People often say “kindly envied” or “envied with black envy”. Can envy 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 us recall the well-known story of 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 person kills his brother, and the 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 school, graduated from the institute 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 at work he is appreciated, he is promised an increase.

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

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

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

Orthodoxy teaches us that there is a place for every person on earth. Everyone, with an 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?

Throughout history, many holy sages have tried to learn and tell people what envy is. Here are just a few 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 those like himself. As the elder said: Envy is worse than enmity.

A hostile, fights honestly and can end the enmity if the cause of the conflict has exhausted itself. The envious person will act covertly and will never stop fighting, he will not be able to explain the reason for his behavior. It's just a devilish influence.

To cope with sinful envy I. Zlatoust suggested this: all people should live with God in their souls. Being around, people should support each other, help without anger and envy.

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

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

2. It is necessary to stop being jealous, and direct all the accumulated negative to your creation and transformation.

And he also believed that people, often, themselves give rise to sinful envy. Do not brag about your success, money, happiness. More humble behavior will keep people calm and peaceful.

Orthodoxy lessons

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

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

Unfortunately, envy will go next to us all the time - they will envy us. We need to learn, not 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 a spoilage of life.

Envy is a corruption of life

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

Another passion, more destructive than envy, and does not arise in human souls (7, 155).

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

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

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

With this weapon, from the folding of the world to the end of the century, everyone hurts 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 at our death; he himself fell from envy and puts us down 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 one condemnation with him. Saint Basil the Great (7, 155).

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

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

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

For those who have not freed themselves 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 how Christ loved us and how he commanded us to love one another. (43, 561),

Let us avoid this destructive 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 an invention of the devil himself (38, 517).

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

At least he gave alms, at least led a sober life, at least fasted, but you are the most criminal of all if you envy your brother (42, 240).

The envious lives in constant death, considers everyone to be his enemies, even those who have not offended him in any way. He grieves 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 innumerable calamities ... From her passion for glory and acquisition; from her lust and pride (42, 435).

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

Weep and howl, 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 healed from this ailment. (41, 432).

Now envy is not considered a vice, and therefore they do not care about getting rid of it. St. John Chrysostom (41, 432).

The root of envy is pride

The root and origin of envy is pride. A proud person, since he wants to rise above others, cannot tolerate anyone being equal to him, and especially higher than him, to be in prosperity, and therefore he is indignant about his elevation. A humble person cannot envy, for he sees and admits his unworthiness, while he considers others more worthy, therefore he 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, consider others as nothing. The proud Saul is so indignant at the meek and humble David that the jubilant wives attributed more praise to him, as Saul himself says: “David was given tens of thousands, but I was given thousands” (1 Samuel 18: 8). Therefore, I began to drive the innocent (104, 773).

The purpose of envy is to see the one who is envied in trouble. It is born when the welfare of another begins; ceases when his well-being ceases and unhappiness begins. Thus, our forefathers were cast down from high bliss into a distressful state by envy. Envy taught Cain to rebel against his brother Abel and kill him. It's a matter of envy that Joseph was sold to Egypt. Envy must ascribe that the Jews lifted up to the Cross Christ, their Lord and Benefactor. So envy begins from pride, from envy to hatred, from hatred to malice; malice leads to the worst possible end. Therefore, Saint Chrysostom says: "The root of murder is envy." Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (104, 768).

Envy is more disastrous and more difficult to cure than all vices, for it is even more inflamed by those medicines that stop passions. For example, the one who grieves for the harm done to him is healed by a generous reward; who is indignant about the insult inflicted, he is pacified by a humble apology. And what can 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 by someone else's happiness. Who, in order to satisfy the envious, would want to be deprived of goods, to lose happiness, to be subjected to some kind of disaster?

Envy is the cause of all evil, and everything good is an enemy. Out of envy, Cain killed Abel. Esau persecuted Jacob, Saul persecuted David, and innumerable evils out of envy are happening in the world. Envy and hatred close Heaven, blind the mind, darken the soul, aggravate the conscience, grieve God, amuse the demons. The one 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 is jealousy and contentiousness,” the apostle says, “there is disorder” (James 3:16). So, be grateful 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; for what you are called, in what you are arranged, in that and abide, for more, do not be jealous with envy. You should also honor those who are endowed with honor from God and from people, and, answering them, be kind and humble. Do not take 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 if God does not give him, for all power and honor are from God ... Saint Demetrius of Rostov (103, 1059-1060).

The inhabitants of Nazareth marveled at the word of the Lord, but still did not believe: jealousy prevented, as the Lord Himself revealed. And all passion is contrary to truth and good, but envy is the greatest of all, for its essence is lies and malice. This passion is the most unjust and the most poisonous both for the wearer and for the one to whom it is directed. In small sizes, it happens to everyone, if equal, and even more so the worst takes over. Selfishness is irritated, and envy begins to sharpen the heart. It is not yet so painful when the road itself is open; but when she is blocked by those for whom envy has already been conceived, then her aspirations cannot be restrained, peace is impossible here. Envy requires the overthrow of its adversary from the mountain, and will not rest until it somehow achieves this or ruins the envious one. Well-wishers, in whom sympathy prevails over selfish feelings, do not suffer from envy. This shows the way to extinguishing envy to everyone tormented by it. We must hasten to arouse benevolence, especially to the one whom one envies, and to discover this by deed, the envy will immediately subside. Several repetitions of the same kind - and, with God's help, it will completely settle down. But leaving her in this way will torture her, dry her up and drive her into the coffin, if you do not overcome yourself and stop doing evil to the one you envy. Bishop Theophan the Recluse (115, 452).

Envy is enmity against God

Envy is tantamount to murder: this is the cause of the first homicide, and then 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 is ascended, who, not stealing anything else in his brother, except merit, condemns not the guilt of man, but only the judgments of God. Envy is that “root of bitterness” (Hebrews 12, 15), which, ascending in height, strives to reproach the very Source of good things, God. Venerable John Cassian the Roman (Abba Piammon 53, 513).

Oh, envy-ship tarred, hellish, disastrous! Your owner is the devil, the serpent helmsman. Cain is the chief rower. Di-avol gave you a pledge of disaster; the serpent, being the helmsman, brought Adam to a mortal shipwreck; Cain is the senior rower, because because of you, envy, he committed the murder first. From the beginning, you have a paradise tree of hesitation as a mast, tackle-branches of sins, envious sailors, demon shipmen, oars-cunning, steering-hypocrisy. Oh, the carrier ship of countless evils! … There lives enmity, quarrel, deceit, quarrelsomeness, abuse, backbiting, blasphemy and everything that only we name and what we omit evil — all this is carried by the infernal ship of envy. The flood was not able to swallow this ship, but Jesus drowned it with 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; there were also tackle in this ship, but Judas hanged himself with it. In this ship the Jews stumbled upon a rock, were wrecked in faith, and therefore are still floating in the depths of ignorance. However, those of them who are able to seize hold of Christ's vessel are saved; the rest perish the bitter death of ignorance. St. John Chrysostom (44, 855).

“His eldest son was in the field” (Luke 15:25). Until now, in the parable there was a discourse about the younger son, by which one should mean the publicans and sinners called by the Lord to repentance; in a mysterious sense, the future vocation of the Gentiles is prophesied here. Now the speech goes to the elder son. Many attribute it to the person 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 have never transgressed your command" (15, 29), but it is not in accordance with the properties of the saint that he envies his brother's conversion. As for the Jews, although envy about the salvation of a brother is completely in their spirit, what is said about the constant observance of the fatherly commandment is not applicable to them.

“His eldest son was in the field,” sweating from labor in earthly concerns, removed from the grace of the Holy Spirit and the Father's Council. This is the one that says: “I bought land and I need to go see it; I beg you, forgive me ”(Luke 14:18). This is the one who has bought five pairs of oxen and enjoys sensual pleasures under the weight of the law. This is the one who, having taken a wife, cannot come to marriage, and, having become flesh, in no way can unite with the Spirit. In another parable, the eldest son corresponds to workers who are sent to the vineyard at the first, third, sixth, ninth hours, that is, at different times, and are indignant that the workers at the eleventh hour are equal in wages.

