These days when people are breaking the “Seven Deadly” publicly and unashamedly and even proudly, I thought this might be a relevant topic.
Brief Introduction
What is “sin”?
In the New Testament, by far the most common word for sin is “amartia / ἁμαρτία”, an archery term which means being “off the mark” – the mark being love of God, love of neighbor. We can sin, be off the mark, both intentionally and unintentionally. The Church’s purpose is not to condemn us but simply to get us back on the mark.
Why “Seven”?
Categorizing sins like this was originally developed by Evagrius Ponticus, a Fifth Century Egyptian monk. He called them “evil thoughts” and counted eight: gluttony, lust, greed, anger, sloth, sadness, vainglory and pride. It just seemed natural to reduce them to seven, which symbolized “completeness”. Seven days of the week, seven planets (so they thought), seven angels, seven churches of Asia, seven seals, seven trumpets… Seven Sins. Actually the Orthodox Church does not have formal categories of sins. These seven are just an arbitrary way to get a handle on the subject. There have been various listings of the Seven over the years. Here I’ll use the ones from the Antiochian Pocket Prayer Book.
Why “deadly”?
All sin kills the soul. Stealing chocolate bars will do it if we just keep it up. However, these are actions and desires which will attack our souls especially efficiently and quickly.
Why did I take these counsels from “the Church Fathers”?
Even more pungent admonitions are found in the Holy Scriptures, but I’m assuming we all know those. (I hope?) Most of us (including myself) do not know the Church Fathers well. Therein we can find a multitude of good counsels. It was hard to choose only a few of them. The following compilation dates from the early Third Century (Saint Cyprian of Carthage) through the late Twentieth (Saint Paisios of Athos,+1994). If I had time (or knowledge) I’d date all of them for you. I’ve noted the original sources when I could locate them.
PRIDE: Lack of humility
“Pride does not perceive that it walks in darkness and, as being darkened, it does not know the insight of wisdom. For this reason in its own murky thoughts it elevates itself above all, whereas it is more vile and more feeble than any, and it is incapable of learning the ways of the Lord. And the Lord conceals His will from it, because it did not choose to walk in the path of the humble.” (Saint Isaac the Syrian: “Ascetical Homilies”: Homily Nineteen)
“A hypocrite, hunting after the glory that comes from an apparent righteousness, is untroubled so long as he thinks that he escapes notice. But when he is detected, he utters streams of imprecation, imagining that by abusing others he can hide his own deformity.” (Saint Maximos the Confessor: First Century on Theology no. 23)
Dare I quote C.S.Lewis? Father Thomas Hopko sometimes referred to him as “Our Holy Father C.S.Lewis.”:
““There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people except Christians ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone who was not a Christian who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.” (Mere Christianity, chapter 8)
GREED: An excessive desire for money and worldly goods
“Nothing can stop the greedy person. He is worse than fire. He always wants everything for himself. He does not care to enjoy what he has gained, but he is wasted with the desire to conquer as much as he can.” (Saint Basil the Great)
“The bread which you hold back belongs to the hungry; the coat, which you guard in your locked storage-chests, belongs to the naked; the footwear mouldering in your closet belongs to those without shoes. The silver that you keep hidden in a safe place belongs to the one in need. Thus, however many are those whom you could have provided for, so many are those whom you wrong.” (Saint Basil the Great, Homily on the saying from the Gospel according to Luke, “I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones.”)
