People often say "envy kindly" or "envy black envy." Can jealousy be good or bad? When did she appear in people's lives and what does she do with people? Is envy a sin or just a feeling that accompanies a person through life, like love or mercy, cunning or cowardice? What does Orthodoxy think about this? Let's try to figure it out.

Man's envious past

Probably, envy accompanies a person throughout history. Let's remember everyone known history the envy of the brothers Cain and Abel. Cain is terribly jealous of his brother - after all, God accepted Abel's sacrifice and did not accept him.

Envy destroys common sense and brotherly love. The envious man kills his brother, and the one punished by God wanders and wanders. The wise book says: envy.

envious present

Thousands of years have passed, and envy continues to live in our lives.

Two friends work in the organization. They have known each other since high school, they graduated from college together. And it so happened in life that one is a little more successful than the other. He studied better, was the soul of the company and is appreciated at work, they promise a promotion.

And the second one is always a little behind. He no longer rejoices at the success of his friend, but envies him. Evil envy makes you look for ways to harm him, trip him up and possibly get promoted yourself.

Envy, living in him, pushes him to meanness. Envying another, he is not looking for a way to become better himself, achieve better results and prove his right to a good position with his success. The jealous thinks that the best place at work, in life, in love should belong only to him, and not to his rival. Isn't this proof: envy is a sin.

Advice. Stop being jealous! Go to confession in the Church, love your neighbors, start praying for those you envy!

Orthodoxy teaches us that there is a place for every person on earth. Everyone, with effort, can be realized in professionally, in the human, in the spiritual. It depends only on the person himself what his life will be like.

What does Orthodoxy think about envy?

Many holy sages throughout history have tried to know and tell people what envy is. Here are just some examples.

John Chrysostom believed that envy is the embodiment of the devil and enmity against the Lord. An envious person is even worse than a demon. A demon harms a person, an envious person is ready to harm others like himself. As the old man said: Envy is worse than enmity.

The warring one fights honestly and can stop the hostility if the cause of the conflict has exhausted itself. The envious person will act secretly and will never stop fighting, he will not be able to explain the reason for his behavior. It is only a diabolical influence.

I. Chrysostom offered to cope with sinful envy in the following way: all people should live with God in their souls. Being nearby, people should support each other, help without malice and envy.

Another saint, Basil the Great, believed that it was necessary to fight envy only with prayer. daily prayer help you deal with sin. In addition, he gave two simple advice to fight this sin.

1. No need to envy: wealth or fame, respect or awards - everything is ordinary and earthly. And not everyone, even having received what they want, can properly use all this.

2. You need to stop envying, and direct all the accumulated negativity towards your creation and transformation.

And he also believed that people often themselves give rise to sinful envy. Do not brag about your successes, money, happiness. A more modest behavior will keep calm and peace between people.

Orthodoxy lessons

The examples described in the holy books and told by the saints show that divine justice triumphs. Envious people who have discredited an honest person will appear before the Lord on.

Even if an envious thought crept into your head, you have to fight it. Never compare yourself to someone else. The question is: why is he better than me and why is he more lucky than me - the beginning of a terrible sin of envy. We must thank God for our lives, for our successes, for what is given to us, and not to hate those who are more successful than us.

Envy, unfortunately, will go along with us all the time - we will be envied. We, on the other hand, need to learn, not to succumb to it and live with dignity. We are Orthodox, praying, we will definitely cope with this.

The root of envy is pride.

Envy is enmity against God.

“Envy is the ruin of life.

Envy is the ruin of life

Envy is a corruption of life, a desecration of nature, enmity against what is given to us from God, resistance to God (7, 157).

Another passion, more pernicious than envy, and does not originate in the souls of men (7, 155).

As rust eats away iron, so envy eats away the soul in which it lives. (7, 155).

Envy is the most irresistible kind of enmity (7, 157).

Doing good deeds makes other ill-wishers more meek. The envious and malevolent one is even more irritated by the good done to him (7, 159).

With this weapon, from the foundation of the world to the end of time, the devil stings everyone and wants to overthrow the destroyer of our life - the devil. (7, 160).

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-devil and subsequently not be subjected to the same condemnation with him. Saint Basil the Great (7, 155).

If envy wrestles 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 Goodness God's. 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 do 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 God to themselves for help and enjoy 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 ascribed more praise to him, as Saul himself says: “Tens of thousands were given to David, and thousands to me” (1 Sam. 18, 8). 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 affable, who is inflamed with anger not by greed ... but irritates someone else's happiness. Who, in order to satisfy the envious, will want to lose goods, lose happiness, undergo 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” (1 John 2:11), the apostle said. Envy cannot prefer what is useful: “Where envy and contention are,” says the apostle, “there is confusion” (James 3:16). 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 take away envy from the one to whom God has given something, and do not delight yourself with pride, for no one can get anything for himself unless God gives him, for all power and honor is from God ... St. Dimitry 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 in the same way - and, with God's help, she 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. Bishop 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" (Heb. 12:15), which, rising in height, rushes to blaspheme the very Source of goodness, God. Saint John Cassian the Roman (Abba Piammon 53, 513).

Oh, envy-tarred ship, hellish, disastrous! Your owner is the devil, the pilot-serpent. Cain is the master rower. The devil has given you a pledge of distress; the serpent, being the helmsman, led Adam to a mortal shipwreck; Cain is the senior 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 sailors, demon shipbuilders, cunning oars, hypocrisy is a rudder. Oh, carrier of countless evils! ... There lives enmity, quarrel, deceit, quarrelsomeness, swearing, slander, blasphemy, and everything that we may name and omit the evil - all this carries 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).

“And his elder son was in the field” (Luke 15:25). 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 not according to the properties of the saint, that he envies the conversion of his brother. And 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, forgive me” (Luke 14:18). 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 sent to the vineyard at the first, third, sixth, ninth hours, that is, at different times, and 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? (Luke 15:25). 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 has slaughtered the fattened calf, because he received him healthy” (Luke 15:27). 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” (Luke 15:28). 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 is standing outside the door, and now, when the disciples are listening to the Gospel in the church, his mother and brothers are standing outside the door, looking for him (Mt. 12, 46-50).

“His father went out and called him” (Luke 15:28). 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” (2 Cor. 5:20). And in another place: “You were the first to be preached the word of God, but as you reject it and make yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46).

