Envy is the daughter of pride: kill a mother, and her daughter will perish.

Blessed Augustine

Painful passion

The holy fathers say that if everyone has everything, then there will be no place for love. Each of the passions (pride, love of money, gluttony, despondency, fornication, anger, envy) begins with sinful thoughts. The thought that has arisen begins to manifest itself in a person and develop.

One of the heinous human vices is envy. Envy is an everyday feeling on the one hand, and illogical on the other. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk wrote about her: “A painful passion! In other sins, there is some kind of sweetness, although imaginary, but the envious one sins, and suffers greatly.

All sins involve personal gain or some form of pleasure. Envy, however, does not want good for itself, but evil for the neighbor, and the perversion of human nature comes from satanic envy. Envy is the product of one's own unrealized greed.

St. Isaac the Syrian writes, “If you find envy, you will find the devil with it.” A person possessed by envy is not capable of a charitable life, there is no love for God and neighbors in his heart, envy corrodes his soul.

According to John the Theologian, "...do not love your brother, he abides in death" (1 John 3:14).

An envious person is deprived of God's mind. Where there is envy, there is no love. Strictly speaking, envy is a diabolical state of mind that deprives a person of virtue. Reflecting on what envy is, Saint Basil the Great said, “Envy is sorrow for the well-being of one’s neighbor.” A proud person cannot put up with the fact that someone is smarter, more beautiful, richer, more successful. After all, if for the proud man he himself is at the center of being, then who can prevent him from occupying this place? And the appearance of anyone who seems more successful and significant causes a person overwhelmed with pride, the deepest inner pain.

Envy does not lead to good. The highest angel was not content with his position, he envied God and was cast down from heaven. The first man Adam was not satisfied with being in paradise, he wanted to be “like a Bozi”, and was expelled from paradise.

It was envy that prompted Cain to kill his brother Abel. “Cain brought from the fruits of the earth a gift to the Lord. And Abel also brought from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat. And the Lord looked upon Abel and upon his gift; but he did not regard Cain and his gift. Cain was very upset, and his face drooped ... And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said: I don't know; Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, what have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:3-5, 8-10).

Envy surrounded Jesus Christ, followed Him throughout the entire time of His stay on earth. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the wise men, having come to Herod, asked him where the born King of the Jews, Herod's first thought was: “But will He not encroach on the kingdom?” And Herod kills all the babies in Bethlehem and its environs from two years old and under. But even here God wins, because in the end the killed babies became martyrs for Christ and went straight to the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ Himself was preserved by divine action for His service.

When Christ began to preach for the first time, the authority of the Pharisees and scribes began to fall. They taught people how to observe the traditions and traditions of the elders, and He said that the main thing is to worship and honor God in your heart. They saw that thousands of people were following Him, and they were retreating from them. Both the Pharisees and the scribes became jealous of Jesus. They realized that as long as He lived, their teaching would have no power. And they decide to put Him to death.

Datura envy

Envy is essentially sadness for the well-being of one's neighbor. The envious person is constantly in sin. Since he does not want to see his neighbor in prosperity, Envy does not allow the mind to develop, excites the basest thoughts and actions and denies the soul freedom of choice, following on the heels of the object of desire. Envy brings sadness to its bearer. The reason for the development of envy is the personal qualities of a person: selfishness, selfishness, vanity, ambition.

It is envy that reveals the absurdity of pride. Reflecting on envy, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk said: “Other vices and passions at least have an imaginary delight, but the envious sin and suffer.” Indeed, if other vices are accompanied by at least imaginary, but still pleasure, then envy is pain and always only pain, and no, even imaginary, pleasure.

An overestimated level of a person's claims that have not been realized always leave in the soul a feeling of dissatisfaction, sadness, bitterness, annoyance. And sadness comes when any passion has not found satisfaction.

Holy Martyr Cyprian of Carthage wrote “And what a worm it is for the soul, what poison for thoughts, what rust for the heart - to be jealous of the valor or happiness of another, that is, to hate in him either his own merits, or the blessings of God ...... And how jealousy never leaves the envious, then the heart, day and night possessed by her, is tormented unceasingly.

Envy intoxicates a person. It makes him think that another person is the barrier between him and God, or between him and some earthly goods. The envious think that there is only one place on this earth, and this place belongs only to him. However, there is a place on earth for every person, and everyone can realize their potential: spiritual, professional, human. Each person has their own differences and you can always find something that distinguishes you. And there is no need to envy anyone else. And if we do not realize ourselves for some reason, then these reasons are primarily in ourselves, and not in other people.

St. John Chrysostom states: “An envious person considers the misfortunes of others as his happiness, and the well-being of others as his misfortune. The poor are not so much grieved by their poverty as the envious are grieved by the well-being of their neighbor; what could be more vile than this?

Wise Solomon calls envy rottenness of the bones (Prov. 14:30). Bones affected by rot hurt, break easily from stress. Envy makes people morally ill

Envy manifests in a person ingratitude towards God and pride. The holy Apostle James says, “Where envy and strife are, there is confusion and every evil thing” (James 3:16). Because of the envy that arose in the past, but not eradicated, people lose and refuse many years of friendship. Envy breeds hostility between people.

An envious person cannot be blessed.

About own belittling

We always forget the gospel truth: a hair will not fall from a man's head without the will of God. Nothing happens by accident. More Pascal. said that "chance is a pseudonym under which God operates in the world."

We believe in our eternal life, because as Dante said: “I affirm that of all human bestiality, the most stupid, meanest and most harmful is to believe that after this life there will be no other.”

As a result of his earthly life, an envious person may end up in hell, and there the hateful envy will again be torment for him (one of the ordeals), since he will see the blessings of the righteous and their joy. He himself will be in a state of torment and suffer even more from this, since “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).

Each person should evaluate himself realistically in this life and know his place. Often we overestimate ourselves, our strengths, our capabilities.

John the Baptist, despite being pushed to be jealous of Christ, knew his mission: he knew that he was called to “prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight His paths” (Mark 1:2), that is, to prepare people for the coming of Christ . And when Christ came, he joyfully said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). Here is an example for each of us.

Without God's help it is impossible to overcome any passion. In this struggle, it is important to recognize and acknowledge your sinfulness.

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov said: “Better is a sinner who is aware of himself as a sinner than a righteous man who is aware of himself as a righteous man.” This truth is the main one.

The Lord himself knows what is good for man. The Lord will always give what and when a person needs.

From the Gospel, it is clear that the publicans, adulterers felt themselves sinful, recognized their sinfulness, but the scribes and Pharisees did not. They were immersed not in gross sinful pleasures, but in more subtle sins, which is even more terrible. It is good for a person if he wants to get rid of his passion of “envy”. And Christ shows us the path we need to follow in order to get rid of vice. Sincere repentance, awareness of one's weakness, truthfulness, repentance, courage and compulsion not to act at the behest of passions - this is the cure.

The realization that each person is a child of God, with his own characteristics, with his own differences from others, helps us to feel a sense of respect for other people. And from respect, the path is already close to feeling love in the heart. Envy never allows a person to love another, which means that envy is the most terrible obstacle to the implementation of the main Divine commandment about love for God and neighbor (see Matt. 22:35-40).

Saint Theophan says: “You must hasten to arouse good feelings, especially for the one you envy, and discover him by deed. Jealousy will subside immediately."

To understand that you are doing something wrong, you need to pray, ask God to reveal these sins. We need confession and communion.

If there were no envy, then peace and tranquility, peace and prosperity would surround us. To do good to our neighbor would be our heart's pleasure, to see the happiness of a brother would be our happiness.

If there were no envy, our actions and desires would be controlled only by love, which wishes everyone well. But where there is envy, there is disorder, there everything is bad. The envious, like a night thief, undermines, destroys the well-being of his neighbor, and only then calms down when he reaches his goal. To deprive someone of happiness, to see him in misery - this is the goal towards which envy strives. Lies, slander, deceit, low slyness, flattery before the highest - these are the properties of envy. Envy brings a lot of evil and harm to human society, trying to harm people's happiness, destroying the Christian world between neighbors.

The Lord said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (John 14:6) This means that He is both the Way, the Goal, and the Means to an end.

Everything that belongs to a person cannot and should not be considered important and great, and therefore cannot be an object of envy. For a Christian, true blessings should be heavenly blessings, and everything else: health, wealth, honors - is perishable, temporary and should not give rise to envy.

Bibliography

Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) On envy lib.eparhia-saratov.ru/books/10k/ki

Patriarch Kirill: You can deal with envy by recognizing the uniqueness of each person in God's plan March 20, 2013 pravmir.ru/z

Bishop Hilarion (Alfeev). "You are the light of the world!" M., 2001.

Archpriest Valerian Krechetov Envy pravmir.ru/

Sermons On Envy lib.eparhia-saratov.ru/books/10k/ki.

