How to deal with the sin of smoking. Smoking is a sin or not? How does the church feel about bad habits? Benefits of quitting cigarettes

Hello Kirill Ilyich! The attitude of the Orthodox Church towards smoking can be understood from the statements of some people related to it:

Archpriest Boris Danilenko: At the theological level, the opinion of the Orthodox Church on this issue has not been expressed, but many prominent clergymen, monks, elders, and spiritual writers have a purely negative attitude towards smoking. This is a sinful skill that hinders a person in spiritual development. And what we call ascetic culture - this very concept excludes a person's attachment, in particular, to the destruction of his own organism.

But the fact is that some people, people of a high Christian life, really, unfortunately, smoked. Many admirers of Emperor Nicholas know that his addiction to smoking is one of the points that, for some of their opponents, seems to be an argument against his possible canonization. Attachment to smoking is often a direct obstacle for a person, for example, to taking Communion.

Priest Alexy Uminsky: Yes, smoking is a sin. But we must understand that there is a sin leading to death, and there is a sin not leading to death, not a mortal sin.. Smoking is a sin, which in general is not leading to death. It may not be an obstacle to salvation. We know saints who smoked. And now, probably, many priests and monks in Greece smoke: smoking is not so surprising there.

In the Orthodox tradition, and this is very correct, there is such an attitude towards smoking as a sin, because any addiction, any habit that somehow introduces impurity, even if it is physical into a person, it, of course, is not useful, nor saving, especially when a person cannot refuse it.

But here one should not take such a hypocritical position: if a person smokes, then he is already everything. Drinking tea can also be a sin. After all, you can drink tea in such a way and enjoy drinking tea in such a way that this can also become a sinful habit. Or coffee, for example. So you can make an addiction out of any business.

Deacon Andrei Kuraev: You know, if a person cannot get rid of smoking in any way, let him at least try to extract some benefit from his sin. What? A smoking person is quite clearly convinced of his helplessness, of his lack of freedom. It would seem that some kind of trifle - a smoking stick, fuming, smelly, but, come on, it has such power over me!

And one day a person will wake up, be horrified by his bondage and think: who am I? Am I free, or am I the slave of some wild things, some strange habits? to Christian repentance.

If a Christian at least once realized that he was a son of God and saw his body as a temple, then with every puff he would feel that he had lost his divine sonship, lost his freedom... And for what?! For that stink?! And the realization of one's lack of freedom and unrealness is already a step towards the struggle for freedom and for authenticity.

As far as Catholics are concerned, apparently, as such, there is no prohibition on smoking and drinking alcohol in the Catholic Church. Sin is only the abuse of smoking and alcohol.

Secular medicine has long proven the harm of tobacco use for the human body. Many people believe that smoking is allowed by Orthodoxy, because this is not indicated in the Holy Scriptures. However, they are wrong: the ROC speak negatively about the habit of using tobacco products. Smoking is a sin, a passion that does not allow a person to follow the righteous path to the Heavenly Throne. This habit is the cause of mental illness and distance from divine forgiveness.

Is smoking considered a sin?

Turning to faith, a person must reconsider his view of life and give up addictions that the Church considers sinful. Orthodox people must definitely give up smoking as a sin.

Read about sins:

