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(See Passion, Neighbor, Thoughts, Jesus Prayer - method). The ruler of the world tries by all means to keep man in his fallen nature - and this is enough, without gross falls, to make man a stranger to God. Gross falls into sin will be completely replaced, according to the correct calculations of the hunter, by the proud opinion of a Christian about himself, content with the virtues of a fallen nature and falling into self-delusion, thereby alienating himself from Christ. 1.394 A proud passion acts differently than a prodigal or angry passion. These two passions operate obviously, and their very justifications and the cunning in their justifications are clearer. And pride creeps in unnoticeably. It is sown by ability, splendor, and, above all, human praise. Although, apparently, we do not accept praise and do not agree internally with those who praise, the secret stamp of praise remains on the mind and heart, and when humiliation occurs, it is painful, and the more painful, the more we were filled with praise. This proves the existence of seals and the secret instillation of pride. Alas for us! The most blessed gifts were a reason for people to be proud and its fruits - falls! The main signs of pride are cooling off towards others and abandoning confession. 6. 225–226 The signs of pride are humiliation or contempt for one’s neighbors and negligence about confession, but pride itself is invisible to a person, being the subtlest passion that deceived the luminous Angel and caused the fall in Heaven. Other passions rest on this, like buildings on a foundation hidden underground. 6. 227–228 (See Passion, False Humility, Lord's Prayer, Perfection). Sin has become so internalized to us through the fall that all properties, all movements of the soul are saturated with it. The rejection of sin, which was akin to the soul, became a rejection of the soul. Such rejection of the soul is necessary for the salvation of the soul. Rejection of the nature defiled by sin is necessary for the assimilation of the nature renewed by Christ. Throw out all food from the vessel when it is poisoned; The vessel is thoroughly washed, then the food that is to be consumed is put into it. Food poisoned by poison is, in all fairness, called poison itself. 1.85 Do not think about any sin that it is unimportant; every sin is a violation of the Law of God, opposition to the will of God, a violation of conscience. From trifles, from apparently insignificant sins, we gradually move on to great falls. 1.368 Insensibility becomes... an ordinary state of mind. She is often satisfied with him; often recognizes it as a state pleasing to God, peace of conscience, and this is the loss of the sense of one’s sinfulness, the loss of the feeling of grace-filled, spiritual life, the lull and blindness of conscience. In such a state, with terrible darkness and insensibility, various sins freely enter the soul and make a lair for themselves in it. Sins, ossified in the soul, turn into habits as strong as nature, and sometimes stronger than nature. Sinful habits are called passions. A person does not notice this - but he is inconspicuously bound from everywhere by sin, in captivity, in slavery. Whoever, neglecting the constant reminders of his conscience, allowed himself to fall into the slavery of sin, will only with the greatest difficulty, with the assistance of the special help of God, be able to break the chains of this slavery, defeat the passions that have turned, as it were, into natural properties. 1.369 The defeat of one warrior is not the defeat of the entire army. Likewise, your sin in words is no longer a fall of the soul. One should not grieve immensely about such daily and hourly falls, for this is the trick of the enemy, who wants to introduce relaxation into the soul through immeasurable sadness. Seraphim of Sarov says about such and such sins that we should not condemn ourselves when a stumbling block occurs, but thinking about ourselves that we are capable of all sins, that our stumbling is not news and unusual, to walk before God in a contrite spirit, filled with thoughts of repentance. This is something God will not despise, i.e. a contrite and humble heart will put above stumbling blocks, how much a person can be above them. 6.212 We should not condemn ourselves for our stumbling: not because any sin is unimportant - no, every sin is an ulcer - but because we have been redeemed at an immense price - the Blood of the God-Man. He who condemns himself falls into despair, but he who trusts in Christ brings repentance and heals himself with it. 6. 