The church is against tattoos. How the Orthodox Church views tattoos

Are tattoos just fashion or something much more serious? Can a Christian get a tattoo if he really wants to? Archpriest Alexander Avdyugin reflects.

Tattoos in the life of a Christian

Fans of tattoos, seeing my rejection of them, immediately counterattack: they say, look at your Okhlobystin, all painted.

The technique of justification is old, well-known and, sadly, often works. Remember how parents were attacked with a request, where the main argument for fulfilling it was “everyone has it, and I want it.”

Ivan Okhlobystin:

Everyone knows that I led a rather controversial life. My tattoos are related to travel and drinking.

...There was a naked lady here, when I got married, it became uncomfortable. This is laser cut... Oh, if God forbid, they burn me, then now I know what I smell like when I catch fire. The smoke in the room was knee-deep. Colored tattoos are also deep. Then I tattooed the text - “radiation”... But Oksanka and I got this tattoo for our wedding. She has exactly the same one. This is a unicorn, it is a symbol of purity. According to legend, only a virgin can pacify a unicorn. And these runes are in Ireland.

...When I said goodbye to the last motorcycle, I made this skull. I already have too many children to drive on two wheels. And this is one of the tattoos that bikers get that go away forever. This is one of the options - a skull with teeth grew into the ground, took root, and flowers grew from it. And I never got on a motorcycle again. They even offered it to me on the set.

But with tattoos the situation is different, here “I want” is only found in the negative, because any tattoo is an overt connection with paganism and the occult. Pagans made tattoos and cuts on the body either in honor of the dead, or in order to enter a trance during occult sessions. As soon as you want to summon the spirits, you get a tattoo, and to enter into unity with them, you get a tattoo. That is why the Lord warned back in Old Testament: “For the sake of the deceased, do not make cuts on your body and do not write on yourself. I am the Lord"(Leviticus 19:18). Also in Deuteronomy 14:1 “You are the sons of the Lord your God; “You shall not make any cuts on your flesh or cut off the hair above your eyes for the dead.”

So any tattoo, no matter how “harmless” it may be, is an abomination before God. It is with this impartial word that the Lord defines everything that relates to occult practices. Objections that a pinned flower or figurine is harmless in spiritually and they were only made for beauty, absolutely incorrect.

The Lord created the human body perfect. Remember: “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). There is no need to throw down the gauntlet to God with a challenge: “I will do better.” It couldn't be more beautiful. Perfection cannot be improved upon. There have been quite a few similar attempts. The result is sad. Because of these rational proposals for “change and improvement,” our earthly age has become shorter by many years, we live on a polluted earth, and in moral terms we remain in a geometric progression of sin.

In addition to the fact that a tattoo is a pagan symbol, another objective reality is added: its application can seriously change your life, make such changes against your will in your own way of thinking and character that it will be very difficult to correct them.

Konstantin Kinchev:

The skull in the helmet is a warrior who is ready to die for Christ. I would like to survive in difficult times and be closer to this warrior whom I carry on my arm. The tattoos signify the difficult path “Alice” went through. This is the girl Alice and the temptations that she encountered on her way in this fairy-tale world.

Regarding the fact that internal changes should lead to external ones, I can say the following. When I read from Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh that the body is the visible part of the soul, I stopped getting tattoos. Although the temptations to inject myself with something else come upon me with colossal force.

I was once quite skeptical about the story of a priest I knew about a girl who had a beautiful image of a butterfly tattooed on her forearm. The life of a previously quite morally prosperous woman changed dramatically. She turned into an outright harlot. The butterfly has been a symbol of fornication since ancient times.

My skepticism was defeated by my own priestly experience. The young man came to confession and instead of repenting of his sins, he kept complaining that everything was wrong in life in Lately coming. Only his enemies surround him and everyone wishes him harm. We began to figure out when these troubles began. They came to a mutual decision: from then on there were troubles and troubles, like the tattoo he made with satanic symbols.

And another typical example. Not long ago I talked with a man who had visited not so distant places three times and spent a total of eleven years there. The man lamented:

- So, father, I decided to really “give it up”, but how can anyone look at my hands, completely filled with prison signs, and turn away. No smart work, no trust...

Tattoos are a scary thing. We insult God, and we create problems for ourselves that did not exist before.

How is the presence of God in the human heart determined? By external modesty and internal modesty. A tattoo is an escape from modesty, since you are trying to distinguish yourself, and at the same time it is a killer of modesty, because it harms the soul.

And another one characteristic feature tattoos that are so fashionable these days. Having decided to carry out such execution on your own body, you, in addition to the listed sins, are also engaged in self-mutilation. There are a colossal number of examples where tattooing becomes the cause of a wide variety of diseases, including AIDS. Visit a dermatologist and complain about a skin disease. The doctor's first question will be about the tattoo.

I go to church or down the street in a cassock - the girls shyly hide their cigarettes. The presenter on a TV show comes up to me with a question and pulls my short skirt lower. The confessor approaches the lectern and walks sideways so that I don’t see the tattoo on her opposite shoulder.

Why is this happening?

Because it's embarrassing.

So why do something that is shameful, harmful and humiliates you as the image and likeness of God?