“But he answered his father: Behold, I have served you for so many years” (Luke 15:29). 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” (Ps. 50:7). And in another place: “If you, Lord, notice iniquity, Lord! who can stand?" (Ps. 129:3). 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” (Rom. 9:30-32). Thus, it can be said of 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” (Luke 18:11).

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” (Luke 15:30)? 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” (Luke 15:31). He did not say: You speak the truth, you did everything that I commanded, but 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 ordinances and keep not my commandments, I will visit their iniquity with a rod, and with blows their unrighteousness; but I will not take away my mercy from him” (Ps. 88:31-34). 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” (Mt. 7, 22).

“But you never gave me even a goat to have fun with me…” 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 (2 Kings 23), and recently the Maccabees, who fought for Your inheritance, were wickedly killed by the swords of enemies, and no blood restored us to freedom ... Neither the prophet, nor the priest, nor any righteous not 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 even a kid to make me merry with my friends” (Luke 15:29). 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!" (Luke 15:23), but do not eat and be merry. But you, according to that inclination of your soul, according to which you envy your brother, according to which you move away from the contemplation of the Father and always remain in the field, you now want to feast without Him. “He never gave me 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 do not pretend that you do not 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” (John 1, 29). 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 age, 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” (Ps. 73, 14).

“When this son of yours, who had squandered his possessions with harlots, came, you slaughtered a fatted calf for him” (Luke 15:30). Even now Israel is aware that a calf was slain: they know that Christ has come, but they are tormented by envy and do not want salvation without the death of their brother.

“He said to him: My son! you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke 15:31). 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...

“But you should have rejoiced and rejoiced because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32). 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 the possession of a fortune, but in everything: you are smart, gifted, educated, handsome, strong, rich, 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, he is offended by every other person's success, any positive quality in another it 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 last days 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 every 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 tempting serpent, 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 speaks: " Whoever works miracles, preserves virginity, observes fasting, bows down to the ground and compares with the angels in virtue, but has this drawback (envy), he is more ungodly, more lawless and an adulterer, and a fornicator, and a digger of graves.

BASIL THE GREAT ADVICE

CONQUER ENVY

“If you see through the mind above the human, you will not consider anything earthly great and extraordinary: neither what people call wealth, nor fading fame, 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 learned by heart all the Old and New Testament: what will I get for it?

“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. From the bluish lips comes fetid and thick, like fog, breath. 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 invariably 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 the 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 live 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: it 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 foodstuffs to the poor, in order to make them participants in the universal joy on this bright holiday, remains evidence of ancient Christian charity during 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.

Paschal 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 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 catechumen 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 set everyone free.

· “Christ is Risen!” - we speak 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 .

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 studies of 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 does not indicate 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 have acquired envy, you will find 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 his 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 among 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.

1. What is envy

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

St. Basil the Great:

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

St. Gregory the Theologian:

"Envy is contrition for the prosperity of others."

Envy is one of the most difficult passions: it brings spiritual death with it - the soul that sins with it dies, being separated from God.

He talks about envy tenth commandment of the Law of God:

« Don't wish Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor the whole spruce of your neighbor.

(Do not desire your neighbor's wife, do not desire your neighbor's house, neither his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his cattle, nor all that your neighbor has).

By the Tenth Commandment, the Lord God forbids not only doing something bad to others, our neighbors around us, but also forbids bad desires and thoughts in relation to them.

Sin against this commandment is called envy.

He who envies, who in his thoughts desires someone else's, he can easily go from bad thoughts and desires to bad deeds.

But even envy itself defiles the soul, making it unclean before God, as the word of God says: “The thoughts of evil are an abomination before the Lord” (Prov. 15:26).

(Law of God. About the tenth commandment of the Law of God)

The envious sin and against the sixth commandment: "Thou shalt not kill".

Sinning against the sixth commandment is the one who wishes death to another person, who does not live peacefully and in harmony with others, but, on the contrary, harbors hatred, envy and anger towards others, starts quarrels and fights with others, upsets others.

(Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy. Law of God. About the sixth commandment of the Law of God)

2. Scripture on envy

« Don't wish Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor all the spruce of your neighbor's wife." (Ex. 20, 17)

“Whether one of you is wise and prudent, prove it in fact by good behavior with wise meekness. But if you have bitter envy and strife in your heart, then do not boast and do not lie against the truth. This is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, spiritual, demonic, for where there is envy and quarrelsomeness, there is disorder and all that is evil. (James 3:13-16)

“For if envy, strife, and divisions are among you, are you not carnal? and do you not act according to the manner of men?” (1 Cor. 3, 3)

“The works of the flesh are known; they are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, magic, enmity, quarrels, envy, anger, strife, disagreements, [temptations], heresies, hatred, murders, drunkenness, outrageousness, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do so will not inherit the kingdom of God. If we live by the spirit, then we must act according to the spirit. Let's not be conceited, irritate each other, envy each other. (Gal. 5:19-26)

“For I am afraid that, after my coming, I may not find you such as I do not wish, and also that you may not find me such as you do not wish: lest you find strife, envy, anger, strife, slander, sneak , pride, disorder, so that again, when I come, my God will not despise me among you, and so that I do not mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of uncleanness, fornication and lewdness, which they did. (2 Corinthians 12:20-21)

“Death entered the world through the envy of the devil, and those who belong to his lot experience it.” (Wis. Sol. 2, 24)

"Do not envy the glory of the sinner, for you do not know what his end will be." (Sir. 9, 14)

"A meek heart is life to the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones." (Prov. 14, 30)

3. Roots of envy

The Holy Fathers argue that envy arises from the passions of selfishness, vanity, pride, arrogance, self-love, attachment to the blessings of this world - love of money, love of glory and voluptuousness, from a similar diabolical disposition of the soul, which essentially opposes not man, but God Himself, His providence.

St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov), listing eight major passions with their divisions and branches, defines envy as a branch of vanity:

« Vanity

The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly honors. Love of beautiful clothes, carriages, servants and private things. Attention to the beauty of your face, the pleasantness of your voice and other qualities of the body. Disposition to the perishing sciences and arts of this age, the search to succeed in them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. Shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Justification. Contradiction. Compiling your mind. Hypocrisy. Lie. Flattery. Humanity. Envy. Humiliation of the neighbor. Change of temper. Pretense. Unscrupulousness. The temper and life are demonic.

Rev. Nile of Sinai:

Envy and bitter hatred come from contempt and arrogance.