237–238 The most serious sin is despair. This sin degrades the all-holy Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, rejects His omnipotence, rejects the salvation He bestowed, shows that arrogance and pride previously dominated in the soul, that faith and humility were alien to it. More than from all other sins, one must be guarded, as from a deadly poison, as from a fierce beast, from despair. I repeat: despair is the worst sin among all sins. Mature despair is usually expressed by suicide or actions identical to suicide. Suicide is the gravest sin! The one who committed it deprived himself of repentance and all hope of salvation. The Holy Church does not make any commemoration of him, does not honor him with a funeral service and deprives him of burial in a Christian cemetery. Suicide is followed in severity by mortal sins, such as murder, adultery, heresy and others like them. These sins, although less harmful than suicide and despair leading to suicide, although the one who committed them remains the possibility of repentance and salvation, are called mortal. Those who dwell in them are not allowed by the rules of the Holy Church to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ or to participate in Divine services. If death befalls him unrepentant of these sins, then his eternal destruction is certain. The repentance of a person who is in mortal sin can only be recognized as true when he forsakes his mortal sin. Then only he can be admitted to union with Christ through the communion of the Holy Mysteries! And therefore, after the main sin - despair and suicide - one must be especially careful to guard against mortal sins, with a firm and decisive intention in the soul - not to fall into them. If you have the misfortune of falling into some mortal sin, then you must leave it immediately, be healed by repentance and be careful in every possible way so as not to fall into it again. If, by some unfortunate coincidence, we happen to fall into mortal sin again, we must not give in to despair, but must again resort to God-given spiritual healing, repentance, which retains all its power and reality until the very end of our life. There are immortal sins: some of them are heavier, others are lighter. We must first unlearn heavy sins, and then unlearn light ones. For example: immortal sin - gluttony; also immortal sin is a delicacy. Gorging is coarser and is associated with more harmful consequences than delicacy; and therefore we must first wean ourselves from overeating, and then from indulgence. However, even unmortal sins, such as: gluttony, delicacy, luxury, idle talk, ridicule and others, having grown and manifested themselves in a person, can come very close to mortal sins. Sin that has taken possession of a person is called passion. Passion is subject to eternal torment, the fathers said. And therefore, one should not neglect immortal sins; one should especially watch so that some sin does not grow and a passion for it does not form in the habit. To cleanse oneself from such sins and to better observe oneself, the Holy Church has ordered that every Orthodox Christian at least four times a year (at the very least, certainly once) resort to the holy Sacrament of Confession. Holy confession brings two benefits: it brings forgiveness from God for sins committed and protects from falling into sins again. “Soul,” says St. John Climacus, who has the custom of confessing her sins, is restrained from falling into them again by the memory of confession, as if by a bridle. Unconfessed sins are conveniently repeated – as if committed in darkness.” There are sins committed by words. They should not be considered unimportant! From a comic word to a criminal word - the shortest distance! “You will be justified by your words, and condemned by your words” (Matthew 12:37), said the Savior. The tongue has committed great crimes: it has uttered renunciations of God, blasphemies, false oaths, and slander against one’s neighbor. Denial of Christ and blasphemy are ranked among the gravest mortal sins. There are sins committed by thought, heart sensations, and body movements. All of them are not small, they are all enmity against God! But when the thought and heart enjoy sin, they love to carry it out, as it were, with a dream speckled, decorated and prolonged - such a secret spiritual sin is close to the sin committed by the deed itself. A person must avoid with all care all sins in general. For the same sins into which, due to weakness, one falls in deed, word, thought and all feelings, one must repent daily before God - which is best done after completing the rule, going to sleep. Moreover, the saint must cleanse his conscience four times annually. The Sacrament of Confession. If you happen to fall into mortal sin, you must immediately confess it before your spiritual father. 6. 385–387 Do not bind yourself to any trifles and do not condemn yourself because of petty mistakes and actions. Both serve as sources of confusion and despondency. Petty mistakes, into which every person falls hourly, are healed by hourly repentance before God, repentance consisting of a few words with a heart that sympathizes with them. It is often possible to pronounce words of repentance only with the mind - and this is enough, as long as they are pronounced with attention. 