10 commandments of god meaning. Seven deadly sins and ten commandments

God's commandments and mortal sins are the basic laws of Christianity, and every believer must adhere to these laws. They were given to Moses by the Lord at the very beginning of the development of Christianity. To save the people from the fall, to warn them from danger.

First:

I am the Lord thy God, and let there be no other gods besides me.

Second:

Do not make yourself an idol, nor any image; do not worship or serve them.

Third:

Well, take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Fourth commandment:

Remember the Sabbath day: for six days do your earthly affairs or work, and on the seventh day, the day of rest, dedicate it to the Lord your God.

Fifth:

Honor your mother and your father, that you may be well and that you live long on earth.

Sixth commandment:

Seventh commandment:

Don't commit adultery.

Eighth commandment:

Don't steal.

ninth:

Do not speak your false testimony against your neighbor. Don't bear false witness.

Tenth:

Do not covet anything that belongs to another: neither your neighbor's wife, nor his house, nor anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

Interpretation of the Ten Laws of God:

The Ten Commandments of Jesus Christ, translated into ordinary language, say that it is necessary:

• Believe in only one Lord, one God.
• Do not create idols for yourself.
• Do not mention, do not pronounce the name of the Lord God just like that.
• Always remember Saturday - the main day of rest.
• Respect your parents and honor them.
• Don't kill anyone.
• Do not commit adultery, do not change.
• Don't steal anything.
• Don't lie to anyone, don't lie to people.
• Do not envy your comrades, friends or just acquaintances.

The first four commandments of God are directly related to the relationship of man with God, the rest are the relationship of people among themselves.

Commandment one and two:

Means the unity of the Lord. He is revered, respected, considered Almighty and wise. He is also the kindest of all, therefore, if a person wants to grow in virtue, it is necessary to look for it in God. "You cannot have other gods but Me." (Ex 20:3)

Quote: “- what do you need other gods, since your God is the Lord Almighty? Is there anyone wiser than the Lord? He directs righteous thoughts through people's everyday thoughts. Satan, on the other hand, controls by the traps of temptation. If you worship two gods, keep in mind that one of them is the Devil.”

In religion it is said that all power lies in God and in him only one, from this first commandment follows the next.

People blindly pray to pictures with other idols depicted on them, bow their heads, kiss the hands of the priest, etc. God's second law speaks of the prohibition of deifying creatures and honoring them on an equal footing with the Creator.

“Do not make for yourself a carving or any other image of what is above in heaven, below in the earth, or in the waters under the bottom of the earth. Do not worship and do not serve them, for remember that I am your God Jehovah, who requires exceptional devotion!”

(Exodus 20:4-5)

The Christian religion believes that after meeting with the Lord it is impossible to honor someone more than Him, that everything that is on earth was created by Him. Nothing can be compared or compared with it, because the Lord does not want the human heart and soul to be occupied with someone or something else.

Commandment three:

God's third law is stated in Deuteronomy (5:11) and Exodus (20:7).

From Exodus 20:7 "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain; believe that the Lord will not leave without punishment a man who takes His name in vain."

This commandment uses a word from the Old Testament, it is translated as:

• falsely swear by God's name;
• pronounce it in vain, just like that.

According to the teachings of antiquity, there is great power in the name. If you pronounce with or without the name of God, which contains a special power, then there will be no benefit from it. It is believed that the Lord hears all the prayers offered to him and responds to each of them, but this becomes unlikely if a person calls to him every minute as a command or at dinner. The Lord ceases to hear such a person, and in the case when this person needs real help, God will be deaf to him, as well as to his requests.

In the second part of the commandment are the following words: "... for God will not leave unpunished those who pronounce His name just like that." This means that God will certainly punish those who violate this law. At first glance, the use of His name may seem harmless, because what's so terrible about mentioning Him in secular conversation or in a quarrel?

But it is important to understand that such an oversight can offend the Lord. In the New Testament, he explained to his students that all ten commandments are reduced to only two: “Love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul and mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The third law is a reflection of man's love for God. He who loves the Lord with all his heart will not take his name in vain. This is equivalent to how a young man in love does not allow anyone to speak incorrectly about his beloved. Mentioning the Lord in vain is baseness and an insult to the Lord.

Also, breaking the third commandment can ruin the Lord's reputation in the eyes of the people: Romans 2:24 "For you, as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles." The Lord commanded to hallow His name: Leviticus 22:32 “Do not dishonor (do not defile) My holy name, that I may be holy among the children of Israel.”

An example of how God punishes people for violating the third commandment of God's Law can be found in 2 Samuel 21:1-2 “There was a famine on the earth in the days of David for three years, one year after another. And he asked God. The Lord spoke: it was for the sake of Saul and his bloodthirsty house that he killed the Gibeonites. Then the king called to the Gibeonites and conversed with them. Those were not from the sons of Israel, but from the remnants of the Amorites; The Israelites swore, but Saul wanted to destroy them because of his zeal for Israel's descendants and Judah. In short, God punished the people of Israel for violating the oath of truce they had sworn to the Gibeonites.

Commandment Four:

According to legend, the Creator created our world and the Universe itself in six days, he devoted the seventh day to rest. This rule as a whole determines human life, where he is obliged to devote most of his life to work, and leave the rest of the time to the Lord.

According to the Old Testament, the celebration was given to Saturday. The Sabbath rest was established for the benefit of man, both physical and spiritual, and not for the sake of enslavement and deprivation. In order to gather your thoughts into one whole, to refresh your mental and physical strength, you need to step back from everyday activities once a week. This allows you to comprehend the purpose of everything earthly in general and your labors in particular. In religion, work is a necessary part of human life, but the main thing will always be the salvation of his soul.

The fourth commandment is violated by people who, in addition to working on Sunday, are also lazy to do work on weekdays, evade duties, because the commandment says “work six days”. Those who, without working on Sunday, do not dedicate this day to the Lord, but spend it in sheer fun, indulge in various excesses and revelry, are also violating.

Commandment five:

Jesus Christ, being the Son of God, honored His parents, was obedient to them, helped Joseph with his work. The Lord, for refusing parents the required maintenance under the pretext of dedicating everything they had to God, reproached the Pharisees, because by doing so they violated the requirement of the fifth law.

With the Fifth Commandment, God calls us to honor our parents, and in return promises a person a prosperous, good life. Respect for parents is respect for them, love for them, under no circumstances offend them with words or deeds, be obedient, help them and take care when necessary, especially in old age or illness. It is necessary to pray to God for their souls both during life and after death. The great sin is disrespect for parents.

In relation to other people, the Christian religion speaks of the need to honor everyone, in accordance with the position, age.

The Church has always considered and still considers the family to be its foundation and society.

Commandment six:

With the help of this law, the Lord imposes a prohibition on killing, both in himself and in others. After all, life is a great gift from God, and only the Lord himself can deprive someone of life on earth. Suicide is also a serious sin: it also contains the sin of despair, lack of faith, rebellion against God's meaning. A person who forcibly ended his life will not be able to repent, because after death it is not valid. In moments of despair, it is necessary to remember that earthly suffering is sent for the salvation of the soul.

A person becomes guilty of murder if in some way he contributes to the murder, allows someone to kill, helps to commit it with advice or consent, covers the sinner, pushes people to new crimes.

It should be remembered that it is possible to bring a person to sin not only by deed, but also by word, therefore it is necessary to watch the language and think what you are saying.

Commandment seven:

The Lord commands spouses to be faithful, unmarried to be chaste, both in deeds and in words, thoughts, desires. In order not to sin, a person needs to avoid everything that causes impure feelings. Such thoughts need to be nipped in the bud, not allowing them to take over your will and feelings. The Lord understands how hard it is for a person to control himself, therefore He teaches people to be merciless and resolute towards themselves.

Commandment Eight:

In this law, God forbids us to appropriate to ourselves what belongs to another. Theft can be different: from simple theft, to sacrilege (theft of sacred things) and extortion (taking money from the needy, taking advantage of the situation). And any appropriation of another's property through deceit. Evasion of payments, debts, silence about what was found, fraud in sales, withholding payments to employees - all this is also included in the list of sins of the seventh commandment. A person's addiction to material values ​​​​and pleasures pushes to such a sin. Religion teaches people to be selfless, hardworking. The highest Christian virtue is the renunciation of any property. This is for those who strive for excellence.

Commandment nine:

With this law, the Lord forbids any lie, for example: deliberately false testimony in court, denunciation, gossip, slander and slander. "Devil" means "slanderer". Lies are unworthy of a Christian, inconsistent neither with love nor with respect. A comrade understands something not with the help of ridicule and condemnation, but with the help of love and a good deed, advice. And in general, it is worth following the speech, as religion is of the opinion that the word is the greatest gift.

Commandment ten:

This law calls people to refrain from unworthy desires and envy. While the nine commandments deal with human behavior, the tenth pays attention to what is happening inside him: desires, feelings and thoughts. Calls people to think about spiritual purity and mental nobility. Any sin begins with a thought, a sinful desire appears, which pushes a person to act. Therefore, in order to fight temptations, one should suppress the thought of him in the mind.

