Why is smoking considered a sin? Smoking and church. Attitudes towards tobacco addiction in the modern Orthodox world

Greetings, dear friends on our Orthodox website. Many of us wonder, is it a sin to smoke? Is smoking a sin or not? Is smoking a sin?

Smoking in Orthodox faith considered a sinful passion. At its core, this process is an unnatural act, contrary to the innate needs of the human body and soul.

Is it really a sin for an Orthodox person to smoke?

The Russian Orthodox Church gives a clear definition of smoking as a serious matter and an obstacle to achieving the salvation of a person’s soul. By distorting the spiritual nature, the sin of smoking changes the original image created by God.

The craving for smoking gives rise to idolatry of one’s passions. A person’s will and consciousness are dulled, he becomes a hostage to habits.

Advice. Go to confession in church!

By developing selfishness through bad habits, a person puts himself above others, considers himself entitled to set a disastrous example, to provide harmful influence on the fragile consciousness of children who imitate adults in everything.

Being a wound on the soul, smoking gives rise to a whole range of problems that envelop a person. The health given by the Lord is destroyed, life is shortened. No one has the right to interfere in God's providence.

Why is smoking considered a sin?

Nicotine demons will hook you into addiction, which distances the smoker from the temple of God on earth. It is impossible to imagine a full-fledged experience if a person took a drag on a cigarette before or after it. Smoking destroys a person's connection with God.

An addiction is a crime against oneself that slowly kills the body. A Christian who has decided to eradicate his dependence on tobacco must make every spiritual and physical strength and start your cleansing with.

Smoking contradicts God's plan for human nature, representing a senseless and harmful occupation. The Lord created the world around us wisely and meaningfully; there is no place in it for sinful passions that afflict the human soul.

Every believer is obliged to preserve the gift of God and not to injure his health. Protecting his soul from sinful passions, a person does not stray from the path, the end of which will be a grace-filled reunion with God.

It is easy to show weakness in the face of sin, but it is much more difficult to show perseverance and follow the commandments of God. Throughout life, the pristine state of the soul will face many tests; overcoming them preserves the purity of conscience before oneself and before God.

Video with a priest: is the habit of smoking a sin? Is smoking considered a sin?

Why do many people smoke in the modern world?

Smoking has become firmly established daily life person. There is a substitution of concepts; tobacco companies are trying to present addiction to cigarettes as a fashionable and harmless activity. The media constantly cultivates the topic of smoking, which has a particularly detrimental effect on the fragile consciousness of young people.

Smoking is a weakness human soul, which is easily used by devilish forces. IN modern world It is difficult to list all the variety of temptations that lead a person astray from the true path.

It is important to understand that Orthodoxy, in its essence and in official statements, does not accept the vice of smoking in any form, therefore smoking is a sin that must be gotten rid of immediately, at this very second.

Is smoking a sin? Orthodox Christian doesn't ask that question. When discussing the dangers of tobacco, a person must understand that physical harm is not comparable to the severity of spiritual sin.

Not a single destructive passion comes alone, but always gives rise to new ones. The longer a smoker continues to retain and justify sin within himself, the more he erases his image before the Lord.

God's mercy has no boundaries and a person who is firmly determined to put an end to the devil's passion with the help of willpower, prayer and faith will be able to overcome any obstacle. Only internal indecision and reluctance to give up tobacco addiction can become an obstacle to the healing of the human soul.

Contributing to the spread of tobacco large companies refer to famous personalities who did not disdain this habit. By creating advertising for cigarettes in this way, one forgets the fact that these are the same ordinary people, weak before smoking.

It is impossible to imagine a true believer holding a cigarette in his hands; these are two incompatible things. It is within the power of the human soul to overcome tobacco addiction and atone for its sin before the Lord. So, smoking is definitely a sin, quit smoking now!

Boris, Smoking is a sin because it is:
1. Slow suicide, poisoning.
2. Smoking is addictive. If you succumb to addiction, you will commit at least 10 sins in a minute.
3. It is a legal drug. All the signs for a drug match.
So, we found out that a humble smoker does not have faith, since he cannot fight sin, namely:
*"I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods besides Me."
<Курильщик!>Your god is cigarettes, not the Trinity. They command you, and you obey them.
*"Do not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain, for He will punish the one who takes His Name in vain."
<Курильщик!>How can you justify yourself by denying smoking? After death, there will be no addiction, no brain that justifies you, but only your guilt will remain, and faith and soul will not be inherited.
*"Remember the Sabbath day, to sanctify.
edited?
*"Do not commit adultery."
<Курильщик!>Are you being holy when you worship your god?
*"Do not bear false witness."
<Курильщик!>Are you trying to interpret God's Word in a way that suits your interests? And Christ said, “Whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit, there is no forgiveness for him, neither in this nor in next century"Repent before it's too late!
*"Don't steal."
<Курильщик!>There was a time when I was sitting in the subway and saw that the person I loved you had lost his deity. One girl took one cigarette before leaving the carriage, and another guy took it for himself. Everyone, including me, looked at him. Won't you join the cheeky ones?
*"You shall not covet your neighbor's house"
<Грешник!>Did you want and want? And your thoughts are directed against all the commandments?
*"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife... or anything that he has."
<Курильщик!>Are you attempting to kill yourself, disrespect, slander, and theft?
<Курильщик!>* Do you think you will find peace after you pass away?

vk.com

Priest Afanasy Gumerov, resident of the Sretensky Monastery, answers:

Various diseases The Holy Fathers define souls by the concept of passion. There are various classifications passions. Man combines the carnal and spiritual principles. Therefore, in accordance with this, passions are divided into physical and mental. The former have their basis in bodily needs, the latter in mental needs. 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, eating in secret, different genera voluptuousness, fornication, adultery, debauchery, uncleanness, incest, child molestation, bestiality, evil desires and all sorts of unnatural and shameful passions...” (Philokalia. T. 2, Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, 1993, p. 371). Smoking is an unnatural passion, because chronic poisoning yourself poison is not rooted in the area natural needs bodies.

