Even in pre-Christ times, in the Old Testament, it was said: “Do not commit adultery!” That is, this phenomenon has been considered sinful since ancient times; it was not enshrined in the New Testament, as a requirement of Jesus Christ. The Lord only reminds us of the sin of adultery in his sermon when he touches on this topic. His words are very harsh and unambiguous. He calls adulterers not only those who have committed the act of adultery, but also those who are mentally prepared for it. This is how it is described in Matthew 5:58:
“I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Fornication and adultery: what is the difference
The apostles say that all unclean deeds and thoughts should not be mentioned at all in the Holy Scriptures. However, the surrounding depravity extremely dulled the sense of morality, so that even people raised in Christianity began to have premarital sexual relations and divorces.
- The sin of adultery in Orthodoxy is associated, first of all, with adultery and betrayal. By succumbing to carnal temptations, a person destroys his own family. Passion can be regarded as betrayal, because a marriage is always a sacred union. Relationships are destroyed, everything that was built in love for each other is in decline.
- Fornication is different in that people enter into a relationship without being in a marital relationship. A person with all his appearance and behavior shows that he has a strong desire to achieve the goal he has set for himself. Prodigal life forces one to violate moral principles and blinds the mind of the individual, violating the law of chastity.
Adulterous individuals provoke a large number of problems and disasters. Sin destroys homes and breeds strife, and withers love and goodwill. Libertines deprive themselves of a huge amount of benefits and replace them with devilish troubles.
Orthodox priests say that there is no one more shameful than a person who commits vile adultery.
On a note! Those suspected of treason live with difficult emotions. It seems to them that the table is filled with poisons, and the house is shrouded in countless evils. Such people have trouble sleeping, the words of good friends and the light of the bright sun are not pleasant to them. They experience suffering not only when they see their half committing adultery, but also when they think about it.
Spouses must be very close to each other, so it becomes painful for them when a husband or wife finds himself in the unclean and illegal service of another person. People who indulge in fornication are extremely condemned by the people and religion. Adultery carries a greater penalty because the spouses entered into a sacred covenant and swore fidelity to each other.
About family in Orthodoxy:
- Apostle Paul on love
- Responsibilities and Instructions for Husband and Wife
- About contraception in an Orthodox family
Believer at confession
Chastity is about sex life?
Chastity is about a healthy spiritual, mental and physical state, about a holistic personality who knows how to live with God, who knows how to love. Yes, in everyday consciousness this word is often associated only with issues of physical intimacy, but in reality it is a much broader church concept.
The Church recognizes that the state in which we were born and live is a state of sin, the deepest distortion inherited from the fallen Adam. We can get rid of it only through the desire to get closer to God - to the ideal that Christianity offers us. Thus, the Apostle Paul says: For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus
(Phil
2
:5). He means that a person should be like Jesus Christ - contain a reflection of all His qualities. The Church defined such virtues with the word chastity.
At the same time, we need to remember that the union of all virtues is love. That is, chastity is ultimately the ability to love.
What is the basis of this skill?
The first is mental and physical purity.
The second is integrity. The Fall turned everything upside down in man: he ceased to understand God, and his spiritual component was scattered to pieces.
If before the knowledge of sin the spirit dominated in him, then after the knowledge of sin the flesh dominated. The feeling of anger before the Fall was a good feeling - a kind of immunity against sin, and after - it turned on one's neighbor.
The destruction of this hierarchy, natural for man, led to the fact that his feelings, will and mind were separated. The most piercing, most bitter words about this are in the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans: I do not do the good that I want, but I do the evil that I do not want.
(Rome
7
:19).
Achieving integrity lies in the ability to subordinate the carnal to the spiritual. To be chaste in this sense means to put yourself back together again, to cultivate the will - to have the strength to fight sin.
Punishment for adultery
Fornication is the name given to carnal pleasure without causing any harm to another.
The sin of adultery gives rise to slander (lies) and insult to the legal union. As punishment, the church can excommunicate an adulterer from communion with the Holy Mysteries for 15 years. A seven-year sentence is prescribed for a fornicator.
Important! The measure of penance (church punishment) is established depending on the condition of the person who committed the sin.
- The people highly condemn any manifestation of infidelity, so the adulterer will feel unpleasant conversations on the side.
- Those who have fallen into fornication cannot receive communion until they repent.
- Punishment comes from one’s own conscience, which does not allow one to forget the sin for a long time. Purification comes only after the memory of this event is destroyed.