"How to deal with envy?" Patriarchy. RU

Rev. Nil Sorsky "On the eight main passions" hesychasm.ru/library/nilsor1/tx.

Alexandra.Sokolovsky

Is it possible to overcome the sin of envy, is there white envy, what is jealousy and how to rejoice in a loss, says Archpriest Igor Gagarin, rector of the John the Baptist Church in the village of Ivanovskoye.

- Father Igor, what is envy, what does it come from and what are its consequences?
- All people are conditionally divided into those who want him to be better, and those who want him to be better. A person who strives to be better is on the wrong path, because only the path on which we try to become better ourselves can be endless both in this life and in the next.
Seeing that your friend, neighbor, acquaintance has something better than you yourself is a serious enough reason for damaged human nature to start experiencing unkind feelings towards this person.

There are sins against God, against neighbors, and against oneself. Envy at the initial stage is a sin against myself, this feeling destroys me. But if this feeling is set in motion, if it grows, it will develop into a sin against one's neighbor.
At first glance, in life, envy does not bother people much. We know that it is forbidden to kill, rob, insult, but to envy - well, it’s not good, that’s all. How monstrous and disgusting envy is is not always realized. But the most terrible crimes in the history of the world were based precisely on envy.
Let's start with how evil entered this world - with the fall of the morning star. It is clear that this is a classic example of envy: envy of the Creator, the desire to be equal, even higher than Him. Further, original sin: the initiative belonged to the snake, the enemy of the human race, which, out of envy of man, decides to destroy him. Having lost closeness to God and seeing that there is a being created in His image, has the opportunity to unite with Him, to deify, the serpent experiences envy.
Then the very first crime that was committed between people: Cain kills Abel - the reason is again envy. And so on. If we start reading the Holy Scriptures, we will find many more examples of how envy pushes people to the most heinous crimes: the brothers sell Joseph into slavery, for example, or, finally, the crime of all crimes is the crucifixion of Christ. Envy was not the only reason that prompted the Pharisees, scribes, high priests to kill Christ, but it was one of the reasons.
This is clearly stated in the Gospel of Matthew: “So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them: whom do you want me to release you: Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ? For he knew that they had betrayed him out of envy.” Therefore, when you discover signs of envy in yourself, you need to be very clearly aware that you are embarking on a path that leads to a terrible abyss.
- Many sins are committed by us out of a desire for pleasure, but what is pleasant in envy, it seems that this sin brings only torment?
Indeed, there is no pleasure in envy. The tenth commandment is this: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is with your neighbor" - the only commandment concerning the inner experiences of man. If in the New Testament the Lord speaks a lot about what is in a person’s heart, then in the Old Testament the commandments almost do not touch the heart of a person, the area of ​​his desires, but only the last one: “do not desire.”
And here it is necessary to understand what envy is. There are two extremes: when a person does not notice envy at all, does not recognize it, and when a person torments himself for such feelings that it is difficult to call envy.
As a priest, I often hear in confession, for example, from a sick person: “I am a sinner, I envy, I am bitter that everyone is healthy, but I am not.” But this is natural: if I am sick, and there are healthy people nearby, then of course, I am bitter that I do not have this. This is the threshold of envy: when a person experiences sadness that he does not have what another has - health, a good job, a husband.
And here it is necessary to very clearly build a barrier and not allow the sadness that my situation is worse to develop into an unkind feeling, and then into unkind actions towards another. Here is the sequence: first, sadness that I am not as good as the other; then an unkind feeling towards this person; and then this unkind feeling leads to unkind deeds: from condemnation, denigration of another to terrible actions against him.
Having caught myself on the fact that I am bitter, I need to put up a barrier, and vice versa, set myself up to be happy for another.
I really like the example from the story about the ancient Spartans. It is known that the best warriors, the most honorable, the guards of the king, were three hundred Spartans. And there was one Spartan who participated in the competition, but did not get into the number of three hundred. And so he returned after the competition with joy on his face, and everyone was surprised: “What are you happy about, you lost?” He answered: "I am very glad that in Sparta there were three hundred people who are better than me." And it's great, he knew his own worth, but he was glad that three hundred is even more worthy, better than him.
The nobility of a person lies in the fact that, seeing that someone has something better than mine, rejoice for him or at least look for this joy, ask God for it, understand that this is really noble, beautiful feeling.


Is it possible to overcome envy?
– Of course, it is possible, like any other vice. The scheme here is the same for all vices: the first thing that is required is honesty with oneself. Repentance is already half the battle, when a person, having discovered envy in himself, realizes it precisely as envy, and not some just feeling, and honestly admits to himself and God, repents.
Then, there is a very important point, which in the language of folk proverbs can be voiced like this: “you can’t command your heart.” We all know very well that as soon as you start to order something to the heart, it immediately begins to show disobedience. If you say to yourself: do not think about something - you will certainly think, do not wish for something - you will certainly wish.
Therefore, one must immediately clearly realize: a person is not able to change his heart, his feelings, it is entirely in the hands of God, but it is in the human power to give a correct assessment of what is happening in his heart, that is, to agree with what is happening or disagree.
If we justify ourselves in an unkind feeling of envy, we believe that this is a legitimate feeling, then this is a disaster, and a person has embarked on a path that can lead to a crime: because of this, they break windows, pierce the wheels of cars, go to fortune tellers, write anonymous letters, spread gossip.
There are plenty of ways to let go of your feelings, if the person is sure that this feeling is right. But if I realize that I do not agree with this feeling, it is no longer my fault that I have it. At one time, a thought that I read in the diary of Father John of Kronstadt helped me a lot. He says that if we feel in our soul some feeling of condemnation, anger, but we do not agree with this feeling, and do not recognize it as our own, then we are not responsible for it before God until we do or not say something under the influence of this feeling.
At one time, when I began to become churched, I often had a certain feeling, of which I was very ashamed, a certain obsessive thought. I began to reproach myself in every way, to scold, and naturally, the more I drove this thought, the more insistently it came. As soon as I read Father John of Kronstadt, I realized that I did not need to pay attention to this feeling, that the most important thing was to firmly decide that this was not mine, I did not want it - and calm down. You need to treat it as if someone from outside is trying to impose something on me, something that is not mine. And I stopped reproaching and scolding myself, and as soon as this feeling came, I mentally said: “Lord, it’s not mine, I don’t want this.” And everything passed.
So to feel something is not in my power, but to say something, to perform an act means to let it out, to succumb to this feeling, to agree with it. And of course, we must pray - this is always the very first remedy. The person I envy should be one of the first on my list of prayer commemoration. As we read in evening prayers: first, “forgive those who hate and offend us,” and then only “do good to those who do good.”
We must first pray for the people for whom I have an unkind feeling, but if it does not go away, then it will not hurt to write a separate note and submit it to the church for those people for whom I will experience an un-Christian feeling. Thus, we testify before God that we do not want these feelings, we want to have love, but we understand that only God can give this love.
Feeling dislike is natural, but there is a supernatural thing—the grace of the Holy Spirit that can change our feelings. You also need to talk about it in confession. Often I ask, "Do you agree with this feeling?" "Not". "Do you want it to be gone?" "Want". So, do not torture yourself, you are not to blame, but you need to confirm your “I want” with deeds.


– We are all equal before God, but equality in the world is impossible. How to learn to put up with life, which is given to someone, but not to me.
- For a non-believer, this is really a problem: when life is measured as a segment between a maternity hospital and a cemetery, it’s a shame that someone has been given, but I haven’t. But for a believer, everything is simple here: if we see our life in the perspective of eternity, then we understand that it is too early here and now to decide who is given what.
In life, I personally know many examples when people were prosperous, successful, they really had something to envy, and suddenly some changes happened, and they lost everything, found themselves in a helpless position.
If I believe in God, in eternal life, then I know that no hardships, difficult circumstances prevent me from reaching the greatest gift that must be sought: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you.” Entry into the kingdom is more likely to be hindered by things that make people envious, such as "it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."
Is it bad to want to please others? When I put on a beautiful dress and imagine everyone's delight at the sight of me, does it mean that I want to be envied?
We are human after all, and nothing human is alien to us. Probably, it would be correct to say: yes, no one needs to like you, you need to dress in such a way that no one notices you. But that would sound hypocritical. When women come to me and talk about their doubts, I want to say: “You are a woman, why do you need to be scary”, on the contrary, I cannot demand that a person look bad.
Of course, everything should be within the framework, but we love everything around us to be beautiful and people are beautiful, is that bad? And it doesn’t have to cause envy at all, I’m just pleased that there are beautiful, smart people around me. A person prone to envy will always find something to envy.
Imagine the opposite case: everyone around will be untidy, dirty, poorly dressed, will it be pleasant for others? In no case should we be very interested in our appearance, we should understand that the main thing is inner beauty, but completely neglecting our appearance is another extreme. Everything should be in moderation.

