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{{Short description|Set of vices in Christian theology}}
{{otheruses}}
{{other uses|Seven deadly sins (disambiguation)|Deadly Sins (disambiguation)}}
{{otheruses2|Cardinal sin}}
{{distinguish|Mortal sin}}
]'s '']'']]
]
{{Catholic philosophy}}


The '''seven deadly''' '''sins''' (also known as the '''capital''' '''vices''' or '''cardinal sins''') function as a grouping classification of major vices within the teachings of ].<ref name="Tucker-2015">{{Cite book |title=The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook |last=Tucker |first=Shawn |publisher=Cascade |year=2015 |isbn=978-1625647184}}</ref> According to the standard list, the seven deadly sins in Christianity are ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. 
The ''"Seven Deadly Sins"''', also known as the '''"Capital Vices"''' or '''"Cardinal Sins"''', are a classification of ] that were originally used in early ] teachings to educate and instruct followers concerning (]) fallen man's tendency to ]. The Roman Catholic ] divided ] into two principal categories: "]", which are relatively minor, and could be forgiven through any ] of the Church, and the more severe "capital" or "mortal" sins, which, when committed, destroyed the life of grace, and created the threat of eternal ] unless either absolved through the sacrament of ], or otherwise forgiven through perfect ] on the part of the penitent. Beginning in the early 14th century, the popularity of the Seven deadly sins as a theme among European artists of the time eventually helped to ingrain them in many areas of Christian culture and Christian consciousness in general throughout the world.


In Christianity, the classification of deadly sins into a group of seven originated with ], and continued with ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Seven Deadly Sins |url=https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-seven-deadly-sins |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Catholic Answers}}</ref> The concepts of the sins involved were in part based on Greco-Roman and Biblical antecedents. Later, the concept of seven deadly sins evolved further, based upon historical context based upon the Latin language of the Roman Catholic Church, though with a significant influence from the Greek language and associated religious traditions. Knowledge of the seven deadly sin concept is known through discussions in various treatises and also depictions in paintings and sculpture, for example architectural decorations on certain churches of certain Catholic ] and also from certain older textbooks.<ref name="Tucker-2015"/> Further information has been derived from patterns of ].
Listed in the same order used by both ] in the 6th Century AD, and later by ] in his epic poem '']'', the Seven deadly sins are as follows: {{lang|la|'''Luxuria'''}} (extravagance, later ]), {{lang|la|'''Gula'''}} (]), {{lang|la|'''Avaritia'''}} (]), {{lang|la|'''Acedia'''}} (]), {{lang|la|'''Ira'''}} (]), {{lang|la|'''Invidia'''}} (]), and {{lang|la|'''Superbia'''}} (]).


Subsequently, over the centuries into modern times, the idea of sins (especially seven in number) has influenced or inspired various streams of religious and philosophical thought, fine art painting, and modern popular culture media such as ], ], and ].
Each of The Seven Deadly Sins has an opposite among the corresponding ] (sometimes also referred to as the '''Contrary Virtues''').


== History ==
The identification and definition of the Seven deadly sins over their history has been a fluid process and the idea of what each of the seven actually encompass has evolved over time. This process has been aided by the fact that they are not referred to in either a cohesive or codified manner in the Bible itself, and as a result other literary and ecclesiastical works referring to the Seven deadly sins were instead consulted as sources from which definitions might be drawn. Part II of Dante's ], ], has almost certainly been the best known source since the ], though many later interpretations and versions, especially those of the more conservative and Pentecostal Protestant denominations, have instead tended to portray the consequence for those guilty of committing one or more of these sins as being eternal torment in Hell, rather than possible purification through penance in Purgatory.
] = avarice; ] = envy; ] = wrath; ] = sloth; ] = gluttony; ] = lust; ] = pride)]]


=== Origin of the currently recognized seven deadly sins ===
These "evil thoughts" can be categorized as follows:<ref name="Refoule67" />


* physical (thoughts produced by the nutritive, sexual, and acquisitive appetites)
== The sins ==
* emotional (thoughts produced by depressive, irascible, or dismissive moods)
=== Lust (Latin, {{lang|la|''luxuria''}})===
* mental (thoughts produced by jealous/envious, boastful, or hubristic states of mind)
:''Main articles: ] (], ])''
Lust is usually thought of as involving obsessive or excessive thoughts or desires of a ] nature. Unfulfilled lusts can lead to sexual or sociological compulsions and/or transgressions including (but obviously not limited to) sexual addiction, adultery, <!--EDITOR'S NOTE: bestiality is properly spelled - the word is NOT "beastiality".-->bestiality, and rape.


The fourth-century ] ] reduced the{{which|date=September 2024}} nine ''logismoi''{{clarify|date=September 2024}} to eight, as follows:<ref name="Pontico">Evagrio Pontico, ''Gli Otto Spiriti Malvagi'', trans., Felice Comello, Pratiche Editrice, Parma, 1990, p.11-12.</ref><ref name="Evagrius">{{Cite book |last=Evagrius |title=The Greek Ascetic Corpus |date=22 June 2006 |publisher=] |isbn=0199297088 |location=Oxford and New York |translator-last=Sinkewicz. |translator-first=Robert E. |author-link=Evagrius Ponticus}}</ref>
Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others," which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary. However, lust and love are two different things; while a genuine, selfless love can represent the highest degree of development and feeling of community with others in a human relationship, Lust can be described as the excessive desire for sexual release. The other person can be therefore seen as a "means to an end" for the fulfillment of the subject's desires, and becomes thus objectified in the process. In ], the penitent walks within flames to purge himself of lustful thoughts.


# {{lang|grc|Γαστριμαργία}} ({{transliteration|grc|gastrimargia}}) ]
===Gluttony (Latin, {{lang|la|''gula''}})===
# {{lang|grc|Πορνεία}} ({{transliteration|grc|porneia}}) ], ]
:''Main articles: ] (], ])
# {{lang|grc|Φιλαργυρία}} ({{transliteration|grc|philargyria}}) ]
Modern views identify Gluttony with an overindulgence of food and drink, though in the past any form of thoughtless excess could fall within the definition of this sin. Marked by unreasonable or unnecessary excess of consumption, Gluttony could also include certain forms of destructive behavior, especially for sport, or for its own sake. ] or binge drinking can be seen as examples of gluttony therefore. The ] in the Purgatorio were forced to stand between two trees, unable to reach or eat the fruit hanging from either, and were thus described as having a starved appearance.
# {{lang|grc|Λύπη}} ({{transliteration|grc|lypē}}) ], rendered in the '']'' as ''envy'', sadness at another's good fortune
# {{lang|grc|Ὀργή}} ({{transliteration|grc|orgē}}) ]
# {{lang|grc|Ἀκηδία}} ({{transliteration|grc|akēdia}}) ], rendered in the '']'' as ]
# {{lang|grc|Κενοδοξία}} ({{transliteration|grc|kenodoxia}}) ]
# {{lang|grc|Ὑπερηφανία}} ({{transliteration|grc|hyperēphania}}) ], sometimes rendered as ''self-overestimation'', ''arrogance'', or ''grandiosity''<ref>In the of the '']'' by Palmer, Ware and Sherrard.</ref>


