How to deal with verbosity and idle talk. Detailed description of sins

This article describes in detail the sins that are listed in the abbreviated confession of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. This confession is just a short excerpt from his full confession. It lists 47 sins; although there are of course many more. The Holy Fathers count eight passions from which all other sins and passions are born, namely: gluttony (30), fornication, love of money (35), anger (7), sadness, despondency (15), vanity (32) and pride (4) . Our confession does not touch on serious sins that need to be confessed to a priest. This abbreviated confession is most suitable for home examination of conscience.

The description of each sin listed in the above-mentioned confession is given according to the following scheme. First, an explanation of this word is given according to the dictionary of Dahl, Ozhegov or the Academy of Sciences. Then follows an extract from the Holy Scriptures, then an extract from a well-known spiritual book, then a short discussion, and at the end there is advice on what to do if we are under the influence of this sin. Most of all there are extracts from the works of the Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt, since he lived almost in our time, and his speech and his reasoning are very close and understandable to us.

There are general rules on how to resist sin. They can be divided into three parts: before temptation, during temptation and after temptation or after the fall of sin.

Before temptation, we need to prepare for the moment when sinful temptation attacks us. This preparation consists of prayer, confession, repentance, fasting, spiritual reading and a plan for how to act during temptation, etc. Also during preparation, you need to think carefully and make sure why this particular sin should not be committed. During Lent, we especially try not to sin.

What to do when temptation comes to us? You need to pray, move away from sin, or try to do the opposite virtue.

After removing the temptation, you need to pray and thank the Lord God for your help in overcoming the temptation. In case of a sinful fall, we must immediately stop sinning and try to correct what we have done, then we need to pray, repent and under no circumstances fall into despondency.

As was already said in the Preface, regarding excerpts from books on the old spelling, in these notes, the following rules: (1) Grammar and spelling are preserved as in the original, that is, according to the old spelling. (2) Since there are not enough letters in the old spelling in the printing technology, letters in the new spelling are written instead and (3) A solid sign is issued at the end of the word, after the consonant letter.

1. Sin of idle talk

Idle talk - Empty, idle words (Ozhegov). Empty, idle, unnecessary conversations.

I tell you that for every idle word,
what people will say
They will give an answer on the day of judgment: (Matthew 12:36).

These words remind us that our life is not eternal and that it will come to an end. We will have to answer for everything we have done and said.

Therefore, a Christian thanks the Lord God for every day of his life and does everything thoughtfully and purposefully. He values ​​his time and does not waste it on idle, empty and unnecessary things and conversations.

Empty speech or, as they say, pouring from empty to empty takes away from the heart living faith, fear of God and love for God (Paris, 1984, p. 9).

The life of a Christian has deep meaning. Its goal is to cleanse a person from sin, bring him closer - in his qualities - to the Lord God and inherit eternal life. To achieve this, you need to live according to the Commandments of God's Law. Idle time, empty talk and idle talk are not only a waste of precious time, but also give rise to other sins such as condemnation (2), slander (8), slander (24), foul language (40), gossip (40), etc. n. Idle talk can be a bad habit and even a passion.

In order not to sin with idle talk, you first need to create a disposition in yourself in which there is no opportunity to engage in idle talk. You need to do something useful. Nothing breeds idle talk like idleness (33). We must remember that silence is much better than verbosity and empty talk.

Then, in order not to sin with idle talk, we need to watch what we say and curb our tongue.

2. Sin condemnation

Condemn - Blame, find fault, discredit or disapprove, blame, condemn (Dahl). Condemn someone.

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew it is said:

Judge not lest ye be judged;
for by what judgment do you judge,
thus you will be judged; (Matthew 7:1-2 rs).

Here the Holy Scripture teaches us not to judge others and reminds us that we too will be judged by the Lord God at the Last Judgment. A Christian does not condemn the actions of other people. Only the Lord God has the right to do this, only He is wise and sees and knows everything. Due to our limitations, we simply cannot know and understand all the actions of another person and therefore are not able to judge intelligently.

Does this mean that you can’t talk about other people’s actions? Does this mean that we need to turn a blind eye to evil, not talk about it, and thus contribute to the spread of evil? How can this apparent contradiction be resolved? So, how beautifully, how deeply, how wisely this question is resolved by the Holy Father John Chrysostom. He explains this very well in his conversation, and Archbishop Averky (Taushev) includes this in his textbook: “Guide to the Study of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament,” part 1, p. 120.

Archbishop Averky distinguishes two words: JUDGMENT and CONDEMNATION. The word JUDGE means to reason, analyze and analyze some action. The word CONDEMNATION means to make a sentence on a person, maybe only an oral one, but still a sentence. Referring to St. John Chrysostom, he believes that we can and should JUDGE, but we are forbidden to CONDEMN (JUDGE) and this can only be done by the Lord God Himself. If we could not reason, that is, judge the actions of people, then we would gradually cease to distinguish between good and evil and virtue from sin and would lose the ability to live as Christians.

This is exactly what Archbishop Averky wrote in his book “Guide to the Study of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament”:

Judge not, lest ye be judged” - these are the words of St. Luke puts it this way:
“Do not condemn, lest you be condemned” (Luke 6:37).

What is prohibited here is therefore not JUDGMENT about one’s neighbor, but JUDGMENT of him, in the sense of gossip that occurs, for the most part, from some selfish and unclean motives, from vanity, pride; slander, slander, malicious censure of other people’s shortcomings, resulting from a feeling of dislike, are prohibited. , ill will towards one's neighbor. If here all JUDGMENT about one’s neighbor and his actions were prohibited, then the Lord could not have said further:
“Thou shalt not let the holy one be a dog; neither cast thy pearls before swine.”

and Christians could not fulfill their duty - to reprove and admonish those who sin, which is prescribed by the Lord Himself further in Chapter. 18th century 15-17. An evil feeling, gloating, is prohibited, but not the assessment of the actions of our neighbor in itself, for without noticing evil, we could easily begin to be indifferent to evil and good, and would lose the sense of distinguishing between good and evil. This is how St. speaks about it. Zlatoust:
“If someone commits adultery, shouldn’t I say that adultery is evil, and shouldn’t I correct the libertine? Correct, but not as an enemy, not as an enemy, subjecting him to punishment, but as a doctor applying medicine. We must not reproach, not vilify, but admonish; do not blame, but advise; not to attack with pride, but to correct with love (St. John Chrysostom, Discourse 23).”

Here Christ forbids with an unkind feeling to reproach people for their shortcomings, but without noticing his own, perhaps even greater shortcomings, but there is no talk of civil court, as some false teachers want to see, just as there is no talk of assessing a person’s actions in general. These words of the Lord meant the proud, self-important Pharisees, who treated other people with merciless condemnation, considering themselves alone to be righteous (Jordanville, NY, 1974, p. 120).

On this same topic, the Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt wrote this in his diary “My Life in Christ”:

We must despise the sins themselves, the mistakes, and not the neighbor who commits them at the instigation of the devil, out of weakness, habit; to pity your neighbor, with meekness, with love, to admonish him, as if he were forgetting or as sick, as a captive, a slave of his sin. And our malice and contempt for our neighbor who sins only increases his illness, oblivion, his spiritual captivity, and does not reduce it, and it makes us seem insane, sick, captives of our own passions and the devil - their culprit (Paris, 1984, p. 37).

Do not confuse man - this image of God - with the evil that is in him, because evil is only an accidental misfortune, an illness, a demonic dream, but his being - the image of God - still remains in him (Paris, 1984, p. 7) .

So condemnation is a great and vile sin. Condemnation is a sign of pride (3), anger (7), malice (7), envy (6), evil habit, lack of goodwill and love for a person. Judgment can be a bad habit and even a passion.

In order not to sin by condemnation, you first need to create a disposition in yourself in which there is no possibility of condemnation. To do this, you need to study and know your own vices and pay attention to them, and not to others. Then you need to develop a good disposition towards your neighbor. If he really has vices, then you need to pray to the Lord God for him and try to help him with love, as was said above. You need to move away and avoid conversations and people who judge. We must remember about death and the Last Judgment at which the Lord God will judge us all. You need to do something useful, since very often idleness (33) gives rise to idle talk (1) and condemnation.

Then, in order not to sin with condemnation, we need to watch what we say (40) and generally restrain our tongue. We must remember that silence is much better than verbosity and empty talk.

3. Sin of rebellion

Disobedience - To disobey, not to obey.

The Lord God created this world, our universe, according to laws. Everything moves, everything is synchronized, everything is wise, everything is beautiful. Natural order reigns everywhere. There must also be order in a person’s life; virtue and absence of sin, that is, life according to the Law of God. A person may not adhere to this order, but then he experiences interruptions and all sorts of negative consequences in his life. In some cases it is clear to us that such and such sin will lead to our destruction, but in other cases due to our human limitations it is not clear. Many things become clearer to a person with life experience. It becomes clearer and clearer that if we sin, then sin ultimately destroys us; sin is destructive behavior.

So, the Lord God gave us His covenant to pray and live according to His law, that is, according to the Law of God. We need to believe, pray at home and in church, live according to the commandments, confess, take communion, fight our sinful habits and thus gradually re-educate ourselves. But the Lord God also gave us free will; freedom to choose between good and evil.

The entire Law of God is built on the idea of ​​good, and therefore, in order to live according to the Law of God, you need to be able to distinguish between good and evil, virtue from sin, a good person from a bad person, a good deed from a bad one. This is the basis of a successful and fruitful life on earth and the guarantee of eternal life.

What is good and what is evil? Good creates, builds and creates: peace, tranquility, love, joy, spiritual and moral beauty, forgiveness, peacefulness, holiness and good relationships between people, in the family, with friends, at school, at work and in society. Thus, when a person stops sinning and does good and virtue, then in his qualities he begins to approach the Lord God, who is the primary source of all good.

Evil is the opposite of good; it undermines all that is good. It destroys, ruins, destroys, creates anxiety, fear, malice, anger, irritation, spiritual and moral ugliness, bad relationships. Evil removes people from the primary source of good, from the Lord God.

That Christianity has the key to the knowledge of good and evil, without which it is impossible to live successfully, this fact is hidden from people in every possible way. The enemies of Christianity say that it is lifeless, evil, gloomy and strict. Just the opposite, true Christianity is not lifeless, but teaches a pure and fruitful life; Christianity is not evil, but teaches love; Christianity is not gloomy, but teaches joy; Christianity is not strict, but teaches forgiveness.

The consequences of good and evil are obvious. So:

Good creates, evil destroys.
Loves good, hates evil.
Good helps, evil drowns.
Good conquers with good, evil with strength.
Good is joyful, evil frowns.
Good is beautiful, evil is ugly.
Good is peaceful, evil is hostile.
Good is calm, evil is irritated
Good is peaceful, evil is bullying
Good forgives, evil is vindictive.
Good is holy, evil is vile.

Sin by disobedience here means not wanting to live according to goodness, not keeping the holy commandments of the Law of God, not listening to our Father, the Lord God, how we should live and disobeying His Holy Will. Every sin is already disobedience to His Will.

Disobedience also means disobedience to our superiors; if it does not require from us that which is not in accordance with the Law of God.

4. Sin of pride

Proud - Arrogant, arrogant, arrogant; pompous, arrogant; who puts himself above others (Dahl).

The beginning of sin is pride (Sir. 10:15 rs).

Here the Holy Scripture teaches us that the beginning of all sins is pride. It follows from this that the opposite virtue to pride, humility, is the beginning of all virtues.

In the Creation, like the saints of our father Ephraim the Syrian, there is chapter 3 entitled “In the overthrow of pride.” It perfectly describes the nature of pride and the supposed virtue of humility:

Without humility, every feat, all abstinence, all submission, all non-covetousness, all much learning is in vain. For just as the beginning and end of good is humility, so the beginning and end of bad is arrogance. And this unclean spirit is resourceful and diverse; why he makes every effort to prevail over everyone, and for everyone, no matter what path he takes, he places a net on it. The wise man catches with wisdom, the strong with strength, the rich in wealth, the handsome with beauty, the eloquent with eloquence, the one with a good voice with the pleasantness of his voice, the artist with art, the resourceful with resourcefulness. And in a similar way, he does not cease to tempt those who lead a spiritual life, and sets a snare for those who have renounced the world in renunciation, the abstinent in abstinence, the silent in silence, the non-covetous in non-covetousness, the learned in learning, the reverent in reverence, the versed in knowledge (however, true knowledge is associated with humility). So arrogance tries to sow its tares in everyone. Why, knowing the cruelty of this passion (for as soon as it takes root somewhere, it makes both a person and all his work worthless), the Lord gave us a means of victory over it: humility, saying:
“When you have done all that is commanded to you, say: as we are servants without keys” (Luke 17, 10) (Holy Tr. Sergius Lavra, 1907, Part 1, p. 29).

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, in his works, has the following discussion about pride:

Pride is an abominable sin, but few people know it, as it is hidden deep in the heart. The beginning of pride is ignorance of oneself. This ignorance blinds a person, and so a person is proud. Oh, if only a person knew himself, if he knew his poverty, misery and wretchedness, he would never be proud! But the most wretched person is that he does not see and does not recognize his poverty and wretchedness. Pride is known from deeds, like a tree from its fruits (Works like the Saints of our father Tikhon of Zadonsk, Flesh and Spirit, Book 1-2, p. 246).

Badges of pride
1. Seek glory, honor and praise in every way.
2. Starting things is beyond your strength.
3. Interfere with any business without permission.
4. Elevate yourself without shame.
5. Despise others.
6. Having lost your honor, become indignant, murmur and complain.
7. To be the highest is disobedient.
8. Be kind to yourself, and not attribute it to God.
9. Be thorough in everything. (Strive - try (Dahl).
10. Discuss other people's affairs.
11. Elevate their errors, diminish their praise.
12. Show some arrogance in word and deed.
13. Corrections and admonitions not to love, not to accept advice.
14. Do not tolerate being humiliated, etc. (Creations like the Saints of our father Tikhon of Zadonsk, Flesh and Spirit, Book 1-2, p. 34).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

He who is infected with pride is inclined to show contempt for everything, even for holy and divine objects: pride mentally destroys or defiles every good thought, word, deed, every creation of God. This is the deadening breath of Satan (Paris, 1984, p. 10).

Keep a close eye on the manifestations of pride: it manifests itself unnoticed, especially in grief and irritability towards others for the most unimportant reasons (Moscow, 1894, Volume 1, p. 25).

Pride in faith manifests itself in the fact that the proud dares to set himself up as a judge of faith and the Church and says: I don’t believe this and I don’t recognize this; I find this superfluous, this unnecessary, but this is strange or funny (Moscow, 1894, Volume 2, p. 251).

So the beginning of sin is pride. Pride, like sin, is never alone. It gives rise to a whole string of other sins associated with it. A proud person seeks praise, exalts himself, despises others, does not submit to superiors, does not accept advice, is offended, cannot forgive, remembers evil, does not want to give in, cannot admit a mistake, wants to be better than others, is self-willed, etc. Thus, pride is not only a sin, but also the beginning and source of all other sin and evil. Very often a not stupid, intelligent and educated person turns into a fool because of pride.

The Holy Fathers count eight passions from which all other sins and passions are born, namely: gluttony (30), fornication, love of money (35), anger (7), sadness, despondency (15), vanity (32) and pride (4) .

In order not to sin with pride, we need to know and remember our sins and weaknesses, this will humble us. Those who know themselves little can truly be proud. Then we need to remember that everything we have is from the Lord God and without Him we would have nothing. In addition, we must remember that we are on earth temporarily and all our achievements here - knowledge, fame, wealth - have no value with the Lord God.

In order not to sin with pride, you need to avoid partiality and try to never be in first place. You need to talk less, avoid arguments, behave modestly and not do anything for show, try not to be the center of attention and not insist on your own.

5. Sin of unmercifulness

Mercy - Compassion, compassion, love in action, readiness to do good to everyone (Dal).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes, in the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew it is said:

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7).

Be merciful
just as your father is merciful (Luke 6:36).

Here the Holy Scripture teaches us to be merciful and sets us as an example our Father, the Lord God. In general, we should try to draw closer—in our qualities—to the Lord God.

In the book “Creations of Our Father Tikhon of Zadonsk, Flesh and Spirit,” it is written about unmercifulness as follows:

Mercy is the fruit of love, as it is said. What is mercy, and how should it be done? Man consists of two parts: body and soul; Therefore, the mercy shown to him is twofold: mental and physical.

1. Physical mercy is when mercy is given to the body, for example. to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, and so on. Spiritual mercy, when mercy is done to the soul, for example. to exhort the sinner from sin, and lead to a better life, to console the sorrowing, and so on.

2. There is mercy when we do good to the unworthy, that is, to those who have done nothing to deserve it from us, unless the reward were higher than merit. Eg. whoever worked a day, and his labor cost no more than twenty or thirty kopecks, and if more was given, fifty kopecks, or a ruble, then there would be mercy; otherwise there will be no mercy, but there will be reward. The same way when we do mercy without any self-interest.

3. The more that is done when necessary, the greater the mercy. Eg. It is a greater mercy to clothe one naked than to wear a thin dress. It is greater mercy to show distress to someone in need than to simply help him without doing anything.

4. Alms or mercy is judged by the zeal of the giver: “God loves a cheerful giver,” says the Apostle (2 Corinthians 9:7).

5. Mercy should not be done for the sake of vanity, otherwise there will be no reward from the Heavenly Father (Matthew 6:1).

