general information
The word “pious” is an adjective that comes from the noun “piety.” And it, in turn, comes from the words “good” and “honor”. What is the meaning of the word "pious"? In order to answer this question, it is worth trying to find synonyms for it. Namely: believer, religious, pious, righteous, God-loving, and so on.
A godly person is not one who regularly attends church, but one who lives in accordance with his conscience. The word whose meaning we are considering in this article appears quite often in the New Testament. That is why it is customary to look for its interpretation there. But first, according to tradition, you should look into Dahl’s dictionary. What is the definition given in this book?
Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church on piety
The best Christian books on godliness are the Old and New Testaments. But you can understand them correctly only by reading the works of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church. These people, with a particularly pure life, exploits, and rejection of any excesses, attracted the Holy Spirit, who revealed to them the real meaning of the Holy Scriptures. We can say that everything that is written by saints and theologians speaks specifically about genuine worship of God. What types of piety are there?
“The first is so as not to sin, the second is, having sinned, to endure the sorrows that happen, but the third type is to cry about the lack of patience if we cannot endure the sorrows...” (Reverend Mark the Ascetic).
“True piety consists not only in not doing evil, but in not thinking about it” (Reverend Simeon the New Theologian).
Piety
The concept is quite important in Christian teaching. A pious person is a person who has the virtues characteristic of believers. But here it is worth clarifying some points. Piety can be both sincere and ostentatious. The latter involves performing all sorts of church rituals, but not meeting the requirements listed in the Gospel. A pious lifestyle is not the ability to withstand long hours of church services, but constant work on oneself, a continuous analysis of one’s own actions.
Piety and Humility: What's the Difference?
Of course, these essential virtues go hand in hand. It is impossible to be pious without humility, and vice versa. We can say that Orthodox piety is a more general concept that includes many virtues.
Humility is very important for the spiritual life of an Orthodox person. In practice, it manifests itself when, for example, we have the opportunity and reason to take revenge on a person, and even they really offended us unfairly, but we do not do this. We do not take revenge, we do not multiply the evil around us. And we don’t do this not because we are afraid or don’t want to create unnecessary trouble for ourselves, but because of Christian love for our neighbor.
Jesus Christ had amazing humility and meekness
To be humble means to “live in peace.” With peace in your soul, on your lips and in your thoughts. A person who has managed to acquire in his soul the great grace of humility will certainly become pious. In church during services we hear the following words: “Let us live a quiet and silent life in all piety and purity.” This is the standard of Christian life - a calm, peaceful flow.
It is paradoxical, but modern man deprives himself of such a blessed life. An extremely strong desire for comfort, a constant pursuit of money and prestige, a desire for enrichment, prestige, etc. - when these aspirations overshadow everything and become the center and goal of life, then a person forgets about God. And having forgotten about Him, he invariably begins to suffer. But he tries to console his suffering not by returning to the Lord, but by achieving even greater vain worldly goals.
Odysseus
Homer lived long before the rise of Christianity. Moreover, in his most famous work, the Odyssey, the word “pious” appears. The ancient Greek storyteller used this epithet in relation to the main character.
However, the author did not skimp on adjectives. His Odysseus is cunning, and wise, and long-suffering, and finally, pious. The meanings of these words, of course, are unequal. By calling the hero, who spent most of his life traveling, cunning and wise, the author hinted at his intelligence and dexterity. Speaking about the piety of Odysseus, his high respect for the gods, of which, as you know, there were many in Ancient Greece.
What does "pious" mean? Able to carry out instructions given from above. And by whom they were already given (Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo or, perhaps, Allah) is not so important.
Church translation
What does this word mean in the understanding of the Orthodox Church? Piety is honoring the good. Since for a believer, good is God, then, accordingly, the Christian understanding of this word lies in honoring and glorifying the Creator through fulfilling the commandments of Christ. “Lord, save the pious...” - the clergy turn to God every day during the service. “And hear us (us) ...” they complete the appeal. That is, the text of the church prayer suggests that the very fact that a person is in church and takes part in the service already confirms that he is glorifying God. This is the pitfall. It is important to remember that the words of the prayer call people pious in order to remind them that they should try to live up to this definition.
Sayings of the greats
John Chrysostom said that piety causes disgust among sinners, and for some reason he recalled the parable of pigs who showed complete indifference to the brilliance and grace of pearls. In general, the famous theologian and preacher said a lot about one of the important Christian virtues. Of course, we will not cite all quotes from Chrysostom.
But what did people who were not directly involved in the church say about piety? They did not discuss such a topic very often, and if this happened, their words sometimes contained a certain amount of irony. One of the Bronte sisters once said that piety gives charm, but this virtue should not be abused. In one of his diaries, Fyodor Dostoevsky (without any irony) said that his family was Russian and pious. Probably, the writer meant that his father had nothing in common with such a character as Karamazov Sr.
Orthodox Life
Archpriest Vladimir Puchkov answers.