Evagrius's list was translated into the Latin of Western Christianity in many writings of ],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf211.iv.iii.html |title=NPNF-211. Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |edition=First |title=The Institutes |publisher=Newman Press of the Paulist Press |date=3 January 2000 |location=New York |isbn=9780809105229 |first=John |last=Cassian |author-link=John Cassian}}</ref> thus becoming part of the Western tradition's spiritual ] or ] as follows:<ref name="Refoule67">Refoule, F. (1967) "Evagrius Ponticus," In ''New Catholic Encyclopaedia,'' Vol. 5, pp. 644f, Staff of Catholic University of America, Eds., New York: McGraw-Hill.</ref>
===Greed (Latin, {{lang|la|''avaritia''}})===
# {{lang|la|Gula}} (])
:''Main articles: ] (], ])
# {{lang|la|Luxuria/Fornicatio}} (], ])
Greed is, like Lust and Gluttony, a sin of excess. However, Greed (as seen by the Church) applied to the acquisition of ] in particular. Thomas Aquinas wrote that Greed was "a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were forced to kneel on hard stone and recite the examples of avarice and its opposing virtue. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of sinful behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate ], or ], especially for personal gain, as the case when someone lets oneself be ]. ] and ] of materials or objects, ] and ], especially by means of ], ], or ] of ] are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include ], where one profits from soliciting goods within the actual confines of a church.
# {{lang|la|Avaritia}} (])
# {{lang|la|Tristitia}} (]/]/despondency)
# {{lang|la|Ira}} (])
# {{lang|la|Acedia}} (])
# {{lang|la|Vanagloria}} (vainglory)
# {{lang|la|Superbia}} (])


In AD 590, ] revised the list to form a more common list.<ref>"For pride is the root of all evil, of which it is said, as Scripture bears witness; Pride is the beginning of all sin. But seven principal vices, as its first progeny, spring doubtless from this poisonous root, namely, vain glory, envy, anger, melancholy, avarice, gluttony, lust." '''Gregory the Great, '''</ref> Gregory combined {{lang|la|tristitia}} with {{lang|la|acedia}} and {{lang|la|vanagloria}} with {{lang|la|superbia}}, adding ''envy'', which is {{lang|la|invidia}} in Latin.<ref name="DelCogliano-2014">{{Cite book|title=Gregory the Great: Moral Reflections on the Book of Job, Volume 1|publisher=Cistercian Publications|date=18 November 2014|isbn=9780879071493|first=Mark|last=DelCogliano}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook|publisher=Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers|date=24 February 2015|first=Shawn R.|last=Tucker}}</ref> (It is interesting to note that Pope Gregory's list corresponds exactly to the traits described in Pirkei Avot as "removing one from the world." See ] 2:11, 3:10, 4:21 and the ]'s commentary to Aggadot ] 4b.)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://seforimblog.com/2016/03/traditional-jewish-source-for-seven/?print=print | title=Traditional Jewish source for the "Seven Deadly Sins" - the Seforim Blog }}</ref> ] uses and defends Gregory's list in his '']'', although he calls them the "capital sins" because they are the head and form of all the other sins.<ref>{{Cite web|title=SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The cause of sin, in respect of one sin being the cause of another Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 84; I-II,84,3)|url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2084.htm#article4|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=4 December 2015}}</ref> Christian denominations, such as the ],<ref name="Armentrout2000">{{cite book|last=Armentrout|first=Don S.|title=An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc.|language=en |isbn=9780898697018|page=479}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lutheranhour.org/sermon.asp?articleid=648&mode=print|title=Mighty Menacin' Midianites|last=Lessing|first=Reed|date=25 August 2002|publisher=The Lutheran Hour|language=en|access-date=26 March 2017}}</ref> and ],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ucmpage.org/articles/rspeidel.htm|title=What Would a United Methodist Jesus Do?|last=Speidel|first=Royal|publisher=UCM|language=en|access-date=26 March 2017|quote=Thirdly, the United Methodist Jesus reminds us to confess our sins. How long has it been since you have heard reference to the seven deadly sins: pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, greed, envy and anger?|archive-date=25 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425124302/http://ucmpage.org/articles/rspeidel.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> still retain this list, and modern evangelists such as ] have explicated the seven deadly sins.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Lutheran, Volumes 39–40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KaHmAAAAMAAJ|year=1956|publisher=American Lutheran Publicity Bureau|language=en |page=332|quote=The world-renowned Evangelist, Billy Graham, presents in this volume an excellent analysis of the seven deadly sins which he enumerates as pride, anger, envy, impurity, gluttony, avarice and slothfulness.}}</ref>
===Sloth (Latin, {{lang|la|''acedia''}})===
:''Main articles: ] (], ], ])''
More than other sins, the definition of Sloth has changed considerably since its original inclusion among The Seven Deadly Sins. It had been in the early years of Christianity characterized by what modern writers would now describe as apathy, depression, and joylessness — the latter being viewed as being a refusal to enjoy the goodness of God and the world He created. Originally, its place was fulfilled by two other aspects, Acedia and Sadness. The former described a spiritual apathy that affected the faithful by discouraging them from their religious work. Sadness (''tristitia'' in Latin) described a feeling of dissatisfaction or discontent, which caused unhappiness with one's current situation. When St. Thomas Aquinas selected Acedia for his list, he described it as an "uneasiness of the mind," being a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability. Dante refined this definition further, describing Sloth as being the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul." He also described it as the middle sin, and as such was the only sin characterised by an absence or insufficiency of love.


==Historical and modern definitions, views, and associations==
The modern view of the vice, as highlighted by its contrary virtue zeal/diligence, is that it represents the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts. For example, a student who does not work beyond what is required (and thus fails to achieve his or her full potential) would be slothful.
According to ] ], the seven deadly sins are seven ways of ].<ref name="Manning">{{Cite book|title=Sin and Its consequences|last=Manning|first=Henry Edward}}</ref> The Lutheran divine ], who contributed to the development of Lutheran systematic theology, implored clergy to remind the faithful of the seven deadly sins.<ref name="Chemnitz2007">{{cite book |author1=] |title=Ministry, Word, and Sacraments: An Enchiridion; The Lord's Supper; The Lord's Prayer |date=2007 |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |isbn=978-0-7586-1544-2 |language=en}}</ref>


Listed in order of increasing severity as per Pope Gregory I, 6th-century A.D., the seven deadly sins are as follows:
Current interpretations are therefore much less stringent and comprehensive than they were in medieval times, and portray Sloth as being more simply a sin of laziness, of an unwillingness to act, an unwillingness to care (rather than a failure to love God and His works). For this reason Sloth is now often seen as being considerably less serious than the other sins.