6. Mercy must be shown from one’s own labors, and not from theft; otherwise there will be no mercy, since it is not given to oneself.

7. The kindness done should be forgotten as much as possible, so that it is not damaged by vanity.

8. Mercy must be shown to everyone, good and evil, friends and enemies, whenever need requires.

9. Mercy can be done depending on the need of the one demanding: whoever has a greater need, give more so that his need can be helped (St. Petersburg, Book 1.2, pp. 62,63).

So, one of the most important duties of a Christian is to actually show his goodwill, charity, mercy and love for others; without thinking about personal gain and self-interest. A Christian should always provide physical and spiritual assistance to his loved ones.

We need to help (cloth, feed and drink) the needy, the sick and the weak. In addition to physical help, spiritual help must also be provided. If our loved one has difficulty, sadness, grief, then we need to help with deeds, advice, guidance or guidance. If we see that our loved one is mistaken and sins, then it is our duty to help, guide and explain to him that his action is a sin. But all this should be done not with malicious criticism, but as a doctor, advise and with love and affection instruct and save him from sin. (In this case, Orthodox Christian teaching is completely at odds with the mind-your-own-business approach accepted in our society; that is, do not interfere in other people’s affairs).

In order to avoid the sin of unmercifulness, one must, whenever possible, do the opposite virtue, that is, one must show mercy.

6. Sin of envy

Envy - To be annoyed at someone else's luck, happiness; to regret that one does not have what another has (Dahl). A feeling of annoyance caused by the well-being and success of another (Ozhegov).

Envy is the most subtle and sophisticated sin that was prohibited in the Old Testament, in the 10th commandment. This commandment is found among the other 10 Commandments in the Holy Scriptures, in the book of Exodus (Exodus 20:2-17):

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house;
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife,
neither his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
neither his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock,
nothing that is your neighbor's (Exodus 20:17).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians, there are these words about envy:

Let us not be conceited, irritate one another, or envy one another (Galatians 5:26).

In the book “Creations of Our Father Tikhon of Zadonsk, Flesh and Spirit,” it is written about envy as follows:

Envy is sadness about the goodness and well-being of one's neighbor. Painful growth! In other sins there is some kind of sweetness, although imaginary, but the envious one sins, repeatedly and suffers (St. Petersburg, Book 1.2, p. 15).

Here Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk teaches us that when a person sins, he often receives some kind of temporary sweetness from sin (for which later he will still have to pay, in one form or another), and an envious person, with his envy, brings evil and pain, only to himself to yourself.

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

Envy in a Christian is madness. In Christ we have all received infinitely great blessings, we have all been deified, we have all become heirs of the ineffable and eternal blessings of the kingdom of heaven; Yes, and we are promised contentment in earthly blessings under the condition of seeking the truth of God and the kingdom of God...

Isn’t it crazy after this to envy your neighbor in anything, for example: his honors, his wealth, a luxurious table, magnificent clothes, a wonderful home, etc.?

So, let us acquire mutual love, goodwill and contentment with our condition, friendship, hospitality, love of poverty, love of hobbies and the height of virtues: humility, kindness, meekness, holiness. Let us respect the image of God in each other... (Moscow, 1894, Volume 1, pp. 234-5).

The sin of envy attacks everyone. One can even envy and be annoyed by a person’s good qualities; just seeing his kindness. In the Prayer Book, in the section “Prayers for those coming to bed,” there is a prayer-confession of Macarius the Great, “Prayer 3, to the Holy Spirit,” where the person praying before going to bed confesses to the Lord God, remembers his sins, repents and says:

...or seeing someone else's kindness, and being wounded by it in the heart:... (Jordanvile, NY, 1968, p. 44).

The sin of envy can lead to other sins, such as condemnation (2), unmercifulness (6), anger (7), slander (8), insolence (13), irritation (14), repaying evil for evil (16), bitterness ( 17), backbiting (21), reproach (23), slander (24), lies (25), ambition (29), slander (30), etc. The basis of the feeling of envy is our vanity (32) and selfish rivalry . Usually people in their competition are afraid that they will not be recognized or will not be given their due and others will be put above them. In a good loving family we enjoy each other's success. We should also rejoice at the success of our friends, acquaintances and colleagues.

It is interesting that when a person sins, he brings evil to his neighbors, but an envious person, with his envy, brings evil and pain only to himself.

In order not to sin with envy, we must remember that we are all on earth temporarily and all our achievements here - beauty, wealth, fame, knowledge - have no price with the Lord God.

7. Sin is wrath

Anger - A feeling of strong indignation, indignation (Ozhegov).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew it is said:

And I tell you, everyone
angry with his brother in vain,
subject to trial; (Matthew 5:22 rs).

Here the Holy Scripture teaches us not to be angry and reminds us that we will answer for our anger at the Last Judgment.

Elsewhere in the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians there are these words:

When you are angry, do not sin:
Let not the sun go down on your anger; (Ephesians 4:26).

Here the Holy Apostle Paul also calls us not to be angry, to be careful not to sin during anger and to make peace with everyone until the sun sets; that is, until we sleep.

In the work of our Venerable Father John, abbot of Mount Sinai, Ladder, there are the following words:

If the Holy Spirit is called and is the peace of the soul, and anger is the indignation of the heart; then nothing so much hinders the coming of the Holy Spirit into us as anger (Ladder 8:14, p. 89).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

There is no reason for a Christian to have any malice in his heart against anyone; malice, like malice, is the work of the devil; a Christian should have only love in his heart; and since love does not think of evil, it should not think of any evil regarding others, for example; I should not think about another without an obvious reason, that he is angry, proud and so on, or - if I, for example, show him respect, he will become proud - if I forgive the insult, he will again harm me, laugh at me. It is necessary that evil does not nest within us under any guise; and anger is usually too many-faceted (Shanghai, 1984, p. 85).

In the book “Creations of Our Father Tikhon of Zadonsk, Flesh and Spirit,” it is written about malice as follows:

Anger is nothing other than the desire for revenge (St. Petersburg, Book 1.2, p. 14).

Anger is one of the eight basic sins from which all other sins and passions are born. Thus anger gives rise to a whole chain of other sins:

• condemnation (2),
• disobedience (3),
• pride (4),
• unmercifulness (5),
• envy (6),
• slander (8),
• inattention (9),
• neglect (11),
• carelessness (12),
• insolence (13),
• irritability (14),
• retribution of evil for evil (16),
• bitterness (17),
• disobedience (18),
• grumbling (19),
• self-justification (20),
• contradiction (21),
• self-will (22),
• rooting (23),
• slander (24),
• false (25),
• laughter (26),
• temptation (27),
• pride (28),
• ambition (29),
• vanity (32),
• omission of God's service due to laziness and negligence (37),
• absent-mindedness in church and home prayer (38),
• case (39),
• word (40),
• thoughts (41),
• vision (42)
• and other feelings of soul and body (47).

All these sins and many others are born of anger. In a surge of anger, a person can be capable of great sins, even crime. Therefore, if we stop anger in ourselves, then at the same time we will stop a lot of other sins.

Non-anger and gentleness (lack of malice) are the most basic good qualities of a Christian that need to be cultivated in oneself. Therefore, we must forgive our offenders and enemies, and also not return evil for evil.

So, to be angry, to be angry with someone, is a sin. We need to forgive and make peace. However, in some circumstances anger can be justified, then it is not a sin. Unjust anger, rancor, or even revenge are unacceptable in the Christian character.

Anger and anger, like all other sins, can easily become a passion, that is, a sinful habit. It is very difficult to get rid of passion, but it is possible through prayer and fasting.

At St. Basil the Great said that:

Irritation is a kind of short-term rage (Book 2, Conversation 10, p. 160).

Also somewhere it is said that “anger is temporary insanity” or in Russian “anger is temporary madness.” From a spiritual point of view, anger is worse than simply madness, since when evil takes possession of an angry person, the person himself becomes the source of evil. One only has to look at someone who is very angry to be convinced that this is true. He begins to think, speak, reason in evil ways, and this will ultimately bring evil too. When a person is calm, he thinks logically, consistently and harmoniously. When angry, a person is illogical, makes things up, accuses and lies. He invents all sorts of accusations and can commit many of the sins listed above. An angry person infects everyone around him with evil. But as soon as this anger is met with calm, silence, and love, then all this evil disappears and seems to dissolve into thin air.

An angry person moves down the scale of virtue, further from God and closer to evil. He loses good qualities and acquires evil and bad ones. He begins to remember all sorts of grievances that in a normal state he had almost forgotten. The qualities of his personality change. It’s as if he has another, his second personality, his bodily double, but spiritually much worse; evil, dirty, insulting and lying, not loving and not forgiving of God. He does not notice the evil he does at all, and the slight inattention shown to him is immediately inflated and all sorts of accusations are invented. Evil has taken possession of him and he becomes the personification of evil itself. And so, after this evil tide leaves a person, he returns again to his normal state and returns to his first personality. Truly, an angry person becomes a slave and servant of evil itself.

Therefore one must resolve never to indulge in anger. To do this, we need to think through in detail the circumstances that make us angry and prepare for them. We need to decide how to act when these circumstances appear again. Of course, we need to behave according to God’s Law, be calm and not get irritated, and never forget that when we get angry, we temporarily lose our minds and “lose our temper.” When the temptation to get angry appears, you need to behave as it was already decided.

If we are unable to control ourselves from anger, then it is better to move away from people and situations that contribute to anger.

When meeting an angry person, you need to meet him calmly and with love, calm him down and stop him, and in no case imitate him. There is no point in having conversations, arguments or business with an angry person, since he has “lost his temper” and is not in his normal state. It is more advisable to wait until he calms down and then deal with him.

8. Sin of slander

Slander - Defaming someone or something, a lie (Ozhegov). Slander - Spread slander about someone or something (Ozhegov).

Slander is a great sin, which was prohibited in the Old Testament, in the 9th commandment. This commandment is found in Holy Scripture, among the other 10 Commandments, in the book of Exodus (Exodus 20:2-17):

Do not bear false testimony
not your neighbor (Exodus 20:16).

Slander is when someone deliberately invents a lie in order to harm someone. She is a terrible sin that can bring a lot of evil. Slander is difficult to fight, and the slanderer can cause a lot of grief and harm. You can be sued for slander, but it is usually very difficult to convict a slanderer.

Slander comes from pride (4), malice (7), envy (6) or simply from a sinful habit.

To get rid of the sin of slander, you first need to remember that this is a terrible and terrible sin. Secondly, you need to control your tongue. Thirdly, you need to think more about your own weaknesses and shortcomings, and not about others. Then you need to try to find good qualities in people and most importantly, you need to pray for them.

9. Sin of inattention

Inattention - 1. Absent-mindedness, lack of attention. 2. Lack of respect for someone. (Ozhegov)

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

The life of a Christian should be constant attention to himself, that is, to his heart, because every minute invisible enemies are ready to devour us; every minute evil boils in them against us (Paris, 1984, p. 20).

Pay attention to yourself constantly, so that your spiritual life and spiritual wisdom do not dry out. Think often about everything you read and sing or listen to in church or sometimes at home. Live the life of the saints, prayer, their wisdom, their virtues: meekness, humility, kindness, mercilessness and denial of yourself, your peace, contentment and pleasure for the sake of love for God and neighbor, patience, courage, struggle - their faith, hope, love.
“Let your loins *) be girded and your lamps burning; and you be like people who wait for their master to return from marriage, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open the door to him immediately” (Luke 12:35-36 rs) (Moscow, 1894, Volume 2, pp. 234-5 ).
* (Loins - Loin (Ozhegov).

The sin of inattention can affect oneself, people, or the Lord God.

The sin of inattention to ourselves is when we do not think about our salvation and do not live according to the Commandments of the Law of God. Here, inattention comes from insufficient faith and from a frivolous attitude towards the matter of salvation.

The sin of inattention towards people is when we do not adhere to the Commandments of the Law of God, are not attentive to them and sin. Inattention comes from a lack of love for one's neighbor.

The sin of inattention towards the Lord God is when we do not adhere to His Will, His Law. This happens due to insufficient faith. In all these cases, inattention undermines the spiritual and moral foundation of a person; that is, the spiritual and moral way of life.

To avoid the sin of inattention, you need to devote more time to your spiritual life. We must achieve confidence that the Christian life is truly the most correct one in relation to the Lord God, people and oneself.

10. Sin of negligence about your salvation

Negligence - Doesn’t work, doesn’t try.

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

Always think that without God you are damned, poor, poor, blind and naked spiritually, that God is everything to you: He is your truth, sanctification, wealth, clothing, your life, your breath - everything (Paris, 1984, p. 112).

The sin of negligence about one’s salvation is when a person does not pray and does not try to keep the Commandments of the Law of God. Such a person undermines the entire basis of his Christian existence and gradually ceases to be a Christian in practice.

A person who is not concerned about his salvation in general can live more or less righteously if he does not encounter sin and sees examples of holiness and piety everywhere around him. He does not need to make a special effort to live according to the Commandments of the Law of God; it comes out as if by itself. But if a person lives among sin and encounters sin all the time, then he needs to make especially much effort and work on his salvation. That’s why they go to a monastery, because it’s easier to escape there

Everything that has been said about the fight against the sin of inattention can be applied to the fight against the sin of negligence about one’s salvation.

11. Sin of neglect

The sin of negligence is the same as the sin of inattention (9) and the sin of negligence about one’s salvation (10).

12. Sin of carelessness

Careless, about a person - Not caring about anyone; carefree, frivolous, careless, careless, indifferent (Dahl).
Carefree, about business - Not requiring much concern, easy to do; irresponsible, carefree (Dahl).

The sin of carelessness is the same as the sin of inattention (9) and the sin of negligence about one’s salvation (10).

13. Sin of insolence

Insolence - Insolent, rebellious, rude (according to Dahl).

Impudent - Disrespectful, offensively rude (Ozhegov).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his book “The Path to God,” compiled from notes from his diary “My Life in Christ,” writes this:

He who is insolent against his neighbor is also insolent against God (St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 85).

Insolence may seem like a small sin, but it creates ill will and is the source of many other sins. Other sins arise from insolence: rudeness, condemnation (2), disobedience (3), unmercifulness (5), anger (7), slander (8), inattention (9), carelessness about one’s salvation (10), negligence (11) , irritability (14), repaying evil for evil (16), bitterness (17), disobedience (18), self-will (22), reproach (23), slander (24). Thus, when we cease to be impudent, then we also cease to be a source of other sins.

Insolence can be a consequence of improper upbringing or a bad habit. Insolence can also show our unkind disposition towards our neighbor, say, inattention (9), lack of love and respect for people, or simply envy (6). Also often, in a tense atmosphere, a more or less calm person becomes impudent. A person suffering from this disease brings a lot of harm and grief not only to his neighbors, but also to himself. In addition, in most cases, the insolent person does not understand how unpleasant his behavior is to others. Very rarely there are brave people who will try to explain to a sinner about his vice. Therefore, we must always carefully monitor people and listen to them in order to monitor their reaction to our words.

In order not to sin with insolence, we need to restrain our tongue, watch what we say and treat our neighbors with love. It is necessary to find his good side in every person and love him for it and thus prevent the appearance of insolence. The most important thing is that you need to develop a kind disposition towards people. In addition, we need to know in what circumstances we begin to sin and prepare for them; outline a plan on how to behave.

14. Sin of irritability

Get irritated - Come into a state of nervous excitement, anger, annoyance (Ozhegov).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

Our self-love and pride are revealed especially in impatience and irritability, when one of us does not tolerate the slightest trouble caused to us by others intentionally or even unintentionally, or an obstacle, legally or illegally, intentionally or unintentionally, opposed to us by people or objects surrounding us. Our self-love and pride would like to put everything on our own, to surround ourselves with all the honors and comforts of temporary life, we would like all people to silently and quickly obey our signal, and even - how far does pride not extend! - all of nature;... He who is impatient and irritable does not know himself and humanity and is not worthy to be called a Christian! (Moscow, 1894, Volume 1, pp. 75-276; Paris, 1984, pp. 10-11).

Irritability is very close to insolence. It seems like a small sin, but it creates a bad feeling. Other sins arise from irritability:

• insolence (13),
• rudeness, judgment (2),
• disobedience (3),
• unmercifulness (5),
• anger (7),
• malice, slander (8),
• inattention (9),
• carelessness about one's salvation (10),
• neglect (11),
• retribution of evil for evil (16),
• bitterness (17),
• disobedience (18),
• self-will (22),
• rooting (23),
• slander (24).

Thus, when we stop being irritated, then we also cease to be a source of other sins.

It often happens that irritability is simply a bad habit that can be gotten rid of by the opposite habit; that is, gradually accustom yourself not to be irritated. The method of dealing with irritability is very close to the method of dealing with insolence. We need to think about under what circumstances we begin to get irritated and prepare for them; you need to outline a plan on how to behave. Then you need to develop a good disposition towards people. If we get irritated when we are in a hurry, then it is better to do things more slowly and remain calm than to quickly and get irritated. When irritability attacks, we need to restrain our tongue and watch what we say.

15. Sin of despondency

Despondency - To be hopelessly sad, to lose heart, to be timid, to despair, to lose all cheerfulness and hope, to find no consolation in anything (Dahl). Hopeless sadness, oppressive boredom (Ozhegov).

The Lord God loves us and takes care of us, and this is called Divine Providence. He who falls into despondency ceases to believe in the Providence of God; that is, in the constant care of the Lord God for us. Therefore, despondency is a sin.

