Conscious mental laziness, or laziness, is a sin
Let’s immediately say that laziness can be a consequence of mental disorders. Lack of initiative can be associated with some kind of violation, and then the person needs not censure, but medical help.
We talk about laziness exclusively as a sin. This is not inaction forced due to illness, but a conscious refusal to become better.
Moreover, laziness is not a desire to rest, but a lack of action from a person who is already full of energy.
Laziness is not a desire to rest, but deliberate aimless inaction.
What is the crime of such a sin?
The fact is that life is a great gift from God. The Lord made man not a master, but a leader on Earth. That is, those who should care about the well-being of our world.
Is it possible to give the Creator a greater insult than to neglect His gift and waste your time on nothing?
Laziness often appears on many lists of deadly sins. Photo: bubomix.narod.ru
By inaction, we go against the divine plan, we take away from the world those positive things that we could accomplish in it. That is why the Bible compares the lazy person to the destroyer:
“A lazy worker is a destroyer.”
(Prov. 18:10)
Because of this, laziness is included in various lists of the 7 Deadly Sins. The number 7 itself was used because human consciousness has always revered seven (seven lamps, seven colors, seven notes, seven chakras, seven days of the week, etc.), and the lists of sins vary. But laziness is a frequent guest among them.
But the danger of laziness lies not only in Divine Providence. Even on a human level it brings devastating consequences. Archpriest Alexander (Saltykov) says:
“A lazy person is an active consumer, but he doesn’t want to create anything. Only receive, only take. And when there is nothing to take because you don’t have your own, what should a lazy person do? He takes someone else's. Another scenario is also possible: he very easily becomes an alcoholic, a libertine, a completely insignificant person.”
Alexander Saltykov
archpriest
Causes of addiction to idleness
Depending on the type of laziness, the reasons for its occurrence may also be different. Often, a person, without understanding them, cannot begin to treat passion.
- The root of a person’s love for idle pastime may simply lie in improper upbringing from childhood. Parents often surround the child with comfort and take responsibility for his entire life. This can continue until adulthood and forms an infantile life position and reluctance to work. In this case, responsibility for the behavior of a person who refuses to realize the talents given to him by God through work is shared with him by his relatives. The task of curing laziness also largely falls on their shoulders - it is necessary to stop unreasonably supporting an adult capable person who can provide for himself independently, and try to build healthy relationships.
- The desire to receive payment without completing the work is based on another serious sin - the love of money. This is a serious spiritual illness - a person’s attachment to the material world, an insatiable desire for material benefits that are useless for the soul. It is burdened, moreover, by the desire to receive them for free, without labor, and even at the expense of one’s neighbor. The deception of a gullible and weak person, for example, an elderly person, is especially terrible for the soul.
- Spiritual laziness often comes from lack of faith and disbelief, unwillingness to take responsibility for one’s spiritual life. The reason for such laziness can also be pride, because prayer, visiting church presupposes certain ascetic rules, observance of fasts, and other established church rules. Often a spiritually lazy person justifies himself by saying that he has “God in his soul.” The Apostle James speaks about such people: “You believe that there is one God: you do well; and the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, unfounded man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:19-20).
21
September
2015
In an interview, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' noted that “intellectual talk” about how churches are not needed, God is in the soul, sounds less often, and some kind of human dissatisfaction is visible through them.”
Fatigue in Orthodoxy is not laziness; they should not be equated
Laziness and fatigue cannot be confused. Roughly speaking, in most cases laziness is a mental feeling, and fatigue is more often a physical feeling. You can also call it fatigue.
However, a person can also be mentally exhausted.
The main distinguishing feature of laziness and fatigue is this:
- laziness arises out of nowhere;
- fatigue is the result of some activity (work, worries, etc.)
Fatigue requires rest and is cured by it. Pleasant emotions, good sleep, doing your favorite activities - all these are effective remedies for fatigue.
Laziness is simply a lack of desire to do anything.
It is clear that rest in the first case helps, but in the second it only indulges the vice.
