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The Eight Cardinal Sinsand Their Subdivisions

By St lgnati (Brianchaninov) of the CaucususL. GluttonyOvereating, drunkenness, not keeping the fasts, eatingin sectet, over- indulgence, extreme love of one's bodyand bodily comforts, which leads to egoism andindifference to God, the Church and virtue.

2. Lust

exual desires in the heart and soul. The entertainment)t impure thoughts, delight in them, acceptance of impure thoughts, delight in them, acceptance of

them. Sexual fantasies and enthrallment. Inappropriatephysical contact. Foul language and the reading ofsexually inflaming literature. Sins of natural sex(fornication and adultery) and unnatural (sodomy andbestiality).

3. AvariceLove of money and material possessions. The desire toenrich oneself and thoughts of how to achieve it. Greedand cupidity. Lack of faith in God's Providence.Addiction to and unhealthy love for earthly possessions,which 'keep the soul in bondage. Love of gifts.Misappropriation. Usury. Hard-heartedness towards theneedy. Theft. Piracy.

4. WrathHot temper, angry and revengeful thoughts, irritability,seething of the heart and mind with rage; quarrelling,indecent shouting, use of obscenities and cruel words,beating, pushing, murder. Malice, hate, enmity,revenge, slander, the passing of judgment on others,giving offence to others.

5. f)espairChagrin, despondency, loss of faith in God, doubt ofGod, ungratefulness towards God for everything that

happens in one's life, faint-heartedness, impatience,taking offence, gfumbling, renunciation of one's cross,the attempt to give it up.

6. IdlenessIndolence towards all good deeds, especially prayer.Abandonment of church and home prayers.Abandonment of constant prayer and spiritual reading.Indifference to and hastiness in praying. Negligence.Impiety. Slothfulness. Excessive abandonment to sleepand other bodily comforts. Idle talk. Improper jokes.Sacrilege. Abandonment of spiritual labours.Forgetfulness of one's sins. Forgetfulness of Christ'scofirmandments. Carelessness. Bitterness. Loss of thefear of God.

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7. VanityVainglory. Bragging. Desire and seeking after earthlyand vain honours. Love of beautiful clothing and things.Excessive attention to the attractiveness of one's body.Shame in confessing one's sins. Deceitfulness. Self-justification. Contradiction. Hypocrisy. Lying. Flattery.Sycophancy. Envy. Humiliation of others. Moralrelativism. Shamelessness. Demonic lifestyle.

8. PrideContempt for others. SeH-preferment. Defiance. Cloud-ing of the mind and heart. Exclusive reliance on earthlythings. Blasphemy. Disbelief. False iritellect. Disobedi-ence of the law of God and the Church. Imposing ofone's own will. Reading heretical, profane and vainbooks. Revolt against authority. Mockery. Abandon-ment of humility and silence. Loss of simplicity. Lossof love for God and one's neighbours. Death of the soul.

Such are the sins which constitute the great curse- the mortality of Adam, which sprang from his fall. Theprophet Isaiah speaks of this great curse, saying: "Fromthe sole of the foot even unto the head there is nosoundness in him; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefy-ing sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up,neither mollified with ointment" (Isaiah I:6). Accord-ing to the holy fathers, this means that the curse - sin - isnot local, i.e. striking only one bodily mernber, but af-fects the entire being: envelops the body, envelops thesoul, takes possession of all the faculties of a person.God called this great curse death, when He forbadAdamand Eve to taste of the tree of knowledge of goodand evil, saying: "for in the day that thou eatest thereofthou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). Immediately uponeating the forbidden fruit the forefathers experiencedeternal death; they felt an earthly sensation in their eyes;they saw that they were naked. The knowledge of thenakedness of their bodies reflected the nakedness oftheir soulso which had lost the beauty of chastity grantedthem by the Holy Spirit Himself. In their eyes there wasthis new physical sensation, while in their souls therewas the feeling of shame, which comprised all their newsinful feelings: pride, uncleanliness, sorrow, despon-dency, despair. Death becomes the great curse; irreme-diable is the mortality which came with the loss of theDivine image The Apostle Paul calls this great cursethe law of sin, the body of death (Romans 7:23-24),be-cause the mortified mind and heart have turned com-pletely towards the earth, slavishly serve the lowly de-sires of the flesh, have become dark and heavy, havethemselves become flesh. This flesh is no longer able toconrmunicate with God (Gen. 6:3). This flesh is unable

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to inherit eternal, heavenly bliss (1 Cor. 6:50). Thegreat curse has spread upon all mankind, has becomethe ill-fated legacy of each and every person.