St. Theophan the Recluse analyzes the mutual dependence of passions:

“The main branches of self-love are pride, covetousness, voluptuousness. All other passions are already born from these, but not all of them are equally important. The most remarkable are fornication, gluttony, envy, laziness, evil-remembrance. In their strength they are equal to the first, with which together they constitute the seven primary passions, for they are the originators of sin and the parents of every other sinful inclination and passion. ... love of money is always associated with sadness and envy ... "

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky:

“Envy comes from pride and, at the same time, from neglect to doing what is due. Cain neglected to bring the chosen sacrifice to God. And when God for such negligence despised his sacrifice, and accepted Abel’s zealous and chosen sacrifice, then he, seized with envy, decided to kill and killed the righteous Abel.

“We are all very close, more or less sick with vanity and pride. And nothing hinders success in the spiritual life so much as these passions. Where there is indignation, or disagreement, or contention, if you look closely, it turns out that for the most part this is due to love of glory and pride. Why does the Apostle Paul command, saying: “We shall not be conceited, irritating one another, envious of one another” (Gal. 5:26). Envy and hatred, anger and remembrance are the common offspring of vanity and pride.

"Vanity does not give us rest, inciting to jealousy and envy, which trouble a person, arousing a storm of thoughts in the soul."

Rev. Macarius of Optina:

"The world, according to St. Isaac, are passions, and especially the three main ones: love of glory, voluptuousness and avarice. If we do not arm ourselves against these, then we inevitably fall into anger, sadness, despondency, remembrance, malice, envy, hatred, and the like.

Our main passions are: pride, self-love, and from them anger, rage, envy, rancor, reprimand of neighbors, contempt of one's own heart; These passions lie hidden in us until chance: who will show them to us?...

You ask about the passion of envy nestling in you, and you are afraid that it will remain in you until the grave; and still wondering how it comes from pride? Consider, is it not from your pride and love of glory? but it is said from the father: "He who loves himself cannot be brotherly." If you tried to achieve humility, not to mention if you had humility, you would prefer your neighbor and all his benefits. What torments the envious? Middle well-being or preference; although he himself has the same benefits, and time and preference; but he is annoyed why he has that. … When there is envy, it is already obvious that love and humility are expelled; and without them virtues are worthless.

... the reason for this temptation is pride, because jealousy and envy come from it.

“You ask: why do you have such a hateful feeling when you hear praise from others, and how to get rid of it? What causes this embarrassment is already the passion that lies in you, arrogance ... And when you reproach and humble yourself, you will be healed. Of course, the reason for this temptation is pride, because jealousy and envy come from it.

St. John Chrysostom:

Envy is born from nothing else, but from attachment to the present, or, better, (hence) all evil. If you considered the wealth and glory of the world to be nothing, you would not envy those who possess it.

St. rights. John of Kronstadt:

The root of all evil is a self-loving heart, or self-pity, self-pity; from self-love or excessive and unlawful love for oneself all passions flow: coldness, insensitivity and hardness of heart towards God and neighbor, evil impatience, or irritability, hatred, envy, stinginess, despondency, pride, doubt, lack of faith and unbelief, greed for food and drink, or gluttony, covetousness, vanity, laziness, hypocrisy.

Abba Dorotheos:

So envy in itself is nothing, but it has some reasons, among which there is love of glory: for whoever wants to become famous, he envies the glorified or preferred.

Rev. Abba Isaiah:

He who loves human glory cannot achieve dispassion: envy and zeal live in him.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa:

He who has a coarse mind and is immersed in earthly things, has bowed his soul to bodily pleasures, like animals to feed, lives only for the womb and for what is connected with the womb; he who has departed from the life of God, is a stranger to the promise of covenants, and considers nothing else to be good except bodily pleasures - he walks in darkness, as Scripture says (John 12:35). He becomes the inventor of evils and iniquity in this life, among which and covetousness, and unbridled passions, and immoderation in pleasures, all voluptuousness, and the desire for vain glory, and other passions that live in a person. Because the vices, as it were, hold on one after another, and whoever enters one, into that, as if drawn by some natural necessity, others inconspicuously enter ... And if you need to describe this evil clutch to you, then imagine that someone ever conquered by the passion of vanity; but vanity is followed by a desire to acquire more, for it is impossible to be covetous unless vanity guides this passion. Further, the desire to acquire more and to have an advantage over others entails either anger towards equals, or pride towards the lower, or envy towards the higher; after envy follows pretense, after this bitterness; followed by hatred of people; the end of all this is condemnation, hell, darkness and fire.

Rev. Paisiy Svyatogorets:

“Self-love is the fulfillment of the whims of your old man, that is, love for your old man. And overeating, and selfishness, and stubbornness, and envy owe their origin to selfishness.

The holy fathers write about the fact that the passion of envy is so terrible, that the envious person has a diabolical dispensation, goes against God and becomes like the devil:

Rev. Simeon the New Theologian:

Where there is envy, there also lives the father of envy, the devil, and not the God of love.

Abba Piammon:

For it is not against man, but clearly against God, that the blasphemer rises up, who, stealing nothing else in his brother but good merit, condemns not the guilt of man, but only the judgments of God. So, envy is that root of sorrow, vegetate (cf.: Heb. 12, 15), which, rising in height, rushes to reproach the culprit Himself - God, Who communicates good to man.

Rev. Isaac Sirin:

Whoever has found envy has found the devil with it.

St. John Chrysostom:

“An envious person goes against God, and not against the one (whom he envies).

... Even if [man] were your enemy and enemy, and God was glorified through him, then it would be necessary to make him a friend for this, and you make your friend your enemy because God is glorified through the good name that he uses . How else can you show enmity against Christ? Therefore, even if someone performed signs, even if he showed the feat of virginity, or fasting, or lying on the bare earth, and by virtue of this kind he became equal to the angels, but if he is subject to the passion of envy, he turns out to be the most abominable.

To envy is worse than to be at enmity, the one who is at odds ... can often indicate a sufficient reason for the enmity, and the second cannot indicate anything other than his own madness and satanic disposition.

St. Basil the Great:

Therefore, will you not be horrified, making yourself a servant of a destructive demon, and allow evil in yourself, from which you will become an enemy of people who have not offended you in any way, and, moreover, an enemy of the good and unenviant God?

Rev. Efrem Sirin:

This disposition is demonic - to be offended by the prowess of the prosperous. Hatred has taken root in the demons; it is more desirable for them that they all perish completely.