=== Lust ===
===Wrath/anger (Latin, {{lang|la|''ira''}})===
{{Main|Lust}}Lust or lechery is intense longing. It is usually thought of as intense or unbridled ],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lust|title=Definition of LUST|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=4 May 2016}}</ref> which may lead to ] (including ], ], ]), and other sinful and sexual acts; oftentimes, however, it can also mean other forms of unbridled desire, such as for money, or power. ] explains that the impurity of lust transforms one into "a slave of the ]".<ref name="Manning"/>
:''Main articles: ] (], ], ], ])''
Wrath may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. These feelings can manifest as vehement ] of the ], both to others and in the form of ], ] with the procedure of law, and the desire to seek revenge outside of the workings of the justice system (such as engaging in ]), fanatical political beliefs, and generally wishing to do evil or harm to others. A modern definition would also include hatred and intolerance towards others for reasons of ] or religion, leading to ]. The transgressions borne of Wrath are among the most serious, including ], ], ], and in extreme cases, ]. (See ].) Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness or self interest (although one can of course be wrathful for selfish reasons, such as jealousy). Dante described Wrath as "love of ] perverted to ] and ]". A punishment delivered in hell to a wrathful person, according to Dante, would be dismemberment. The person would then regroup just to be torn apart again.


Lust is generally thought to be the least serious capital sin.<ref name="DLSintro652">], ''Purgatory'', Introduction, pp. 65–67 (Penguin, 1955).</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uf62BQAAQBAJ|title=William Blake's Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy: A Study of the Engravings, Pencil Sketches and Watercolors|last=Pyle|first=Eric|date=31 December 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476617022|language=en}}</ref> Thomas Aquinas considers it an abuse of a faculty that humans share with animals and sins of the flesh are less grievous than spiritual sins.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeP7kg-blnIC&q=lust%2520summa%2520theologica&pg=PA1819|title=Summa Theologica, Volume 4 (Part III, First Section)|last=Aquinas|first=St Thomas|date=1 January 2013|publisher=Cosimo|isbn=9781602065604|language=en}}</ref>
===Envy (Latin, {{lang|la|''invidia''}})===
:''Main articles: ] (], ])''
Like Greed, Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire; they differ, however, for two main reasons: First, Greed is largely associated with material goods, whereas Envy may apply more generally. Second, those who commit the sin of Envy desire something that someone else has which they perceive themselves as lacking. Dante defined this as "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs." In Dante's Purgatory, the punishment for the envious is to have their eyes sewn shut with wire, because they have gained sinful pleasure from seeing others brought low.


=== Gluttony ===
===Pride (Latin, {{lang|la|''superbia''}})===
{{Main|Gluttony}}
], c. 1515]]
:''Main articles: ] (], ]), ]
In almost every list Pride is considered the original and most serious of The Seven Deadly Sins, and indeed the ultimate source from which the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to give compliments to others though they may be deserving of them, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God). Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor." In Jacob Bidermann's ] ], '']'', Pride is the deadliest of all the sins and leads directly to the damnation of the famed Doctor of Paris, ]. In perhaps the most famous example, the story of ], Pride was what caused his Fall from Heaven, and his resultant transformation into ]. Vanity and ] are prime examples of this Sin. In the ], the penitent were forced to walk with their heads bowed while they were whipped in order to induce feelings of humility.


], 1896)]]
==Biblical References==
===Proverbs 6:16 – 19===
In Proverbs 6:16 – 19, it is stated that "(16) These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:" (quotes from "King James Version (KJV)" translation of the Bible). These are:


Gluttony is the overindulgence and ] of anything to the point of waste. The word derives from the Latin {{lang|la|gluttire}}, meaning to gulp down or swallow.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Latin Definition for: gluttio, gluttire, -, – (ID: 21567) – Latin Dictionary and Grammar Resources – Latdict |url=https://latin-dictionary.net/definition/21567/gluttio-gluttire |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=latin-dictionary.net}}</ref> One reason for its condemnation is that the gorging of the prosperous may leave the needy hungry.<ref name="Okholm 2000">Okholm, Dennis. . '']'', Vol. 44, No. 10, 11 September 2000, p.62</ref>
<ul>
<li>(17) A proud look,</li>
<li>a lying tongue,</li>
<li>and hands that shed innocent blood,</li>
<li>(18) A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,</li>
<li>feet that be swift in running to mischief,</li>
<li>(19) A false witness that speaketh lies,</li>
<li>and he that soweth discord amoung brethren.</li>
</ul>


Medieval church leaders such as ] took a more expansive view of gluttony,<ref name="Okholm 2000"/> arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals and overindulgence in delicacies and costly foods. Aquinas also listed five forms of gluttony:<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06590a.htm|title=Gluttony|encyclopedia=]}}</ref>
While there are seven of them, these sins are significantly different in outward appearance from "The Seven Deadly Sins" list that arose later. The only sin which is clearly on both lists is Pride. "Hands that kill innocent people" could be taken to refer to Wrath. However, it is possible to imagine a case where one bad person killed another in a fit of anger, which would be an example of Wrath but not of killing an innocent; and similarly, cold blooded murder of an innocent would be one of the "hated things" without necessarily being an example of Wrath. The remaining five of the "deadly sins" do not have even this loose correspondence to the "hated things", even if it is easy to imagine how they might lead someone to acting in one of the ways described in Proverbs.


* {{lang|la|Laute}} – eating too expensively
===Other biblical references===
* {{lang|la|Studiose}} – eating too daintily
The list in Proverbs is not the only list of sins in the Bible. It does list them as "seven", but it is far from being an exhaustive listing of sins. Another list of sins is given in the book of (New Testament) Galatians 5:19-21. That list reads: <i> (19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, (20) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, (21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.</i>(KJV)
* {{lang|la|Nimis}} – eating too much
* {{lang|la|Praepropere}} – eating too soon
* {{lang|la|Ardenter}} – eating too eagerly


=== Greed ===
This list cites <b>Lust</b> very completely. Adultery: intercourse outside of a marriage. Fornication: intercourse without marriage. Uncleanness: (impurity) sex acts besides intercourse outside of or without marriage. lasciviousness: inordinate desire for sex outside of or without marriage, even if not acted upon.
{{Main|Greed}}
]'' (1909) by ]]]


In the words of Henry Edward Manning, avarice "plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god".<ref name="Manning"/>
<b>Wrath</b> is mentioned specifically, but linked with Hate, includes the notions of hostility both acted upon and purely internalized. <b>Envy/Jealousy</b> is part of the list in Galatians. <b>Greed</b> is part of "selfish ambitions" from Galatians, but is also mirrored in Proverbs' "wicked plans." <b>Gluttony</b> is evident in "drunkenness and revellings", but also implied as the contrary of the virtue in Galatians 5:23 - "temperance" (self-control).


