- What are the seven deadly sins?
- Story of the seven deadly sins
- The seven capital sins
- The seven heavenly virtues
We explain what the seven deadly sins are for Christianity, their history and characteristics of each one. Also, the heavenly virtues.
What are the seven deadly sins?
In the theology Christian Catholic, is known as sins capitals, cardinal sins or vices capital to the seven fundamental human faults or weaknesses, which generate the rest of the possible human sins and, therefore, are contrary to Christian teachings. The name "capital" comes from the Latin capitis (“head”), and refers to these seven sins being the source of many other possible sins committed by the human being.
The seven deadly sins are: gonna, the gluttony, the pride, the lust, the laziness, the avarice and the envy. Each one was considered a serious sin and associated with a demon and an exemplary animal: anger was associated with Amon and was represented with a lion, gluttony was associated with Beelzebub and was represented with a pig, pride was associated with Lucifer and was represented with a peacock, lust was associated with Asmodeus and was represented with a goat or a rabbit, sloth was associated with Belfegor and was represented with a snail, greed was associated with Mammon and was represented with a toad and envy was associated with Leviathan and was represented by a serpent.
From the beginning of Catholicism, the deadly sins inspired the art and the literature religious and were part of sermons, reflections and various illustrations.Today they are part of the popular imagination in the Christian West, and continue to inspire stories and films such as Se7en of David Fincher or the classic Italian film I sette peccati capitali in which different directors intervene.
Story of the seven deadly sins
The deadly sins have been part of Christian theology since its origins, since many appear condemned in the Old Testament and others have clear antecedents in the religion Greco-Roman However, the first time they were formally compiled was in the 4th century AD. C., by the ascetic Evagrius of Nitria, who identified eight "evil thoughts". But it would be his disciple John Cassian in the 5th century who introduced and popularized them in Europe, baptizing them as "the eight main vices" (octo principalibus vitiis).
Later, in the 6th century, Pope Gregory I reviewed the works of these two anchorites and reworked the list of deadly sins, cutting it down to the seven known today. The order of the sins on the list, however, has since changed many times, in accordance with subsequent reinterpretations by theologians such as Buenaventura de Fidanza (1218-1274) and Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), among others.
On the other hand, these fundamental sins structured, according to the vision of the poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in his Divine Comedy (written between 1308 and 1321), the seven circles or levels in which hell is composed. This Renaissance vision was the most widespread and well-known in the modern world.
The seven capital sins
1. Pride
The pride It is considered the first and main of all capital sins, since the arrogant person thinks of himself much more important than others and than their lives and needs, so that he can cause damage and pettiness without repentance.
This sin can be understood as a form of selfishness and supreme self-centeredness, which places the individual in a position of superiority over the rest of the people and leads him to boast of his own. An arrogant person will not apologize to the one he has hurt, considering him inferior to himself, nor will he take into consideration the needs of others, since he is only focused on himself.
the arrogance, the pride and the vanity they are, for all practical purposes, synonyms and appear interchangeably on many lists of deadly sins. In fact, in the Christian imaginary it was pride that lost the angel Lucifer, who, rising up against the heavenly order, was expelled from paradise and now reigns in hell.
2. Anger
The gonna It is the supreme form of rage and indignation, which acquires aggressive and even violent overtones, since the angry individual loses control of himself. Anger pushes individuals to commit actions that they will later regret, such as assaults, murders, or simply hurting people who don't deserve it.
Of all the deadly sins, anger is the only one that has nothing to do with a corrupt form of love for oneself and personal interests, although Dante Alighieri defined it as a "love for justice perverted into revenge and resentment". People seized by anger act intolerant, aggressive or violent, which is contrary to peace and social harmony and contradicts the love of neighbor preached by Christianity.
3. Lust
The lust It can be defined as a voracious, disorderly, insatiable and unstoppable sexual appetite, which pushes people to promiscuity, rape and adultery, that is, to put their carnal desires above the wellness own and others. This is one of the most universally condemned sins in the world's religions.
