, adultery of spouses. This passion includes lust, indecent thoughts, glances, prodigal dreams, daydreams, and memories. Christ called an adulterer someone who even looked at the opposite sex with lust. Those who watch indecent images and films, read depraved books, and linger in lustful thoughts are also guilty of this. This includes unnatural sins, masturbation, bestiality, incest, etc.
- Envy. The desire to have a neighbor's wife, livestock, or something from another person's property, contrary to the tenth commandment given by God to Moses. You can also be envious of health, well-being, work, wealth, talents, pastime, etc. Envy can lead a person to cause harm to his neighbor.
- Gluttony. This includes not only overeating, but also secret eating, delicacy, gourmetism, breaking fasts, drunkenness, preference for bodily peace, and pride.
- Dejection , sadness about earthly things, idleness, relaxation of the soul, decrepitude of the mind, carelessness about the soul, relaxation, abandonment of prayer , beneficial reading, needlework, absent-mindedness, inattentive prayer, long non-attendance to church services, being late for the service and leaving before the end, bliss, too much sleep, laziness.
- Anger, hot temper, resentment of one's neighbor , pushing, hitting, slander, desire for revenge, malice, argument, shouting, harsh and caustic words, rancor.
It is clear that everyone can find one or another passion that leads to mortal sin. The task of an Orthodox person is to identify and try to fight it all his life, so that at the end of his life he can appear before the Lord pure and holy. God, who does not want the death of sinners, will, of course, always help a repentant person to reform. But first you need to understand yourself and realize which passion dominates in a given person. After all, knowledge is the beginning of correction.
About greed
Often people understand greed as the desire for material wealth. But the desire to live well, in prosperity and comfort, is not at all greed, either in Orthodox culture or in any other Christian denomination.
By greed we should not understand the fact of the pursuit of the “golden calf”. Not excessive, because along with the level of well-being, the level of expenses always increases. Greed is the preference of material values over spiritual ones. That is, the desire to get rich, which comes to the detriment of one’s own spiritual development.
Getting rid of passions: 7 virtues
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov in his works gives step-by-step instructions for getting rid of passions. He reveals to us what virtue is the opposite of passion, and how with its help one can overcome sins.
Here are seven virtues opposite to passions:
- Humility . Awareness of one’s insignificance, fear of God, fear of punishment for sins, change in attitude towards others, awareness of oneself as worse than them, dislike of praise, avoidance of worldly glory, obedience in everything to the Church and its servants, simplicity, silence, seeing one’s sins and passions, desire to fight with them, accepting criticism, not trying to justify themselves to people, silently and meekly enduring insults, unwillingness to take revenge for one’s insults, forgiving insults.
- Non-covetousness . Satisfaction with what you have, not wanting to be rich, giving your wealth to the poor, charity.
- Chastity . Maintaining physical and mental purity. Disgust from prodigal books, images, films, etc. Removal from ambiguous conversations and flirting. Loyalty to your spouse until death. Keeping your hearing, your heart from your thoughts, your sight. Modesty in dress, words and thoughts. Serving the sick. The saint calls the end of chastity the purity that sees God.
- Blessed lamentation for one's sins . Contentment with what the Lord has given. Thanks be to God. Willingness to endure whatever God sends.
- Abstinence in food and drink . Sobriety, fasting, avoiding unnecessary meals, reducing the amount of food taken.
- Sobriety . Some people think that the antagonism of despondency is joy and cheerfulness. However, the saint believes that there is nothing particularly special for an Orthodox Christian to rejoice at. Even Saint Anthony, when the demons said to him: “Rejoice,” replied that he was unworthy of this feeling, because he was a sinner. Should we indulge in insane joy?! Every Christian always has a lot of work to do on himself, a lot of sorrows. And you can resist despondency only by sobriety over your soul, attention to the thoughts and movements of the soul. Some people misunderstand and interpret the words of the Savior: “rejoice and be glad,” but He spoke about the Heavenly reward, which we still need to earn. These words were spoken at the end of the Beatitudes. Consequently, the one who fulfills all these commandments may ultimately be rewarded with another, Heavenly joy from God. But even this should not be desired and sought, as the saints say, otherwise one can fall into delusion - a dangerous spiritual state. Sobriety includes being attentive to prayer, reducing the amount of sleep, increasing the number of bows and time spent in prayer.
- Meekness, kindness , unwillingness to avenge oneself, polite and even attitude towards everyone. Patience, kindness, peace of mind.
Every Christian has a lot of work to do on himself, his soul, if, of course, he wants to be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. But one should not despair; one must hope for God’s help, which is certainly given to those who want to be saved. After all, the Lord wants our salvation even more than we ourselves. Therefore, we must turn to Him for help, but also not be lazy, make efforts. “The Kingdom of God is in need,” this means that only the diligent and diligent enter into It, and not the lazy and relaxed. Any sin can be overcome by repentance, as the saints say.
prot. Andrey Tkachev about the sins of death
About anger
Anger is not just outbursts of rage. Anger is a much broader concept. Of course, this emotion is the antithesis of love, but as a mortal sin, anger is not a momentary feeling at all.