As defined outside Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to ].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/greed|title=greed| encyclopedia=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|edition=5th|year=2016|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|via=The Free Dictionary|access-date=4 February 2019}}</ref> Aquinas considers that, like pride, it can lead to evil.<ref name="Aquinas">{{Cite book |last=Aquinas |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiJCBAAAQBAJ |title=Summa Theologica (All Complete & Unabridged 3 Parts + Supplement & Appendix + interactive links and annotations) |date=20 August 2013 |publisher=e-artnow |isbn=9788074842924 |language=en |author-link=St Thomas Aquinas}}</ref>
<b>Sloth</b> is not listed in Galatians, but it can be found in verses such as Proverbs 6:6-10, "How long will you sleep, O sluggard?". Laziness is addressed in many other verses, though not necessarily labeled obviously as sin. In 1 Corinthians 3:8, a man is to receive "according to his labors". Similarly in Timothy 5:18, a laborer is worthy of his wages, with the implied converse being that the sluggard is not entitled to be fed or rewarded. He sins in living off others' labors.


==Catholic Virtues== === Sloth ===
{{Main|Sloth (deadly sin)}}
The ] also recognizes ] which correspond to each of the Seven Deadly Sins.
]'' (1624) by ], ]]]
Sloth refers to many related ideas, dating from antiquity and including mental, spiritual, pathological, and physical states.<ref name="Lyman-1989">{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|year=1989|isbn=0-930390-81-4|pages=5|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref> It may be defined as absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sloth?s=t|title=the definition of sloth|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=3 May 2016}}</ref>


In his ''Summa Theologica'', ] defined sloth as "sorrow about spiritual good".<ref name="Aquinas"/>
{| cellspacing="8"
!Vice
!Virtue
|-
|] (excessive sexual appetites)
|] (purity of soul)
|-
|] (over-indulgence)
|] (self-restraint)
|-
|] (avarice)
|] (giving)
|-
|] (idleness)
|] (zeal/initiative)
|-
|] (anger)
|] (composure)
|-
|] (jealousy)
|] (admiration)
|-
|] (])
|] (humbleness)
|}


The scope of sloth is wide.<ref name="Lyman-1989"/> Spiritually, ''acedia'' first referred to an affliction attending religious persons, especially monks, wherein they became indifferent to their duties and obligations to ]. Mentally, ''acedia'' has a number of distinctive components; the most important of these is affectlessness, a lack of any feeling about self or other, a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancor, apathy, and a passive inert or sluggish mentation. Physically, ''acedia'' is fundamentally associated with a cessation of motion and an indifference to work; it finds expression in ], idleness, and indolence.<ref name="Lyman-1989"/>
== Associations with demons ==
In ], ] paired each of the deadly sins with a ], who tempted people by means of the associated sin. According to ''Binsfeld's Classification of Demons'', the pairings are as follows:


Sloth includes ceasing to utilize the seven gifts of grace given by the ] (], ], Counsel, ], ], ], and ]); such disregard may lead to the slowing of spiritual progress towards eternal life, the neglect of manifold duties of ] towards the ], and animosity towards those who love God.<ref name="Manning"/>
* ]: Lust
* ]: Gluttony
* ]: Greed
* ]: Sloth
* ]: Wrath
* ]: Envy
* ]: Pride


Unlike the other seven deadly sins, which are sins of committing immorality, sloth is a sin of omitting responsibilities. It may arise from any of the other capital vices; for example, a son may omit his duty to his father through anger. The state and habit of sloth is a mortal sin, while the habit of the soul tending towards the last mortal state of sloth is not mortal in and of itself except under certain circumstances.<ref name="Manning"/>
There are also other demons who invoke sin, for instance ] and her offspring, the ] and ], invoke lust. The succubi sleep with men in order to impregnate themselves so that they can spawn demons. The incubi sleep with women to lead them astray and to impregnate them with demon spawn.


Emotionally, and cognitively, the evil of ''acedia'' finds expression in a lack of any feeling for the world, for the people in it, or for the self. ''Acedia'' takes form as an alienation of the sentient self first from the world and then from itself. The most profound versions of this condition are found in a withdrawal from all forms of participation in or care for others or oneself, but a lesser yet more noisome element was also noted by theologians. Gregory the Great asserted that, "from ''tristitia'', there arise malice, rancour, cowardice, despair". Chaucer also dealt with this attribute of ''acedia'', counting the characteristics of the sin to include despair, somnolence, idleness, tardiness, negligence, laziness, and ''wrawnesse'', the last variously translated as "anger" or better as "peevishness". For Chaucer, human's sin consists of languishing and holding back, refusing to undertake works of goodness because, they tell themselves, the circumstances surrounding the establishment of good are too grievous and too difficult to suffer. ''Acedia'' in Chaucer's view is thus the enemy of every source and motive for work.<ref name="Lyman">{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|pages=6–7}}</ref>
== Cultural references==
{{main|Seven deadly sins in popular culture}}
The Seven Deadly Sins have long been a source of inspiration for writers and artists. There are many references to them in cultural works, and a number of these are listed ].


Sloth subverts the livelihood of the body, taking no care for its day-to-day provisions, and slows down the mind, halting its attention to matters of great importance. Sloth hinders the man in his righteous undertakings and thus becomes a terrible source of human's undoing.<ref name="Lyman"/>
==Further reading==
*'''Summa Theologiae''', by ]
*'''Inferno''', by ]
*'''Purgatorio''', by ]
*'''The Concept of Sin''', by Josef Pieper
*'''The Traveller's Guide to Hell''', by Michael Pauls & Dana Facaros
*'''Sacred Origins of Profound Things''', by Charles Panati
*'''Faerie Queene''', by Sir ]
*'''Picture Book of Devils, Demons and Witchcraft ''', by Ernst Lehner, Johanna Lehner
*Oxford Univ. Press series on Seven Deadly Sins (seven vols.), 2006.