“And returning, when he approached the house, he heard singing and exultation; and calling one of the servants, he asked: what is this? " (Luke 15:25). And now Israel asks why God rejoices at accepting the Gentiles, but, burdened with envy, cannot recognize the Father's will.

“He said to him, your brother has come, and your father killed the fatted calf, because he received him safe” (Luke 15:27). The cause of joy is the salvation of the pagans proclaimed to the glory of God on this earth, the salvation of sinners: the Angels rejoice, and all creation is ready for joy; about Israel alone it is said: “he was angry and did not want to enter” (Luke 15:28). Angry that his brother was adopted in his absence; angry that the one he thought was dead is alive. And now Israel stands outside the doors, and now, when the disciples are listening to the Gospel in the church, his mother and brothers are standing outside the doors, looking for him (Matt. 12, 46-50).

“But his father went out and called him” (Luke 15:28). As good and merciful, the father asks his son to take part in the domestic joy; the Father asks through the apostles, asks through the preachers of the Gospel. Paul says about this: “in the name of Christ, we ask: 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 yourself unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46).

“But he answered his father: behold, I have been serving you for so many years” (Luke 15:29). The father graciously asks for consent, but he, following the lawful 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 served you for so many years and have never transgressed your commandment,” as if it was not a violation of the commandment that he envied the fear of another, that he boasted of righteousness before God when no one was clean before Him. For who can self-righteously 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 in sin my mother gave birth to me” (Ps. 50: 7). And in another place: “if you, Lord, will notice iniquity, - Lord! who can resist? " (Psalm 129: 3). And the eldest son mentioned in the parable says that he never transgressed the commandments, whereas so many times we were given over to captivity for idolatry! "Behold, I have served you for so many years and have never violated your command." The Apostle Paul says about this: “What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not seek righteousness received righteousness, righteousness from faith. And Israel, who sought the law of righteousness, did not reach the law of righteousness. Why? because they sought not in faith, but in works of the law ”(Rom. 9: 30-32). Thus, we can say about the eldest son that he, according to the apostle, is without stumbling in the field of truth, which is from the law: although it seems to me that the Jew is more proud than speaking the truth, like the Pharisee who said: “God! I thank You that I am not like other people, robbers, offenders, adulterers, or like this tax collector ”(Luke 18:11).

I ask you: do you not see that the same thing that the Pharisee said about the tax collector, the older brother said about the younger one: “This is your son, who squandered his property with harlots” (Luke 15:30)? To the son's words: "I have never violated your command", the father does not answer; does not assert whether what the son said is true, but calms 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 he says: "You are always with Me" - with Me by means of 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 forsake My law and will not walk in My commandments; if they break my statutes and keep my commandments, I will visit their iniquity with a rod, and with strikes their iniquity; But I will not take my mercy from him ”(Psalm 88: 31-34). According to this testimony, it turns out to be false what the eldest son boasts, since in the destinies of God he did not walk and did not fulfill His commandments. How then, according to the parable, he was always with his father, not keeping the commandments? Because after sins he was visited with a rod, and the one visited was not denied mercy. Nor should it be surprising that he who could envy his brother dared to stand before his father; on the day of Judgment, some will lie even more shamelessly, saying: "Did we not prophesy in your name ... and did not we perform many miracles in your name" (Matthew 7:22).

"But you never gave me a kid to have fun ..." How much blood was shed, Israel says, so many thousands of people were killed, and none of them became a redeemer for our salvation. Josiah himself, who fell before Thy face (2 Kings 23), and recently the Maccabees, who fought for Thy inheritance, were wickedly killed by the swords of their enemies, and no blood returned us freedom ... Neither a prophet, nor a priest, nor any righteous man not sacrificed for us. And for the prodigal son, that is, for the pagans, for sinners, the Blood was shed, more glorious than all that was created. And while to those who deserved you did not give even a little, to those who did not deserve you gave much more. “He never gave me a kid to have fun with my friends” (Luke 15:29). In vain do you say that, Israel, say better: so that I have fun with You. Can there be any other pleasure for you if the Father does not celebrate with you at the feast? Learn at least from a real example. When the youngest son returns, both the father and the servants rejoice. "Let's eat," says the father, "and have fun!" (Luke 15, 23), do not eat and be merry. But you, according to the inclination of your soul, by which you envy your brother, by which you move away from the contemplation of the Father and always remain on the field, you now want to feast without Him. "He never gave me a kid ..." The Father will never give the worst as a gift: a calf is slaughtered, come in, eat with your brother. Why do you ask a kid for which the Lamb is ready? And so that you do not pretend that you do not know that the Lamb is ready, John pointed 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 of repentance, asks you to eat the calf without slaughtering the goat that stands on the left side. But at the end of the century, you yourself will slaughter a goat for yourself, the Antichrist, and with your friends, unclean spirits, you will feed on his flesh, in fulfillment of the prophecy: “You crushed the head of Leviathan, gave him for food to the people of the desert” (Psalm 73, 14).

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

“But he said to him: my son! you are always with me, and all mine is yours ”(Luke 15:31). He is called a son, although he does not want to enter. But how does everything of God belong to the Jews? Are there really Angels, Thrones, Dominions and other Powers? Obviously, everything should be understood as the law, prophets, divine speeches. God gave all this to the Jews so that they could learn in His law day and night ...

“And about this it was necessary to rejoice and be glad, that this thy brother was dead and revived, was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32). So, let us hope that we too, having become dead through sins, can revive in repentance. In the present parable, the son himself returns, just as in the previous parables the lost sheep is brought back and the lost coin is found. All three parables are concluded in the same way: “I was lost and was found”, so that by means of various assimilations we might understand the same thought about accepting sinners. Blessed Jerome (116, 193-196).

What is the danger of envy, for what actions

Is she pushing? What examples of this

Do you know of spiritual vice from literature?

How to defeat envy? Love covers

Everything. Learning to love is the most important thing in

Human life.

What envy did

It's finished! Pallor imposed

A stamp on dead lips

For the first time, death closed the mouth,

And blood was shed for the first time!

Brother struck down brother,

Having severed the connection of the past years,

And there is no return for deeds,

And there is no forgiveness for sin.

Trembling, with a mad face

The killer runs wild in fear

Frightened by relatives and friends.

But tomorrow is just like today

Hears, embraced by horror,

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

O. Chumina

Cain killed his own brother Abel. It didn't happen right away. At first he accepted the idea instilled in him 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 does not grow into the commission of a sin in practice.

Envy is a terrible evil. From her passion for fame and acquisition; from her lust and pride. Hence, on the paths of criminal robbers and robbers, hence the murders, hence the division of our family. Any evil you do not meet - it is from envy.

***

Ivan Ilyin. ENVY.

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

In order to get along, people need to "forgive" each other for their dissimilarity, their advantages, their primacy. Not only in the possession of a state, but in everything: you are smart, gifted, educated, handsome, strong, rich, you stand high in the service - I am not; you are above - I am below; okay, I accept it, I am content with it ... I do not 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 hard, work creatively, move myself “up” - in competition, but without envy. You just stay "above"; I will rise to you.

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

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

Envy is primarily stinginess and greed .

She is insatiable like curiosity; it means thereby eternal poverty, eternal care, eternal bad mood; it turns all luck into failure and leaves a person in poverty in hopeless loneliness. A cruel envious person is a spiteful person: he takes offense at a person for someone else's happiness, he is hurt by any other people's success, any positive quality in another it torments him like a wound to the heart; the anger of the lost against 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 “business”: he gets stuck in the struggle between “I” and “you,” and in this eternal struggle he torments himself and his opponent.

If his rage expands to a social program, then it spills over into the class struggle and the Marxist civil war begins.

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

Questions to students:

- probably not a single one

Feelings of envy. What is experiencing

When does the soul come into contact with it?

- how to avoid envy?

- Is it easy not to envy?