Fatigue in Orthodoxy has never been and could not be considered a sin. In some of the works of the Holy Fathers of the Church one can find not the most pleasant statements about fatigue, but this is a mistake in using the word. Fatigue in such cases means despondency.
The sin of a cloudy mood
From a psychological point of view, despondency is “a manifestation of a gloomy mood, dissatisfaction, resentment, disappointment, accompanied by a general loss of strength.”
According to Yuri Shcherbatykh, professor of psychology at the Moscow Humanitarian-Economic Institute, Doctor of Biological Sciences, author of the monograph “The Seven Deadly Sins for Believers and Non-Believers,” the main reason for despondency is our unjustified expectations and hopes. In addition, it can be triggered by fatigue, illness, chronic lack of sleep, midlife crisis, etc. It is necessary to fight despondency, otherwise it can greatly harm a person if it turns into depression.
“This depressed state of a person causes biochemical disturbances in the central nervous system; first of all, the exchange of neurotransmitters—substances that regulate mental activity—is disrupted,” says Shcherbatykh.
King David described the symptoms of depression quite accurately in the Bible:
Dejection is a serious consequence of laziness
Dejection is an unpleasant state of the human spirit. It is expressed in the unwillingness to do something due to extreme sadness.
In this case, despondency can be of three types:
Painful despondency. This is a disease and requires treatment by a specialist.
Temporary despondency. This is grief due to some circumstances. A person only needs time to suffer negative emotions and bring himself back to life again. A believer can experience such feelings for a short time; there is nothing reprehensible in them.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting "Land of the Lazy" illustrates a terrible, dull, amorphous world in which everyone is lazy. Photo: lh4.googleusercontent.com
Deliberately prolonged despondency. This is already a sin. A person has the strength and ability to overcome his difficulties, but prefers to sit and feel sorry for himself. This condition is close in nature to laziness, but more severe. The Monk Ambromsy of Optina wrote about this:
“Despondency means the same laziness, only worse. From despondency you will weaken both in body and spirit. I don’t want to work or pray; you go to church with neglect; and the whole man weakens.”
Ambrose Optinsky
old man
Accordingly, despondency becomes a barrier between man and God. And this entails more serious consequences. A sad or lazy person who has refused God's help has only one road - into sin, where he will look for ways to distract himself from melancholy.
Dejection is a natural consequence of laziness.
It would be nice to do this: get lazy, lie down, pull yourself together and go live righteously. But in reality, a lazy person suffers from doing nothing with his life.
At some point, it becomes unbearable, and your conscience gnaws at you for wasted days, months, years. Awareness of one's uselessness can lead to deep despondency and painful depressive states.
Therefore, it is better to fight laziness in the first couples.
What is the sin of laziness
The sin of laziness in Orthodoxy is neglect of those talents with which the Lord has endowed each of His Creations for His joy. The most interesting thing is that even some clergy, such as Damascene and Cassian, did not consider laziness to be a mortal sin of Orthodoxy.
Traditionally, laziness is regarded as a vice, since a lazy person is a freeloader
Spiritual joy in itself is good, but sadness caused by laziness oppresses a person, distracting him from business, and this is already a sin. A sluggish, inactive person only at first glance seems harmless to society. King Solomon in his parables called for following the example of the ant, who works all summer to have food in the winter (Proverbs 6:6-9).
About other sins:
- What diseases are given for what sins
- Sin of anger in Orthodoxy
- Why is it a sin to play cards?
A lazy person pays little attention to earnings; everything would be fine if others didn’t have to work for him. A drone in the life of another person violates the basic commandment of God, which speaks of love for one's neighbor.
The Bible considers laziness to be a sign of foolishness (Proverbs 24:30-32).
In the Gospel of Matthew we read about a servant who, having received one talent, did not multiply it (Matthew 25:26). From the point of view of a lazy person, it is completely incomprehensible why a servant was punished for not wasting money, not drinking, but simply not increasing the master’s wealth. It's all about love and the desire to be not just slaves, but friends of the owner, who entrusted his fortune to his workers, hoping for their respect and love.