The Orthodox Church has a negative attitude towards the tradition of smoking

• A person who does not deny himself tobacco loses his health, is vulnerable to passions and vices. He becomes incapable of performing works that are for the benefit and in the name of the salvation of the soul. Further, people who smoke are engaged in useless squandering, although they could use this money for alms to temples or orphans.
• Tobacco smoke has a tremendous impact on the spiritual component of the personality. Smoking weakens vigilance and makes it easier for passions to take over the mind. Causing addiction, it darkens the mind and leads to a slow and disgusting death from a variety of sores.
• The soul, infected with tobacco, becomes irritable and melancholy if it does not receive smoke in the allotted time. Smokers imperceptibly become slaves to this terrible sin, despite the fact that every person is born for freedom in Christ the Savior. The one who knows the truth is freed by it, and the divine gift of love is perceived only by those who have managed to throw off the shackles of senseless habits.
• Knowing about the colossal harm to health (as noted by manufacturers), people rarely stop before this harmful one. The cigarette provokes oncological diseases, disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and brain activity. Today people are informed about these ailments, but they continue to use tobacco, therefore, they commit evil actions that will not allow them to approach the grace of God.
• Every reasonable person should understand that smoking is a sin, because it only brings trouble. If you continue to draw in tobacco smoke, the meaning of most prayers aimed at acquiring health disappears. A person who has recently kept a sinful cigarette in his mouth has no right to ask for help from the Supreme Creator. Here a contradiction arises, because Scripture teaches us to partake of the purity and integrity of the worldview.

It is necessary to remember the words of the Apostle Paul, who noted that everything is permissible, but much is harmful and should not have the consciousness of a person.

Decline in morality through smoking

During the time of Peter I, tobacco was not considered a sin, the clergy even supported the tradition. However, with the development of scientific technology, everyone has learned the whole truth about smoking, so they should not turn to past mistakes.

Church says smoking is a sinful addiction

Habit creates a lot of trouble, moving away from the true vision of things.

• A person who uses tobacco gradually justifies himself, creating the illusion of freedom and faith that it is easy to get rid of evil. In the soul, pride is becoming more and more aggravated, which pushes people away from confession and communion.
• Tobacco addiction provokes drunkenness and gluttony, since in a weak human disposition there is a peculiarity to look for something new when one passion ceases to give great pleasure. Hence it turns out that cigarettes lead to insatiability and the desire to isolate oneself from the present.
• People who smoke rarely control themselves and allow themselves immoral behavior. Gradually, other weaknesses appear, a person no longer wants to take care of his own health. However, the Scriptures remind us that the one who destroys the body will surely experience punishment.
• Some clergymen, speaking of constant smoking, recall obsession. They warn that inside cigarette smoke is an addiction demon that gets stronger with every puff. A person first of all succumbs to the influence of his evil master and continues to destroy the body given by the Lord.
• Smoking is considered as an empty act that does not bring any benefit: the nervous system is depleted, psychological dependence appears, organs suffer and terrible diseases gradually appear.
• The cigarette distances one from the Lord and does not allow sincere participation in the sacrament, which is performed on an empty stomach. The believer must defend the service and drink church wine, which personifies the blood of the Savior. Before this ritual, as well as during it, you can not smoke, but a person addicted to tobacco is not able to endure torture without harmful smoke. It turns out that the smoker exchanges the great sacrament for a senseless craving for tobacco.
• The Church forbids smoking because the Lord commanded His children to maintain bodily and spiritual purity. A cigarette will not allow adherence to this law, since toxic resins settle inside the organs, and the psychology of the individual also suffers in a similar way.
• The clergy say that the soul of a smoker does not find peace after death, since it did not get rid of the demon of addiction during life. The sin of smoking is condemned and called spiritual weakness, indecency, and tobacco is regarded as a gift from the devil. An addiction brings a person closer to negative energies, leads to a moral fall and brings physical death closer.

Church attitude

The Orthodox Church has a negative attitude towards the tradition of smoking, because tobacco causes addiction, pollutes the organs with tar, and destroys the nervous system. The cigarette is contrary to the Christian rites, which call on believers to maintain the purity of the shell and the balance of the mind.

Smoking is a meaningless activity that is of absolutely no use to people and their environment. A person does not receive anything good from this evil. Therefore, Orthodox believers should eschew this destruction, which does not bring any benefit to the formation of the individual.

The believer is obliged to strive for things that are detailed and useful, because the Lord, creating the world, created it right and rational. Hence it turns out that smokers, by drawing poisonous smoke into their lungs every day, destroy the bodies given to them by the Supreme Creator, and shamelessly contradict the original plan of God.

