Moroz Alexy
I will confess my sin, father.
This work is devoted to understanding the essence of sin and indicating ways to combat it. Here you will find the most complete list of all sins encountered in the life of a modern Christian. Both pre-revolutionary and modern sources were used in the work on the book. For the convenience of the reader and better logical comprehension, all material is presented on the basis of the Ten Commandments of the Lord.
Part of the book is devoted to the issues of confession, the psychology of penitents, the choice of a spiritual father and the dangers of delusion that await a modern Christian from the very first steps of his spiritual path.
Unfortunately, people of the present time are so saturated with the spirit of sin and false spirituality that they are often unable to understand the essence of sin. Living “like everyone else,” without committing mortal sins, many consider themselves almost righteous, while they are in the abyss of evil.
Asking forgiveness for possible shortcomings and shortcomings of the presented book, asking for the prayers of the God-loving reader,
Priest Alexy Moroz, candidate of pedagogical sciences, member of the Union of Writers of Russia.
Introduction
When starting to prepare for confession, it is necessary to clearly and clearly understand what sin is. As the holy fathers pointed out, sin is not just some unseemly or immoral act; it is, first of all, a violation of the will of God, the commandments of God, the laws of spiritual life established by the Creator Himself.
Just as there are laws of the material world (which were also established by the Lord) and whoever breaks them exposes his life to danger or even the risk of death, in the same way there are laws of the spiritual world and whoever resists them dooms himself to many misfortunes and to the very possibility of spiritual or physical death. It never occurs to anyone living on earth, for example, to be indignant at the fact that the law of gravity exists and a person who jumps from a great height falls to his death. Almost everyone also understands that you should not put your head in fire or try to breathe under water. Those who are guided by the laws of the material world live calmly and sanely on earth, and those who try to transgress the capabilities of their nature perish.
Due to his atheistic upbringing, modern man, as a rule, lives as if the spiritual world simply does not exist. Without trying to understand the laws of the invisible world and live in accordance with them, people often pay for it cruelly. Meanwhile, the laws of the spiritual world created by God are set out in the Gospel and are directly contained in the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
For better preparation for the Sacrament of Confession, for acquiring a correct understanding and awareness of the essence of sin in all its diverse manifestations, this book is offered to the reader. Here, on the basis of the Ten Commandments of the Lord, not only the most complete list of common sins is given, but also their essence is revealed, and ways to combat them are indicated. First, the Lord's commandment is given, then actions considered a violation of it are indicated, then their sinful essence is revealed.
All comments and explanations of the essence of the commandments and the sin that comes from their violations are based on patristic writings and instructions.
The Ten Commandments of God's Law were placed on two tablets, since they contained two types of commandments: in relation to God and in relation to neighbor. Since God is love and man was created to participate in this love, to remain in that spiritual joy and bliss in which the Creator of all things dwells, the essence of the commandments lies in the prescription of love for God and neighbor. Pointing to these two types of love, the Lord Jesus Christ, when asked which commandment in the law is the most important, said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself; All the law and the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).
We must love God first of all and most of all, because He is our Creator, Provider and Savior - “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
In no life situations does the Lord leave us, does not turn away from us. We are His beloved children, His most precious creation. In addition, God is always and everywhere with us, we just need to turn to Him, cry out to Him with all our soul. God does not turn away from us even for our sins; we ourselves, like a stone wall, close ourselves off from Him with the black cloud of our sinfulness. When a person understands the madness of his life and calls out to the Creator, God immediately accepts him into His arms, like the prodigal son from the Gospel parable. If only the repentance was sincere, if only the call to the Lord was not caused by selfish, carnal goals.
After the commandment of love for God, there must be love for our neighbor, which serves as an expression of our devotion to the Creator. He who does not love his neighbor does not love God. The Holy Apostle John the Theologian explains: “Whoever says: “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar; For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (I John 4:20). By loving God and our neighbors, we thereby reveal true love for ourselves. Because true love for oneself, first of all, is expressed in caring for one’s soul, one’s eternal life, and creating oneself in the image and likeness of God. By doing this, we become, with the help of the Creator, a new creature, citizens of the coming Kingdom of Heaven, to whom alone the future belongs.