Rev. Macarius of Optina:

... Being in church and feeling peace and silence, she consoled herself with them; and then felt the passion of envy for the preference of K., and darkness covered you; from this she must see that she must not think of herself in any way, even if she has been honored with great gifts; there is still a darkness of passions hidden within us... And how bitter envy is and it is difficult to explain, and it comes not from without, but from within comes from its pledge; having found envy, you have found the devil, and the devil is darkness and confusion; and where there is grace, there is light and peace. Strive against this passion, and do not think that people give rise to passion, but these cases will only show you this passion, which lay hidden in you and moved from the chance, by the sight of God, allowed to heal you.

4. The destructiveness of envy

The Holy Fathers vividly depict the abomination, unnaturalness, recklessness, the perniciousness of envy, its destructiveness for the soul, the countless number of grave sins and crimes generated by it.

Cshmch. Cyprian of Carthage:

[Envy] is the root of all evil, the source of devastation, the hotbed of sins, the cause of crimes.

Rev. Abba Isaiah:

Woe to the envious, for they make themselves strangers to the goodness of God.

He who wants to become famous among people cannot be without envy; and whoever has envy cannot acquire humility of mind.

St. Basil the Great:

“Another passion, more pernicious than envy, does not originate in human souls. It harms strangers less, but the first and nearest evil for the one who has it. As rust eats away iron, so envy eats away the soul in which it lives. It would be better to say, just as they say about vipers that they are born by gnawing through the womb that carried them, so envy usually devours the soul in which it is born.

An envious person never lacks sorrows and sorrows.

... What could be more pernicious than this disease? This is a corruption of life, a desecration of nature, enmity against what is given to us from God, opposition to God. What is the culprit of evil - the demon - armed to fight against man? Isn't it envy? In envy, the theomachist clearly exposed himself when he was indignant with God for His generous gifts to man, but took revenge on man, because he could not take revenge on God. The same thing turns out to be Cain, the first disciple of the devil, who learned from him both envy and murder - these iniquities akin to each other, which Paul also combined, saying: "envy-filled, murders" (Rom. 1:29). What did Cain do? He saw honor from God and was inflamed with jealousy, he destroyed the one clothed with honor in order to offend the Honorer. Not having the strength to fight against God, he fell into fratricide. Let us, brethren, avoid this disease, which becomes a teacher of theomachism, a mother of homicide, a perversion of nature, a forgetfulness of kinship, a calamity most indescribable.

... Envy is the most irresistible kind of enmity. Other ill-wishers are made more meek by doing good. The envious and malevolent one is even more irritated by the good done to him. The more he sees good deeds for himself, the more he becomes indignant, sad and upset. He is more offended by the power of the benefactor than he feels gratitude for what has been done for him. What beast is not surpassed even by the envious with the cruelty of their morals? Do they not exceed the ferocity of the most indomitable of them? Dogs, if they are fed, become meek; lions, when followed, become tame. But the envious are even more ferocious when they do them favors.

... Turn your thoughts to the greatest envy, which turned out to be in the most important case, which, due to the fury of the Jews, was towards the Savior! What were you jealous of? For miracles. And what were these miracles? Rescue of the needy. The hungry were fed, and a scolding was raised against the Feeder. The dead were resurrected, and the Life-Giving One became an object of envy. The demons were driven out, and they plotted against the Commander of the demons. The lepers were cleansed, the lame began to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the Benefactor was cast out. Finally, they put to death the Giver of life, beat the Liberator of men with scourges, condemned the Judge of the world. Thus the malice of envy spread over everything. With this one weapon, from the foundation of the world until the end of the age, the destroyer of our life wounds and overthrows everyone - the devil, who rejoices in our death, himself fell from envy, and overthrows us with himself with the same passion.

... They [envious] are skillful to make despicable and laudable, reinterpreting it for the worse, and slander virtue, presenting it as a vice adjacent to it: the courageous are called impudent, the chaste - insensitive, the just - cruel, the prudent - insidious. Whoever loves splendor is slandered that he has a coarse taste; a generous person is said to be wasteful, and a thrifty person is said to be stingy. And in general, any kind of virtue does not remain with them without such a name, which is borrowed from the opposite vice.

"Let's run away from unbearable evil. It is the suggestion of the serpent, the invention of demons, the sowing of the enemy, the guarantee of torment, the obstacle to piety, the path to hell, the deprivation of the Kingdom.

Rev. Efrem Sirin:

“In whom envy and rivalry, he is an adversary to everyone, because he does not want the other to be preferred. Those who are worthy of approval he humiliates; whoever follows a good path puts temptations in the way: he who lives as he should, condemns those who are reverent, calls those who fast vain, diligent in psalmody - loving to show themselves, quick for services - greedy, quick in deeds - gloomy, diligently engaged in books - idler ... Woe to the envious, because his heart is always exhausted from sadness, his body is consumed by pallor, and his strength is exhausted.

[The envious] is insufferable to everyone, he is an enemy to everyone, hates everyone, is a hypocrite before everyone, plots against everyone, wears a mask in front of everyone ...

A terrible poison is envy and rivalry: from them slander, hatred and murder are born.

He who envies his brother's success cuts himself off from eternal life...

St. Gregory of Nyssa:

Envy is the beginning of evil passions, the father of death, the first door to sin, the root of vice, the offspring of sorrow, the mother of disasters, the cause of disobedience, the beginning of shame. Envy drove us out of paradise, becoming a snake before Eve; envy barred access to the tree of life, and stripping us of the sacred garments, through shame led us to the branches of the fig tree. Envy armed Cain against nature, and brought about death avenged seven times (see: Gen. 4, 15). Jealousy made Joseph a slave. Envy is a deadly sting, a hidden weapon, a disease of nature, bile poison, voluntary exhaustion, a cruelly piercing arrow, a nail for the soul, a flame that burns the insides. For envy, failure is not one's own evil, but someone else's good; and vice versa, luck is also for her - not her own good, but the bad of her neighbor. Envy is tormented by the prosperity of people and laughs at their misfortunes.

St. John Chrysostom:

Those who are envious do themselves the greatest harm and bring upon themselves great destruction.

Just as a worm that originates in a tree first of all eats the tree itself, so envy first of all crushes the very soul that gave birth to it in itself. And to the one whom she envies, she does not what she would wish him, but quite the opposite.

Let us... run away from 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; it is an invention of the devil himself.

