The Seven deadly sins: We explain what the seven deadly sins are for Christianity, their history and characteristics of each one. In addition, the heavenly virtues.
What are the seven deadly sins?
In Christian Catholic theology, the seven primordial human faults or weaknesses are known as deadly sins, cardinal sins or capital vices, which engender the rest of the possible human sins and which, therefore, are contrary to Christian teachings.
The name “capital” comes from the Latin capitis (“head”), and refers to the fact that these seven sins are the source of many other possible sins committed by human beings. You must read about Countries of South America once.
The seven deadly sins are: anger, gluttony, pride, lust, sloth, greed and envy. Each one was considered a serious sin and associated with a demon and an exemplary animal: anger was associated with Amon and was represented by a lion, gluttony was associated with Beelzebub and was represented by a pig, pride was associated with Lucifer and was represented by a peacock, lust was associated with Asmodeus and was represented by a goat or a rabbit, sloth was associated with Belphegor and was represented by a snail, greed was associated with Mammon and was represented by a toad and envy was associated with Leviathan and was represented by a snake.
Since the beginning of Catholicism, the seven deadly sins have inspired religious art and literature and have been part of sermons, reflections and various illustrations. Today they are part of the popular imagination in the Christian West, and continue to inspire stories and films such as David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) or the classic Italian film I sette peccati capitali (1952) in which different directors participated. Maybe you should definitely read about Planets of the Solar System once.
History of the seven deadly sins
The seven deadly sins have been part of Christian theology since its origins, since many are condemned in the Old Testament and others have clear antecedents in the Greco-Roman religion.
However, the first time they were formally compiled took place in the 4th century AD, by the ascetic Evagrius of Nitria, who identified eight “bad thoughts”. But it was his disciple John Cassian in the 5th century who introduced and popularized them in Europe, baptizing them as “the eight principal vices” (octo principalibus vitiis).
Later, in the 6th century, Pope Gregory I revised the works of these two anchorites and reworked the list of capital sins, shortening it to the seven known today. The order of the sins in the list, however, has changed many times since then, according to later reinterpretations made by theologians such as Bonaventure de Fidanza (1218-1274) and Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), among others.
On the other hand, these fundamental sins structured, according to the vision of the poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in his Divine Comedy (written between 1308 and 1321), the seven circles or levels that make up hell. This Renaissance vision was the most widespread and well-known in the modern world. You must read about Social Actors once.
The Seven Deadly Sins
1. Pride
Pride is considered the first and foremost of all the capital sins, since the proud person thinks of himself as much more important than others and their lives and needs, so that he can cause them harm and meanness without repentance.
This sin can be understood as a form of supreme selfishness and egocentrism, which places the individual in a position of superiority with respect to the rest of the people and leads him to boast about his own. A proud person will not apologize to those he hurt, considering them inferior to himself, nor will he take into consideration the needs of others, since he is solely focused on himself.
Pride, arrogance and vanity are, for practical purposes, synonyms and appear interchangeably on many lists of capital sins. In fact, in the Christian imagination it was pride that lost the angel Lucifer, who rose up against the heavenly order and was expelled from paradise and now reigns in hell.
2. Anger
Anger is the supreme form of rage and indignation, which takes on aggressive and even violent overtones, since the angry individual loses control of himself. Anger pushes individuals to commit actions that they will later regret, such as aggression, murder or simply hurting people who do not deserve it.
Of all the capital sins, anger is the only one that does not have to do with a corrupt form of love for oneself and personal interests, although Dante Alighieri defined it as a “love of justice perverted into revenge and resentment.” People taken by anger act in an intolerant, aggressive or violent manner, which is contrary to social peace and harmony and contradicts the love of neighbor preached by Christianity.
3. Lust
Lust can be defined as a voracious, disordered, insatiable and uncontrollable sexual appetite, which pushes people to promiscuity, rape and adultery, that is, to put their carnal desires above their own and others’ well-being. This is one of the sins most universally condemned by the world’s religions.