Envy is a mental poison. No matter how rich a person is, when he is envious he will be insatiable. The task of human life, according to religion, is a pure heart, for only in a pure heart will the Lord dwell.

Seven deadly sins

Pride

The beginning of pride is contempt. The closest to this sin is the one who despises other people - poor, low. As a result, a person considers only himself wise and noble. It is not difficult to recognize a proud sinner: such a person is always looking for preferences. In self-satisfied ecstasy, a person can often forget himself and appropriate imaginary virtues. The sinner moves away at first from strangers, and later from comrades, friends, family, and, finally, the Lord himself. Such a person does not need anyone, he sees happiness in himself. But in fact, pride does not bring true joy. Under the rough shell of complacency and pride, the soul becomes dead, loses the ability to love, to be friends.

This sin is one of the most widespread in the modern world. It paralyzes the soul. Petty desires and material passions can ruin noble motives in the soul. This sin can be suffered by the rich, and the person of average income, and the poor. This passion is not just the possession of material things or wealth, it is a passionate desire to possess them.

Often a person in sin cannot think of anything else. He is in the grip of passion. Looks at every woman as if she is a female. Dirty thoughts creep into the mind and cloud it and the heart, the latter wants only one thing - the satisfaction of its lust. This state is akin to an animal and even worse, because a person comes to such vices that an animal does not always think of.

This sin is a desecration of nature, it spoils life, a person in this sin is at enmity with everyone. A more pernicious passion the human soul has not yet known. Envy is one of the ways of enmity, moreover, it is almost irresistible. The beginning of this sin originates from pride. It is difficult for such a person to see his equals nearby, especially those who are higher than him, better, etc.

Gluttony makes people consume food and drink for the sake of enjoyment. Because of this passion, a person ceases to be a rational person, becomes like an animal that lives without reason. Through this sin different passions are born.

Anger

Anger separates God and the human soul, because such a person lives in confusion, anxiety. Anger is a very dangerous adviser, everything that is done under his influence cannot be called prudent. In anger, a person commits evil, worse than which it is difficult to do.

Despondency and laziness

Despondency is the relaxation of the forces of the body and soul, which at the same time is combined with desperate pessimism. Constant anxiety and despondency crush the spiritual forces, bring him to exhaustion. From this sin, idleness and restlessness are born.

Pride is considered the most terrible of sins; the Lord does not forgive this. God's commandments allow us to live in harmony. They are difficult to comply with, but throughout life a person needs to strive for the best.

The 10 commandments of Christianity are the way that Christ said: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The Son of God is the embodiment of virtues, since virtue is not a created thing, but a property of God. Their observance is necessary for every person in order to achieve his measure, which brings him closer to God.

The commandments of God were given to the Jews on Mount Sinai after a person's inner law began to weaken due to sinfulness, and they stopped hearing the voice of their conscience.

Basic commandments of Christianity

Mankind received the Ten Old Testament Commandments (Decalogue) through Moses - the Lord appeared to him in the Fiery Bush - a bush that burned and did not burn. This image became a prophecy about the virgin Mary - who received the Divine into herself and did not burn out. The law was given on two stone tablets (slabs), God Himself inscribed commandments on them with a finger.

Ten Commandments of Christianity (Old Testament, Exodus 20:2-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21):

1. I am the Lord thy God, and there are no other gods but Me.
2. Do not create for yourself an idol and no image; do not worship them and do not serve them.
3. Take not the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4. Work for six days and do all your work, and the seventh - Saturday - is a day of rest, which you dedicate to the Lord your God.
5. Honor your father and mother, may you be blessed on earth and long-lived.
6. Don't kill.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Don't bear false witness.
10. Don't wish for anything else.

Many people think that the main commandments of Christianity are a set of prohibitions. The Lord made man free and never encroached on this freedom. But for those who want to be with God, there are rules on how to spend their lives in harmony with the Law. It should be remembered that the Lord is a source of blessings for us, and his law is like a lamp on the way and a way not to harm yourself, since sin destroys a person and his environment.

The main ideas of Christianity according to the commandments

Let us consider in more detail what are the main ideas of Christianity according to the commandments.

I am the Lord your God. May you have no other gods before me

God is the Creator of the visible and invisible worlds and the source of all strength and power. The elements move thanks to God, the seed germinates because the power of God lives in it, any life is possible only in God and there is no life outside of its Source. Every power is the property of God, which he gives and takes away when he pleases. One should ask only from God and expect only from Him abilities, gifts, various blessings, as from the Source of life-giving power.

God is the source of wisdom and knowledge. He shared His mind not only with man - every creature of God is endowed with its own wisdom - from a spider to a stone. A bee has a different wisdom, a tree has a different one. The animal feels the danger, thanks to the wisdom of God, the bird flies to the very nest that it left in the fall - for the same reason.

All kindness is possible only in God. In everything He created there is this goodness. God is merciful, patient, good. Therefore, everything that is done by Him - the bottomless Source of virtue - is overflowing with kindness. Wishing good for yourself and your neighbors, you need to pray to God about it. It is impossible to serve God, the Creator of everything, and another at the same time - in this case, the person will be ruined. You need to firmly decide to be faithful to your Lord, to Him alone to pray, serve, fear. To love him alone, being afraid to disobey, as your Father.

You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in the sky above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth.

Do not deify creation instead of the Creator. Whatever, whoever it is - no one should occupy this sacred place in your heart - worship of the Creator. Whether sin or fear turns a person away from his God - you always need to find strength in yourself and not look for another god.

After the fall, man became weak and fickle; he often forgets the closeness of God and His concern for each of his children. In moments of spiritual weakness, when sin takes over, a person turns away from God and turns to His servants - creation. But God is more merciful than His servants, and it is necessary to find the strength in oneself to return to Him and receive healing.

A person can consider his wealth as a deity, on which he placed all his hopes and hopes; even a family can be such a deity - when for the sake of other people, even the closest ones, God's law is violated. And Christ, as we know from the Gospel, said:

“Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37).

That is, it is necessary to humble ourselves before circumstances that seem cruel to us, and not to renounce the Creator. A person can make himself an idol out of power, glory, if he also gives it all his heart and thoughts. From everything you can create an idol, even from icons. Some Christians worship not the icon itself, not the material from which the cross is made, but the image that became possible thanks to the incarnation of the Son of God.

Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain

It is impossible to pronounce the name of God casually, in between times, when you are subject to your emotions, and not longing for God. In everyday life, we blur the name of God by pronouncing it irreverently. It should be uttered only in prayerful tension, consciously, for the sake of the highest good for oneself and others.

This blurring has led people today to laugh at believers when they utter the phrase "would you like to talk about God." This phrase has been uttered many times in vain, and the true greatness of the name of God has been devalued by people as something banal. But this phrase carries great merit. Inevitable harm awaits a person for whom the name of God has become banal, and sometimes even abusive.

Work six days, and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God

The seventh day was created for prayer and communion with God. For the ancient Jews, this was the Sabbath, but with the advent of the New Testament, we acquired the Resurrection.

It is not true that, in imitation of the old rules, we should avoid all labor on this day, but this labor should be for the glory of God. Going to church and praying on this day is a holy duty for a Christian. On this day, one should rest, in imitation of the Creator: He created this world for six days, and rested on the seventh - it is written in Genesis. This means that the seventh day is especially consecrated - it was created for reflection on eternity.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days on earth may be long

This is the first commandment with a promise - fulfill it, and your days on earth will be long. Parents must be respected. Whatever your relationship with them, they are the ones through whom the Creator gave you life.

Those who knew God even before you were born, they are worthy of reverence, like everyone who knew the Eternal Truth before you. The commandment to honor parents applies to all older and distant ancestors.

Dont kill

Life is a priceless gift that cannot be encroached upon. Parents do not give life to the child, but only the material for his body. Eternal life is contained in the spirit, which is indestructible and which God Himself breathes.

Therefore, the Lord will always look for a broken vessel if someone encroaches on someone else's life. You cannot kill children in the womb, as this is a new life that belongs to God. On the other hand, no one can kill life completely, since the body is just a shell. But true life, as a gift from God, takes place in this shell, and neither parents nor other people - no one has the right to take it away.

Don't commit adultery

Illegal relationships destroy a person. The harm done to the body and soul from the violation of this commandment should not be underestimated. Children must be carefully guarded against the destructive influence that this sin may have on their lives.

The loss of chastity is the loss of a whole mind, order in thoughts and life. The thoughts of people for whom fornication is the norm become superficial, unable to comprehend the depth. Over time, hatred and aversion to everything holy, righteous appear, evil habits and a bad habit take root in a person. This terrible evil is leveled today, but from this adultery, fornication has not ceased to be a mortal sin.

Don't steal

Therefore, the stolen will entail only great losses for the thief. This is the Law of this world, which is always observed.

