Sin

What is Sin?

"[S]in ultimately means the misuse of our energies resulting in alienation from God, from others and, sometimes, from our own selves." -- Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Neurobiology of Sin.

Sin is No-thing

"I've always used this verse [Ex. 3:14 LXX] and this translation ['And God spoke to Moses, saying, 'I am THE BEING.'] in speaking of sin. God is the only One who truly IS. Sin is not a "thing" but the absence of Good, of God, of being. So, sin is really no-thing at all. Hence, idol worship (the worship of no-things) is the height of sinful depravity." -- Subdeacon Joshua Genig, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University North Central and Assistant Professor of Historical Theology and Director of MA Programs at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, Facebook Post, June 24th, 2016

Sin as a Sickness

"...alas for the soul that is unaware of its wounds and that in its endless sinfulness and obduracy does not think it has anything evil within it: the good doctor will not visit it or heal it, since it does not seek Him out or have any concern for its wounds, because it thinks it is well and in good health. As the Lord said: 'It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick' (Mt. 9:12)." -- St. Makarios of Egypt

Spiritual Sickness

"The soul is greater than the body: the body becomes sick, and with that it is finished. But a spiritual sickness extends into eternity. Deliver us, O lord, from such illness, and grant us healing." -- St. Macarius Living Without Hypocrisy

Darkness, Freedom

"That is our darkness. It is the darkness of freedom that runs so frantic that it becomes a prison. We are, and we have always been, free. We are not spiders who spin the same web from one generation of spiders to the next. We are free. We can create. We can destroy. We can reject this Other, this God Who calls us but will not force us to love Him. We can even create alter-gods of our own devising, bastardized versions of the real God in whom we attempt to deify our deepest darkness." -- Rebecca Hamilton, Christianity: The Religion of Life, Patheos.com, August 25, 2014, [1]

"Our great dignity is that of all the creatures and living things on this planet, we alone are free. God sets before us each and every day life and death. We can chose the life of His Light. Or we can chose the death of our many false gods and self gods." -- Rebecca Hamilton, Christianity: The Religion of Life, Patheos.com, August 25, 2014, [2]

Evil Thoughts

"'Out of the heart,' [Jesus said], 'come evil thoughts.' Therefore the soul or principle of action is not in the brain according to Plato but in the heart according to Christ. On this point, those who believe that thoughts are introduced by the devil and do not originate from our own will are to be repudiated. The devil can aid and abet evil thoughts but he cannot originate them, even though, ever lying in wait, he kindles a small spark of our thoughts with his tinder. We must not hold the opinion that the devil can also probe the depths of our heart. However, he can judge from our demeanor and gestures what we are thinking about. For example, if he sees us gazing often at a beautiful woman, he surmises that our heart has been wounded with the dart of love." -- St. Jerome

Sins Against Humanity / Sins Against God

"Do you see how great a difference there is between sins against humanity and sins against God? As much a difference as between ten thousand talents and a hundred denarii; no, much greater in fact. This comes about from the difference of the persons and from the frequency of the sins. For when someone is watching, we hold off and do not dare to sin. But God is watching all the time, and yet we are not afraid; in fact, we even say and do everything quite brazenly." -- St. Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 61.1

How Can We Avoid Sin?

"How can we avoid sin? By keeping the commandment of Christ. And what is that commandment? It is that we should love. Love, and sin is undone." -- St. Augustine, Ten Homilies on 1 John 5.2.

Fight Against Sin

"Sin dwells in you, but you don’t really feel it is there. For as long as sin is left alone, it does not go wild. Especially since you provide it with some feed, falling for this or that temptation. Once, however, you start fighting your inner spiritual struggle, you will challenge and provoke sin, so it will do its best to hold its ground. This will feel like snakes in you, about to bite you. In other words, things will happen in such a way that you will experience sin in all its depth, breadth composition. This will happen in order to hate sin and abort it.

"Therefore, in order to be healed from sin, you need to provoke it by fighting against your flaw, passions and weaknesses, in exactly the manner described by the Lord and as shown in the lives of the saints, who completely detached themselves from sin." -- +Fr. Symeon Kragiopoulo

Do Not Despair Because of Your Sin

"It often happens that Satan will insidiously commune with you in your heart and say: 'Think of the evil you have done; your soul is full of lawlessness, you are weighed down by many grievous sins.' Do not let him deceive you when he does this and do not be led to despair on the pretext that you are being humble. You should answer: 'I have God's assurance, for He says: "I desire, not the sinner's death, but that he should return through repentance and live" (Ezek. 33:11).' What was the purpose of His descent to earth except to save sinners, to bring light to those in darkness and life to the dead?" -- St. Makarios the Great, The Philokalia

• NB: I don't think this is an excuse to sin, but an invitation to continue to struggle and repent. Wcrowe (talk) 20:08, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Persistence

"A small but persistent discipline is a great force; for a soft drop tailing persistently, hollows out hard rock." -- Saint Isaac of Syria

Do Not Be Ashamed of Repentance

"Do not be ashamed to enter again into the Church. Be ashamed when you sin. Do not be ashamed when you repent. Pay attention to what the devil did to you. These are two things: sin and repentance. Sin is a wound; repentance is a medicine. Just as there are for the body wounds and medicines, so for the soul are sins and repentance. However, sin has the shame and repentance possesses the courage." -- St. John Chrystotom Homily 8

Let us put blame, not on created things, but on the corrupted will

"And if the young shoots of the wheat wither, that is not because of the heat, for he did not say that it withered because of the heat, but 'because it had no roots.' And if that which he has taught us is choked, neither is it the fault of the thorns, but of those who allow them to grow. For you can, if you will, oppose their evil growth, and make fitting use of your resources. For this reason he says not 'the world,' but 'the care of this world'; not 'riches,' but 'the deceitfulness of riches' (Matt 13:22). Let us put blame, not on created things, but on the corrupted will." -- St. John Chrysostom, On Temperance.14

Satan The Ruler Of This World

"Why does he call the devil the ruler of this world? Because virtually the whole of humanity surrendered to him. All are his voluntary and willing slaves. Few pay any heed to Christ, who promises unnumbered blessings. Rather they follow after the devil, who promises nothing but leads them all to hell. He rules in this age, where he has ... more subjects than God, more who obey him rather than God. All but a few are in his grasp on account of their laxity." -- St. Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 4.2.1-3

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