==External links== === Wrath ===
{{Main|Wrath}}
{{commonscat|The Seven Deadly Sins}}
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Wrath can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of ], ], and even ]. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance.<ref name="Landau-2010">{{Cite book|title=The Seven deadly Sins: A companion|last=Landau|first=Ronnie|isbn=978-1-4457-3227-5|date=30 October 2010|publisher=Lulu.com }}</ref>
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According to the '']'', the neutral act of anger becomes the sin of wrath when it is directed against an innocent person, when it is unduly strong or long-lasting, or when it desires excessive punishment. "If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin". Hatred is the sin of desiring that someone else may suffer misfortune or evil and is a mortal sin when one desires grave harm.<ref>{{CCC|pp=2302|pp_range=2302-3}}</ref>
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People feel angry when they sense that they or someone they care about has been offended, when they are certain about the nature and cause of the angering event, when they are certain someone else is responsible, and when they feel that they can still influence the situation or ] with it.<ref name="Anger pg 290">International Handbook of Anger. p. 290</ref>
]

]
Henry Edward Manning considers that "angry people are slaves to themselves".<ref name="Manning"/>
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=== Envy ===
]
{{Main|Envy}}Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire like greed and lust. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. It comes from ]<ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7Cf9Bt1DWsC |title=Summa Theologica, Volume 3 (Part II, Second Section) |last=Aquinas |first=Thomas |author-link=St Thomas Aquinas |date=1 January 2013 |publisher=Cosimo, Inc. |isbn=9781602065581 |language=en}}</ref> and severs a man from his neighbor.<ref name="Manning"/>
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According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the struggle aroused by envy has three stages: during the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another's reputation; in the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune" (if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails); and the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aquinas/summa/sum291.htm |title=Summa Theologica: Treatise on The Theological Virtues (QQ[1&#93; – 46): Question. 36 – Of Envy (four articles) |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2 January 2010}}</ref>
]

]
] said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness, bringing sorrow to committers of envy, while giving them the urge to inflict pain upon others.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Conquest of Happiness |url=https://archive.org/details/conquestofhappin0000russ |url-access=registration |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |author-link=Bertrand Russell |publisher=] |year=1930 |location=] |page=86}}</ref>
]

]
=== Pride ===
]
{{Main|Pride}}
]
]], also known as ] (from ] {{wikt-lang|grc|ὕβρις}}) or futility, is considered the original and worst of the seven deadly sins on almost every list, the most demonic.<ref name="Climacus 62–63">{{Cite book |last=Climacus |first=John |author-link=John Cliamcus |title=The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Translation by Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell |pages=62–63}}</ref> It is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins. Pride is the opposite of ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Humility vs Pride And Why The Difference Should Matter To You {{!}} Jeremie Kubicek |url=https://jeremiekubicek.com/humility-vs-pride/ |access-date=2 March 2018 |website=jeremiekubicek.com |language=en-US |archive-date=18 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618175743/https://jeremiekubicek.com/humility-vs-pride/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Acquaviva |first=Gary J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAtNAPteVk0C&q=Pride+is+generally+associated+with+an+absence+of+humility&pg=PA31 |title=Values, Violence and Our Future |date=2000 |publisher=Rodopi |isbn=9042005599 |language=en}}</ref>
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]
] writes in '']'' that pride is the "anti-God" state, the position in which the ego and the self are directly opposed to God: "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that Lucifer became wicked: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind."<ref>Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis, {{ISBN|978-0-06-065292-0}}</ref> Pride is understood to sever the spirit from God, as well as His life-and-grace-giving Presence.<ref name="Manning"/>
]

]
One can be prideful for different reasons. Author ] states that "spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride, if not worst snare of the devil. The heart is particularly deceitful on this one thing."<ref name="Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers-1895">{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers|year=1895|pages=485}}</ref> ] said: "remember that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin that ever was and lies lowest in the foundation of Lucifer's whole building and is the most difficultly rooted out and is the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts and often creeps in, insensibly, into the midst of religion and sometimes under the disguise of humility."<ref>{{Cite book |title=To Deborah Hatheway, Letters and Personal Writings (Works of Jonathan Edwards Online Vol. 16) |last=Claghorn |first=George}}</ref>
]

]
The modern use of pride may be summed up in the ], "Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (abbreviated "Pride goeth before a fall", ] 16:18). The "pride that blinds" causes foolish actions against common sense.<ref name="Hollow-2014">{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/6081830 |title=The 1920 Farrow's Bank Failure: A Case of Managerial Hubris |journal=] |volume=20 |issue=2|pages=164–178 |publisher=] |access-date=1 October 2014 |last1=Hollow |first1=Matthew |doi=10.1108/JMH-11-2012-0071 |year=2014|issn = 1751-1348 }}</ref> In political analysis, "hubris" is often used to describe how leaders with great power over many years become more and more irrationally self-confident and contemptuous of advice, leading them to act impulsively.<ref name="Hollow-2014" />
]

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== Historical sins ==
]
=== Acedia ===
]
{{Main|Acedia}}
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], ]]]
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Acedia is the neglect to take care of something that one should do. It is translated to ] listlessness; depression without joy. It is related to ]; ''acedia'' describes the behaviour and ''melancholy'' suggests the emotion producing it. In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a willful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God. By contrast, apathy was considered a refusal to help others in times of need.
]

]
Acēdia is the negative form of the Greek term {{lang|grc|κηδεία}} ({{transliteration|grc|Kēdeia}}), which has a more restricted usage. "Kēdeia" refers specifically to spousal love and respect for the dead.<ref>Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940.</ref>
]

Pope Gregory combined this with ''tristitia'' into sloth for his list. When ] described ''acedia'' in his interpretation of the list, he described it as an "uneasiness of the mind", being a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability.<ref>{{Citation |title=From Gent to Gentil: Jed Tewksbury and the Function of Literary Allusion in A Place to Come To |url=https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/rpwstudies/vol2/iss1/6/ |last1=McCarron |first1=Bill |last2=Knoke |first2=Paul |journal=Robert Penn Warren Studies |date=2002 |volume=2 |issue=1 <!-- |article-number=6 -->}}</ref>

Acedia is currently defined in the '']'' as spiritual sloth, believing spiritual tasks to be too difficult.<ref>{{CCC|pp=2733}}</ref> In the fourth century, Christian monks believed that acedia was primarily caused by a state of ] that caused spiritual detachment instead of laziness.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/desert-fathers-sins-acedia-sloth|title=Before Sloth Meant Laziness, It Was the Spiritual Sin of Acedia|date=14 July 2017|work=Atlas Obscura|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en}}</ref>

=== Vainglory ===
{{Main|Vanity}}
Vainglory is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it as a form of pride, so he folded ''vainglory'' into pride for his listing of sins.<ref name="DelCogliano-2014"/> According to Aquinas, it is the progenitor of ].<ref name="books.google.com"/>

The Latin term {{lang|la|gloria}} roughly means ''boasting'', although its English cognate ''glory'' has come to have an exclusively positive meaning. Historically, the term ''vain'' roughly meant ''futile'' (a meaning retained in the modern expression "in vain"), but by the fourteenth century had come to have the strong ] undertones which it still retains today.<ref>''Oxford English dictionary''</ref>

== Confession patterns ==
{{Further|Confession (religion)}}

According to a 2009 study by the Jesuit scholar ], the most common deadly sin confessed by men is lust and the most common deadly sin confessed by women is pride.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7897034.stm |title=Two sexes 'sin in different ways' |work=] |date=18 February 2009 |access-date=24 July 2010}}</ref> It was unclear whether these differences were due to the actual number of transgressions committed by each sex or whether differing views on what "counts" or should be confessed caused the observed pattern.<ref>{{cite web |author=Morning Edition |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100906920 |title=True Confessions: Men And Women Sin Differently |publisher=] |date=20 February 2009 |access-date=24 July 2010}}</ref>