Orthodox Church about smoking

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Everyone knows that this is an addiction that negatively affects health and life. But this well-known and proven fact is only a kind of "theory" of the human body, but its influence on the spiritual world is rather a matter of faith and righteousness. So, whether smoking is a sin in Orthodoxy, this article will tell.

Church against smoking

Turning to faith in certain life circumstances, a person must understand that he will have to realize and change his usual way of life, and therefore, first of all, get rid of those habits and passions that the church considers sinful.

So, according to the basic canons, smoking is a sin. After all, this is a destructive passion, and it, like any other, prevents you from going along the path of salvation and forgiveness. The Lord created man in his own image and likeness, so that he would have perfection and achieve the main thing - eternal life.

One must always remember that any passion is a "disease" of the soul and is linked to other, no less terrible ailments. And if it firmly takes root there, it will contribute to the formation of other vices and sins, namely:

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• manifestation of selfishness (smoking parents, in particular female mothers);
• the emergence of a constant feeling of despondency about personal freedom, and in Orthodoxy;
• the appearance of the sin of self-justification;
• dulling the sense of morality;
• forgiving yourself for other weaknesses.

Based on these and other fairly important reasons, one thing can be said for sure - addiction is evil. It destroys health, both physical and moral. The teaching of the saints says that life is given to humanity by God as the greatest gift. And to reduce it with addictions is a terrible sin. One has only to think, because a smoking person harms not only his health, but also the health of others. And it's impossible to justify it.

Priests on smoking

Priests always oppose smoking and say the following about it:

• any destructive passion is the result of a combination of human sinful will and demonic forces, the participation of which in the fall of people is very difficult to prove, since their influence is invisible;
• this habit makes people slaves in most cases until death, which can be quite quick in view of poor health;
• the sin of smoking can be overcome if the will of man and the power of the Lord merge into one;
• a person will be above this passion only when he is firmly aware of the harm such a habit brings. After all, as you know, tobacco relaxes the soul, intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys health;
• consequences of the morbid state of mind from the influence of smoking - irritability and melancholy;
• before you get rid of the sin of smoking, you need to confess, go through the rite of the sacrament of the Holy Mysteries and every day standing to read the Gospel and.

Devil's Gift

This is what is called smoking in Orthodoxy. It is very difficult to part with him, but the one who managed to do this has inner determination, which means that his spiritual path to God will open the main thing - eternal grace.

Few people know how the church relates to smoking, you need to accept this knowledge and try to eradicate sin, because it will not lead to good, but will only aggravate all the difficulties of life. The will of a person is strong and unshakable if it is truthful and aimed at healing the body and soul in order to get a unique opportunity - to get closer to God, to absorb his power and turn it into eternal faith.

The Lord is always with you!

Many holy fathers of the Church wrote about smoking, and, in particular, Nectarios of Aegina and Silouan of Athos. From them we learn that man must conquer his passions. Love and striving for God are the most effective cure for bad and sinful habits.

St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer speaks of smoking in his Spiritual Exercises and Exhortation Guide, calling this habit "the incense of the devil." In both of his works, Saint Nicodemus emphasizes how serious the topic of smoking is, which he considers guilty not only of a person’s bodily and spiritual ill health, but also of his irresponsibility in relation to Christian duty.

In addition, the author insists that all clergy, without exception, should not smoke, since the use of tobacco smoke is contrary to good manners - a great virtue - and also does not correspond to the greatness of the holy dignity and is harmful to the health of the body.

Saint Nektarios of Pentapolis calls smoking bodily fornication. Abba Pitirion in the Geronticon writes that if a person wants to exorcise demons, he should first defeat his passions, after which the demons will leave on their own. However, demons, as the Lord says, depart from a person only through prayer and fasting. In the same way, a person is freed from passions - by fervent prayer and fasting, which bring prudence and cultivate mercy. Thus, the evil that subjugates men and women is expelled.