All passions are stumbling blocks on our path to salvation. By its origin, human nature, as the creation of the Wise God, as His image and likeness, has perfection. The goal of all our Christian life- to unite with God and find bliss only in Him alone eternal life. In carrying out the work of salvation, we must restore in ourselves the image of God, distorted by many different 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 to the pristine likeness of God. If a person overcome by passions, then his soul becomes defiled, his mind becomes dead, his will turns out to be 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 passions, the soul is not cured of sinful ailments, and does not acquire glory lost by crime” (Venerable Isaac the Syrian).

Any passion, being a disease of the soul, is linked by invisible links to other illnesses. There are no impenetrable walls in the soul. Ingrown passion contributes to the formation of other vices. Egoism manifests itself rudely. A mother who smokes while walking over the stroller in which the baby is sleeping puts satisfaction of passion above the health of her child. Parents who smoke usually teach this 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 Christian conscience, but also contrary to universal morality.

If a person has realized the harmfulness of smoking, he often becomes despondent, seeing that he has become a prisoner of this habit and has no freedom. Smoking is also closely associated with the sin of self-justification, dulling of moral sense. Having come to terms with this passion, a person forgives himself other weaknesses, for the power of precedent is great.

otvet.mail.ru

Henry Ford: " Today's world needs men. Not those whose minds and wills have been weakened or destroyed by the thirst for alcohol or tobacco, but, on the contrary, men whose mentality has not been corrupted by habits that are often uncontrollable».

“Smoking kills!” - strictly warn the inscriptions on cigarette packs. The anti-tobacco campaign has been going on for many years, and probably everyone has known since childhood that “smoking is dangerous to your health,” and now also that “smoking is the cause of chronic diseases,” and also that “smoking can cause infertility.” And yet, people are somehow not particularly impressed by these frightening inscriptions on cigarette packs. A friend of mine even collected a collection of the most terrible anti-tobacco slogans (which did not stop him from continuing to smoke).

So today we'll talk about smoking - the most common bad habit on the planet - and why it is better for any person, especially a Christian, to stay away from it.

IS SMOKING A SIN?

The most “advanced” claim: the Bible does not say that smoking is a sin, so you can supposedly smoke without a twinge of conscience. Well, the Bible doesn’t say that using heroin is a sin, however, drug addiction and Christianity are incompatible concepts, no one argues! Smoking, like drug addiction, is not directly mentioned in the Bible for the simple reason that in biblical times these harmful “hobbies” did not yet exist! For example, tobacco was discovered on October 12, 1492 by the expedition of Christopher Columbus. When his expedition landed on one of the islands, the expedition members were amazed because they saw the islanders releasing smoke from their noses and mouths. The islanders then celebrated their sacred holiday, during which they smoked a special herb called “tobacco.” This is where the current name for tobacco comes from. And here is our first argument in favor of the fact that smoking is a sin:

The smoking tradition originates from pagan rituals
The Indians on the island that Columbus visited smoked to the point of insanity. In this state, they entered a trance and began to communicate with demons, and then conveyed to everyone what the “Great Spirit” told them. So smoking tobacco was an integral part of the rituals of demon worship. Columbus took “tobacco” with him, and very quickly smoking became fashionable.
In different historical periods it was understood that smoking is a harmful habit.
Even extreme measures were used to stop smoking.
For example, in Switzerland in 1661, the tobacco trade was considered an act tantamount to murder. And in 1625, smokers were executed in Turkey, and severed heads with pipes in their mouths were displayed. In Persia, lips and noses were cut off as punishment for smoking, and tobacco traders were burned along with their goods. In Russia, Tsar Michael in 1634 ordered “smokers to be executed by death,” and Tsar Alexei in 1649 ordered smokers to “smoke their nostrils and cut their noses,” and then “exile them to distant cities.”

And only with the coming to power of Peter I, who smoked himself and ordered others to do so, did smoking become widespread in Russia.

3. Smoking is harmful to health
According to the 1999 classification of diseases, tobacco addiction is officially named a disease. IN cigarette smoke contains more than four thousand chemicals, many of them highly toxic and cancer-causing. When the smoke reaches the lungs, it settles there in the form of tar. As a result of all this, changes begin internal organs. The respiratory organs suffer first, because they are the first to come into contact with smoking products, then they take the blow cardiovascular system and gastrointestinal tract.

Just one cigarette leads to a significant increase in blood pressure, that is, the heart begins to work more actively, as a result of which experienced smokers acquire the so-called “tobacco heart.” You can't buy a new heart, so why not take good care of the one you have?

Smoking increases the likelihood of a heart attack. Women have problems with childbearing, men have impotence. On average, a smoker's life expectancy is reduced by ten years. In addition, as a “bonus” to all of the above, you get yellow teeth, bad smell from the mouth and from the hair.

Smoking destroys health, which means that a person who smokes violates the command of God: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this temple is you” (1 Cor. 3:16,17). Smoking is a slow suicide, and suicide in the Bible is called a terrible sin.