- Works of mercy - a remedy for envy? But the involuntary relief that I am not as unhappy as this suffering patient, is that the other side of envy?
- When caring for the sick - and as a priest I often have to admonish the sick - we often do not feel joy, but perceive someone else's illness as a reminder that today he is, and tomorrow you, that all this can be with you, and you need to appreciate every day. Most illnesses come suddenly, unexpectedly, to people who least expected it, and there should be an understanding that we can all drink this cup.
- Can not envy become an incentive for development: here, I can’t swim, but I see how others have learned, and I also want to; or a friend has such a beautiful, clean house, will I also be more careful? Is there a "white envy"?
I wouldn't even call it envy. Envy - only black and no more. But the figurative expression “to envy white envy” means simply to be happy for another. And here, it seems to me, the word jealousy is more appropriate. Yes, I was stuck that he could, but I - no. And, as a rule, this is a good feeling, the very word competition comes from the word jealousy. Healthy, good jealousy often pushed people to beautiful, noble deeds.
I remember an example of such jealousy - Blessed Augustine. He hesitated for a long time whether to accept holy baptism, although he had already believed in Christ with all his heart, he understood that the truth was in Christ. The Confession perfectly describes an episode when a man comes to Augustine and tells about Anthony the Great and about two young people who were very successful, had a wonderful future, beautiful brides, but after reading the life of Anthony the Great, they abandoned everything, abandoned everything and began to monks.
And this captured Augustine, he turned to his friend with tears: what is it, the boys are stealing the Kingdom of Heaven! And under the influence of this feeling, he ultimately makes the decision that he could not make for a long time. What is it, envy? No, of course, this is jealousy, he did not have a shadow of malicious intent either towards Anthony the Great or towards these young people, but it was just an insult: how is it that they found these forces in themselves, but I didn’t? I can do that too!
Or the example of Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, who were friends and competed with each other in virtues. I always thought it was one of the most beautiful kinds of friendship. In Athens, they knew only two roads - to the temple of God and to the Academy where they studied, but at the same time, each tried to get around the other in virtues, and when one succeeded, the other tried even more. This competition did not in the least interfere with their friendship, it was a friendly competition in a good way. And of course, such jealousy has nothing to do with envy.


- How then not to be afraid to be worse than others in society, how to come to terms with the fact that I have not been given any talents, that in some ways I will definitely not be better?
- I was once inspired by such words: "true greatness is greatness in kindness." And then no one can stop us. Yes, being a musician, a poet, and so on is not given to everyone, but everyone is given the opportunity to achieve greatness in kindness. And we must strive to have as much goodness and love in us as possible. And in parallel with this, all other issues will be resolved, because the more love I have, the less I worry that there is nothing else in me.
- Is marital jealousy also a kind of envy?
– Here, too, everything is ambiguous. If I love one of the people very much and I see that this person loves someone else more than me, then it hurts, and we call this pain jealousy. One needs to have the wisdom to accept it. God has blessed us to love each other, but if the highest and most beautiful feelings that can be between people - marital love, one of the spouses tramples, it is very bitter and painful.
Such jealousy is humanly understandable, but then a person can begin to do evil. It is important to be able to say like Pushkin; “I loved you so sincerely, so tenderly, as God forbid you be loved to be different,” let go of the person.
God is also jealous, repeatedly in the Holy Scriptures it is said that God jealously expects love from us. He wants us to love Him with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our strength, above all else. And if a person loves someone or something more than God, then God does not like it.


- But it happens that when life circumstances improve, friends disappear; how to keep friendship, how to show that you haven't changed?
- In general, everything usually happens the other way around: the more successful a person is, the more friends he has. Like the prodigal son: at first he had many friends, and then, as soon as he "squandered his possessions", everyone left him. True friendship in any case does not depend on what I have, but depends on my personal qualities. If some friends have moved away from me because it seems to them that I have become different, then, first of all, this is a reason to ask yourself: maybe they are right?
Indeed, of the three tests: fire, water and copper pipes, copper pipes are the most difficult, by this one can understand any success in life, not only glory and honor, but also material well-being, when a person in life has achieved what others failed. And here, on the one hand, I must be careful that nothing changes in me under the influence of these changes, and on the other hand, if someone attacks, there is no need to indulge. If it seems to someone that I am arrogant, but the accusations are unfounded, then this person’s attitude towards me was not initially clean.
- And if I know that my work colleague is jealous of me, what should I do, I can’t help but meet with him? Can I remake an envious person?
“We can’t change anyone, even ourselves it’s difficult. We must try to act like a Christian. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,” says the apostle Paul. This person should be treated as leniently as possible, pray for him and hope that in time it will pass.
Envy is a disease, often people who cultivate unkind feelings in themselves suffer a lot. I once encountered a man who was obviously showing unchristian feelings towards other parishioners. I wanted to say: “What are you doing, you are a Christian!”
And suddenly he comes to me for confession and begins to say with tears himself everything that I wanted to tell him: that he sees his evil heart, understands everything himself, but cannot control himself. And here, of course, we can only help with a good disposition.
When I feel a clearly unkind attitude, there is a temptation to respond in kind - a normal human reaction. Normal, but not Christian. Here it is just necessary to look at a person as a suffering patient, patiently wait for something to change in him, and pray for him.
People often think that if they did evil to me, then victory lies in reciprocal evil, and whoever is the last wins. But in fact, the greatest victory that a person can achieve over another is to overcome evil with good.

The judgment of Osiris is underway. The soul of an ancient Egyptian fell on him. On the scales held by the god Anubis, the heart of the deceased is weighed. See if your heart is heavy Is it full of anger, sadness, greed and envy. If the heart turns out to be heavier than the feather that lies on the other side of the scale, then it will be eaten by the god Amat with the head of a crocodile. He can not hope for enlightenment (read: the Kingdom of Heaven, eternal absolute happiness, Moksha in different religions) ...

We have described to you an image from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Four thousand years ago, envy was considered one of the states that were destructive to the soul and blocked its path to another bright world.

Envy ... It destroys a person from the inside, although it is associated with situations that occur outside of him. It is able to settle in the soul of a person, regardless of temperament, age, experience, status. It doesn't matter who you are: a millionaire or an unemployed person, a show business star or a housewife, a student or a famous athlete. This destructive and sinful feeling can creep into your heart.

In this article, we will try to reveal how this destructive state was perceived thousands of years ago and is perceived now, how it was interpreted in different religions, and what are the results of modern research on this feeling.

What is sin?

If we turn to religion, then in both Christianity and Islam, those emotions and actions that involve pleasure and personal gain are considered sins. But there is another side: sinful feelings and deeds are aimed at self-destruction or the destruction of their own kind. Man is undoubtedly the highest creation of God. It is considered sinful everything that is aimed at causing harm to a Human (by himself or by other such Humans). Sins alienate from God, deprive a person of grace, change the state of his heart and change his activity.

Consider the harm done by the example of some sins that are recognized as deadly. On a note! The epithet "deadly" in this situation is allegorical, it indicates not physical death, but the death of the soul. After all, it is she who dies when, committing sins, a person falls away from God.

One of the sins is anger. Even in ancient times, people knew that anger is a poison. He poisons a person so much that he begins to look like a demoniac: he is indignant, curses and torments himself, forgets about the peace of mind. This state is destructive and acts very negatively.

Later, with the development of psychological sciences, anger was studied in more detail and its destructive nature was also proved. This strong emotion can result in a crime, because a person often directs it to the surrounding people and objects. Without control of himself, he can even kill a person. And if a negative emotion is not controlled and not learned to suppress, then it can lead to nervous exhaustion.

Take any sin: gluttony, fornication, despondency (laziness), greed, etc., they are all aimed at self-destruction.

What is envy?

On Wikipedia, we read that “envy is a socio-psychological construct that encompasses various forms of social behavior and feelings that arise in relation to those who have something that the envious person wants to have, but does not have.

Psychologists define envy as a negative mental state that leads to destructive feelings and actions for a person. A person seems unprotected from the successes of others: they are perceived as injustice, reduce self-esteem.

Envy in Christianity and Biblical Tales

• Envy is a diabolical state of mind.
• This is sadness that everything is fine with your neighbor.
• The source of envy is pride: after all, a proud person cannot tolerate and accept that another has something that he does not have.
• Envy is the opposite of love.
• “If you acquire envy, you will acquire the devil with it” (St. Isaac the Syrian).

Such definitions of envy were given by the holy fathers in different centuries. All of them are united by one thing: the complete conviction that this feeling has a destructive beginning for the person himself, in whose heart a “worm” has settled and gnaws at him day and night, making him deeply unhappy.

What is the essence of envy, according to church ministers? They believe that everyone is given exactly as much as is predetermined by God's plan. Envy gives rise to the desire to possess what the other has, but you do not have. It comes into conflict with the plan of God and puts a person in a kind of "confrontation" with the Lord, that is, on the side of the Devil.