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor

What could be worse and more offensive than slander? How many destinies have been destroyed by a false denunciation? One slander is enough to put an end to any reputation, any career.

The fates broken in this way do not escape the punishing gaze of God, and the denunciation will follow the evil tongue, since this sin always has at least 3 witnesses - who was slandered, who slandered the Lord God.

Do not covet your neighbor's house; do not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is with your neighbor

This commandment is a transition to the New Testament commandments of beatitude - a higher moral level. Here the Lord looks into the root of sin, its cause. Sin is always born first in thought. From envy there are thefts and other sins. Thus, having learned the tenth commandment, a person will be able to keep the rest.

A summary of the 10 basic commandments of Christianity will allow you to acquire knowledge for a healthy relationship with God. This is the minimum that any person must observe in order to live in harmony with himself, the people around him and God. If there is a recipe for happiness, a mysterious Grail that gives the fullness of being, then these are the 10 commandments - as a cure for all diseases.

Truly, there is nothing more dangerous and pernicious for the soul than to inherit a large fortune. Be sure that the devil rejoices in a rich inheritance more than an angel, for nothing else does the devil spoil people so easily and quickly, as with a large inheritance.

Therefore, brother, work hard and teach your children to work. And when you work, do not look for only profit, benefit and success in work. Better find in your work the beauty and pleasure that labor itself gives.

For one chair that the carpenter will make, he can get ten dinars, or fifty, or a hundred. But the beauty of the product and the pleasure from the work that the master feels, strict with inspiration, gluing and polishing the wood, does not pay off with anything. This pleasure is reminiscent of the supreme pleasure that the Lord experienced at the creation of the world, when He inspiredly “planed, glued and polished” it. The whole of God's world could have its own price and could pay off, but its beauty and the pleasure of the Creator at the Creation of the world have no price.

Know that you humiliate your work if you think only about the material benefit from it. Know that such work is not given to a person, he will not succeed, will not bring him the expected profit. And the tree will be angry with you and resist you if you work on it not out of love, but for profit. And the earth will hate you if you plow it without thinking about its beauty, but only about your profit from it. Iron will burn you, water will drown you, stone will crush you if you look at them not with love, but in everything you see only your ducats and dinars.

Work without selfishness, as the nightingale unselfishly sings its songs. And so the Lord will go ahead of you in His work, and you will follow Him. If you run past God and rush forward, leaving God behind, your work will bring you a curse, not a blessing.

And on the seventh day, rest.

How to rest? Remember, rest can only be close to God and in God. Nowhere else in this world can one find true rest, for this light seethes like a whirlpool.

Dedicate the seventh day entirely to God, and then you will truly rest and be filled with new strength.

All seventh day think about God, talk about God, read about God, listen to God and pray to God. So you will truly rest and be filled with new strength.

There is a parable about labors on Sunday.

A certain person did not honor the commandment of God about the celebration of the Sunday and continued the Sabbath labors on Sunday. When the whole village was resting, he worked up to a sweat in the field with his oxen, which he also did not allow to rest. However, on Wednesday the following week, he was exhausted, and his oxen also weakened; and when the whole village went out into the field, he remained at home, tired, gloomy and desperate.

Therefore, brothers, do not become like this man, so as not to lose strength, health and soul. But work for six days, as companions of the Lord, with love, pleasure and reverence, and devote the seventh day entirely to the Lord God. From my own experience, I was convinced that the correct celebration of Sunday inspires, renews and makes a person happy.

FIFTH COMMANDMENT

. Honor your father and your mother, that your days on earth may be long.

This means:

Before you knew the Lord God, your parents knew Him. This alone is enough for you to bow to them with respect and give them praise. Bow down and give praise to everyone who has known the Highest in this world before you.

A wealthy young Indian was passing with his entourage through the passes of the Hindu Kush. In the mountains he met a certain old man grazing goats. The beggar old man stepped down to the side of the road and bowed to the rich youth. And the young man jumped off his elephant and prostrated himself before the old man. The elder was amazed at this, and the people from his retinue were also amazed. And he said to the old man:

- I bow before your eyes, for they saw this world, the creation of the Most High, before mine. I bow before your lips, for they uttered His holy name before mine. I bow before your heart, because before mine it trembled from the joyful realization that the Father of all people on earth is the Lord, the King of Heaven.

Honor your father and your mother, for your path from birth to this day is watered with mother's tears and father's sweat. They loved you even when you, weak and dirty, disgusted everyone else. They will love you even when everyone hates you. And when everyone will throw stones at you, your mother will throw you immortelle and basil - symbols of holiness.

Your father loves you, although he knows all your shortcomings. And others will hate you, although they will know only your virtues.

Your parents love you with reverence, for they know that you are a gift from God, entrusted to them for preservation and upbringing. No one except your parents is able to see the mystery of God in you. Their love for you has a holy root in eternity.

Through their tenderness towards you, your parents comprehend the tenderness of the Lord towards all His children.

Just as spurs remind a horse of a good trot, so your harshness towards your parents encourages them to take even more care of you.

There is a parable about father's love.

A certain son, corrupted and cruel, rushed at his father and plunged a knife into his chest. And the father, breathing his last, said to his son:

“Quickly wipe the blood off the knife so you don’t get caught and put on trial.”

There is also a story about motherly love.

In the Russian steppe, one immoral son tied his mother in front of a tent, and in the tent he drank with promenading women and his people. Then haiduks appeared and, seeing the mother tied up, they decided to immediately avenge her. But then the bound mother shouted at the top of her voice and thereby gave a sign to the unfortunate son that he was in danger. And the son was saved, and instead of the son, the robbers killed the mother.

And another story about the father.

In Tehran, a Persian city, an old father lived in the same house with two daughters. The daughters did not listen to their father's advice and laughed at him. By their bad life they sullied the honor and dishonored the good name of the father. The father interfered with them like a silent reproach of conscience. One evening, the daughters, thinking that their father was asleep, agreed to prepare poison and give it to him in the morning with tea. And my father heard everything and wept bitterly all night and prayed to God. In the morning, the daughters brought tea and placed it in front of him. Then the father said:

“I am aware of your intention and will leave you as you wish. But I want to leave not with your sin to save your souls, but with mine.

Having said this, the father overturned the bowl of poison and left the house.

Son, do not be proud of your knowledge before your uneducated father, for his love is worth more than your knowledge. Think that if it were not for him, there would be neither you nor your knowledge.

Daughter, do not be proud of your beauty before your hunched mother, for her heart is more beautiful than your face. Remember that both you and your beauty came out of her emaciated body.

Day and night develop in yourself, son, reverence for your mother, for only in this way will you learn to revere all other mothers on earth.

Verily, children, you do little if you honor your father and mother, and despise other fathers and mothers. Respect for your parents should become for you a school of respect for all men and all women who give birth in pain, raise in the sweat of their brow, and love their children in suffering. Remember this and live according to this commandment so that the Lord will bless you on earth.

Verily, children, you do little if you honor only the personalities of your father and mother, but not their work, not their time, not their contemporaries. Think that by respecting your parents, you honor their work, and their era, and their contemporaries. So you will kill in yourself the fatal and stupid habit of despising the past. My children, believe that the days given at your disposal are not dearer and closer to the Lord than the days of those who lived before you. If you are proud of your time before the past, do not forget that you will not have time to blink an eye when grass will grow over your graves, your era, your bodies and deeds, and others will laugh at you as if they were a backward past.

Any time is filled with mothers and fathers, pain, sacrifices, love, hope and faith in God. Therefore, any time is worthy of respect.

The sage bows with reverence to all past ages, as well as to those to come. For the wise know what the fool does not know, namely, that his time is but a minute on the clock. Take a look, children, at the clock; listen to how minute after minute flows, and tell me which of the minutes is better, longer and more important than the others?

Get on your knees, children, and pray to God with me:

“Lord, Heavenly Father, glory to You that You commanded us to honor our father and mother on earth. Help us, O All-Merciful One, through this veneration to learn to respect all men and women on earth, Your precious children. And help us, O All-Wise, through this to learn not to despise, but to honor the previous epochs and generations, which before us saw Your glory and pronounced Your holy name. Amen".

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

Dont kill.

This means:

God breathed life from His life into every created being. is the most precious wealth given by God. Therefore, whoever encroaches on any life on earth raises his hand on the most precious gift of God, moreover, on the very life of God. All of us living today are only temporary bearers of the life of God in ourselves, custodians of the most precious gift that belongs to God. Therefore, we do not have the right, and we cannot take away the life borrowed from God, either from ourselves or from others.

And that means

– firstly, we have no right to kill;

Secondly, we cannot kill life.

If a clay pot happens to be broken in the bazaar, the potter will become furious and demand compensation for the loss. In truth, man is also made of the same cheap material as a pot, but what is hidden in it is priceless. This is the soul that creates a person from within, and the Spirit of God, which gives life to the soul.

Neither father nor mother have the right to take the life of their children, for it is not the parents who give life, but through the parents. And since parents do not give life, they have no right to take it away.