What does the concept of piety include? First of all, the right faith. Secondly, life according to the Gospel, thirdly, devout churchliness. Naturally, piety also has a purely external side: modesty in dress, restraint in words, reverent disposition. Actually, true piety provides for an obvious and necessary harmony of external and internal.
It so happened historically that there is not the slightest need to convince our believers of the importance of the external side. For centuries, church people accepted as the norm a wide variety of rules of external piety and did this very successfully even when this or that custom, being simply old or somewhat widespread, at the same time did not in any way pretend to be considered a rule. A typical example: the usual women's church dress code, by default perceived as the norm from Kamchatka to Moldova, which arose not from pious motives, but for the simple reason that first the revolution of 1917 with the Civil War, then Stalin’s terror, and then the Great The Patriotic Church successively deprived the Church of the nobility, then the intelligentsia, and then men. As a result, almost exclusively women from simple working-class or rural backgrounds remained in the Church. And they went to services in their usual clothes - long skirts, baggy blouses and scarves, which, without knowing it, shaped, so to speak, church fashion for several generations to come.
At the same time, the internal: life according to conscience, purity of heart, striving for the gospel ideal - is often not so much neglected, rather, a person does not always reach it, plunging headlong into the implementation of numerous external rules, of which the necessary, important, It’s good for the real church if half of them are, while the rest are outright church folklore, sometimes funny, sometimes grotesque, and sometimes clearly unnecessary. That is, in striving for piety, a person risks, without noticing it, slipping into hypocrisy.
On the other hand, starting church life by following external rules is a natural phenomenon. And for an experienced parishioner, who has long experienced neophytehood and is building inner churchliness in himself, the external side of church life, as well as external manifestations of piety in general, are valuable, perhaps even more than for the neophyte. Therefore, he will undoubtedly be as committed to external forms as to the internal Christian dispensation.
It is clear from everything that we cannot do without clear criteria distinguishing piety from hypocrisy. Let's try to formulate at least some. As we know from the Gospel, a person’s attitude towards God is determined by his attitude towards others. A truly godly person seeks to see God in his neighbor. Of course, we do not live among saints, and even the most sincerely pious Christian is not immune from anger, impatience and resentment. But, be that as it may, a godly person is a person who learns to love. Of course, he sins, including against love, but he sincerely repents and finds within himself the desire and strength to correct himself. In any case, he does not pass by someone in need, does not refuse help to those who need it, and does not cause conflicts in the family or at work. With a hypocrite, everything is different. The prude does not love her neighbor and does not strive to do so. He demands self-love. And he always knows how to do it. This determines his attitude towards others. Let us remember that the bigot zealously adheres to all the necessary rules of external piety. For example, he observes fasts, does not smoke, and prays in the mornings and evenings. He also honors unnecessary rules invented by who knows who: he doesn’t brush his teeth before communion, he believes that you can’t keep a dog in your apartment, and so on. It is clear that all these rules become generally binding in the family of a prude. Whether you are able to fast or not, you will fast, because I am fasting. If you can’t quit smoking, you’ll listen to hysterics ten times a day. The dog needs to be kicked out of the house, because Pelagia of Ryazan (if only I knew who she was) said that you can’t be in the same room with icons... In a situation where it doesn’t work as you want and even swearing doesn’t help, the bigot will willingly resort to manipulation. For example, he will try to instill a feeling of guilt. For example, “I carried you for nine months, suffered and gave birth, got you back on your feet, and you don’t want to marry the one I chose,” or “you don’t want to obey me, so I’ll die of frustration - and you’ll be guilty for the rest of your life.” . Hanges are incredibly generous with comments and advice. “This is for your own good,” “no one will tell you except me,” or even directly, “I want to make a remark to you (give advice).” At the same time, they are guided, as a rule, by anger or envy, which, despite their emphasized churchliness, they have more than enough of. But when a neighbor can be useful, a hypocrite, with knowledge of the matter, is a hypocrite, and flatters, and pleases people. Sin, you say? It’s okay, you can read an extra akathist or start fasting on Mondays too...
The habit of treating people as consumerism has an expected effect on the attitude towards God. The bigot believes in God, who rewards suffering with good and is merciful for heroic deeds, but at the same time punishes for the sins not only the sinner himself, but also his descendants. The prude appreciates her suffering and loves herself who suffers, expecting obligatory compensation in the form of benefits from God. But he does not know how to rejoice and is even afraid, because he is convinced that for every laughter he will have to “cry”, for every joy he will have to “grieve.” The bigot usually classifies as sorrows and temptations the negative reaction of others to his own know-it-all, shamelessness and malice. This, by the way, is very convenient: everyone is to blame, but not me.
On the contrary, a pious person sees in God neither a formidable king nor a harsh judge. For him, God is first and foremost a loving Father. That is why he loves God with all sincerity and believes Him directly like a child. He even understands the fear of God not as fear of punishment for sin or fear of condemnation to eternal destruction, but as fear of outrage over God’s boundless love for mankind by one’s own sin. The basis of the attitude of a truly pious person towards God is gratitude, because he clearly realizes how much a person in general and he personally, in particular, has already been blessed by God. Therefore, when praying, he thanks much more often than asks.