Harm to the health of others
But you harm not only yourself, but also those around you. And since the most dear people- children, spouse, close relatives - surround you more often than others, then you harm them especially strongly. How harmful passive smoking is can be illustrated by the following data: in the United States in the mid-1990s, deaths from passive smoking three thousand people a year...
So it is not surprising that in many countries smoking is public places prohibited by law. If you decide to quickly go to the next world, then at least do not “lead” others with you. Scripture says, “Love your neighbor,” which means don’t do anything that harms your neighbors—don’t expose them to the harmful effects of tobacco smoke.

Someone is just making money off your health!
The World Health Organization states that smoking is a contagious disease transmitted through advertising. Tobacco companies Every year they spend incredible sums on sponsorship of sporting events. Advertising and sale of cigarettes during these competitions encourages young people to smoke.
The cigarette takes you into slavery
Many people would like to quit smoking. According to researchers, 99% of smokers among those over 30 years old want to give up this habit. But, alas, this is not easy to do: cigarettes are taken prisoner.

Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov wrote the following about smokers: “I ask you: is such a person free? I knew one “fighter for the idea,” who himself told me that when he was deprived of tobacco in prison, he was so exhausted by the deprivation of strength that he almost went and betrayed his “idea” just so that they would give him tobacco. But this guy says: “I’m going to fight for humanity.” Well, where will this guy go, and what is he capable of?”
Any addiction is a sin because it controls a person’s life and enslaves him. And the Bible in First Corinthians says the following: “Everything is lawful for me, but not everything is profitable; “Everything is permissible for me, but nothing should possess me” (6:12).

Smoking steals wealth
Many families do not always have money for their children to buy educational games or courses, but for some reason there is always money for cigarettes. Still, as a smoker friend said: “If I don’t smoke for a long time, my ears will swell.” But you don’t even imagine that the habit of smoking is stealing from you... millions!

Let's do the math. Pack more or less quality cigarettes in Russia it costs 75 rubles. An experienced smoker needs two packs of such cigarettes per day. A total of 150 rubles a day goes up in smoke. This is 1050 rubles per week, 4500 per month. But if you put these 4500 rubles into a bank account every month at 10% per annum, then in a year you will already have 56,000, in two – 119,000, in five years – 348,000 rubles , in ten years - almost 1 million, in fifteen years - almost 2 million rubles, in forty years - 28 million rubles. Since many people start smoking school years, then it’s not difficult to imagine how much money a person spends on cigarettes that kill his health. What if you really save “cigarette” money? After all, then you can retire as a millionaire and not worry about how to live when old age comes, and even help others! But all this will not happen, because every day you invest the money you earn not in creation, but in the destruction of your own body.

So smoking is a sin that makes you poor!

Based on materials from memo.im

316news.org

Yes, it's sad.

Meditation on a cigarette http://www.pravmir.ru/mysli-o-kurenii-i-kuryashhix/:

Everyone knows that smoking is dangerous to health. But there is another aspect of the problem – a moral one. Is smoking a sin - after all, neither the Gospel nor the Holy Fathers say anything about it? Should you fight this bad habit, or can you still allow yourself a little weakness? Doesn't it interfere with spiritual life? Answered by psychologist-consultant of the Sobesednik center, priest Andrey LORGUS

Is smoking a sin or not?

This is a matter of casuistry. Sin - from what point of view? After all, there are many more sins than are named in the Bible, and there is no such set of sins that would be accepted by the entire Orthodox Church. So, if we set ourselves the task of finding a loophole in the text, in the formal rules, we can easily prove that smoking is not a sin. Not prohibited means allowed. But the fact is that the spiritual position is not based on the points of canonical rules. True Orthodoxy is in the spirit. And from a spiritual point of view, smoking is, of course, completely unacceptable. This is a habit that makes spiritual life difficult.

You can drink wine, but you can't get drunk. It's always about moderation. How to determine it? In Orthodoxy, the measure is the conscience and consciousness of a person. All Orthodox spiritual practice is aimed at a clear, precise consciousness; the holy fathers constantly spoke about sobriety, sober thinking. From the point of view of Orthodoxy, any type of chemical influence on consciousness is unacceptable. Therefore, how much wine can you drink? Until your consciousness is clear, pure and adequate. How much can you smoke? Not at all. After all, even a minimal amount of tobacco causes an altered state of consciousness.

Even one cigarette? One puff?

Yes, definitely. If a smoker takes a puff on an empty stomach against the background severe stress, he may faint. What does this mean? It is about the fact that even one puff greatly affects a person’s consciousness.

What is an “altered state of consciousness”?

This condition is unusual, atypical. For example, a person may fall into a trance, euphoria, or feel stunned or depressed. In other words - inadequate. Moral values, family, kinship, and friendship ties recede into the background for some time or disappear altogether. For example, a person in a state of passion or anger can commit any act, because at this time no norms are relevant for him. A drug addict in a state of withdrawal does not remember either his father, or his mother, or God, or the rules. This is a change in consciousness. Essentially the same thing happens to a smoker. Of course, not at all to the same extent as with a drug addict or alcoholic. And yet, every puff affects his consciousness. How many puffs do you get from one cigarette? How many cigarettes a day? The effect on consciousness is barely noticeable, and therefore smoking is not recognized by everyone as dangerous from a psychological and spiritual point of view. But drug experts and Christian psychologists believe that smoking makes human thinking not entirely adequate.

Some people claim that smoking helps them concentrate.