== See also ==
* ]
{{Div col}}
* ] in ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* '']''
* ] in ]
* ] in ]
* ]
* ] and ] in ]
* ]
* '']''
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] in ]
* ]
* ]
{{Div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* ], '']''
* {{cite book |chapter=] |title=Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Volume XI |year=1885 |publisher=T. & T. Clark in Edinburgh |first=John |last=Cassian |author-link=John Cassian |translator-first=Philip |translator-last=Schaff}}
* {{cite book|chapter=]|title=Meditations On The Mysteries Of Our Holy Faith|year=1852|publisher=Richarson and Son|first=Lius|last=de la Puente|author-link=Luis de la Puente}}
* {{ill|Schumacher, Meinolf|de|Meinolf Schumacher}} (2005): "Catalogues of Demons as Catalogues of Vices in Medieval German Literature: 'Des Teufels Netz' and the Alexander Romance by Ulrich von Etzenbach." In ''In the Garden of Evil: The Vices and Culture in the Middle Ages''. Edited by Richard Newhauser, pp.&nbsp;277–290. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
* ''The Concept of Sin'', by ]
* ''The Traveller's Guide to Hell'', by Michael Pauls & Dana Facaros
* ''Sacred Origins of Profound Things'', by ]
* '']'', by ]
* '''', ] (7 vols.)
* ], ''Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies,'' (Grand Rapids: BrazosPress, 2009)
* ], ''The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian and Classical Reflections on Human Psychology,'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
* {{cite book|chapter=]|title=A manual of moral theology for English-speaking countries|year=1925|publisher=Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd.|first=Thomas|last=Slater S.J.}}
* Tucker, Shawn. ''The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook'', (Eugene, OR: Cascade Press, 2015)

== External links ==
* {{YouTube|id=Beu-XQHH9xQ|title=''Se7en'' (Film) – Paradise Lost}}

{{Commons category|The Seven Deadly Sins}}
{{Wikiquote}}{{Seven Deadly Sins|state=expanded}}

{{Catholic virtue ethics}}
{{Authority control}}

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Latest revision as of 17:57, 24 December 2024

Set of vices in Christian theology For other uses, see Seven deadly sins (disambiguation) and Deadly Sins (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Mortal sin.
Hieronymus Bosch's The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things
The Holy Spirit and the Seven Deadly Sins. Folio from Walters manuscript W.171 (15th century)
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The seven deadly sins (also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins) function as a grouping classification of major vices within the teachings of Christianity. According to the standard list, the seven deadly sins in Christianity are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. 

In Christianity, the classification of deadly sins into a group of seven originated with Tertullian, and continued with Evagrius Ponticus. The concepts of the sins involved were in part based on Greco-Roman and Biblical antecedents. Later, the concept of seven deadly sins evolved further, based upon historical context based upon the Latin language of the Roman Catholic Church, though with a significant influence from the Greek language and associated religious traditions. Knowledge of the seven deadly sin concept is known through discussions in various treatises and also depictions in paintings and sculpture, for example architectural decorations on certain churches of certain Catholic parishes and also from certain older textbooks. Further information has been derived from patterns of confessions.

Subsequently, over the centuries into modern times, the idea of sins (especially seven in number) has influenced or inspired various streams of religious and philosophical thought, fine art painting, and modern popular culture media such as literature, film, and television.

History

An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each represented by an animal (clockwise: toad = avarice; snake = envy; lion = wrath; snail = sloth; pig = gluttony; goat = lust; peacock = pride)

Origin of the currently recognized seven deadly sins

These "evil thoughts" can be categorized as follows:

  • physical (thoughts produced by the nutritive, sexual, and acquisitive appetites)
  • emotional (thoughts produced by depressive, irascible, or dismissive moods)
  • mental (thoughts produced by jealous/envious, boastful, or hubristic states of mind)

The fourth-century monk Evagrius Ponticus reduced the nine logismoi to eight, as follows:

  1. Γαστριμαργία (gastrimargia) gluttony
  2. Πορνεία (porneia) prostitution, fornication
  3. Φιλαργυρία (philargyria) greed
  4. Λύπη (lypē) sadness, rendered in the Philokalia as envy, sadness at another's good fortune
  5. Ὀργή (orgē) wrath
  6. Ἀκηδία (akēdia) acedia, rendered in the Philokalia as dejection
  7. Κενοδοξία (kenodoxia) boasting
  8. Ὑπερηφανία (hyperēphania) pride, sometimes rendered as self-overestimation, arrogance, or grandiosity

Evagrius's list was translated into the Latin of Western Christianity in many writings of John Cassian, thus becoming part of the Western tradition's spiritual pietas or Catholic devotions as follows:

  1. Gula (gluttony)
  2. Luxuria/Fornicatio (lust, fornication)
  3. Avaritia (greed)
  4. Tristitia (sorrow/despair/despondency)
  5. Ira (wrath)
  6. Acedia (sloth)
  7. Vanagloria (vainglory)
  8. Superbia (pride, hubris)

In AD 590, Pope Gregory I revised the list to form a more common list. Gregory combined tristitia with acedia and vanagloria with superbia, adding envy, which is invidia in Latin. (It is interesting to note that Pope Gregory's list corresponds exactly to the traits described in Pirkei Avot as "removing one from the world." See Pirkei Avot 2:11, 3:10, 4:21 and the Vilna Gaon's commentary to Aggadot Berakhot 4b.) Thomas Aquinas uses and defends Gregory's list in his Summa Theologica, although he calls them the "capital sins" because they are the head and form of all the other sins. Christian denominations, such as the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church, and Methodist Church, still retain this list, and modern evangelists such as Billy Graham have explicated the seven deadly sins.

Historical and modern definitions, views, and associations

According to Catholic prelate Henry Edward Manning, the seven deadly sins are seven ways of eternal death. The Lutheran divine Martin Chemnitz, who contributed to the development of Lutheran systematic theology, implored clergy to remind the faithful of the seven deadly sins.

Listed in order of increasing severity as per Pope Gregory I, 6th-century A.D., the seven deadly sins are as follows:

Lust

Main article: Lust

Lust or lechery is intense longing. It is usually thought of as intense or unbridled sexual desire, which may lead to fornication (including adultery, rape, bestiality), and other sinful and sexual acts; oftentimes, however, it can also mean other forms of unbridled desire, such as for money, or power. Henry Edward Manning explains that the impurity of lust transforms one into "a slave of the devil".

Lust is generally thought to be the least serious capital sin. Thomas Aquinas considers it an abuse of a faculty that humans share with animals and sins of the flesh are less grievous than spiritual sins.