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

“Do not be discouraged by strong temptations, sorrows or illnesses or stumblings from the embarrassment of the enemy: all this is reproof and righteous punishment, testing the hearts and wombs of the Lord, for your cleansing, awakening and correction, for burning out the thorns of carnal passions, and therefore do not complain, if sometimes it hurts you a lot. Look not at the pain, but at the good consequences of this punishment and the health of your soul. What are you not doing to keep your body healthy? Moreover, for the health and salvation of the soul, which has immortal life, one must endure everything” (Moscow, 1894, Volume 1, p. 198).

“Sorrow is a great teacher; sorrows show us our weaknesses, passions, and need for repentance; sorrows cleanse the soul, sober it up as if from drunkenness, bring grace into the soul, soften the heart, inspire disgust for sin, confirm faith, hope and virtue” (Moscow, 1894, Volume 1, p. 226).

“There are hours in the life of a Christian of joyless sorrow and illness, in which it seems as if the Lord has completely abandoned and abandoned you, for there is not the slightest feeling of the presence of God in your soul. These are hours of temptation for the faith, hope, love, and patience of a Christian. Soon “cool times from the presence of the Lord” will come for him again; soon the Lord will rejoice him again, so that he does not fall under temptation” (Paris, 1984, p. 11).

The Lord God serves you daily, man, bringing out for you the all-illuminating and all-warming sun during the day, and the moon and stars at night, growing for you various, tasty and healthy fruits for your nutrition and enjoyment; established for you a saving Church with divine teaching and sacraments. He continually trains you for His kingdom. You yourself must diligently serve your Creator for the well-being of yourself and your neighbors and completely obey His all-good, wise and righteous laws (St. Petersburg, 1902, p. 84).

Man has the freedom to choose between good and evil. The Lord God does not want automatic obedience from us, but free and voluntary obedience. Just as a loving child listens to his father, so we must listen to our Father, the Lord God, and act according to His Holy Will, that is, according to goodness and Christian love.

We often see that a person reaches God’s Truth through a difficult life path. It would be easy for the Lord God to speed up this path, but He does not. If He had done this, then man would not have reached it by his own will, by his free choice, but would simply be a weapon of the Lord God. The Lord God helps us, but the choice must be ours.

A person who falls into despondency does not believe in the Providence of God and in God. With the Lord God, everything has a purpose: our life, our grief, and our cross. Everything has a purpose and is for our spiritual benefit. Due to our shortsightedness, we think only about earthly happiness, but the Lord God thinks about both earthly and heavenly. If we think about our future life, we will see great spiritual significance in our sufferings and experiences, which always benefit us.

How to deal with the sin of despondency? Firstly, we need to remember those people who are in much more difficult circumstances than us, and who do not lose heart. Then we need to remember all the difficulties we were in and how the Lord God helped us. You also need to remember that despondency will attack those who are not busy with anything. Therefore, it is best to take up some godly deed with prayer.

16. The sin of repaying evil for evil

Reward - Give, return (Dal).
Retribution - Reward for something; retribution, retribution (Academy of Sciences).

The Lord's Prayer (Our Father) is a model of Christian prayer and was given to us by the Lord God Himself Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:9-13). It contains words that oblige us not to repay evil for evil, but to forgive our debtors. If we do not fulfill this, then we cannot read these words with a clear conscience:

And forgive us our debts,
just as we also forgive our debtors: (Matthew 6:12).

So, a Christian is called upon not to return evil for evil, but to fight evil with good. His behavior is based on the Commandments of God's Law, and not on the behavior of other people. In other words, a Christian's behavior should not be a mirror image of the behavior of other people. If you're on good terms with him, then he's on good terms too. If they treat him badly, then he also acts badly. The behavior of a Christian is based on God's Will. In particular, we must remember that a Christian fights against evil with virtue.

Fighting the sin of repaying evil for evil is one of the most difficult tasks, since due to our weakness and sinfulness we always want to respond in kind, that is, with evil. But having thought through the consequences of such behavior well, it becomes clear that it is much more advisable to respond with good to evil. Before our eyes, evil is disarmed and if not immediately, then later we reap positive results.

How to implement such wise advice, but also such difficult one? The most important thing, of course, is preparation. We need to think carefully about what is happening and when we usually react with evil to evil. We need to make a plan for what to do next time. All this requires enormous patience. If the temptation to return evil for evil is very great, then you can silently read the Jesus Prayer, and in extreme cases you can get away from the temptation.

17. Sin of bitterness

Bitterness - A state of irritation and extreme embitterment that reaches the point of cruelty. Extreme tension, persistence (Ozhegov).

Gentleness is the absence of malice in a person. Kindness should be one of the most basic qualities of a Christian. We need to forgive our offenders and enemies, and also not return evil for evil.

Bitterness comes from accumulated anger, which turns into extreme irritation and embitterment. When the degree of bitterness becomes extreme, then bitterness turns into cruelty.

Therefore, bitterness is a sign of a serious spiritual illness and the lack of treatment for it. This is already an inveterate sin, the lack of sincere prayer, knowledge and life according to the Commandments of the Law of God, confession, communion, etc. Bitterness is the source of many other sins, such as: rudeness, condemnation (2), disobedience (3), unmercifulness (5) , anger (7), malice, slander (8), inattention (9), carelessness about one’s salvation (10), negligence (11), insolence (13), irritability (14), repaying evil for evil (16), bitterness (17), disobedience (18), self-will (22), reproach (23), slander (24), cruelty. Bitterness pulls a person down the spiritual scale, away from the Lord God, into that dark spiritual area in which sin is more abundant.

In order to drive out the sin of bitterness, you need to do a lot of preparatory work. We need to think over our spiritual disposition and understand that it is completely incompatible with the high title of a Christian. It is useful to rummage through our spiritual baggage and remember our sins and understand that we are also sinners. Then we must forgive our offenders and enemies. As the crown of this work, we must experience sincere repentance.

18. Sin of disobedience

Drying - Disobey (Dahl).
Disobey - Not to obey any requirement or order (Ozhegov).

The sin of disobedience is the same as disobedience (3).

19. Sin of grumbling

Murmuring - To express displeasure at something (Dahl).

And Saint Ephraim the Syrian writes about disobedience and murmuring like this:

The murmurer, when given an order, contradicts and is unfit for action; such a person does not even have a good disposition: because he is lazy, and laziness is inseparable from murmuring... A murmuring person always has an excuse ready. If he is ordered to get down to business, he grumbles; and soon corrupts others too. “And what’s this for,” he says, and what else? And there is no benefit in this matter...” He never does a job alone unless he involves someone else in the same job. Every deed of a murmurer is not worthy of approval, and is worthless and alien to all virtue. The murmurer is glad to have peace, but he does not like restlessness. The murmurer loves to eat and abhors fasting. He is a murmurer and lazy: he knows how to talk, knows how to weave a speech; he is resourceful and resourceful, and no one surpasses him in verbosity; he always slanderes one against another (St. Tr. Sergius Lavra, 1907, p. 15).

The Lord God loves us and takes care of us, and this is called Divine Providence. The providence of God is the constant care of the Lord God for us; He always guides us towards good.

A person who is dissatisfied with his fate is dissatisfied with God's Providence. Due to his limitations, a person cannot see the full picture of his life, as the all-knowing Lord God sees it. Therefore, a person often does not understand his situation and complains. However, we must remember that everything that does not happen to us is all according to God’s Will or His permission and therefore is for our benefit.

The place of grumbling and complaints is to thank the Lord God for everything. Having thought through the most difficult moments of our lives, many years later, we must always admit that, indeed, they were for our benefit. Saint John Chrysostom perfectly understood and was aware of this spiritual law. Therefore, before his death, his last words were: Thank God for everything!

So, grumbling and being dissatisfied with your fate is a sin. A Christian should be content with his lot and be content with little. We must thank the Lord God for everything. The difficulties that the Lord God sends to us are for our admonition and for our spiritual growth. The fact is that a person has a limited horizon and therefore does not see far. In addition, man is interested in earthly life, and the Lord God is both earthly and eternal. Earthly well-being is important for a person, and the spiritual growth of a person is important for the Lord God.

How to deal with the sin of grumbling? Firstly, we need to remember those people who are in much more difficult circumstances than us, and who do not lose heart. Then we need to remember all the difficulties we were in and how the Lord God helped us. You also need to remember that grumbling will attack those who are not busy with anything. Therefore, it is best to take up some godly deed with prayer.

20. The sin of self-justification

Self-justification - Justification of one's own actions (Academy of Sciences).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Sermon on the Mount, in the 2nd Commandment of Beatitudes, in the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew it is said:

Blessed are the weeping,
for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4cs).

In this commandment, those who weep - that is, those who grieve - are those who understand their sinfulness and are truly saddened by their sins. Such regret is a necessary condition for further spiritual growth.

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Old Testament, in the Book of Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach it is said:

“The beginning of sin is pride,” (Sir.10:15 rs).

Here the Holy Scripture teaches us that the beginning of all sins is pride (4). It follows from this that the virtue opposite to this sin, humility, is the beginning of all virtues. One of the many sins that is a consequence of pride is self-justification.

The sin of self-justification is when a person does not admit his guilt and justifies himself with all sorts of cleverly invented half-true theories, or blames someone else. Self-justification may seem like a small sin, but it can hide a major spiritual illness. A person who justifies himself in everything and all the time actually does not see his sins, and thus he is not able to develop spiritually and correct himself.

The sin of self-justification is associated with contradiction (21), self-will (22), stubbornness and great conceit.

In order not to sin by self-justification, you need to try to see your mistakes and boldly admit them. Then the evil we have done must be corrected, as well as apologize or ask for forgiveness, and not do it again in the future.

21. Sin of bickering

Contradict - Contradict, contradict with words, object, refute, argue, speak opposite, contrary (Dahl).

A person who contradicts all the time is difficult and not easy to deal with. He cannot agree with anyone. If they say this, then he contradicts, and if it is the other way around, then he will also say the opposite. He always insists on his own, cannot give in, is stubborn, everything should always be as he wants. Dispute is a vile sin; it creates discontent and confusion around itself, undermines good will, and slows down any business. Usually, contradiction is associated with self-will (22), great conceit and stubbornness. Stubbornness makes even an educated person a fool.

In order not to sin with contradiction, you need to try to see your mistakes. To do this, we need to monitor the listeners, how they react to our speech and, if necessary, correct it. Then we need to hold our tongue and try to think about what we say.

22. Sin of self-will

Self-willed - Acting or committing according to one’s own whim, arbitrariness (Ozhegov).

Self-will here means to act according to your own whim, not to consider other people, not to submit to the will of God, not to keep His Commandments. Thus, any sin is also a sin of self-will.

A headstrong person is difficult and not easy to deal with. He always insists on his own, cannot give in, is stubborn, everything should always be as he wants. It often happens - when self-will turns into passion - that it is even difficult for such a person to listen to his neighbor. To truly listen requires some kind of good disposition and a manifestation of some kind of love for one’s neighbor. Self-will is a vile sin; it creates discontent around itself and undermines good will. Self-will is usually associated with selfishness and stubbornness.

In order not to sin with self-will, you need to develop a good disposition towards people, be friendly and sincerely relate to other people.

23. Sin is rooted

Reproach - Reproach, censure (Ozhegov).

The sin of reproach is the same as the sin of condemnation (2).

24. Sin of slander

Slander - Slander; angry, obnoxious speech (Dahl).
Evil-speaker - Evil, speaking sarcasticly, speaking about someone or something (Ozhegov).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to

The Corinthians have these words:
Neither thieves, nor greedy people, nor drunkards,
neither slanderers nor predators
- They will not inherit the kingdom of God (2 Corinthians 6:10).

In the book “Creations like the saints of our father Ephraim the Syrian,” it is written about slander as follows:

In slander there is everything, slander, hatred, and slander; Therefore, he is recognized as a fratricide, ruthless, and unmerciful. And whoever always has the fear of God in himself, and who has a pure heart, does not like to slander others, does not enjoy other people’s secrets, does not seek joy in the fall of others (St. Sergius Lavra, 1907, Chapter 20, p. 19 ).

In the book “Christian Philosophy,” the Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt writes:

Love covers everything, all the sins of the repentant and various physical and moral shortcomings; and enmity and hatred invents all sorts of imaginary physical or spiritual shortcomings, finds fault with everything, punishes cruelly for everything; and in relation to God and the saints he imposes thoughts of foul, evil and blasphemous thoughts. Oh, sin, living in man and acting. How fierce, cursed, angry, picky, restless, and deadly you are! (St. Petersburg, 1902, p. 58).

Our beloved saint explains to us that enmity and hatred “invents all sorts of imaginary physical or spiritual shortcomings, finds fault with everything, punishes cruelly for everything.” In other words, this is the beginning of slander.

Slander is barbs, evil hints, evil bad words, condemnation (2), quarrels. All this becomes a habit and can become a passion. We must try with all our might to avoid this sin, which poisons good relationships between friends and people. Very often, people suffering from the passion of slander do not know it themselves and no one will tell them.

Foul language is the use of nasty, that is, bad words. Along with slander, in some circles it is customary to use bad swear words and it even becomes a habit and passion. This is of course a sin; bad words should not be part of Christian speech.

In order not to sin with slander, you must first think about how much evil our evil speech brings: it develops resentment, anger, bad disposition, etc. in other people and firmly decide to get rid of this vice. Then we need to think about when and how temptation attacks us and we begin to sin with slander. After this, we need to firmly decide how we will behave in such cases. When tempted to carry out your intended plan.

In general, we should always think about what we are saying and not talk in vain, and also try to talk less and do more.

We need to watch what we say, and we also need to listen to other people, how they react to our speech. Along with slander, you also need to pay attention to the tone of speech. The tone can be friendly, whining, unpleasant, suspicious or angry.

A bad tone can become a habit, become a passion and cause harm. In general, you need to learn how to speak. Usually people are not offended by what they were told, but they are offended by how they were told.

25. Sin is a lie

To lie - To lie, to speak or write a lie, an untruth, contrary to the truth (Dahl).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel of the Apostle John, the following is said about lies:

Your father is the devil;...
for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).

Life according to God's Law is life according to God's Truth. Then at the root of every virtue and every good there is God’s Truth, and at the root of every sin and evil there is a lie.

In the book “Creations like the saints of our father Ephraim the Syrian” it is written about lies as follows:

But ill-fated and pitiful is he who remains stuck in every lie; because the devil “has been a lie from time immemorial” (John 8:44). He who remains stuck in lies has no boldness; because he is hated by both God and people. And who would not cry for a man who spends his life in a lie? Such a person does not deserve approval in any matter and is suspicious in every answer... A liar is multi-inventive and resourceful. There is no ulcer deeper than this, no shame greater than this. A liar is vile to everyone and funny to everyone. Therefore, take heed to yourselves, brethren; do not remain stuck in lies (Holy Tr. Sergius Lavra, 1907, Chapter 14, p. 13).

Lies and easy deception are so widespread now that people don’t even consider or notice that they are lying. All kinds of advertisements lie, salespeople exaggerate, the company lies and exaggerates its resources in order to get a contract. People promise that they will do or help, and then they say that “they were busy” or that “there was some unforeseen delay,” etc. A Christian knows that lies are from the devil, about whom the Lord God Jesus Christ said that he is a liar and the father of lies.

To get rid of this vice, you need to think through our behavior throughout the whole day: at home, at school, at work, etc. We need to check when and where, and under what circumstances we tell lies. We need to be sure that our lie is a sin and like every sin, it is not only not fulfilling the commandments of our Father the Lord God, but it will also ultimately harm us; not only in the future life but also now.

Lying, like all other sins, can become a passion. Let's say a person constantly exaggerates and presents himself and his abilities in brighter colors than they really are. This is no longer just a small sin, but this is already a corruption of the human soul, this is already its disease. A person ceases to see the truth about himself and loses the ability to grow spiritually. In this case, this sinful habit, like every passion, is much more difficult to get rid of. We need prayer, fasting, confession and repentance. During Lent, you need to especially monitor your passion.

26. Sin laughter

Laughter in itself is not a sin, but it creates a disposition in which sin easily arises.

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Old Testament, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, the following is written about laughter:

About laughter I said: stupidity!
and about fun: what does it do? (Ecclesiastes 2:2 rs).

Lamentation *) is better than laughter;
because when the face is sad
the heart is made better (Ecclesiastes 7:3).
* (Lamentation - sadness).

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of gladness (Ecclesiastes 7:4).

St. John Chrysostom writes (Works of our holy father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople) about laughter as follows:

...laughter and humorous words do not seem to be an obvious sin, but lead to obvious sin; Often from laughter bad words are born, and from bad words even more bad deeds are born; often from words and laughter there is swearing and insult,... (St. Petersburg, 1896, Volume 2, p. 173).

One must in every possible way refrain from obscene laughter... (St. Petersburg, 1897, Volume 3, p. 826).

So, although laughter may seem offensive at first glance, you need to be careful with laughter. It can easily lead to sin: idle talk (1), barbs, foul language, swearing, insults, blasphemy, etc.

Laughter should not be confused with a “sense of humor.” Every person needs a dose of humor. It softens an awkward or even difficult situation, and makes life easier for us in every possible way.

Laughter and joy are not the same thing, but very close feelings. Christianity calls us to “joy in Christ,” to love everyone and everything: God, people, animals, plants, and all nature. An example of such joy and love was the holy Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, who greeted everyone with joy, a smile and with the words “Christ is Risen!”