SINS OF MORTAL

Pride - despising everyone, demanding servility from others, ready to ascend to heaven and become like the Highest - in a word, pride to self-adoration.

Unfulfilled soul - or Judas' greed for money, combined, for the most part, with unrighteous acquisitions, which does not give a person a minute to think about spiritual things.

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

Envy - leading to any possible atrocity to the Neighbor.

Gluttony - or carnivorousness, not knowing any fasts, combined with a passionate attachment to various amusements, like the gospel rich man who enjoyed himself all day long.

Anger - unapologetic and deciding on terrible destruction, following the example of Herod, who in his anger beat the Bethlehem babies.

Laziness - or perfect carelessness about the soul, carelessness about repentance until last days life, like in the days of Noah.

***

DO NOT HURRY THINK!

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

Envy is sorrow for the welfare 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 man harms himself before the one he envies.

Saint John Chrysostom

***

All the importunate demon is busy,

He wants to seduce me with delight:

Delight I accept a part of mine

And I give glory to God.

And the demon around is busy again,

He wants to scare me with misfortune:

I accept part of my sorrows

And I give glory to God.

For every ray and breath

I give praise 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 everyone is useful

Only the one to whom the Truth went,

Who is holy, thorny and cramped.

Small for the flesh, evil and lies,

But not for a righteous soul

Keeping honor, the Creator's Law

From the beginning of life to the end.

Archpriest Vl. Borozdinov

***

Do not want that

what belongs to your neighbor

The peasant's son Timosha tended other people's sheep and received such a small payment for this that there was nothing to buy boots for. 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 ones that they drive around in a carriage! - thought Timosha, looking with envy at the rich crew. - And our brother - if you please go barefoot. What did I, an orphan girl, anger the Lord, that I must forever toil and wander around strangers? And why such mercy of God is at least to this master? .. If we could exchange with him even for an hour, then it would be happiness!

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

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

Since then, he not only did not envy anyone, but also did not complain about his poverty any more.

***

Three travelers once found a precious find on the road. It was to be divided equally among all. The find was so great that a portion of each would have been significant.

But the devil immediately appeared with his companions in the spirits of envy, treachery and greed.

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

One of them had to go to the nearest town to buy supplies. One went. The two who remained in place agreed to kill the third when he returned to share his part. Meanwhile, the one who went to fetch supplies decided to poison them with poison, so that after the death of both comrades, the wealth would remain for 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 find out who was worse: an envious or a money-lover, ordered two people to be brought to him, one of whom suffered from envy, and the other from the love of money.

When the summoned appeared, the emperor said:

- May each of you demand from me such a gift as he wishes, and I will give it to him with joy. After that, the second of those who asked for and received the gift will receive twice as much as the first will require and receive.

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

Since there was no end to the disputes, the sovereign was forced to end these disputes by commanding the first to make a request for a gift from the envious. And what do you think the envious demanded as a gift? He demanded that one of his eyes be torn out, of course, wishing that both eyes were torn out of his opponent, i.e. so that he becomes completely blind.

Thus, this villain, out of his envy, not only refused every royal gift, but even decided to let himself be mutilated, so that his rival did not receive the gift doubly.

***

DO NOT ENVY

By the envy of the devil, death enters 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 natural for people to sin out of weakness, but only the devil alone is inherent in doing evil out of envy.

Envy there is a daughter of the devil, and whoever is combined with her, she will bring nothing but malice to him, and malice gives birth to death. Cain made friends with envy and cultivated anger in himself, malice matured and brought death to two: temporary Abel, and eternal 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, brothers, avoid the intolerable evil - envy; it is the commandment of the tempting serpent, the invention of the devil, the enemy's seed, the pledge of God's execution, an obstacle to pleasing God, the path to Gehenna, the deprivation of the Kingdom of Heaven ”.

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

THE COUNCIL OF BASIL THE GREAT

BEAT ENVY

“If you see with reason higher than human, you will not regard anything earthly as great and extraordinary: neither what people call wealth, nor fading glory, nor bodily health; if you do not supply benefits for yourself in transient things, but direct your gaze to the truly beautiful and commendable, to the achievement of eternal and true benefits, then you will be far from recognizing anything earthly and perishable as worthy of gratification and competition. And whoever is such and is not amazed by worldly greatness, envy can never come close to him.

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

***

Spiritual honeycomb

Envy plots good neighbors. Where there is envy and greed for fame, 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 with joy.

All sins are from self-love. The beginning of good is to reject oneself, crucify the flesh with passions, endure grief, resentment, adversity.

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

And when he lives in cramped conditions, in poverty, in sickness, in adversity, in sorrow, then he grows spiritually, matures and bears good rich fruits.

Therefore, the path of those who love God is narrow.

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

Without love for God and Neighbor

not be saved

Wild, harsh desert. All around is complete desertion. Here, in strict deeds of abstinence, three monks are saved. How many tortures they do not subject their sinful flesh! She seemed to have become completely impassive. Only the hearts remained cold: love for their neighbor never warmed them ...

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

- I have memorized all the Old and New Testament: what will I get for this?

“You filled the air with words, but all the same there is no benefit to you from your work,” the elder answered him.

- And I, father, rewrote all the Holy Scriptures! - the second boasted.

“And it’s no use to you,” came the reply.

Then the third exclaimed:

- And I, father, work miracles!

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

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

If anyone says that I love God, but hates his brother, there is a lie ... And this is the commandment of the Imam from God, yes, love God, he also loves his brother (1 John 4: 20.21).

***

The Legend of Saint Julian

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

The patient's lifeless body grows cold. Julian tries in every possible way to warm him up by the fire. But the leper in a fading voice whispers: “On your bed ...” and demands that Julian lie down next to him and warm him with the warmth of his body.

Julian fulfills everything without question. The leper suffocates. “I'm dying!” He exclaims. - Hug me, warm with all your being! ”

Julian hugs him without any shadow of disgust, kisses him on the 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 stellar vault 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 benefit - 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 high sacrificial feeling. Today we have all vulgarized: love, and falling in love, and friendship. But even in modern relationships, surprisingly, there is a feeling of sacrificial love.

In all true love there is certainly 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 love, great and unhappy, seeks refuge in the sky, in dreams of uniting there with those from whom the earth has parted, and speaks like the famous Schiller's heroine Tekle:

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

My soul has already transferred everything there ...

Great Russian lyricist Afanasy Fet, whose poetry is almost alien to religious motives, left, nevertheless, a crystal-clear poem, which depicts the dream of a man's beloved girl in night solitude, in front of an icon:

Lady of Zion, before You

In the darkness my lamp is lit.

Everything is asleep all around. My soul is full

Prayer and sweet silence.

You are close to me. Submissive soul

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

Let it 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

Save by mutual prayers ...

So give me strength, stretch out your holy hands

So that it could be brighter in the midnight hour of separation

I will light a lamp in front of 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 tear people apart. 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 his beloved soul.

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

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

And it's not only obscene appearance, but also the indecent behavior of young people! Under the influence of Western pernicious culture, relations became vulgar, the mystery in the relationship between a man and a woman disappears, eroticism and sex have become commonplace. Fornication and adultery are becoming the norm.

But, dear friends, you cannot cheat before God! No matter how we write off everything for time and morals, we will have to answer to the fullest extent: children will be born sick or inferior, married life will not work out in the future, but unless we list all the consequences of a sinful life!

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

We are also surprised: why do great calamities that befall us from everywhere? For the sake of our sins, the vengeance of God hits us, but we do not want to admit our sinfulness. We don't want to repent and reform.

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 an epitrachelion and reads a special prayer.

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

CREATIVE WORKSHOP

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

MATERIALS

Gospel

Law of god

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

Spiritual Seeds. Spiritual and moral reading for the people, school and family. M. 1995 - from the reprinted edition of the Holy Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Pustyn.

“Sin and Repentance of the End Times”. Archimandrite Lazarus. M., 2002 year .

Grains of spiritual wisdom. M .. 1993 year .