Enslaved before any external enemies by his own passion, he [the envious] crushes himself, as it were, and, as if devoured by invisible teeth and thus exhausted in himself ... plunges into the abyss.

Such is this pernicious passion: it will not stop until the person carried away by it is thrown into the abyss, until it brings him to sin - murder, because the root of murder is envy.

When it [envy] takes possession of the soul, it does not leave it before it brings it to the last degree of recklessness ...

There is no evil worse than her [envy]. The fornicator, for example, at least gets some pleasure and commits his sin in a short time, but the envious one torments and torments himself before the one whom he envies ...

Being ... captivated by it [envy], a person does everything against his salvation.

Oh envy, sister of hypocrisy, culprit of deceit, sower of murder, serpent's seed, destructive flower. What is worse than envy? Nothing. And what caused death itself? Nothing but envy...

Envy is a great evil... it blinds the eyes of the soul, contrary to the self-interest of the person possessed by it.

The envious person lives in continuous death, considers everyone his enemies, even those who have not offended him in any way. He mourns that honor is given to God, he rejoices at what the devil rejoices.

Envy is a terrible evil and full of hypocrisy. She filled the universe with countless disasters. From this disease, the courts are filled with defendants. From her [same] passion for glory and acquisition; from her lust for power and pride.

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

... (Envy) overthrew the Churches, gave birth to heresies, armed the fraternal hand, prompted to stain the right hand in the blood of the righteous, violated the laws of nature, opened the doors of death ...

For those who have not been freed from this disease, it is impossible to completely avoid the fire prepared for the devil.

Oh, envy, tarred, infernal, disastrous ship! Your owner is the devil, your helmsman is the serpent, Cain is the chief 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 through you, envy, he was the first to kill. From the beginning, you have the paradisiacal tree of disobedience as a mast, rigging - ropes of sins, sailors - envious people, shipmen - demons, oars - cunning, rudder - hypocrisy. O ship, bearer of innumerable evils! If you ask about hypocrisy, it is there ... Envy, enmity, quarrel, deceit, quarrel, swearing, slander, blasphemy live there, and whatever we say and whatever we omit - all this is carried by the hellish ship of envy. The flood was unable to destroy this ship of envy, but Jesus sank it by the power of the Spirit, the source of baptism.

... An envious person honors other people's misfortunes with his happiness, and the well-being of others with his misfortune. It is not so much the poor who is grieved by his poverty, but the envious who is grieved by the well-being of his neighbor; what could be more vile than this?

“In order for us to reach (the Kingdom), let us imitate the virtues of the martyrs, their courage, jealousy, faith, contempt for the present, desire for the future. You can succeed in this without persecution. Even if the fire is not kindled ahead, but now passion is stronger than fire; let there be no animal teeth, but rage overcomes more terrible than the beast; let no executioners stand by, but envy lies within, tormenting the spirit more painfully than any executioner. So, having prepared for the fight against passions and placing the power of wise thoughts as a stronghold against them, we need to accomplish a real life and be a whole life in a feat so that, having labored for a short time, to be forever crowned and enjoy eternal blessings, forever unite with the Lord and experience bliss. this unity, surpassing every word and thought ... "

Saint Ambrose of Optina:

“The proud can be honored! Conceited - to praise! Money-loving - give something ... etc. An envious person is impossible to please. The more he is pleased, the more he envies and suffers.

“The passion of envy does not, on any joyful holiday, under any joyful circumstances, make it possible to fully rejoice in the one whom it possesses. Always, like a worm, it sharpens his soul and heart with vague sadness, because the envious one considers the well-being and success of his neighbor as his misfortune, and considers the preference given to others as an unjust insult. One Greek king wanted to know which of the two is worse, the lover of money or the envious, because both do not wish the other well. To this end, he commanded that the money-lover and the envious be called to him and said to them: “Ask me, each of you, whatever he pleases, only know that the second will receive twice what the first asks.” The money-lover and the envious bickered for a long time, each not wanting to ask before, in order to receive twice after. Finally, the king told the envious man to ask first. The envious one, being seized with hostility towards his neighbors, instead of receiving, turned to malevolence and said to the king: “Sir! order me to gouge out my eye." The surprised king asked why he expressed such a desire? The envious one answered: “So that you, sovereign, order my comrade to gouge out both eyes.” This is how the passion of envy is harmful and mentally harmful, but also malevolent. An envious person is ready to harm himself, if only to harm his neighbor twice.

People possessed by the passion of envy, St. Ambrose likens Herod: “Let us try in every possible way to oppose envy and exterminate this passion at its very beginning,” he writes, “because to an extreme degree those defeated by envy act in their affairs like Herod, and if they were kings, they would extend their malice to killing many."

Rev. Macarius Optinsky answered the spiritual daughter:

“Being in the church and feeling peace and quiet, I consoled myself with them; and then she felt the passion of envy for the preference of K., and darkness covered you .... And how bitter envy is and it is difficult to explain ... having found envy, you will find the devil, and the devil is darkness and confusion; and where there is grace, there is light and peace.”

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk:

"Envy, hatred and malice, like consumption of the body, eat away the soul so that the body turns pale and melts from these evil diseases."

Rev. Paisiy Svyatogorets:

“Look, never let envy prevail over you, because it is one of the main passions. Do you know what jealousy can do to a person? To ill will and slander. And slander is a far greater evil than ill will.

And what does envy consist of?

What is not in it! There is pride, selfishness, self-love... There is no love and, of course, there is no humility.

Does this mean that there can be no love in the one who envies, Geronda?

Of course it can't! It is impossible for envy and love to coexist in one person at the same time. Even if he has a little love, his love is impure, because in this love there is his "I". Envy spoils and destroys love and kindness, just as a dead mouse destroys oil when it falls into an earthenware pot.

What if I want something that my sister has?

If God said: "Thou shalt not covet... all that is thy neighbor" (Ex. 20:17), then how can we covet something that belongs to another? What, we will not even keep the basic commandments? Then our life will turn into hell. "Everyone is tempted by his own lust..." (James 1:14), says Saint James, brother of the Lord. These lusts will torment souls in hell. And if God takes us to paradise, and we are not free from envy, then we will not find peace there either, because we will have the same reckless desires.

Geronda, I have absolutely no boldness.

You're envious, so you don't have the audacity. When a person is envious, he worries, cannot eat, languishes and loses his boldness, while others think that he is a great ascetic!

