Blessing and honor what it is
As we see, the word piety consists of two concepts - goodness and honor. I believe that in order to understand the meaning of this word, it is necessary to define both concepts. While I won’t go into church explanations, I’ll try to determine what this means in everyday life.
Good is something that is perceived positively in life. Good is beauty, happiness, love, a gift of fate.
But even this explanation is superficial; the concept of the word is very diverse and deep. “Thank you,” says a person when he receives something; “grace,” says a person when he is in languor. From a psychological point of view, good is harmony, merging with nature (with God), with circumstances, with life.
I will dwell a little on the concept of “merging with God.” What does it mean? But more on this later in the article, here I draw attention to the word “MERGEN” , not faith, not following commandments and laws, or rather, not only, but, above all, merging with the highest.
Honor is also a very diverse and deep concept. Awareness ranges from the honor of a girl (purity) to the honor of a person in life (take care of your honor from a young age), but also the honor of a profession, for example, the honor of a warrior, politician, or a specific person. It all depends on what you mean.
Moreover, there is another interpretation of this concept - this is honesty, which means to be truthful, responsible for one’s actions... Honestly, a person says in other cases. This is perceived as an oath that is unbreakable and the person who breaks his word of honor is despised, first of all.
Why form replaces essence
Why does it happen that a person who tries to go to God, goes to church, lights candles, follows prayer rules and performs many other different actions, turns into just an empty shell that has no essence?
The fact is that the external and material are much easier to understand and apply in life. So, putting on a long skirt and headscarf is much easier than not judging, not slandering, not envying. So a substitution of concepts occurs where a person chooses to follow a simpler path. Meanwhile, in our Church there is no strict dogma about appearance.
Outward piety in dress should be limited to matters of decency and taste
Very often one can come across discussions about how ungodly it is for women to wear trousers. Indeed, the Bible says that it is indecent for women to wear men's clothing and for men to wear women's clothing. But are we talking about trousers? And men's clothing of those times were long, wide-brimmed tunics. So why then aren't modern men required to wear anything similar?
Of course, an Orthodox Christian should not look vulgar, defiant, or vulgar. When dressing for church, you need to think about not distracting other people with your appearance, not seducing them. Compliance with these rules will already be quite enough to look pious outwardly.
But looking like a pious person and being one are still two different things. In order for a benefactor to acquire essence, in addition to form, you need to work a lot on your own soul. It is necessary to fight envy, laziness, and condemnation of others.
Godliness what is it
Now let's talk about godliness. First, let's give a definition from an unusual position.
Piety is honor, which is good, just as good is honor. Together, piety, when honor for a person is good, but good also determines the height of honor (a person lives honestly, receiving satisfaction from it, that is, good).
Let us recall the concept of moral and spiritual piety. A pious person is a person who believes in God. Let's expand this statement and say: living in God, but God is love. Godliness is a person who lives in love and considers it his honor.
Good is honor, honor is good.
Another facet of this unique word. I'll explain it with an example. We say when we receive news from someone: “This is good news.” That is, the news is good, joyful, expected.
And what will the word good honor mean from this position? How can this be explained? A pious person is highly moral, honest, fair, but also proud of these wonderful qualities. A person’s honor lies in creating good, regardless of circumstances; this is a way of life for him.
But let’s not exaggerate and stop in our search; let’s look at another meaning of this deep concept. Let's take a word like well-being. Here we mean a good, established life in all senses, including material ones. Well-being is a person having everything necessary for life.
Let's return to the concept of piety and try to give a definition, but we will not determine the immutability and completeness of the definition, but will analyze it from all positions.
A pious person is a person who considers honor to be a good thing.
PIETY
The Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church, in their moral and pastoral instructions, formed an image of Orthodoxy that was classical in style and spiritual in content. Christ B. “It is not in the law of piety (μὴ ἐν νόμῳ τῆς εὐσεβείας) that beauty is seen, but it shines more in the power of evangelical education” (Cyr. Alex. Comment. in XII prophetas minores).