But if parents who work so hard to put their children on their feet do not have the right to take their lives, how can those who accidentally bump into their children along the way of life have such a right?

If you happen to break a pot in the bazaar, it will hurt not the pot, but the potter who made it. In the same way, if a person is killed, it is not the person who is killed who feels the pain, but the Lord God, Who created man, exalted and breathed in His Spirit.

So if the one who breaks the pot must compensate the potter for his loss, how much more must the murderer compensate God for the life he has taken. Even if people do not demand compensation, they will. Murderer, do not deceive yourself: even if people forget about your crime, God cannot forget. Look, there are things that even the Lord cannot. For example, He cannot forget about your crime. Remember this always, remember in your anger before you grab a knife or a gun.

On the other hand, we cannot kill life. To completely kill life would be to kill God, for life belongs to God. Who can kill God? You can break a pot, but you cannot destroy the clay from which it was made. In the same way, it is possible to crush the body of a person, but it is impossible to break, burn, dispel, or spill his soul and spirit.

There is a story about life.

A certain terrible, bloodthirsty vizier ruled in Constantinople, whose favorite pastime was to watch every day how the executioner flogs heads in front of his palace. And on the streets of Constantinople lived one holy fool, a righteous man and a prophet, whom all people considered God's saint. One morning, when the executioner was executing another unfortunate person in front of the vizier, the holy fool stood under his windows and began to swing an iron hammer to the right and left.

– What are you doing? the vizier asked.

“The same as you,” the holy fool replied.

- Like this? the vizier asked again.

“Yes,” replied the holy fool. “I'm trying to kill the wind with this hammer. And you're trying to kill life with a knife. My labor is in vain, as is yours. You, vizier, cannot kill life, just as I cannot kill the wind.

The vizier silently retired to the dark chambers of his palace and did not let anyone in. For three days he did not eat, did not drink, and did not see anyone. And on the fourth day he called his friends together and said:

“Truly, the man of God is right. I acted stupid. cannot be destroyed, just as the wind cannot be killed.

In America, in the city of Chicago, two men lived next door. One of them was seduced by the wealth of his neighbor, made his way to his house at night and cut off his head, then put the money in his bosom and went home. But as soon as he went out into the street, he saw a murdered neighbor who was walking towards him. Only on the shoulders of the neighbor was not his head, but his own head. Terrified, the killer crossed to the other side of the street and began to run, but the neighbor again appeared in front of him and walked towards him, looking like him, like a reflection in a mirror. The killer broke out in a cold sweat. Somehow he got to his house and barely survived the night. However, the next night, the neighbor again appeared to him with his own head. And so it was every night. Then the killer took the stolen money and threw it into the river. But that didn't help either. Neighbor from night to night appeared to him. The murderer surrendered to the court, admitted his guilt and was exiled to hard labor. But even in the dungeon the killer could not close his eyes, for every night he saw his neighbor with his own head on his shoulders. In the end, he began to ask one old priest to pray to God for him, a sinner, and to give him communion. The priest replied that before praying and taking communion, he must make one confession. The convict replied that he had already confessed to the murder of his neighbor. “Not that,” the priest told him, “you must see, understand and acknowledge that the life of your neighbor is your own life. And you killed yourself by killing him. That's why you see your head on the body of the murdered. With this, God gives you a sign that your life, and the life of your neighbor, and the life of all people together, is one and the same life.

The convict thought. After much thought, he understood everything. Then he prayed to God and took communion. And then the spirit of the murdered person ceased to haunt him, and he began to spend days and nights in repentance and prayer, telling the rest of the condemned about the miracle that had been revealed to him, namely, that a person cannot kill another without killing himself.

Ah, brothers, how terrible are the consequences of murder! If this could be described to all people, there would truly be no madman who would encroach on someone else's life.

God awakens the conscience of the murderer, and his own conscience begins to grind him from the inside, as a worm under the bark grinds a tree. Conscience gnaws, and beats, and rumbles, and roars like a mad lioness, and the unfortunate criminal does not find rest day or night, neither in the mountains, nor in the valleys, nor in this life, nor in the grave. It would be easier for a person if his skull were opened and a swarm of bees settled inside, than an impure, disturbed conscience would settle in his head.

Therefore, brothers, he forbade people, for the sake of their own peace and happiness, to kill.

“Oh, good Lord, how sweet and useful is every commandment of Yours! O Lord Almighty, save Your servant from an evil deed and a avenging conscience, to glorify and praise You forever and ever. Amen".

SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

. Don't commit adultery.

And this means:

Do not have an illegal relationship with a woman. Indeed, in this, animals are more obedient to God than many people.

Adultery destroys a person physically and mentally. Adulterers are usually twisted like a bow before old age and end their lives in wounds, agony and madness. The most terrible and most evil diseases that are known to medicine are diseases that multiply and spread among people through adultery. The body of the adulterer is constantly in disease, like a stinking puddle, from which everyone turns away in disgust and runs with their noses pinched.

But if evil concerned only those who do this evil, the problem would not be so terrible. However, it is simply terrible when you think that the children of adulterers inherit the diseases of their parents: sons and daughters, and even grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Verily, disease from adultery is the scourge of mankind, like aphids to a vineyard. These diseases, more than any other, are dragging humanity back into decline.

The picture is scary enough, if we mean only bodily pains and deformities, rotting and decay of the flesh from bad diseases. But the picture is completed, it becomes even more terrible when spiritual deformity is added to bodily deformities, as a consequence of the sin of adultery. From this evil, the spiritual forces of a person are weakened and upset. The patient loses the sharpness, depth and height of thought that he had before the illness. He is confused, forgetful and feels constantly tired. He is no longer capable of any serious work. His character completely changes, and he indulges in all sorts of vices: drunkenness, gossip, lies, theft, and so on. He has a terrible hatred for everything good, decent, honest, bright, prayerful, spiritual, divine. He hates good people and tries his best to harm them, slander them, slander them, harm them. Like a true misanthrope, he is also a God-hater. He hates all laws, both human and God's, and therefore hates all legislators and keepers of the law. He becomes a persecutor of order, goodness, will, holiness and ideal. He is like a fetid puddle for society, which rots and stinks, infecting everything around. His body is pus, and his soul is also pus.

That is why, brothers, God, who knows everything and foresees everything, has imposed a ban on adultery, fornication, extramarital affairs between people.

Young people especially need to beware of this evil and shun it like a poisonous viper. The nation where young people indulge in licentiousness and "free love" has no future. Such a nation will in time have more and more deformed, stupid and feeble generations, until finally it will be captured by a healthier people who will come to subdue it.

Whoever knows how to read the past of mankind can find out what terrible punishments befell the adulterous tribes and peoples. The Holy Scripture speaks of the fall of two cities - Sodom and Gomorrah, in which it was impossible to find even ten righteous people and virgins. For this, the Lord God brought down on them a fiery rain with sulfur, and both cities immediately turned out to be covered, as if in a grave.

May the Lord Almighty help you, brethren, not to slip into the dangerous path of adultery. May your Guardian Angel keep peace and love in your home.

May the Mother of God inspire your sons and daughters with Her Divine chastity, so that sin does not stain their bodies and souls, but they are pure and bright, so that the Holy Spirit can fit into them and breathe into them what is divine, what is from God. Amen.

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

Don't steal.

And this means:

Do not grieve your neighbor by disrespecting his property rights. Don't do what foxes and mice do if you think you're better than a fox and a mouse. The fox steals without knowing the law on theft; and the mouse gnaws at the barn, not realizing that it is harming someone. Both the fox and the mouse understand only their own need, but not someone else's loss. They are not given to understand, but you are given. Therefore, you are not forgiven what is forgiven for a fox and a mouse. Your benefit must always be subordinate to the law, it must not be to the detriment of your neighbor.

Brothers, only the ignorant go to theft, that is, those who do not know the two main truths of this life.

The first truth is that a person cannot steal unnoticed.

The second truth is that a person cannot benefit from stealing.

"Like this?" many nations will ask, and many ignoramuses will be surprised.

That's how.

Our universe is many. All of it is strewn with an abundance of eyes, like a plum tree in springtime, completely covered with white flowers. Some of these eyes people see and feel on themselves their views, but they neither see nor feel a significant part. An ant crawling in the grass does not feel the gaze of a sheep grazing above him, nor the gaze of a person watching him. In the same way, people do not feel the views of the innumerable number of higher beings who are watching us at every step of our life path. There are millions and millions of spirits who keep a close eye on what is happening on every inch of the earth. How then can a thief steal without being noticed? How then can a thief steal without being discovered? You can't put your hand in your pocket without millions of witnesses seeing it. It is all the more impossible to stick one's hand into someone else's pocket so that millions of higher forces do not raise the alarm. He who understands this asserts that a person cannot steal unnoticed and with impunity. This is the first truth.

Another truth is that a person cannot benefit from theft, for how can he use stolen goods if invisible eyes have seen everything and pointed to him. And if he was pointed out, then the secret will become clear, and the name "thief" will stick to him until his death. The powers of heaven can point out a thief in a thousand ways.