I feel spiritually very poor and weak.

You have a lot of strength, but you waste it on stupid envy, and although you have innate nobility, you suffer like the last beggar. You would have been very successful in your spiritual life if you hadn't floundered in envy. Be careful, because envy sucks out of you all the spiritual and bodily strength that you could bring as a gift to God. If you drove away envy, then your prayer would have power.

Because of envy, a person loses spiritual strength. Why do you think the apostles could not cast out a demon from a demon-possessed boy (See Matt. 17:16; Mk. 9:18; Lk. 9:40), although they received from Christ the authority to cast out demons and had already cast out demons from people? Because they envied Peter, James and John, because only them Christ took up the mountain and was transfigured before them (See Mt. 17:1; Mk. 9:2; Lk. 9:28). Christ could have taken all the disciples with Him, but not everyone was able to accommodate such a sacrament, so He took only those who could accommodate. Would you say that He didn't like the other disciples? Or loved John more than others? No, but John loved Christ more than the other disciples and therefore felt the love of Christ better. He had a larger capacity, his "battery" was larger. Do you see how envy removed the grace of God from the apostles, and they were unable to heal the demon-possessed youth? That is why Christ said: "O you unfaithful and perverted generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you?" (Matt. 17:17. See Mark 9:19; Luke 9:41)!”

Rev. John Cassian the Roman:

“We must believe that one bodily fast cannot be sufficient for the perfection of the heart and the purity of the body, unless fasting of the soul is combined with it. For the soul also has its own harmful food, having been sated with which, and without an abundance of bodily food, it will fall into voluptuousness.

Envy is the food of the soul, which corrupts it with poisonous juices and incessantly torments it, the poor one, with the well-being of someone else's success.

... For in bodily food there is a simple and harmless use of God's creation, which in itself does not have any sin, but in spiritual food (vices) there is ... a disastrous devouring of brothers, about which it is said: "do not love to slander, lest you be destroyed" ( Proverbs 20:13). Blessed Job also speaks of anger and envy: “anger kills the reckless, irritability kills, and envy kills the frivolous” (Job 5:2). And it should also be noted that the one who is angry is reckless, and the one who envies is considered frivolous. He is justly considered reckless, who by anger causes death to himself; and the envious person shows that he is stupid and petty. For when he envies, he thereby testifies that the one whose happiness he mourns is higher than him.

5. How to discern envy in yourself?

The Holy Fathers note that it is very difficult for a person to see the disease of envy in himself, and at the same time it is very important to notice this passion in the bud, because if it takes root and grows, then it is extremely difficult to get rid of it. Therefore, one must know the signs by which one can determine its appearance in the soul: these are hostility, jealousy, rivalry, annoyance at one's neighbor, censure, condemnation, slander.

Rev. Ambrose of Optina writes that the first signs of envy appear in misplaced jealousy and rivalry:

“Envy is first revealed by inappropriate jealousy and rivalry, and then by zeal with annoyance and censure of the one we envy.”

Archpriest Valerian Krechetov lists some of the symptoms of envy:

“The saddest thing is that a person often does not realize this, and suddenly begins to see injustice all around, but in fact he just feels envy.

... Envy breeds dislike. Man, when jealous starts looking for flaws in a different. He cannot say directly, but he feels that something is wrong and tries to justify his feeling.

... Envy is black because trying to denigrate others. Then you don't want to have what others have. Remember how in the fable of Ivan Andreevich Krylov, the fox speaks of grapes that she could not get: “Yes, it’s still green.”

…it seems to him that he alone is unhappy, and everyone around is happy. This begins to manifest itself in the speech: “There are only scoundrels around”, “they have come in large numbers”, “there are only fools around” ... He starts with one, and then the whole world hates. I know specific examples. At first, a person was annoyed by one person, then others began to annoy him, then a third, and then - everything and everything. This is the property of passion.

…When you dream of a gift clairvoyance, miracles, divination, you already envy. Because these gifts, namely gifts, they are given by God. And why the Lord so disposes, we do not know. “And what God does, he does not tell anyone.”

…Young old age is one such example. When they strive not for spiritual perfection, humility and love, but for gifts. The Lord even stopped the apostles, saying: “Do not rejoice that the spirits obey you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

... There is such a worldly expression: "A person understands everything to the extent of his depravity."

... One should be glad that a person has something. A if you are not happy It means you still have jealousy.

When your friend is doing well, and instead of being happy for him, you feel a cold, skeptical mood, you need to think about it.

6. Fighting the passion of envy

The Holy Fathers, noting the difficulty of eradicating envy, nevertheless offer medicines for the healing of those who are ill with it, emphasizing that in order to defeat envy, it is important to begin to confront this passion in its very inception. The main virtues that overcome envy are humility, repentance, self-reproach, non-possessiveness, turning the aspirations of the soul not to the temporal, but to the eternal, love for one’s neighbor and joy for his well-being, prayer for one’s neighbor and doing good to the one to whom envy is aroused.

St. Basil the Great teaches:

“We can avoid envy if we do not consider great either what people call wealth, unfading fame, or bodily health. Let us strive to acquire eternal and true blessings.”

St. John Chrysostom:

“There is nothing more stubborn than this passion [envy], and it does not easily yield to healing if we are not careful.

... Weep and wail, weep and pray to God, learn to treat it [envy] as a grave sin, and repent of it. If you do this, you will soon be healed of this disease.

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

Abba Falasios:

He who secretly rejoices in the one who is envied gets rid of envy, and he who hides that which can be envied gets rid of envy.

Rev. Maxim the Confessor:

You can stop envy if you become rejoice in joy the one whom you envy, and grieve with him about what he grieves ...

Rev. Macarius of Optina:

"For God's sake, do not let this seed of Cain grow in you, but suppress small shoots him, kill the "babylon babies" while they are still babies. Depose them from the pretext by self-reproach and humility.

“You wonder where it comes from: envy, anger, impatience and everything that you can imagine bad! All this is the essence of your passions, which lie inside you, but are concealed for the time being; and when some guilt appears a little, passion raises its head and hisses; and then it is necessary to take up arms against them, not running away from wines [reasons], but resisting and reproaching himself, - also calling on the help of God; and the Lord is able to give it to you ... "

"…Where love and humility there all the bends of envy are sacrificed. Do not be embarrassed that passion is chilling you, but try to resist it with self-reproach, humility and love. When there is envy, it is already obvious that love and humility are driven out; and without them virtues are worthless. Do not despair and do not think that this passion will be with you until the grave; as self-love diminishes and love and humility are acquired, and from it you will receive freedom.