What really helps—temporarily—is not smoking per se, but changing your breathing. There are mystical-occult and parapsychological breathing practices. Their essence is in meditation, in achieving the same altered state of consciousness. When a person begins to breathe too intensely or in a certain rhythm, with holding his breath, for example, he may experience visions, hallucinations, and euphoria. So while smoking, a certain breathing ritual is also performed - the smoker uses breathing practice as meditation. In general, people think that the main thing in smoking is tobacco. Smoke, of course, affects consciousness, but changing breathing is also of great importance.

But the person does not even notice that he is meditating.

Well, in life we use a lot of defenses and techniques without realizing them. It's the same with food. People don’t notice that when they are stressed, they eat more than their body needs. Or they eat too many sweets.

A novice smoker experiences a lot discomfort, but still continues to rape himself. For what?

For a beginner, smoking is always stressful. He receives a dose of poison, to which the body reacts unambiguously - rejection. Yes, this is self-abuse. But most often this violence helps a person survive some more severe violence - trauma, humiliation, chronic stress. The fact is that traumatized people are drawn to traumatic ways of living. Some psychologists call smoking “oral autoaggression” - “harming oneself through the mouth.” Starting smoking is somewhat reminiscent of masochism - inflicting pain on yourself so as not to hear other pain. But the body quickly gets used to it.

Does this mean that the initial cause of smoking is always some kind of mental trauma?

There are a lot of reasons. Children, for example, may start smoking to appear “cool” or “grown up.” Women often smoke for show: a cigarette in beautiful hands - isn’t it elegant! Therefore, manicure, rings, and brand of cigarette are very important for them. Even the way lipstick is imprinted on a cigarette is important. In general, the motives can be very different; each case must be dealt with separately. To understand what a smoker lacks, you need to understand what smoking means to him. He may lack self-confidence, focus, communication skills, psychological protection. And again, returning to the question of sin: in each case this sin will be called differently. One thus escapes reality, the other does not want to understand his mental problems and resorts to such pseudo-methods of solving them. You see, these are completely different sins.

But if you are drawn to a cigarette, then you always need to understand the reasons?

What do you mean? There are people who never understand themselves and do not feel the need to do so. But if a person sets himself even the smallest spiritual task - “to understand who I am, why I live” - then sooner or later he will be faced with the question “why and why do I smoke?”

And the question “why can’t I do without coffee in the morning?” will stand in front of him too?

Quite possible. Even tea can become a destructive habit. People prone to addiction will find something to depend on - tea, smoking, roulette.

Is it possible to smoke without addiction? If I want, I smoke, if I don’t want, I don’t smoke.

Then answer the question, why did you suddenly want to smoke? Nothing happens for nothing.

For example, finding yourself in the company of classmates, surrounded by the smell of smoke, a person who has long given up smoking feels the urge to pick up a cigarette.

We need to figure out why exactly in this environment he has such a desire. Does it smell nice? This means that addiction to smoking lives in him, the body remembers it. Gravity is addiction: you see a bottle and feel the urge to drink, hear the smell of smoke and feel the urge to smoke. And any dependence is enslavement of the will. This is another aspect of spiritual passion. Smoking, s Orthodox point vision is passion. If at first a cigarette “calms” you down, then its absence can drive you crazy. For experienced smokers, it is a big problem to wait for communion without smoking a single cigarette in the morning. It’s a sad sight when, leaving the gates of the temple, a man with trembling hands takes out a pack of cigarettes, takes a drag and his face breaks into a blissful smile...

Is quitting always painful?

There are miracles when an inveterate smoker quits and does not experience any withdrawal symptoms. But here we can rather talk about intervention God's grace. As a rule, overcoming this passion is not easy.

Many people become angry, irritable, and sometimes inadequate. Isn't this an altered state of consciousness?

Of course, changed. But withdrawal is just the best time to ask the question, “Why do I feel so bad?” There is a physiological withdrawal as a reaction of the body to the restructuring, and it passes quite quickly. But there is also a psychological withdrawal: here I am sitting in company without a cigarette and I feel awkward, uncomfortable, as if I had lost myself. It is at this moment that you can recognize the cause of the addiction and begin to work with it. With the cause - not with the symptom! After all, when a person smokes and feels good, he is not ready to realize his spiritual problems. But when he feels bad, then it’s time to figure it out.

They say it is easier to quit smoking if one of your relatives or friends has quit. So, by quitting smoking, a person not only takes care of himself, but perhaps helps someone else?

I think yes. Anti-smoking advertising will not be effective as long as people who matter to us smoke. And no prohibitive measures will help here. The state passes laws, but no one implements them. And it will not continue to do so unless the mood in society changes. Remember, in the second half of the 90s, fashion for healthy image life? And immediately everything changed! As soon as the elite of society began to visit gyms, jog, and go to their dachas, this instantly became the norm for the majority. The spiritual state of society is what we call public consciousness. Until this changes, the ranks of smokers will continue to grow. And if society understands that smoking is not a bad habit, but a manipulation of one’s consciousness, then liberation from addiction will begin.