“I am often reproached for continually attacking the rich. Yes, because the rich are continually attacking the poor. But those I attack are not the rich as such, only those who misuse their wealth. I point out constantly that those I accuse are not the rich but the rapacious. Wealth is one thing, covetousness another. Learn to distinguish.” (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily on the Fall of Eutropius)
LUST: An impure desire for something evil
“Nothing created by God is evil. It is not food that is evil but gluttony, not the begetting of children but unchastity, not material things but avarice, not esteem but self-esteem. It is only the misuse of things that is evil, not the things themselves.” (Saint Maximos the Confessor)
“A brother asked one of the Fathers, What shall I do? My thoughts are always turned to lust without allowing me an hour’s respite, and my soul is tormented by it. He said to him, Every time the demons suggest these thoughts to you, do not argue with them. For the activity of demons always is to suggest, and suggestions are not sins, for they cannot compel; but it rests with you to welcome them, or not to welcome them.” (from the Desert Fathers: “Living Tewahdo”, Eritrean Orthodox Church)
“The brother asked the old man, What shall I do, then, for I am weak and passion overcomes me? He said to him, Watch your thoughts, and every time they begin to say something to you, do not answer them, but rise and pray; kneel down, saying, Son of God, have mercy on me.” (from the Desert Fathers – can’t find the source)
ANGER: An unworthy irritation and lack of self-control
“Do not let the sun go down on the anger of your brother, (Eph. 4:26); that is, let no one be angry and enraged against his brother until the setting of the sun.” (Elder Ephraim of Philotheou, Mount Athos, ‘Counsels from the Holy Mountain’)
“Abba Ammonas said, ‘I have spent fourteen years in Scetis asking God night and day to grant me the victory over anger.’” (from the book “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers” by Sister Benedicta Ward,)
“Anger is by nature designed for waging war with the demons and for struggling with every kind of sinful pleasure. Therefore angels, arousing spiritual pleasure in us and giving us to taste its blessedness, incline us to direct our anger against the demons. But the demons, enticing us towards worldly lusts, make us use anger to fight with men, which is against nature, so that the mind, thus stupefied and darkened, should become a traitor to virtues.” (Abba Evagrius the Monk)
“The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.” (St. John Climacus, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”)
GLUTTONY: The habit of eating or drinking too much
“When heavy with over-eating, the body makes the intellect spiritless and sluggish; likewise, when weakened by excessive abstinence, the body makes the contemplative faculty of the soul dejected and disinclined to concentrate. We should therefore regulate our food according to the condition of the body, so that it is appropriately disciplined when in good health and adequately nourished when weak. The body of one pursuing the spiritual way must not be enfeebled; he must have enough strength for his labors, so that the soul may be suitably purified through bodily exertion as well.” (Saint Diadochos of Photiki: On Spiritual Knowledge no. 45)
“…sexual desire diminishes once the body is past its prime, but gluttony continues unless properly disciplined.” (Saint Ilias the Presbyter: The Philokalia, Volume 2: Gnomic Anthology, Part II.56)
ENVY: Jealousy of another person’s happiness
“Whoever you are that are envious and malignant, observe how crafty, mischievous, and hateful you are to those whom you hate. Yet you are the enemy of no one’s well-being more than your own. Whoever he is whom you persecute with jealousy, can evade and escape you. You cannot escape yourself.” (Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise Ten)
“Wherever God is — there is peace. And the opposite is self-evident: where there is envy, enmity, impatience, self-love — there is the devil. Wherever the devil is — there, everything is ruinous, proud and hostile.” (St. Anatoly of Optina, from “Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina”)
“There is no other passion engendered in human souls more pernicious than envy. It does less harm to strangers, but is the chief homegrown evil for whomever possesses it. As rust eats away at iron, so envy eats away at the soul in which it lives. Envy is grief over a neighbor’s wellbeing. Therefore the envious man never has a lack of sorrows and afflictions. What can be more pernicious than this disease? This is a corruption of life, a profanation of nature, enmity against what is given to us by God, opposition to God.” (Saint Basil the Great)
“If you share secretly in the joy of someone you envy, you will be freed from your jealousy; [even] if you keep silent about the person you envy.” (Saint Thalassios the Libyan: The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Volume 2)
SLOTH: Laziness that prevents one from doing their duty to God and others
We need to define this more clearly. What the Orthodox Chiurch means here is “spiritual sloth”, often called “Accidie”. Here’s a good contemporary description of it: “Restlessness, dissatisfaction, vague feelings of unwellness, sadness for no apparent reason, loss of interest in spiritual things, inability to be alone without distractions, desire to frequently relocate (home or job) in search of happiness elsewhere, idle curiosity and conversations, and in today’s society, as social media addiction.” (Father Jeremy McKemy: “Acedia: The Two-Faced Demon”)
Twentieth Century English writer Dorothy Sayers described it like this: “Sloth is the sin that believes nothing, cares to know nothing, seeks to know nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing… and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.“ (“The Other Six Deadly Sins”)
Almost all of us sometimes suffer from Accidie. It is a sin to be resisted.