Gluttony

Main article: Gluttony
Still life: Excess (Albert Anker, 1896)

Gluttony is the overindulgence and overconsumption of anything to the point of waste. The word derives from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow. One reason for its condemnation is that the gorging of the prosperous may leave the needy hungry.

Medieval church leaders such as Thomas Aquinas took a more expansive view of gluttony, arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals and overindulgence in delicacies and costly foods. Aquinas also listed five forms of gluttony:

  • Laute – eating too expensively
  • Studiose – eating too daintily
  • Nimis – eating too much
  • Praepropere – eating too soon
  • Ardenter – eating too eagerly

Greed

Main article: Greed
The Worship of Mammon (1909) by Evelyn De Morgan

In the words of Henry Edward Manning, avarice "plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god".

As defined outside Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth. Aquinas considers that, like pride, it can lead to evil.

Sloth

Main article: Sloth (deadly sin)
Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (1624) by Abraham Bloemaert, Walters Art Museum

Sloth refers to many related ideas, dating from antiquity and including mental, spiritual, pathological, and physical states. It may be defined as absence of interest or habitual disinclination to exertion.

In his Summa Theologica, Saint Thomas Aquinas defined sloth as "sorrow about spiritual good".

The scope of sloth is wide. Spiritually, acedia first referred to an affliction attending religious persons, especially monks, wherein they became indifferent to their duties and obligations to God. Mentally, acedia has a number of distinctive components; the most important of these is affectlessness, a lack of any feeling about self or other, a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancor, apathy, and a passive inert or sluggish mentation. Physically, acedia is fundamentally associated with a cessation of motion and an indifference to work; it finds expression in laziness, idleness, and indolence.

Sloth includes ceasing to utilize the seven gifts of grace given by the Holy Spirit (Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Knowledge, Piety, Fortitude, and Fear of the Lord); such disregard may lead to the slowing of spiritual progress towards eternal life, the neglect of manifold duties of charity towards the neighbor, and animosity towards those who love God.

Unlike the other seven deadly sins, which are sins of committing immorality, sloth is a sin of omitting responsibilities. It may arise from any of the other capital vices; for example, a son may omit his duty to his father through anger. The state and habit of sloth is a mortal sin, while the habit of the soul tending towards the last mortal state of sloth is not mortal in and of itself except under certain circumstances.

Emotionally, and cognitively, the evil of acedia finds expression in a lack of any feeling for the world, for the people in it, or for the self. Acedia takes form as an alienation of the sentient self first from the world and then from itself. The most profound versions of this condition are found in a withdrawal from all forms of participation in or care for others or oneself, but a lesser yet more noisome element was also noted by theologians. Gregory the Great asserted that, "from tristitia, there arise malice, rancour, cowardice, despair". Chaucer also dealt with this attribute of acedia, counting the characteristics of the sin to include despair, somnolence, idleness, tardiness, negligence, laziness, and wrawnesse, the last variously translated as "anger" or better as "peevishness". For Chaucer, human's sin consists of languishing and holding back, refusing to undertake works of goodness because, they tell themselves, the circumstances surrounding the establishment of good are too grievous and too difficult to suffer. Acedia in Chaucer's view is thus the enemy of every source and motive for work.

Sloth subverts the livelihood of the body, taking no care for its day-to-day provisions, and slows down the mind, halting its attention to matters of great importance. Sloth hinders the man in his righteous undertakings and thus becomes a terrible source of human's undoing.

Wrath

Main article: Wrath
Wrath, by Jacques de l'Ange

Wrath can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the neutral act of anger becomes the sin of wrath when it is directed against an innocent person, when it is unduly strong or long-lasting, or when it desires excessive punishment. "If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin". Hatred is the sin of desiring that someone else may suffer misfortune or evil and is a mortal sin when one desires grave harm.

People feel angry when they sense that they or someone they care about has been offended, when they are certain about the nature and cause of the angering event, when they are certain someone else is responsible, and when they feel that they can still influence the situation or cope with it.

Henry Edward Manning considers that "angry people are slaves to themselves".

Envy

Main article: Envy

Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire like greed and lust. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. It comes from vainglory and severs a man from his neighbor.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the struggle aroused by envy has three stages: during the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another's reputation; in the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune" (if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails); and the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred".

Bertrand Russell said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness, bringing sorrow to committers of envy, while giving them the urge to inflict pain upon others.

Pride

Main article: Pride
Detail of Pride from The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500

Pride, also known as hubris (from Ancient Greek ὕβρις) or futility, is considered the original and worst of the seven deadly sins on almost every list, the most demonic. It is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins. Pride is the opposite of humility.

C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity that pride is the "anti-God" state, the position in which the ego and the self are directly opposed to God: "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that Lucifer became wicked: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind." Pride is understood to sever the spirit from God, as well as His life-and-grace-giving Presence.

One can be prideful for different reasons. Author Ichabod Spencer states that "spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride, if not worst snare of the devil. The heart is particularly deceitful on this one thing." Jonathan Edwards said: "remember that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin that ever was and lies lowest in the foundation of Lucifer's whole building and is the most difficultly rooted out and is the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts and often creeps in, insensibly, into the midst of religion and sometimes under the disguise of humility."

The modern use of pride may be summed up in the biblical proverb, "Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (abbreviated "Pride goeth before a fall", Proverbs 16:18). The "pride that blinds" causes foolish actions against common sense. In political analysis, "hubris" is often used to describe how leaders with great power over many years become more and more irrationally self-confident and contemptuous of advice, leading them to act impulsively.

Historical sins

Acedia

Main article: Acedia
Acedia mosaic, Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Acedia is the neglect to take care of something that one should do. It is translated to apathetic listlessness; depression without joy. It is related to melancholy; acedia describes the behaviour and melancholy suggests the emotion producing it. In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a willful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God. By contrast, apathy was considered a refusal to help others in times of need.

Acēdia is the negative form of the Greek term κηδεία (Kēdeia), which has a more restricted usage. "Kēdeia" refers specifically to spousal love and respect for the dead.

Pope Gregory combined this with tristitia into sloth for his list. When Thomas Aquinas described acedia in his interpretation of the list, he described it as an "uneasiness of the mind", being a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability.

Acedia is currently defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church as spiritual sloth, believing spiritual tasks to be too difficult. In the fourth century, Christian monks believed that acedia was primarily caused by a state of melancholia that caused spiritual detachment instead of laziness.

Vainglory

Main article: Vanity

Vainglory is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it as a form of pride, so he folded vainglory into pride for his listing of sins. According to Aquinas, it is the progenitor of envy.

The Latin term gloria roughly means boasting, although its English cognate glory has come to have an exclusively positive meaning. Historically, the term vain roughly meant futile (a meaning retained in the modern expression "in vain"), but by the fourteenth century had come to have the strong narcissistic undertones which it still retains today.