sretenie.forum2x2.ru

IS SMOKING A SIN? The inability to quit smoking is a myth. I personally know many people who, being smokers with serious experience - 30-40 years, managed to quit smoking, some gradually, others immediately and never returned to this passion. With God's help everything is possible. If a person turns to God, He helps him to quit this infection. – Undoubtedly, smoking is a sin. I will share my priestly experience: I gave communion to the dying, attended funerals and saw that the death of many people was directly related to smoking. Moreover, it is very difficult to get rid of this harm. Once I administered unction and communion before death to a woman who was dying of laryngeal cancer, and in this state she could not quit smoking. Even before Communion I took a puff several times! But since she was dying, I could not help but give her communion. And how many people die from lung cancer caused by smoking! But it’s not just tobacco that has a devastating effect on the respiratory system – it affects others too. The harmfulness of this habit, which causes serious addiction, is also that many smokers are unable to take communion due to smoking. If you get up at night to smoke, if you take a drag in the morning, then how will you then go to Communion? Or even you endured it, took communion, and then what? Coming out of the temple, do you greedily take a drag? So this sinful pleasure deprives the smoker of the Sacrament. (Archpriest Pavel Gumerov) The inability to quit smoking is a myth. I personally know many people who, being smokers with serious experience - 30-40 years, managed to quit smoking, some gradually, others immediately and never returned to this passion. With God's help everything is possible. If a person turns to God, He helps him to quit this infection. I remember from the life of the Monk Silouan, how he once visited Russia, was traveling on a train to some monastery, and a merchant took his seat opposite him and offered him a cigarette. The elder refused, but the merchant began to insist, saying: “Isn’t it because, father, you refuse because you consider it a sin? Smoking often helps in active life: it’s good to take a break from the stress of work and relax for a few minutes. It’s convenient to have a business or friendly conversation while smoking...” St. Silouan gave him the following advice: “Before you light a cigarette, pray, say the Lord’s Prayer.” The merchant replied: “Praying before smoking somehow doesn’t work.” To this Saint Silouan said: “It is better not to do any task that is not preceded by unabashed prayer.” But the main harm of smoking, of course, is spiritual. “Tobacco weakens the soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys bodily health with a slow death. Irritability and melancholy are a consequence of the morbidity of the soul from smoking,” the Monk Ambrose of Optina teaches us. And we also become slaves to this sin. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). And we are called to freedom in Christ: “And you will understand the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The gift of Love can only be received by a person who is free in Christ. If a person has realized the harmfulness of smoking, he often becomes despondent, seeing that he has become a prisoner of this habit and has no freedom. Smoking is also closely associated with the sin of self-justification, dulling of moral sense. Having come to terms with this passion, a person forgives himself other weaknesses, for the power of precedent is great. Smoking is also a sin 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. Shortening your life with addictions and an unhealthy lifestyle is a serious sin. Smoking man harms your health and the health of those present. 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! According to the general teaching of the Holy Fathers, man, 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: “You write that you cannot stop smoking tobacco. The impossible with man is possible with the help of God; you just have to firmly decide to stop, recognizing the harm it causes to the soul and body, since tobacco relaxes soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys bodily health with a slow death. - Irritability and melancholy are the consequences of the morbidity of the soul from smoking. I advise you to use spiritual healing against this passion: confess in detail all your sins, from the age of seven and throughout your life. , and take communion of the Holy Mysteries, and read the Gospel daily, standing, a chapter or more; and when melancholy strikes, then read again until the melancholy passes away again, and read the Gospel again - Or instead, put 33 large ones in private. bow, in memory of the earthly life of the Savior and in honor of the Holy Trinity." Why do so few people part with the “gift of the devil”? Because most smokers do not want to give up this habit. And those who desire this and take steps towards this, in reality, do not have the inner determination. Despite impulsive efforts, people who repeatedly quit smoking have become close to this passion deep down in their souls. God is always ready to help a person in this saving task, but expects heroism from him. Therefore, help us, Lord, to get rid of everything harmful and unnecessary, so that we can be in joy and love, and not in torment here and in eternity. And they depended only on the Holy God, and not on cigarettes, sinful pleasures and, ultimately, on the devil, who is behind all this. priest Andrey Barabash

ok.ru

Why is smoking a sin?

Here is the main evidence characterizing smoking as a sin.

Read, for example, biographies of the most talented rock musicians and actors. Many of them died precisely from alcohol, smoking, drug addiction and all the consequences of a depraved life. These arguments are enough to declare: the sin of smoking, drunkenness, drug addiction harms your not only physical, but also spiritual health.

Confession, communion and prayer are the cure for sin

But how to get rid of it? They will advise you to take some advertised pills, lollipops (carry a piece of candy in your pocket and eat it when you want to take a drag from a cigarette), coding, psychological techniques. This is quite enough for those who want to quickly and effortlessly achieve results.

But those who quit smoking testify that this very rarely works. Or it brings only short-term results, and then a person can fall into the sin of smoking with even greater intensity. Why? Because this problem is not only physical, but also spiritual, and therefore requires appropriate treatment.

IN Orthodox Church There is a saint who gave a lot of valuable advice to those who want to overcome the passion of smoking. This is the Monk Ambrose of Optina, to whom they pray to get rid of the “smoke serpent.”

Realize that this is a sin, and it harms your spiritual and physical state, you will want to get rid of it.
Start your cleansing with a “general” confession. Analyze own life, remember all your vices that just come to mind, and repent before God. Just not formally, but with the realization that you no longer want to return to what was before.
Take communion. Establishing a connection with God will help break the chain of relationships with demons who specialize in this destructive passion.
Read the Gospel daily, one chapter a day, interpretations, reflect on what you read. Ambrose Optinsky advises reading Scripture in those moments when melancholy attacks. Demons cannot stand the word of God. Or make 33 bows (that’s how long Jesus Christ lived on earth).

In modern prayer books you can find a separate prayer to Saint Ambrose, on whose advice many overcame passion.