In his polemics with the pagans, Origen understands B. as Christ. religion, the truth of Christianity (Orig. Contr. Cels.); sschmch. Irenaeus of Lyons, in denouncing Gnosticism, means by B. (θεοσέβεια) the true faith (Iren. Advers. haer. I 9. 3); blzh. Augustine calls B. (pietas/εὐσέβεια) worship of God in the proper sense (Aug. De civ. Dei. X 1. 3). St. Gregory the Theologian teaches that true life is revealed in love for God through keeping His commandments (Greg. Nazianz. Or. 3). “Exercise yourself in godliness” (1 Tim 4:7), that is, in pure faith and right life, for this, according to the definition of St. John Chrysostom, and there is B. (Ioan. Chrysost. In 1 Tim. 12. 2). Evagrius Scholasticus in his “Ecclesiastical History” speaks of honoring God “with prayers and other piety” (λιταῖς τε καὶ ἄλλαις εὐσεβείαις) (Evagr. Schol. Hist. eccl. IV 24).
St. Cyprian of Carthage (Cypr. Carth. Ep. 55. 29), bl. Augustine (Aug. De Civ. Dei. X 1. 3) understood B. as the mercy of God or the mercy of man in relation to his neighbor. St. Justin Martyr speaks of the B. Son to the Father (Dial. 98. 1). Origen believes that B. most closely approaches Christ in His Passion (Orig. Exort. au Martyre). St. Gregory I the Great refers B. to God Himself and to Jesus Christ (Greg. Magn. In Evang. II 33. 7-8), calls God pius, in contrast to the Greek. fathers, who never used the word εὐσεβής (and derivatives) in this case (Mehat. Col. 1715).
St. Athanasius of Alexandria considers B. a sign of the correctness of the dogmatic formulation: he says about the Nicene Symbol that in the faith confessed by the fathers in Nicaea, “there is no lack, but it is full of piety (πλήρη εὐσεβείας εἶναι)” (Athanas Alex. Tom. ad Antioch.) . B. distinguishes the sacraments of the Orthodox Church. Church from what is done by heretics. Baptism among the Arians is absolutely fruitless, since “it does not bring any assistance to piety” (μηδὲν ἔχον πρὸς εὐσέβειαν βοήθημα), like other heretics, it is “useless, devoid of piety” (ἀλυσιτελ ὲς… λειπόμενον εὐσεβείᾳ) (Athanas Alex. Or. contr. arian. 2).
St. Basil the Great, speaking about gradualism in achieving the heights of virtue, distinguishes degrees of B. He likens the exercise in B. to the ladder seen by Jacob (Basil. Magn. Hom. in Ps. 1), “the understanding of piety is improved through gradual increments” (Basil. Magn. . De Spirit. Sanct. 1). The ascent of the soul, according to St. Basil, there is an art of achieving “the wisdom of the perfect,” a certain process of education for “those who strive in the school of piety” (Asceticon (fus.)). According to St. John Chrysostom, walking the path of B., needs vigor, courage and a fiery feeling of the fear of God (Ioan. Chrysost. In S. Ignat.); thousands “throughout the whole universe,” says St. John, endured suffering for the sake of B. (Ioan. Chrysost. In 1 Cor. 4.4). According to Clement of Alexandria, B. surpasses all virtues, since it is it that “teaches to worship and honor the highest and most significant reason” (Clem. Alex. Strom. 2.18).
God favors the pious, St. Clement of Rome gives the example of Lot, saved from the punishment that befell the inhabitants of Sodom, “because of hospitality and piety” (διὰ φιλοξενίαν καὶ εὐσέβειαν) (Clem. Rom. 1 Cor 11. 1).
The concept of B., rarely found among apostolic men, is already filled with Christ among the early apologists (St. Justin Martyr). content (Mehat. Col. 1710, 1712), then organically woven into the context of the moral teaching of the Church, instructing a person how to live in accordance with Christ. calling to be worthy of God's mercy and love.