Wikipedia outlines several stages in the development of this harmful feeling:

1. inappropriate rivalry;
2. zeal with vexation;
3. censure (slander) in relation to the one towards whom envy is experienced.

These stages are indicated in the work "On Envy" by St. Ambrose of Optina. It also contains a parable in which various pernicious passions were compared. Her main idea is that you cannot please an envious person:

“Once a Greek king wanted to know who was worse than a money-lover and envious. He called them both. The king told them that they had asked him for something, but let them know that he would give the second more than the first asked.

And the “competition” of the envious and the lover of money began in who would ask for more, and no one knew who to ask first. Then the king ordered the envious person to ask first. Then the envious one, driven by hatred for the money-lover, said: "Gouge out my eye."

The king was surprised by this request and wanted to know the reason for such a desire. The envious replied: "Then you will order my opponent to gouge out both eyes." This is the essence of envy: the person whom she has mastered desires harm to another so much that he is ready to harm even himself.

The story of Cain and Abel

According to the Bible and the Koran, the first manifestation of envy was a feeling that broke out in the heart of Cain. It deprived one of the blood brothers of God's mind and pushed him to murder. The essence of the story is that Cain and Abel brought gifts to the Lord: the first - the fruits of the earth, and the second - lambs. But God did not respect the gifts of Cain, for which he rebelled against Abel and killed him. There are up to a dozen interpretations of this story, but one thing is clear that the feeling of envy led to the murder, to the destruction of one's neighbor.

The story of Joseph and his brothers

The sons of Jacob were jealous of their brother Joseph, because his father singled him out from the rest and loved him more than all of them. Envy in their hearts boiled even more when He told about his dreams. The interpretation of Joseph's dreams was unequivocal: it indicated that in the future he would dominate the brothers.

Overwhelmed by envy, the brothers decided to destroy their brother: first they threw him into a ditch so that he would meet his death there, then, in order not to take on the sin of murder, they sold him into slavery to merchants passing by.

The story of David and the envy of King Saul

Davil served King Saul and, as a warrior, was distinguished by his courage. When they returned after the victory over the Philistines, the people greeted them with the words: "King Saul defeated thousands, and David - tens of thousands." Then the worm of envy settled in Saul's heart and he decided to get rid of David, but he did not know that the Lord was with him. He tried to kill him several times, but the king failed.

Perhaps the most famous example of destructive envy is the tragic situation of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees and scribes, driven by envy and a thirst for primacy and power, did everything so that Christ would be crucified and die on the cross.

Envy can sneak into the soul of anyone: both a monarch and a commoner, a person of any status and age. Psychologists note that people over 50 are less envious. I think this is due to the fact that with age you begin to appreciate what you have more and not waste your mental strength on comparing yourself with others.

Envy in Buddhism

In the sacred book of Buddhism - the Tibetan Book of the Dead - envy is not included in the 5 major sins (they are called "limitless": inciting strife between religious communities, father and matricide, killing a saint and shedding the blood of a Buddha. Envy has a higher and lower manifestation. In the first case, it personifies perseverance, the desire to achieve a goal and fearlessness (there are similarities with the characteristics of "white envy" in our understanding, right?) In the second, lower manifestation, envy is similar to a deadly poison and is in the same row as hatred, lust, pride and stupidity.But the difference from the Christian and modern interpretation of this sin is that this feeling is considered harmful not because of the pain that it causes to the envious person and others.The destructive power of envy is that it is not envy allows the deceased to be reborn, as it fetters his consciousness with memories of earthly life.

On the destructive power of envy through the eyes of psychologists

Undoubtedly, in psychology, envy is considered a destructive feeling. Entire programs and algorithms have been created to overcome it. It is clear as daylight that this feeling must be fought, as it poisons a person's life. Rather, a person ceases to live in pleasure, turning every day into torment.

Experts distinguish two types of envy ...

• Unconscious. A person does not realize that he is experiencing negative emotions due to the fact that others work better, buy and have more. Being unconscious, the feeling disguises itself as a constant bad mood, irritability, depressive manifestations, dissatisfaction with life. If you do not work on eliminating these psychological problems, then it is fraught with neuroses, family and personal dramas - all that can irrevocably ruin a person's life.
• Conscious. It can be no less painful. A person experiencing envy understands that this feeling is socially condemned, that it is sinful (if he is a believer). This consciousness is accompanied by painful experiences and the desire to get rid of negative emotions (unless, of course, we are talking about a deeply immoral person).

Can negative feelings be overcome?

If a person has enough spiritual strength, motivation, opportunities, and most importantly, if he has a desire to get rid of a sinful feeling, then he will overcome it in a constructive way. Recognizing other people's successes, he will direct all his efforts to become better, more successful. In this situation, the “happiness of the neighbor” will become an impetus for him to achieve his own happiness. This type of envy is also called "white".

The situation is quite different with “black envy”. It is dangerous for the person himself or for others, in relation to whom it arose. The envious tries to get rid not of the emotion itself, but of the source that caused such a “storm” in him. Mental torment leads to aggression directed at oneself, at objects, at others and the desire to destroy the source of envy. Psychologists distinguish several types of destruction:

• Symbolic (tearing a photograph, turning to sorcerers, repeating thoughts and sincere belief that the other person’s luck will end there and misfortune will befall him).
• Psychological. It is expressed in bullying, humiliation, humiliation, spreading rumors. All these actions are aimed at spoiling the good relationship of the envied person and making him suffer.
• Physical (ruin, arson, removal from the road, etc.)
• Fatal-biological (murder).

All of these methods are destructive and are considered crimes. They clearly prove that we are dealing with a sinful feeling (although in this situation it is considered from a scientific point of view, and not through the prism of religion).

Psychologists are sure that envious people poison their lives, they are deeply unhappy, they perceive events negatively, they turn the joy and happiness of others into their own irritability, the success of others into their inferiority.

Envy is deadly. Wolfgang Gruber, an Austrian psychologist and psychosomatic specialist, has been doing research for many years. He is interested in how feelings and emotions lead to disease. He named the 5 most destructive feelings: envy, jealousy, greed, self-pity and self-flagellation. He proved that envy is a slow poison and increases the risk of a heart attack by 2.5 times.

envy in history

Some historians and researchers note that envy can also change the course of history, as, for example, it was at the beginning of the 20th century. In their opinion, the masses, driven by a sense of envy of what is higher and has already established qualities, staged a coup - the Russian revolution of 2017. They tried to achieve equality at all costs.

Is everyone equally prone to envy?

It is believed that not everyone is equally susceptible to this deadly sin. Psychologists note that children grow up envious through the fault of their parents. This happens when a child has been instilled with destructive attitudes:

• They were not taught to accept themselves for who they are.
• Not allowed to feel manifestations of unconditional love. Praise only for achieving certain goals is not what children need.
• Scolded for any non-compliance with the rules. They used physical punishments and spoke offensive words to him.
• They instilled attitudes that life is hard, earning money is difficult, wealth is bad, restrictions and sacrifice are normal.
• They were not allowed to use their own things at their own discretion.
• Developed a sense of guilt for joy, success, happiness.

The result of such an attitude and upbringing is a person who does not know how to enjoy life, is unsure of himself, with a large number of complexes and restrictions. Not knowing how to realize himself, he destroys the psyche with envy that arises in it.

It is important to convey to the child that comparing and identifying oneself with others is wrong. After all, it is the “worse-better” criterion that becomes the main one in assessing actions and achievements. It is impossible not to recall the words of church ministers: "What we sow, we reap", "Where there is no love, there is envy."

Both psychologists and church ministers are sure that it is necessary to eradicate envy in oneself, because it corrodes the soul, just as rust corrodes iron. It is her destructive nature that makes her the main sin, besides, envy does not go alone: ​​along with it, the love of power, “love of money”, crimes up to murder.

).

From envy, as from a source, comes death for us, deprivation of goods, alienation from God. (7, 165).

The devil rejoices in our death; he himself fell from envy and overthrows us with him with the same passion (7, 160).

Let us beware of envy, so as not to become accomplices of the enemy - the devil, and subsequently not be subjected to the same condemnation with him. Saint Basil the Great (7, 155).

If envy wrestles with you, remember that we are all members of Christ, and both the honor and dishonor of our neighbor are common with him - and you will calm down. (34, 97).

Woe to the envious, for they make themselves strangers to the Goodness of God. Rev. Abba Isaiah (34, 195).

Just as a worm that originates in a tree first of all eats the tree itself, so envy first of all crushes the soul that gave birth to it. And to the one whom he envies, he does not what he would like, but quite the opposite ... For the malice of the envious only brings great glory to those who are envied (for virtue), because those who suffer from envy bow down to God for help and use assistance from above, but he who envies the grace of God easily falls into the hands of all (38, 516).