The lazy slave buried his talent and did nothing, waiting for his master to arrive. The other two workers worked, putting their talents into the business, showing loyalty and love with their zeal and hard work.
Holy Scripture says 365 times: “Rejoice!” Every day Christians should find reasons to rejoice and thank God for it. A lazy Christian becomes despondent and constantly criticizes the Creator, expressing dissatisfaction.
Important! Laziness in Orthodoxy is a mortal sin due to the destruction of a person’s spiritual strength, as a creation of God.
Laziness causes depression, apathy, and suppresses the desire to live and fight problems and illnesses.
Ignorance of Divine providence for life covers the sloth, destroying all motivation for a successful life; he has a feeling of the meaninglessness of existence. People say that you can gain hard work in 3 years, but laziness takes over a person in 3 days.
Idleness is the main root of the sin of laziness
Even churchgoers experience bouts of laziness when:
- there is no desire to read the prayer rule in the morning;
- there are a thousand reasons to miss the service;
- The devil makes excuses for not fasting.
At this time, an Orthodox believer is ready to redo all household chores, just not to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit, therefore, the manifestation of spiritual laziness is much worse than a physical reluctance to work.
Advice! Only a conversation with a spiritual mentor will help distinguish physical fatigue, spiritual burnout from simple laziness caused by idleness.
We must fight laziness with work and prayer.
No one comes into our world with a soul that is incredibly lazy. But the fight against laziness is a necessary measure, which cannot be avoided. The temptations that lead to laziness are very great. Therefore, it is useful to know what helps to cope.
Hegumen Nektary (Morozov) advises:
“You need constant work, work on yourself, aimed at acquiring an extremely valuable skill: concentrating on the main thing, pushing aside the unimportant. It is necessary to force ourselves: we must not wait until the desire to do what a Christian should awaken in us, but simply take ourselves “by the scruff of the neck” and drag us in the right direction. This is actually almost always possible, with very, very rare exceptions. And it almost always bears fruit sooner or later: we are very dependent on skills, and if we acquire the skill of overcoming ourselves, then in the future it turns into a kind of spiritual lifesaver. And the most important thing: the Lord, seeing that we are not sitting idly by, but struggling, trying to move forward, even if only in tiny steps, Himself helps us, gives us His grace, and it already fills us with the strength we need, the strength we need. After all, it is only He, as once and now, who raises the paralytic from their bed...”
Nektary Morozov
abbot
The Lord extends a helping hand to those who struggle with laziness
And, of course, the main weapon against laziness remains prayer:
“And we must never forget about such a universal means of getting out of a state of relaxation as prayer.
Not necessarily in a temple, not necessarily even in standing before an icon in a prayer corner (although this is very important), even if it’s the shortest, but constant, sincere, filled with heartache:
“Bring me, Lord, out of this state, help me become alive for You, teach me to do Your will, give me strength, integrity, strength of soul and body...”
And she, too, will not remain without fruit.”
About the consequences of passion
The consequences of passion are destructive both for a person’s material life and for his soul. A lazy person finds it difficult to find and quickly loses a job, often does not get along with his parents, and destroys his personal life.
Spiritual losses are not so obvious, but are often much worse than financial or professional ones. Laziness leads to stagnation of spiritual life, lack of growth, and finally to severe hunger of the soul. It is often expressed in people prone to idleness in the forms of various addictions - alcohol, drugs, gaming.
All this is a manifestation of the hunger of the soul, clamped in the grip of passion, which cannot reveal the gifts of God inherent in it. Ultimately, this leads to illness, or even complete destruction of life.
Spiritual laziness is also terrible in its consequences, as it increasingly removes a person from God, plunging him into the abyss of his own pride. Such laziness is hardly curable by human forces. Therefore, in the words of C.S. Lewis:
“God addresses man with a whisper of Love, and if He is not heard, then with the voice of Conscience. If a person does not hear the voice of conscience, then God speaks through the mouthpiece of suffering.”
Prayer to the martyr Alexander of Rome helps against laziness
Laziness conquers will. Therefore, it is reasonable to seek help from saints who have become famous for their outstanding strong-willed qualities.