The last thing I would like to pay attention to is your attitude towards yourself. A prude often talks about how much he does not love himself, how sinful, vicious and generally bad and worthless he is. True, it is not a critical attitude towards himself that forces him to fall into humility. A prude is very pleased when, in the process of self-reproach, someone stops him, contradicts him, tries to convince him that he is wrong and in fact is much better than he thinks about himself. However, even without hearing anything like that, the bigot remains quite satisfied: he scolded himself in public, people will praise him for his “humility.” There would be no need for anything like this if the hypocrite worked on himself. But this is precisely what does not happen to him. Exclusively external churchliness does not require changes in the soul. Be who you have always been, just perform the rituals. As a result, a hypocrite who carefully fulfills the external instructions can remain a liar, a scoundrel, and a troublemaker. Many such “believers” have no qualms about picking on their colleagues at work, writing slander against their neighbors, slandering their neighbors, slandering behind their backs, provoking conflicts, and masterfully knowing how to pit people against each other or get out of it by setting others up. It would hardly be possible to reproach them if they, being like that (after all, everyone is like that to one degree or another), sought to change, become better, correct themselves. But that’s the trouble with a hypocrite, that even if he strives, it’s not at all for this. If you don’t wear short sleeves in the summer, sleep in a headscarf, completely give up meat, or answer only “God bless you” instead of “thank you” - yes. It’s easy to come up with a feat for yourself, to live with your wife “like brother and sister,” or to avoid swimming in the sea on principle. But not to insult, not to condemn, not to betray, not to be rude... No, this is already beyond our strength. Or maybe there is no desire.
Meanwhile, as we have already noted, piety consists in the harmony of external and internal. Actually, it begins with an active change in oneself and one’s life, including in it the external manifestations of churchliness. This, of course, is many times more difficult than maintaining only external forms. But there is simply no other Christianity in nature, fixated exclusively on external things and not knowing internal work.
Pious Martha
This is the name of the film, released in 1980, and the work of the same name by the Spanish playwright Tirso de Molina. Who is Martha? Why did the author call her pious? The heroine of this work is a girl who, with all her appearance, demonstrated a desire to serve God. She often talked about how she wanted to help people, and as proof she treated the poor and was even going to open an infirmary.
Martha regularly attended the Catholic Church and used to convince others that she would never marry. Because she is obliged to preserve her innocence. But later it turned out that the girl’s piety was nothing more than hypocrisy. She, of course, was not a villain, but she was also quite far from sainthood. In general, Tirso de Molina's play is about ostentatious piety.
View from the outside
There is also the opposite problem. A person who begins to attend church frequently, gives alms, observes fasts, and prays at home is inevitably subjected to strict judgment from colleagues, household members, and acquaintances. Especially if he often shares his impressions of services or pilgrimages. There is no need to rush to immediately attach a shameful stigma to such a person. We can't know what really motivates him. We must not forget about the “presumption of innocence”. Perhaps the self-styled braggart often talks about church to share his joy. Most believers experience an irresistible desire to “draw” everyone who catches their eye to the temple. They feel good there. Therefore, they really want everyone around them to know what they are voluntarily deprived of. And most importantly, not everything that is done in plain sight is done for show.
The highest virtue is love, which can cancel external regulations
Can piety be contrary to love? Sometimes, for the sake of love, you can push aside some pious injunctions?
- Undoubtedly. Love is the highest virtue. If all other virtues are performed for the sake of something, then love is always a gift. Love, being the highest law, can sometimes cancel external regulations. For the sake of love, the elders left their fast if guests came to them. For the sake of love, one can sacrifice external church regulations in order to show love to one’s neighbor when he needs it. The higher cancels the lower.
Love, as the most important commandment of Christianity, is an unconditional priority in the life of a Christian. After all, love must be acquired; it is not something that is given immediately. This is many years of work associated with teaching yourself to sacrifice your interests for the sake of those you love. Sacrifice is always difficult and painful. We often tend to think about sacrifice in the following way: I will sacrifice this much, and no more. But love does not tolerate these boundaries, it extends to infinity. Therefore, a person in his life must learn to love and strive for this virtue. Of course, internal conflicts related to the implementation of external instructions are possible. But until a person has acquired love, external regulations are law.
It's easy to appear righteous when there are no threats
For some reason, by piety we mean external attributes: behavior, style of speech. But the Pharisees, who crucified the Lord, were at that time a model of piety...
– Yes, unfortunately, such an understanding is present in the Church.
Piety as an attitude, as the inner state of a person, is sometimes subjected to one or another test by God’s Providence. A situation arises in a person’s life when it is easier and safer to give up some Christian principles, to break a commandment. It is in these moments, which can be called crisis, that it is determined whether a person is truly pious or whether this is only superficial, external. It's easy to appear righteous when you're not in danger. But then a situation arises when you have to sacrifice something; It is at these moments that it becomes clear what a person really is, whether he has a steady desire to be a doer of God’s commandments. Without this, it is difficult to say something definite about a person.