For those who have not been freed from this disease, it is impossible to completely avoid the fire of hell prepared for the devil. And we will be freed from illness when we think about how Christ loved us and how He commanded us to love one another. (43, 561),

Let us avoid this pernicious passion and with all our might pluck it out of our souls. This is the most disastrous of all passions and harms our very salvation; this is the invention of the devil himself (38, 517).

When envy takes possession of the soul, it does not leave it before it will bring it to the last degree of recklessness. (38, 650).

Even if you give alms, even if you lead a sober life, even if you fast, you are the most criminal if you envy your brother. (42, 240).

The envious person lives in constant death, considers everyone his enemies, even those who have not offended him in any way. He mourns that honor is given to God; rejoices in what the devil rejoices (42, 384).

Envy is a terrible evil and full of hypocrisy. She filled the universe with countless disasters ... From her passion for glory and acquisition; from her lust for power and pride (42, 435).

Whatever evil you see, know that it is from envy. She also invaded churches. It has long been the cause of many evils. She gave birth to avarice. This disease has perverted everything and corrupted the truth (42, 435).

Weep and wail, weep and pray to God; learn to treat envy as a grave sin and repent of it. If you do this, you will soon be cured of this disease. (41, 432).

Nowadays, envy is not considered a vice either, which is why no one cares about getting rid of it. Saint John Chrysostom (41, 432).

The root of envy is pride

The root and beginning of envy is pride. The proud, because he wants to exalt himself above others, cannot tolerate anyone being equal to him, and especially above him, being in prosperity, and therefore he is indignant at his exaltation. A humble person cannot envy, for he sees and recognizes his unworthiness, while he considers others more worthy, and therefore has no indignation about their gifts. This passion is in those who think of themselves that they are something in the world, and dreaming so highly of themselves, they consider others to be nothing. The proud Saul is so indignant at the meek and humble David that the jubilant wives attributed more praise to him, as Saul himself says: “Tens of thousands were given to David, and thousands to me” (). Therefore, he began to persecute the innocent (104, 773).

The purpose of envy is to see the one whom one envies in trouble. It is born when the well-being of another begins; ceases when his well-being ends and misfortune begins. Thus, our forefathers were cast down by envy from high bliss into a distressed state. Envy taught Cain to rebel against his brother Abel and kill him. It's a matter of envy that Joseph was sold into Egypt. It must be attributed to envy that the Jews raised Christ, their Lord and Benefactor, to the Cross. Thus envy begins from pride, hatred from envy, malice from hatred; malice leads to the most unfortunate end. Therefore, Saint Chrysostom says: "The root of murder is envy." Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (104, 768).

Envy is more fatal and more difficult to cure than all vices, because it is even more inflamed by those medicines that stop the passions. For example, who mourns for the harm done to him, he is healed with a generous reward; whoever is indignant at the inflicted offense is pacified by a humble apology. And what will you do to someone who is even more offended by the fact that he sees you more humble and more friendly, who does not inflame anger with greed ... but irritates someone else's happiness. Who, in order to satisfy the envious, would want to be deprived of goods, lose happiness, be subjected to some kind of disaster?

Envy is the cause of all evil, but everything good is the enemy. Out of envy, Cain killed Abel. Esau persecuted Jacob, Saul persecuted David, and countless evils out of envy are going on in the world. Envy and hatred shut up Heaven, blind the mind, darken the soul, aggravate the conscience, sadden God, make demons glad. He who “hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going” (), - said the apostle. Envy cannot prefer what is useful: “where there is envy and strife,” says the apostle, “there is disorder” (). So, be thankful for your position, given to you by God; hold on to what God has given you, and do not envy those who are greater than you in prosperity and honor; what you are called to, in what you are arranged, stay in that, but do not be enviously jealous of more. Honor those clothed with honor from God and from people, and, answering them, be kind and humble. Do not envy the one to whom God has given something, and do not admire with pride for yourself, for no one can get anything for himself unless God gives him, for all power and honor is from God ... Saint Demetrius of Rostov (103, 1059-1060).

The inhabitants of Nazareth marveled at the word of the Lord, but still did not believe: envy prevented, as the Lord Himself revealed. And every passion is contrary to truth and goodness, but envy is more than all, because its essence is lies and malice. This passion is the most unjust and the most poisonous both for the one who wears it and for the one to whom it is directed. In small sizes, it happens to everyone, if an equal, and even worse, takes over. Selfishness is irritated, and envy begins to sharpen the heart. It is not yet so painful when the road is open to oneself; but when it is blocked by those for whom envy has already conceived, then I will not be able to restrain its aspirations, then peace is impossible. Envy demands the overthrow of its opponent from the mountain, and will not rest until it somehow achieves this or destroys the envious person himself. Well-wishers, in whom sympathy prevails over selfish feelings, do not suffer from envy. This points the way to the Extinguishment of envy for everyone who is tormented by it. It is necessary to hasten to arouse benevolence, especially towards the one whom you envy, and to discover this by deed - immediately envy will subside. A few repetitions of the same kind - and, with God's help, it will completely calm down. But to leave her like this will torment, dry up and drive her into a coffin if you don’t overcome yourself and stop doing evil to the one you envy. Saint Theophan the Recluse (115, 452).

Envy - enmity against God

Envy is tantamount to murder: it is the cause of the first homicide, and then of deicide. Saint Gregory Palamas (70, 269).

Envy, like a poison poured out by the basilisk-devil, kills the very life of faith before the wound is felt. For not against man, but clearly against God, the blasphemer rises up, who, stealing nothing else in his brother, except merit, condemns not the guilt of man, but only the judgments of God. Envy is that “bitter root” (), which, rising in height, rushes to reproach the very Source of blessings - God. Saint John Cassian the Roman (Abba Piammon 53, 513).

Oh, envy is a pitched, hellish, disastrous ship! Your owner is the devil, the helmsman is the serpent. Cain is the main rower. The devil has given you a pledge of distress; the serpent, being the helmsman, led Adam to a mortal shipwreck; Cain is the chief rower, because because of you, envy, he committed the first murder. For you, from the beginning, the paradisal tree of disobedience serves as a mast, branches of sins are tacklings, envious people are sailors, demons are shipmen, cunning is oars, hypocrisy is a rudder. Oh, the ship is the bearer of countless evils! ... Enmity, quarrel, deceit, quarrelsomeness, swearing, slander, blasphemy, and everything that we may name and omit evil - all this is carried by the hellish ship of envy. The flood was unable to swallow this ship, but Jesus sank it by the power of the Spirit, the source of Baptism. There were also anchors in this ship, but they were melted into nails for Christ; this ship also had a mast, but the devil cut the Cross out of it; this ship also had tackle, but Judas strangled himself with them. In this ship, the Jews stumbled upon a rock, were wrecked in faith, and therefore to this day they swim in the depths of ignorance. However, those of them who are able to grasp the ship of Christ are saved; the rest perish a bitter death of ignorance. Saint John Chrysostom (44, 855).

“His eldest son was in the field” (). So far in the parable there has been a discussion about the younger son, by which he should mean publicans and sinners called by the Lord to repentance; but in a mysterious sense it prophesies about the future calling of the Gentiles. Now the speech turns to the eldest son. Many attribute it to the face of any saint in general, others actually to the Jews. In relation to the saints, the interpretation is not difficult, if we take into account the words: “I never transgressed your command” (15, 29), but it does not agree with the properties of the saint that he envies the conversion of his brother. As for the Jews, although envy about the salvation of a brother is completely in their spirit, but what is said about the constant observance of the father's commandment does not apply to them.

“His eldest son was in the field,” sweating from labor in earthly cares, removed from the grace of the Holy Spirit and the Father’s Council. This is the one that says: “I bought the land and I need to go see it; I beg you, excuse me ”(). He is one who has bought five pairs of oxen, and under the weight of the law enjoys sense gratification. This is the one who, having taken a wife, cannot come to the marriage, and, having become flesh, cannot unite with the Spirit in any way. The eldest son in another parable corresponds to the workers who are sent to the vineyard at the first, third, sixth, ninth hours, that is, at different times, and who are indignant at the fact that the workers of the eleventh hour are equal in pay with them.

“And returning, when he approached the house, he heard singing and rejoicing; and calling one of the servants, he asked: what is this? (). And now Israel asks why God rejoices at the reception of the Gentiles, but, burdened with envy, cannot recognize the Father's will.

“He said to him: your brother has come, and your father killed the fattened calf, because he received him healthy” (). The cause of joy is the salvation of the Gentiles, the salvation of sinners, proclaimed to the glory of God on this earth: the Angels rejoice, the whole creation is ready for joy; about Israel alone it is said: “he was angry and did not want to enter” (). He is angry that his brother was taken in in his absence; is angry that the one whom he considered dead is alive. And now Israel stands outside the doors, and now, when the disciples listen to the Gospel in the church, his mother and brothers stand outside the doors, looking for him ().