One of these saints is Alexander of Rome.
You can pray to Alexander of Rome with a request to save you from laziness. Photo: 2.bp.blogspot.com
This is what a prayer to Alexander of Rome looks like out of laziness:
“O glorious servant and martyr of Christ, worthy warrior of the Heavenly King, blessed Alexander, imitator of the merciful God, who boldly confessed Christ on earth
and having endured manifold torments for His sake, you, unfading, received a crown in heaven: now, together with your matter, Pimenia, standing
at the Throne of God’s Glory, pray for us from God’s philanthropic compassion, that He may do with us according to His ineffable goodness, so that we do not perish in our sins.
To her, holy martyr, we know that you have had much boldness to the Lord to pray for all those who come to You with faith.
Offer a warm prayer to the Creator Church for the peace of the whole world, the prosperity of the Holy Churches of God and the unification of all the faithful children of the Church of Christ, who live in purity and honor, and to deliver the Orthodox flock from the heavy storms of everyday life and all the slander of the spirit of wickedness in high places.
With the breath of the All-Holy Spirit, may the hearts of the sons of disobedience, tearing apart the robe of unity of the Church of Christ, be softened by the power of Divine peace and love for the healing of His bleeding wound in the universe, and for the salvation of all living on earth.
For us, faithful friend of Christ, be our Intercessor and Patron all the days of our life, delivering us from enemies visible and invisible,
Moreover, after our departure, protect us from evil spirits, and at the Last Judgment of Christ, do not forget us poor through your warm intercession, so that, having improved some of those who are saved, we will glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever.”
Amen.
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Laziness as a worldview
For many, laziness is a way of life, a worldview. We instill in ourselves the mindset that no one would ever do anything if it were possible. We romanticize laziness. Our lives reflect the song of the eighties - “...everyone works for the weekend.” We tend to believe that if it weren't for the “hustle” (ordinary “meaningless” work), we would be wonderful, active Christians. We would then devote all our time to reading the Bible and be able to be strong, courageous believers. This kind of thinking reflects laziness as a worldview. We were convinced that we only work so that we can rest. Work is thus a necessary evil. This is how we too often approach work. However, this approach turns God's design for the work-rest cycle on its head. From a biblical perspective, we do not “work that we may rest,” but we “rest that we may work.” If we do not start from this fundamental reality, we come to false conclusions about work and leisure.
Changing your outlook on work and leisure
When God created this world, He used the word “good.” But after creating man in His image, He said “very good” (Gen. 1:31). At the end of the first chapter, God states a unique purpose, a mission, for His image bearers: they are to have dominion over all creation (subject to God's authority). From the first days of creation, we are called to manage this world and see it as an object of creative, purposeful work. God's image bearers were to devote themselves to work that would bring prosperity to the human race and glorify God. When God completed the process of creation, He, it is written, “rested from all His work” (Gen. 2:1-3). Why did God decide to rest? Is He tired? No. It was a celebration of His work. He enjoyed the wonderful results of His creative work. God continues His work through the Church now. God commanded us to rest on the Lord's Day so that we could celebrate His work in this world and our work in His kingdom—work that brings Him glory. We celebrate and rest as God's work is accomplished in Christ. We practice “gospel rest” on the Lord's Day so that we may have strength to do “gospel work.” We need to learn the correct order: we rest in order to work.
Even before the Fall, God planted a garden for man to work in it - for the sake of feeding the bearers of God's image and the common good (Gen. 2:8-15). From a biblical perspective, work is not a necessary evil. She is the good gift of a sovereign God. To believe that work is a necessary evil is to rebel against God's design. Both work and rest are equally important. Anyone who devotes himself to work will discipline himself in terms of rest in order to be able to do his job effectively. Work is uniquely connected to a purposeful life and has an external focus - i.e. we do something for our family, society; making this world a better place. To work means to devote oneself to the cause of the common good (regardless of whether the work is paid or not). And laziness is a rebellion of the bearers of God’s image against the Creator.