Reverend Father Ambrose, you, having boldness before the Lord, beg the Greatly Gifted Master to give me ambulance in the fight against impure passion. God! Through the prayers of Your saint, Venerable Ambrose, cleanse my lips, purify my heart and saturate it with the fragrance of Your Holy Spirit, may the evil tobacco passion run far away from me, back to where it came from, into the belly of hell

Daily reading of these lines, accompanied by trust in Divine help, really helps to get rid of the sin of smoking. But before you quit smoking, it is advisable to talk to your confessor and ask for his blessing. One acquaintance smoked for about 15 years and could not get rid of it on his own. But with the blessing and prayers of the spiritual father, as well as at will It has been many years since he got rid of the bad habit of “smoking - burning incense to demons.”

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The Bible never explicitly mentioned smoking. But still, there are several chapters that clearly relate to smoking. First, the Bible instructs us not to allow our bodies to be subject to anything.

There is no doubt that smoking is a serious addiction. Further, the same passage says:

Smoking is undoubtedly harmful to our health. Smoking has been proven to damage the lungs and often the heart.

Is smoking considered “healthy” (1 Corinthians 6:12)? Can we say that smoking is “glorifying God in your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:20)? Can a person smoke “for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)? We believe that the answer to all three of these questions is “no.” As a result, we believe that smoking is a sin and therefore should not be practiced by followers of Christ.

Some counter this opinion by appealing to the fact that many people eat unhealthy food, and it is just as addictive and it also has a harmful effect on their body. For example, many people are so hopelessly addicted to caffeine that they simply cannot function without their morning cup of coffee. Even if this is true, how does this justify smoking? Our point is that Christians should avoid gluttony and excessive junk food. Yes, Christians are often hypocritical, condemning one sin, and, at the same time, allowing themselves another... but, again, this does not contribute to the glorification of the Lord through smoking?

Another argument that contradicts this opinion is the fact that many devout people smoke, such as the famous British preacher Spurgeon. Again, we do not believe this argument has any force. We believe Spurgeon was wrong about smoking. Was he otherwise a pious man and an excellent teacher? God's Word? Definitely! Does this make all his actions and habits glorifying the Lord? No!

By saying that smoking is a sin, we are not saying that smokers will not be saved. Many believers in Jesus Christ smoke. Smoking does not prevent a person from subsequently being saved. Smoking is forgiven in the same way as any other sins, and this does not depend on whether a person is just planning to become a Christian or whether a Christian has already admitted his sin before God.

At the same time, we firmly believe that smoking is a sin that we must get rid of and God's help defeat him.

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Why is smoking a sin? Does this activity harm the soul?

Priest Afanasy Gumerov answers:

The Holy Fathers define various diseases of the soul by the concept passion. There are different classifications of passions. Man combines the carnal and spiritual principles. Therefore, in accordance with this, passions are divided into physical and mental. The former have their basis in bodily needs, the latter in mental needs. 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, eating in secret, various types of voluptuousness, fornication, adultery, debauchery, uncleanness, incest, child molestation, bestiality, evil desires and all sorts of unnatural and shameful passions...” (Philokalia. T .2, Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1993, p. 371). Smoking is an unnatural passion, because chronic self-poisoning is not rooted in the natural needs of the body.

All passions are stumbling blocks on our path to salvation. By its origin, human nature, as the creation of the Wise God, as His image and likeness, has perfection. The goal of our entire Christian life is to unite with God and only in Him alone to find the bliss of eternal life. In carrying out the work of salvation, we must restore in ourselves the image of God, distorted by many different 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 to the primordial likeness of God. If a person is overcome by passions, then his soul becomes defiled, his mind becomes dead, his will turns out to be 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 passions, the soul is not cured of sinful ailments, and does not acquire glory lost by crime” (St. Isaac the Syrian).

Smoking is also a sin 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. Shortening your life with addictions and an unhealthy lifestyle is a serious sin. A person who smokes harms his own health and the health of those present. There is probably not a single vice or perversion that they would not try to justify. Attempts to talk about the “positive” sides of smoking look pathetic in comparison with the data available to medicine. Tobacco contains nicotine (up to 2%) - a strong poison. Nicotine sulfate is used to destroy agricultural pests. plants. When smoking tobacco, nicotine is absorbed into the body and soon penetrates the brain. A person smokes every day for many years. The average smoker takes about 200 puffs a day. This amounts to approximately 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 prolonged nicotine attack leads to the fact that the poison eventually finds a weak link in the body and causes serious illness. Over the course of 30 years, a smoker smokes approximately 20,000 cigarettes, or about 160 kg of tobacco, absorbing an average of 800 g of nicotine. One cigarette contains approximately 6-8 mg of nicotine, of which 3-4 mg enters the blood. For man lethal dose nicotine ranges from 50-100 mg (2-3 drops). IN tobacco smoke a number of carcinogens have been discovered, causing cancer. A huge amount in 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 permissible by the International Agreement on Radiation Protection. It has been proven that radiation from tobacco origin is main reason emergence cancer diseases.

Passion is the result of the combination of human sinful will and the activity of demonic forces, although invisible, but very real. 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 striking illustration is provided by the history of tobacco smoking. The Spaniard Roman Pano in 1496, after the second voyage of H. Columbus, brought tobacco seeds from America to Spain. From there, tobacco penetrates into Portugal. The French ambassador in Lisbon, Jean Nicot (nicotine got its name from his surname), 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 the victorious march of tobacco began throughout Europe. The devil strives to impose everything that is destructive to people under the guise of “useful”. Among 16th century doctors, many considered tobacco medicine. 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 smokers were even executed. In 1604, the English king James I wrote a work “On the Harm of Tobacco,” in which he wrote: “Smoking is a disgusting practice for the eyes, disgusting for the smell, harmful for the brain and dangerous for the lungs.” Pope Urban VII excommunicated believers. Other measures were also taken. However, each time the winners were smokers, tobacco producers, tobacco dealers - all those who made the spread of the destructive vice their profession. The whip and executions were powerless in the face of this destructive passion, rapid spread which strongly resembles an epidemic (more precisely, a pandemic). Some power superior to man makes people slaves bad habit, from which the vast majority do not part until death.