“His father went out and called him” (). As good and merciful, the father asks his son to take part in domestic joy; the Father asks through the apostles, asks through the preachers of the Gospel. Paul says about this: “We ask in the name of Christ: be reconciled to God” (). And in another place: “you were the first to be preached the word of God, but as you reject it and make yourself unworthy of eternal life, then, behold, we turn to the Gentiles” ().

“But he said in response to his father: behold, I have been serving you for so many years” (). The Father graciously asks for consent, but he, following the legal truth, does not submit to the truth of God. But what truth is greater than the truth of God, which forgives the repentant, accepts the returned son? “Behold, I have been serving you for so many years and have never transgressed your orders,” as if it was not a crime of the commandment that he envied the fear of another that he boasts of the truth before God, when no one is clean before Him. For who can self-satisfiedly admit that he is the owner of a pure heart, even if he has lived on earth for one day? David confesses: “I was conceived in iniquity, and my mother bore me in sin” (). And in another place: “If you, Lord, notice iniquity, - Lord! who can stand?" (). And the eldest son mentioned in the parable says that he never transgressed the commandments, while so many times he was handed over to captivity for idolatry! “Behold, I have served you for so many years and have never transgressed your command.” Concerning this, the apostle Paul says: “What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not seek righteousness received righteousness, righteousness by faith. And Israel, who sought the law of righteousness, did not reach the law of righteousness. Why? because they did not seek in faith, but in the works of the law ”(). Thus, it can be said about the eldest son that, according to the apostle, he is without stumbling in the field of truth, which is from the law: although it seems to me that the Jew boasts more than speaks the truth, like that Pharisee who said: “God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or - like this publican ”().

I ask you: do you not see that the same thing that the Pharisee said about the publican, the older brother said about the younger: “this is your son, who squandered his possessions with harlots” ()? To the son’s words: “I never transgressed your orders,” the father does not answer; does not confirm whether what the son said is true, but subdues his anger in another way: “My son! you are always with me "(). He did not say: you speak the truth, you did everything that I commanded, but he says: "You are always with me" - with me through the law to which you are subject; with me when you know me in captivity; with Me, not because you keep My commandments, but because I did not allow you to go far away. With me, finally, because I said to David: “If his sons leave my law and do not walk in my commandments; if they break my statutes and keep not my precepts, I will visit their iniquity with a rod, and with blows their iniquity; but I will not take away my mercy from him ”(). According to this testimony, it turns out that what the eldest son boasts of is false, since he did not walk in the destinies of God and did not fulfill His commandments. How, according to the parable, was he always with his father, not keeping the commandments? Because after the sins he was visited by a rod, and the visitor was not denied mercy. It should also not be surprising that he dared to stand before his father who could envy his brother; on the Day of Judgment, some will lie even more shamelessly, saying: “Is it not in Your name that we prophesied ... and in Your name we did many miracles” ().

“But you never gave me even a goat to make me merry...” How much blood, says Israel, was shed, so many thousands of people were killed, and none of them became a redeemer for our salvation. Josiah himself, who pleased before Your face (), and recently the Maccabees, who fought for Your inheritance, were wickedly killed by the swords of enemies, and no blood returned us freedom ... Neither the prophet, nor the priest, nor any righteous person was brought sacrificed for us. And for the prodigal son, that is, for the Gentiles, for sinners, Blood was shed, more glorious than all created things. And while to those who deserved You did not give a little, to those who did not deserve much more. “He never gave me a kid to have fun with my friends” (). It is in vain that you speak thus, O Israel; say better: that I may rejoice with Thee. Can there be any other pleasure for you if the Father does not celebrate with you at the feast? Learn from at least a real example. When the youngest son returns, both the father and the servants rejoice. “Let’s eat,” says the father, “and be merry!” (), rather than eat and be merry. But you, because of that inclination of your soul, because of which you envy your brother, because of which you move away from the contemplation of the Father and always stay on the field, you now want to feast without Him. “He never gave me even a goat...” The Father will never give a worse gift: a calf is slaughtered, come in, eat with your brother. Why do you ask for a kid for whom the Lamb is ready? And so that you don’t pretend that you don’t know that the Lamb is ready, John pointed it out to you in the wilderness: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (). And the Father, being merciful and accepting repentance, asks you to eat the calf without slaughtering the goat that stands on the left side. But at the end of the century, you yourself will kill the goat, the Antichrist, for yourself, and with your friends, unclean spirits, you will feed on his flesh, in fulfillment of the prophecy: “You crushed the head of the leviathan, gave it to the people of the desert as food” (

“He said to him: My son! you are always with me, and all mine is yours ”(). It is called a son, although he does not want to enter. But in what way does everything of God belong to the Jews? Really also Angels, Thrones, Dominions and other Forces? It is obvious that by everything one must understand the law, the prophets, divine speeches. God gave all this to the Jews so that they might learn in His law day and night...

“And about that it was necessary to rejoice and rejoice that this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, disappeared and was found” (). So, let us hope that we too, having become dead through transgressions, can come to life in repentance. In the present parable the son himself returns, just as in the earlier parables the lost sheep is brought back and the lost drachma is recovered. All three parables are concluded in the same way: “he was lost and is found”, so that through various comparisons we understand the same idea about the acceptance of sinners. Blessed Jerome (116, 193-196).

What is the danger of envy, for what actions

Does she push? What are examples of this

Mental defect known to you from the literature?

How to overcome envy? Love covers

All. Learning to love is the most important thing in

Human life.

What did envy do

It's done! Pallor imposed

The seal on dead lips

For the first time, death closed its mouth,

And the blood was shed for the first time!

Brother hit brother

Breaking the bond of past years,

And for deeds there is no return,

And there is no forgiveness for sin.

Trembling, with a crazy face

The killer runs in wild fear,

Fear of family and friends.

But tomorrow just like today

Hear, terrified,

“Tell me, where is Abel? Where is your brother?"

O. Chumina

Cain killed his brother Abel. It didn't happen right away. At first, he accepted the idea inspired by the enemy of the human race, succumbed to it out of envy. And this thought had to be reflected at the very beginning, as the holy fathers teach us, so that it would not grow to the point of committing a sin in deed.

Envy is a terrible evil. From her passion for fame and acquisition; from her lust for power and pride. From here on the way criminal robbers and robbers, hence the murders, hence the division of our kind. Whatever evil you encounter, it comes from envy.

***

Ivan Ilyin. ENVY.

While people live on earth, they must get along, find their way to each other, unite, help one another. Otherwise, the earth will open under them, and the sky will split over their heads. But envy is the strongest means of collapse: it was once invented by the master of “Apart” and “Against each other”.

In order to get along, people need to “forgive” each other their dissimilarity, their advantages, their superiority. Not only in possession of a fortune, but in everything: you are smart, gifted, educated, handsome, strong, rich, you stand high in the service - I am not; you are above - I am below; okay, I accept it, I'm content with it... I don't envy you. If my “bottom” is not enough for me, I will fight for “more” and “better”, but not wanting to take yours from you. I will work, work creatively, move myself "up" - in competition, but without envy. You just stay “upstairs”; I will rise to you.

Competition as an internal motivating cause is a healthy, creative, fraternal phenomenon.

Envy, as an internal motive, on the contrary, painful, destructive, hostile. Its formula is unreasonable and immoral.

Envy - first of all stinginess and greed .

She is as insatiable as curiosity; it means thereby eternal poverty, eternal care, eternally bad mood; it turns every success into failure and leaves a person in misery in hopeless loneliness. A cruel envious person is a ill-wisher: he takes offense at a person for someone else's happiness, every other person's success hurts him, any positive quality in another torments him like a wound on his heart; the anger of the one who has lost the owner fills him, like the rage of an inferior, constantly feeling his inferiority, and therefore biasedly noting someone else's superiority. He does not even approach the “case”: he gets stuck in the struggle between “I” and “you”, and in this eternal struggle he exhausts himself and his opponent.

If his fury expands into a social program, then it turns into a class struggle and a Marxist civil war begins.

Where is the salvation and consolation? In art, do not envy. It is not difficult at all. Give everyone what he already has, and do not constantly delve into your own inferiority. Discard this pitiful "subtraction" - your imaginary "smallness" from supposedly someone else's "superiority". Know that you yourself are worth adding. Climb up without pushing down the other. Do not envy! Do not envy! And - most importantly - learn to forget about yourself in the big business!

Questions for students:

- not a single one, for sure, did not bypass

Feelings of envy. What is experiencing

Soul, when it comes into contact with it?

How to avoid envy?

Is it easy not to be jealous?

SINS OF DEATH

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.

Unsatisfied soul- or Judas greed for money, connected, for the most part, with unrighteous acquisitions, which does not give a person even a minute to think about the spiritual.

Fornication- or the dissolute life of the prodigal son, who squandered all his father's estate on such a life.

Envy- leading to every possible evil deed to the Near One.

Gluttony- or carnal pleasure, which does not know any fasts, combined with a passionate attachment to various amusements, following the example of the gospel rich man, who rejoiced all day long.