…when you will reproach and humble yourself you will be healed.

... Humility is one thing to strongly oppose, to destroy all passions; about this we know enough; you just need to force yourself to do it; and the Lord will send His help.”

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky:

“It, like all other passions, has different sizes and degrees, and therefore one should try to suppress it and exterminate at first sight, praying To the Almighty God who knows the heart in psalm words: “ Cleanse me from my secrets, and spare Thy servant from strangers(or your servant)” (Ps. 18:13-14).

Also with humility confess this infirmity before the spiritual father.

And the third remedy is to try in every possible way not to say anything nasty about the person we envy. Using these means, we can, with the help of God, although not soon, be healed of envious infirmity.

"Envy and malice and hatred come from pride and from the lack of love for one's neighbors. Medicine is against these passions: firstly, humble and sincere consciousness of one's weakness before God and spiritual father; second, gospel compulsion not to act on the inclination of these passions rather do the opposite of them; third medicine - seek in everything only the glory of God and from God; fourth medicine - humble asking for God's help Psalm words: "Lord! Cleanse me from my secrets, and spare Thy servant or Thy servant from strangers." Ask for God's help, not doubting, but believing that what is impossible with people is possible from God. Fifth medicine - self-reproach, i.e. in any unpleasant and mournful case or circumstance, we must lay the blame on ourselves, and not on others, that we did not know how to act properly, and this resulted in such unpleasantness and such grief, which we are worthy of, by God's permission, for our negligence, for our offering and for our sins, old and new."

Rev. Nikon Optinsky:

“When you feel dislike for someone, or anger, or irritation, then need to pray for those people whether they are guilty or not. Pray with simplicity of heart, as the holy fathers advise: “Save, Lord, and have mercy on Thy servant (name) and for the sake of his holy prayers help me, a sinner!” From such a prayer, the heart is pacified, although sometimes not immediately.

Rev. Joseph Optinsky:

Whoever you envy, pray to God for him.

"Pray for the envious and try not to irritate her."

St. Demetrius of Rostov writes about the features of mortal sins:

"These sins are called major, major or major because the rest of the sins stem from them.

How are these sins overcome? Virtues opposite to them, namely: pride is overcome by meekness or humility; … envy is love."

St. Basil the Great:

"What? How can we either never suffer from this disease, or, having fallen into it, avoid it? Firstly, we can, if we do not consider anything great and extraordinary from the human, neither what people call wealth, nor fading glory, nor bodily health, because we do not provide good for ourselves in transient things, but we are called to partake of good things. eternal and true. Therefore, they are still unworthy of our competition - the rich for the sake of his wealth, the ruler for the sake of the greatness of his rank, the wise for the sake of abundance in the word. These are the instruments of virtue for those who use them well, but do not contain happiness in themselves. Therefore, it is pathetic who uses it badly, like a man who, taking a sword to avenge his enemies, voluntarily wounds himself with it. And if someone manages real blessings well and as he should, if he remains only a guardian of what is given from God, and does not collect treasures for his own pleasure, then justice requires praise and love for such brotherly love and sociability of disposition. Again, who is distinguished by prudence is honored from God by the gift of words, who is the interpreter of sacred words; do not envy this, do not wish that the prophet of the sacred word would ever fall silent, if, by the grace of the Spirit, any approval and praise of the listeners accompany him. This is good for you, the gift of teaching is sent to you through your brother, if you want to accept it. At the same time, no one blocks the source of spring water, no one closes their eyes from the shining sun, no one envy them, but he himself wants to enjoy them. Why, then, when the spiritual word oozes out in the church and a pious heart pours out streams of the gifts of the Spirit, do you not bow your ears with gladness, you do not accept the benefit with gratitude; but on the contrary, the applause of the hearers bites you, and would you wish that there was neither one who benefits, nor one who praises? What excuse will this have before the Judge of our hearts? It is true that spiritual well-being must be considered beautiful by nature, but if someone surpasses others in wealth, is famous for his power and bodily health, however, what he has, uses it well, then he should be loved and honored as a person who has common tools of life ... And who who does not accept these blessings with such a disposition, he should be considered more miserable than worthy of envy, if he has more cases of being thin. For this means perishing with great benefits and means. If wealth serves as parting word to untruth, then the rich man is miserable. And if he serves for virtue, then there is no place for envy; because the benefit of wealth is made common to all, unless someone, in excess of slyness, begins to envy his own blessings. In general, if you see through the mind above the human and fix your gaze on the truly beautiful and laudable, then you will be very far from recognizing anything perishable and earthly worthy of respect and competition. And whoever is not struck by the worldly as something great, envy can never approach him.

But if you certainly want fame, you want to be more visible than many and you can’t stand being second (for this can also be a reason for envy), then direct your ambition, like some kind of stream, to the acquisition of virtue. ... Therefore, if virtue is the highest and sufficient good, and, according to the general recognition of all, it has preference, then we should strive for it - for virtue, which cannot be in the soul, not cleansed of both other passions, and especially from envy.

Don't you see how evil hypocrisy is? And it is the fruit of envy, because double-mindedness in people is mostly from envy, when, hiding hatred in the depths, they show an appearance embellished with love, and are like underwater rocks, which, being a little covered by water, cause unforeseen harm to the unforeseen.

Therefore, if from envy, as from a source, death, deprivation of blessings, alienation from God, confusion of statutes, subversion of all worldly blessings in the aggregate, then let us obey the Apostle, and “we will not be conceited, irritating one another, envious of each other” ( Gal. 5:26); but let us be more “benevolent, merciful, forgiving one another, as God also forgave” us “in Christ” Jesus our Lord (Eph. 4:32), with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen".

Prot. Seraphim Slobodskoy:

“In order to avoid sin against the tenth commandment, it is necessary to keep the purity of the heart from all attachments to earthly things, from all evil desires and thoughts, and to be content with what we have: to thank God for this, and never desire someone else’s, but rejoice for others if they have just a lot."