So let's watch our behavior and be careful with jokes, laughter, hints and remember what they can lead to.

To get rid of sinful laughter, you need to think through our behavior throughout the whole day: at home, at school, at work, etc.

We need to check when and where, and under what circumstances we sin by laughing. If indeed our laughter leads us to sin, then this must be stopped.

27. Sin temptation

Seduce - To induce something bad, to confuse, to involve, to lure, to seduce, to lead someone into temptation (according to Dahl).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew, the following is said about temptation:

Woe to the world from temptations,
for temptations must come;
but woe to that man
through whom temptation comes (Matthew 18:7).

And in the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel of the Apostle Mark, the following is said about temptation:

And whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble,
those who believe in me, it would be better for them,
if they hung a millstone around his neck
and they threw him into the sea (Mark 9:42).

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, in his works, has the following discussion about temptations:

Discussion about temptations WOE TO THE WORLD FROM TEMPTATIONS, according to the words of Christ, but greater woe to those to whom temptation comes. Those who give temptation sin twice themselves: they themselves sin and lead others to sin, they themselves perish and lead others to destruction.

Temptation is served in the worst possible way
1. Shepherds and leaders.
2. Parents to their children; Whatever children see in their parents is what they themselves learn.
3. Old to young, for the above reason. But other ordinary people also seduce each other, and receive temptation from each other.

There are different temptations
1. In a word, when someone says something rotten, harmful, to the corruption of faith or morals.
2. The case when bad actions lead others to a bad life.

(Creations like the Saints of our father Tikhon of Zadonsk, Flesh and Spirit, Book 1-2, p. 26).

So, the sin of temptation is a great sin, since not only does a person sin, but he also leads his neighbor to sin. This sin can be committed when a person deliberately teaches someone to sin.

The sin of temptation can be committed when a person sins and thereby sets a bad example. Thus, if a person sins, and others see or know it, then in addition to his sin, he also sins by setting a bad example and thereby tempting others. This especially applies to parents, to older persons and, in general, to persons who occupy some kind of responsible position in society.

In society, people are often seduced by indecent conversations, cigarettes, food and alcohol.

In our time, the sin of temptation is terribly widespread. Advertisements, movies, television, radio, music, newspapers, magazines, etc., they all pull a person away from God. They all promote pagan values: materialism, beauty, strength, glory, fornication, etc. Fashion is often full of temptation. Everything that is physically annoying and hints at physical illicit love is emphasized and done.

Young people, not understanding what they are doing, seduce each other. Often young men seduce and spoil girls, and other so-called girls seduce young men. Nobody says that all this is a sin, but sin is destructive behavior.

It happens that someone uses someone, seduces and “catches” for marriage. After this, the entire marriage is based on this terrible sin.

The sin of temptation seems small, but it is almost always the beginning of many sins. In fact, temptation is a vile and disgusting thing to God.

In order not to sin by temptation, we need to think carefully about our behavior - and the consequences of such behavior - throughout the whole day and firmly decide, through our behavior, never to tempt anyone to sin.

28. Sin of self-love

Self-love - Self-passion, addiction to oneself, vanity and vanity in everything that concerns one’s personality; ticklishness and touchiness, desire for primacy, honor, distinction, advantage over others (Dahl).
Proud - An ambitious person who loves honor and flattery, wants to be the first everywhere, and demands recognition of his merits, puts himself above others (Dahl).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, there are these words:

For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud,
arrogant, slanderous, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, wicked, unfriendly,
intemperate, slanderers, intemperate,
cruel, not loving good, traitors,
arrogant, pompous, more voluptuous,
than lovers of God
having a form of piety,
her powers have been denied.
such as these were removed (2 Timothy 3:2-5).

So, in listing sins, the Apostle Paul, not by chance, puts the sin of self-love in first place. This sin is the stinking source of many other sins.

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, in his works, has the following discussion about self-love:

Discussion about self-love. Self-love here is of course - immeasurable self-love. Through self-love, a person resists the entire law of God; The whole law and the Prophets consist in these two commandments, according to the words of Christ: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” and so on, “and your neighbor as yourself.”

The fruits of self-love. The first is all sin and lawlessness; and the greater the self-love, the greater and more numerous sins one is guilty of. The second - in the next century, eternal sadness and torment: (Creations like the Saints of our father Tikhon of Zadonsk, Flesh and Spirit, Book 1-2, p. 0).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes this:

The purer the heart, the more spacious it is, the more it accommodates loved ones; the more sinful, the tighter it is, the less capable it is of containing loved ones - to the point that it is limited to love only for oneself, and that is false: we love ourselves in objects unworthy of an immortal soul: in silver and gold, in fornication *), in drunkenness and the like (Shanghai, 1948, p. 9).
(* Fornication - Fornication).

So, a proud person wants to be in first place everywhere, desires honor (28), honor, distinction, primacy and all other advantages over other people, is partial to himself, vain (32), touchy, loves flattery, demands recognition of his merits.

In order not to sin with pride, you need to try to do the opposite virtues. We must do everything the opposite of what the fame-loving person wants. You need to try to be modest, not expose yourself, avoid sharing and try never to be in first place. All this is very difficult in our time, since pride and pride are encouraged in people in every possible way.

29. Sin of ambition

Ambition - Thirst for fame, honor, desire for an honorable position (Ozhegov). Loving honor.

Ambition is when a person loves to be given credit, to be praised, to be put in first place, to be given honor. All this is of course a sin. One of the main qualities of a Christian is modesty, which is the opposite of ambition.

Ambition is a consequence of the sin of pride (4) and selfishness (28). Ambition is very close to the love of fame. To better understand the nature of ambition, you need to read about self-love (28).

In order not to sin with ambition, as in the love of fame (28), one must try to do the opposite virtues. We must do everything opposite to what the ambitious person wants. You need to try to be modest, not expose yourself, avoid sharing and try never to be in first place. All this is very difficult in our time, since pride and pride are encouraged in people in every possible way.

30. Sin of gluttony

Gluttony - Living for food (Dahl).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans there are these words:

Therefore those who live according to the flesh
They cannot please God (Romans 8:8).

This means that those who live for their body, that is, the most important thing in their life is the satisfaction of their bodily needs, do not please the Lord God with this.

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes:

Satiety takes away faith and fear of God from the heart: one who is satiated does not feel the presence of God in his heart; far from him is heartfelt warm prayer (Paris, 1984, p. 16).

Gluttony is idolatry and pleasing our belly; that is, our stomach or belly. This is the love of eating well, gluttony, seeking good food. All this, when it crosses the line of normal needs, becomes passion. The sin of gluttony, constant concern for one’s stomach and oneself, naturally leads to another sin, the sin of self-love (28).

In another book, “The Path to God,” which is also compiled from extracts from his diary, St. John writes:

Our heart is in proximity to the stomach and is in great subordination to it, and therefore it is necessary to keep the stomach in moderation and subordinate it to the mind and heart so that they are not burdened and clouded by it. It is necessary to disturb the stomach and heart with bows and the sign of the cross in order to drive out from them the proud serpent that easily creeps into the satiated womb. Prayer and fasting are always necessary for a Christian (S. Petersburg, 1905, p. 288).

Doesn’t a belly that is satiated and constantly satiated make our heart fleshy, earthly, proud, impudent and disdainful (self-satisfied with everyone (Dal) regarding God and people and everything holy, honorable, heavenly and earthly, eternal? The soul, in the satiety of existence, swears at the honeycomb, says the wise one. The stomach must be very limited, it plays a very important role in the matter of our salvation. Note that the Lord Himself began His great service to the human race - with a forty-day fast.

Remember His words:
“This generation (demonic) can come out of nothing,
only by prayer and fasting” (Mark 9, 29 tss) (St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 287).

Here our beloved saint explains to us the connection between satiety and pride. This connection, at first glance, seems non-existent, but upon deeper analysis, it becomes clear that a jaded person is indeed easily infected with pride (4) and insolence (13). Therefore, a sated person is often self-satisfied, with great conceit, and treats people, God, and in general everything holy with contempt.

So gluttony is not only idolatry and pleasing our belly, but it also promotes pride (28), pride (4) and insolence (13). The sin of gluttony itself is very close to the sin of excess in food and drink (31).

The greatest weapon against the sin of gluttony is fasting. During the year we have a little more than half fast days. This is if you count all the fast days; including Wednesdays and Fridays. We need to start small and gradually, as we gain experience, move up to bigger things. Then, gradually you need to pay attention to the amount of food and how many times a day. Of course, physical fasting is only a strengthening of spiritual fasting.

Fasting is not only a way against the sin of excess in food and drink, but also a means of combating other sins and passions, a school of self-discipline and a school of self-knowledge.

Fasting has been preserved only among Orthodox Christians since ancient times. The one who observes fasting can feel great satisfaction that he is fasting in the same way as Christians have been fasting for two thousand years.

31. Sin of excess in food and eating

In the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel of the Apostle Luke, these words about gluttony:

Look after yourself,
so that your hearts are not burdened
overeating and drunkenness and the cares of this life,
and lest that day come upon you suddenly (Luke 21:34).

With satiety and drunkenness, the incorporeal enemy enters the heart of a person - everyone attentive can feel this... - these unfortunates have an enemy in the heart. How to cast out the demon of drunkenness? Prayer and fasting (Moscow, 1894, Volume 1, p. 176).

In another book, “The Path to God,” the holy righteous father John of Kronstadt writes:

Why did the antediluvian people and the inhabitants of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah become extremely corrupted and savage and forget God? From excess in food and drink. Why are today's people corrupted, morally savage and falling away from God and the Church? From excess in food and drink, from abdominal and pancreatic rage. “Do not get drunk with wine, for there is fornication in it (Ephesians 5:18 cs) (St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 38).

Any excess in food and drink is accompanied by a weakening of the soul and a moral decline in its strength, cooling towards God, towards prayer, towards every good deed, a decline in love for one’s neighbor, deprivation of meekness, humility, sympathy for people, a hard heart, a rude attitude towards the poor, inclination to sleep, to fornication, etc. A lot of prayer work, sighs, tears are needed in order to restore good relations with God and neighbors and make the soul again tender, sensitive to God and neighbors. This is how the soul falls from intemperance. Oh, how necessary is abstinence for a Christian at all times! How harmful is intemperance!.. (St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 38).

Wine consumed immoderately and at the wrong time makes the soul powerless in the fight against internal temptations; the soul is easily susceptible to indignation and demonic fear - where there is no fear; is ashamed where there is no shame (St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 68).

The sin of excess in food and drink is very close to the sin of gluttony (30). Gluttony is always a passion and a more refined zeal for food and food. The sin of excess in food and drink may be a passion, but it does not have to be, but it can easily turn into passion.

Excess in food and drink undermines human health and his entire spiritual and moral foundation. Excessive drinking leads to a passion for alcohol, which undermines not only the person himself but also his entire family and the entire family structure.

The greatest weapon against the sin of excess in food and drink is fasting. For a further description of the struggle against this sin, see the description of the struggle against the sin of gluttony (30).

32. Sin of vanity

Vain - Who greedily seeks worldly or vain glory, strives for honor, for praise, demands recognition of his imaginary merits, does good not for the sake of good, but for the sake of praise, esteem and external signs of honor (Dahl).

In the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians, there are these words about vanity:

Let's not be vain
irritate each other
envy one another (Galatians 5:26).

Also, in the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians, there are these words:

Don't do anything
out of ambition*) or out of vanity,
but out of humility
esteem one another better than himself (Philippians 2:3).
(* Ambiguity - Tendency to have controversial conversations, to debate words (Dal).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes the following words about excess in food and drink:

Flatterers are our great enemies: they blind our eyes, do not allow us to see our great shortcomings, and therefore block our path to perfection, especially if we are proud and short-sighted. Therefore, we must always stop the flatterers who speak flattering speeches to us, or avoid them. Woe to him who is surrounded by flatterers; good - who is surrounded by simpletons who do not hide the truth, although unpleasant, for example, exposing our weaknesses, errors, passions, mistakes (Moscow, 1894, Volume 1, p. 326).

So the vain person wants fame, honor, flattery, praise, compliments, attention, to be the center of everything.

The sin of vanity is closely related to the sin of pride (4), self-love (28) and ambition (29).

To get an idea of ​​the struggle against the sin of vanity, see the description of the struggle against the sin of pride (4), pride (28) and ambition (29).

33. Sin of laziness

To work and not to be lazy is the main duty of every Christian. Back in the Old Testament, in His example of the creation of the world, then in the 4th and 8th Commandments of the Law of God, as well as in many other places of Holy Scripture, the Lord God gave us the commandment to work and not to be lazy.

The Lord God Himself created the earth in six days, and by this act He gave us an example that we need to work. This is described in the Holy Scriptures, in the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis (Genesis 1:1-2:4).

The 4th commandment is found among the other 10 Commandments of the Law of God, in the Holy Scriptures, in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus (Exodus 20:2-17). It reads like this:

Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy:
You shall do six days, and in them you shall do all your work,
on the seventh day, a Sabbath, unto the Lord thy God (Exodus 20:4 tss).

Thus, the 4th commandment also teaches us to work six days, and devote the seventh day to the Lord God.

Thou shalt not steal (Exodus 20:4 cs).

This commandment not only prohibits theft, but also any appropriation in any way that belongs to others. Therefore, not only theft, but laziness and not fulfilling one’s duties at work or at school is also a sin. Because a person receives payment, but does not do his work diligently.

In the Holy Scriptures, in the New Testament, in the Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, there are these words about labor:

He who does not want to work should not eat (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

Here the Holy Apostle Paul teaches Christians to work and even emphasizes that those who do not want to work should not eat. (By the way, the communists present these words of the apostle as their creativity).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” writes about work like this:

To the one who performs obedience without complaint there is great fruit for the soul: which we see, both from the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who for obedience is exalted among humanity, above all principality and power and dominion... Moreover, to the one who performs obedience there is rich fruit for the body: for what are the lazy lose, then those who are hardworking and diligent and obedient gain. Therefore, obedience is fruitful for the soul and for the body, and if it is not fruitful for the body, it is certainly for the soul. So everyone be obedient for good, but not for evil (Moscow, 1894, Volume 2, p. 27).

Labor strengthens a person’s will and ennobles him. Work must be approached honestly and conscientiously. Christianity does not divide work into “black” and “white”. It only requires that the work be honest and beneficial.

But on the other hand, we are also told to develop God-given talents and abilities, to improve ourselves, not to be lazy, to study the world - the creativity of the Lord God, and to acquire prudence.

The sin of laziness is the source of many other sins: idle talk (1), condemnation (2), disobedience (3), envy (6), slander (8), inattention (9), carelessness about one’s salvation (10), negligence (11) , carelessness (12), despondency (15), disobedience (18), grumbling (19), self-justification (20), contradiction (21), self-will (22), reproach (23), slander (24), lies (25) , laughter (26), temptation (27), gluttony (30), excess in food and drink (31), vanity (32), acceptance of unclean thoughts (34), unclean views (36), omission of the service of God due to laziness and negligence (37), absent-mindedness in church and home prayer (38).

To fight the sin of laziness, you need to remember all those people who live in difficult circumstances, who are overloaded with various responsibilities, who are sick, or who are otherwise unhappy. After this, you need to pray to our Father God and take up some godly deed; bring benefit to people and the Lord God.

34. Sin of accepting unclean thoughts

Unclean - Prodigal.

The sin of accepting unclean thoughts is the same as sinning with thoughts (41), only that it is not just a sin, but the sin of accepting unclean thoughts; that is, the sin of accepting prodigal thoughts.

You need to know that “preposition” is not a sin, since the thought came to us without the participation of our will. But “combination”, “addition”, etc. are sins, since we already think with the participation of our will. (See below thought (41), about reasoning about the degrees of sinfulness).

The sin of receiving unclean thoughts is associated with the sin of unclean sight (36), sight (42), hearing (43), smell (44), taste (45) and touch (46).

The sin of accepting unclean thoughts is greatly facilitated by the world around us and our past sins. From all sides - if not the media, then people and even our colleagues, acquaintances or relatives - they constantly tell and hint to us. We are constantly seduced by double-meaning words, hints and anecdotes, or provocative and teasing fashion. Our life and our past sins gradually create in us skills and memories, which can also tempt us later and give us no peace. All this can influence a person and he will begin to sin in his thoughts.

To avoid the sin of accepting unclean thoughts, you need to avoid looking and listening to everything that can tempt you: pictures, conversations, people. We need to drive away sinful thoughts from ourselves and do something that will make us think about something else.

35. Sin of many acquisitions

Acquisition is the accumulation of material goods; this is materialism.
Multiple acquisitions are already acquisitions that have turned into passion. Christianity calls for the accumulation not of material, but of heavenly treasures; to virtue and cleansing the soul from sin.

The Holy Scriptures, the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew, say the following:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy
and where thieves break in and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys
and where thieves do not break in or steal (Matthew 6:19-20).

It says here that all earthly, material treasures have no value. Firstly, they can easily be lost, and secondly, they have no value with the Lord God; and this is the most important thing. We need to collect spiritual treasures. We must not sin and correct our sinful habits and thus deserve to live eternally.

The current world largely contributes to the sin of excessive acquisition. From all sides, the media constantly tells us that we need to buy either this or something else. This makes it very difficult to resist this sin.