6.533 Consider: there is nothing wonderful, extraordinary, that we fall into errors, that sin operates in us! Only the inexperienced are surprised by this, and only the inexperienced are embarrassed by this. We are all in decline; We are already conceived in lawlessness, we are already born in sins. One must bear with patience and longsuffering “the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar,” i.e. the action of sin in oneself - and with mercy towards oneself, cleanse oneself through repentance, presenting one’s weakness before God, constantly showing it to Him. Every violation of the law is cleansed by repentance; a wrong thing becomes right when it is corrected according to the Gospel Commandments. 6.311 Brethren! Let us be afraid of our weakness! Let us fear sin, which conveniently seduces us, conveniently creeps into us, captivates, fetters us! Let us fear our fallen nature, which never ceases to sprout sinful tares! We must constantly pay attention to ourselves, check our behavior and state of mind according to the Gospel, and not allow any sinful passion to intensify and multiply in the soul, recognizing this hobby as unimportant. “Introduced to the beginning of evil, do not say to yourself: it will not defeat me. To the extent that you are introduced, you are already defeated,” says the Monk Mark the Ascetic. And then you need to know that “the devil makes small sins seem even smaller, for otherwise he cannot lead to big sins,” said the same reverend. One should in no way neglect the tares that arise from the heart, or the sinful thoughts that appear to the mind. Thoughts must be immediately rejected and driven away, and sinful feelings must be eradicated and destroyed, opposing them to the Gospel Commandments and resorting to prayer. The tares are conveniently cast out when they are powerless and young. When they take root through time and skill, then their removal is associated with the greatest efforts. A sinful thought, being accepted and assimilated by the mind, becomes part of the way of thinking or reason and deprives it of correctness, and a sinful feeling, ossified in the heart, becomes, as it were, its natural property, depriving the heart of spiritual freedom. 5. 297–298 To believe in Christ and accept Christianity, you need awareness of your sinfulness and repentance; To remain in Christianity you need to see your sins, consciousness, confession of them and repentance. It is impossible, while living in sins and loving sin, to become assimilated to Christ: “For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed, for they are evil” (John 3:20). “What has righteousness to do with lawlessness? Or some kind of communication between light and darkness? What kind of agreement does Christ have with Belial?” (2 Cor. 6:14–15). In order to approach Christ and enter into union with Him through holy baptism, you must first repent. And after holy baptism we are presented with the freedom to either remain in unity with the Lord, or to violate this unity by communion with sin. That's not enough! In our fallen nature, the ability to give birth to evil mixed with good has not been destroyed by holy baptism, so that our will is constantly tempted, so that our choice of Divine good and preference for it over evil and our own damaged good is free, positively proven by submission to all sorrows of the path of the cross. By holy baptism, original sin and sins committed before baptism are blotted out, the violent power over us that it had before our rebirth is taken away from sin, the grace of the Holy Spirit is given, with which we are united with God in Christ and receive the power to overthrow and overcome sin. For the reason that we are not delivered from the struggle with sin, we cannot be completely free from sins throughout our earthly life, and the most righteous man will fall sevenfold (that is, often) and rise by repentance (Proverbs 24:16), says Scripture. He falls due to his weakness and limitations, not always seeing sin, subtly and imperceptibly arising from fallen nature, subtly and imperceptibly brought and introduced by fallen spirits; repentance becomes his inalienable property, his constant weapon, his invaluable treasure. The righteous person maintains his fellowship with Christ through repentance; he is healed by repentance from the ulcers caused by sin. “If we speak,” says Saint John the Theologian, “as if we are not imams of sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, may he forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we commit Him a lie, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). This is what the Theologian says about involuntary sins due to weakness and limitation, about unimportant sins that even saints cannot avoid; but about an arbitrary sinful life he says the following: Everyone who abides in Him (in the Lord Jesus Christ) does not sin: everyone has sinned without seeing Him, without knowing Him. Children, let no one flatter you: do the truth, he is righteous, just as He is righteous; commit a sin, it is of the devil: as the devil sinned