I. Ilyin. “I look into life. Book of Thought ”. M .: "Athos", 2000.

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

Q?There is another story about the first red egg.
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. Once she came to Rome and there entered the palace. Once upon a time Mary was noble and wealthy, she was known in the palace and allowed to see the emperor Tiberius. In those days, when people came to the emperor, people always brought him some kind of gift. The rich brought jewelry, and the poor brought what they could. And so Mary came now that she had nothing else but faith in Jesus Christ. She stopped in front of the emperor, held out a simple testicle to him 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. 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 artos. 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, according to custom, ate the meal with the Lord, and after His ascension into heaven, they laid down a part of the bread for their teacher, thereby expressing their faith in the constant presence of Jesus Christ among the disciples.

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

After the Liturgy, the eggs, Easter and Easter cakes brought by the believers are consecrated (according to tradition, the Easter meal begins with the singing of the prayer "Christ is Risen" and eating the consecrated eggs, Easter and Easter cake). Recalling the great benefits rendered to the human race by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ancient Christians extended a helping and beneficent hand to the sire, the poor and the poor. The distribution of money and consecrated products to the poor, in order to make them participants of universal joy on this bright holiday, remain a testimony of the ancient Christian charity in the days of Holy Easter.

Features of the Easter service

In the consciousness of the Orthodox Church, the event of the Resurrection of Christ is one continuous rapture, one continuous joy. No holiday is celebrated so unusually light and solemnly as the holiday of the bright Resurrection of Christ. Therefore, the Easter service itself is the one and only one. It is one continuous jubilation.

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

Before Easter Matins, the rite of midnight office is performed, where on the 9th canon of the canon Don't cry for me Mati the shroud is carried away from the middle of the church to the altar and relies on the Holy See until the Passover.

At the end of the midnight office, Easter Matins begins with a procession of the cross with the singing of the Sunday stichera of the 6th voice Thy Resurrection Christ the Savior. In front of the closed doors of the temple after the rest Glory to the Saints ... there comes a moment that everyone is looking forward to: the clergy sings the troparion of Easter Christ is risen from the dead ... and people pick up these long-awaited words.

Easter Matins is extremely festive, we perceive it as a “feast holiday”, and at the same time does not have any usual, regular signs of festive worship: it does not sing praises, there is no polyeleos - everything that is usually an integral part of festive Matins. But at the Easter service, practically everything is sung. During the singing of the Easter canon, the priests cense the people with the words "Christ is Risen!", People answer: "Truly He is Risen!" All the decoration of the temple, the vestments of the clergy are festive, bright red. The royal doors of the altar are open throughout the entire Bright Week. The entire Easter service is an incessant, solemn hymn to the bright Resurrection of Christ. The victory of life over death. 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 every 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, light, joyful and comforting for the heart. It is during the moments of the most magnificent Easter 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 censor word of St. John Chrysostom, amazing in content: All who were pious and God-loving - let them enjoy this kind and bright celebration. And all who were prudent - let them enter this day into the joy of their Lord. Those who have worked and fasted, may 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 have fasted and those who have not fasted, let all have the same joy. Let no one on this Easter day weep for 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 set everyone free.

· “Christ is Risen!” - we speak with a feeling of spiritual delight and awe, and we want to say 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 year ... Y. Vorobievsky.

·

· “The way to the Apocalypse”. M., 1999 year .

·

· “The Unknown Light of Faith”. M., 2002 year .

·

· "Star of Bethlehem". M., 2000 g.

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

·

· Spiritual poetry. M., 1990 year.

rev. Justin Popovich. "Progress in the mill of death." Minsk.,

2001 year .

The judgment of Osiris is in progress. 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 a feather, which 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. Even four thousand years ago, envy was considered one of the states that were destructive to the soul and blocked its way to another bright world.

Envy ... It destroys a person from within, although it is associated with situations outside of him. She is able to settle in a person's soul, regardless of temperament, age, experience, status. It doesn't matter who you are: a millionaire or unemployed, a show business star or a housewife, a student or a famous sportsman. 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 both in Christianity and in Islam those emotions and actions that involve receiving pleasure and personal gain are considered sins. But there is another side: sinful feelings and actions are aimed at self-destruction or destruction of their own kind. The supreme creation of God is undoubtedly man. Anything that is aimed at causing harm to a Man (by himself or by others of the same Man) is considered sinful. Sins alienate from God, deprive a person of grace, change the state of his heart and change his activity.

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

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

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

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

What is envy?

In 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 wants to have, but does not.

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

Jealousy in Christianity and Biblical Legends

• Envy is a devilish state of mind.
• It is sadness that the neighbor is doing well.
• The source of envy is pride: after all, a proud person cannot tolerate and accept that another has what he does not have.
• Envy is the opposite of love.
• "You will find envy with her the devil" (St. Isaac the Syrian).

Such definitions of envy were given by the holy fathers in different centuries. All of them have one thing in common: 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 officials? They believe that everyone is given exactly as much as is predetermined by God's plan. Envy gives rise to a desire to possess what the other has, but you do not. It comes into conflict with God's plan and puts a person in a kind of "confrontation" with the Lord, that is, on the side of the Devil.

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

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

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

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

And the "competition" between the envious and the avaricious began in who asked for more, and no one knew who to ask first. Then the king ordered the envious person to ask first. Then the envious man, driven by hatred for the money-lover, said: "Poke out my eye."

The king was surprised by this request and wanted to know the reason for this desire. The envious man replied: "Then you will order my opponent to gouge out both eyes." This is the essence of envy: the person whom she possessed 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 the feeling that flared up 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 is the fruits of the earth, and the second is the lambs. But God did not consider 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 murder, to the destruction of his neighbor.

The story of Joseph and his brothers

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

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

The story of David and King Saul's envy

Davil served King Saul and, as a warrior, was distinguished by courage. When they returned after defeating the Philistines, the people greeted them with the words: "King Saul conquered thousands, and David tens of thousands." Then a 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 did not succeed.

Perhaps the most famous example of destructive envy is the tragic situation with Jesus Christ. The Pharisees and scribes, driven by envy and thirst for primacy and power, did everything to make Christ crucified and perished 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 value more what you have, and not spend your mental energy 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 main sins (they are called" limitless ": stirring up strife among religious communities, father - and matricide, murder of 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 the goal and fearlessness (there are similarities with the characteristics of "white envy" in our understanding, is not it?) In the second, the lowest 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 the envy and those around them. 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.

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 identify 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 is disguised as a constant bad mood, irritability, depressive manifestations, dissatisfaction with life. If you do not work to eliminate these psychological problems, then he is fraught with neuroses, family and personal dramas - all that can irrevocably ruin a person's life.
• Conscious... It can be just as 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 mental strength, motivation, capabilities, and most importantly, if he has a desire to get rid of a sinful feeling, then he will overcome it in a constructive way. Having recognized other people's successes, he will direct all his efforts to become better, more successful. In this situation, “the happiness of a neighbor” will become an impetus for him to achieve his own happiness. This kind of envy is also called "white".

The situation is quite different with “black envy”. It is dangerous for the person himself or for those around him, in relation to whom it arose. The envy 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 a desire to destroy the source of envy. Psychologists distinguish several types of destruction:

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

All these methods are destructive and related to 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 psychosomatics specialist, has been conducting research for many years. He is interested in how feelings and emotions lead to disease. They 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 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 feeling of envy for what is higher and has already established qualities, staged a coup - the Russian revolution of 2017. They tried to achieve equality at all costs.

Are everyone equally subject 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 was instilled with destructive attitudes:

• Not taught to accept himself as he is.
• They were not allowed to feel the manifestations of unconditional love. Praising only for achieving certain goals is not what children need.
• They were scolded for any violation of the rules. They used physical punishment and spoke hurtful words against him.
• They instilled attitudes that living is hard, making money is difficult, wealth is bad, restrictions and sacrifice are normal.
• They were not allowed to use their own belongings 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 insecure, with a large number of complexes and limitations. Not being able to realize himself, he destroys the psyche with envy arising in it.