To fight the sin of excessive acquisition, you need to remember those people who live in difficult circumstances, in poverty and need. We must remember that in the end death will also come for us, and then the Lord God will not ask us about our earthly riches, but about spiritual ones. He will ask us what kind of person we were and how we lived? Therefore, you need to firmly decide to buy only what you really need, be content with little and lead a modest lifestyle. Then you need to try in every possible way to help those in need and generally pay more attention to spiritual life.

36. Sin is unclean view

View, look - look, look, fix your gaze (Dal).
Unclean is prodigal.

The sin of an impure view is the same as sinning with sight (42), only that it is not just a sin of view, but a sin of impure view; that is, a prodigal view.

The sin of unclean views is closely related to the sin of accepting unclean thoughts (34). From prodigal pictures a person easily moves to prodigal thoughts.

An unclean look is when a person looks at his neighbor uncleanly; especially on someone close to the opposite sex. She notices his body, wonders what’s under his clothes, thinks, dreams, enjoys.

A Christian must be pure, his thoughts, his heart, his look. This thought, like no other, is perfectly conveyed by our beloved Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his book “The Path to God”:

A true Christian must have everything different in spirit, in body and in life: other thoughts - spiritual, holy; other lusts - heavenly, spiritual; another will is right, holy, meek, good; another imagination is pure, holy; a different memory, a different look - pure, simple, holy, non-evil; another word - purposeful, pure, sedate, meek; in a word, a Christian must be a different person, heavenly, new, holy, divinely living, thinking, feeling, speaking and acting by the Spirit of God. These were the saints. Read their lives, listen, learn, imitate (St. Petersburg, 1905, New York, 1971, p. 8).

The sin of an unclean view is greatly facilitated by the world around us and our past sins. From all sides - if not the media, then people and even our colleagues, acquaintances or relatives - they constantly tell and hint to us. We are constantly seduced by ambiguous words, hints and anecdotes, or by provocative and teasing fashion. Our life and our past sins gradually create in us skills and memories, which can also tempt us later and give us no peace. All this can influence a person and he will begin to look not purely and sin with an impure view.

To avoid the sin of unclean views, you need to avoid looking and listening to everything that can tempt you: pictures, conversations, people. We need to drive away sinful thoughts from ourselves and do something that will make us think about something else.

37. It is a sin to omit divine services through laziness and negligence.

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” (Paris, 1984) writes the following about the service:

With what maternal, or better to say, divine love, the Church daily seems to carry in her arms, offering up unceasing prayers to the Lord for all of us, in the evening, at midnight, in the morning and around the middle of the day: she teaches us, cleanses, sanctifies, heals and strengthens sacraments and in all ways, guides us in the most tender and meek manner towards salvation and eternal life (p. 89).

The Church, through its temple and worship, affects the whole person, educates him completely: it affects his vision, hearing, smell, touch, taste, imagination, feelings, mind and will with the splendor of icons and the entire temple, ringing, singing, incense, kissing the Gospel, the cross and the saints, prosphora, singing and mellifluous reading of scriptures (p. 90).

What will happen to that person who, having fallen from a ship into the water and seeing a rope or a boat thrown to him to save him, not only does not grab the rope or boat, but also pushes them away? He will die in the abyss. Such are the Christians to whom, for salvation from eternal destruction, a rope, as it were, was given from heaven - St. Scripture, all the sacraments with the greatest mystery of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The boat of salvation is the Church of Christ. Whoever rejects Her will undoubtedly perish, and in fact, for his pride, for his madness, foolishness, vile addiction and for his caprice (p. 91).

They say: - if you don’t want to, don’t pray; - crafty wisdom, carnal; If you don’t start praying, you will completely fall behind prayer; that's what the flesh wants. “The kingdom of heaven is in need” (Matthew 11:12 cs); without self-compulsion to goodness you will not be saved (p. 75).

Sincere prayer is not an easy matter. It requires attention and concentration. The sin of omitting the divine service through laziness and negligence is closely related to the sin of being absent-minded in church and home prayer (38).

In order not to sin by omitting the divine service through laziness and negligence, we must remember that prayer is a conversation with our loving Father, the Lord God. Therefore she must be sincere. Prayer must be performed freely and joyfully, but on the other hand, sometimes you need to force yourself a little.

You need to be well prepared for prayer. Firstly, all our prayers and services must be well studied and known. When we understand them, then we will penetrate and go deeper into prayer and we will have less reason for negligence.

In order to better participate in church services, it is good - before each service - to read in advance from the Apostle and from the Gospel those passages that will be read in church.

Then, of course, you need to come to the beginning of the service.

Among other things, it would be very good for the soul, and for more conscious participation in divine services and for supporting church life, if we somehow became involved in church and parish life and began to help in the church and in the parish.

38. Sin of absent-mindedness in church and home prayer

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his diary “My Life in Christ” (Paris 1984) writes the following about absent-mindedness:

There is the sin of absent-mindedness, to which we are all greatly susceptible; You shouldn’t forget it, but repent of it; We indulge in absent-mindedness not only at home but also in church. The culprit of absent-mindedness is the devil and our many different passions for everyday, earthly things; its reasons are lack of faith; the remedy against it is fervent prayer (p. 9).

The enemy, knowing the Goodness of God and the power of prayers, tries in every possible way to turn us away from prayer, or during prayer to scatter our minds, to trip us up with various worldly passions and addictions or haste, confusion, etc. (p. 13).

Our negligence and laziness in prayer are great: we are always inclined to pray and often pray haphazardly, just to finish our work as quickly as possible, we are in a hurry, we jump to the top, but we do not look into the depths of our hearts. That’s why our prayer is like the wind: it makes a noise, it blows by, and that’s it (p. 82).

Whoever hastily, without heartfelt understanding and sympathy, reads prayers, overcome by his lazy and sleepy flesh, serves not God, but his flesh, his self-love, and curses the Lord with his inattention, the indifference of his heart in prayer:
“For God is Spirit:
And those who worship God
We must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24 cs). - unhypocritical. No matter how lazy and weakened your flesh is, no matter how it makes you sleepy, overcome yourself, do not spare yourself for God, deny yourself, so that your gift for the Lord will be perfect, give God your heart (Shanghai, 1948. , page 138).

When we speak with noble people and people of great position, we are always attentive to them and to the conversation. Moreover, when we speak with our Father and Creator of the world, we need to be sincere, attentive and thoughtful in every word of prayer. He who is careless in prayer, as stated above, really “swears to the Lord with his inattention, the indifference of his heart in prayer.” To avoid negligence and inattention to prayer, we need to avoid praying when we are tired or when we are in a hurry.

On the other hand, all prayer books warn us that sincere and deep prayer is not easy and that the enemy will try in every possible way to hinder us. It requires our composure and our full attention.

The sin of absent-mindedness in church and home prayer is closely related to the sin of omitting the divine service through laziness and negligence (37). A person who carelessly prays at home and in church always finds a reason why he cannot be in church.

In order not to sin by being absent-minded during church and home prayer, we need to remember that prayer is a conversation with our loving Father, the Lord God. Therefore she must be sincere. Prayer must be performed freely and joyfully, but on the other hand, sometimes you need to force yourself a little.

You need to be well prepared for prayer. Firstly, all our prayers and services must be thoroughly studied. When we understand everything, then we will be able to penetrate more deeply and go deeper into prayer.

Then you need to have certain prayer rules, morning and evening.

We must always pray in the same place. At home in the same corner with the icons (in the red corner, that is, in the beautiful corner), and in the church in its favorite place.

Then you should never pray hastily. We must remember that no one needs hasty prayer; neither to us, nor to people, nor to the Lord God. If someone hears a hurried prayer, then it has a depressing effect on him. Hasty, careless and hurried prayer leads others into temptation and temptation (27) and sets a bad example. Also, you cannot become a slave to the rules. If there is no time, then it is better to pray with feeling and less than without feeling and a lot.

You should try never to pray when you are tired. For example, the evening prayer rule should not be performed just before bedtime, but a little before bedtime. Thus, the person is not yet sleepy and can concentrate on prayer. If a prayer rule is practiced immediately before going to bed, it can easily become careless. Before going to bed, you can cross yourself and say only one short prayer:

In Your hand, Lord Jesus Christ, my God,
I betray my spirit.
You bless me, You have mercy on me
and grant me eternal life.
Amen.

39. Sin is a matter

A person can sin in deed, word or thought. This confession, intended for home and church use, does not list the great and obvious sins that are found in the 10 Commandments of the Law of God. Therefore, in this paragraph, you can place sins guided by the 10 Commandments and the Beatitudes. (See Section 4 - Definition of Sins by the Ten Commandments).

40. Sin word

The Word is the great gift of the Lord God to man. It can be a source of good, but it can also be a source of evil. A word can be a reflection of a person’s soul, but it can also be just a habit. The Holy Scriptures have written a lot about the word.

For example, in the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel of the Apostle Matthew, the following is said about good and evil words:

...for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
a good man from a good treasure
brings out good;
and an evil man makes treasures of evil
endures evil; (Matthew 12:35 rs).

Our word, our tongue can become the source of many and various sins. All of them bring insult, insult, discord, quarrel and other evil to our neighbors. This category of sins includes: idle talk (1), condemnation (2), slander (8), insolence (13), murmuring (19), self-justification (20), reproach (21), reproach (23), slander (24) , lies (25), as well as foul language, gossip, and hypocrisy.

Foul language is the use of nasty, that is, bad words. Along with slander (24), some people use bad swear words and this can become a habit and passion. Bad words certainly should not be part of a Christian's vocabulary.

Gossip is when someone, accidentally or deliberately, adds something fictitious to what they hear. What comes out is untruths or half-truths; gossip comes out. Gossip appears as a result of empty talk (1), lies (25), ill will or anger towards your loved ones.

Hypocrites are those people who try to seem kinder, better, smarter, more beautiful than they really are. These people play, pretend, which means they base their entire existence on lies. Hypocrites are also those who say and pretend that they are believers, but in reality they are not believers.

In order not to sin with words, we need to watch what we say and we need to bridle our tongue. We must remember that the tongue is the source of many sins, for example: idle talk (1), condemnation (2), slander (8), insolence (13), self-justification (20), reproach (21), reproach (23), slander (24) , lies (25), laughter (26) and temptation (27). We must remember that silence is much better than verbosity and empty talk.

A person who talks all the time is busy with what he wants to say and therefore follows and listens less to others. Being silent and listening can focus on others. He has more opportunity to observe, listen, concentrate, go deeper, understand and weigh. Thus the silent one and the listener are in most cases deeper than the speaker, who is usually more superficial.

41. Sin thinking

Thought - Thought, reflection (Ozhegov).

You can sin in deed, word or thought. Any deed, including a sinful deed, is always preceded by a thought. Therefore, in order to stop a sinful deed or word, you need to stop it at its very beginning, that is, when it is still just a thought. A sinful thought, sinful thinking and sinful daydreaming are also sins.

It must be said that “addiction,” that is, when a person has sinful thoughts or ideas (pictures) without desire and against the will, is not a sin. If he drives away this “pretext,” then he has not yet committed a sin. Only when a person voluntarily thinks about sin, only then does he commit sin.

Here it is appropriate to give the basics of the doctrine of the stages of sinfulness:

The fall of man occurs gradually. It is very important to know that a person does not immediately fall into great sin, but gradually. From the first small and seemingly harmless sin, he can fall further and further until the sin becomes a habit. This gradualism applies to all sins, small and large: say laziness, lies, deception, theft or alcoholism and drug addiction. The Holy Fathers, asceticists of Christian asceticism and piety, distinguish five stages (degrees) of sin: preposition, combination, addition, captivity and passion.

Christianity calls us not only to live according to the Commandments of the Law of God, but also to engage in spiritual self-education. Fight our sinful habits and cultivate positive qualities in ourselves. This spiritual growth is achieved gradually.

Prilog is when, without desire and against the will of a person, he has sinful thoughts or even ideas. If we immediately drive away this sinful thought, then we have not yet committed a sin. To this extent, sin is easiest to overcome. When an excuse appears, it must be resolutely rejected.

The combination is a voluntary reflection on sin. A person does not commit a sin, but only thinks about sin, this is already a sin.

Addition is already a desire for sin. A person sometimes sins, but is still aware of his sinfulness.

Captivity is already a frequent fulfillment of sin, but a person is still aware of his sinfulness.

Passion is when sin has already become a habit, it is already slavery to sin. Sin is committed easily and a person does not feel that he is sinning and can even be proud of it. To this extent, sin is most difficult to overcome. Church prayer and intense struggle are needed.

Sin by thought is associated with the sin of receiving unclean thoughts (34), unclean view (36), sight (42), hearing (43), smell (44), taste (45) and touch (46).

Sin by thinking is greatly facilitated by the world around us and our past sins. From all sides - if not the media, then people and even our colleagues, acquaintances or relatives - they constantly tell and hint to us. We are constantly seduced by double-meaning words, hints and anecdotes, or provocative and teasing fashion. Our life and our past sins gradually create in us skills and memories, which can also tempt us later and give us no peace. All this can influence a person and he will begin to sin in his thoughts.

To avoid sinful thoughts, you need to avoid looking and listening to everything that can tempt you: pictures, conversations, people. We need to drive away sinful thoughts from ourselves and do something that will make us think about something else.

42. Sin sight

Vision is one of the five main external senses (Ozhegov). (Vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt in his book Christian Philosophy writes the following about the sin of vision:

“Keeping your feelings from the sin of sight means: not looking with partiality at other people’s beauty, at other people’s outfits, rich incomes, rich decorations of houses, at other people’s treasures and wealth, for all this will go to dust and ruin the purity of the soul; do not give free rein to rancor, an unclean imagination that imagines and depicts sin in lovely, desirable forms: do not look at seductive images or paintings and statues, do not read seductive books; avoid seductive communities, gatherings of cheerful and frivolous people, where sin is imputed to nothing, in general, beware of any reason to sin, for there are many temptations in the world (St. Petersburg, 1902, p. 170).

Vision (how a person looked), like words, also conveys mood. In this way one can sin, offend, offend with a simple glance.

A person sins with his sight when he looks at prodigal pictures, etc. We need to avoid everything that can lead us to sin through our sight.

At first glance, sinning with your eyes may seem like a harmless activity. In fact, it can lead to sin. A person gradually gets used to sin. Sin of sight is associated with sin of thought (41) and the acceptance of unclean thoughts (34).

Sin by sight is greatly contributed to by the world around us and our past sins. From all sides - if not the media, then people and even our colleagues, acquaintances or relatives - they constantly tell and hint to us. We are constantly seduced by double-meaning words, hints and anecdotes, or provocative and teasing fashion. Our life and our past sins gradually create in us skills and memories, which can also tempt us later and give us no peace. All this can influence a person and he will begin to sin with his eyesight.

To avoid sin with your eyesight, you need to avoid looking and listening to everything that can tempt you: pictures, conversations, people. We need to drive away sinful thoughts from ourselves and do something that will make us think about something else.

43. Sin hearing

Hearing is one of the five basic external senses (Ozhegov). (Vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch).

A person sins by hearing when he listens to evil, listens to gossip, conversations, indecent or blasphemous jokes. (Blasphemous means to speak of a holy thing with ridicule). We need to avoid everything that can lead us to sin through our hearing.

Hearing about sin may, at first glance, seem like a harmless activity. In fact, it can lead to sin. First, the listener gradually gets used to it and begins to repeat what he heard, and then he begins to participate more actively in the conversation. Simply, just listening about evil all the time can also lead to sin. A person loses faith in good and gets used to evil. He gradually falls into despondency or becomes a cynic, and then he also begins to sin.

The sin of hearing is connected with the sin of thought (41) and easily turns into sin of speech (40).

Sin by hearing is greatly facilitated by the world around us and our past sins. From all sides - if not the media, then people and even our colleagues, acquaintances or relatives - they constantly tell and hint to us. We are constantly seduced by double-meaning words, hints and anecdotes, or provocative and teasing fashion. Our life and our past sins gradually create in us skills and memories, which can also tempt us later and give us no peace. All this can influence a person and he will begin to sin with his hearing.

To avoid the sin of hearing, you need to avoid looking and listening to everything that can tempt you: pictures, conversations, people. We need to drive away sinful thoughts from ourselves and do something that will make us think about something else.

44. Sin of smell

Olfaction - The ability to perceive and distinguish odors (Ozhegov). One of the five basic external senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch).

One can sin by taking pleasure in a smell that is associated with sin or resembles sin.

The sin of smell is connected with the sin of thinking (41). From the sense of smell, a person easily moves on to sinful thoughts, and then to the sinful deed itself. This fact is well known and is used by sinful people who want to tempt (27) other people to sin.

To avoid smelling sins, we need to move away from the smell that can lead us to sinful thoughts and do something that will make us think about something else. In addition, we need to avoid everything that can lead us to sin through our sense of smell.

45. Sin taste

Taste - The sensation on the tongue, in the mouth, or the property of food that is the source of that sensation. One of the five basic external senses (Ozhegov). (Vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch).

The Holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt, in his book “The Path to God,” compiled from extracts from his famous diary, wrote the following:

Despise voluptuousness, this bait of the evil one, the sweetened devil’s soul-destructive poison, separating and weakening the heart from God and covering it with darkness (St. Petersburg, 1905, p. 240).

So, through sensuality, through taste, a person can fall into sin. The sin of taste is associated with gluttony (30), excess in food and drink (31). From taste a person can easily turn to sinful thoughts.