from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Everyone born of God does not commit sin (that is, does not lead a sinful life, does not fall into mortal sins and arbitrary sins), for His seed abides in him: and cannot sin, for he is born of God. For this reason the essence of the child of God and the child of the devil was revealed (1 John 3:6-10). The children of God lead their lives according to the Gospel Commandments and bring repentance for their inclinations. If by some accident a servant of God happens to fall into mortal sin, he is healed from the wound of sin by repentance and confession and therefore does not cease to be a child of God. Those who lead a sinful life arbitrarily, out of love for it, who willingly fall into any sin, no matter what they imagine, who recognize as an enjoyment of life fornication in its various forms and any other crime of the Gospel Commandments, are the children of the devil, even if they were called Christians, even if they participated in some church prayers and rituals, even if they resorted to the sacraments, to their reproach, to their own condemnation. 5. 368–370 The fathers, strong in spirit and body, were afraid of the slightest sin, the slightest deviation from the Gospel teaching: all the more so should we, weak in spirit and body, fear sin, which has a reliable refuge and benefit in our weakness, which, entering us, takes the form of an insignificant trifle, and when it enters, it turns into a terrible monster. 5. 291–292 Let's run, run away from our killer - sin! We flee not only mortal sin, but also venial sin, so that it does not turn from our negligence into a passion that brings us down to hell on a par with mortal sin. There are forgivable sins. So, if someone happens to be carried away by gluttony, lustful views and thoughts, utter a rotten word, lie, steal something of little importance, become vain, proud, angry, for a short time become upset or remember malice towards one’s neighbor - but all such passions, due to human weakness, when they are followed by consciousness and repentance, we conveniently receive forgiveness from merciful God. Venial sin does not separate a Christian from Divine grace and does not kill his soul, as mortal sin does; but venial sins are also harmful when we do not repent of them, but only increase their burden. In comparison, made by the Holy Fathers, a heavy stone tied around the neck and a bag of sand tied to the neck can equally drown a person; Thus both mortal sin and the accumulated multitude of small, venial sins are equally drawn into the abyss of hell. 3.168 (See Baptism, The correct attitude towards passions, Temptations). He who enjoys sin and allows himself to taste it cannot see his sin - at least with his thoughts and the sympathy of his heart. He can only see his sin who, with decisive will, has renounced all friendship with sin, who has stood on vigorous guard at the gates of his home with a drawn sword - the word of God, who reflects and cuts off sin with this sword, in whatever form he approaches it. Whoever accomplishes a great deed - establishes enmity with sin, forcibly tearing away the mind, heart and body from it - God will give him a great gift: sight of his sin. Blessed is the soul that has seen the sin nesting within itself! Blessed is the soul that has seen within itself the fall of its forefathers, the decay of the old Adam! Such a vision of one’s sin is a spiritual vision, a vision of a mind healed from blindness by Divine grace. With fasting and kneeling, the Holy Eastern Church teaches us to ask God to see our sin. Blessed is the soul that continually studies the Law of God! In him she can see the image and beauty of the New Man, and from them she can discern and correct her shortcomings. Blessed is the soul that has purchased the village of repentance by mortifying itself in relation to sinful endeavors! In this village she will find a priceless treasure of salvation. 2. 122–123 The beginning of the enlightenment of the soul and a sign of its health is when the mind begins to mature its sins, similar to the multitude of worldly sand, said Saint Peter of Damascus. This father calls the vision of his fall and the vision of his sins spiritual vision, opening from the action of grace in the doer of Christ’s commandments. The Holy Church ordained that her children should ask God through the warmest prayer for the great gift of seeing their sins. Fallen nature is stricken with blindness of mind. It does not see its fall, does not see its sins, does not see its pilgrimage on earth, and disposes of itself on it as if immortal, as if existing solely for the earth. It not only cruelly judges and condemns the sins of its neighbor, but also, out of its own disastrous dispensation, invents sins for its neighbor that are not in it; it is seduced by the most sublime Christian virtues, distorting their meaning in accordance with its false reason, out of its own heartfelt malice. 