Confession patterns

Further information: Confession (religion)

According to a 2009 study by the Jesuit scholar Fr. Roberto Busa, the most common deadly sin confessed by men is lust and the most common deadly sin confessed by women is pride. It was unclear whether these differences were due to the actual number of transgressions committed by each sex or whether differing views on what "counts" or should be confessed caused the observed pattern.

See also

References

  1. ^ Tucker, Shawn (2015). The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook. Cascade. ISBN 978-1625647184.
  2. "The Seven Deadly Sins". Catholic Answers. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  3. ^ Refoule, F. (1967) "Evagrius Ponticus," In New Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. 5, pp. 644f, Staff of Catholic University of America, Eds., New York: McGraw-Hill.
  4. Evagrio Pontico, Gli Otto Spiriti Malvagi, trans., Felice Comello, Pratiche Editrice, Parma, 1990, p.11-12.
  5. Evagrius (22 June 2006). The Greek Ascetic Corpus. Translated by Sinkewicz., Robert E. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199297088.
  6. In the translation of the Philokalia by Palmer, Ware and Sherrard.
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  8. Cassian, John (3 January 2000). The Institutes (First ed.). New York: Newman Press of the Paulist Press. ISBN 9780809105229.
  9. "For pride is the root of all evil, of which it is said, as Scripture bears witness; Pride is the beginning of all sin. But seven principal vices, as its first progeny, spring doubtless from this poisonous root, namely, vain glory, envy, anger, melancholy, avarice, gluttony, lust." Gregory the Great, Moralia in Iob, book XXXI
  10. ^ DelCogliano, Mark (18 November 2014). Gregory the Great: Moral Reflections on the Book of Job, Volume 1. Cistercian Publications. ISBN 9780879071493.
  11. Tucker, Shawn R. (24 February 2015). The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook. Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers.
  12. "Traditional Jewish source for the "Seven Deadly Sins" - the Seforim Blog".
  13. "SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The cause of sin, in respect of one sin being the cause of another Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 84; I-II,84,3)". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  14. Armentrout, Don S. (1 January 2000). An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians. Church Publishing, Inc. p. 479. ISBN 9780898697018.
  15. Lessing, Reed (25 August 2002). "Mighty Menacin' Midianites". The Lutheran Hour. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  16. Speidel, Royal. "What Would a United Methodist Jesus Do?". UCM. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2017. Thirdly, the United Methodist Jesus reminds us to confess our sins. How long has it been since you have heard reference to the seven deadly sins: pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, greed, envy and anger?
  17. The American Lutheran, Volumes 39–40. American Lutheran Publicity Bureau. 1956. p. 332. The world-renowned Evangelist, Billy Graham, presents in this volume an excellent analysis of the seven deadly sins which he enumerates as pride, anger, envy, impurity, gluttony, avarice and slothfulness.
  18. ^ Manning, Henry Edward. Sin and Its consequences.
  19. Martin Chemnitz (2007). Ministry, Word, and Sacraments: An Enchiridion; The Lord's Supper; The Lord's Prayer. Concordia Publishing House. ISBN 978-0-7586-1544-2.
  20. "Definition of LUST". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  21. Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, Introduction, pp. 65–67 (Penguin, 1955).
  22. Pyle, Eric (31 December 2014). William Blake's Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy: A Study of the Engravings, Pencil Sketches and Watercolors. McFarland. ISBN 9781476617022.
  23. Aquinas, St Thomas (1 January 2013). Summa Theologica, Volume 4 (Part III, First Section). Cosimo. ISBN 9781602065604.
  24. "Latin Definition for: gluttio, gluttire, -, – (ID: 21567) – Latin Dictionary and Grammar Resources – Latdict". latin-dictionary.net. Retrieved 2022-10-10.
  25. ^ Okholm, Dennis. "Rx for Gluttony". Christianity Today, Vol. 44, No. 10, 11 September 2000, p.62
  26. "Gluttony". Catholic Encyclopedia.
  27. "greed". American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2019 – via The Free Dictionary.
  28. ^ Aquinas, Thomas (20 August 2013). Summa Theologica (All Complete & Unabridged 3 Parts + Supplement & Appendix + interactive links and annotations). e-artnow. ISBN 9788074842924.
  29. ^ Lyman, Stanford (1989). The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 5. ISBN 0-930390-81-4.
  30. "the definition of sloth". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  31. ^ Lyman, Stanford. The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil. pp. 6–7.
  32. Landau, Ronnie (30 October 2010). The Seven deadly Sins: A companion. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-4457-3227-5.
  33. "CCC, 2302-3". Vatican.va.
  34. International Handbook of Anger. p. 290
  35. ^ Aquinas, Thomas (1 January 2013). Summa Theologica, Volume 3 (Part II, Second Section). Cosimo, Inc. ISBN 9781602065581.
  36. "Summa Theologica: Treatise on The Theological Virtues (QQ[1] – 46): Question. 36 – Of Envy (four articles)". Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  37. Russell, Bertrand (1930). The Conquest of Happiness. New York: H. Liverwright. p. 86.
  38. Climacus, John. The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Translation by Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell. pp. 62–63.
  39. "Humility vs Pride And Why The Difference Should Matter To You | Jeremie Kubicek". jeremiekubicek.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  40. Acquaviva, Gary J. (2000). Values, Violence and Our Future. Rodopi. ISBN 9042005599.
  41. Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis, ISBN 978-0-06-065292-0
  42. Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers. 1895. p. 485.
  43. Claghorn, George. To Deborah Hatheway, Letters and Personal Writings (Works of Jonathan Edwards Online Vol. 16).
  44. ^ Hollow, Matthew (2014). "The 1920 Farrow's Bank Failure: A Case of Managerial Hubris". Journal of Management History. 20 (2). Durham University: 164–178. doi:10.1108/JMH-11-2012-0071. ISSN 1751-1348. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  45. Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940.
  46. McCarron, Bill; Knoke, Paul (2002), "From Gent to Gentil: Jed Tewksbury and the Function of Literary Allusion in A Place to Come To", Robert Penn Warren Studies, 2 (1)
  47. "CCC, 2733". Vatican.va.
  48. "Before Sloth Meant Laziness, It Was the Spiritual Sin of Acedia". Atlas Obscura. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  49. Oxford English dictionary
  50. "Two sexes 'sin in different ways'". BBC News. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  51. Morning Edition (20 February 2009). "True Confessions: Men And Women Sin Differently". NPR. Retrieved 24 July 2010.

Further reading

External links

Seven deadly sins
The sins
Describing the sins
In art and culture
Related
Seven virtues in Christian ethics
Four
cardinal virtues
Faith, Hope and Love, as portrayed by Mary Lizzie Macomber (1861–1916)
Faith, Hope and Love, as portrayed by Mary Lizzie Macomber (1861–1916)
Three
theological virtues
Seven lively virtues
versus
Seven deadly sins
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