To avoid the sin of taste, we need to avoid tastes that can lead us to sinful thoughts and do something that will make us think about something else. In addition, we need to avoid everything that can lead us to sin through our taste.

46. ​​Sin of touch

Touch - The sensation of pressure, heat, cold that occurs when the skin touches something. One of the five basic external senses (Ozhegov). (Vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch). Touch - Feel, touch, palpate.

One can sin by deriving pleasure from a sense of touch that is associated with sin or resembles sin. In this way, you can sin in relation to another person, and you can also sin in relation to yourself.

The sin of touch is associated with the acceptance of sinful thoughts (41). From touch a person can easily move on to sinful thoughts, and then to sinful deeds.

To avoid the sin of touch, we need to avoid touch, which can lead us to sinful thoughts and do something that will make us think about something else. In addition, we need to avoid everything that can lead us to sin through our sense of touch.

47. Sin - other feelings of soul and body

A person has five main external senses through which a person can sin, these are: sight (42), hearing (43), smell (44), taste (45), touch (46). Here we mean others, that is, other mental and physical feelings.

In addition to the basic external senses, a person has other external and internal senses. Animals have only external ones. There is a feeling of pain, hunger, etc. Then there is a feeling of joy, conscience, shame, pity, anger, curiosity, envy, vanity and pride. Many of these feelings are not sinful, but sin can enter a person through them.

To avoid other mental and physical sins, we need to avoid everything that can lead us to them and do something that will make us think about something else.

Confession of a repentant sinner

I thank You, Lord my God, with all my being, especially because You have kept me, a great sinner, alive until now; I know, Lord, that Your goodness leads me to repentance.
So, I thank and repent before You. Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and accept my sincere repentance for my grave sins!
“Look at me, my Savior God, with Your merciful eye and accept my warm confession!”
“Loving man, if you want everyone to be saved, call me and accept me as a good one who repents!”

1. A Christian must be alien to the world and everything worldly. Do not love the world, nor those in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him: for everything in the world, carnal lust, and the lust of desire and worldly pride, is not from the Father, but is from this world. And the world passes away and its lust: but he who does the will of God abides forever (John 2:15-17).
But I am completely devoted to this world and love money, clothes, luxury, honors, fame, fun, dancing and especially live pictures (for a modern person - cinema, television), although I know from experience that after them, as after amusing fires, nothing remains but stench and darkness.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! Weaken and cool in me the love for this adulterous and sinful world, and whether I want or not, lead me along the path of salvation.

2. A Christian must always lead a life of repentance. True and tearful repentance is a strict condemnation of oneself before God, contrition for sins, unflagging attention to the matter of spiritual salvation and the feasible replacement of one’s misdeeds with opposite deeds.
And I do sometimes judge myself, but too harshly, and nothing comes of it, but most often I excuse my sins; sometimes I grieve for them, but I have no cleansing tears; Sometimes I try to make peace with God and with my conscience, but I don’t do the good opposite to evil.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and give me the gift of true repentance!

3. The Christian must always remember that the omnipresent and omniscient God sees him through and through, and that this memory keeps him from sins and encourages him to do good.
And whatever I do, I do everything, thinking not about the omniscient God, but about people’s opinion of me and about my own benefit.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner; forgive my forgetfulness of You and tell me: “I am the Lord Almighty: please me and be blameless” (Genesis 17: 1).

4. A Christian constantly remembers his last, that is, death and the Last Judgment, and thus curbs his evil passions and refrains from sins, especially mortal ones, such as: pride, hatred, gluttony, fornication, murder, carelessness about the salvation of the soul and despair .
And I, forgetting about my future fate and living only in the present, blithely indulge in sinful passions and mortal vices, killing my soul for an ever-blessed life.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, Wake me up from my sinful sleep and drive away, with their own destinies, my carelessness, my oblivion and my negligence!

5. A Christian lives abstinently and bridles his body with established fasts, and thus remains a submissive son of the Church.
But I don’t strictly observe fasts, and in general I live intemperately, according to my own whims, and not according to the rules of the Church.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner and rebellious saint. Thy Church and admonish me to fast with a pleasant fast, pleasing to the Lord!

6. A Christian avoids association with free-thinking and disreputable people.
And I see such people and, if I am not carried away by their teachings and examples, then I indulge them, out of my unkind views.
Oh, Lord, I condemn myself in this before You, and I ask You to deliver me from every bad person!

7. A Christian, in simplicity of heart, reads the Bible every day, especially the Gospel and the Apostolic Epistles, as well as other soul-helping books.
But I don’t always read what I should, instead reading what feeds idle curiosity, unclean imagination and soul-destroying passions.
Oh, Lord, direct my steps according to Your word, so that all iniquity may not possess me!

8. A Christian in the temple of God fervently prays the congregational prayer, which lifts his soul to God, and carefully follows the service of God, understanding its every action and conforming his prayer to it.
And even if I am in church, I stand there absent-mindedly, not attentively, daydreaming, staring at living pictures, chatting idlely, laughing, in short, I forget where I stand and in front of Whom I stand...
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner; forgive me my absent-mindedness, inattention, coldness and carelessness, and teach me to worship You in spirit and truth, together with the believers.

9. A Christian never takes the name of God in vain, remembering the Savior’s commandment: let your word be: she, she, neither, nor (Matthew 5:37).
But I swear, I swear, sometimes shamelessly, and I break my oath.
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and write this commandment on the tablet of my heart!

10. A Christian never lies, is not cunning, does not deceive, does not deceive, does not slander, but is guided by simplicity, straightforwardness, frankness, truth and justice in everything.
But I lie very often and with lies I cover up my misdeeds, I prevent deserved reproaches or punishments, I give others a reason for ridicule and condemnation of those about whom I speak falsely or exaggeratedly, or I weave nets for my neighbors.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner; do not remember my lies, neither frivolous nor harmful, fill my heart with Thy fear and love for truth and justice!

11. A Christian always speaks and acts sincerely, without any pretense, without people-pleasing and flattery, without malicious intent.
But I often say not what I feel, I act feignedly, hypocritically, I flatter, I serve not the cause, but people, I seem only affectionate and kind.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I condemn before You my indirectness, hypocrisy, deceit, the kiss of Judas, and I pray to You: cleanse me from this filth and make me a child for evil.

12. The Christian remembers that every person is the image and likeness of God, and does not dishonor anyone with obscene names, according to the commandment of God (Matthew 5:22).
And I, especially in anger, pour out on the image and likeness of God all the unclean and even shameful scum of the human word.
Oh, God, forgive me, a sinner who has desecrated St. Thy gift, the gift of speech and the one who reviled Thy image and Thy likeness with names prohibited by Thy law.

13. A Christian does not judge his neighbors, according to the commandment of the Lord: do not judge, lest you be judged (Matthew 7:1); and when he has to talk about them, he condemns vices or sins, and not sinners.
But I attribute vices to others without being sure whether they have them; I condemn other people's weaknesses, despite my own, and forgetting that there is only one Judge of all - God.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner; forgive my slander, which burdens my conscience, and bless me to love all people with their shortcomings.

14. A Christian is always modest and meek: he is not puffed up with praise, is not offended by humiliation, has fun quietly, speaks wisely without insulting anyone, treats everyone everywhere and with grace, tames anyone’s anger with silence or affection.
And I? when they praise me, I tell everyone the praise given to me, and with an addition to it; When they choose others over me, I get offended, grieve, and scream. My conversations are mocking, seductive and obscene; fun - noisy and riotous; treatment of people is often impudent; My response to anger is temperament, or even beatings.
Oh, Lord, forgive me all this fury of mine and grant me, Your servant, modesty, meekness and timely silence!

15. A Christian is always obedient not only to the authorities, but also to all intelligent and experienced people; does not impose his opinions on them; listens to their objections and refutations calmly; accepts solid evidence willingly; otherwise, he argues meekly and peacefully, expressing not his pride or wit, or resourcefulness, or the amount of information, but - one desire to know the truth or the truth.
But I consider myself smarter than everyone, I don’t tolerate objections, I stubbornly want to put everything on my own, I conduct debates with impatience, even insulting the personality of my interlocutor, but from this I gain absolutely nothing, I only tire everyone, and reveal my imaginary arrogance , stubbornness and pride.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner; guard my lips, and grant me, Your servant, reasonable obedience and humility!

16. A Christian observes moderation in everything. He is not too lenient, not too strict, not too affectionate and not for long threatening. He gives everyone his due, is fair without kindness and without cruelty; and he covers up the superiority of his personality with humility and courtesy to spare the pride of others.
But I either turn a blind eye to everything, or I demand even the smallest things; with my caresses or - I bore, or even damage the caressed; I get angry for a long time - not until the sun sets; I say cruel justice; I envy talents; I humiliate valor; I like to find the weak side in everyone and I don’t compare with anyone.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner; forgive my deviations from prudence, truth, love and decency, may I always be equal to myself; Let my conscience not reproach me for the fact that I act, although prudently, but not very justly - although fairly, but cruelly and indecently.

17. A Christian does not offend anyone, but forgives insults and insults inflicted on him and is favorable to those who offended him even in their presence.
But I insult and offend many; I am furious at those who insulted me, I threaten them and take revenge; but in society I pretend to be generous towards those who offend me, I remember the evil for a long time and little by little I try to denigrate them.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! I condemn before you my rage, vindictiveness, hypocritical generosity and real rancor, and I pray to you, grant me a sincerely generous bearing of insults and the grace of prayer for my enemies.

18. A Christian loves his enemies.
And I am angry with them, hate them and tend to harm them.
Oh, God, have mercy on me, a sinner, and help me, by Your grace, to love my enemies and look upon them as benefactors in moral self-knowledge.

19. A Christian suffers quietly in the face of God, who is omniscient and prepares a great reward for the sufferers, and does not complain about the perpetrators of the suffering.
But I get irritated, complain about them, and thus I sin myself and lead others into sin, I place my blame on others, I exaggerate my suffering in front of others, I become soft...
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and bless me to suffer quietly, to pray the prayer of my Savior: “If it is possible, let this cup pass by; if it’s impossible, then God’s will be done!”

20. The Christian remembers that the blessed peacemakers will be called sons of God, and makes peace.
And I, the damned one, quarrel with many people and quarrel with others among themselves.
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and tame my cruel and evil temper!

21. A Christian constantly and unchangeably loves everyone close to his heart, all relatives, friends and acquaintances - he loves in God.
And my love for everyone is impetuous, swift, but does not last long if my pride is dissatisfied with it.
O God, forgive the inconstancy of my love; bless me to love everyone for Your sake, selflessly!

22. A Christian does not covet other people’s goods and does not envy them; compassionate to the unfortunate, merciful to the poor and kind to those around him. He loves his worthy relatives and friends sincerely and protects them firmly, and rewards their services generously, and he does all this in the name of God, Who is Love.
But I envy the happiness of my neighbors, I do not always make righteous gains, I am stingy, I do little to help the unfortunate, I live for my own pleasure, I do not properly reward those around me and those who serve me, I sluggishly intercede for my friends, sparing my pride and valuing my peace, I help the poor lazily, and sometimes with irritation, indignation and not always out of pure benevolence.
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, who has neither pure nor strong grace of heart, and with Your grace cleanse and strengthen it.

23. A Christian is chaste. He knows that his body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and he fights with lust, asking God for the gift of purity (Wisdom Chapter 8), not giving free rein to the imagination, memory, voluptuous thoughts, not satiating the belly, spending days in labor, but at night, making the sign of the cross and entrusting himself to the Guardian Angel, he fights until old age and achieves the purity of dispassion... And when, due to the weakness of human nature, he falls, he immediately rises up, cries about his sins, rushes to the Savior and, rushing into the abyss of His mercy , with tears and sighs, accepts His most pure Blood and thus is cleansed from all his sin.
But I don’t have all of this. - I'm a carnivore. I live voluptuously, and through fornication I lose money, property, health, honor, and I gain illness, early old age, stupidity, spiritual emptiness; I always sin by remembering my previous fornications and enjoying such memories; and thus in my soul I am extremely unclean from dreams, thoughts, desires and voluptuous lusts, and I become completely worthy of the wrath of God and eternal torment, like an unrepentant sinner.
O Lord, I dare not lift my eyes to heaven, where nothing evil will enter; but I pray to You from the depths of my soul: have mercy on me according to Your great mercy, and according to the multitude of Your mercies, cleanse my iniquity, especially wash me from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin; for I know my iniquity and bear away my sin before me; forgive my sins and grant me, Your servant, chastity.

24. A Christian always has holy humility. It is the feeling of our spiritual weakness and the consciousness of our sinfulness, the assimilation to God of all that is good in us, the remembrance of all His mercies towards us and submission to His wise and holy will.
And I am proud, arrogant; I boast about my supposedly good qualities, I love only praise, but I can’t stand comments and am offended by them, I am vain, arrogant, angry, irritated, slander, judgmental, arguing, offended, admiring myself.
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner who is like a painted coffin. I condemn before You my arrogance and pride with all their offspring, and I pray to You: pluck them from my heart and plant grace-filled humility in me!

25. A Christian is always filled with the fear of God, feels the presence of God everywhere, reveres Him, is amazed at His greatness, is amazed at His holiness and righteousness, and thus fetters his passions, curbs his self-will, and refrains from violating God’s commandments.
But in me there is no fear of God, there is no salvation and no fear of trampling on the law of God, I always do what my passions, bad inclinations, habits tell me to do, I live far from God, and I live lawlessly.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! I condemn before You the oblivion of saving punishments and Your commandments, my self-will and lack of reverence for Your greatness, and I pray to You: instill Your fear in me!

26. A Christian has an unflagging zeal to fulfill all the commandments of the Lord and a constant, strong thirst for justification by faith in the merits of the Savior; for he cannot fulfill all the commandments, and if he fulfills everything, it is inaccurately and not always from pure motives.
But within me there is an unremitting zeal to violate all the commandments of the Lord: and if I thirst for this justification, it is only when I am preparing for confession, and only on these days, and the rest of the time I sin and only sin.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner: accept my momentary repentance; help me make the beginning of salvation, and strengthen my faith in my Savior, like a sprout of Christian life that can bear fruit over time!

27. A Christian always has spiritual prudence, testing the legitimacy and purity of thoughts, desires, inclinations, actions, and giving the best direction to his Christian life.
And I am inattentive to myself; I least of all care about my soul and do not know its condition; I don’t give myself an answer every day in my thoughts, desires and actions. I don’t know myself and I don’t try to improve.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Forgive my negligence and ignorance of myself, - help me, by Your grace, to recognize the admixture in me of the sensual with the spiritual, - to eradicate my bad inclinations and habits and to improve spiritually.

28. A Christian prays unceasingly. His prayer is a sweet union with God, an expression of love for Him and hope in Him, consolation in sorrows, a meeting of weakness with the grace of St. Spirit, the cry of the soul to all its powers: “Come, let us worship our King God.” In his prayer, he glorifies God, thanks Him for everything, and asks for forgiveness of sins and everything necessary for his life and that of others. Prayer is his element, the life of his soul, and gives the best direction to his entire life.
And I don’t even have a clear idea about such a prayer. I bow down, read various prayers, but coldly, without the participation of the heart, out of habit, reluctantly, and often I don’t pray anyway, and therefore I don’t correct myself. Not knowing myself well, I don’t even know how to pray for myself: the proud one does not ask God to humble my soul, the lazy one does not ask for the fear of God for all good things, the voluptuous one does not strive for the Savior, the luxurious one does not ask for spiritual blessings, the dark one does not ask for wisdom, - cruel and irritable, I do not beg for kindness from the heart.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and teach me to worship You in spirit and in truth! Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and bless me to start praying, even with Our Father, or even with Lord have mercy! Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me... Create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb... Reward me with the joy of Your salvation and strengthen me with the Lord’s Spirit!.. I beg You with tears and with contrition of heart.

29. A Christian believes in the triune God, Creator, Provider, Savior, Sanctifier and Judge. But his faith is a living force, producing in him reverence and humility before the greatness of God and the fear of angering Him, eternal gratitude for all His mercies, a desire for union with Christ through imitation of His holy life and thirst for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But in me this faith is like a vague outline of a magnificent picture without color or expression: a dead faith that does not awaken in the soul the Christian virtues required by living faith; I often doubt the dogmas of faith simply because I don’t understand them in my little mind, I’m ashamed to confess it before the sons of the century, and most often I don’t even think about the holy truths of faith...
Oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, and give me the faith that true Christians have, and which alone can justify me before God, giving me a better direction in my life. I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.

30. A Christian, believing in God, constantly hopes in Him: he expects God's help, truth and mercy in all the difficult circumstances of temporary life, and eagerly awaits eternal bliss; surrenders himself and everything to the will of God and is obedient to the One God in everything - he says: may the will of God be done always and in everything!
And although I hope in Him, my hope is not complete, not firm, not pure, not strong. I hope a lot for myself and for others - I worry too much unnecessarily, and because of this I do not have peace of mind and body, I torment myself: I become discouraged, melancholy, sad, I strive to change the place of my service, everything seems not to me, but internally not I change, I put off repentance.
Oh, Lord, my God! I condemn before You all these sins of mine: arrogance, over-concern that eats up body and soul, incessant anxiety from imaginary dangers and fears, all despondency, melancholy, excessive sadness, grumbling, timidity, carelessness about one’s salvation and postponing repentance for an unknown time, and I pray You: have mercy on me, a sinner, and grant me that trust in You that true Christians have!