- The consequence of the sin of adultery is the suffering that arises after learning about the betrayal. Spouses have to seek a divorce because saving the marriage is even more difficult.
- Any prodigal sin closes the soul’s gate to the Heavenly abode.
- Adulterers will suffer “the second death in the lake of hell, full of fire and brimstone.
- In the New Testament, the bodies of each person become members of the body of Christ, therefore the sinner brings dishonor to the Son of God and dissolves the original unity. Having lost sacred support, a person surrenders to the power of monstrous demons.
- Fornication and adultery build a metaphysical wall through which prayers and forgiveness filter heavily. If you do not take appropriate measures to heal the soul, there is a possibility of falling away from the Church and God forever.
- They distance themselves from the adulterer and turn away. He is considered an object of shame and contempt, he brings grief to his parents and is the subject of unflattering reviews.
- The sin of adultery in Orthodoxy is capable of destroying not only the physical, but also the spiritual shell. They annul moral laws that are independent of human will.
On a note!
Saint Basil, speaking about adultery, did not distinguish between adultery on the part of the wife and the husband. In both cases, the sins became mortal and required complete repentance. This position did not take root in the Christian tradition for a long time, because in ancient times the wife did not have the status of a full member of society.
Demon of Impurity
Perhaps this is what we can call fornication. “What is it about physical carnal relations outside of marriage? After all, everything is done by mutual consent, without causing harm or damage to anyone...” - some may ask this question.
Well, since the topic is religious, it is worth remembering the meaning of the word “sin”. It means lawlessness. Mayhem. Violation of the laws of spiritual life. And it, as many may know, always leads to trouble and self-destruction. For nothing good is built on mistakes and sins.
If you delve deeper into the study of Holy Scripture, you can find there a very detailed and chaste description of what fornication is. Even if after committing it there are no serious consequences (it is, after all, not murder, not robbery), it is still considered a serious sin. These are the lines that can be found in the sacred source: “Do not be deceived: fornicators will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
This is unless they repent and stop fornication. For them, church rules are strict: they are forbidden to receive communion until they repent and go through penance. The last word denotes punishment, a moral-corrective measure. Moreover, it is very severe and long-lasting. Why does the Church have such an attitude towards people who are mired in fornication?
The meaning of the commandment “thou shalt not commit adultery”
The statements of the Holy Fathers and certain passages from the Gospel have special power against this sin.
- The one who looks at a woman with lust is already committing adultery.
- The children of Israel should not be subjected to this passion, since the heavenly abode does not accept people who are unclean in heart.
- In Orthodoxy, bodies are regarded as a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. It is believed that there is nothing in the material world that belongs to us, therefore sinning at a party is prohibited and unnatural.
- It is necessary to take care of the purity of your body, because the time will come when every Christian will have to give an answer for the life he has lived.
- Adultery is necessarily judged by the Almighty Lord, but a pure marriage and an immaculate bed are permitted by God.
What else influences the violence of the flesh?
Continuing to discuss what fornication is in Orthodoxy, it is worth noting several more reasons why the craving for it increases in many people. They were listed by the church writer Abba Isaiah in the Fatherland (IV-V centuries). In addition to the previously mentioned satiety, he noted:
- Celebration.
- Vanity.
- Long sleep.
- Love in beautiful clothes.
And again, all of the above concerns the satisfaction of one’s own desires and pleasure. Everything must be abandoned. Engage in prayer, replace vanity with the humility of Christ, long sleep with vigil, and replace beautiful clothes with rags. You can't leave anything behind. Because passions hold on to each other like links in a chain.
Causes of adultery and the sin of fornication in Orthodoxy
The most important factor in falling into this dangerous passion is the mental desire for the pleasures of the flesh and a drunken life. The enemy (sin) finds loopholes in the consciousness of a Christian if the latter does not drive away evil and lustful thoughts. A soul that has weakened its control over temptations is approaching an unhappy and disastrous fall.
- The clergy note that those who have already fallen under the power of another passion become adulterers and fornicators. The root of all lust is the acquisition of praise and glory.
- Sinfulness increases when people do not protect their bodies from objects of temptation. Pride and vanity, which are rarely noticed by a person, encourage him to engage in fornication in order to satisfy his own lust.
- The apostles call the cause of fornication (fornication) and adultery satiety. When our body is full, the demon of gluttony leaves and invites the unclean spirit of adultery to come and confuse the mind with dirty thoughts and the body with waste.