2.410 I offer you a sacred story of deep antiquity: “Three monks, zealous for a virtuous life, proposed the following pious activities for themselves: the first is to reconcile those who quarreled among themselves. The word of the Gospel led him to this activity: ...blessed are the peacemakers. The second decided to spend his whole life serving the sick; he was attracted to this activity by the words of the Lord: ... I am sick and have visited Me. The third retreated into silence into the desert. Reconciling the warring parties had very little success. Tired, he came to his brother, who had devoted himself to serving the sick, but he also found him weakened, unable to continue his ministry any further. Then both agreed to see the hermit. Having come to him, they told him their grief and begged him to tell them what he had acquired in silence? The hermit, after being silent for a while, took water and, pouring it into a bowl, said to them: “Look into the water.” They looked but saw nothing because the water was cloudy. After a little time, the hermit again said to them: “The water has settled - now look.” When they looked into the water, they saw their faces in it, as in a mirror. He told them: “A person living among people does not see his sins, being outraged by the entertainment of the world; when he comes to silence, especially in the desert, then he begins to see sin living within himself.” You must first discern your sin, then wash it with repentance and acquire purity of heart, without which it is impossible to perform a single virtue purely, completely, with the knowledge of your conscience.” Seeing one's sins is not as easy as it may seem at first glance. To acquire this vision, you need a lot of preliminary information. A detailed knowledge of the law of God is needed, without which it is impossible to know positively which deeds, words, thoughts, sensations belong to truth, and which belong to sin. Sin often takes the form of truth! You need to know in detail the properties of a person in order to know what the sinful ulcers of the mind are, what the ulcers of the heart are, and what the ulcers of the body are. Need to know: what is the fall of man? You need to know what properties the descendants of the new Adam should have in order to see what and what our shortcomings are. So much preliminary information is required, important information, to obtain detailed information and a clear view of one’s sins! True silence leads to such vision. It gives the soul a dispensation similar to pure mirror waters; in them a person sees both his condition and, in proportion to his success, the condition of his neighbors. 6. 411–413 It is very good when a person constantly sees and confesses himself as a sinner. From such self-view, the human spirit constantly remains in humility and God-loving sadness. But it is necessary that such self-conception be dissolved by prudence and not go beyond due measure. In the latter case, it can be harmful and can put a person in complete confusion regarding his residence. Our nature is damaged by sin. For this reason, the heart of every person naturally produces a large amount of tares. And therefore, whoever sees the tares arising in himself should not be surprised at this, as if it were something extraordinary, and should not become bewildered and cowardly. This is how it should be! The tares of the heart do their work: they grow and grow; being weeded out, they appear again. And we must do our part: weed and weed out the tares. This position instills humility in a person. God's mercy descends upon humility. The Almighty and All-Good God is steadily looking at us. That is why He allows us a situation that leads us to humility in order to bestow His mercy on us. There is a time for everything: there is a time for cultivating the land for sowing bread, there is another time for sowing, again another for harvesting, for milking, for turning into flour, for baking, and finally, for eating bread. 6.522 When any one mortal sin strikes a person’s soul, then the entire accumulation of sins approaches the person and declares their right to him. This congregation refers and relies on the spiritual law (James 2:10). According to the spiritual law, one who voluntarily submits to one type of sin also involuntarily submits to sin in general, and therefore to all its types. There is a natural connection between sins, as well as between virtues. One virtue, performed sincerely, attracts all the virtues into the soul; and mortal sin, when it is fulfilled, introduces into the soul all sinful ailments. This happened to our forefather Adam; he, having transgressed one commandment of God, suddenly felt in himself the action of all passions: shame, and wickedness, and pride, and timidity, and carnal lust. (Gen. 3. Adam’s sin was a mortal sin, according to the definition of God Himself. - Gen. 2, 17). This is done to all the children of Adam when they fall into sin. 5. 