Looking upon this great curse of mine, I am filledwith bitter soffow I ponder what to do. Shall I followthe example of ancient Adam, who, upon seeing his na-kedness, hastens to hide himself from God? Shall I at-tempt to justfy myself, as he did, throwing the blameupon sin? It is futile to hide from the All-seeing One Itis futile to justify oneself before the One Who alwayswins in judgment (Psalm 30:7)I Instead of fig leaves letme dress myself in tears of repentance; instead of justi-fication let me bring to Him my sincere penitence. But,dressed in penitence and tears, can I present myself be-fore my God?

O, sinful descendant of Adarn, take heart A greatlight has shone forth in your prison: God has descendedinto the land of your exile, in order to bring you up intothe heavenly homeland which you had lost. You wishedto have knowledge of good and evil. He allows you to

(Continaedfrom pege I 'Sorrows-Why They are Sent')Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk says: "'When a father

leaves his son without punishment and lets him live ac-cording to his will, then it is seen that the father has re-jected his son; thus, when God leaves a person withoutpunishment, this is a sign of his rejection from God'smercy. One of the holy fathers told the following story:how, when he was in Alexandna, he once came tochurch to pray and saw a pious wonum there. She wasdressed all in black and, praying before an icon of theSaviour, she wept and tearfully repeated over and overagain: "Thou hast abandoned ffie, O Lord Have mercyupon ffie, O Merciful One 'o Why is she crying so? Ithought. She is a widow and is probably being perse-cuted by someone. I will talk to her and comfort her.Waiting until she had finished prayirg, I came up to herand said: "fs someone causing you trouble that you arecrying so?" "Oh, ilo, she said and began weepinganew, - ro, father, you do not know my sotrow. I liveamong people and am not persecuted in any way. It isfor this reason that I am crying: that God has forgottento visit me and it is already three years that I have notbeen sent any tribulations. During all this time I myselfhave not been sick, my son has not been sick, I have noteven lost a single chicken from my home. I thereforethink that God has abandoned me for my sins, does notsend me any woes, and so I am crying before Him, ask-ittg Him to have mercy upon me." So do God-feafingpeople reason when they are nott sent any sorrows for along time: they think that God has forgotten them; theylook upon soffow as a-'special mark of attention fromGod, as a special mercy." I

Thus, dear brothers and sisters, remernbering allof the above, let us not despair when we are visited bytrials and tribulations.

The Voice

retain this knowledge. You wished to become like God,and because of this your soul has become like the de-mons and your body like the animals; but God, joiningyou to Him, makes you godlike through grace. He for-gives your sins. And that is not all He extracts the rootof evil from your soul, the very pestilence of sin, ffidgrants you an anodyne against sin for the entire courseof your earthly life, no maffer how many times you sinthrough your frailty. This anodyne is the confession ofsins. Do you wish to take off the mortality of Adam? Doyou wish to attatn freedom from your enslavement tosin? Immerse yourself in humility Overcome the shameof vanity, extract your sinso engage in battle with yoursins by means of sincere confession. This anodyne mustprecede all others; without it the anodynes of prayer,tears, fasting and all other means will be insufficient,unsatisfactoryo unstable. Go, proud one, to your spiritualfather, find at his hands the charity of the Heavenly Fa-ther. Only sincere uitO frequent confession can free us ofsinful habits, make our repentance fruitful, our correc-tion lasting and sincere.

'.1?;" Spiritual Instruction, " Moscow, 1906.