Anger- irreconcilable and daring to terrible destruction, following the example of Herod, who in his anger beat the Bethlehem babies.

laziness - or perfect carelessness about the soul, negligence about repentance until the last days of life, as, for example, in the days of Noah.

***

DON'T HURRY THINK!

As rust eats away iron, so does envy the soul in which it lives.

Envy is sorrow for the well-being of one's neighbor.

Saint Basil the Great

Envy is the daughter of pride: kill the mother and the daughter will perish.

Blessed Augustine

The envious person harms himself before the one he envies.

Saint John Chrysostom

***

All the importunate demon is busy,

He wants to seduce me with pleasure:

Delight accept my part

And I give glory to God.

And the demon around is busy again,

He wants to scare me with trouble:

Sorrow I accept my part

And I give glory to God.

For every ray and breath

I give thanks to God

And old age, my friend,

I lead to the threshold, in hope.

Vyacheslav Ivanov

*

There are two ways: good and evil.

Anyone is open, but useful to everyone

Only the one to whom the Truth went,

Which is holy, thorny and cramped.

For the flesh is cramped, evil and lies,

But not for a righteous soul,

Keeping honor, the Law of the Creator

From the beginning of life to the end.

Archpriest Vl. Borozdinov

***

Don't wish it

what belongs to your neighbor

The peasant son Timosha looked after other people's sheep and received such a small payment for this that there was nothing to buy boots with. One evening, when he was standing barefoot at the gate of the inn, the master's carriage drove up to the house.

- There are after all such lucky people that they travel around in a carriage! thought Timosha, looking with envy at the rich crew. - And our brother - if you please, walk barefoot. How, then, have I, an orphan, angered the Lord, that I must always toil and wander among strangers? And why such mercy of God even to this gentleman?

As soon as he said this, the doors of the carriage opened and from it, with the help of two servants, a legless cripple got out.

The power of the cross is with us! - exclaimed the dumbfounded Timofey, crossed himself and without looking back ran into the field.

Since then, not only did he not envy anyone, but he no longer complained about his poverty.

***

Three travelers once found a precious find on the road. It had to be divided equally among all. The find was so large that a part of each would be quite significant.

But the devil immediately appeared with his companions as spirits of envy, deceit and greed.

After admiring their find, the travelers sat down to rest to refresh themselves with food, but each thought not about food, but about how he could take possession of the treasure alone.

One of them needed to go to the nearest town to buy supplies. One went. The two remaining in place agreed to kill the third when he returned to share his part. Meanwhile, the one who went for supplies decided to poison them with poison, so that after the death of both comrades, wealth would remain to him alone.

When he returned, he was immediately killed by his companions, and they, in turn, having eaten the food brought to them, both died.

The precious find remained in its place to wait for others - madmen or more worthy people.

***

One Greek sovereign, wishing to know who was worse: an envious person or a money-lover, ordered two people to be brought to him, one of whom suffered from envy, and the other from avarice.

When those called came, the sovereign said:

“Let each of you demand from me such a gift as he wishes, and I will gladly give it to him. After that, the second of those who asked and received the gift will receive twice as much as the first one requires and receives.

The envious refused to ask for a gift first, not wanting the money-lover to receive twice. And the money-lover refused to be the first to ask for a gift in those forms, so that the envious person would not take possession of the double gift.

Since there was no end to the disputes, the sovereign had to stop these disputes by order that the first one should ask for a gift from the envious. And what do you think the envious person demanded as a gift? He demanded that one eye be torn out of him, of course, wanting both eyes to be torn out of his opponent, i.e. to become completely blind.

Thus, this villain, out of his envy, not only refused any royal gift, but even decided to let himself be mutilated, so long as his rival did not receive a doubly gift.

***

DO NOT ENVY

By envy of the devil, death is in the world, says St. Scripture (Wis. Sol. 2, 24).

Envy not akin to people, but akin to the devil; it comes from the devil.

It is common for people to sin out of weakness, but only the devil alone tends to do evil out of envy.

Envy is the daughter of the devil, and whoever is combined with her, she will bring him nothing but malice, and malice gives birth to death. Cain made friends with envy and brought up malice in himself, malice matured and brought death to two: temporary death to Abel, and eternal death to Cain himself.

St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: " Envy is the beginning of malice, the mother of death, the first daughter of sin, the root of all evil”.

St. Basil the Great exhorts: " Let us, brethren, avoid the unbearable evil of envy; it is the commandment of the serpent-tempter, the invention of the devil, the seed of the enemy, the pledge of God's punishment, the obstacle to pleasing God, the path to hell, the deprivation of the kingdom of heaven.

St. John Chrysostom He speaks: " Whoever performs miracles, preserves virginity, observes fasting, bows to the ground and compares with the angels in virtue, but has this drawback (envy), he is more impious, more lawless and an adulterer, and a fornicator, and a digger of graves.

BASIL THE GREAT ADVICE

CONQUER ENVY

“If you see through reason above human, you will not consider anything earthly great and extraordinary: neither what people call wealth, nor fading glory, nor bodily health; if you do not provide good for yourself in transient things, but direct your eyes to the truly beautiful and laudable, to the achievement of eternal and true blessings, then you will be far from recognizing something earthly and perishable as worthy of gratification and competition. And whoever is like that, and is not amazed by worldly greatness, envy can never approach him”

(Creations of St. Basil the Great IV.188, 190)

***

spiritual honeycomb

Envy intrigues good neighbors. Where there is envy and greed for glory, there is no true friendship.

Envy turns a person into a demon.

Envy is worse than fornication and adultery; it gives rise to slander and accusations. She must be overcome by rejoicing.

All sins come from self-love. The beginning of goodness is to reject oneself, to crucify the flesh with passions, to endure grief, resentment, misfortune.

When a person lives in space, in abundance and contentment, then he grows in his womb and does not grow in spirit, does not bear good fruits.

And when he lives in cramped conditions, in poverty, in illness, in misfortunes, in sorrows, then he spiritually grows, matures and brings good rich fruits.

Therefore narrow is the path of those who love God.

The head and essence of all good deeds is love, without which neither fasting, nor vigil, nor labors mean anything...

Without love for God and neighbor

not be saved

Wild, harsh desert. There is complete desolation all around. Here, in strict feats of abstinence, three monks are saved. What tortures they subject their sinful flesh to! She seemed to have become completely impassive. Only hearts remained cold: love for one's neighbor never warmed them...

Once these monks met with an elder experienced in spiritual life and began to boast to him of their deeds.

“I have memorized the entire Old and New Testament: what will I do for this?

“You have filled the air with words, but still there is no benefit to you from your labor,” the elder answered him.

“And I, father, have rewritten all the Holy Scriptures!” boasted the second.

"And you're useless," came the reply.

Then the third exclaimed:

- And I, father, do miracles!

“And it’s no good for you,” the elder tells him, “for you, too, have driven love away from yourself.

If you want to be saved, have love in your heart, do mercy, and then you will be saved, for:

If anyone says that I love God, but hates his brother, there is a lie ... And this commandment of the Imams is from God, but love God, love your brother too (1 John 4:20.21).

***

Legend of Saint Julian

Julian brings an unknown traveler to his hut, arranged in the very thicket of an impenetrable forest. His body is completely covered with disgusting leprosy. Thin shoulders, chest and arms literally disappear under the scales of purulent acne. A foul-smelling and thick, like mist, breath separates from the bluish lips. The traveler is tormented by hunger and thirst. Julian willingly satisfies them and at the same time sees how the table, ladle and knife handle, which the leper grabbed, become covered with suspicious stains.

The patient's lifeless body grows cold. Julian does his best to warm him by the fire. But the leper whispers in a fading voice: “On your bed…” and demands that Julian lay down beside him and warm him with the warmth of his body.

Julian implicitly fulfills everything. The leper gasps. “I'm dying!” he exclaims. “Hug me, warm me with all your being!”

Julian, without any hint of disgust, embraces him, kisses him on his stinking lips.

Then, - the legend tells, - the leper squeezed Julian in his arms, and his eyes suddenly shone with a bright light, like stars, his breath became sweeter than the reverence of a rose. Unearthly joy filled Julian's soul, and the one who held him in his arms grew, grew ...

The roof soared, the vault of stars spread around, and Julian rose into the azure face to face with our Lord Jesus Christ, who carried him into the sky ...

***

This is what love is, this is how all passions are conquered!

At its core, love is always sacrificial. When you sacrifice yourself for the sake of your neighbor, go to hardships, lose some of your benefits - you are close to this feeling. If this, of course, is not a coincidence, but the state of your soul.

We are far from this lofty sacrificial feeling. Today we all vulgarized: love, love, and friendship. But even in modern relationships, as it is not surprising, there is a feeling of sacrificial love.

In every true love there is necessarily a religious element. Agree, as soon as we love deeply, we say - "forever". Because then we clearly feel that this love, which has filled our entire spiritual being, will not die with us, but will be transferred with us to another life.

