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The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices, suggest a
classification of vices and were enumerated in their present form by
Thomas
Aquinas in the 13th century. The Catechism of the Catholic Church briefly
mentions them as "capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished,
following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great.
The capital sins are not to be confused with mortal sins.
Ranked in order of severity (worst sins listed first) as per Dante's Divine
Comedy (in the Purgatorio), the seven deadly sins are:
pride (vanity) - a desire to be important or attractive to others or excessive
love of self (holding self out of proper position toward God or fellows; Dante's
definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's
neighbor")
envy (jealousy); resentment of others for their possessions (Dante: "Love of
one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs")
wrath (anger) - inappropriate (unrighteous) feelings of hatred, revenge or even
denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice (Dante's description was
"love of justice perverted to revenge and spite")
sloth (also accidie, acedia) - laziness; idleness and wastefulness of time
allotted
gluttony - wasting of food, either through overindulgence in food, drink or
intoxicants, misplaced desire for food for its sensuality, or withholding food
from the needy ("excessive love of pleasure" was Dante's rendering)
lust - unlawfull sexual desire, such as desiring sex with a person one is not
married to.; fornication (Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others,"
thereby detracting from the love due God)
Several of these sins interlink, and various attempts at causal hierarchy have
been made. For example, pride (love of self out of proportion) is implied in
gluttony (the over-consumption or waste of food), as well as sloth, envy, and
most of the others. Each sin is an attenuation of the central Christian sin of
failing to love God with all resources and to love fellows as much as self. The
Scholastic theologians developed schema of attribute and substance of will to
explain these sins.
The 4th century Egyptian monk Evagrius Ponticus defined eight deadly "passions",
which were later reduced to seven by merging pride and vainglory. Prior to the
current heptad being defined by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, accidie,
often translated as sadness or listlessness, was used instead of sloth. A cogent
modern term would be "apathy," but the term also included "wanhope" or paralysis
of despair.
In the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, consisting of 2,865 numbered
sections and first published in 1992 by order of Pope John Paul II, the seven
deadly sins are dealt with in only one paragraph. The principal codification of
moral transgression for Christians continues to be the Ten Commandments.
Contrast with the
Four Cardinal Virtues and
Three Theological Virtues.
In Eastern Orthodoxy, these impulses are generally characterized as "deadly
passions" rather than sins in and of themselves. To invite and entertain or even
refuse to attempt to resist these passions that is considered sinful in Orthodox
Christian moral theology.
Source:
Wikipedia.com |