There is a story about fishermen.

On the bank of one river lived two fishermen with their families. One had many children and the other was childless. Every evening both fishermen cast their nets and went to sleep. For some time now, it has become so that in the nets of a fisherman with many children there always turned out to be two or three fish, and in a childless one - in abundance. A childless fisherman, out of mercy, pulled out several fish from his full net and gave them to a neighbor. This went on for quite a long time, perhaps a whole year. While one of them grew rich trading in fish, the other barely made ends meet, sometimes not even being able to buy bread for his children.

"What's the matter?" thought the poor man. But then one day, when he was sleeping, the truth was revealed to him. A certain man appeared to him in a dream in a dazzling radiance, like an angel of God, and said: “Hurry, get up and go to the river. There you will see why you are poor. But when you see, do not give vent to anger.

Then the fisherman woke up and jumped out of bed. Having crossed himself, he went out to the river and saw how his neighbor was throwing fish after fish from his net to his. The poor fisherman's blood boiled with indignation, but he remembered the warning and subdued his anger. Having cooled down a bit, he calmly said to the thief: “Neighbour, can I help you? Well, why are you suffering alone!

Caught red-handed, the neighbor was simply numb with fear. When he came to his senses, he threw himself at the feet of the poor fisherman and exclaimed: “Verily, the Lord has shown you my crime. It's hard for me, a sinner! And then he gave half of his wealth to the poor fisherman, so that he would not tell people about him and send him to prison.

There is a story about a merchant.

In one Arab city lived a merchant Ishmael. Whenever he released goods to customers, he always shortchanged them for a few drachmas. And his condition greatly increased. However, his children were sick, and he spent a lot of money on doctors and medicines. And the more he spent on the treatment of children, the more he deceived his customers. But the more he deceived customers, the more his children got sick.

Once, when Ishmael was sitting alone in his shop, full of worries about his children, it seemed to him that for a moment the heavens opened. He raised his eyes to the sky to see what was happening there. And he sees: angels are standing at the huge scales, measuring all the blessings that the Lord endows people with. And so, the turn of Ishmael's family came. When the angels began to measure health for his children, they threw less health on the scale than there were weights on the scales. Ishmael got angry and wanted to shout at the angels, but then one of them turned to him and said: “The measure is correct. What are you angry about? We underfeed your children exactly as much as you underfeed your customers. And so we do the truth of God.”

Ishmael rushed as if he had been pierced by a sword. And he began to bitterly repent of his grave sin. Since then, Ishmael began not only to weigh correctly, but always added a surplus. And his children returned to health.

In addition, brethren, a stolen thing constantly reminds a person that it has been stolen and that it is not his property.

There is a parable about hours.

One guy stole a pocket watch and wore it for a month. After that, he returned the watch to the owner, confessed his misdeed and said:

“Whenever I took my watch out of my pocket and looked at it, I heard it say: “We are not yours; you're a thief!"

The Lord knew that stealing would make both unhappy: the one who stole and the one from whom it was stolen. And so that people, His sons, would not be unhappy, the All-Wise Lord gave us this commandment: do not steal.

“We thank You, Lord, our God, for this commandment, which we really need for the sake of peace of mind and our happiness. Command, Lord, to Your fire, let it burn our hands if they reach out to steal. Command, Lord, to Your snakes, let them wrap themselves around our feet, if they go to steal. But, most importantly, we pray to You, Almighty, cleanse our hearts from thieves' thoughts and our spirit from thieves' thoughts. Amen".

NINTH COMMANDMENT

. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

And this means:

Do not be deceitful either towards yourself or towards others. If you lie about yourself, you yourself know that you are lying. But if you slander someone else, that other person knows that you are slandering about him.

When you praise yourself and show off to people, people do not know that you are falsely testifying about yourself, but you yourself know it. But if you start repeating these lies about yourself, people will eventually realize that you are deceiving them. However, if you start repeating the same lies about yourself over and over again, people will know that you are lying, but then you yourself will begin to believe in your lies. Thus lies will become truth for you, and you will become accustomed to lies, as a blind man becomes accustomed to darkness.

When you slander another person, that person knows that you are lying. This is the first witness against you. And you know you're slandering him. So you are the second witness against yourself. And the Lord God is the third witness. Therefore, whenever you bear false witness against your neighbor, know that three witnesses will be brought against you: God, your neighbor, and yourself. And be sure, one of these three witnesses will expose you to the whole world.

This is how the Lord can expose false evidence against a neighbor.

There is a parable about a slanderer.

Two neighbors, Luka and Ilya, lived in the same village. Luka could not stand Ilya, because Ilya was a correct, hard-working person, and Luka was a drunkard and a lazy person. In a fit of hatred, Luke went to court and reported that Ilya had spoken swear words against the king. Ilya defended himself as best he could, and in the end, turning to Luke, he said: “God willing, the Lord Himself will reveal your lies against me.” However, the court sent Ilya to prison, and Luka returned home.

Approaching his house, he heard crying in the house. From a terrible foreboding, the blood froze in the veins, for Luke remembered the curse of Elijah. When he entered the house, he was horrified. His old father, having fallen into the fire, burned his whole face and eyes. When Luca saw this, he became speechless and could neither speak nor cry. At dawn the next day, he went to court and admitted that he had slandered Ilya. The judge immediately released Ilya, and punished Luka for perjury. So Luke suffered two punishments for one: both from God and from people.

And here is an example of how your neighbor can expose your perjury.

There was a butcher in Nice named Anatole. Some rich but dishonest merchant bribed him to give false evidence against his neighbor Emil, that he, Anatole, saw Emil doused with kerosene and set fire to the merchant's house. And Anatole testified to this in court and swore an oath. Emil was convicted. But he swore that when he served his sentence, he would live only in order to prove that Anatole had perjured himself.

Coming out of prison, Emil, being a sensible man, soon amassed a thousand Napoleons. He decided that he would give all this thousand in order to force Anatole to confess to witnesses in his slander. First of all, Emil found people who knew Anatole and made such a plan. They were supposed to invite Anatole to dinner, give him a good drink and then tell him that they needed a witness who would testify under oath at the trial that a certain innkeeper was harboring robbers.

The plan was a success. Anatole was told the essence of the matter, laid out before him a thousand golden Napoleons and asked if he could find a reliable person who would show what they needed in court. Anatole's eyes lit up when he saw a pile of gold in front of him, and he immediately declared that he himself would take up this matter. Then the friends pretended to doubt whether he would be able to do everything as it should be, whether he would be frightened, whether he would be confused in court. Anatole began to ardently convince them that he could. And then they asked him if he had ever done such things and how successfully? Unaware of the trap, Anatole admitted that there was such a case when he was paid for false testimony against Emil, who as a result was sent to hard labor.

Having heard everything they needed, the friends went to Emil and told him everything. The next morning, Emil filed a complaint with the court. Anatole was tried and sent to hard labor. Thus, the inevitable punishment of God overtook the slanderer and restored the good name of a decent person.

And here is an example of how the perjurer himself confessed to his crime.

In the same town lived two guys, two friends, Georgy and Nikola. Both were unmarried. And both fell in love with the same girl, the daughter of a poor craftsman who had seven daughters, all unmarried. The eldest was called Flora. Both friends looked at this Flora. But George was faster. He wooed Flora and asked a friend to be the best man. Nicola was overcome with such envy that he decided at all costs to prevent their wedding. And he began to dissuade George from marrying Flora, because, according to him, she was a dishonorable girl and walked with many. The words of a friend struck George like a sharp knife, and he began to assure Nicola that this could not be. Then Nikola said that he himself had a connection with Flora. George believed a friend, went to her parents and refused to marry. Soon the whole city knew about it. A shameful stain fell on the whole family. The sisters began to reproach Flora. And she, in despair, not being able to justify herself, threw herself into the sea and drowned.

About a year later, Nikola walked into Maundy Thursday and heard the priest calling the parishioners for communion. “But let not thieves, liars, perjurers and those who sully the honor of an innocent girl come up to the Chalice. It would be better for them to take fire into themselves than the Blood of the pure and innocent Jesus Christ,” he finished.

Hearing these words, Nikola trembled like an aspen leaf. Immediately after the service, he asked the priest to confess him, which the priest did. Nicola confessed everything and asked what he should do to save himself from the reproaches of an unclean conscience that gnawed at him like a hungry lioness. The priest advised him, if he was really ashamed of his sin and afraid of punishment, to tell about his offense publicly, through the newspaper.

The whole night Nikola did not sleep, gathering all his courage to repent publicly. The next morning he wrote about everything he had done, namely, how he had thrown a stain on the respectable family of a respectable artisan and how he had lied to his friend. At the end of the letter, he added: “I will not go to court. The court will not condemn me to Death, and I deserve only death. That is why I sentence myself to death.” And the next day he hanged himself.