That is why great and unfortunate love seeks refuge in the sky, in dreams of uniting there with those from whom the earth has separated, and speaks like the famous Schiller heroine Tekla:

There is a better land where we are free to love,

This is where my soul has moved everything...

Great Russian lyricist Athanasius Fet, whose poetry is almost alien to religious motives, nevertheless left a poem of crystal purity, which depicts a dream of a man’s beloved girl in solitude at night, in front of an icon:

Lady of Zion, before You

In the darkness my lamp is lit.

Everyone is sleeping around. My soul is full

Prayer and sweet silence.

You are close to me. Submissive soul

I pray for the one with whom my life is clear.

Let her bloom. Be happy she

Whether with another chosen one, alone or with me ...

Oh, no! .. Forgive the influence of the disease.

You know us: we are destined for each other

By mutual prayers to save ...

So give strength, stretch out holy hands,

So that I could brighter at the midnight hour of separation

I will light a lamp before You!

How well, how deeply it is said, and how wonderfully it expresses the ultimate goal of all Christian affection: “We are destined to save each other by mutual prayers”…

Fate can separate people. Two people, seemingly created for each other, may be divorced in different directions. But what fate cannot take away from anyone is the right to pray for a beloved soul.

Time has no power over real feelings. There is an exceptional power of feelings when they love even more strongly in separation, when souls feel each other at a distance: they worry if a loved one falls ill or troubles and sorrows fall on him, rejoice when there is success and peace of mind.

Our time is the time of general depravity. If our distant ancestors saw today's youth - almost completely naked girls, as if offering themselves to the first person they meet, I think they would not have endured such a sight!

But not only obscene appearance, but also obscene behavior of young people! Under the influence of Western pernicious culture, relationships have become vulgar, the secret in the relationship between a man and a woman disappears, erotica and sex have become commonplace. Fornication and adultery are the norm.

But, dear friends, you are not disingenuous before God! No matter how we attribute everything to time and morals, we will have to answer in all severity: children will be born sick or handicapped, married life will not work out in the future, but only list all the consequences of a sinful life!

We must deeply understand what time we are living in, how little we really know and feel about our Orthodoxy, how far we are not only from the solid moral foundations of such distant times, but also from the morality of ordinary Christians who lived a hundred years ago.

We also wonder: why do the great calamities that befall us from everywhere come about? For the sake of our sins, the vengeance of God beats us, but we do not want to admit our sinfulness. We do not want to repent and improve.

Why is it important to repent - go to church for confession?

Because if we sincerely repent of our sins, the Lord forgives us. Why in the Church? Because the priest, with the power given by God, has the right to forgive sins: he covers you with epitrachelion and reads a special prayer.

Humanity has received a holy gift - the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Through repentance and Communion, the way to salvation was opened for countless great sinners. We would all just sincerely repent!

CREATIVE WORKSHOP

Dramatization of “Tales of the Fisherman and the Fish” by A.S. Pushkin.

MATERIALS

Gospel

Law of God

"Spiritual Conversations" T.16. No. 42, p. 359

"Spiritual Seeds". Spiritual and moral reading for the people, schools and families. M.. 1995 - from the reprint edition of the Holy Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Hermitage.

"Sin and repentance of the last times." Archimandrite Lazar. M., 2002 .

Grains of spiritual wisdom. M.. 1993 .

I. Ilyin. “I look into life. Book of Thoughts. Moscow: Athos, 2000

Poetry: A. Fet, Schiller, V. Ivanov, prot. Vladimir Borozdinov

Q?Another story is known about the first red testicle.
Mary Magdalene, like other disciples of the Lord, went from country to country and everywhere told about Jesus Christ, about how He rose from the dead and about what He taught people. One day she came to Rome and there she entered the palace. Once upon a time, Mary was noble and rich, they knew her in the palace and let her in to the emperor Tiberius. In those days, when people came to the emperor, they always brought him some kind of gift. The rich brought jewels, and the poor brought what they could. And so Mary came now, when she had nothing else but faith in Jesus Christ. She stopped in front of the emperor, handed him a simple testicle and said loudly:
- Christ is risen!
The emperor was surprised and said:
“How can anyone rise from the dead!” It's hard to believe it. It's as hard as believing that this white testicle can turn red!
And while he was still talking, the testicle began to change color: turned pink, darkened and finally became bright red!

Special Easter rites include blessing arthos. Artos is a prosphora with a cross or the Resurrection of Christ depicted on it.

The historical origin of artos is as follows. The apostles, as usual, ate a meal with the Lord, and after His ascension to heaven, they set aside a piece of bread for their teacher, thereby demonstrating their faith in the constant presence of Jesus Christ among the disciples.

By preparing the artos, the Church imitates the apostles. At the same time, artos reminds us that Jesus Christ, by the death of the Cross and Resurrection, became for us the True Bread of Life.

After the Liturgy, eggs, Easter cakes and Easter cakes brought by believers are blessed (according to tradition, the Easter meal begins with the singing of the prayer “Christ is Risen” and eating the blessed eggs, Easter cake and Easter cake). Remembering the great blessings rendered to the human race by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ancient Christians extended a helping hand and beneficence to the orphans, the poor and the poor. The distribution of money and consecrated products to the poor, in order to make them participants in the universal joy on this bright holiday, remains evidence of ancient Christian charity on the days of Holy Pascha.

Features of the Easter service

In the consciousness of the Orthodox Church, the event of the Resurrection of Christ is one continuous delight, one continuous joy. Not a single holiday is celebrated so extraordinarily lightly and solemnly as the feast of the bright Resurrection of Christ. Therefore, the Paschal Divine Liturgy we have is the only and inimitable. It is one continuous rejoicing.

If we began to cite the amazing hymns of this church service, extraordinary in its content, then we would simply have to rewrite it in its entirety, because it is difficult to decide which of the hymns to give preference to, they are all good and expressive.

Before Paschal Matins, the rite of Midnight Office is performed, where on the 9th ode of the canon Don't cry for me Mother the shroud is carried away from the middle of the temple to the altar and rests on the Holy See until the Giving of Pascha.

At the end of the Midnight Office, Easter Matins begins with a procession with the singing of the Sunday stichera of the 6th tone Your Resurrection O Christ the Savior. In front of the closed doors of the temple after the vozlas Glory to the Saints... there comes a moment that everyone is waiting for: the clergy sing the troparion of Pascha Christ is risen from the dead... and people pick up these long-awaited words.

Easter Matins is extremely festive, we perceive it as “holidays”, and at the same time it does not have any of the usual, regular signs of a festive divine service: it does not sing a doxology, there is no polyeleos - all that is usually an integral part of the festive matins. But at the Easter service, almost everything is sung. During the singing of the Paschal canon, the priests incense the people with the words “Christ is risen!”, The people answer: “Truly He is risen!” All the decoration of the temple, the vestments of the clergy - festive, bright red. The royal gates of the altar are open throughout Bright Week. The entire Easter service is an unceasing, solemn hymn to the bright Resurrection of Christ. The victory of life over death. The reconciliation of God with man and man with God... On the bright Easter night, heaven and earth merge together, angels and people come into contact, and any barrier between them disappears. The majestic and significant Easter service reveals to the believer everything that in Christianity is mysterious, lofty and saving for the soul, bright, joyful and comforting for the heart. It is precisely in the moments of the most majestic Paschal service that Christian delight captures the soul of a person completely and dominates in it over all its other thoughts, feelings and aspirations.

At this service we hear the Announcement of St. John Chrysostom, amazing in content: All who were pious and God-loving, let them enjoy this good and bright celebration. And all who have been prudent, let them enter this day into the joy of their Lord. Who worked and fasted, let him receive a reward today. The Lord accepts the last and the first on this day with equal joy. May the rich and the poor rejoice with each other on this day. Diligent and lazy, let them honor this day equally. Those who fasted and those who did not, let them all rejoice alike. Let no one on this Easter day weep over his misery, because a common kingdom has appeared. Let no one cry about their sins, because on this day God gave people His forgiveness. Let no one be afraid of death, the death of Christ has freed all.

· “Christ is Risen!” - we say with a feeling of spiritual delight and awe, and we want to pronounce these words endlessly, listening in response to two other holy words “Truly Risen!”

· LITERATURE

·

· Gospel

·

· Law of God

·

· Deacon A. Kuraev. "School theology" - M., 1998

·

· Orthodox reading. M., 2001- 2004 . Y. Vorobievsky.

·

· "Road to the Apocalypse" M., 1999 .

·

· "The Unknown Light of Faith". M., 2002 .

·

· "Star of Bethlehem" M., 2000.

· Unknown world of faith. Edition of the Sretensky Monastery., M., 2002 .

·

· Spiritual poetry. M., 1990.

teacher Justin Popovich. "Progress in the Mill of Death". Minsk.,

2001 .