- The spirit of drowsiness also torments the unfortunate person enough, because a lazy and drowsy mind is not able to provide full resistance to the severe demon of fornication.
- Often the help of the Almighty withdraws from those who ask, because they slander, reproach and condemn their neighbors. Going against his brothers, a person is left alone and is unable to resist destructive temptations.
- The onslaught of thought is a rapid cause that is almost imperceptible by consciousness. Without words or images, it instantly arouses passion.
About the consequences
They are also worth noting when considering the meaning of the word “fornication.” If we move away from religion, then this would, of course, include sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancy, the emergence of rumors about a person’s dishonesty, moral laxity, etc.
And here is what religious figures, in particular Archpriest Maxim Obukhov, write about this: “The peoples among whom the sin of fornication was widespread quickly disappeared from the face of our land or lost their independence, weakened, and were inferior to other nations. Everything is logical here. A society that is infected with sin ceases to produce great leaders. It becomes a mediocre, homogeneous gray mass.”
What else happened before? Consanguineous marriage. It contradicts the commandments of God and is considered sin, fornication. If children were born from such a marriage, they often had defects and genetic deformities that might not appear in them, but were reflected in their descendants. For incest is a direct path to the degeneration of the race, since its consequence is the accumulation of identical defective genes of common origin.
The Old Testament says: whoever encroaches on such fornication as having a relationship with a blood relative will be handed over to the devil for the destruction of the flesh.
How to atone for lustful sin
Each of the passions is capable of capturing the soul and removing it from communication with the Eternal purity of the Lord. If sins are combined, it becomes difficult to get out of a dangerous situation, therefore the task of every Orthodox Christian is to destroy all the seeds of sinfulness.
- The first thing is to cleanse the recesses of the heart, which will allow you to see God in the soul. He will give instructions and faithful advice that will protect you from the influence of the sin of fornication. Not a single thought can be hidden from the Creator, therefore the desire for fornication or adultery must be destroyed by great shame in the face of the Almighty.
- The clergy teach the laity to be more attentive to feelings and desires. Demons of lustful sinfulness often appear in the form of a useful and good deed. Unclean creatures first darken the mind, and then explain what they need.
- Healing will come when the thought of the opposite sex ceases to arouse passion. To reduce temptation, it is necessary to reduce the time of communication and remove vicious thoughts from yourself. The fire of lust flares up precisely in the movement of thought, and not in the body.
- Since the demonic attack is carried out on the body and soul, one must resist in two ways. Physical fasting alone is not enough; a layman should constantly meditate on the Holy Scriptures, and also occupy his hands with work or handicrafts.
- If a temptation arises before a person, he is obliged to find the reason, internal or external, and eradicate it. Chastity presupposes simplicity in attire and peace of one’s own flesh, which will not allow lustful moods to arise in the mind.
Prayer help:
- Prayer against prodigal warfare
- Prayers to the Holy Venerable Mary of Egypt
- Prayer for the return of the husband to the family from his mistress
But why is chastity dependent on the formal registration of marriage?
Love in the highest sense becomes possible when a person takes full responsibility for his spouse. The brightest experiences—infatuation, falling in love, captivity—grow into true love only when a person says: “Everything that’s yours is now mine—your youth and beauty, old age and illness, all your relatives and all the burdens of your character, all the difficulties of your fate and all possible difficulties in the future - all this will now be mine as well as yours.”
Only after this can a person accept the gift of love from God - real, deep. The key to this Christian love is responsibility. This is why the Church does not solemnize unregistered marriages: registration in the registry office is now evidence of the assumption of this responsibility.
Until a person takes responsibility for his beloved as well as for himself, as long as there is some kind of deceit, he is not ready to accept the gift of Christian marital love, to become a whole person.
Lust
It is worth briefly noting this concept. Not a synonym for the word “fornication,” as many may think, but a related concept. In asceticism it is closely associated with lust. This term does not mean sexual desire, but a distortion of gender relations. The Fall leads to it, associated with the thirst for power, selfishness, and seeing in another person only an object for one’s own satisfaction.
Lust is desire, an unlawful passion that turns a person away from the Lord and corrupts his heart. That which leads to sin and evil. According to the Bible, lust is the most common and dangerous sin, which is so contagious that even cases of its manifestation in the Holy Book are mentioned extremely delicately. You could even say casually. The word “lust” appears only 8 times in the book. They were afraid to use it often, so as not to savor debauchery and not mention it again.