A mortal sin is considered to be the destructive element that a person constantly spills out into life. That is, “destruction” becomes a synonym for the word “anger” in this case. The sin of wrath comes in many different forms. It is not at all necessary to start world wars. Mortal sin is manifested in daily domestic violence in families, both physical and psychological. Anger is what makes a child break his character and force him to realize his own dreams and ideas.
There are many examples of this sin around every person. Anger has become so firmly established in everyday life that almost no one notices it anymore.
About envy
Envy, like anger, should be understood more broadly than the desire to get a car like your neighbor's, or a dress better than your friend's. There is a rather thin line between envy and the desire to live no worse than other people.
Envy should not be understood as the desire to get something specific, for example, shoes like the boss’s, but the constant presence of the soul in such a state. The similarity between envy and anger is that both of these states are destructive. Only anger is directed at the world around us, other people suffer from its presence, and envy “looks” inside a person, its action harms the one who indulges in this sin.
Related "friends" of gluttony
All sins are interconnected. With repentance, a person cleanses his soul for Jesus, but gradually laziness pushes the worship of God into the background, making the human temple empty, open to demons who will rush to settle there. (Matthew 12:42)
Gluttony is accompanied by:
Anger. Gluttons justify the anger they often fall into by being fat. Entering a state of excitement, stress eating begins, and it is not peace that is acquired, but the accumulation of fat. Prolonged gluttony intensifies the fear of being left without food, and stinginess is born. A sinful person begins to hoard food, consuming even spoiled foods that are a pity to throw away. Misers often finish the food left by others, despising themselves for this, but they cannot do anything about it. The demon is stronger than their pathetic flesh. Why is overeating dangerous? The shame of eating a huge amount of food causes secret eating. In public, such a person behaves quite decently, but fills his belly in a secret corner away from human eyes. Important! Few people know that devouring means making a sacrifice; the womb becomes an idol, requiring more and more sacrifices. Christians who change their priority become idolaters.
Prayers to help the suffering:
Prayer to Matrona of Moscow for weight lossOrthodox prayers for weight loss and against gluttony
About lust
Lust is misinterpreted just as often as the violation of God’s commandments, which are 10. The list of mortal sins is not added to the list of mortal sins, not the covenant “Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s wife,” lust has a completely different meaning. This term should be understood as receiving excessive pleasure, which becomes an end in itself throughout human life.
It can be almost anything - moped racing, endless reading of moral lectures, physical satisfaction, getting pleasure from the intoxication of one’s own “little power”, expressed in nagging others.
Lust, as a mortal sin, is not sexual attraction to anyone, including oneself. This is the feeling that a person experiences when receiving pleasure. But only when this emotion becomes sinful is when the desire to experience it again overrides everything else. That is, if the process of satisfaction becomes more important than anything else, then it is lust. And it doesn’t matter at all what exactly this satisfaction brings.
About gluttony
Gluttony is not always perceived correctly, especially by those who take the violation of God’s commandments as mortal sins, of which there are 10. The list of mortal sins mentions the term “gluttony” not as a synonym for the word “gluttony.”
Gluttony should be understood as excessive consumption of absolutely everything. In fact, the entire modern society, which represents the era of consumer culture, is built precisely on this mortal sin.
In modern life, this sin may look like this. A person has a good, working smartphone that works flawlessly and meets all the needs and wants of the owner. However, the person buys a new one, the one he saw in the advertisement. He does this not because he needs the thing, but only because it is a new model. Often at the same time mired in debt obligations. Some time passes, and the person buys a smartphone again, again only because this one is newer.
As a result, an endless chain of consumption of excess and unnecessary is formed. After all, smartphones are the same, the only difference is when they began to be advertised and other minor points. And what a person does with them is unchanged. On all new ones he uses the same programs as on his first one. The result of actions on all purchased smartphones is also no different from what was obtained on the first gadget. That is, a person has a large number of identical smartphones, but he only needs one.
This is excessive consumption or gluttony, against which the commandments do not warn, all 10. Gluttony actually heads the list of mortal sins in Orthodoxy, since it is now not just an offense, but the basis of the modern structure of society.
However, it is important not to confuse overconsumption with having too many things. There is no need to go to extremes. If a person has 10 pairs of winter shoes and wears all available boots and shoes, then this is not at all a sign of gluttony.
Of course, overeating is included in the concept of gluttony, about which the commandments once given to Moses are completely silent, all 10. This quality of human nature was once added to the list of mortal sins in Orthodoxy according to the Bible precisely on the basis of the tendency to overeat. However, the understanding of the word “gluttony” is not limited to the size of the portion on the plate; it is much broader.