Elder Sophrony Sakharov, in his work on St. Silouan of Athos, mentions one incident that we want to tell about here. In 1905, Father Siluan traveled around Russia, visiting various monasteries. On one of these trips on a railroad train, he took a seat opposite a merchant. The latter opened his silver cigarette case with a friendly gesture and offered him a cigarette. Father Siluan thanked for the offer, refusing to take a cigarette. Then the merchant began to say: “Isn’t it because, father, you refuse because you consider smoking a sin? But smoking often helps in an active life, because it's good to take a break from hard work and relax for a few minutes. It is convenient when smoking to conduct a business or friendly conversation, and in general, in the course of life ... ". And then, trying to convince Father Siluan to take a cigarette, he continued to speak in favor of smoking. Then, nevertheless, Father Silouan decided to say: “Sir, before you light a cigarette, pray, say one “Our Father”. To which the merchant replied: “Praying before smoking seems not very correct.” Silvanus remarked in response: “So, it’s better not to do any business before which it’s not very correct to pray without embarrassment.”

The mind and heart of a person should always be free for prayer. Any human action that cannot coexist with prayer should not be performed. We may notice that St. Silouan does not resort to harsh expressions and does not show disgust towards his smoking interlocutor. He also doesn't justify quitting based on hygiene rules that weren't against smoking in those days. His position on this bad habit is deeply theological. His point of view is based on practical and prayerful theology in the spirit of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church.

Everything that is incompatible with pure prayer, let it not be done at all. The craving for sinful pleasures is conquered not by prohibitions and harsh struggles, but by the communion between God and man, expressed in prayer. The essence of the words of St. Silouan is that the love and desire of the soul for God is the most effective cure for bad and sinful habits.

The Holy Scripture does not speak directly about smoking, but indirectly, through some principles that we are able to apply to modern realities, we can say something about smoking. Scripture gives us a commandment not to let anything "conquer" our body. First Corinthians says: “Everything is permissible to me, but not everything is beneficial; everything is permissible for me, but nothing should possess me ”(). Smoking is undoubtedly a severe addiction. The apostle Paul continues: “Don't you know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your souls, which are God's. Of course, smoking is very harmful to health. It is scientifically proven that it destroys the lungs, and sometimes the heart.

Translation from modern Greek: the editors of the online publication "Pemptusia"

How does the passion of smoking harm the soul? What happens to the soul when smoking? The holy fathers define various diseases of the soul with the concept of passion. There are various classifications of passions. Man combines the carnal and spiritual principles. Therefore, in accordance with this, passions are divided into bodily and spiritual. The former have their ground in bodily needs, the latter in spiritual ones. It is difficult to draw a clear line between them, since the "epicenter" of all passions is in the soul. The most common bodily passions: "gluttony, gluttony, luxury, drunkenness, various kinds of voluptuousness, adultery, debauchery, impurity, incest, child corruption, bestiality, bad wishes and all sorts of unnatural and shameful passions ..." (Philokalia. Vol. 2, Holy Trinity Sergieva Lavra, 1993, p. 371). The sin of smoking refers to an unnatural passion, for chronic self-poisoning is not rooted in the realm of the natural needs of the body.

All passions are stumbling blocks on our path to salvation. By its origin, human nature as a creation of the All-Wise God, as His image and likeness, has perfection. The goal of our entire Christian life is to unite with God and in Him alone to find the bliss of eternal life. Performing the work of salvation, we must restore in ourselves the image of God, distorted by various sins, and acquire the likeness of our Heavenly Parent.

While a person is in captivity of passion, his soul cannot restore the distorted image and return the original god-likeness. The sin of smoking is a real captivity. If a person is overcome by passions, then his soul becomes defiled, his mind becomes dead, and his will becomes powerless. The Holy Fathers call this state the second idolatry. Man worships his passions like idols. An idolater cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven (Eph. 5:5). “Without purity from the passions, the soul does not heal from sinful ailments, and does not acquire the glory lost by crime” (St. Isaac the Syrian).