“Oh, Lord, Righteous God, how unfortunate are people who do not follow Your holy commandment and do not bridle their sinful heart and their tongue with an iron bridle. God, help me, a sinner, not to sin against the truth. Wise me with Thy truth, Jesus, Son of God, incinerate all lies in my heart, as a gardener burns the nests of caterpillars on fruit trees in the garden. Amen".

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

Do not covet your neighbor's house; do not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is with your neighbor.

And this means:

As soon as you desired someone else's, you have already fallen into sin. Now the question is, will you come to your senses, will you catch yourself, or will you continue to roll down the inclined plane, where the desire of someone else leads you?

Desire is the seed of sin. A sinful act is already a harvest from the seed sown and grown.

Note the differences between this, the tenth commandment of the Lord, and the previous nine. In the previous nine commandments, the Lord God prevents your sinful deeds, that is, does not allow the harvest from the seed of sin to grow. And in this tenth commandment, the Lord looks into the root of sin and does not allow you to sin even in your thoughts. This commandment serves as a bridge between the Old Testament, given by God through the prophet Moses, and the New Testament, given by God through Jesus Christ, because as you read, you will see that the Lord no longer commands people not to kill with their hands, not to commit adultery with the flesh, not to steal with their hands, not to lie with their tongues. On the contrary, He descends into the depths of the human soul and obliges not to kill even in thoughts, not to imagine adultery even in thoughts, not to steal even in thoughts, not to lie in silence.

So, the tenth commandment serves as a transition to the Law of Christ, which is more moral, higher and more important than the Law of Moses.

Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. For as soon as you desired someone else's, you have already sowed the seed of evil in your heart, and the seed will grow, and grow, and grow, and grow strong, and branch, leading to your hands, and your feet, and your eyes, and your tongue, and your whole body. For the body, brethren, is the executive organ of the soul. The body only obeys the orders given by the soul. What the soul wants, the body must fulfill, and what the soul does not want, the body will not fulfill.

Which plant, brothers, grows the fastest? Fern, right? But the desire sown in the human heart grows faster than a fern. Today it will grow just a little, tomorrow it will grow twice as much, the day after tomorrow it will grow four times, the day after tomorrow it will grow sixteen times and so on.

If today you envy your neighbor's house, tomorrow you will start making plans to appropriate it, the day after tomorrow you will begin to demand from him that he give you his house, and the day after tomorrow you will take away his house or set it on fire.

If today you looked at his wife with lust, tomorrow you will begin to figure out how to kidnap her, the day after tomorrow you will enter into an illegal relationship with her, and the day after tomorrow you will plan, together with her, to kill your neighbor and possess his wife.

If today you desired your neighbor's ox, tomorrow you will desire this ox twice as much, the day after tomorrow four times as much, and the day after tomorrow you will steal the ox from him. And if a neighbor accuses you of stealing his ox, you will swear in court that the ox is yours.

This is how sinful deeds grow from sinful thoughts. And again, note that whoever tramples on this tenth commandment will break one by one the other nine commandments.

Listen to my advice: try to fulfill this last commandment of God, and it will be easier for you to fulfill all the others. Believe me, one whose heart is filled with evil desires darkens his soul so much that he becomes unable to believe in the Lord God, and to work at a certain time, and to keep Sunday, and to honor his parents. In truth, it is true for all the commandments: if you break at least one, you break all ten.

There is a parable about sinful thoughts.

One righteous man named Lavr left his village and went to the mountains, having uprooted all his desires in his soul, except for the desire to devote himself to God and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Laurus spent several years fasting and praying, thinking only of God. When he returned to the village again, all the villagers marveled at his holiness. And everyone revered him as a true man of God. And there lived in that village someone named Thaddeus, who envied Laurus and told his fellow villagers that he could become the same as Laurus. Then Thaddeus retired to the mountains and began to exhaust himself with fasting in solitude. However, a month later, Thaddeus returned. And when the villagers asked what he was doing all this time, he replied:

“I killed, I stole, I lied, I slandered people, I exalted myself, I committed adultery, I set houses on fire.

How can that be if you were alone there?

- Yes, I was alone in body, but in my soul and heart I was always among people, and what I could not do with my hands, feet, tongue and body, I did mentally in my soul.

So, brethren, a man can sin even in solitude. Despite the fact that a bad person will leave the society of people, his sinful desires, his dirty soul and impure thoughts will not leave him.

Therefore, brothers, let us pray to God to help us to fulfill this last commandment of His and thereby prepare to listen, understand and accept the New Testament of God, that is, the Testament of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

“Lord God, Lord Great and Terrible, Great in His deeds, Terrible in His inevitable truth! Give us a share of Your power, Your wisdom and Your good will to live according to this holy and great commandment of Yours. Choke, O God, every sinful desire in our hearts before it begins to choke us.

O Lord of the world, saturate our souls and bodies with Your strength, for by our strength we can do nothing; and saturate with Your wisdom, for our wisdom is foolishness and obscurity of mind; and nourish with Your will, for our will, without Your good will, always serves evil. Draw near to us, O Lord, that we may draw near to You. Bow down to us, O God, that we may rise up to You.

Sow, Lord, Your holy Law in our hearts, sow, graft, water, and let it grow, branch, blossom and bear fruit, for if You leave us alone with Your Law, without You we will not be able to get close to it.

May Your name be glorified, O One Lord, and may we honor Moses, Your chosen one and prophet, through whom You gave us that clear and powerful Testament.

Help us, Lord, to learn word for word that First Testament, so that through it we can prepare for the great and glorious Testament of Your Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, our Savior, to whom, together with You and with the Life-giving Holy Spirit, eternal glory, and song, and worship from generation to generation, from century to century, until the end of time, until the Last Judgment, until the separation of unrepentant sinners from the righteous, until victory over Satan, until the destruction of his kingdom of darkness and the reign of Your Eternal Kingdom over all kingdoms known to the mind and visible to the human eye. Amen".

A truly good Christian life can only be enjoyed by someone who has the faith of Christ in himself and tries to live according to this faith, that is, he fulfills the will of God by good deeds.
In order for people to know how to live and what to do, God gave them His commandments - the Law of God. Prophet Moses received the Ten Commandments from God about 1500 years before the birth of Christ. This happened when the Jews left Egyptian slavery and approached Mount Sinai in the desert.
God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets (slabs). The first four commandments outlined man's duties towards God. The remaining six commandments laid out the duties of man towards his fellow men. People at that time were not yet accustomed to living according to the will of God and easily committed grave crimes. Therefore, for the violation of many commandments, such as: for idolatry, bad words against God, for bad words against parents, for murder and for adultery - the death penalty was supposed. The Old Testament was dominated by a spirit of severity and punishment. But this strictness was useful for people, as it curbed their bad habits, and people gradually began to improve.
There are also other Nine Commandments (commandments of the Beatitudes), which were given to people by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself at the very beginning of His sermon. The Lord ascended a low mountain near the Lake of Galilee. The apostles and many people gathered around Him. Love and humility dominate in the Beatitudes. They outline how a person can gradually reach perfection. At the heart of virtue is humility (spiritual poverty). Repentance purifies the soul, then meekness and love for God's truth appear in the soul. After that, a person becomes compassionate and merciful, and his heart is so purified that he becomes able to see God (feel His presence in his soul).
But the Lord saw that most people choose evil and that evil people will hate and persecute true Christians. Therefore, in the last two beatitudes, the Lord teaches us to patiently endure all injustice and persecution from bad people.
We must focus our attention not on fleeting trials that are inevitable in this temporary life, but on the eternal bliss that God has prepared for people who love Him.
Most of the commandments of the Old Testament tell us what we should not do, while the commandments of the New Testament teach us how to act and what to strive for.
The content of all the commandments of both the Old and New Testaments can be summarized in the two commandments of love given by Christ: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is similar to it - love your neighbor as yourself." And the Lord also gave us the right guidance on how to act: "As you want people to do to you, so you do to them."

Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.

Explanation of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.

The first commandment of the Old Testament.

"I am the Lord your God, may you have no other gods but Me."

By the first commandment, the Lord God points man to Himself and inspires us to honor His one true God, and, apart from Him, we should not render Divine veneration to anyone. By the first commandment, God teaches us the correct knowledge of God and the correct worship of God.
Knowing God means knowing God correctly. The knowledge of God is the most important of all knowledge. It is our first and most important duty.
In order to acquire the knowledge of God, we must:
1. Read and study the Holy Scriptures (and children: the book of the Law of God).
2. Regularly visit God's temple, delve into the content of church services and listen to the priest's sermon.
3. Think about God and the purpose of our earthly life.
Worshiping God means that by all our actions we must express our faith in God, hope for His help and love for Him as our Creator and Savior.
When we go to church, pray at home, keep fasts and honor church holidays, show obedience to our parents, help them in any way we can, study hard and do our homework, when we behave quietly, do not quarrel, when we help our neighbors, when we constantly think about God and realize His presence with us - then we truly honor God, that is, we express our worship of God.
Thus, the first commandment to a certain extent contains the rest of the commandments. Or the rest of the commandments explain how to keep the first commandment.
The sins against the first commandment are:
Godlessness (atheism) - when a person denies the existence of God (for example: communists).
Polytheism: worship of many gods or idols (wild tribes of Africa, South America, etc.).
Unbelief: doubting divine help.
Heresy: a distortion of the faith that God gave us. There are many sects in the world, the teachings of which were invented by people.
Apostasy: Renunciation of faith in God or Christianity out of fear or expectation of a reward.
Despair - when people, forgetting that God arranges everything for the better, begin to grumble with displeasure or even attempt to commit suicide.
Superstition: belief in various signs, stars, divination.