31. A Christian loves God with all his soul and with all his being; strives for Him with all the strength of his soul - with his mind, as for the Highest Truth, - with his will, as for the Highest Good, - with his heart, as for the Highest Beauty, in Him he finds all his ideals and places all his bliss; As a result of such fiery love for God, he is ardently jealous of His glory: he strives to fulfill all His commandments, and contributes, as much as he can, to the spread of the true faith and Christian life. The soul of a Christian, loving God, lives in Him alone, thinks, feels, rests, is blissful, is transformed in His image and likeness, outlines His perfections, and unites with Him.
But I, a sinner, do not have such love for God. I imagine that I love God, but I do not fulfill His commandments, while I please all the whims of my loved one. With my mind, will and heart I seek the ideals of truth, goodness, beauty outside of God, in created objects, and in them I dream of finding all my bliss: “I prefer the temporary, but forget about the eternal glory”; and I do not care at all about the glory of God. All my life I live, think, feel, act somehow separately from God, without thinking about Him. I do not love God, in whom alone there is peace and bliss; and not finding peace and bliss in anyone or anything besides Him, I am tormented prematurely by the torments of hell.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I condemn before You my oblivion of You, Giver of life, wisdom, virtue, immortality, truth, goodness, bliss, - I condemn my indifference to the zealous spread of Your Glory, - I condemn my self-will and I pray to You: kindle in me perfect love for You, that love that cries out in the depths of the soul: Abba Father, yes, with Peter I can say to You: yes, Lord, You know that I love You! May I rest in peace and receive my bliss in You alone; for besides You there is no peace and bliss for me anywhere - in anyone or anything!

32. A Christian imitates Christ, his Savior, meek, humble, merciful, righteous, forgiving his enemies, having no flattery in his mouth, pure, long-suffering, laboring, submissive to the will of the Heavenly Father, doing His will, praying, suffering without complaint... That is why all Christians virtues, like the stars of the sky, adorn the soul of a Christian; and her crown is inner peace, that is, the harmony of all the powers of the soul: imagination, memory, reason, will, conscience, and her peace in God, which comes from a living feeling of God’s favor towards her, after she has become an image and likeness Christ the Savior. Such peace or tranquility is acquired after long-term balancing of the forces of the soul, after observing all the commandments and fulfilling all the virtues - from repentance to love of God.
Should I, a sinner, receive such peace and tranquility, when my mind and heart are not in harmony, and all the powers of my soul are in discord - when I, a damned one, do not even think of imitating the earthly life and activity of Christ, my Savior? And because of this, I either have no good deeds at all, or very few, and even those are mixed with my pride and vanity, and I have broken almost all the commandments. If only the Lord would grant me the opportunity to enjoy that peace of mind that occurs immediately after confession and absolution! And this peace is a great blessing; from it you can at least judge and have an understanding of the everlasting blissful peace and tranquility of the soul!
I thirst for peace and rest in my poor, worried soul, and from the depths of my heart I cry out to You, God, my Savior: be merciful to me, a sinner; accept my sincere repentance and forgive all my sins, voluntary and involuntary, heal my sick soul, and give it at least a drop of grace-filled peace in You! Calm all the powers of my soul; give me the strength to keep Your commandments, to fulfill Your good, pleasing and perfect will, so that I may recognize in myself the change of Your anger to mercy towards me, may my soul feel Your favor towards it, and may Your peace and tranquility be established in me!...

33. A Christian, following the first birth from flesh and blood, receives another, higher and better birth from the Spirit. Despite my uncleanness and insensibility, immediately after birth, from the arms of my mother, I was taken into the arms of St. Church: washed away the filth of my nature in the baptismal font; consecrated by the grace of St. Spirit; captured in the white robe of innocence. – From a child of wrath I became a child of grace.
And I, accursed, threw off this royal vestment, scattered the gifts poured out on me, did not preserve my grapes... I did not preserve the grace of baptism; did not remain faithful to the One with whom he was united; desecrated the white robe of innocence; lost the grace of St. Spirit... One thing the world took; another was stolen by passions; something was lost due to negligence and carelessness; I am all like a man who has fallen into the hands of robbers: from head to toe there is no wholeness in me...
Who should I turn to for help, except You, my All-Good Creator and Almighty Provider? Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me! I have gone astray, like a lost sheep, seek Thy servant! Bring my soul out of prison to confess to Your name! Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb!

34. A Christian child, being brought up in the bosom of his mother, in the arms of his father, learns to obey them and honor his Heavenly Father and the gracious Mother of his Church - following the example of Christ the Savior, he grows, strengthened by age and spirit, filled with wisdom and strengthened by grace from God and people (Luke 2:40,52).
But I did not always obey my parents as I should, I did not honor the Church and the Heavenly Father with holy veneration, I did not imitate my Savior. He was lazy to study, he lied, he swore, he was stubborn, he didn’t want to ask for forgiveness, he mimicked, he was mischievous, he cursed, he took something without asking and hid it, he was envious, he adopted bad things and tried to do them, he didn’t reveal the truth...
Oh, Lord, have mercy and save me! So I myself, from being a child of grace, became more and more again a child of wrath, my body grew, but my spirit weakened, instead of wisdom I was filled with stupidity, instead of grace I became stronger in bad habits: Lord, accept my repentance, enlighten and save me!..

35. The Christian youth, like his ancestors, is in the paradise of innocence, before him is the tree of life with a promise and the tree of death with a commandment: he has every opportunity not to stretch out his hands to the forbidden fruit - he has the power to remain on the path of truth and integrity, he holds everything him - and the grace of baptism, and the voice of conscience, and parents, and educators...
But, alas, nothing stopped me! And the serpent tempter seemed to me more reliable than my Creator and Benefactor; and to me the tree of death seemed good for food, pleasing to the eye and red for understanding; and I, unfortunate one, tasted the bitter food insolently and lost paradise.
Oh, Lord, my God, if the days of my youth could return, I would take Thy path, I would turn away from the paths of sin and the vanity of the world! But these days will not return for me; All that remains for me to exclaim from the depths of my soul: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me!
Do not remember the sins of my youth and ignorance! Remember me for the sake of goodness, Thy only goodness!

36. A Christian youth, brought up in the Christian law, is filled with the fear of God, which curbs all his self-will, obedient and respectful to his elders, compassionate, modest, bashful, chaste. Like his Savior, he does the will of the Lord in everything, studies in the law of the Lord day and night and, studying the sciences, never leaves the universal school of St. Churches.
But I am not God-fearing, and therefore self-willed, irreverent, mocking, impudent, cruel, angry, shameless and unvirginous; I don’t listen to God’s law, I don’t listen to the Holy Church, and if I study, I study only for curiosity and self-interest.
Oh, Lord, accept my repentance and heal my soul!

37. A Christian maiden, while still belonging to God alone, must be holy in body and soul; she preserves her virginity; Its distinctive properties are chastity, humility, meekness, modesty, modesty, obedience, compassion and prayerful concentration in God. This is why everyone respects her, and no one takes liberties with her.
But I am proud, hot-tempered, talkative, mocking, stubborn, angry, lazy, dreamy, careless, so that I myself give men a reason to treat me freely, my friendship with them is not without sin; I rather inflame young people to lust than make them chaste; I’m often a complete helipad, and I’m too lazy to pray to God, distracted.
Oh, Lord, accept my repentance and heal my soul!

38. A Christian of mature years firmly and unswervingly fulfills his duties, courageously fights vice in all its forms, prudently uses the gifts of happiness, generously endures the blows of misfortune, is always ready for every good deed, is removed from all lies and untruths, is temperate and strict towards himself himself, generous and merciful to his neighbors, meek, sincere, loving towards everyone, unforgetfully malicious even towards his enemies.
But I did not and do not fulfill my duties as I should: vice often takes complete possession of me - in happiness I am proud, arrogant, unapproachable, cruel, capricious, in misfortune I am low, crafty, obstinate, mean, - not at all disposed towards goodness, I do not value truth and righteousness, I indulge myself in everything, but with my neighbors I am impatient, stingy, obstinate, cunning and cunning, I am not inclined to love them and I remember evil for a very long time.
Almighty Creator, my prayer to You: have mercy on Your poor creation! Give me the strength to break the bonds of sinful habits and passions! Turn away my eyes from seeing vanity! Touch the sin-loving heart, let it stop beating for dust and decay! Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me! Save me from myself.

39. A Christian husband loves his wife, prays for her, respects her, does not cheat on her, treats her decently and with restraint, does not upset her, hides her shortcomings from others and corrects meekly, considers her his assistant, asks for her advice and consent. in family matters, takes care of the well-being of the family, keeps his home in piety.
But I am not fulfilling my duty. I don’t always love my wife, I don’t pray for her, I don’t respect her, I cheat on her, I indulge her absent-mindedness, I often upset her, I torment her with suspicion, jealousy, stinginess, pride, temper, quarrels, I disclose her shortcomings, I humiliate her, I don’t ask or I listen to her kind and useful advice - I don’t care about my home and family, I spend my property on the side.
Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, forgive my iniquities and heal my soul!

40. A Christian wife, loving, honoring, respecting and praying for her husband, submits to him, is afraid to cool his love, remains faithful to him, endures his shortcomings patiently and meekly, and little by little corrects them with prudence. She is a pleaser to God, a helper to her husband, a second grace to her children, an example of order, cleanliness, good behavior to her family, not whimsical and not luxuriously idle.
And I am fickle; I don’t always submit and please my husband, although I can and should; I often upset him with my temper, quarrelsomeness, stubbornness, whims, luxury beyond my means, passion for dressing up for evil purposes; I like to take over my husband: I do a lot of things my way; I love children, but I don’t serve them as an example of piety; my family is not always happy with me; I am burdened with housekeeping; I don’t live in a way pleasing to God.
Oh, Lord, accept my repentance and heal my soul!

41. A Christian, like a master, is meek, merciful and compassionate towards his household, sparing their strength, contenting them, correcting them, giving them and giving them possible and necessary assistance; as a member of the household, he serves his masters as if he were serving Christ Himself, fulfills all their orders respectfully, conscientiously, accurately, works with diligence, takes care of his master’s property as if it were his own, does not disclose the weaknesses of his masters, does not slander them.
And I, as a master, sometimes treat those subordinate to me cruelly, I do not care about them, I pay only according to the contract, I do not provide them with benefits; but as a subordinate, I serve carelessly, I do not spare the master’s things and damage them; I deceive and rob my masters, and I hide deception and theft from other servants and, if I do not slander my masters, then I condemn and disclose their weaknesses.

Oh, God, be merciful to me, a sinner: have mercy and save me!

How are idleness, despondency, lust and idle talk related to each other? Archpriest Igor Prekup continues to reflect on the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian.

There is a single spirit in idleness and despondency, lust and - one, although it seems strange: as for idleness and despondency - wherever it goes, well, idle talk, okay, let’s say, but what does lust have to do with it?

Firstly, it is worth paying attention to the fact that despondency is by no means a “flat” phenomenon. It should not be reduced to depression, powerlessness, just as idleness should not be reduced to laziness. This phenomenon is voluminous and multifaceted, let’s say. To reduce despondency to depression is, at least, superficial. Not to mention the fact that identifying certain spiritual states with similar, even if they have a somewhat common etiology, mental phenomena is incorrect.

And the point is not just that mixing different discourses is bad manners. These are different areas of research: related, yes, but different, since the psyche and soul are not the same thing, just as the human body and the clothes on it, although they influence one another - body temperature warms up the clothes, clothes retain heat; the composition of the fabric affects the physical well-being (take a sweater made of uncleaned wool), and the body, with its design features and movements, affects the condition of the clothes (somewhere “bubbles” form, in certain places the seams are unraveling, shoes wear down in a characteristic way) - however less, they are not identified (although “they are greeted by their clothes,” and they, in fact, often say a lot about a person, and vice versa, the attitude towards a person is involuntarily transferred to his clothes, and parts of the clothes of saints, almost along with their relics, have been venerated since ancient times as bearers of the grace of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19; 12)).

Therefore, when you read or hear that “depression is despondency,” there is a desire to stake you and send you for a retake. is being treated with medication - no, because this is a passion, a phenomenon of a spiritual nature, you can’t help with chemistry.

Despondency overwhelms a person due to his cowardice: at the sight of difficulties he gives up, he sees no point in either resisting opponents or trying to overcome circumstances: nothing depends on him, everything is already predetermined...

It comes to completely anecdotal situations. My relative, a neurosurgeon, told about one assistant that every time during an operation some kind of situation happened, not even an extreme one, but simply requiring the adoption of vigorous measures, for example, bleeding opened, so he literally gave up his hands and walked away from him. table with the words: “Well, that’s all... that’s all...” The surgeon told him: “Clamp! Otherwise, in fact, “everything” will happen!” - and he remains in prostration and repeats like a mantra: “That’s all...”.

Comical, yes. Idiocy is always comical. You can, of course, brush it off, a coward, they say. He's a coward, but that's not the point. Fear gives an impulse, but what does this impulse activate in a person? In this case, it can be stated that with that would-be assistant there was an attack of despondency: it’s all over, doing anything is useless, pointless. This is precisely despondency, not despair - there is nothing to hope for here: there is a specific situation in the present, but there is no strength to solve it. And they don’t exist because a person allowed himself to fall into despondency, allowed passion to take over him (dejection entails despair, but that’s a separate conversation). But he allowed it - here you have both idleness and paralyzing laziness...

Likens despondency to a “deadly worm,” which concerns not only the flesh, but also the soul itself, “it is a moth that eats not only bones, but also the mind, a constant executioner, not cutting ribs, but destroying even the strength of the soul, continuous night, hopeless darkness, storm, hurricane, secret heat that burns more powerful than any flame, war without truce, disease that obscures much of what is perceived by sight.” He explains that the soul, being “enveloped in a cloud of despondency,” is unable to “neither calmly listen to anything useful nor say anything,” and what is very important: in this state it “soon suffocates if it does not have a hand to support her".

St. Petersburg speaks about the same thing. Neil of Sinai: “...The soul, when despondency surrounds it from everywhere, soon becomes depressed if it does not find someone who would stretch out a hand to it and console it.” What does it feel like to “reach out a hand” to someone who is not willing to “calmly listen”?

And, nevertheless, there are no excuses for us, such as “it’s my own fault”, “what can I do if a person doesn’t want to help himself”, “but he didn’t ask me for help” (didn’t call, didn’t invite, didn’t complain ). In a state of despondency of such a “passive” type, conducive to dull isolation, a person is unlikely to ask for help. He doesn't even have the strength for that. Everything is blocked internally. This is exactly the case when there is no need to (supposedly humbly) wait until they call for help or seek advice.

However, when we say that despondency is the cause of idleness and laziness, let’s not forget that these vices have not only a “passive” but also an “active” form. “Despondency,” writes St. John Climacus, - encourages strangers; exhorts to give alms from handicrafts; diligently encourages to visit the sick... exhorts to visit the mourning and faint-hearted; and, being itself cowardly, inspires to console the faint-hearted”...

Oh, what a “gold mine” these words are for those who, justifying their selfishness, question the goodness of the mercy of their neighbors, the quality of their responsiveness, generosity, hospitality, and collect arguments against the reproaches of their conscience! How convenient, referring to St. John, to discredit someone’s sincere impulses in order to calm down once and for all about your hypocrisy!

I hasten to disappoint: St. John Climacus, listing the signs of the “active” form of despondency, is talking about those people who themselves do not burn with either hospitality or mercy, but are zealous in all this in order to distract themselves not so much from the passion of despondency itself, but from that melancholy. which it produces in the soul; they care about those who are far away, avoiding caring for their neighbors, in particular those at home, and from working on internal problems generated by passions, including despondency.

By the way, about longing. The instructions of the prmts have been preserved. Maria Gatchinskaya prof. THEM. Andreevsky, thanks to whom this instruction came to us in all its accuracy, clarity and sophistication of thought. “Melancholy,” M. Maria told him, “is a spiritual cross - it is sent to help those who repent, who do not know how to repent, that is, after repentance, they again fall into their previous sins... And therefore - only two medicines treat this, sometimes extremely serious, spiritual suffering.

We must either learn to repent and bear the fruits of repentance, or with humility, meekness and patience and great gratitude to the Lord, bear this spiritual cross, our anguish, remembering that bearing this cross is imputed to the Lord for the fruit of repentance... But what a great consolation it is to realize that your melancholy is the unconscious fruit of repentance, subconscious self-punishment for the lack of the required fruits. From this thought, one must come to tenderness, and then the melancholy will gradually melt away, and the true fruits of repentance will begin...”

Dejection is an extremely difficult and dangerous passion. If a person subject to it is not able to “come to tenderness” and bear this cross with humility and gratitude to God, then it would not be a sin to either engage in something that would help overcome melancholy, or to have a moderate amount of fun, just so as not to break down or fall into disarray. into despair. Therefore, if there are symptoms of an “active” form of despondency, this is not a reason to swoop down on a person and begin to expose his condition, simultaneously exposing the vanity of his desire to do good.

Moreover, a natural good desire can be sincere, and thanks to despondency it was simply released, as if under the pretext of creating a positive psychological background, and here we are with our “spiritual exhortations”! - and we will seal it, brand it as a deceptive maneuver... No, still, a lot will do here, just to prevent the quagmire of despondency from swallowing the sick person. A lot, yes, but in moderation, gradually coming to the idea of ​​the need to solve spiritual problems by spiritual means.