It is important to convey to the child that it is wrong to compare and identify with others. After all, it is the criterion "worse-better" that becomes the main thing in assessing actions and achievements. One cannot but recall the words of church officials: "What we sow, we reap", "Where there is no love, there is envy."

Both psychologists and ministers of the church are convinced that it is necessary to eradicate envy in oneself, because it eats away at the soul, as rust eats away at iron. It is her destructive nature that makes her the main sin, moreover, envy does not go alone: \u200b\u200btogether with her, love for 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 welfare 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 with it spiritual death - the soul that sinns with it dies, leaving God.

Speaks about envy tenth commandment of the law of God:

« Do not wish wives of your sincere one, do not covet your neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his cattle, nor all the tree is the essence of your neighbor.

(Do not covet your neighbor's wife, do not covet your neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his cattle, nor everything that your neighbor has).

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

The sin against this commandment is called envy.

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

But envy, not itself, defiles the soul, making it unclean before God, as the word of God says: "The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord" (Proverbs 15, 26).

(The law of God. On the tenth commandment of the Law of God)

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

A 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. God's law. On the sixth commandment of the Law of God)

2. Scripture about envy

« Do not wish wives of your sincere one, do not covet your neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his cattle, nor all the tree is the essence of your neighbor. (Ex. 20, 17)

“Whether any of you is wise and wise, prove it really by good behavior with wise meekness. But if in your heart you have bitter envy and contentiousness, 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 contentiousness, there is disorder and everything bad. " (James 3, 13-16)

“For if there is envy, quarrels and disagreements among you, are you not carnal? and are you not acting according to human custom? " (1 Cor. 3: 3)

“The works of the flesh are known; they are: adultery, fornication, impurity, lewdness, idolatry, magic, enmity, quarrels, envy, anger, strife, disagreements, [temptations], heresies, hatred, murder, drunkenness, outrage and the like. I precede you, as I did before, that those who do this will not inherit the Kingdom of God. If we live in spirit, then we must act in spirit. Let's not boast, annoy each other, envy each other. " (Gal. 5: 19-26)

“For I fear that, after my coming, I may not find you the way I do not want, and also you will not find me the way you do not want: so that you do not find strife, envy, anger, quarrels, slander, sneak , pride, disorder, so that again, when I come, my God will not despise me with you, and so that I do not mourn the many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication and lewdness that they did. " (2 Cor. 12, 20-21)

"Death entered the world with the envy of the devil, and those who belong to his lot test it." (Prem. 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 for the body, and envy is rotten for the bones." (Proverbs 14:30)

3. Roots of envy

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

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

« Vanity

The search for human glory. Boasting. Desire and search for earthly honors. Love for 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 sciences and arts that are dying of this century, the quest to catch up with them in order to acquire temporary, earthly glory. It's a shame to confess your sins. Hiding them before people and the spiritual father. Craftiness. Word justification. Objection. Composing your mind. Hypocrisy. Lying. Flattery. Man-pleasing. Envy... Humiliation of the neighbor. Changeable disposition. Pretense. Shamelessness. The disposition and life are demonic. "

Rev. Nile of Sinai:

Envy and bitter hatred come from contempt and arrogance.

St. Theophan the Recluseanalyzes the mutual dependence of passions:

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

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky:

“Envy comes from pride and, at the same time, from neglect to doing what is due. Cain lost his heart to offer his chosen sacrifice to God. And when God despised his sacrifice for such negligence, and accepted Abel's zealous and chosen sacrifice, then, enveloped in envy, he decided to kill and killed the righteous Abel. "

“We are all close by, we are more or less ill with vanity and pride. And nothing hinders success in spiritual life more than these passions. Where there is indignation, or disagreement, or discord, if you look carefully, it turns out that the main fault of this is popularity and pride. Why does the Apostle Paul command, saying: “We are not vain, annoying one another, envying each other” (Gal. 5:26). Envy and hatred, anger and memory malice are common creatures of vanity and pride. "

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

Rev. Makariy Optinsky:

“The world, according to St. Isaac, are passions, and especially three main ones: popularity, lust and avarice. If we do not arm ourselves against these, then we inevitably fall into anger, sadness, despondency, memory malice, envy, hatred, and the like.

Our main passions: pride, pride, and from them anger, rage, envy, anger, condemnation of neighbors, contempt of our heart; These passions lie hidden in us until the occasion: who will show them to us? ...

You ask about the passion of envy that is nesting in you, and you are afraid that it will remain in you until the grave; and even wondering how it comes from pride? Judge, is it not from your pride and popularity? and it is said from the father: "Self-loving cannot be brotherly." If you were trying to win humility, not to mention, had humility, you would prefer your neighbor and all his benefits. What torments the envious person? Near well-being or preference; although he himself has the same benefits, but time and preference; but he is annoyed why he has that. … When there is envy, it is already obvious, love and humility are driven out; and without them, virtues are worthless.

… The reason for this temptation is pride, for from it jealousy and envy come.

“You ask: where does this hateful feeling come from when you hear praise to others, and how can you get rid of it? What this embarrassment leads to, then there is already a passion that lies in you, lofty mind ... And when you reproach and humble yourself, you will be healed. Of course, the reason for this temptation is pride, for from it jealousy and envy come. "

St. John Chrysostom:

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

St. right. John of Kronstadt:

The root of all evil is the selfish heart, or self-pity, self-pity; from self-love or excessive and illegal love for oneself, all passions flow: coldness, insensitivity and cruelty towards God and one's neighbor, angry impatience, or irritability, hatred, envy, avarice, despondency, pride, doubt, lack of faith and disbelief, 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 popularity: for whoever wants to be glorified, he envies the glorified or preferred.

Rev. Abba Isaiah:

It is impossible for one who loves human glory to achieve dispassion: envy and zeal live in him.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa:

He who has a coarse mind and is immersed in the earthly, has bowed his soul to bodily pleasures, like animals to food, lives only for the womb and for that which is connected with the womb; whoever has retired from the life of God, is alien to the promise of covenants and does not consider anything else to be good except bodily pleasures - he walks in darkness, as Scripture says (John 12:35) He becomes the inventor of evil and unrighteousness in this life, including and covetousness, and unbridled passions, and immoderation in pleasures, all lust, and striving for vain glory, and other passions that live in a person. Because vices seem to cling to one another, and into whom one enters, as if drawn by some natural necessity, the others enter imperceptibly ... And if you need to describe this evil bond to you, then imagine that someone something defeated by the passion of vanity; but vanity is followed by a desire to acquire more, for it is impossible to be covetous if vanity is not guided by this passion. Further, the desire to acquire more and to have an advantage over others entails either anger towards equals, or pride in relation to the lower, or envy of the higher; envy is followed by pretense, followed by anger; and followed by hatred of people; the end of it all is condemnation, hell, darkness and fire.

Rev. Paisiy Svyatorets:

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

The Holy Fathers write that the passion of envy is so terrible that the envy has a devilish disposition, goes against God and becomes like the devil:

Rev. Simeon the New Theologian:

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

Abba Piammon:

For not against man, but clearly against God, the detractor is ascended, who, not stealing anything else in his brother, except for good merit, condemns not the guilt of man, but only the judgments of God. So, envy is that root of grief, vegetate vigorously (cf. Hebrews 12, 15), which, rising in height, rushes to reproach the culprit Himself - God, Who imparts good to man.

Rev. Isaac the Sirin:

Whoever has found envy has found the devil with her.

St. John Chrysostom:

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

... Even if [man] were your enemy and enemy, and God was glorified through him, then you ought to make him a friend for this, and you make your friend your enemy because God is glorified through the good name he uses ... How else can you show enmity against Christ? Therefore, even if he performed signs, even if he showed the feat of virginity, or fasting, or lying on the bare ground, and with virtue of this kind equaled the Angels, but if he is subject to the passion of envy, he turns out to be the most abominable of all.