The second commandment of the Old Testament.

"Do not make for yourself an idol and no likeness of what is in heaven above, what is on the earth below, what is in the waters under the earth. Do not bow down and do not serve them."

The Jews revere the golden calf that they themselves made.
This commandment was written when people were very inclined to venerate various idols and deify the forces of nature: the sun, stars, fire, etc. The idolaters built themselves idols representing their false gods and worshiped these idols.
These days, such gross idolatry is almost non-existent in developed countries.
However, if people give all their time and energy, all their worries to something earthly, forgetting their family and even God, such behavior is also a kind of idolatry, which is prohibited by this commandment.
Idolatry is excessive attachment to money and wealth. Idolatry is constant gluttony, i.e. when a person only thinks about it, only does it in order to eat a lot and tasty. Drug addiction and drunkenness are also included in this sin of idolatry. The second commandment is also violated by proud people who always want to be the center of attention, want everyone to honor them and obey them unquestioningly.
At the same time, the second commandment does not forbid the correct veneration of the Holy Cross and holy icons. It does not forbid because, honoring a cross or an icon depicting the true God, a person does not honor the wood or paint from which these objects are made, but Jesus Christ or the saints who are depicted on them.
Icons remind us of God, icons help us to pray, because our soul is arranged in such a way that what we look at is what we think about.
Honoring the saints depicted on the icons, we do not give them the same reverence as being equal to God, but we pray to them as our patrons and intercessors before God. Saints are our elder brothers. They see our difficulties, see our weakness and inexperience, and help us.
God Himself shows us that He does not forbid the correct veneration of holy icons, on the contrary, God shows help to people through holy icons. There are many miraculous icons, for example: the Mother of God of Kursk, weeping icons in different parts of the world, many updated icons in Russia, China and other countries.
In the Old Testament, God Himself commanded Moses to make golden images of cherubs (Angels) and place these images on the lid of the Ark, where the tablets with the commandments written on them were kept.
Images of the Savior have been revered in the Christian Church since ancient times. One of these images is the image of the Savior, called "Not Made by Hands." Jesus Christ put a towel to his face, and the image of the face of the Savior miraculously remained on this towel. The sick king Avgar, as soon as he touched this towel, was healed of leprosy.

The third commandment of the Old Testament.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

The third commandment forbids pronouncing the name of God in vain, without due reverence. The name of God is pronounced in vain when used in empty conversations, jokes, games.
This commandment generally forbids a frivolous and irreverent attitude towards the name of God.
The sins against this commandment are:
Bozhba: the frivolous use of an oath with the mention of the name of God in ordinary conversations.
Blasphemy: Bold words against God.
Blasphemy: the irreverent treatment of sacred objects.
It is also forbidden here to break vows - promises made to God.
The name of God should be pronounced with fear and reverence only in prayer or in the study of Holy Scripture.
Absent-mindedness in prayer must be avoided in every possible way. To do this, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the prayers that we say at home or in the temple. It is necessary, before saying a prayer, even to calm down a little, to think that we are going to talk with the eternal and omnipotent Lord God, before whom even angels stand in awe; and, finally, to say prayers slowly, trying to make our prayer be sincere - coming directly from our mind and heart. Such reverent prayer is pleasing to God, and the Lord, according to our faith, will give us the blessings that we ask.

The fourth commandment of the Old Testament.

"Remember the Sabbath day to spend it holy. Work for six days and do all your deeds in them, and the seventh day - the day of rest - may it be dedicated to the Lord your God."

The word "Sabbath" in Hebrew means rest. So this day of the week was called, because on this day it was forbidden to work or engage in worldly affairs.
By the fourth commandment, the Lord God commands six days to work and do one's duties, and to dedicate the seventh day to God, i.e. on the seventh day to do holy and pleasing deeds.
The holy and pleasing deeds of God are: concern for the salvation of one’s soul, prayer in the temple of God and at home, the study of the Holy Scriptures and the Law of God, reflections on God and the purpose of one’s life, pious conversations about the subjects of the Christian faith, helping the poor, visiting the sick and other good deeds.
In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was celebrated to commemorate the end of God's creation of the world. In the New Testament since St. Apostles began to celebrate the first day after Saturday, Sunday - in remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ.
On Sunday, Christians gathered for prayer. They read the Holy Scriptures, sang psalms and took communion at the liturgy. Unfortunately, now many Christians are not as diligent as in the first centuries of Christianity, and many have become less likely to take communion. However, we must never forget that Sunday must belong to God.
The fourth commandment is violated by those who are lazy and do not work or do not fulfill their duties on weekdays. Those who continue to work on Sundays and do not go to church break this commandment. This commandment is also violated by those who, although they do not work, spend Sunday in nothing but amusements and games, not thinking about God, about good deeds, and about the salvation of their souls.
In addition to Sundays, Christians dedicate to God some other days of the year on which the Church celebrates great events. These are the so-called church holidays.
Our greatest holiday is Easter - the day of the Resurrection of Christ. It is "holidays a feast and a celebration of celebrations."
There are 12 great holidays, called the Twelfth. Some of them are dedicated to God and are called Lord's holidays, others are dedicated to the Mother of God and are called Mother of God holidays.
Lord's holidays: (1) Nativity of Christ, (2) Baptism of the Lord, (3) Meeting of the Lord, (4) Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, (5) Resurrection of Christ, (6) Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles (Trinity), (7) Transfiguration of the Lord and (8) Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. Feasts of the Theotokos: (1) Nativity of the Mother of God, (2) Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, (3) Annunciation and (4) Assumption of the Mother of God.

Fifth Commandment of the Old Testament.

"Honor your father and your mother, that you may be well and that you live long on earth."

By the fifth commandment, the Lord God commands us to honor our parents and for this promises a prosperous and long life.
To honor parents means: to love them, to be respectful to them, not to offend them either by words or deeds, obey them, help them in their daily work, take care of them when they are in need, and especially during their illness and old age, also pray to God for them both during their life and after death.
The sin of disrespecting parents is a great sin. In the Old Testament, whoever spoke bad words about a father or mother was punished by death.
Along with parents, we must also honor those who in any respect replace our parents. These persons include: bishops and priests who care about our salvation; civil authorities: the president of the country, the governor of the state, the police and all those who have the duty to maintain order and normal life in the country. It is also necessary, therefore, to honor teachers and all people older than us who have experience in life and can give us good advice.
Sinning against this commandment are those who do not respect the elders, especially the elderly, who are distrustful of their remarks and instructions, considering them to be "backward" people, and their concepts "obsolete." God said, "Rise up before the gray-haired man and honor the face of the old man" (Lev. 19:32).
When the younger meets the older, the younger should be the first to say hello. When the teacher enters the classroom, the students must stand up. If an elderly person or a woman with a child enters a bus or train, then the young person must stand up and give up his seat. When a blind person wants to cross the street, you need to help him.
Only in the case when elders or superiors require us to do something against our faith and law, we should not obey them. The law of God and obedience to God is the highest law for all people.
In totalitarian countries, leaders sometimes issue laws and give orders that contradict the Law of God. Sometimes they require a Christian to renounce his faith or do something against his faith. A Christian in this case should be ready to suffer for his faith and for the name of Christ. God promises eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for these sufferings. "The one who endures to the end will be saved ... Whoever gives his life for the sake of Me and the Gospel, he will gain it again" (Matt. 10th chapter).

The sixth commandment of the Old Testament.

"Don't kill."