Smoking appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. Time of Troubles. It was brought by the Poles and Lithuanians. Tsar Mikhail Romanov severely persecuted lovers of the devil's potion. In 1634, a decree was issued according to which smokers received sixty blows with a stick on the soles of their feet. The second time my nose was cut off. According to the Code of 1649 of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, punishment was provided for the one on whom tobacco was found: to beat with a whip until he admitted where he got the tobacco from. Severe measures were envisaged against traders: cutting their noses and exiling them to distant cities. The import of tobacco into the country was prohibited. Efforts to stop were unsuccessful. Tsar Peter I was a lover of smoking. IN In 1697 all prohibitions were lifted. Peter I granted the British a monopoly on the tobacco trade in Russia. The rapidity with which this destructive vice began to spread among the people gives rise to the saddest thoughts. Now e Every year about 250 billion cigarettes are produced in Russia and another 50 billion are imported. Thus, the country consumes 300 billion. Russia currently ranks first in the world in terms of tobacco smoking growth. A significant number of smokers are teenagers. And another sad feature of our country is the feminization of smoking. According to World Organization healthcare, in Russia 70% of men and 30% of women smoke. On female body smoking is especially destructive. Based on materials from the annual conference of the Radiological Society North America, smoking women all other things being equal (the researchers took into account the age of the patients, smoking experience, type of used tobacco products and other factors) develop lung cancer approximately twice as often as men. Canadian doctors, based on statistics collected in Vancouver and Quebec, claim that women who start smoking before the age of 25 are more likely to develop malignant tumor breasts increase by 70%. Specialists in the field social psychology The power of influence of the environment on a person is well known. Nowadays, a significant part of our urban environment is made up of huge billboards advertising poison that is destructive to health. At least for a second, at least for one moment, do the people involved in the mass poisoning of people think that Last Judgment you 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! According to the general teaching of the Holy Fathers, man, 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: “You write that you cannot stop smoking tobacco. The impossible of man is possible with the help of God; you just have to firmly decide to quit, recognizing the harm it causes to the soul and body, since tobacco relaxes the soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys the body health is a slow death. - Irritability and melancholy are the consequences of the morbidity of the soul from smoking. I advise you to use spiritual healing against this passion: confess in detail all your sins, from the age of seven and throughout your life, and take communion of the Holy Mysteries, and read daily, standing, Gospel chapter by chapter or more; and when melancholy strikes, then read again until the melancholy passes again and read the Gospel again - Or instead, make 33 large 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 “gift of the devil”? Because most smokers do not want to give up this habit. And those who desire this and take steps towards this, in reality, do not have the inner determination. Despite impulsive efforts, people who repeatedly quit smoking have become close to this passion deep down in their souls. God is always ready to help a person in this saving task, but expects heroism from him. “When, out of love for God, you wish to accomplish some deed, set death as the limit of your desire; and thus, in fact, you will be worthy of ascending to the level of martyrdom in the fight against every passion, and you will not suffer any harm from what meets you within this limit, if you endure to the end and do not relax. The thinking of a weak mind makes the power of patience weak; and a strong mind even imparts strength to the one who follows his thoughts, which nature does not have” (St. Isaac the Syrian).

What is the Christian position on smoking? Is smoking considered a sin?

The Bible never explicitly mentioned smoking. But still, there are several chapters that clearly relate to smoking. First, the Bible instructs us not to allow our bodies to be subject to anything.

There is no doubt that smoking is a serious addiction. Further, the same passage says:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?For you are bought dear at a price. Therefore glorify God both in your bodies and in your souls, which are God's.

Smoking is undoubtedly harmful to our health. Smoking has been proven to damage the lungs and often the heart.

Another argument that contradicts this opinion is the fact that many devout people smoke, such as the famous British preacher Spurgeon. Again, we do not believe this argument has any force. We believe Spurgeon was wrong about smoking. Was he otherwise a godly man and an excellent teacher of God's Word? Definitely! Does this make all his actions and habits glorifying the Lord? No!

At the same time, we firmly believe that smoking is a sin that we must get rid of and, with God's help, overcome.

How does the passion of smoking harm the soul? What happens to the soul while smoking? The Holy Fathers define various illnesses of the soul by the concept of passion. There are different classifications of passions. Man combines the carnal and spiritual principles. Therefore, in accordance with this, passions are divided into physical and mental. The former have their basis in bodily needs, the latter in mental needs. 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, uncleanness, incest, child molestation, bestiality, evil desires and all sorts of unnatural and shameful passions...” (Philokalia. Vol. 2, Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1993, p. 371). The sin of smoking refers to an unnatural passion, because chronic self-poisoning is not rooted in the natural needs of the body.

While a person is in captivity of passion, his soul cannot restore the distorted image and return to the primordial likeness of God. The sin of smoking is the most real captivity. If a person is overcome by passions, then his soul becomes defiled, his mind becomes dead, his will turns out to be 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 passions, the soul is not cured of sinful ailments, and does not acquire glory lost by crime” (St. Isaac the Syrian).

Any passion, being a disease of the soul, is linked by invisible links to other illnesses. There are no impenetrable walls in the soul. Ingrown passion contributes to the formation of other vices. Egoism manifests itself rudely. It’s scary when the sin of smoking captivates a woman who has become a mother. A mother who smokes while walking over the stroller in which the baby is sleeping puts satisfaction of passion above the health of her child. Parents who smoke usually teach this 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 Christian conscience, but also contrary to universal morality.

If a person has realized the harmfulness of smoking, he often becomes despondent, seeing that he has become a prisoner of this habit and has no 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 other weaknesses, for the power of precedent is great.

The passion of smoking is also a sin 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. Shortening your life with addictions and an unhealthy lifestyle is a serious sin. A person exposed to the passion of smoking harms his health and the health of those present. There is probably not a single vice or perversion that they would not try to justify. Attempts to talk about the “positive” sides of smoking look pathetic in comparison with the data available to medicine.

Tobacco contains nicotine (up to 2%) - a strong poison. Nicotine sulfate is used to destroy agricultural pests. plants. When smoking tobacco, nicotine is absorbed into the body and soon penetrates the brain. A person smokes every day for many years. The average smoker takes about 200 puffs a day. This equates to approximately 6,000 per month, 72,000 per year and over 2 million puffs for a 45-year-old smoker who started smoking at age 15. Such a prolonged nicotine attack leads to the fact that the poison eventually finds a weak link in the body and causes a serious illness. Over the course of 30 years, a smoker smokes approximately 20,000 cigarettes, or about 160 kg of tobacco, absorbing an average of 800 g of nicotine. One cigarette contains approximately 6-8 mg of nicotine, of which 3-4 mg enters the blood. For humans, the lethal dose of nicotine ranges from 50-100 mg (2-3 drops).

A number of carcinogens that cause cancer have been found in tobacco smoke. There is a huge amount of radioactive substances in tobacco. 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 permissible by the International Agreement on Radiation Protection. Smoking is a terrible problem. It has been proven that radiation from tobacco is the main cause of cancer.

The passion for smoking is the result of the combination of human sinful will and the activity of demonic forces, although invisible, but very real. 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 striking illustration is provided by the history of tobacco smoking. The Spaniard Roman Pano in 1496, after the second voyage of H. Columbus, brought tobacco seeds from America to Spain.

From there, tobacco penetrates into Portugal. The French ambassador in Lisbon, Jean Nicot (nicotine got its name from his surname), 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 the victorious march of tobacco began throughout Europe. The devil strives to impose everything that is destructive to people under the guise of “useful”. Among 16th-century physicians, many considered tobacco to be a medicine. 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 smokers were even executed.

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

In Russia, the passion for smoking appeared at the beginning of the 17th century during the Time of Troubles. It was brought by the 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 my nose was cut off. According to the Code of 1649 Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich provided for punishment for the one who had tobacco found: to beat him with a whip until he confessed where he got the tobacco from. Severe measures were envisaged against traders: cutting their noses and exiling them to distant cities.

The import of tobacco into the country was prohibited. Efforts to stop were unsuccessful. Tsar Peter I was a lover of smoking. In 1697, all prohibitions were lifted. Peter I granted the British a monopoly on the tobacco trade in Russia. The rapidity with which this destructive vice began to spread among the people gives rise to the saddest thoughts. Now about 250 billion cigarettes are produced in Russia every year and another 50 billion 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 sad 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 (researchers took into account the age of the patients, smoking history, type of tobacco products used and other factors) develop lung cancer approximately twice as often as men.

Canadian doctors, based on statistical data collected in Vancouver and Quebec, claim that in women who began smoking 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 of the environment on a person. Nowadays, a significant part of our urban environment is made up of huge billboards advertising poison that is destructive to health. At least for a second, at least for one moment, do the 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! Smoking passion is not easy to fight, but it is possible and 99% achieve success. According to the general teaching of the Holy Fathers, man, 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: “ You write that you cannot stop smoking tobacco. What is impossible with man is possible with the help of God; You just have to firmly decide to quit, realizing the harm it causes to the soul and body, since tobacco relaxes the soul, multiplies and intensifies passions, darkens the mind and destroys bodily health with a slow death. - Irritability and melancholy are consequences of the pain of the soul from smoking. I advise you to use spiritual healing against this passion: confess in detail all your sins, from the age of seven and throughout your entire life, and partake of the Holy Mysteries, and read the Gospel daily, standing, a chapter or more; and when melancholy strikes, then read again until the melancholy passes; will attack again and read the Gospel again. - Or instead, place, in private, 33 large bows, in memory of the earthly life of the Savior and in honor of the Holy Trinity«.

Why do so few people give up the sin of smoking, this “gift of the devil”? Because most smokers do not want to give up the passion of smoking. And those who want to quit smoking and take steps towards this, in reality, do not have the inner determination. Despite impulsive efforts, people who repeatedly quit smoking have become close to this passion deep down in their souls. God is always ready to help a person in this saving task, but expects heroism from him. " When, out of love for God, you wish to accomplish some deed, set death as the limit of your desire; and thus, in fact, you will be worthy of ascending to the level of martyrdom in the fight against every passion, and you will not suffer any harm from what meets you within this limit, if you endure to the end and do not relax. The thinking of a weak mind makes the power of patience weak; and a strong mind even imparts strength to the one who follows his thoughts, which nature does not have"(Venerable Isaac the Syrian).

Father Afanasy Gumerov