Thus, true love for oneself (as opposed to carnal selfishness and egocentrism) cannot be demonstrated at the expense of love for one’s neighbor. On the contrary, true self-love, paradoxical as it may sound for modern man, consists precisely in sacrificing oneself (in the image of the death on the cross of the God-man Jesus Christ for the entire human race) and one’s selfish interests for the sake of love for one’s neighbors. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
True spiritual love for yourself and your neighbors is always the result of love for God. Carnal love, purely spiritual, sensual, can become an insurmountable obstacle to the acquisition of this true love. This is how the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about this: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37-38). That is, whoever tries in any way to avoid life’s hardships and hardships, suffering and trials that are allowed by the Lord, allows deception, cunning, meanness, lies, just to avoid the troubles encountered.
If a person loves God first of all, then naturally he cannot help but love his family and friends; and this love will be sanctified by Divine grace. If a person loves one of them carnally, that is, without love for God, then such love can even be criminal. For example, for the well-being of a beloved friend, such a person can deprive the well-being of others, be unfair and cruel to them. It should be clearly remembered that true love for one’s neighbor is manifested not in external feelings and emotions, although such may be present, but in caring for his soul, for his future eternal life. And here, caring for the external comfort, material wealth, and physical health of one’s neighbor is not always the main form of showing love for him.
So, although the essence of the Law of God lies in the two commandments of love, in order for fallen man to more clearly imagine his responsibilities towards God and his neighbor, to see sin in all the diversity of its manifestations, the Ten Commandments were given on Mount Sinai. Duties to God are prescribed in the first four commandments, and duties to others are prescribed in the last six commandments.
About the first commandment of God's law
I am the Lord your God: let you have no gods other than Me. I am the Lord your God; and you shall have no other gods besides Me.
With the first commandment, the Lord God points man to Himself and inspires him to honor Him - the One True God. Apart from Him, no one should be given Divine veneration. Name: “Lord” - from the word “to dominate”; The name “God” comes from the word “rich in mercy”, good! As omnipotent, God commands; as merciful, He reveals Himself and His holy will. In order to correctly honor the Lord God, we must know Him, that is, learn the knowledge of God.
Alexy Moroz has different scientific and spiritual titles
Archpriest Alexy Moroz is an erudite and educated man. Has a solid list of titles:
- professor of theology;
- member of the board of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Writers' Union;
- Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences;
- Grand Doctor of Psychology;
- confessor and chairman of the Council of Orthodox Intelligentsia;
- Member of the Council of the Society of Orthodox Psychologists.
Among his awards:
- Diploma from the Federal Drug Control Service;
- diploma No. 10-436 of the International Parliament and Peace and the Oxford Educational Network.
Father Alexey wrote many books on Orthodoxy and psychology
Priest Alexy is known for his rich volume of works on theology and psychology. He had a hand in writing more than fifty books, and the number of articles from his pen exceeded three hundred.
It all started, of course, with small publications.
The main topic is the dangers that, from the point of view of Orthodoxy, threaten a person: sects, occultism, drug addiction, etc.
Priest Alexey Moroz collected information about new occult and sectarian movements. He tried to describe as fully as possible the face of this or that teaching, so that people would have a comprehensive understanding of them.
The materials had to be collected bit by bit, since they were not covered in detail anywhere. Gradually, article by article, something came together that resembled individual chapters of a book. This is how Father Alexy’s first work appeared, “People and Demons.”
“People and Demons” is the first book by Alexei Moroz. He wrote it under the pseudonym “Priest Rodion” Buy on OZON.ru
“People and Demons” is a book written under the pseudonym “Priest Rodion”. In it, the author tries to find a cause-and-effect relationship between occultism and people’s problems:
- Diseases;
- Of death;
- Destroyed lives.
The author refers to letters from people who experienced the events described in the book. Supplements the materials with statements by prominent figures of the Russian Orthodox Church. Priest Alexy also gives his own reasoning about the dangers of man on the path to salvation.
This book has already gone through several editions and opened the way for Archpriest Alexei Moroz to reach a readership. He did not consider it necessary to write for the hundredth time on hackneyed topics and covered in his works those issues on which he could not find a full-fledged reference book.
Book by Alexander Moroz “I Confess Sin, Father” Buy on OZON.ru
This is how the book “I Confess Sin, Father” appeared. In it, priest Alexy explains what is a sin and what is not. In this topic, as it turns out, not everything is obvious, and sometimes people are tormented by certain questions, but there are no answers. This work also contains advice on how to overcome sin. In it, Father Alexei again refers to his experience and stories about the holy fathers. This time the priest did not hide his name.
There are many other works, for example:
- “Good lessons and instructions. Textbook for the course “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture”;
- “Heal me, Lord. Overcoming pathological addictions";
- “Lessons in Sobriety. Orthodox shield. A training that works wonders! 16 lessons of liberation from alcohol and nicotine addiction";
- "The Human Way".
And other works on the topic of Orthodoxy and psychology.
Priest Alexey was criticized for non-Orthodox ideas
The activities of priest Alexy Moroz have been repeatedly criticized. He was accused of diverging from Orthodox views. For example, Macarius Markios in the book “Pseudo-Orthodoxy” wrote the following about the work “I Confess Sin, Father”:
Macarius Markios
Russian monk
“The book is one of the tares of church literature (see the article by Archpriest Igor Ryabko “On the tares of church literature”). In my opinion, it should be set on fire, and the author should be brought to canonical responsibility. The practice of confession, however, cannot be said in a few words.
I can only quote the ever-memorable Patriarch Alexy: “Those priests who avoid formalism in this matter (confession) act correctly, realizing the inadmissibility of demanding the presentation of details of the commission of a sin, which not only does not serve the salvation of the penitent, but is extremely harmful to the confessor.”
By the way, this book received the ironic name “Orthodox Kama Sutra” among believers, since the part about prodigal sins is full of detailed descriptions of intimate actions. Not only is it too harsh in places and does not reflect the real Orthodox position regarding the sexual life of spouses, it is also unjustifiably focused on these details.
“I Confess Sin, Father” - a book by Alexei Moroz, which is criticized for speculation of intimate details
The book was remembered by readers for one more thing. It is full of outdated and simply absurd thoughts. For example, the author believes that keeping a dog in the house is a sin, and another sin is inappropriate laughter, abandonment of one’s father’s friend, etc.
Father Alexey's doctorate is not recognized by the Higher Attestation Commission
But priest Alexy is criticized not only for his work.
Andrey Kuraev published a critical post when Alexey Moroz defended his doctoral dissertation at the International University of Fundamental Education:
Andrey Kuraev
Russian public figure
“In fact, we are facing another vanity fair. The mentioned “university” does not have an academic council and its degrees are not recognized by the Higher Attestation Commission. This is an ordinary commercial shop for catching vain suckers from whom you can make money for a magnificent pseudoscientific title. But in addition, it is also a breeding ground and helper of sects. All you have to do is go to this mufo’s website to see both “magic theater” and “transpersonal psychology.”
See also the article Is Andrei Kuraev excommunicated from the church?
Priest Alexy Moroz created Orthodox psychology
Archpriest Alexey Moroz has been involved in the science he calls “Orthodox psychology” for over thirty years. He has a methodology, like-minded people, followers.
The need for such science for Priest Moroz is obvious. After all, there are many psychological schools that are hostile to Orthodoxy. For example, the same teaching of Freud.
Orthodox psychology is the science of the soul, but with an Orthodox foundation. The theories about the human psyche that are widespread everywhere are combined with Orthodox views on passions, illnesses, personality formation, etc. Attention is paid not only to domestic, but also to foreign experience in psychology.
Orthodox psychology fights various manias, rehabilitates addicts
One of the central topics of Alexey Moroz’s research is drunkenness. Side by side with it goes another thing - drug addiction. If desired, other manias can be considered in this context:
- Gambling addiction;
- Computer mania;
- Internetmania.
One of Alexei Moroz’s books about the struggle of Orthodoxy with addictions.
All these are forms of addiction, and the task of Orthodox psychology is to help a person overcome them. Alexey Moroz himself spoke in an interview about his views on addiction:
Alexy Moroz
Priest
“We believe that drug disease is drug obsession. First of all, spiritual damage occurs, then it moves into the psyche, and then the disease manifests itself at the physical level. Therefore, first of all, drug addicts are people possessed by a demon. This is 100 percent.
Drug addiction is a passion, and any passion, as shown by the Holy Fathers, is the result of targeted mental influence, and such people are, to one degree or another, obsessed. Therefore, it is possible to overcome drug addiction only with the help of God.
A person gives up all his sins, renounces his sins, repents of them and begins to observe all the commandments of God. Because God’s commandments are the law of spiritual life.”
Completely free of charge, specialists work with addicted people for nine months:
- Some teach spiritual life, conduct Orthodox rituals, help find strength to overcome addiction;
- Others are engaged in psychological rehabilitation of patients, conduct physical therapy, and monitor the general health of the patient.