Envy is worse than enmity, a hostile ... often can indicate a sufficient reason for enmity, and the second cannot point to anything other than his own madness and satanic disposition. "

St. Basil the Great:

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

Rev. Ephraim Sirin:

This demonic disposition is to be offended by the valor of those who are ripening. Hatred is rooted in demons; it is most desirable for them that all perish completely.

Rev. Makariy Optinsky:

… Being in church and feeling peace and quiet, I was comforted by them; and after that I felt a passion of envy for K.'s preference, and darkness covered you; from this I must see that one should not think about oneself in any way, even though they were honored with great gifts; still in us lies the darkness of passions ... And how bitter is envy and it is difficult to explain, and it does not come from outside, but from within comes from its pledge; found envy, found the devil, and the devil darkness and confusion; and where there is grace, there is light and peace. Strive against this passion, and do not think that people are giving a reason for passion, but these cases will only show you this, which was hidden in you and moved from the case, by the look of God, allowed to your healing.

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 breeding ground of sins, the cause of crimes.

Rev. Abba Isaiah:

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

One who wants to become famous among people cannot be without envy; but he who is envious cannot acquire humility.

St. Basil the Great:

“Another passion, more pernicious than envy, and does not arise in human souls. It is less harmful to outsiders, but the first and closest evil for the one who has it. As rust eats away iron, so envy is the soul in which it lives. It is better to say how about vipers they say that they are born, gnawing through the womb that bore them, so envy usually devours the soul in which it is born.

An envious person never lacks sorrows and griefs.

… What could be more harmful than this disease? This is the 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? Is it not envy? The God-fighter clearly exposed himself in envy when he was indignant at God for His generous gifts to man, but he took revenge on man because he could not take revenge on God. Cain, the first disciple of the devil, who learned from him both envy and murder - these related iniquities, which Paul also combined, saying: “filled with envy, murder” (Rom. 1:29), turns out to be doing the same. What did Cain do? He saw honor from God and was kindled with jealousy, he destroyed the one clothed with honor in order to offend the Honored One. Not having the strength to fight against God, he fell into fratricide. Let us, brothers, avoid this affliction, which is made by the teacher of the fight against God, the mother of homicide, the perversion of nature, the oblivion of kinship, the most indescribable disaster.

... Envy is the most insurmountable kind of enmity. Benefits make other ill-wishers more meek. The envious and malevolent is even more irritated by the good done to him. The more he sees good deeds for himself, the more he becomes indignant, saddened and upset. He is more offended by the power of the benefactor than he feels grateful for what has been done for him. What beast is not surpassed by the envious with the cruelty of their morals? Are they not exceeding in ferocity the most indomitable of them? The dogs, if fed, become meek; lions, when they are followed, become tame. But the envious become even more ferocious when they render services to them.

... Turn your thoughts to the greatest envy, which found itself in the most important case, what the fury of the Jews was to the Savior! What did you envy? For miracles. And what were these miracles? Salvation of the needy. The hungry were nourished, and war was raised against the nourishing. The dead were resurrected, and the Life-giving one became the object of envy. Demons were cast out - and the Lord of the demons was attacked. The lepers were cleansed, the lame began to walk, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the Benefactor was expelled. Finally, they put to death the Giver of life, beat the Liberator of people with whips, condemned the Judge of the world. Thus the anger of envy spread over everything. With this one weapon, from the folding of the world to the end of the century, everyone hurts and dethrones the destroyer of our life - the devil, who rejoices in our destruction, he himself fell from envy, and he casts us down with the same passion.

... They [envious people] are skillful to make contemptible and commendable, misinterpreting virtue, and to slander virtue, presenting it as a vice adjacent to it: the courageous is called impudent, the chaste - insensitive, the just - cruel, the prudent - insidious. He who loves splendor is accused of having a rough taste; about the generous they say that he is wasteful, and about the thrifty again that he is stingy. And in general, every kind of virtue does not remain with them without such a name, which is borrowed from the opposite vice. "

“Let's run away from intolerable 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 way to hell, the deprivation of the Kingdom. "

Rev. Ephraim Sirin:

“In whom there is envy and rivalry, he is an enemy to everyone, for he does not want the other to be preferred. He humiliates those who deserve approval; whoever follows the good path puts temptations on the way: those who live as they should reproach those who are reverent, they call the fasting person vain, the zealous in psalmopenia - those who love to show themselves, those who are quick for services - greedy, quick in business - they are popular, diligently studying books - an idle lover ... Woe to the envious, because his heart is always faint with grief, his body is consumed by pallor, and his strength is depleted.

[The envious] is unbearable to everyone, he is an enemy to everyone, he hates everyone, he is a hypocrite before everyone, he intrigues everyone, he wears a disguise before everyone ...

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

He who envies his brother's successes excommunicates himself 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 product of sorrow, the mother of calamity, the reason for disobedience, the beginning of shame. Envy drove us out of paradise, becoming a serpent before Eve; jealousy blocked access to the tree of life and, having taken off our sacred garments, out of shame, led us to the branches of the fig tree. Jealousy armed Cain against nature, and brought about death avenged seven times (see: Genesis 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 stinging 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, for her, luck is not her own good, but her neighbor's bad luck. Envy is tormented by the well-being of people and laughs at their misfortunes.

St. John Chrysostom:

Those who envy inflict the greatest harm upon themselves and bring upon themselves great destruction.

Just as a worm that originates in a tree primarily 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 he envies, he does not what she would like him, but absolutely opposite.

Let us ... run away from this pernicious passion and with all our might pluck it from 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 [envious] crushes himself, as it were, and, as it were, devoured by invisible teeth and thus exhausted in himself ... plunges into the abyss.

This is this pernicious passion: it will not stop until the person who is attracted 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 first, as it will bring 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 in a short time commits his sin, while the envious torment and torment himself before the one he envies ...

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

Oh, envy, sister of hypocrisy, culprit of deceit, sower of murder, serpentine seed, pernicious color. What's worse than envy? Nothing. And what caused death itself? Nothing else but envy ...

The great evil is envy ... it blinds the eyes of the soul in spite of the self-interest of the most obsessed with it.

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

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

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

... (Envy) overthrew the Church, gave rise to heresies, armed the brotherly hand, prompted to stain the right hand in the blood of the righteous, trampled on the laws of nature, opened the doors of death ...

Those who have not freed themselves from this disease cannot completely escape the fire prepared for the devil.

Oh, envy, a tarred, infernal, disastrous ship! Your owner is the devil, the helmsman is the serpent, Cain is the chief rower. The devil gave you a pledge of disaster; the serpent, being the helmsman, brought Adam to a mortal shipwreck; Cain is the senior rower, because through you, envy, he was the first to commit murder. You have from the beginning the heavenly tree of obedience as a mast, ropes of sins as tackles, envious sailors, demons as sailors, cunning as oars, hypocrisy as a wheel. Oh, ship, carrier of countless evils! If you ask about hypocrisy, there it is ... There lives envy, hostility, quarrel, deceit, quarrelsomeness, cursing, backbiting, blasphemy, and whatever we say and what we omit - all this is carried by the hellish ship of envy. The flood was unable to destroy this ship of envy, but Jesus drowned it with the power of the Spirit, the source of baptism.