“You need not be despondent. Let those be despondent who do not believe in God. For them sorrow is burdensome, of course, because besides earthly enjoyment they have nothing. But believers must not be despondent, for through sorrows they receive the right of sonship, without which is impossible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Saint Barsanuphius of Optina)
“Do not fall into despair because of stumbling. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for them, but that you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be bruised than dead. There is, indeed, a Healer for the man who has stumbled, even He Who on the Cross asked that mercy be shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murderers while He hung on the Cross. ‘All manner of sin,’ He said, ‘and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,’ that is, through repentance.” (Saint Isaac the Syrian: “The Ascentical Homilies”)
“Patient endurance kills the despair that kills the soul; it teaches the soul to take comfort and not to grow listless in the face of its many battles and afflictions” (Saint Peter of Damascus, “Book II: Twenty-Four Discourses,” V Patient Endurance – from the Philokalia)
“When we are in trouble or despair or have lost hope, we should do what David did: pour out our hearts to God and tell Him of our needs and troubles, just as they are (cf. Ps. 142:2). It is because He can deal with us wisely that we confess to God: He can make our troubles easy to bear, if this is for our benefit, and can save us from the dejection which destroys and corrupts.” (Saint Hesychius the Priest, Philokalia, Vol. I)
“If you do not feel like praying, you have to force yourself. The Holy Fathers say that prayer with force is higher than prayer unforced. You do not want to, but force yourself. The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force.” (Matt. 11:12). (Saint Ambrose of Optina /+1891)
THE MOTHER OF OTHER SINS
However we list them, these Major Sins easily give birth to other sins, some of which are equally dangerous. Two examples:
Lying – often to cover up our participation in other sins
“Lies are alien to God. In the Scriptures, the devil is called the father of lies, and truth is God, for He Himself says: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ You see from whom we separate ourselves and with whom we unite ourselves by lies.” (Abba Dorotheos of Gaza *)
- Yes, Gaza.
“An infant does not know a lie, nor does a gentle soul know it. No one who is wise will consider a lie a small sin, for the Holy Spirit has pronounced a more terrible sentence against it than any other vice. If the Lord destroys all who speak lies (Psalm 5:7), as the Holy King David says, then what hope can those have who add an oath to a lie?” (Saint John Climacus:The Ladder, Step 12:3).
“Adorn yourself with truth, try to speak truth in all things; and do not support a lie, no matter who asks you. If you speak the truth and someone gets mad at you, don’t be upset, but take comfort in the words of the Lord: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of truth, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matt. 5:10). (Saint Gennadius of Constantinople)
Vainglory: Boasting, Bragging
“When a man boasts of his own works, he robs God of His glory.” (Saint John Chrysostom)
“The only true boasting is to boast in the Lord, not in oneself.” (Saint Basil the Great)
Flee vainglory, and you will be glorified; fear pride, and you will be magnified.”
(Saint Isaac the Syrian:”Ascetical Homilies: Homily Five”)
“..inevitably those who put on a show of holiness for the sake of self-display not only fail to achieve anything through their false piety, but also are wounded by their conscience. “(Saint Maximos the Confessor: First Century on Theology no. 19)
“A hypocrite, hunting after the glory that comes from an apparent righteousness, is untroubled so long as he thinks that he escapes notice. But when he is detected, he utters streams of imprecation, imagining that by abusing others he can hide his own deformity.” (Saint Maximos the Confessor: First Century on Theology No. 23)
“Whoever rejoices when admired by people is mocked by demons.” (Saint [Elder] Paisios of the Holy Mountain)
“A man who craves esteem cannot be rid of the causes of grief.” (Saint Isaac of Syria)
Conclusion
And now… Whoever you’ve been thinking about as you read the admonitions above: Now turn around and apply them to yourself.
Next Week: The Return of the Groundhog
Week after Next: The Virtue of Not Fasting