414–415 All mortal sins, except suicide, are cured by repentance. Repentance is only recognized as true and valid when its consequence is the remission of mortal sin. Without this consequence, repentance is fruitless. If, upon repentance, mortal sin is not abandoned due to attachment to it, it is not abandoned by choice; If the repentant does not remove the causes of sin from himself or does not remove himself from them arbitrarily, then such repentance, weak, double-minded, superficial repentance, is ranked among the acts of hypocrisy. It is a disastrous attempt to deceive both God and oneself. 5.460 What is mortal sin? A mortal sin is one that kills with eternal death the soul of the person who committed such a sin. If a person dies in mortal sin without bringing proper repentance for it, then demons kidnap his soul and bring it down to the underground, dark and stuffy abysses, to hell, to eternal torment. The mortal sins are the following: heresy, schism, apostasy from the Christian faith, blasphemy, sorcery and witchcraft, homicide and suicide, fornication, drunkenness, sacrilege, robbery, theft and any cruel inhuman offense. Of the mortal sins, suicide is the only one without repentance; other mortal sins, due to the great, ineffable mercy of God towards fallen humanity, are healed by repentance. Repentance for mortal sin consists of confessing the sin to the spiritual father, accepting penance from him, and not falling into this sin in the future. But how many who fell into mortal sin were not able to repent of their sin! Another got drunk on wine, and in this state his soul was separated from his body! Another committed theft and robbery, and the wrath of God struck him at the very act of crime! Beware, brothers, of mortal sins! I repeat to you: mortal sin kills the soul. If someone dies in mortal sin without having time to repent of it, his soul goes to hell. She has no hope of salvation. What do immortal sins mean? These are sins in thought, word, deed, in knowledge and ignorance, which do not kill the soul, but only more or less wound it. Saints are not immune to these sins; but the saints are vigilant over themselves and, noticing the sin into which they were carried away by common human weakness, they immediately heal it with repentance. If separation of the soul from the body follows while the person has not had time to wash away his immortal sins by repentance, then the soul is not relegated to hell because of these sins; On the way to heaven, in the air, she is allowed to suffer from the evil spirits, in whose complicity human sins are committed, and is allowed to atone for sins with good deeds. If the soul has enough good deeds, especially if during earthly life it gave a lot of alms, then it atones for sins with this alms and other good deeds; The gates of heaven are opened to her, and she enters heaven for eternal peace and joy. But it happens that a soul has so many non-mortal sins and so few virtues that it is relegated to hell for the multitude of non-mortal sins. The Holy Fathers liken mortal sin to a heavy stone, and unmortal sin to an insignificant grain of sand. If you tie one large stone around a person's neck and plunge him into the depths, he will drown; so one mortal sin is enough to drown a soul in the abysses of hell. A few grains of sand add up to almost no load; so in the saints of God, immortal sin, greatly diminished and crushed by constant observation of oneself and constant repentance, has almost no influence on their eternal destiny. But this same immortal sin in souls devoted to earthly cares, especially earthly amusements, receives extraordinary severity and, along with mortal sin, drags the damned soul into hell. For example: if someone said a funny and even indecent word, then repented of it, his sin is forgiven; If someone constantly utters ridiculous, blasphemous and even shameful words, then for his constant idle talk and foul language he can conveniently be subjected to eternal torment in hell. Immortal sins, in their multitude, can bring the same destruction to the soul that mortal sin brings to it. Thus, a bag filled with fine sand and tied around a person’s neck can drown him just as comfortably as the heaviest stone can drown him. 4. 380–382 The mortal sin of an Orthodox Christian, not healed by proper repentance, subjects the sinner to eternal torment; It was also said that pagans, Mohammedans and other persons belonging to false religions now constitute the property of hell and are deprived of all hope of salvation, being deprived of Christ, the only means of salvation. Mortal sins for a Christian are the following: heresy, schism, blasphemy, apostasy, sorcery, despair, suicide, fornication, adultery, unnatural prodigal sins, incest, drunkenness, sacrilege, murder, robbery, theft and any cruel, inhuman offense. Only one of these sins - suicide - cannot be cured by repentance, but each of them mortifies the soul and makes it incapable of eternal bliss until it cleanses itself with satisfactory repentance. If a person falls even once into one of these sins, he dies in soul. 3. 163–164 (See Sin, Heresy, Faith). (See Baptism, Passion). You might be interested in: