Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
Eight major passions with their subdivisions and branches
1. GluttonyOvereating, drunkenness, non-keeping and permission of fasts, secret eating, delicacy, generally violation of abstinence. Wrong and excessive love of the flesh, its belly and peace, from which self-love is made, from which non-keeping of fidelity to God, the Church, virtue and people.
2. Fornication
Fornication, prodigal sensations and positions of the soul and heart. Acceptance of impure thoughts, conversation with them, delight in them, permission to them, slowness in them. Prodigal dreams and captivity. Failure to keep the senses, especially the sense of touch, which is an insolence that destroys all virtues. Cursing and reading voluptuous books. Fornication sins are natural: fornication and adultery. Fornication sins are unnatural.
3. Love of money
Loving money, generally loving property, movable and immovable. Desire to get rich. Reflection on the means of enrichment. Dream of wealth. Fears of old age, sudden poverty, sickness, exile. Avarice. Greed. Unbelief in God, distrust of his providence. Addictions or painful excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain cares. Loving gifts. Appropriation of someone else. Likhva. Hardness of heart to the poor brethren and to all those in need. Theft. Robbery.
4. Anger
Hot temper, acceptance of angry thoughts: dreaming of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, obscuration of the mind by it: obscene crying, argument, swearing, cruel and caustic words, stress, pushing, killing. Remembrance, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and resentment of one's neighbor.
5. Sadness
Grieving, anguish, cutting off hope in God, doubt in the promises of God, ungratefulness to God for everything that happens, cowardice, impatience, not self-reproach, sorrow for one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the cross, an attempt to get off it.
6. Despondency
Sloth for everyone good deed especially for prayer. Abandonment of church and private rules. Abandoning unceasing prayer and soulful reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Neglect. Irreverence. Idleness. Excessive comfort with sleep, lying down and all kinds of languor. Moving from place to place. Frequent exits from cells, walks and visiting friends. Idle talk. Jokes. Blasphemers. Leaving bows and other bodily feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetfulness of the commandments of Christ. Negligence. Captivity. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.
7. Vanity
The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly and vain honors. Love of beautiful clothes, carriages, servants and private things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of the body. Disposition to the perishing sciences and arts of this age, the search to succeed in them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. Shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Self-justification. Contradiction. Compiling your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. Humanity. Envy. Humiliation of the neighbor. Change of temper. Indulgence. Unscrupulousness. The temper and life are demonic.
8. Pride
Neighbor contempt. Preferring yourself to everyone. Insolence. Obscuration, debility of the mind and heart. Nailing them to the earth. Hula. Disbelief. False mind. Disobedience to the Law of God and the Church. Follow your carnal will. Reading heretical, depraved and vain books. Disobedience to authorities. A biting mockery. Abandoning Christ-like humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy. Irreligion. Ignorance. Death of the soul.
Such are the ailments, such are the ulcers that constitute the great ulcer, the decrepitude of the old Adam, which was formed from his fall. The holy prophet Isaiah speaks of this great ulcer: from the feet even to the head, there is no integrity in it: neither a scab, nor an ulcer, nor a scorching wound, put a patch, below the oil, below the bandage (Is. 1, 6). This means, according to the explanation of the Fathers, that the ulcer - sin - is not private, and not on any one member, but on the whole being: it embraced the body, embraced the soul, took possession of all the properties, all the forces of man. God called this great plague death, when, forbidding Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he said: “If you take away a day from it, you will die a death.” (Gen. 2, 17). Immediately after eating the forbidden fruit, the forefathers felt eternal death; in their eyes a carnal sensation appeared; they saw that they were naked. In the knowledge of the nakedness of the body, the nakedness of the soul was reflected, which had lost the beauty of purity, on which the Holy Spirit rested. A carnal sensation operates in the eyes, and shame in the soul, in which the union of all sinful and all shameful sensations: pride, and impurity, and sorrow, and despondency, and despair. The great plague is the death of the soul; irreparable is the decrepitude that occurred after the loss of the Divine likeness! The Apostle calls the great plague the law of sin, the body of death (Rom. 5:23-24), because the mortified mind and heart have completely turned to the earth, slavishly serve the corruptible desires of the flesh, have become darkened, burdened, they themselves have become flesh. This flesh is no longer capable of fellowship with God! (Gen. 6, 3). This flesh is not capable of inheriting eternal, heavenly bliss! (1 Cor. 4:50). A great plague has spread over the entire human race, has become the property of the ill-fated of every person.
Considering my great ulcer, looking at my mortification, I am filled with bitter sorrow! I don't know what to do? Will I follow the example of the old Adam, who, seeing his nakedness, hurries to hide from God? Shall I justify myself like him, laying the blame on the guilt of sin? In vain - to hide from the All-Seeing! It is in vain to make excuses before the One who always wins, always judge by Him (Ps. 30, 6).
I will clothe myself instead of fig leaves in tears of repentance; instead of justification, I will bring a sincere consciousness. Clothed in repentance and tears, shall I stand before the face of my God? Is it in paradise? I am banished from there, and the cherub standing at the entrance will not let me in! By the very weight of my flesh I am nailed to the ground, my prison!
Sinful descendant of Adam, take heart! A light has shone in your prison: God has descended into the valley country of your exile, in order to raise you up to your lost mountain homeland. You wanted to know good and evil: He leaves this knowledge to you. You wanted to become like God, and from this you became like the devil in soul, like cattle and beasts in body; God, uniting you with Himself, makes you God by grace. He forgives your sins. This is not enough! He removes the root of evil from your soul, the very infection of sin, hell cast into your soul by the devil, and grants you medicine for the whole path of your earthly life to heal from sin, no matter how many times you become infected with it, due to your weakness. This medicine is the confession of sins. Do you want to cast off the old Adam, you, who by holy baptism has already been clothed in the New Adam, but by your own iniquities managed to revive decay and death in yourself, to stifle life, to make it half dead? Do you, enslaved to sin, drawn to it by the violence of habit, want to regain your freedom and righteousness? Dive into humility! Conquer conceited shame, which teaches you to hypocritically and deceitfully pretend to be righteous and thereby preserve, strengthen spiritual death in yourself. Spew out sin, enter into enmity with sin with a sincere confession of sin. This healing must precede all others; without it, healing through prayer, tears, fasting, and all other means will be insufficient, unsatisfactory, and fragile. Go, proud, to spiritual father yours, at his feet find the mercy of the Heavenly Father! One, one sincere and frequent confession can free one from sinful habits, make repentance fruitful, correction lasting and true.
In a brief moment of tenderness, in which the eyes of the mind are opened for self-knowledge, which comes so rarely, I wrote this as a rebuke to myself, as an exhortation, a reminder, an instruction. And you, who read these lines with faith and love in Christ and, perhaps, find something useful for yourself in them, bring a hearty sigh and prayer for the soul, which suffered a lot from the waves of sin, which often saw drowning and death in front of it, which found rest in one haven: in the confession of one's sins.
On the virtues opposed to the eight major sinful passions
1. Abstinence
Refraining from excessive eating and eating, especially from drinking wine in excess. Preservation of the exact fasts established by the Church, Bounding of the flesh by a moderate and constantly the same use of food, from which all passions begin to weaken in general, and especially self-love, which consists in wordless love of the flesh, its life and rest.
2. Chastity
Avoidance of all kinds of fornication. Evasion from voluptuous conversations and reading, from the pronunciation of voluptuous, nasty and ambiguous words. The storage of the senses, especially sight and hearing, and even more touch. Modesty. Rejection of thoughts and dreams of prodigal. Silence. Silence. Serving the sick and crippled. Memories of death and hell. The beginning of chastity is the mind that does not waver from lustful thoughts and dreams; the perfection of chastity is purity that sees God.
3. Non-possession
Satisfy yourself with one essential. Hatred of luxury and bliss. Mercy for the poor. Loving the poverty of the gospel. Trust in God's providence. Following Christ's commandments. Calmness and freedom of spirit and carelessness. Softness of the heart.
4. Meekness
Evasion from angry thoughts and from indignation of the heart with rage. Patience. Following Christ, calling His disciple to the cross. Peace of the heart. Silence of the mind. Firmness and courage are Christian. Not feeling insulted. Kindness.
5. Blissful cry
Feeling of a fall, common to all people, and of one's own spiritual poverty. Lamentation about them. Cry of the mind. Painful contusion of the heart. Vegetating from their lightness of conscience, grace-filled consolation and joy. Hope for the mercy of God. Thanksgiving to God in sorrows, their humble bearing from the sight of their multitude of sins. Willingness to endure. Mind cleansing. Relief from passions. Mortification of the world. The desire for prayer, solitude, obedience, humility, confession of one's sins.
6. Sobriety
Zeal in every good deed. Non-lazy correction of the church and private rules. Attention in prayer. Careful observation of all deeds, words and thoughts and feelings. Extreme self-doubt. Unceasing stay in prayer and the Word of God. Awe. Constant vigilance over yourself. Keeping oneself from much sleep and effeminacy, idle talk, jokes and sharp words. Love of night vigils, bows and other feats that bring vigor to the soul. Rare, if possible, exodus from the cells. Remembrance of eternal blessings, desire and expectation of them.
7. Humility
Fear of God. Feeling it while praying. Fear that is born during especially pure prayer, when the presence and majesty of God are especially strongly felt, so as not to disappear and turn into nothing. Deep knowledge of your insignificance. A change in the outlook on neighbors, and they, without any coercion, seem to the resigned one to be superior to him in all respects. The manifestation of innocence from living faith. Hatred for human praise. Constant blaming and beating yourself up. Righteousness and directness. Impartiality. Deadness to everything. tenderness. Knowledge of the sacrament hidden in the Cross of Christ. The desire to crucify oneself to the world and passions, the desire for this crucifixion. Rejection and oblivion of flattering customs and words, modest by coercion or intent, or the skill of pretending. Perception of the rampage of the gospel. Rejection of earthly wisdom as indecent before God (Luke 16:15). Leaving wording. Silence before those who offend, studied in the Gospel. Putting aside all one's own thoughts and accepting the gospel mind. The overthrow of every thought that is charged upon the mind of Christ. Humility or spiritual reasoning. Conscious obedience to the Church in everything.
8. Love
Change during prayer of the fear of God into the love of God. Loyalty to the Lord, proved by the constant rejection of every sinful thought and feeling. The indescribable, sweet attraction of the whole person to love for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the worshiped Holy Trinity. Vision in the neighbors of the image of God and Christ; the preference for oneself of all one's neighbors arising from this spiritual vision, their reverent reverence for the Lord. Love for neighbors is brotherly, pure, equal to all, joyful, impartial, flaming equally towards friends and enemies. Rapture into prayer and love of the mind, heart and whole body. Inexpressible pleasure of the body with spiritual joy. Spiritual intoxication. Relaxation of the bodily members with spiritual consolation (St. Isaac of Syria. Word 44). Inactivity of bodily senses during prayer. Resolution from the silence of the heart tongue. Cessation of prayer from spiritual sweetness. Silence of the mind. Enlightenment of the mind and heart. Prayer power that overcomes sin. Peace of Christ. Retreat of all passions. The absorption of all minds by the superior mind of Christ. Theology. Knowledge of incorporeal beings. The weakness of sinful thoughts that cannot be depicted in the mind.
Sweetness and abundant consolation during sorrows. Vision of human arrangements. The depth of humility and the humblest opinion of oneself ... The end is endless!
Add-ons from various sources
The shortest confession
Belief in dreams, divination, meetings and other signs. Doubts about faith. Laziness in prayer and absent-mindedness with it. Non-attendance in the Church, long non-existence at confession and Holy Communion. Hypocrisy in worship. Blasphemy or only grumbling against God in the soul and in words. Intention to raise hands. In vain god. An unfulfilled promise to God. Blasphemy against the sacred. Anger with mention of evil spirits (trait). Eating or drinking on Sundays and holidays until the end of the Liturgy. Violation of fasts or inaccurate observance of them, working business on holidays.
Sins against neighbor
Recklessness to his position or to his business in the hostel. Disrespect for superiors or elders. Failure to fulfill a promise to a person. Non-payment of debts. Taking by force or secret appropriation of someone else's. Avarice for charity. Personal insult to neighbor. Gossip. slander. Cursing others. False suspicions. Failure to protect an innocent person or the cause of the right with a loss for them. Murder. Disrespect for parents. Neglect with Christian concern for children. Anger - enmity in the family or home life.
Sins against oneself
Idle or bad thoughts in the soul. Desires of evil to the neighbor. Falsity of the word, speech. Irritability. Stubbornness or selfishness. Envy. Cruelty. Sensitivity to disappointment or resentment. Vengeance. Love of money. Passion for pleasure. Foul language. The songs are seductive. Drunkenness and polyphagy. Fornication. Adultery. Unnatural fornication. Uncorrecting your life.
Of all these sins against the ten commandments of God, some, reaching the highest stage of their development in a person, passing into vicious states and hardening his heart with impenitence, are recognized as especially grave and contrary to God.
Mortal sins, that is, making a person guilty of eternal death or perdition
1. Pride, despising everyone, demanding servility from others, ready to ascend to heaven and become like the Most High: in a word, pride to the point of self-adoration.
2. Love of money. An unsatisfied soul, or Judas greed for money, connected for the most part with unrighteous acquisitions, does not give a person even a minute to think about the spiritual.
3. Gluttony or carnality, not knowing any fasts, combined with a passionate attachment to various amusements, following the example of the rich man in the Gospel, who had fun all day long.
4. Fornication. Fornication, or dissolute life prodigal son who squandered all his father's estate on such a life.
5. Envy, leading to every possible evil deed to the neighbor.
6. Vanity is the desire for vain, that is, vain, empty glory.
7. Irreconcilable anger and daring for terrible destruction, following the example of Herod, who in his anger beat the Bethlehem babies. rancor.
8. Sadness. Despondency. Sloth, or complete carelessness about the soul, carelessness about repentance until the last days of life, as, for example, in the days of Noah.
Sins of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
Excessive hope in God or continuation of a gravely sinful life in the sole hope of God's mercy.
Despair or the opposite of excessive hope in God is a feeling in relation to the mercy of God, which denies paternal goodness in God and leads to thoughts of suicide.
Stubborn unbelief, not convinced by any evidence of the truth, even by obvious miracles, rejecting the most learned truth.
Sins crying out to heaven for vengeance
In general, deliberate homicide (abortion), and in particular patricide (fratricide and regicide).
Sodom sin.
Vain oppression of a poor, defenseless, defenseless widow and young orphans.
Withholding from a wretched worker his well-deserved wages.
Taking away from a person in his extreme position the last piece of bread or the last mite, which he obtained with sweat and blood, as well as the forcible or secret appropriation of alms, food, warmth or clothing from those imprisoned in prison, which are determined by him, and in general their oppression.
Grief and resentment to parents to their impudent beatings.
Confession
I confess I am a sinner (name) to the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and to you, honest father, all my sins and all my evil deeds, even I have done all the days of my life, even thought even to this day.
He sinned: He did not keep the vows of Holy Baptism, he did not keep his monastic promise, but he lied in everything and made himself indecent before the Face of God.
Forgive us, Merciful Lord (for the people.
Forgive me, honest father (for the lonely).
He sinned: before the Lord, lack of faith and slowness in thoughts, from the enemy planted against faith and St. Churches; ingratitude for all His great and unceasing good deeds, calling on the name of God without need - in vain.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: lack of love for the Lord is lower than fear, non-fulfillment of St. His will and St. commandments, careless depiction of the sign of the cross, irreverent veneration of St. icons; did not wear a cross, was ashamed to baptize and confess the Lord.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: he did not keep love for his neighbor, he did not feed the hungry and thirsty, he did not clothe the naked, he did not visit the sick and prisoners in dungeons; the law of God and St. Fathers did not learn traditions from laziness and neglect.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: church and private rules by non-fulfillment, going to the temple of God without zeal, with laziness and neglect; leaving morning, evening and other prayers; during the church service - he sinned with idle talk, laughter, drowsiness, inattention to reading and singing, distraction of the mind, leaving the temple during the service and not going to the temple of God due to laziness and negligence.
Forgive me, honest father.
I sinned: daring to go to the temple of God in uncleanness and touch all the holy things.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: by disrespecting the feasts of God; violation of St. posts and non-storage. fast days - Wednesdays and Fridays; intemperance in food and drink, polygamy, secret eating, polyeating, drunkenness, dissatisfaction with food and drink, clothing, parasitism (tunya - for free, illegal; poison - eating, eating bread for free).
His will and mind by fulfillment, self-righteousness, self-will and self-justification; improper veneration of parents, poor education of children in Orthodox faith, cursing their children and neighbors.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: unbelief, superstition, doubt, despair, despondency, blasphemy, false worship, dancing, smoking, playing cards, divination, witchcraft, sorcery, gossip, commemorated the living for repose, ate the blood of animals ( Ecumenical Council, 67 rule. Acts of the Apostles, ch. 15).
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: pride, conceit, arrogance, self-love, ambition, envy, arrogance, suspicion, irritability.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: condemnation of all people - living and dead, slander and anger, remembrance of malice, hatred, evil for evil by retribution, slander, reproach, deceit, laziness, deceit, hypocrisy, gossip, disputes, stubbornness, unwillingness to yield and serve one's neighbor; sinned with gloating, malevolence, mourning, insult, mockery, reproach and pleasing to people.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: intemperance of spiritual and bodily feelings; impurity of soul and body, pleasure and slowness in impure thoughts, addiction, voluptuousness, an immodest look at wives and young men; in a dream, prodigal desecration of the night, intemperance in married life.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: impatience with illnesses and sorrows, loving the comforts of this life, captivating the mind and petrifying the heart, not forcing myself to do every good deed.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: by inattention to the promptings of his conscience, negligence, laziness in reading the word of God and negligence in acquiring the Jesus Prayer. He sinned with covetousness, love of money, unrighteous acquisition, theft, theft, stinginess, attachment to all sorts of things and people.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: by condemning and disobeying the spiritual fathers, grumbling and resentment against them and not confessing his sins before them out of forgetfulness, negligence and out of false shame.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: unmercifulness, contempt and condemnation of the poor; going to the temple of God without fear and reverence, deviating into heresy and sectarian teaching.
Forgive me, honest father.
Sinned: by laziness, relaxation by it, love of bodily peace, many sleeps, voluptuous dreams, partial views, shameless body movements, touching, fornication, adultery, corruption, masturbation, unmarried marriages, those who performed abortions for themselves or others, or persuaded someone, have sinned grievously to this great sin - infanticide. He spent his time in empty and idle pursuits, in empty talk, jokes, laughter and other shameful sins.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: despondency, cowardice, impatience, murmuring, despair in salvation, lack of hope in God's mercy, insensitivity, ignorance, arrogance, shamelessness.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: slandering his neighbor, anger, insult, irritation and ridicule, non-reconciliation, enmity and hatred, contradiction, peeping into other people's sins and eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: coldness and insensitivity at confession, diminishing sins, blaming others, and not condemning himself.
Forgive me, honest father.
He sinned: against the Life-Giving and Holy Mysteries of Christ, approaching Them without proper preparation, without contrition and fear of God.
Forgive me, honest father.
I have sinned: in word, thought and all my senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, willy or not, knowledge or ignorance, in reason and foolishness, and do not enumerate all my sins according to their multitude. But in all these, as well as in indescribable oblivion, I repent and regret, and henceforth, with the help of God, I promise to be kept.
But you, honest father, forgive me and forgive me from all these and pray for me a sinner, and on that judgment day testify before God about the sins I have confessed. Amen.
Sins that were previously confessed and resolved should not be repeated at confession, for, as the Holy Church teaches, they have already been forgiven, but if we repeated them again, then we need to repent of them again. It is necessary to repent of those sins that were forgotten, but now remembered.
Eight major passions with their subdivisions and branches
1. Gluttony
Overeating, drunkenness, non-keeping and permission of fasts, secret eating, delicacy, generally violation of abstinence. Wrong and excessive love of the flesh, its belly and peace, from which self-love is made, from which non-keeping of fidelity to God, the Church, virtue and people.
2. Fornication
Fornication, prodigal sensations and positions of the soul and heart. Acceptance of impure thoughts, conversation with them, delight in them, permission to them, slowness in them. Prodigal dreams and captivity. Failure to keep the senses, especially the sense of touch, which is an insolence that destroys all virtues. Cursing and reading voluptuous books. Fornication sins are natural: fornication and adultery. Fornication sins are unnatural.
3. Love of money
Loving money, generally loving property, movable and immovable. Desire to get rich. Reflection on the means of enrichment. Dream of wealth. Fears of old age, sudden poverty, sickness, exile. Avarice. Greed. Unbelief in God, distrust of his providence. Addictions or painful excessive love for various perishable objects, depriving the soul of freedom. Passion for vain cares. Loving gifts. Appropriation of someone else. Likhva. Hardness of heart to the poor brethren and to all those in need. Theft. Robbery.
4. Anger
Hot temper, acceptance of angry thoughts: dreaming of anger and revenge, indignation of the heart with rage, obscuration of the mind by it: obscene crying, argument, swearing, cruel and caustic words, stress, pushing, killing. Remembrance, hatred, enmity, revenge, slander, condemnation, indignation and resentment of one's neighbor.
5. Sadness
Grieving, anguish, cutting off hope in God, doubt in the promises of God, ungratefulness to God for everything that happens, cowardice, impatience, not self-reproach, sorrow for one’s neighbor, grumbling, renunciation of the cross, an attempt to get off it.
6. Despondency
Laziness in every good deed, especially in prayer. Abandonment of church and private rules. Abandoning unceasing prayer and soulful reading. Inattention and haste in prayer. Neglect. Irreverence. Idleness. Excessive comfort with sleep, lying down and all kinds of languor. Moving from place to place. Frequent exits from cells, walks and visiting friends. Idle talk. Jokes. Blasphemers. Leaving bows and other bodily feats. Forgetting your sins. Forgetfulness of the commandments of Christ. Negligence. Captivity. Deprivation of the fear of God. Bitterness. Insensibility. Despair.
7. Vanity
The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly and vain honors. Love of beautiful clothes, carriages, servants and private things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of the body. Disposition to the perishing sciences and arts of this age, the search to succeed in them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. Shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Self-justification. Contradiction. Compiling your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. Humanity. Envy. Humiliation of the neighbor. Change of temper. Indulgence. Unscrupulousness. The temper and life are demonic.
8. Pride
Neighbor contempt. Preferring yourself to everyone. Insolence. Obscuration, debility of the mind and heart. Nailing them to the earth. Hula. Disbelief. False mind. Disobedience to the Law of God and the Church. Follow your carnal will. Reading heretical, depraved and vain books. Disobedience to authorities. A biting mockery. Abandoning Christ-like humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Loss of love for God and neighbor. False philosophy. Heresy. Irreligion. Ignorance. Death of the soul.
Such are the ailments, such are the sores that constitute the great sore, the decrepitude of the old Adam, which was formed from his fall. The holy prophet Isaiah speaks of this great plague: “From the feet even to the head, there is no integrity in it: neither a scab, nor an ulcer, nor a scorching wound, put a patch, below the oil, below the bandage”(Is. 1 :6 ) . This means, according to the explanation of the Fathers, that the ulcer - sin - is not private, and not on any one member, but on the whole being: it embraced the body, embraced the soul, took possession of all the properties, all the forces of man. God called this great plague death, when, forbidding Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he said: "In the same more take a day from it, you will die a death" (Gen. 2 :17 ) . Immediately after eating the forbidden fruit, the forefathers felt eternal death; in their eyes a carnal sensation appeared; they saw that they were naked. In the knowledge of the nakedness of the body, the nakedness of the soul was reflected, which had lost the beauty of purity, on which the Holy Spirit rested. A carnal sensation operates in the eyes, and shame in the soul, in which the union of all sinful and all shameful sensations: pride, and impurity, and sorrow, and despondency, and despair. The great plague is the death of the soul; irreparable is the decrepitude that occurred after the loss of the Divine likeness! The Apostle calls the great plague the law of sin, the body of death. (Rome. 7 :23–24 ) because the mortified mind and heart have completely turned to the earth, slavishly serve the perishable desires of the flesh, have become darkened, weighed down, have themselves become flesh. This flesh is no longer capable of fellowship with God! (Gen. 6 :3 ) . This flesh is not capable of inheriting eternal, heavenly bliss! (1 Cor. 15 :50 ) . A great plague has spread over the entire human race, has become the property of the ill-fated of every person.
Considering my great ulcer, looking at my mortification, I am filled with bitter sorrow! I don't know what to do? Will I follow the example of the old Adam, who, seeing his nakedness, hurries to hide from God? Shall I justify myself like him, laying the blame on the guilt of sin? In vain - to hide from the All-Seeing! It is in vain to make excuses before the One Who always wins, “nowhere to judge” Him (Ps. 50 :6 ) .
I will clothe myself instead of fig leaves in tears of repentance; instead of justification, I will bring a sincere consciousness. Clothed in repentance and tears, shall I stand before the face of my God? Is it in paradise? I am banished from there, and the cherub standing at the entrance will not let me in! By the very weight of my flesh I am nailed to the ground, my prison!
Sinful descendant of Adam, take heart! A light has shone in your prison: God has descended into the valley country of your exile, in order to raise you up to your lost mountain homeland. You wanted to know good and evil: He leaves this knowledge to you. You wanted to become like God, and from this you became like the devil in soul, like cattle and beasts in body; God, uniting you with Himself, makes you God by grace. He forgives your sins. This is not enough! He removes the root of evil from your soul, the very infection of sin, hell cast into your soul by the devil, and grants you medicine for the whole path of your earthly life to heal from sin, no matter how many times you become infected with it, due to your weakness. This medicine is the confession of sins. Do you want to cast off the old Adam, you, who by holy baptism has already been clothed in the New Adam, but by your own iniquities managed to revive decay and death in yourself, to stifle life, to make it half dead? Do you, enslaved to sin, drawn to it by the violence of habit, want to regain your freedom and righteousness? Dive into humility! Conquer conceited shame, which teaches you to hypocritically and deceitfully pretend to be righteous and thereby preserve, strengthen spiritual death in yourself. Spew out sin, enter into enmity with sin with a sincere confession of sin. This healing must precede all others; without it, healing through prayer, tears, fasting, and all other means will be insufficient, unsatisfactory, and fragile. Go, proud one, to your spiritual father, at his feet find the mercy of the Heavenly Father! One, one sincere and frequent confession can free one from sinful habits, make repentance fruitful, correction lasting and true.
In a brief moment of tenderness, in which the eyes of the mind are opened for self-knowledge, which comes so rarely, I wrote this as a rebuke to myself, as an exhortation, a reminder, an instruction. And you, who read these lines with faith and love in Christ and, perhaps, find something useful for yourself in them, bring a hearty sigh and prayer for the soul, which suffered a lot from the waves of sin, which often saw drowning and death in front of it, which found rest in one haven: in the confession of one's sins.
On the virtues opposed to the eight major sinful passions
1. Abstinence
Refraining from excessive eating and eating, especially from drinking wine in excess. Keeping the exact fasts established by the Church, curbing the flesh with a moderate and constantly identical use of food, from which all passions begin to weaken in general, and especially self-love, which consists in wordless love of the flesh, its life and rest.
2. Chastity
Avoidance of all kinds of fornication. Evasion from voluptuous conversations and reading, from the pronunciation of voluptuous, nasty and ambiguous words. The storage of the senses, especially sight and hearing, and even more touch. Modesty. Rejection of thoughts and dreams of prodigal. Silence. Silence. Serving the sick and crippled. Memories of death and hell. The beginning of chastity is the mind that does not waver from lustful thoughts and dreams; the perfection of chastity is purity that sees God.
3. Non-possession
Satisfy yourself with one essential. Hatred of luxury and bliss. Mercy for the poor. Loving the poverty of the gospel. Trust in God's providence. Following Christ's commandments. Calmness and freedom of spirit and carelessness. Softness of the heart.
4. Meekness
Evasion from angry thoughts and from indignation of the heart with rage. Patience. Following Christ, calling His disciple to the cross. Peace of the heart. Silence of the mind. Firmness and courage are Christian. Not feeling insulted. Kindness.
5. Blissful cry
Feeling of a fall, common to all people, and of one's own spiritual poverty. Lamentation about them. Cry of the mind. Painful contusion of the heart. Vegetating from their lightness of conscience, grace-filled consolation and joy. Hope for the mercy of God. Thanksgiving to God in sorrows, their humble bearing from the sight of their multitude of sins. Willingness to endure. Mind cleansing. Relief from passions. Mortification of the world. The desire for prayer, solitude, obedience, humility, confession of one's sins.
6. Sobriety
Zeal in every good deed. Non-lazy correction of the church and private rules. Attention in prayer. Careful observation of all deeds, words and thoughts and feelings. Extreme self-doubt. Unceasing stay in prayer and the Word of God. Awe. Constant vigilance over yourself. Keeping oneself from much sleep and effeminacy, idle talk, jokes and sharp words. Love of night vigils, bows and other feats that bring vigor to the soul. Rare, if possible, exodus from the cells. Remembrance of eternal blessings, desire and expectation of them.
7. Humility
Fear of God. Feeling it while praying. Fear that is born during especially pure prayer, when the presence and majesty of God are especially strongly felt, so as not to disappear and turn into nothing. Deep knowledge of your insignificance. A change in the outlook on neighbors, and they, without any coercion, seem to the resigned one to be superior to him in all respects. The manifestation of innocence from living faith. Hatred for human praise. Constant blaming and beating yourself up. Righteousness and directness. Impartiality. Deadness to everything. tenderness. Knowledge of the sacrament hidden in the Cross of Christ. The desire to crucify oneself to the world and passions, the desire for this crucifixion. Rejection and oblivion of flattering customs and words, modest by coercion or intent, or the skill of pretending. Perception of the rampage of the gospel. Rejection of earthly wisdom as indecent before God (OK. 16 :15 ) . Leaving wording. Silence before those who offend, studied in the Gospel. Putting aside all one's own thoughts and accepting the gospel mind. The overthrow of every thought that is charged upon the mind of Christ. Humility or spiritual reasoning. Conscious obedience to the Church in everything.
Change during prayer of the fear of God into the love of God. Loyalty to the Lord, proved by the constant rejection of every sinful thought and feeling. The indescribable, sweet attraction of the whole person to love for the Lord Jesus Christ and for the worshiped Holy Trinity. Vision in the neighbors of the image of God and Christ; the preference for oneself of all one's neighbors arising from this spiritual vision, their reverent reverence for the Lord. Love for neighbors is brotherly, pure, equal to all, joyful, impartial, flaming equally towards friends and enemies. Rapture into prayer and love of the mind, heart and whole body. Inexpressible pleasure of the body with spiritual joy. Spiritual intoxication. Relaxation of the bodily members with spiritual consolation. Inactivity of bodily senses during prayer. Resolution from the silence of the heart tongue. Cessation of prayer from spiritual sweetness. Silence of the mind. Enlightenment of the mind and heart. Prayer power that overcomes sin. Peace of Christ. Retreat of all passions. The absorption of all minds by the superior mind of Christ. Theology. Knowledge of incorporeal beings. The weakness of sinful thoughts that cannot be depicted in the mind.
Sweetness and abundant consolation during sorrows. Vision of human arrangements. The depth of humility and the humblest opinion of oneself ... The end is endless!
Add-ons from various sources
The shortest confession
Sins against the Lord God
Belief in dreams, divination, meetings and other signs. Doubts about faith. Laziness in prayer and absent-mindedness with it. Not entering the Church, a long non-existence at confession and Holy Communion. Hypocrisy in worship. Blasphemy or only grumbling against God in the soul and in words. Intention to raise hands. In vain god. An unfulfilled promise to God. Blasphemy against the sacred. Anger with mention of evil spirits (trait). Eating or drinking on Sundays and holidays until the end of the Liturgy. Violation of fasts or inaccurate observance of them, working business on holidays.
Sins against neighbor
Recklessness to his position or to his business in the hostel. Disrespect for superiors or elders. Failure to fulfill a promise to a person. Non-payment of debts. Taking by force or secret appropriation of someone else's. Avarice for charity. Personal insult to neighbor. Gossip. slander. Cursing others. False suspicions. Failure to protect an innocent person or the cause of the right with a loss for them. Murder. Disrespect for parents. Neglect with Christian concern for children. Anger - enmity in family or home life.
Sins against oneself
Idle or bad thoughts in the soul. Desires of evil to the neighbor. Falsity of the word, speech. Irritability. Stubbornness or selfishness. Envy. Cruelty. Sensitivity to disappointment or resentment. Vengeance. Love of money. Passion for pleasure. Foul language. The songs are seductive. Drunkenness and polyphagy. Fornication. Adultery. Unnatural fornication. Uncorrecting your life.
Of all these sins against the ten commandments of God, some, reaching the highest stage of their development in a person, passing into vicious states and hardening his heart with impenitence, are recognized as especially grave and contrary to God.
Mortal sins , that is, making a person guilty of eternal death or perdition:
About knowing God: no matter how much we study, it is still impossible to know the Lord if we do not live according to His commandments, for the Lord is known not by science, but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and scientists have reached the point of believing that God exists, but they have not known God. And we, monks, study in the law of the Lord day and night, but not everyone knows God, although they believe. It is one thing to believe that God exists, and another thing is to know God (Elder Silouan).
About prayer: if our prayers are not immediately heard, then the Lord does not want us to have what we want, but what He wants. In this case, He wants us and prepares something bigger and better than what we ask Him in prayer. Therefore, every prayer must contritely end: Thy will be done.
On the Importance of Reading: The Word of God is food for soul and body. It is the duty of a Christian every day that I won't go to bed if I don't read:
Thy Secret Supper this day, Son of God, take part in me; we will not tell the secret to your enemy, nor kiss thee like Judas, but like a thief I will confess you: remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
May the communion of Your Holy Mysteries, O Lord, not be for judgment or condemnation, but for the healing of soul and body. Amen.
St. Isaac of Syria. Word 44
Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), St. Bishop Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) (1807-1867) is a well-known Russian ascetic and spiritual writer of the 19th century. His writings, published during the life of the Saint, attract attention with deep knowledge Holy Scripture and creations of the Holy Fathers Orthodox Church, creatively reworked and meaningful in relation to the spiritual needs of our time. Written, moreover, with outstanding literary skill, the works of the Saint are a valuable guide for all who wish to go through the narrow and thorny path of experimental knowledge of God.
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In order not to fall into the disastrous evil of negligence, which will stop your course towards perfection and betray you into the hands of your enemies, it is necessary for you to avoid all kinds of inquisitiveness (intelligence, what is there, what is here, idleness, empty talk, staring), any attachment to anything - either earthly and any voluntary doing or doing something that I want is completely unsuitable for your condition, but on the contrary, you should in every possible way force yourself to willingly and quickly fulfill every good guidance and every command of your superiors and spiritual fathers and do every deed at that time and in the way they want.
Do not hesitate to start any business that you have to do, because the first short delay will lead you to the second, longer one, and the second to the third, even longer one, and so on. As a result, the matter begins too late and does not keep pace with its time, or is completely abandoned as burdensome. Having once tasted the sweetness of doing nothing, you will begin to love it and desire it more than doing, and satisfying this desire, you will gradually reach the habit of not doing or laziness, in which the passion of doing nothing will take possession of you to such an extent that you will even cease to realize how it is. nothing is inconsistent and criminal; except when, weighed down by this laziness itself, you again take up your affairs with all zeal. Then you will see with shame how negligent you were before this and how much you missed the proper deeds for the sake of empty and useless doing something I want to do.
This negligence, having begun hardly noticeably, penetrates into everything and strikes with its poison not only the will, instilling in it aversion from any kind of labor and from all spiritual deeds and obedience, but also blinds the mind, preventing it from seeing all the unreasonableness and deceitfulness of thoughts, on which such a mood of the will is maintained, not allowing it to present to the consciousness those sound judgments that would be strong to incite this lazy will as soon as possible and with all zeal to do the right thing, without postponing it until another time. For it is not enough to do things quickly, but each work must be done in its own time, which is required by its nature, and with all attention and diligence, so that it appears in possible perfection. Hear what is written: Cursed is everyone, do the work of the Lord with negligence (Jer. 48:10). And you expose yourself to such misfortune, because you are too lazy to think about the dignity and price of the work before you, in order to induce yourself to do it in due time and with such determination, which would dispel all thoughts evoked by laziness about the difficulties associated with it, in order to divert you from it. .
May the conviction not depart from your thought that one raising of the mind to God and one humble kneeling to the glory and honor of God is incomparably more valuable than all the treasures of the world; and that every time, having driven away negligence, we force ourselves to do our due work with diligence, the angels in heaven prepare for us a crown of glorious victory; and that, on the contrary, God not only does not have crowns for the negligent, but that He gradually takes back from them those gifts that He gave before for their zealous service to Him, and finally, He will deprive them of His Kingdom if they continue in negligence, as in the parable of the called
for the evening and those who were too lazy to come said: I tell you that not a single man of those called shall taste My supper (Luke 14:24). Such is the fate of the negligent; but for those who are meticulous and force themselves without self-pity on every good deed, the Lord multiplies His gracious gifts here and prepares an eternally blessed life in His Kingdom of Heaven, as He said: The kingdom of God is in need, and the needy delight it (Matthew 11:12).
If an evil thought, intensifying to plunge you into negligence, begins to imagine that in order to acquire the virtue that you have loved and desired to have, it is inevitable for you to undertake the greatest work, and moreover for many days, that your enemies are strong and numerous, and you are alone and weak, that you have to do a lot, and great things, in order to achieve such a goal, if, I say, the thought of negligence begins to present all such things to you, do not listen to him; on the contrary, imagine the matter in such a way that, of course, you need to do things for you, but not much, that you also have to raise labor, but very little and not for many days, that you will meet enemies, but not many, but only one of which, and this one, although against you alone, would be strong, but with the help of God, which is always inherent in you for the sake of your great hope in it, you are incomparably stronger than him. If you do this, then negligence will begin to recede from you, but instead of it, under the influence of good thoughts and feelings, jealousy will gradually enter into you, contemplating everything that is due, and will finally take possession of all the forces of your soul and body.
Do the same with respect to prayer. If, for example, an hour of prayerful labor is required to complete any sequence of the service, and this seems difficult for your laziness, then when you start this, do not think that you will have to stand for an hour, but imagine that this will continue for some quarter of an hour. , and you will stand unnoticed, praying this quarter; having stood this, say to yourself: we will stand for another quarter, this is not much, as you see; then do the same for the third and fourth quarters; and in this way you will finish this work of the ministry of prayer, not noticing the difficulties and hardships. If at times during this you happen to feel such a burden that it interferes with prayer itself, then leave the prayer for a while and then again, after a little while, take it up and finish the unfinished.
Do the same in relation to needlework, and to the deeds of your obedience. It will seem to you that there are many such cases, you are both restless and ready to give up. But do not think about this multitude of things, but reluctantly take up the first present and do it with all diligence, as if there were no others at all, and you will do it calmly; then act in the same way in relation to other matters and you will redo everything calmly, without confusion and troubles.
So act in everything and know that if you do not take up your mind and do not so overcome the feelings of difficulty and burden that the enemy presents to you from the due deeds set before you, then negligence will finally overcome you, so that you will not only when some kind of work is presented to you, but even when it is still far ahead, you will feel as if you have a mountain on your shoulders, you will be weighed down and tormented by it, like slaves, consisting in hopeless slavery. So also during rest you will not have rest, and without work you will feel burdened with work.
Know also, my child, that this disease of laziness and negligence with its poison invisibly little by little corrupts not only the initial and still small roots, from which virtuous habits could eventually grow, but also those that have long been deepened and serve as the basis of all orders of good life. As a worm gradually wears away a tree, so, as it continues, it insensibly devours and destroys the very nerves of spiritual life. By means of it, the devil is able to spread snares and snares of temptations for every person, which with special care and crafty cunning he tries to arrange for zealots for spiritual life, knowing that the lazy and negligent easily succumb to lusts and fall, as it is written: in lust there is every idle (Prov. 13, 4).
Be always vigilant, pray and keep good diligence for good, as befits a courageous fighter: the hands of the courageous in diligence (Prov. 13, 4). Do not sit idly by, postponing the sewing of your wedding tunic until the moment when it will be necessary to proceed in full adornment to meet the coming Bridegroom, Christ the Lord. Remind yourself every day that now in our hands and tomorrow in the hands of God, and that He who gave you the morning did not bind Himself through this promise that He would also give the evening. Therefore, do not listen to the devil when he whispers to you: give me now and give to God tomorrow . No no; spend all the hours of your life in such a way that it is pleasing to God, keep in mind that after this hour you will not be given another and that for every minute of this hour you will have to give the most detailed account. Remember that there is no price for the time that you have in your hands, and that if you waste it, the hour will come when you will seek it and not find it. Consider lost the day on which, although you did good deeds, you did not overcome your bad inclinations and wishes.
I finish my lessons to you about this, repeating the apostolic commandment: always do good deeds (1 Tim. 6:12). For it often happened that one hour of zealous labor acquired paradise, as, on the contrary, one hour of negligence deprived him. Be diligent if you wish to testify how firm the hope of your salvation is before God. Whoever hopes in the Lord, in diligence will (Prov. 28, 25).
I confess to you the Lord my God and Creator, in the holy Trinity, the One, glorified and worshiped, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all my sins, even if I have done all the days of my stomach, and for every hour, and now, and in the past days and nights, in deed, in a word, in thought, overeating, drunkenness, secret eating, idle talk, despondency, laziness, contradiction, disobedience, slander, condemnation, negligence, self-love, acquisitiveness, theft, ill-spokenness, foul profit, mischief, jealousy, envy, anger , memory of malice, hatred, covetousness and all my feelings: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, my other sins, both spiritual and bodily, in the image of my God and the Creator of anger, and my neighbor about unrighteousness: regretting these, I am guilty of myself to you I present to my God, and I have the will to repent: to this point, Lord my God, help me, with tears I humbly pray to Thee: forgive me, who has passed my sins by Thy mercy, and forgive me from all these, even if I have spoken before You, as Good and Humane.
My belly is my life. Filthy profit - criminal profit (profit). Msheloimism - bribery, self-interest (mshel - self-interest). Covetousness - greed, greed. In our tradition, enshrined in the catechism, the naming of all unrighteous defrauding of neighbors by this word has become established: bribes, extortion, etc. I have slandered those who are not true; caused all evil, unrighteousness. Tochiu - only. From all these, even from the verbs - from all this that I have expressed.
+ “Our daily deeds must be weighed every hour, listening to them, and in the evening it is necessary to lighten their burden with repentance, how much strength we have, if we wish, with the help of Christ, to overcome evil in ourselves. It is also necessary to look to see if we are in God’s presence, before God, and for the only God we do all our sensible and visible deeds, so that, due to unreason, we will not be robbed by any unkind feelings.
Venerable Hesychius of Jerusalem
The need for daily repentance for sins committed throughout life is explained by the words of St. Anthony the Great: “Say that you are sinners and mourn everything that you have done in a state of negligence. For this, the favor of the Lord will be with you and will work in you: for He is good and forgives the sins of all who turn to Him, whoever they are, so that He will not remember them anymore. However, He wants those who have been pardoned themselves to remember the forgiveness of their sins that have been committed so far, so that, forgetting about that, they should not allow anything in their behavior to be such, because of which they will be forced to give an account of those sins that have already been forgiven them ... David, having received the remission of sins, did not forget about them and passed on the memory of them to posterity. This is done in memory of all generations, from generation to generation. I will teach the lawless in Your way (Ps. 50, 15), he says, so that all sinners learn from his example, like him, to repent of their sins and, when they are forgiven, not to forget about them, but always remember. God Himself said the same thing through the prophet Isaiah: I am, making amends for your sins, and I will not remember. You remember ... (Is. 43, 25-26). Thus, when the Lord forgives us our sins, we must not forgive them ourselves, but always remember them, through the renewal of repentance for them.
The same saint warns: “Do not turn in your mind the sins that you once committed, so that they do not resume again. Be sure that they are forgiven you while you have given yourself to God and repentance, and do not doubt it at all.
So, preserving and constantly renewing repentance for the sins of our life, not forgetting about them, we should not at the same time “convert them in our mind”, re-experience, cling to them with memory. This is one of the manifestations of the art of "invisible warfare", the middle "royal" path, which a Christian should follow.
This prayer helps to consider daytime sins and maintains the memory of those committed earlier - all the days of life. Let us recall that sins sincerely confessed in the Sacrament of Penance are completely forgiven by the Lord, but this does not mean that we should forget about them. Sins remain in memory for humility and contrition about the deed.
“We must pay attention to ourselves whether our conscience has not ceased to reprove us, not for the sake of our purity, but as if weary. A sign of permission from sins is that a person always considers himself a debtor to God.
Saint John of the Ladder
Both at confession in the Sacrament of Repentance, and at daily confession to God, one must confess one's sins separately, consciously. Therefore, let us dwell on the sins mentioned in the prayer and indicate what deeds, deeds, words and thoughts can be meant by them. In doing so, we are guided by the Orthodox catechism and the instructions of the ascetics of the Orthodox Church.
Overeating, drunkenness, secret eating are sins associated with the passion of gluttony, which is one of the eight main passions. Secret eating - eating food secretly (out of greed, shame or unwillingness to share, in case of breaking the fast, when eating unlawful food, etc.). The sins of gluttony also include polyphagy and guttural obsession - a passion for enjoying taste sensations, that is, gourmetism, which is so implanted in our days. Drug use and smoking are also included in the area of drunkenness; if you have suffered or are suffering from these sinful addictions, include them in the list of sins.
Idle talk. Let us recall the formidable word of the Lord Himself: I tell you that for every idle word that people say, they will give an answer on the day of judgment: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Mt. 12, 36-37).
And here is the patristic recipe for how to behave if the situation and conversations in the company are conducive to idle talk: “If you don’t have a special need to stay, then leave; and when there is a need to stay, then turn your mind to prayer, not condemning idle talkers, but knowing your own weakness.”
Reverend John the Prophet
St. Ephraim the Syrian expands the concept of idle talk: “And what is an idle word? A promise of faith not kept in practice. A person believes and confesses Christ, but remains idle, does not do what Christ commanded. And in another case, the word is idle - namely, when a person confesses and does not correct himself, when he says that he repents, and sins again. And a bad review of another is an idle word, because it recounts what has not been done and what it does not see.
Despondency. This sin is often directly related to idle talk:
“Despondency is often one of the branches, one of the first offspring of verbosity ... Despondency is the relaxation of the soul, the exhaustion of the mind ... a slanderer of God, as if He is merciless and inhumane; in psalmody it is weak, in prayer it is weak... in obedience it is hypocritical.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Laziness, as we see, is closely connected with the passion of despondency. The Orthodox catechism lists "laziness in relation to the teaching of piety, prayer and public worship" among the sins against the 1st commandment of the Law of God.
But the patristic observation from monastic life, valid for the world: “The lazy, when they see that they are assigned difficult deeds, then they try to prefer prayer to them; but if the deeds of service are easy, then they run away from prayer as from fire.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Contradiction. “Bind your tongue, furiously striving for contradiction, and seventy times seven times a day fight with this tormentor,” the holy fathers teach in the words of John of the Ladder. “Whoever in a conversation stubbornly wishes to insist on his opinion, even if it is fair, let him know that he is possessed by a diabolical illness; and if he does this in conversation with equals, then perhaps the rebuke of the elders will heal him; but if he treats the big and the wisest in this way, then this disease from people cannot be cured.
Disobedience. “The one who disobeys the word without a doubt does not obey the deed, for whoever is unfaithful in word is adamant in deed,” - this is how St. John of the Ladder connects disobedience with contradiction. Everything in the Church is built on obedience; we must obey everyone and everyone whom the Lord has placed over us. Complete obedience in matters of spiritual life is necessary in relation to the spiritual father, in general to pastors and spiritual teachers: Obey your mentors and be submissive, for they vigilantly care for your souls, as they are obliged to give an answer; that they do it with joy, and not with sighing, for it is not profitable for you (Heb. 13:17). But complete and unquestioning obedience (in everything that does not contradict the faith and the Law of God: One must obey God more than men - Acts 5, 29) should be given by the wife to her husband, children who have not yet created their own family - to parents. The apostle Paul speaks of obedience to those in authority: The leader is God's servant, it is good for you... And therefore, one must obey not only out of fear of punishment, but also in conscience (Rom. 13:4-5). Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh tells that he was drafted into the army, having already given monastic vows, but not taking tonsure. When asked how he could fulfill his obedience in the army, the confessor replied: “It’s very simple: consider that everyone who gives you an order speaks in the name of God, and do it not only externally, but with all your insides; consider that every patient who requires help will call - your master; serve him like a bought slave."
Slander is a direct violation of the 9th commandment of the Law of God (Do not bear false witness against your neighbor - Ex. 20, 16). Any slander, any gossip and gossip, any unfair censure is slander. Almost certainly leads to slander condemnation of the neighbor, expressly forbidden by the Lord: Judge not, lest you be judged (Matthew 7, 1). Therefore, you are inexcusable, every person who judges another, for with the same judgment with which you judge another, you condemn yourself, because, judging another, you do the same (Rom. 2, 1).
“Just as fire is disgusting to water, so it is unkind to a penitent to judge. If you saw someone sinning even at the very departure of the soul from the body, then do not condemn him either, for the judgment of God is unknown to people. Some clearly fell into great sins, but committed great virtues in secret; and those who loved to ridicule them were deceived, chasing the smoke and not seeing the sun.” “Experience has proven that for what sins, bodily or spiritual, we condemn our neighbor, we ourselves fall into those.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Neglect - careless performance of the duties assigned to us by God, or even neglect of them. Neglect at work, neglect of one's household and family duties, neglect of prayer...
Abba Dorotheos calls pride the root of all passions, and St. Ephraim the Syrian is the mother of all evil.
Self-love is a passionate reckless love of the body. Its opposite is love and temperance. Obviously, he who has self-love has all the passions.
Saint Maximus the Confessor
Multi-acquisition. Covetousness ... is idolatry, says the Apostle Paul (Col. 3:5). In another epistle, he writes: The love of money is the root of all evil, which, having given way, some have erred from the faith and subjected themselves to many tribulations (Tim. 6:10). Acquisitiveness is the passion of love of money, which is one of the eight main passions, in action: any hoarding, addiction to various objects, stinginess and, conversely, wastefulness.
“He who loves earthly things more than heavenly things will lose both heavenly and earthly things.”
Abba Eugene (Skete Patericon)
“The rich man is entangled in cares and, like a dog, is tied with a chain.”
Venerable Nil of Sinai
Affluence is not trusting in God. And so do not worry and do not say: what shall we eat? or what to drink? Or what to wear? because the Gentiles are looking for all this, and because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33).
“Why do we not cast off all useless cares and lighten ourselves from the burden of earthly things? Do you not know that the door is narrow and cramped, and that the covetous cannot enter it? Let us seek only that which satisfies our needs; for the superfluous only entertains, but does not bring any benefit.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
Theft. This concept includes not only any theft, but also any use of what is “badly lying”: for example, “read a book in the library or with friends. A particularly severe type of theft is sacrilege - “appropriation of what is dedicated to God and what belongs to the Church” (see “Orthodox Catechism”), that is, not only the direct theft of sacred objects, but also: to take, without asking for the priest’s blessing, donated to the canon or brought to the temple by benefactors for distribution, etc.
Incorrect speech is any lie with a word. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who speak the truth are pleasing to Him (Prov. 12:22). Therefore, putting aside falsehood, each one speak the truth to his neighbor, for we are members of one another (Eph. 4:25).
We must remember that there is no "innocent" lie, any lie is not from God. “A lie, in which there is no intention to harm one’s neighbor, is impermissible, because it does not agree with love and respect for one’s neighbor and is not worthy of a person, and especially a Christian, created for truth and love,” says St. Philaret in his “Orthodox Catechism.”
Foul profit - making a profit, profit in a bad, unrighteous way. The concept can include any body kit, measurement, deceit, but also any earnings that bring evil to people - for example, based on the satisfaction or incitement of sinful passions. The falsification of any documents and the use of forged documents (for example, travel tickets), the purchase of stolen goods on the cheap are also bad business. This also includes parasitism, “when they receive a salary for a position or pay for a business, but they do not fulfill their positions and deeds and, thus, they steal both the salary or pay, and the benefit that labor could bring to society or to the one for whom they should have worked. " (see "Orthodox Catechism").
Msheloimstvo - greed, the collection of mshel - self-interest. This includes all types of extortion and bribery. And, since this sin is included in the prayer of repentance for all Orthodox Christians, you should carefully consider your life and discover its manifestations in it.
Jealousy - jealousy of all kinds.
Envy. "Whoever envies his neighbor, he rebels against God - the giver of gifts."
Saint John Chrysostom
“Whoever is stung by envy and rivalry is pathetic, because he is an accomplice of the devil, whose envy death entered the world (Wisdom 2, 24) ... envy and rivalry are a terrible poison: slander, hatred and murder are born from them.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
Anger is one of the eight major passions.
“For whatever reason, the movement of anger kindles, it blinds the eyes of the heart and, putting a cover on the sharpness of mental vision, does not allow the Sun of truth to be seen. It doesn't matter whether the sheet is gold, or lead, or from some other metal it will be applied to the eyes - the value of metals does not make a difference in blinding.
Rev. John Cassian the Roman
“Just as with the appearance of light, darkness is removed, so from the fragrance of humility, all grief and anger disappear.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Remembrance of malice "is the last limit of anger, keeping in memory the sins against our neighbor, the aversion of the image of justification (God determined:" forgive and be forgiven "" - cf.: Lk. 6, 37), the destruction of all former virtues, a soul-destroying, gnawing poison the heart is a worm, the shame to pray (as you say: “leave it, like we…””?), a nail stuck in the soul, unceasing sin, vigilant lawlessness, hourly evil.”
Saint John of the Ladder
“Just as smoke from smoldering straw eats the eyes, so does remembrance and malice eat the mind during prayer.”
Venerable Nil of Sinai
“If you bear a grudge against someone, pray for him; and, by prayer separating sorrow from the memory of the evil he has done you, you will stop the movement of passion; if you become friendly and philanthropic, you will completely banish passion from your soul.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
“The one who tamed anger stopped the birth and remembrance of malice; for childbearing comes only from a living father.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Hatred. He who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (John 2:11). Whoever hates his brother is a murderer; but you know that no manslayer has eternal life who dwells in him (1 John 3:15). Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1 John 4:20).
Extortion - “when, under the guise of some right, but in fact with a violation of justice and philanthropy, they turn to their advantage someone else’s property or someone else’s labor, or even the very disasters of their neighbors, for example, when lenders burden debtors with growth (loan interest), when owners exhaust dependent on them with excessive taxes or work, if during the famine they sell bread at too high a price” (see “Orthodox Catechism”). In a broad sense, the word covetousness generally means covetousness, greed (passion for avarice); in this sense the word is used in the New Testament (Rom. 1:29; 2 Cor. 9:5; Eph. 4:19 and 5:3; Col. 3:5).
Serious sins committed during life, from number of such that are not directly named in this prayer should be included in it, and not “summed up” under one of the points (for example, blasphemy, grumbling against God, or an attempt at suicide, or the killing of unborn children - abortion, etc.). In particular, this list does not contain sins related to the passion of fornication (and among them such as adultery and any extramarital cohabitation, and all violations of purity and chastity), and to the passion of pride, which is rightfully considered the most terrible of passions.
Confession of sins daily
I confess to you the Lord my God and Creator, in Holy Trinity To the one, glorified and worshiped Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all my sins, even if I have done all the days of my stomach, and for every hour, and now, and in the past days and nights, by deed, word, thought, overeating drunkenness, secret eating, idle talk, despondency, laziness, gossip, disobedience, slander, condemnation, negligence, pride, acquisitiveness, theft, ill-spokenness, foul profit, mischief, jealousy, envy, anger, remembrance, malice, hatred, covetousness and all my feelings: vision , hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and my other sins, both spiritual and bodily, in the image of You my God and Creator of anger, and my neighbor untrue; pitying these, I present myself to you, my God, and I have the will to repent; to the point, Lord my God, help me, with tears I humbly pray to Thee: forgive me, who has passed my sins by Thy mercy, and resolve from all these, even I have spoken before Thee, as Good and Lover of mankind.
my belly- my life. nasty business- criminal profit (profit). by mischief- bribery, greed ( mshel- self-interest). covetousness- greed, greed. In our tradition, enshrined in the catechism, it has become established that this word refers to any unrighteous robbed of one's neighbors: bribes, extortion, etc. One of the truths- I slandered; caused all evil, unrighteousness. tochia- only. From all these, even the verbs from all that I have said.
+ “Our daily deeds must be weighed every hour, listening to them, and in the evening it is necessary to lighten their burden with repentance, how much strength we have, if we wish, with the help of Christ, to overcome evil in ourselves. It is also necessary to look to see if we are in God’s presence, before God, and for the only God we do all our sensible and visible deeds, so that, due to unreason, we will not be robbed by any unkind feelings.
Venerable Hesychius of Jerusalem
The need for daily repentance for sins committed throughout life is explained by the words of St. Anthony the Great: “Say that you are sinners and mourn everything that you have done in a state of negligence. For this, the favor of the Lord will be with you and will work in you: for He is good and forgives the sins of all who turn to Him, whoever they are, so that He will not remember them anymore. However, He wants those who have been pardoned themselves to remember the forgiveness of their sins that have been committed so far, so that, forgetting about that, they should not allow anything in their behavior to be such, because of which they will be forced to give an account of those sins that have already been forgiven them ... David, having received the remission of sins, did not forget about them and passed on the memory of them to posterity. This is done in memory of all generations, from generation to generation. I will teach the wicked in Your way (Ps. 50, 15), he says, so that all sinners learn from his example, like him, to repent of their sins and, when they are forgiven, not to forget about them, but always remember. God Himself said this through the prophet Isaiah: I am, make amends for your sins, and I will not remember. Do you remember... (Isaiah 43:25-26). Thus, when the Lord forgives us our sins, we must not forgive them ourselves, but always remember them, through the renewal of repentance for them.
The same saint warns: “Do not turn in your mind the sins that you once committed, so that they do not resume again. Be sure that they are forgiven you while you have given yourself to God and repentance, and do not doubt it at all.
So, preserving and constantly renewing repentance for the sins of our life, not forgetting about them, we should not at the same time “convert them in our mind”, re-experience, cling to them with memory. This is one of the manifestations of the art of "invisible warfare", the middle "royal" path, which a Christian should follow.
This prayer helps to consider daytime sins and maintains the memory of those committed earlier - all the days of life. Let us recall that sins sincerely confessed in the Sacrament of Penance are completely forgiven by the Lord, but this does not mean that we should forget about them. Sins remain in memory for humility and contrition about the deed.
“We must pay attention to ourselves whether our conscience has not ceased to reprove us, not for the sake of our purity, but as if weary. A sign of permission from sins is that a person always considers himself a debtor to God.
Saint John of the Ladder
Both at confession in the Sacrament of Repentance, and at daily confession to God, one must confess one's sins separately, consciously. Therefore, let us dwell on the sins mentioned in the prayer and indicate what deeds, deeds, words and thoughts can be meant by them. In doing so, we are guided by the Orthodox catechism and the instructions of the ascetics of the Orthodox Church.
drunkenness, drunkenness, secret eating- sins associated with the passion of gluttony, which is one of the eight major passions. secret eating- eating food in secret (out of greed, shame or unwillingness to share, in case of breaking the fast, when eating unlawful food, etc.). The sins of gluttony also include polyphagy and larynx- a passion for the enjoyment of taste sensations, that is, gourmandism, so planted in our days. Drug use and smoking also belong to the field of drunkenness; if you have suffered or are suffering from these sinful addictions, include them in the list of sins.
Idle talk. Let us recall the terrible word of the Lord Himself: I tell you that for every idle word that people say, they will give an answer on the day of judgment: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:36-37).
And here is the patristic recipe for how to behave if the situation and conversations in the company are conducive to idle talk: “If you don’t have a special need to stay, then leave; and when there is a need to stay, then turn your mind to prayer, not condemning idle talkers, but knowing your own weakness.”
Reverend John the Prophet
St. Ephraim the Syrian expands the concept of idle talk: “And what is an idle word? A promise of faith not kept in practice. A person believes and confesses Christ, but remains idle, does not do what Christ commanded. And in another case, the word is idle - namely, when a person confesses and does not correct himself, when he says that he repents, and sins again. And a bad review of another is an idle word, because it recounts what has not been done and what it does not see.
Despondency. This sin is often directly related to idle talk:
“Despondency is often one of the branches, one of the first offspring of verbosity ... Despondency is the relaxation of the soul, the exhaustion of the mind ... a slanderer of God, as if He is unmerciful and inhumane; in psalmody it is weak, in prayer it is weak... in obedience it is hypocritical.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Laziness, as we see, it is closely connected with the passion of despondency. The Orthodox catechism lists "laziness in relation to the teaching of piety, prayer and public worship" among the sins against the 1st commandment of the Law of God.
And here is a patristic observation from monastic life, valid for the world: “The lazy, when they see that they are assigned difficult tasks, then they try to prefer prayer to them; but if the deeds of service are easy, then they run away from prayer as from fire.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Contradiction.“Bind your tongue, frantically striving for contradiction, and seventy times seven times a day fight with this tormentor,” the holy fathers teach in the words of John of the Ladder. “Whoever in a conversation stubbornly wishes to insist on his opinion, even if it is fair, let him know that he is possessed by a diabolical illness; and if he does this in conversation with equals, then perhaps the rebuke of the elders will heal him; but if he treats the big and the wisest in this way, then this disease from people cannot be cured.
Disobedience.“The one who disobeys the word without a doubt does not obey the deed, for whoever is unfaithful in word is adamant in deed,” - this is how St. John of the Ladder connects disobedience with contradiction. Everything in the Church is built on obedience; we must obey everyone and everyone whom the Lord has placed over us. Complete obedience in matters of spiritual life is necessary in relation to the spiritual father, in general, to pastors and spiritual teachers: Obey your leaders and be submissive, for they watch over your souls vigilantly, as if they were obliged to give an answer; so that they do it with joy, and not with sighing, for it is not useful for you (Heb. 13:17). But complete and unquestioning obedience (in everything that does not contradict faith and the Law of God: We must obey God rather than men - Acts. 5, 29) should be rendered by the wife to her husband, and children who have not yet created their own family - to their parents. The Apostle Paul speaks of obedience to those in authority: The boss is God's servant, it's good for you ... And therefore it is necessary to obey not only out of fear of punishment, but also for conscience (Rom. 13:4-5). Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh tells that he was drafted into the army, having already given monastic vows, but not taking tonsure. When asked how he could fulfill his obedience in the army, the confessor replied: “It’s very simple: consider that everyone who gives you an order speaks in the name of God, and do it not only externally, but with all your insides; consider that every patient who requires help will call - your master; serve him like a bought slave."
slander– a direct violation of the 9th commandment of the Law of God (Do not bear false witness against your neighbor – Ref. 20, 16). Any slander, any gossip and gossip, any unfair censure is slander. Almost certainly leads to slander condemnation neighbor, expressly forbidden by the Lord: Judge not lest ye be judged (Matthew 7:1). Therefore, you are inexcusable, every person who judges another, for with the same judgment with which you judge another, you condemn yourself, because, judging another, you do the same. (Rom. 2:1).
“Just as fire is disgusting to water, so it is unkind to a penitent to judge. If you saw someone sinning even at the very departure of the soul from the body, then do not condemn him either, for the judgment of God is unknown to people. Some clearly fell into great sins, but committed great virtues in secret; and those who loved to ridicule them were deceived, chasing the smoke and not seeing the sun.” “Experience has proven that for what sins, bodily or spiritual, we condemn our neighbor, we ourselves fall into those.”
Saint John of the Ladder
neglect- negligent fulfillment of the duties assigned to us by God, or even neglect of them. Neglect at work, neglect of one's household and family duties, neglect of prayer...
pride Abba Dorotheos calls the root of all passions, and St. Ephraim the Syrian is the mother of all evil.
Self-love is a passionate reckless love of the body. Its opposite is love and temperance. Obviously, he who has self-love has all the passions.
Saint Maximus the Confessor
Multi-acquisition. Covetousness... is idolatry, - says the Apostle Paul (Col. 3.5). In another letter he writes: The love of money is the root of all evil, which, having given way, some have deviated from the faith and subjected themselves to many sorrows. (Tim. 6:10). Acquisition is a passion love of money, included in the eight main passions, in action: any hoarding, addiction to various objects, stinginess and, conversely, wastefulness.
“He who loves earthly things more than heavenly things will lose both heavenly and earthly things.”
Abba Eugene (Skete Patericon)
“The rich man is entangled in cares and, like a dog, is tied with a chain.”
Venerable Nil of Sinai
Affluence is not trusting in God. And so do not worry and do not say: what shall we eat? or what to drink? Or what to wear? because the Gentiles are looking for all this, and because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33).
“Why do we not cast off all useless cares and lighten ourselves from the burden of earthly things? Do you not know that the door is narrow and cramped, and that the covetous cannot enter it? Let us seek only that which satisfies our needs; for the superfluous only entertains, but does not bring any benefit.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
Theft. This concept includes not only any theft, but also any use of what is “badly lying”: for example, “read a book in the library or with friends. Particularly severe form of theft - sacrilege- "appropriation of what is dedicated to God and what belongs to the Church" ( cm.“Orthodox Catechism”), that is, not only the direct theft of sacred objects, but also: to take, without asking for the priest’s blessing, donated to the canon or brought to the temple by benefactors for distribution, etc.
Irregularity- any lie with a word. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who speak the truth are pleasing to Him (Prov. 12, 22). Therefore, putting aside falsehood, speak the truth each one to his neighbor, for we are members of one another. (Eph. 4:25).
We must remember that there is no "innocent" lie, any lie is not from God. “A lie, in which there is no intention to harm one’s neighbor, is impermissible, because it does not agree with love and respect for one’s neighbor and is not worthy of a person, and especially a Christian, created for truth and love,” says St. Philaret in his “Orthodox Catechism.”
bad business- making a profit, profit in a bad, unrighteous way. The concept can include any body kit, measurement, deceit, but also any earnings that bring evil to people - for example, based on the satisfaction or incitement of sinful passions. The falsification of any documents and the use of forged documents (for example, travel tickets), the purchase of stolen goods on the cheap are also bad business. This also applies to parasitism,“when they receive a salary for a position or payment for a cause, but they do not fulfill their positions and deeds and, thus, they steal both the salary or payment, and the benefit that labor could bring to society or to the one for whom they should have worked” ( cm."Orthodox Catechism").
mischief- covetousness, greed mshela- gain. This includes all types of extortion and bribery. And, since this sin is included in the prayer of repentance for all Orthodox Christians, you should carefully consider your life and discover its manifestations in it.
Jealousy- jealousy of all kinds.
Envy."Whoever envies his neighbor, he rebels against God, the giver of gifts."
Saint John Chrysostom
“He who is stung by envy and rivalry is pathetic, because he is an accomplice of the devil, whose envy death entered the world (Wisdom 2, 24) ... envy and rivalry are a terrible poison: slander, hatred and murder are born from them.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
Anger one of the eight major passions.
“For whatever reason, the movement of anger kindles, it blinds the eyes of the heart and, putting a cover on the sharpness of mental vision, does not allow the Sun of truth to be seen. It doesn’t matter whether it is a gold leaf, or lead, or from some other metal it will be superimposed on the eyes - the value of metals does not make a difference in blinding.
Rev. John Cassian the Roman
“Just as with the appearance of light, darkness is removed, so from the fragrance of humility, all grief and anger disappear.”
Saint John of the Ladder
memory malice“there is the last limit of anger, the keeping in memory of sins against our neighbor, the aversion of the image of justification (God has determined: “forgive and it will be forgiven”” - cf. a worm, shame to pray (as you say: “leave it, like we…””?), a nail driven into the soul, unceasing sin, vigilant lawlessness, hourly evil.”
Saint John of the Ladder
“Just as smoke from smoldering straw eats the eyes, so does remembrance eat the mind during prayer.”
Venerable Nil of Sinai
“If you bear a grudge against someone, pray for him; and, by prayer separating sorrow from the memory of the evil he has done you, you will stop the movement of passion; if you become friendly and philanthropic, you will completely banish passion from your soul.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
“The one who tamed anger stopped the birth and remembrance of malice; for childbearing comes only from a living father.”
Saint John of the Ladder
Hatred. He who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (John 2:11). Whoever hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has everlasting life; he who dwells in him (1 John 3:15). Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1 John 4:20).
covetousness- “when, under the guise of some right, but in reality with a violation of justice and philanthropy, they turn for their own benefit someone else’s property or someone else’s labor, or even the very disasters of their neighbors, for example, when lenders burden debtors with growth (loan interest), when owners exhaust those who depend from them by excessive taxes or work, if during a famine they sell bread at too high a price" ( cm."Orthodox Catechism"). In a broad sense, the word covetousness means in general covetousness, greed (passion for avarice); in this sense the word is used in the New Testament (Rom. 1:29; 2 Cor. 9:5; Eph. 4:19 and 5:3; Col. 3:5).
Serious sins committed during life, from among those that are not directly named in this prayer, should be included in it, and not “summed up” under one of the points (for example, blasphemy, grumbling against God, or attempting suicide, or killing the unborn children - abortion, etc.). In particular, this list does not contain sins related to the passion of fornication (and among them such as adultery and any extramarital cohabitation, and all violations of purity and chastity), and to the passion of pride, which is rightfully considered the most terrible of passions.
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