... The envious person considers other people's misfortunes to be his happiness, and the well-being of others as his ill-luck. It is not so much the poor who are grieved by their poverty as the envious - by the well-being of their neighbor; what could be more vile than this? "

“In order for us to attain (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 in front, but now passion is stronger than fire; let there be no animal teeth, but rage overcomes more terrible than the beast; let the executioners not stand nearby, but envy lies inside, tormenting the spirit more painfully than any executioner. So, we need, having prepared for the struggle with the passions and putting the power of wise thoughts as a bulwark against them, to accomplish a real life and to be all life in exploit, so that, having worked for a short time, forever be crowned and enjoy eternal blessings, forever unite with the Lord and experience bliss of this unity, surpassing every word and thought ... "

Venerable Ambrose of Optina:

“The proud one can be honored! Praise the vain! The one who loves money - something to give ... and so on. It is impossible to please an envious person. The more they please him, the more he envies and suffers. "

“The passion of envy, on no joyful holiday, under any joyful circumstances, does not allow one to fully rejoice in whoever it possesses. Always, like a worm, sharpens his soul and heart with vague sorrow, because an envious person considers the well-being and successes of his neighbor to be his misfortune, and the preference shown to others considers himself an unjust offense. One Greek king wanted to know which of the two is worse, a money-lover or an envious one, because both do not wish the other well. To this end, he commanded to call the money-lover and the envious and tells them: "Ask each of you what he wants from me, just know that the second will receive twice what the first will ask." The money-lover and the envious fought for a long time, not wanting each to ask before, in order to receive twice afterwards. Finally the king told the envious man to ask first. The envious, being enveloped in ill will towards his neighbors, instead of receiving, turned to evil intent and said to the king: “Sovereign! order me to gouge out an eye. " The surprised king asked why he expressed such a desire? The envious one answered: "So that you, sir, ordered my comrade to gouge out both eyes." That is how the passion of envy is malefic and soul-damaging, but also malicious. An envious person is ready to expose himself to harm, if only to double damage his neighbor. "

People obsessed with the passion of envy, Rev. Ambrose likens Herod: “Let us try in every possible way to resist envy and to exterminate this passion at its very beginning,” he writes, “because to the extreme extent, those conquered by envy act like Herod in their deeds, and if they were kings, they would stretch out their malice to killing many. "

Rev. Makariy Optinsky answered the spiritual daughter:

“Being in church and feeling peace and quiet, I was comforted by them; and after that I felt a passion of envy for K.'s preference, and darkness covered you .... But how bitter is envy and it is difficult to explain ... acquired envy, found the devil, and the devil is darkness and confusion; and where there is grace, there is light and peace. "

St. Tikhon Zadonsky:

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

Rev. Paisiy Svyatorets:

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

And what does envy consist of?

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

It means that there can be no love in the one who envies the elder?

Of course it cannot! 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, makes love and kindness worthless, as a dead mouse makes butter worthless when it falls into an earthen pot.

What if I want something that my sister has?

If God said: "Do not desire ... everything, since the essence of your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17), then how: can we desire something that belongs to another? Well, let's not even keep the basic commandments? Then our life will turn to hell. "Kiyzhdo is tempted from his lust ..." (James 1:14), says Saint James, brother of the Lord. These lusts will torment souls in hell. And if God takes us to heaven, 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 daring.

You are jealous, so you have no daring. When a person is jealous, he is worried, cannot eat, withers 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 an innate nobility in you, you are tormented like the last beggar. You would be very successful in your spiritual life if you weren't stuck in envy. Be careful, because envy sucks out from you all the mental and physical strength that you could give 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 the demon from the demon-possessed boy (See Matthew 17:16; Mark 9:18; Luke 9:40), although they received the authority from Christ to cast out demons and have already cast out demons from people? Because they envied Peter, James and John, because only them Christ took to the mountain and was transformed before them (See Mt. 17, 1; Mk. 9, 2; Luke 9, 28). Christ could have taken all the disciples with Him, but not all were able to accommodate such a sacrament, so He took only those who could. Maybe you will say that He did not love other disciples? Or did he love John more than others? No, but John loved Christ more than other disciples and therefore felt the love of Christ better. It had more capacity, its "battery" was larger. Do you see how jealousy removed the grace of God from the apostles, and they could not heal the demon-possessed youth? Therefore, Christ said: "O, kindly unfaithful and perverse, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you?" (Matthew 17, 17. See Mk. 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 purity of the body, if the fast of the soul is not combined with it. For the soul also has its own harmful food, having satiated 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 constantly torments it, poor, with the welfare 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, and in spiritual food (vices) there is ... a fatal devouring of brothers, about which it is said: "Do not love to curse, so that you will not be destroyed" ( Proverbs 20, 13). Blessed Job also speaks of anger and envy: “Anger kills the foolish, irritability kills the frivolous, and envy kills the frivolous” (Job 5: 2). And it should also be noted that he who is angry is reckless, and who is envious is considered frivolous. He is justly considered reckless who inflicts death upon himself with anger; and the envious shows that he is stupid and petty. For when he is jealous, he thereby testifies that the one for whose happiness he grieves 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 ailment of envy in himself, and at the same time, it is very important to notice this passion in the bud, since if it takes root and grows, it is extremely difficult to get rid of it. Therefore, you need to know the signs by which you can determine its appearance in the soul: it is hostility, jealousy, rivalry, annoyance at one's neighbor, censure, condemnation, backbiting.

Venerable 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 whom 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... A man when he envies starts looking for flaws in another. He cannot say directly, but he feels that something is wrong and tries to justify his feeling.

... Envy is therefore black, because tries to blacken others. Then you don't want to have what others have. Remember how in the fable of Ivan Andreevich Krylov, the fox speaks of the grapes that she could not get: "Yes, it is still green."

…it seems to him that he alone is unhappy, and everyone around is happy. This begins to manifest itself in the speech: "All around there are scoundrels", "come in large numbers here", "all around there are fools" ... 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 irritate him, then others, 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, gifts, they are given by God. And why the Lord commands so, we do not know. "And what God is doing, he does not tell anyone."

... the youth 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. AND if you are not happy - it means that envy still sits in you.

When everything is all right with your friend, and you, instead of being happy for him, 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 to overcome envy, it is important to start confronting this passion at its very inception. The main virtues that overcome envy are humility, repentance, self-reproach, non-covetousness, the turning of the soul's aspirations not to the temporary, but to the eternal, love and neighbor and joy for his well-being, prayer for his neighbor and beneficence to the one to whom envy is aroused.

St. Basil the Great teaches:

“We can avoid envy if we do not regard as great what people call wealth, unfading fame, or our bodily health. We will strive to acquire eternal and true blessings ”.

St. John Chrysostom:

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

... Cry and howl, cry 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 from this ailment.

… For those who have not freed themselves from this disease, it is impossible to completely avoid the fire prepared for the devil. And we will become free from sickness when we think how Christ loved us and how he commanded us to love one another ”.

Abba Falassius:

The one who secretly rejoices at the one who is envied gets rid of envy, and the one who hides what one can envy gets rid of envy.

Rev. Maxim the Confessor:

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

Rev. Makariy Optinsky:

“For God's sake, do not allow this seed of Cain to grow in you, but suppress small sprouts him, kill "babylonian babies" while they are still babies. Cast them down from the adjournment with 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, lying inside you, but hiding for a while; and when just a little wine appears, passion raises its head and hisses; then it is necessary to take up arms against them, not running away guilt [reasons], but resisting and reproaching ourselves - also calling for God's help; and the Lord is able to give you this ... "

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

... when will you reproach and humble yourselfthen you will be healed.

… Humility alone is strong to oppose, to destroy all passions; we know enough about this; you just need to force yourself to do; and the Lord will send His help. "

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky:

“She, like all other passions, has different sizes and degrees, and therefore should try to suppress her and exterminate at first sensation, praying To God the Almighty Heart-Seer with the psalm words: “ Cleanse me from my secrets, and spare Thy servant from strangers (or Thy servant) ”(Ps. 18: 13-14).

Also with humility should to confess this weakness before the spiritual father.

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

"Envy and malice and hatred come from pride and from the lack of love for neighbors. Medicine is against these passions: first, humble and sincere consciousness of their weakness before God and the spiritual father; secondly, the evangelical compulsion not to act on the attraction of these passionsbut to do the opposite to them; third medicine - to seek in everything only the glory of God and from God; fourth cure - humble asking for God's help Psalm words: "Lord, cleanse me from my secrets, and from those who are alien, spare your servant or your servant." To ask for God's help, not doubting, but believing that the impossible in people is possible from God. The fifth cure - self-reproach, i.e. in any unpleasant and sorrowful case or circumstance, we should lay the blame on ourselves, and not on others, that we did not know how to act properly, and from this came such a nuisance and such sorrow, which we deserve, by the permission of God, for our neglect, for our the exaltation for our sins, both old and new. "

Rev. Nikon Optinsky:

“When you feel resentment towards someone, or anger, or irritation, then need to pray for those people, regardless of whether they are to blame or not. Pray in simplicity of heart, as the holy fathers advise: "Save, Lord, and have mercy on Your 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:

"Whom you envy, pray to God for him."