Lustful people, as Dante Alighieri explained, indulge in a possessive feeling over others, which leads them to love in a disordered and promiscuous manner, thus placing love for God on a second level. In the hell imagined by Dante in his Divine Comedy, lustful people purged their sins by being eternally dragged from one side to the other by an infernal torrent, that is, by a hurricane wind. This represented the fact that they subject reason to desire.
4. Envy
Envy is, in the words of Dante Alighieri, “the love of one’s own goods perverted into the desire to deprive others of theirs.” This means that envious people desire the goods of others so intensely that they end up wishing misfortune on others or rejoicing when they lose what they were envied.
In this way, envy can be understood as a form of unlimited and egocentric desire, which makes people experience the fact that others have something they desire as if it were an injustice or a personal affront, directed at themselves. Envious people are thus capable of destroying the happiness of others or ruining the goods of others because “if they are not for me, they should not be for anyone else.”
According to the biblical accounts, the first envious person was Cain, son of Adam and Eve, who envied his brother Abel for being God’s favorite. This envy led him to set an ambush for his brother and kill him.
5. Gluttony
Gluttony can be understood as a form of excessive gluttony, that is, a disordered and insatiable desire to eat and drink, which pushes people towards addiction and waste. Gluttony leads people to consume much more than they really need, that is, to consume for the mere act of consuming and not to sustain themselves. This excessive behavior is condemned by practically all religions in the world, as well as lust and greed.
In Dante’s Divine Comedy, the infernal circle of gluttony subjected penitents to excruciating hunger and thirst, but when they tried to eat the beautiful and fleshy fruits of a tree, the branches were withdrawn out of their reach; and when they tried to drink water from lakes, it slipped through their fingers without them being able to taste it.
On the other hand, drug addictions also fall within the sin of gluttony.
6. Greed
Greed or covetousness consists of an excessive and irrational love for one’s own possessions, such that their preservation is put before the well-being of oneself and others. Greedy or covetous people never feel that they have enough, and they react with anger at the idea that they might lose a little of what they have, or that they might have to give a little to others.
Saint Thomas Aquinas explained this sin as the preference for worldly and ephemeral goods over true divine goods, that is, feeling more love for earthly matters than for God. Thus, the greedy can incur other sins and reprehensible actions, such as betrayal, lying, theft or bribery, since their loyalties are placed solely on material goods (money, above all).
7. Laziness
Laziness or sloth is the lack of willingness to undertake necessary tasks, due to an excess of comfort or a lack of initiative. But we must not confuse laziness with leisure, that is, with the time for recreation that we give ourselves once our tasks have been completed. Lazy people are victims of a lack of enthusiasm that leads them to ignore their own and others’ needs, so that they leave everything to others to resolve.
Lazy people violate the divine maxim of “help yourself and I will help you,” and do not make the slightest effort for work, sustenance, or the resolution of problems, so that they end up being a burden for their neighbor or for themselves. In addition, the “sadness of spirit” of the lazy person distances him from religious discipline and from the ritual acts that ingratiate him with God, which is interpreted as a feeling of reluctance for eternal salvation.
The seven heavenly virtues
Just as there are seven capital sins in Catholic doctrine, there are seven supreme virtues that counteract them and that make up the duty of every good Christian. These supreme virtues are:
Humility
The counterpart of pride, it consists of reminding oneself that we are not better or more important than anyone else.
Generosity
The counterpart of greed, it consists of detachment and altruism, that is, not hesitating to give what is ours to those who need it most.
Chastity
The counterpart of lust, it consists of sexual moderation and of pleasures, without necessarily turning into abstinence or celibacy.
Patience
The counterpart of anger, it consists of tolerating others and overcoming conflicts and difficulties with good spirit.
Temperance
The counterpart of gluttony, it consists in the control of one’s own will over instincts, temptations and vices.
Charity
The counterpart of envy, it consists in empathy and solidarity with others, without distinguishing between those who have and those who do not, between friend and enemy.
Diligence
The counterpart of laziness, it consists in the commitment to honor responsibilities and to commit to the necessary tasks, that is, to do them as well as possible and with an active spirit.