In the future life of the Church, which calls on all the faithful to lead a “quiet and serene life in all godliness and purity” (1 Tim 2.2), spiritual and cultural achievements are integrated into the content of the concept of B., receiving in the development of the tradition of Christ. B. its highest ethical justification. In the Roman Empire, along with various historical and cultural factors, Christ. B. became a great spiritual and moral force that ensured the triumph of Christianity within its borders. Byzantium showed in its history the first and greatest type of Orthodoxy. Christ civilization, faith and traditions of B. cut have determined the spiritual and moral principle that binds it. B.'s traditions covered various aspects of personal, family, public and state. life. The main characteristic tendency of B. was the development of liturgical forms of church life, based on the apostolic tradition, which led to the flourishing of church preaching, hagiography, hymnography, temple architecture, iconography, monastic asceticism and highly artistic Byzantine art. rite.
Everything that brings good into the structure of the soul and leads to the creation of ideal forms of human existence as a sphere of manifestation of the supramundane Divine principle becomes the subject of preference, admiration, veneration, solemn proclamation and, of course, embodiment in the culture of consciousness and behavior, in the experience of speculation and action, in feat of service and creativity. B. is understood as a science whose vocation is to instruct a person to honor the good and give him the due “honor,” that is, to provide him with a worthy place in life in connection with the task of spiritual, moral and religious matters. man's ascent to God. In the Orthodox interpretation. B. several can be distinguished. main aspects. 1. B. as the main religion. the principle of man’s relationship to God and the saving actions of His Divine Providence. 2. B. as the path of following the revealed truth, revealed in the specific instructions of the Orthodox Tradition. 3. B. as the truth of the confession of Orthodox dogmas. faith (rules of faith) in strict accordance with the apostolic and patristic traditions and decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. 4. B. as a lifestyle built in accordance with the ideal requirements of spiritual perfection, including love for others commanded by the Gospel, charity and patriotic valor. 5. B. as the degree of spiritual and moral formation of the individual in his ascent to deification. The structure of the concept of B. in the form in which it was formed in Orthodoxy. consciousness, constitute, therefore, simultaneously religious, ideological and ethical components.
Meaning of the Greek term[ | ]
In classical Greek, this word was used to mean “respect, fear, devotion” in relation to parents or pagan deities (1 Tim. 5:4, Acts 17:23). In the Bible it is used in the much narrower sense of “fearing God.” Accordingly, the emphasis when interpreting this word in a biblical context should be placed not on external actions or instructions through which a person can supposedly earn the favor of God, but on the internal state of the fear of God, the constant awareness of the priority of God's will in the life of a believer, which determines the actions of a Christian.
Exercise yourself in piety, for bodily exercise is of little use, but piety is useful for everything, having the promise of the present and future life.
— 1 Tim. 4:7-8
In ancient Greek mythology, when Zeus decided to destroy people with a flood, he allowed the spouses Deucalion and Pyrrha to escape for their piety[2].
Problems that arise among the pious[ | ]
Attitudes of other people[ | ]
The New Testament reveals that people who want to fulfill the Will of God, being pious, will certainly meet opponents in the form of unbelievers, or people who have renounced the power of piety.
And all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Evil people and deceivers will prosper in evil, deceiving and being deceived.
— 2 Tim. 3:12-13
In practice, it is known [ to whom?
] that people who live very correctly and wisely, with their righteous deeds, “prevent the living” of those who live more freely and do not have such aspirations.
Man's tendency to sin[ | ]
According to Christian ideas, a person (even a Christian) is sinful by nature (a consequence of original sin), and various bad qualities constantly appear in his life. A godly person seeks to get rid of them by eliminating them from his character and asking God for it in prayer. Such qualities, for example, include:
- foul language, slander, idle talk
If anyone among you thinks he is pious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his piety is empty.
- Jacob. 1:26