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

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

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

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

St. Basil the Great:

"What? How can we either never suffer this disease, or, having fallen into it, can we avoid it? Firstly, we can, if we do not regard anything human as great and extraordinary, neither what people call wealth, nor fading glory, nor bodily health, because we do not supply good for ourselves in transient things, but we are called to the communion of blessings. eternal and true. Therefore, even unworthy of our competition - the rich for the sake of his wealth, the ruler for the greatness of his dignity, wise for the abundance of words. These are instruments of virtue for those who use them well, but do not contain bliss in themselves. Therefore, it is pitiful who uses this badly, like a man who, taking a sword to take revenge on his enemies, voluntarily wounds himself with it. And if someone disposes of real goods well and as they should, if he remains only the guardian of the one given from God, and collects treasures not for his own enjoyment, then justice requires praising and loving such for brotherly love and sociability of disposition. Again, who is distinguished by prudence, is honored from God by the gift of the word, who is the interpreter of sacred words; do not envy such, do not wish that the prophet of the sacred word ever fell silent, if, by the grace of the Spirit, he was accompanied by any approval and praise from the audience. Yours is good, you are sent through your brother the gift of teaching, if you want to accept it. At the same time, no one blocks the spring water source, no one closes their eyes from the shining sun, no one envies them, but wants to enjoy them. Why, then, when the spiritual word flows out in the church and a pious heart pours out streams of the gifts of the Spirit, you do not bow your ears with joy, you do not accept the benefit with gratitude; on the contrary, the applause of the hearers gnaws at 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 the good of the soul should be considered beautiful by nature, but if someone surpasses others in wealth, is famous for power and bodily health, however, that he has, uses it well, then he should be loved and honored as a person who has common tools of life ... And who he does not accept these blessings with such a disposition, he should be recognized as more miserable than worthy of envy, if he has more chances to be thin. For it means perishing with great benefits and resources. If wealth serves as a warning to untruth, then the rich man is pitiful. And if he serves to virtue, then there is no place for envy; because the use of wealth is made common to all, unless someone, in excess of guile, becomes jealous of his own blessings. In general, if you see the mind above the human and direct your gaze to the truly beautiful and commendable, then you will be very far from recognizing anything perishable and earthly worthy of respect and competition. And who is who is not amazed at the worldly as something great, envy can never come close to him.

But if you certainly desire glory, you want to be more visible than many, and you do not tolerate being second (for this is also a reason for envy), then your ambition, like some kind of stream, should be directed to the acquisition of virtue. ... Therefore, if virtue is the highest and sufficient good, and by all admittedly has a preference, then we should strive for it - for virtue, which cannot be in a soul that is not purified both from other passions, and especially from envy.

Do you not see what evil is hypocrisy? And it is the fruit of envy, because double-mindedness in people is mostly out of envy, when, hiding in the depths of hatred, they show an appearance adorned with love, and are like underwater rocks, which, being a little covered with water, cause unforeseen harm to the unwary.

Therefore, if from envy, as from a source, result for us death, deprivation of goods, alienation from God, confusion of statutes, the overthrow of all in the aggregate of worldly goods, then we will obey the Apostle, and "we do not have vanity, irritating each other, envying each other" ( Gal. 5.26); but let us be more “blazi, mercy, forgiving one another, as God also forgave us to eat” to us “in Christ” Jesus, our Lord (Eph. 4:32), with whom glory be to the Father with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen".

Prot. Seraphim Slobodskoy:

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

Abba Piammon:

« Envy is harder to cure than other passions... For whom she once injured with her poison, for that, almost, one might say, there is no medicine. For she is such an infection, which is figuratively spoken of through the prophet: behold, I will send serpents, basilisks against you, on which spells have no effect, 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 first one contracted and died the culprit of all poisons and the boss. For in advance he destroyed himself, before he poured out a deadly poison on the person whom he envied. For through the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and his accomplices imitate him (cf. they allowed themselves to be hurt with the same remorse, they reject any help of a holy spell (see: Psalm 57, 5-6); because they are not through any fault of others, but from their happiness, they are tormented, ashamed to discover the very truth, and they are looking for some extraneous, empty and ridiculous reason for insult. Since these reasons are completely false, then there is only one cure for them - the eruption of that deadly poison, which they do not want to discover, they hide in their hearts. The wise man said well about this: if the snake does not bite in a conspiracy, then afterwards 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 (that is, envy) is so incurable that it hardens from caress, from services it puffs; annoys with gifts; because, as the same Solomon says: jealousy does not endure anything (see: Proverbs 6, 34). For the more another one succeeds in the humility of humility, or the virtue of patience, or the glory of generosity, the more envy is incited by the envious who desires the fall or death of the one he envies.

Of all vices, envy is more fatal and more difficult to cure, which is still ignited by the very remedies from which other passions cease. For example, whoever grieves for harm done to him is healed by a generous reward; who is indignant at the insult inflicted, he is pacified by a humble apology. And what can you do to someone who is even more offended by the very fact that he sees you more humble and more affable, who is inflamed into anger not by greed, which is satisfied with a reward, not an offense or a desire for revenge, which is overcome by affection, 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, to lose happiness, to undergo some kind of disaster? So, so that the basilisk (devil) does not destroy everything that is alive in us, which is, as it were, inspired by the vital action of the Holy Spirit, with one wound of this evil (envy) alone, we will 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 is felt in the body. "

Rev. Paisiy Svyatorets:

“If you fight against envy, cultivate love and kindness in yourself, then, having conquered envy, you will at the same time be freed from anger, condemnation, anger, sadness. ...

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

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

Therefore, let everyone look, maybe the talent that he envies in the other, 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 giving of one person is not like the giving of another. Have you not paid attention to the wild peas that grow below 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 ... Everyone is happy with their 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, in a Pharisee way, but humbly, admitting that he neglected them, and let him develop them in the future.

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

God gave you so many gifts, and you envy the gifts of others? You remind me of the daughter of a pastry chef in Konitsa. Every day, her father gave her a small piece of cake, a big one could make her feel bad, and she looked at the children at school who ate large corn cakes and envied them. "They eat large pieces, and my father gives me a small one," she said. I envied the corn cakes that others ate, and I myself had a whole pastry shop with cakes! Likewise, you do not appreciate the great gifts that God gave you, but you look at the gifts of others and are jealous.

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 himself. We often behave like little children, we complain that Father did not give us a drachma or two drachmas, like our brothers and sisters, although he gave us a whole hundred drachmas. We believe that He gave us nothing, 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 take offense at our Good Father.

... You know, if you walk with difficulty, be happy 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 to continue to succeed, and to you to achieve 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 devotee and zealot. He was also very reverent. The senior monks stood up as a sign of respect when he passed by. I benefited more from this novice than from all the books I had read before, because he was a living example. Once my heart ached. By chance, at this time, that brother came to my cell and I asked him to pray. He had not yet had time to leave, and the pain had already passed. Another time a demoniac 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 man." "With your prayers," he said, "may Christ drive out the demon." As soon as he departed, the demon came out of the man. That is what boldness he had towards God! What a spiritual measure he came to! So, I asked God that that brother should come in the measure of that saint, whose name he bore, and for me to come in his measure. Do the same, and you will clearly see the power of God.

When a person learns to rejoice at the successes of others, Christ will give him all the successes of others, and he will rejoice in the same way as all others taken together, 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 person's head without the will of God. Nothing happens by accident. Chance is a pseudonym by which God acts in the world - as Pascal said.

Without God's help, it is impossible to overcome any passion. They are so resourceful that one will constantly be replaced by the other. And man cannot grasp the root in any way.

Treatment 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. "