Any passion, being a disease of the soul, is linked by invisible links with other ailments. There are no impenetrable walls in the soul. Rooted passion contributes to the formation of other vices. Egoism is grossly manifested. It is terrible when the sin of smoking captivates a woman who has become a mother. A mother who smokes while walking over a stroller in which a baby sleeps puts the satisfaction of passion above the health of her child. Parents who smoke tend to teach it to their children. Children are not their property. When they infect them for the rest of their lives with this destructive habit, they act not only against the Christian conscience, but also contrary to universal morality.

If a person has realized the perniciousness of smoking, he often loses heart, seeing that he has become a prisoner of this habit and does not have freedom. The sin of smoking is also closely related to the sin of self-justification. Having come to terms with this passion, a person forgives himself and other weaknesses, for the power of precedent is great.

The passion of smoking is a sin also because it destroys health. According to the general teaching of the Holy Fathers, life and health are given to us by God as a gift. To shorten one's life by bad habits and unhealthy lifestyles is a serious sin. A person subject to the passion of smoking harms his health and the health of those present. There is probably not a single vice and perversion that they would not try to justify. Attempts to talk about the "positive" aspects of smoking look pitiful in comparison with the data available in medicine.

Tobacco contains nicotine (up to 2%) - a strong poison. Sulfate of nicotine is applied to destruction of wreckers of page - x. plants. When smoking tobacco, nicotine is absorbed into the body and soon enters the brain. A person smokes every day for many years. The average smoker takes about 200 puffs a day. That equates to roughly 6,000 per month, 72,000 per year, and over 2 million puffs in a 45-year-old smoker who started smoking at age 15. Such a protracted nicotine attack leads to the fact that the poison eventually finds a weak link in the body and causes a serious illness. For 30 years, a smoker smokes about 20,000 cigarettes, or about 160 kg of tobacco, ingesting an average of 800 g of nicotine. One cigarette contains approximately 6-8 mg of nicotine, of which 3-4 mg enter the bloodstream. For humans, the lethal dose of nicotine ranges from 50-100 mg (2-3 drops).

A number of cancer-causing carcinogens have been found in tobacco smoke. A huge amount of tobacco and radioactive substances. When smoking one pack of cigarettes a day, a person receives a dose of radiation that is 7 times higher than the dose recognized as the maximum allowable by the International Agreement on Radiation Protection. Smoking is a terrible problem. It has been proven that radiation from tobacco origin is the main cause of cancer.

The passion of smoking is the result of the addition of human sinful will and the activity of demonic forces, although invisible, but very real. The demonic forces carefully try to hide their complicity in the fall of people. However, there are types of destructive vice in which the special role of the devil is obvious. The most impressive illustration is provided by the history of tobacco smoking. Spaniard Roman Pano in 1496 after the second voyage of H. Columbus brought tobacco seeds from America to Spain.

From there, tobacco enters Portugal. The French ambassador in Lisbon Jean Nicot (from his surname got the name nicotine) in 1560 presented tobacco plants as a medicine to Queen Catherine de Medici (1519 - 1589), who suffered from migraines. The passion for tobacco quickly began to spread, first in Paris, and then throughout France. Then began the victorious march of tobacco throughout Europe. The devil strives to impose everything destructive for a person on people under the guise of “beneficial”. Among physicians in the 16th century, tobacco was considered by many to be medicinal. When evidence of the harmful effects of smoking appeared, the hobby went so far that it was no longer possible to stop the infection. At first, smoking was persecuted, and smokers were severely punished. In England, smokers were led through the streets with a noose around their necks, and stubborn ones were even executed.

The English king James I in 1604 wrote the work “On the dangers of tobacco”, in which he wrote: “Smoking is disgusting for the eyesight, disgusting for the sense of smell, harmful to the brain and dangerous to the lungs.” Pope Urban VII excommunicated believers from the church. Other measures were also taken. However, each time the winners turned out to be people prone to the passion of smoking, tobacco manufacturers, tobacco dealers - all those who made the spread of destructive vice their profession. Knut, executions were powerless in the face of this destructive passion, the rapid spread of which strongly resembles an epidemic (more precisely, a pandemic). Some kind of power, superior to human, makes people slaves of the most harmful habit, from which the vast majority do not part until death.

In Russia, the passion for smoking appeared at the beginning of the 17th century during the Time of Troubles. It was brought by Poles and Lithuanians. Tsar Mikhail Romanov severely persecuted lovers of the devil's potion. In 1634, it was published, according to which smokers received sixty stick blows on the soles. The second time the nose was cut off. According to the Code of 1649 Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich provided for punishment for those who had tobacco found: to beat with a whip until it was recognized where the tobacco came from. Severe measures were envisaged against traders: cut their noses and exile them to distant cities.

The import of tobacco into the country was banned. Efforts to stop were futile. Tsar Peter I was a smoking lover. All prohibitions were lifted in 1697. Peter I granted the British a monopoly on the tobacco trade in Russia. The swiftness with which this destructive vice began to spread among the people leads to the saddest thoughts. Now about 250 billion cigarettes are produced in Russia every year and another 50 billion pieces are imported. Thus, the country consumes 300 billion. Russia currently ranks first in the world in terms of smoking growth. A significant number of smokers are teenagers.

And another bleak feature of our country is the feminization of smoking. According to the World Health Organization, 70% of men and 30% of women in Russia smoke. The sin of smoking has a particularly destructive effect on the female body. According to the materials of the annual conference of the Radiological Society of North America, women who smoke, all other things being equal (the researchers took into account the age of patients, the length of smoking, the type of tobacco products used, and other factors), develop lung cancer about twice as often as men.

Canadian doctors, based on statistics collected in Vancouver and Quebec, argue that in women whose passion for smoking began before the age of 25, the chances of developing a malignant breast tumor increase by 70%. Specialists in the field of social psychology are well aware of the power of influence on a person's environment. Now a significant part of our urban environment is made up of huge billboards advertising a poison that destroys health. At least for a second, at least for a moment, do people involved in the mass poisoning of people think that at the Last Judgment they will have to answer for everything.

Is it possible to quit smoking? Can. In England, about 10 million people have stopped smoking over the past 10-15 years. Almost 2,000 people quit smoking every day! The passion of smoking is not easy to fight, but it is possible and 99% succeed. According to the general teaching of the holy fathers, a person with the help of God can overcome any passion. The great elder Ambrose of Optina gives advice in the fight against the disease of smoking: “ Write that you can't stop smoking tobacco. What is impossible from man is possible with the help of God; only one has to firmly decide to leave, realizing the harm to soul and body from it, since tobacco relaxes the soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys bodily health with slow death. Irritability and melancholy are the consequences of the sickness of the soul from smoking. I advise you to use spiritual medicine against this passion: confess in detail all your sins, from the age of seven and throughout your life, and partake of the Holy Mysteries, and read daily, standing, the Gospel chapter by chapter or more; and when anguish sets in, then read again until the anguish passes; attack again and read the Gospel again. - Or instead, put, in private, 33 big bows, in memory of the earthly life of the Savior and in honor of the Holy Trinity«.

Why do so few people part with the sin of smoking, with this "gift of the devil"? Because most smokers don't want to leave the passion of smoking. And those who want to quit smoking and take steps to do so do not really have the inner determination. Despite impulsive efforts, people who repeatedly quit smoking, deep down, are related to this passion. God is always ready to help a person in this saving work, but he expects a feat from him. " When, out of love for God, you desire to do something, put death as the limit of your desire; and thus, in fact, you will be able to ascend to the level of martyrdom in the struggle with every passion, and you will not suffer any harm from meeting you inside this limit, if you endure to the end and do not relax. The thought of a weak mind makes the strength of patience weak; and a strong mind to him who follows his thoughts, even gives strength, which nature does not have"(teacher Isaac Sirin).

Father Afanasy Gumerov