Of course, when struggling with despondency, it is worth remembering the support points of this passion, so as not to unwittingly feed them and create even more favorable soil for it. Therefore, it is appropriate to remember the warning of St. John Climacus, that the mother of despondency is vanity.
So much for the connection with arrogance.

It is only at first superficial glance that lust has nothing in common with either despondency or idleness. On the contrary, covetousness is a natural consequence of spiritual idleness: a departure from work on oneself, from building one’s soul, from spiritual growth into career growth, a distraction from one’s inner insignificance to external significance. Lust for power is a manifestation of vainly self-affirming activity characteristic of despondency (use of official or hierarchical position, including age - lust for power on a family scale, for example). Lust for love has a very strong connection with despondency through vanity.

However, just as it is incorrect to reduce idleness to laziness, it would be incorrect to reduce lust for power. The cause is not reducible to its effect. , speaking about love of power, focuses our attention on the essence of this phenomenon: “If God is not the Lord and Master of my life, then I myself turn into my master and ruler (the credo of secularism - I.P.). I become the absolute center of my own world and view everything from the point of view of my needs, my opinions, my desires and my judgment."

The thirst to excel - passionate, all-encompassing, all-consuming, subjugating all other aspirations and needs, determining the perception of reality, of everything and everyone - this is what greed is. St. Ephraim used the word φιλαρχία <филархия> ; ἀρχή <архи> - the beginning, and hence the meaning of heading, commanding as rule, domination, but in essence it is primacy, which can strive for power, for domination, for subordinating someone or something to one’s will (from one’s own kind to the natural elements) , or maybe not pursue these goals, being content with the rapturous consciousness of the achieved primacy (“Am I the cutest in the world, / The most ruddy and whiter of all?”).

Lust, not interested in governance, not striving to rule, is by no means a harmless phenomenon at the level of petty pride (and Pushkin convincingly showed this with the example of an evil stepmother). The desire to excel at any cost will force you to master the art of manipulation, will force you to make selfless efforts to achieve your goal, not disdaining to eliminate competitors. Envy has not yet been canceled.

She, cursed, prompted Dennitsa to fight against God, she also prompted him, in anger at the Father, to violate His image, inclining a man to disastrous betrayal, she also aroused in Cain a deadly hatred of his brother and became the cause of the first murder. Again, in Cain there was “only” a desire to excel, and not to rule, but the Lord looked only “on Abel and his gift” (Gen. 4:4) ... on Abel, who became a prototype of Christ, Who was also killed out of envy.

BUT. Lossky, discussing the types of evil, divides all so-called “negative values” into two categories: satanic evil and evil as a product of earthly egoism. The latter is expressed not in love for evil as such, but in preferential interest in oneself in the sense of concentration on one’s own experiences and inattention to other people’s lives, lack of interest in it, while “satanic evil is the pride of an actor who does not tolerate the superiority of God and other actors over himself, striving to put himself in the place of God and occupy an exceptional position in the world, above other creatures."

Earthly egoism sometimes pushes people to commit terrible crimes, but the villain himself is not happy at the same time, he would prefer not to cause harm to anyone or damage anything, for the sake of obtaining certain benefits, but... he doesn’t see any other way, he doesn’t like it in itself the means by which he achieves his goal, he does not rejoice in the grief of those who suffer because of him (although little by little he can get a taste for it) - he is simply “fighting for a place in the sun in the form of a garage.”

Satanic evil is a different matter: its core is the desire for primacy for the sake of primacy: to rule in order to experience one’s dominance, to enjoy it, to compete in a dispute not in order to establish the truth, but to force the enemy and the audience to admit that they are right, and if not prove , so impose it! Lust for power gives rise to lust for power and encourages one to love power as a means to revel in one’s primacy, one’s dominant position.

Lust, rooted in the vicious idleness of the spirit and fed by vanity, which gives rise to despondency, inevitably expresses itself in idle talk ( αργολογία <аргология> ). Which, however, is better to talk about, God willing, another time.

Verbosity is one of the main vices of modern times. And he is often disguised under such unpleasant qualities as eloquence, sociability, sociability, and lack of complexes. One of the constituent elements of the image of a successful person is the talent of a speaker. But often, as a counterbalance to tongue-tiedness, it is not the ability to speak meaningfully and succinctly, but elementary talkativeness that clogs the souls and ears of the people around us.

Surely each of us has come across people who talk a lot about any subject and at the same time have no substance. The effect of such actions is obvious: speakers who do not know how to briefly and clearly express their thoughts quickly tire the listener, make him bored, distracted from the topic under discussion. This suggests that the speaker does not have the skill of concisely formulating thoughts.

The words “verbosity” and “vain talk” are synonymous. And a verbose person is one who says meaningless, “empty” things. Verbosity - excess of words, lack of clarity in speech. When a person pronounces a large number of words, but each of which is weighed, thought out and said at the right moment, then he cannot be called verbose or idle talk. As an example, we can cite talented teachers, lecturers, and preachers who can give rather long speeches, but the public listens to them and receives undoubted benefit.

People who have a masterly command of words constantly expand their vocabulary, their speech structures are accurate and understandable to their interlocutors. They speak briefly and to the point, which makes it easier to understand the information.

If a person’s speech is an endless stream of words, the content of which he does not particularly reflect on, then in this case we can talk about a shortcoming that requires correction. As A.S. Pushkin wrote to his wife: “In the morning I don’t do anything, but just pour it from empty to empty.”

Writer M. M. Zoshchenko, having read the novel of one novice author, described his impressions: “This novel, with all its shortcomings, is also extremely verbose. I can forgive a writer a lot, except for this sin. If the main task of the artist is to be able to show life, limiting it in some kind of chaos by means of art, then the next task of the artist is to be able to limit the chaos in language.”

Hieromartyr Seraphim (Chichagov) wrote about how verbosity can cause spiritual harm to a person: “Some people speak a lot due to pride, conceit and the consideration that they are smart, knowledgeable and their judgments are amazingly correct. Such people feel a desire to speak out and therefore explain their thoughts in profuse speech with multiple repetitions and insist that everyone be amazed at their eloquence and intelligence. When the conversation concerns unimportant things, then verbosity turns into idle talk, from which endless evil arises.”

The sin of verbosity is revealed very colorfully in various disputes when people try to prove to each other the truth of their beliefs. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov wrote about this: “Mere verbosity with those who have opposite morals to us is enough to upset the inside of an attentive person.”

Verbosity, idle talk, idle talk - these types of intemperance of the tongue have a detrimental effect on a person, empty the soul and distract from the thought of God. They can be compared to weeds that do not allow good thoughts and words to “grow”.

The Apostle James describes the destructive effect of verbosity in this way: “And the tongue is fire, the embellishment of unrighteousness; the tongue is in such a position between our members that it defiles the whole body and inflames the circle of life, being itself inflamed by Gehenna.” (James 3:6)

By giving freedom to our tongue, we give freedom to the sinful inclinations of our heart and thereby harm ourselves.

The Holy Fathers called for silence as a spiritually beneficial practice and a cure for the sin of verbosity.

Achimandrite Ephraim Svyatogorets taught his children: “Force yourself to silence, the parent of all virtues according to God. Be silent in order to say prayer, for when a person speaks, how can he avoid idle talk, from which comes every evil word that burdens the soul with responsibility?

Avoid talking while working. Only two or three words, and then only if necessary. Let your hands work for the needs of the body, and let your mind pronounce the sweetest name of Christ in order to satisfy the needs of the soul, which we must not forget about for a second. Do not say, my child, unnecessary words, for they cool the divine jealousy in your soul. Love silence, which gives birth to all virtues and protects the soul, so that the devil’s evil does not approach it. Let your lips speak words that spread fragrance, words of comfort, encouragement and hope. From what is spoken with the lips, the inner man, his essence, is also visible.

It is better to fall from a height than to fall due to the fault of the tongue. Language causes the greatest evil to people.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa taught his children: “Remember that when you speak, you give birth to a word, you uttered a word, and it will never die, but will live until the Last Judgment. It will stand with you at the Last Judgment and will be for you or against you; by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matthew 12:37). So, with what fear, how carefully should you pronounce every word!”

It is quite obvious that it is extremely difficult for a modern worldly person to remain silent due to various circumstances. But every person, even the busiest, can find time in the turmoil of the day for contemplation of God, which is inextricably linked with silence.

The Holy Fathers advised their spiritual children to practice silence in order to acquire prudence, inner peace, and composure of mind.

Andreenkova Tatyana

Have you ever wondered: what if Christ comes to judge us today? What if I die today? What then? How will I be justified at the Last Judgment? How will I get through the ordeal?... I often think about this. After all, in essence, there is no sin for which we would not have to answer at the ordeal, no matter how unimportant the sin may seem to us. For example, idle talk! Who seriously takes idle talk as a sin! We are so used to talking a lot without need or benefit that we don’t even realize what we are saying and think: “Oh - nothing! It’s not a great sin!” And some simply cannot agree that it is sinful to even say simple, kind words. But the Lord Jesus Christ directly said: “For every idle word that people speak, they will give an answer on the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).

Do you see? We will give an answer not for some evil, bad, harmful word, but for a simple, ordinary, but idle word.

What kind of idle words are these? And these are the words that we pronounce, as they say, out of nothing to do; empty words, without any inner dignity and meaning; words that mean nothing and have no purpose, that do not cause any need, have no useful use. So... we talk just to say something. Our whole life passes in idle talk and idle talk: both in personal family life, and in public places, everywhere and everywhere, wherever we are. In our conversations and conversations we hardly come across a reasonable, useful, soul-saving word, and, as a rule, our entire conversation consists of a collection of idle words.

How scary, D.! Let's look back at our lives and clearly imagine where we are going and what awaits us in the future eternal life, even if only for the sin of idle talk.

In order to more clearly imagine the severity of this, as it seems to everyone, “unimportant” sin, let’s try to make a small mathematical calculation: in order to read the “Our Father” prayer three times, and slowly, it takes only one minute, that is, in one in a minute we say one and a half hundred words. This means that in one hour we speak nine thousand words. But which of us is such an ascetic whose conversation in twenty-four hours a day would be calculated in one hour? Of course, in the life of every person there are days that he spends in silence out of necessity, when there is no one to talk to, but... this is not a feat! Well one poet said:

And no matter how much dumbness is a feat,
Still, free silence is better!

In fact, if a person is forced to remain silent, and his thoughts wander everywhere and idle talk with his mind and heart with himself and with the one he is thinking about, then what good does his silence do to him? It would be better if he praised God out loud in private!

This is the purpose of abstaining from idle words, so that it is easier to assimilate unceasing prayer.

I have such spiritual children who love to talk. And you know how difficult it is to refrain from judging in a conversation. I have to deal strictly with such people, I impose penance: read the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian: “Lord and Master of my life, do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, covetousness and idle talk (bow to the ground)”, “Give me the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love , to Your servant (bow to the ground)”, “Hey, Lord, King, grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother, for blessed are You forever and ever. Amen (bow to the ground). Then twelve small bows. For each bow, say: “God, cleanse me, a sinner.” After this, repeat the entire prayer: “Lord and Master of my belly... (bow to the ground) and have only soul-saving conversations, and for everyday use the conversation should be thirty-three words per day. They do it - well done! Of course, there are sometimes breakdowns, not without it, but mostly they stick to the blessing. And some even ask themselves: “Father, give me a penance of thirty-three words, otherwise I will talk a lot.”

So, my friend, let's continue our counting. This means that in one hour we can utter nine thousand words, useful or idle. And if we talk for a total of ten hours a day, it means that we speak ninety thousand words per day; per week - six hundred thirty thousand; for a month - two million seven hundred thousand, and for a year - more than thirty-two million.

If every word is compared to a grain of sand, then in one year of our life more than thirty million grains of sand will be put on the scale. Can you imagine? This is a whole bag! And, of course, the scales will immediately lower us to the bottom of hell for the sin of idle talk alone.

We do not forget serious sins, we lament, we force ourselves to correct ourselves, but such minor verbal sins, which we do not pay attention to, can imperceptibly lead us to hell without any sinful deeds.

They say this: “No condemnation means salvation without difficulty.” You can add: “Idle talk is an inconspicuous ruin.”

Every word, no matter how small or insignificant, on the day of the Last Judgment will appear with us at the Judgment and will testify either for us or against us.

You see, my friend, how unhelpful and even harmful empty, idle talk is. I think now you will be more careful in your words, especially when we look at the sin of condemnation.

Schema-abbot SAVVA. FRUITS OF TRUE REPENTANCE

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In the modern world, many people are accustomed to communicating with each other using bad and even swear words. Some consider such speech to be normal, quite adequate, and most importantly, acceptable and express themselves this way without embarrassment either for adults or for children. The worst thing about this is that parents, by saying bad words, thereby set a negative example for their children. They, in turn, absorb everything like a sponge, and then apply the same words in their lives. Asking yourself the question: “Why are parents allowed to express themselves this way, but not us?” However, another interesting thing is that if a child begins to repeat the bad words of his parents, then adults scold him and may even punish him. This is what stupid people do who are incapable of sound reasoning. They see violations of etiquette around them, but at the same time they do not notice how they themselves break the rules.

The Bible says a lot about the need to watch your tongue, the flow of your thoughts, since our speech can tell a lot about ourselves and those around us will draw certain conclusions, often incorrect. Therefore, initially, it is worth thinking correctly and expressing your thoughts exactly without harming anyone.

Examples from the Book of Proverbs

King Salomon was the wisest of the wise rulers in Jerusalem. And this wisdom was given to him by God Himself.

1 Kings 6:11 – 13 “And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, and it was said to him, “Behold, you are building a temple; if you will walk in My statutes, and do according to My statutes, and keep all My commandments, walking in them, then I will fulfill My word on you, which I I said to David your father, “And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.”

He, like no one else, knew the power contained in our words. Holy Scripture gives many examples of how the tongue of a fool can become his destruction. The parables of Solomon more than once teach us to watch our speech and actions, because later it can turn against you.

Proverbs says: “The mouth of a fool enters into quarrels, and his words provoke blows. The tongue of a fool is his destruction, and his mouth is a snare for his soul.” (Proverbs 18:4, 6-7)

From this passage it follows that a person who does not monitor his speech can find himself in the most difficult situations, leading to the most tragic consequences.

Examples of their lives from the lives of famous people.

Most important people throughout history have forgotten that only God has power over the world, life and death. Only He can do everything, and not “the mighty of this world.” This kind of people developed star fever, and one of the most terrible sins manifested itself - pride.

Below will be examples from the lives of celebrities who talked idle and did not understand, or rather, did not fully realize the meaning and importance of the words spoken.

Amendo Neves

Confirmation of such events is the fact that it is necessary to carefully choose words so that over time they do not cause harm to the speaker and the people around him. In the book Proverbs 21:23: “Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from trouble.” If we do not want to incur problems in life, then we must take care of ourselves and direct our emotions in the right positive direction.

Leave rude words unsaid!

Leave harsh words unsaid
Let them die in their conception.
Let them remain unborn, then,
Perhaps you will understand how happy you are

The Man who didn't hear them
The words that almost escaped your lips.
Yes, you yourself will understand how valuable a moment is
Preventing the coming curse.

Learn to forgive someone who was rude to you.
And don’t wish for what you don’t wish for yourself.
Let the word turn into a corpse,
Rather than watching someone suffer from it

The Person Who Became Your Enemy
Because I fell into your disgrace.
Leave unspoken evil towards him,
So that your own evil does not return to you.

Andrew Freeze

Sin of idle talk

Time needs to be spent wisely. And meaningless conversations, gossip and empty chatter “steal” precious time, of which there is very little. Empty talk does not bring any benefit and is considered an idle pastime. In addition, the Bible gives a clear definition of such speech - it is the sin of idle talk. The Apostle Paul spoke more than once that people, especially believers, should not engage in this, since it is indecent for saints.

« And avoid obscene idle talk; for they will prosper even more in wickedness, and their word will spread like cancer" 2 Tim. 2:16-17

And here is the next verse in Proverbs 15:2: “The tongue of the wise imparts good knowledge, but the mouth of fools spews out foolishness.”

Once again I am convinced that a good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces rotten and wormy fruit. What we say reveals our inner state and the contents of our heart. Behind a beautiful appearance, a spoiled and rotten nature can hide, which will reveal itself through a person’s stupid speech and his stories. Let's be natural! Why hide behind masks?

How to stop saying stupid things?

1. Start spending more time reading books. Classical literature restructures human consciousness and involuntarily teaches us a culture of speech and behavior.
2. Then you need to understand that in order to clear your speech, you need to make every effort and control what you want to say every second.
3. We need to ask God to help us get rid of this sin of idle talk. But, I would like to note that a person who believes in God with all his heart, tries to regularly study Scripture and remain in prayer, is in the process of sanctification and purification. His heart is constantly filled with everything pure and holy, and he no longer wants to sin and engage in foul language or idle talk. The heart of such a believer is purified and foolish speech will not come from his heart and mouth.
4. Who we communicate with and in what environment we find ourselves is also of great importance. The Bible says: “Do not be deceived: bad communities corrupt good morals.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 Therefore, those who want to get rid of these sins need to spend more time with Christians or other people whose mouth and heart are not filled with all kinds of filth. After all, it’s not without reason that popular wisdom says: “Whoever you get along with, you’ll get the hang of it.” This principle always applies.

Once in your life you have to make a choice: to be with God or not...