Lustful people, as Dante Alighieri explained, indulge in a possessive feeling about others, which leads them to love in a disorderly and promiscuous way, thus placing love for God on a second rung. In the hell imagined by Dante in his Divine Comedy, the lustful purged their sins being eternally dragged from one side to another by an infernal waterspout, that is, by a hurricane wind. This represented the fact that they subject reason to desire.
4. Envy
The envy it is, in the words of Dante Alighieri, “the love for one's own goods perverted to the desire to deprive others of theirs”. This means that the envious desire the goods of others so intensely that they incur in wishing misfortune to others or rejoice when they lose what they envied.
In this way, envy can be understood as a form of unlimited and egocentric desire, which makes people experience the fact that others have something they want as if it were an injustice or a personal affront, directed at themselves. The envious, thus, are capable of destroying the happiness or to ruin the property of third parties because “if they are not for me, they are not for anyone”.
According to biblical accounts, the first envious person was Cain, son of Adam and Eve, who envied his brother Abel for being God's favorite.This envy led him to ambush and kill his brother.
5. Gluttony
The gluttony It can be understood as a form of excessive gluttony, that is, a disordered and insatiable desire to eat and drink, which pushes people towards addiction and waste. Gluttony leads people to consume much more than they really need, that is, to consume for the mere act of consuming and not to sustain themselves. Is conduct of excess is condemned by practically all the religions of the world, as well as lust and greed.
In the Divine Comedy from Dante, the infernal circle of gluttony subjected penitents to excruciating hunger and thirst, but when they tried to eat the beautiful and fleshy fruits of a tree, the branches retreated out of their reach; and when they tried to drink the water from the lakes, it slipped through their fingers without being able to taste it.
On the other hand, drug addictions also fall within the sin of gluttony.
6. Greed
The avarice or greed consists of excessive and irrational love for one's own goods, so that their preservation is put before their own well-being and that of others. Miserly or avaricious people never feel that they have enough, and they react angrily to the idea that they might lose a little of what they have, or that they must give up a little to others.
Saint Thomas Aquinas explained this sin as the preference of worldly and ephemeral goods over true divine goods, that is, feeling more love for earthly affairs than for God.Thus, the greedy can incur other sins and reprehensible actions, such as treason, lies, theft or bribery, since their loyalties are deposited solely in material goods (money, above all).
7. Sloth
The laziness or acidia consists of the lack of willingness to undertake necessary tasks, due to an excess of comfort or lack of initiative. But we must not confuse laziness with leisure, that is, with the recreation time that we give ourselves once our tasks have been fulfilled. Lazy people are victims of a vital listlessness that leads them to ignore their own needs and those of others, so that they let others solve everything.
Lazy people violate the divine maxim of “help yourself and I will help you”, and do not make the slightest effort for work, sustenance or problem solving, so that they end up being a burden for others or for themselves. In addition, the "sadness of spirit" of the lazy person distances him from religious discipline and ritual acts that ingratiate him with God, which is interpreted as a feeling of reluctance for eternal salvation.
The seven heavenly virtues
Just as there are seven deadly sins in the doctrine Catholic, there are seven virtues supreme that counteract them and that make up the duty of every good Christian. These maximum virtues are:
- The modesty. Counterpart of pride, is to remind oneself that we are not better or more important than anyone.
- The generosity. The counterpart of greed, consists in detachment and altruism, that is, in not hesitating to offer what is theirs to those who need it most.
- chastity. Counterpart of lust, it consists of sexual moderation and pleasures, without necessarily becoming abstinence or celibacy.
- The patience. Counterpart of anger, it consists of tolerating others and coping with conflicts and difficulties with good spirits.
- The temperance. Counterpart of gluttony, it consists of the domain of one's own will over instincts, temptations and vices.
- The charity. The counterpart of envy consists in the empathy and the solidarity with others, without distinguishing between those who have and those who don't, between friend and enemy.
- The diligence. The counterpart of laziness is the commitment to honor the responsibilities and commit to the necessary tasks, that is, to do them to the best of their ability and with an active spirit.