Abba Piammon:

« Envy is harder to cure than other passions. For whom she once harmed with her poison, for that, one might almost say, there is no cure. For it is such an infection, which is figuratively spoken of through the prophet: Behold, I will send serpents, basilisks, on you, on which charms do not work, and they will sting you (cf.: Jer. 8, 17). So, the prophet correctly compares with the poison of a deadly basilisk the wound of envy, with which the author of all poisons and the leader was the first to be infected and perish. For beforehand he destroyed himself, before he poured out a deadly poison on a man whom he envied. For through the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and his partners imitate him (cf. Wisdom 2:24), just as the one who was first corrupted by the infection of this evil did not receive any medicine of repentance and no means of healing, so also those who they allowed themselves to be hurt by the same remorse, they reject all help from the holy spell (see: Ps. 57, 5-6); because they are not through any fault of others, but are tormented by their happiness, they are ashamed to discover the very truth, and they look for some third-party, empty and absurd reasons for insulting them. Since these causes are completely false, there is only one cure for them - the eruption of that deadly poison that they do not want to discover, they hide in their hearts. The wise man well said about this: if the serpent does not bite in a conspiracy, then after that there is no use in the conspirator (cf.: Eccl. 10, 11). This is the essence of secret remorse, which alone is not helped by the healing of the wise. Even this death (i.e., envy) is so incurable that it becomes hardened by kindness, pompous from services; gifts are irritated; because, as the same Solomon says: jealousy does not tolerate anything (see: Prov. 6, 34). For the more one succeeds in the obedience of humility, or the virtue of patience, or the glory of generosity, the more envy is incited by the envious one, who wishes the downfall or death of the one whom he envies.

Of all vices, envy is more fatal and more difficult to cure, which is still ignited by the very medicines that stop other 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 appeased by a humble apology. And what will you do to someone who is even more offended by the very fact that he sees you more humble and more affable, who is ignited to anger not by greed, which is satisfied with a reward, not by resentment or desire for revenge, which is defeated by kindness, services, but only the success of someone else irritates him? happiness? Who, in order to satisfy the envious, would want to be deprived of goods, lose happiness, be subjected to some kind of disaster? So, so that the basilisk (devil) does not destroy everything that is alive in us, which, as it were, is inspired by the vital action of the Holy Spirit, with one wound only of this evil (envy), Let us constantly ask for God's help, for which nothing is impossible.... envy, like a poison poured out by a basilisk, kills the very life of religion and faith before a wound in the body is felt.

Rev. Paisiy Svyatogorets:

“If you fight against envy, cultivate love, kindness in yourself, then, having defeated envy, you will simultaneously be freed from anger, condemnation, malice, sadness. ...

Geronda, how can a person who is jealous help himself overcome this passion?

If he recognizes the gifts with which God has endowed him and begins to develop them, he will not envy and will live as in paradise. Many do not see their own gifts, they see only the gifts of others, and envy seizes them. They consider themselves deprived, disadvantaged. They suffer and turn their lives into a nightmare. "Why does he have these gifts and I don't?" they say. You have some gifts, others have others. Remember Cain and Abel? Cain did not seek to see his own gifts, but looked at the gifts that Abel had. So he cultivated in himself ill will towards his brother, then he rebelled against God, and in the end came to murder (See Gen. 4:3-8). But, perhaps, he had greater talents than Abel.

Therefore, let everyone look, maybe the talent that he envies in another, he also has, but he does not develop it, or maybe God gave him another talent. God did not deprive anyone, he gave everyone a certain gift that can help a person in his spiritual development.

Just as one person is not like another, so the gift of one person is not like the gift of another. Have you paid any attention to the wild peas that you have growing down by the fence? It has one root, but each shoot has its own color, one more beautiful than the other. However, they do not envy each other ... Each is happy with his own color. And the birds! Each has its own beauty, its own chirping.

Let everyone find the gifts that God gave him, and let him glorify the good God, not proudly, like a Pharisee, but humbly, recognizing that he neglected them, and let him develop them in the future.

But I envy some sisters because they have some gifts that I do not have.

God has given you so many gifts, and you envy the gifts of others? You remind me of the daughter of a pastry chef in Konitsa. Her father gave her a small piece of cake every day, a large one would make her sick, and she looked at the children at school who ate big corn tortillas and envied them. "They eat large pieces, and my father gives me a small one," she said. I envied the corn tortillas that others ate, but she herself had a whole pastry shop with cakes! So you do not appreciate the great gifts that God has given you, but you look at the gifts of others and envy.

Let's not be ungrateful. After all, God, our good Father, endowed each of His creatures with various gifts, because He knows what each of us needs in order not to harm ourselves. We often behave like little children, complaining that the Father did not give us a drachma or two drachmas, as our brothers and sisters, although he gave us as much as a hundred drachmas. We believe that He did not give us anything, because we think that a hundred drachmas is just paper, we like a drachma or two drachmas that He gave to others, we cry and are offended by our Good Father.

... You know, if you walk with difficulty, rejoice for the one who runs fast, and do not be upset. If you want to succeed spiritually, rejoice in the success of the sisters and ask God that they continue to prosper, and you to reach your own measure. When I was a novice in the monastery, there was another novice, about the same age as me. He reached a great spiritual measure, his face shone. He was an example in everything, a great ascetic and zealot. He was also very reverent. The senior monks stood up as a sign of respect when he passed by. I have benefited more from this novice than from all the books I have read before, because he was a living example. Once my heart hurt. By chance, at that time, that brother came to my cell, and I asked him to pray. He had not yet managed to leave, and the pain had already passed. Another time, a possessed man came to the monastery and asked the fathers to heal him. Then the abbot said to this novice: "Come on, pray, let the demon come out of this unfortunate one." "Through your prayers," he said, "let Christ cast out the demon." As soon as he departed, the demon came out of the man. Such was his boldness towards God! What a spiritual measure he came to! So, I asked God that that brother would come to the measure of the saint whose name he bore, and that I would come to his measure. Do the same, and you will clearly see the power of God.

When a person learns to rejoice in the successes of others, Christ will give him all the successes of others, and he will rejoice as all others together rejoice, and then his successes and joy will be enormous.

Archpriest Valerian Krechetov:

“The whole trouble is that we keep forgetting this gospel truth: a hair will not fall from a man’s head without the will of God. Nothing happens by accident. Chance is a pseudonym under which God acts in the world - as Pascal said.

Without God's help it is impossible to overcome any passion. They are so dodgy that one will constantly be replaced by another. And a person will not grab the root.

The cure is repentance and prayer. To understand that you are doing something wrong, you need to pray, ask God to reveal these sins. We need confession, communion.”