By the sixth commandment, the Lord God forbids murder, i.e. taking the life of other people, as well as of oneself (suicide) in any way.
Life is the greatest gift of God, therefore no one has the right to take away this gift.
Suicide is the most terrible sin, because this sin contains despair and grumbling against God. And besides, after death there is no opportunity to repent and atone for your sin. A suicide dooms his soul to eternal torment in hell. In order not to despair, we must always remember that God loves us. He is our Father, He sees our difficulties and has enough strength to help us even in the most difficult situation. God, according to His wise plans, sometimes allows us to suffer from illness or some kind of trouble. But we must firmly know that God arranges everything for the better, and He turns the sorrows that have befallen us to our benefit and salvation.
Unjust judges violate the sixth commandment if they condemn the defendant, whose innocence they know. Anyone who helps others commit murder or helps a murderer escape punishment is also violating this commandment. Violates this commandment and the one who did nothing to save his neighbor from death, when he could have done it. Also the one who exhausts his workers with hard work and cruel punishments and thereby hastens their death.
Sins against the sixth commandment and the one who wishes the death of another person, hates his neighbors and causes them sorrow with his anger and words.
In addition to physical murder, there is another terrible murder: this is spiritual murder. When a person tempts another to sin, by doing so he spiritually kills his neighbor, because sin is death for the eternal soul. Therefore, all those who distribute drugs, seductive magazines and films, who teach others how to do evil or set a bad example, violate the sixth commandment. Violate this commandment and those who spread godlessness, unbelief, witchcraft and superstition among people; those who preach various exotic beliefs that contradict Christian doctrine sin.
Unfortunately, in some exceptional cases it is necessary to allow murder to stop the inevitable evil. For example, if the enemy attacked a peaceful country, warriors must defend their homeland and their families. In this case, the warrior not only kills out of necessity to save his loved ones, but he himself puts his life in danger and sacrifices himself to save his neighbors.
Also, judges sometimes have to condemn to death incorrigible criminals in order to save society from their further crimes against people.

The seventh commandment of the Old Testament.

"Do not commit adultery."

By the seventh commandment, the Lord God forbids adultery and any unlawful and impure relationship.
Married husband and wife made a promise to live together all their lives and share both joys and sorrows together. Therefore, by this commandment, God forbids divorce. If a husband and wife have different characters and tastes, they should make every effort to smooth out what they have different, and put the unity of the family over personal benefits. Divorce is not only a violation of the seventh commandment, but also a crime against children who are left without a family and after a divorce are often forced to live in conditions alien to them.
God commands the unmarried to keep their thoughts and desires pure. Everything that can arouse impure feelings in the heart should be avoided: bad words, immodest jokes, shameless anecdotes and songs, violent and exciting music and dances. Seductive magazines and films should be avoided, as well as reading immoral books.
The Word of God commands us to keep our bodies clean, because our bodies "are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit."
The most terrible sin against this commandment is an unnatural relationship with persons of the same sex. Nowadays, they even register a kind of "family" between men or between women. Such people often die from incurable and terrible diseases. For this terrible sin, God completely destroyed the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the Bible tells us (ch. 19).

Eighth commandment of the Old Testament.

"Don't steal."

In the eighth commandment, God forbids theft, that is, the appropriation in any way of what belongs to others.
Sins against this commandment can be:
Deception (i.e., appropriation of someone else's thing by cunning), for example: when they evade payment of a debt, they hide what they found without looking for the owner of the found thing; when they overweight when selling or give the wrong change; when they do not give the due wages to the worker.
Theft is the theft of someone else's property.
Robbery is the taking of someone else's property by violence or with the help of weapons.
This commandment is also violated by those who take bribes, that is, they take money for what they should have done as part of the duty of their service. This commandment is violated by those who pretend to be sick in order to get money without working. Also, those who work dishonestly do something for show in front of the authorities, and when they are not there, they do nothing.
With this commandment, God teaches us to work honestly, to be content with what we have, and not to strive for great wealth.
A Christian should be merciful: donate some of his money to the church and to poor people. Everything that a person has in this life does not belong to him forever, but is given to a person by God for temporary use. Therefore, we must share with others what we have.

The ninth commandment of the Old Testament.

"Don't bear false witness against another."

By the ninth commandment, the Lord God forbids telling lies about another person and forbids all lies in general.
The ninth commandment is violated by those who:
Gossip - retells to others the shortcomings of his acquaintances.
Slander - deliberately tells lies about other people in order to harm them.
Condemns - makes a strict assessment of a person, classifying him as a bad person. The gospel does not forbid us to evaluate the actions themselves in terms of how good or bad they are. We must distinguish evil from good, we must move away from all sin and injustice. But one should not take on the role of a judge and say that such and such an acquaintance of ours is a drunkard, or a thief, or a dissolute person, and so on. By this we condemn not so much evil as man himself. This right to condemn belongs only to God. Very often we see only external actions, but do not know about the mood of a person. Often sinners themselves are then weighed down by their shortcomings, ask God for forgiveness of sins, and with God's help overcome their shortcomings.
The ninth commandment teaches us to bridle our tongue, to watch what we say. Most of our sins come from unnecessary words, from idle talk. The Savior said that man would have to give an answer to God for every word he said.

Tenth Commandment of the Old Testament.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, covet not thy neighbor's house, nor his fields... nor all that is thy neighbor's."

With the tenth commandment, the Lord God forbids not only doing something bad to others around us, but also forbids bad desires and even bad thoughts in relation to them.
The sin against this commandment is called envy.
He who envies, who in his thoughts desires someone else's, he can easily go from bad thoughts and desires to bad deeds.
But envy itself defiles the soul, making it unclean before God. Holy Scripture says: "Evil thoughts are an abomination before God" (Prov. 15:26).
One of the main tasks of a true Christian is to cleanse his soul from all internal impurity.
In order to avoid sin against the tenth commandment, it is necessary to keep purity of heart from any excessive attachment to earthly objects. We must be content with what we have and thank God.
Students at school should not envy other students when others are doing very well and making progress. Everyone should try to learn as best as possible and attribute their success not only to themselves, but to the Lord, who gave us reason, the opportunity to learn and everything necessary for the development of abilities. A true Christian rejoices when he sees others succeed.
If we sincerely ask God, He will help us become true Christians.

The list of the worst human passions consists of seven points that must be impeccably observed for the salvation of the soul and a righteous life. In fact, there is little mention of sins directly in the Bible, as they were written by famous theologians from Greece and Rome. The final list of deadly sins was compiled by Pope Gregory the Great. Each item had its place, and the distribution was made according to the criterion of opposing love. The list of the 7 deadly sins, in descending order from the most serious to the least significant, is as follows:

1. Pride- one of the worst human sins, which implies arrogance, vanity, excessive pride. If a person overestimates his abilities and constantly insists on his superiority over others, this contradicts the greatness of the Lord, from which each of us comes;
2. Envy- this is a source of serious crimes, reborn on the basis of the desire for someone else's wealth, prosperity, success, status. Because of this, people begin to do dirty tricks to others until the object of envy loses all their wealth. Envy is a direct violation of the 10th commandment;
3. Anger- an absorbing feeling from the inside, which is the complete opposite of love. It can manifest itself as hatred, indignation, resentment, physical violence. Initially, the Lord put this feeling into the soul of a person so that he could give up sinful deeds and temptations in time, but soon it itself grew into sin;
4. Laziness- inherent in people who constantly suffer from unrealizable hopes, dooming themselves to a boring pessimistic life, while the person does nothing to achieve the goal, but only loses heart. This leads the spiritual and mental state to extreme laziness. Such a mismatch is nothing more than a person’s departure from the Lord and suffering due to the lack of all earthly blessings;
5. Greed- most often rich, selfish people suffer from this mortal sin, but not always. It does not matter whether it is a person from the rich, middle and poor class, a beggar or a rich man - each of them seeks to increase his wealth;
6. Gluttony- this sin is inherent in people who are in bondage to their own stomach. At the same time, sinfulness can manifest itself not only in gluttony, but also in love for gourmet dishes. Whether it is an ordinary glutton or an exquisite gourmet - each of them exalts food in a kind of cult;
7. Lust, fornication, adultery- manifests itself not only in physical passion, but also in sinful thoughts about carnal intimacy. Various obscene dreams, watching an erotic video, even telling a vulgar joke - this, according to the Orthodox Church, is a great mortal sin.

Ten Commandments

Many people are often mistaken, identifying mortal sins and God's commandments. Although there are some similarities in the lists, the 10 commandments are directly related to the Lord, which is why keeping them is so important. According to the biblical stories, this list was delivered by Jesus himself into the hands of Moses. The first four of them tell about the interaction of the Lord and man, the next six tell about the relationship between people.

• Believe in the only God- First of all, this commandment was aimed at combating heretics and pagans, but since then it has lost such relevance, because most beliefs are aimed at reading the one Lord.
• Don't make yourself an idol- originally this expression was used in relation to fans of idols. Now the commandment is interpreted as a rejection of everything that can distract from faith in the one and only Lord.
• Do not take the name of the Lord in vain- you can’t just mention God fleetingly and meaninglessly, this applies to the expressions “Oh, God”, “By God”, etc., used in a dialogue with another person.
• Remember the day off It's not just a day to spend relaxing. On this day, in the Orthodox Church it is often Sunday, you need to devote yourself to God, prayers to him, thoughts about the Almighty, etc.
• Honor your parents After all, it was they who, after the Lord, gave you life.
• Dont kill- according to the commandment, only God can take life from a person to whom he himself gave it.
• Don't commit adultery Every man and woman should live in a monogamous marriage.
• Don't steal- according to the commandment, only God gives all the blessings that it is he who can take away.
• Do not lie- you can not slander your neighbor.
• Do not envy- you can’t want someone else’s, and this applies not only to objects, things, wealth, but also to spouses, pets, etc.