Modern culture very often expresses itself by challenging and provoking generally accepted norms. And many traditions, which until recently were unacceptable in society, are now becoming almost the norm and do not cause harsh criticism.

On the other hand, Orthodoxy - orthodox religion, the basic tenets of which have not changed throughout the two millennia of the existence of Christianity. Let's talk today about such a fashionable trend of our time as tattoos. What is the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards tattoos? Is it acceptable Orthodox person do them?

What the Bible Says About Tattoos

We see the main justification for the prohibition of putting an image on oneself in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus: “You shall not make any cuts in your flesh or write marks on yourself.” In the New Testament, in the Revelation of John the Theologian, there is a warning not to put on yourself the marks of the beast, which is also very often compared with tattoos.

The Bible on Tattoos

The essence of the biblical prohibition of images on a person is a reverent attitude towards physical body, as a vessel of an immortal soul. In the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians you can see that the human body is called the temple of God. Such a high comparison excludes a disdainful attitude towards everything physical, preventing it from being desecrated.

According to the same apostle, every believer is a living temple of God. And just as you cannot desecrate temples at your whim, you also cannot change anything given by God at the request of a person. This does not mean at all that the body does not require care; on the contrary, there should be care as a vessel of the soul. But excessively decorating, changing one’s original appearance or features is a sin for a Christian.

Historical and cultural aspects of tattoos

In pre-Christian and early Christian times, tattoos were part of pagan and occult rites. They were applied either as a sign of the dead, or to enter into trance and other states that alter consciousness.

Interesting! With the advent of Christianity, tattoos were used mainly as a mark. They were used to mark, for example, criminals, women of easy virtue, and card swindlers.

The tradition of tattooed branding has been preserved throughout the world for many centuries. Many probably remember how much trouble the lily on the shoulder of Lady Winter, the heroine of A. Dumas’ novel “The Three Musketeers,” brought. To this day, in places of deprivation of liberty there is a whole a complex system prison tattoos, which imprint on a person for life the history of his crimes and serving sentences.

The civilized world learned about tattoos as decoration around the 18th century, when the traveler D. Cook discovered the native settlements of the Tahiti islands. It was there that he saw images on local residents that were purely decorative in nature and were made only for the sake of beauty.

How the Orthodox Church views tattoos

However, the fashion of decorating the body in this way did not meet with much approval from society. Not so long ago, already in the 19th century, the authoritative Italian doctor C. Lambroso considered tattooing as a disorder inherent in people prone to crime.

Only in the middle of the twentieth century did tattoos become a fashionable attribute of young people. People begin to paint themselves at their own discretion, not always investing deep meaning in images. Massive youth subcultures are emerging that actively use tattoos.

As we see, even without taking into account the spiritual influence of tattoos, simply in historical and semantic meaning images on the body have not brought anything good since ancient times.

The most harmless thing - a tribute to fashion - suggests that a person simply does not understand the deeper meaning and influence of tattoos on his life.

Spiritual harm of tattoos

Why is a simple picture on the body so dangerous for a Christian? First of all, desecrating oneself as a vessel of God is a sin. There are already many sinful acts in a person’s life, which often cannot be avoided. So why spoil your soul even more with something you can easily do without?

About sins: Man is a spiritual-physical being. It is impossible to consider physical life separately from the life of the soul, and vice versa. Therefore, any changes to physical level

will definitely affect spiritual life, and vice versa. And drawing images is no exception.

Priests who deal with human destinies every day and listen to confessions often note that people repent of having gotten tattoos. For many of them, when they started wearing the “simple picture,” difficulties and problems began in life, a feeling of abandonment by God and despondency appeared. This is the action of sin, which a person himself allows into his life.

Important! Signs and symbols applied to the body carry with them a certain spiritual load, which a person may not even know about. Thus, neo-pagans and occultists often use runes, hidden pentagrams and other satanic symbols for tattoos. To an outwardly uninitiated person, such a tattoo may seem like just a beautiful graphic design that does not carry any information. But in fact, by applying it to himself, a person allows those forces that are indicated in symbolism to enter his life. Of course for Orthodox Christian

it is unacceptable.

Even if you don’t inject any mystical or magical signs, a tattoo “for beauty” is incompatible with the faith of Christ. The pursuit of fashion, excessive decoration of the body (not only with images, but also with overly pretentious clothing, bright makeup, etc.) - all this distracts a person from Christ and occupies his thoughts with earthly things. The Lord should always come first in the life of a Christian, and concern for the physical and external should remain within reasonable limits.

The attitude of the church towards tattoos

What to do if the tattoo was done a long time ago Since many modern Christians gained faith as adults, we come to church with a lot of baggage of previous sins. And it is not uncommon for a person to come to faith whose lifestyle was previously very distant from. And if a person repents internally of moral sins, external changes sometimes remain visible for the rest of his life.

Of course, if a person realized that at one time he stumbled and got a tattoo in vain, he must definitely repent about it in confession. If there technical feasibility, it is advisable to remove the tattoo, especially if it is an aggressive or angry image.

Repentance implies an obligatory refusal to repeat a sin. Avid tattooists very often fall into a certain kind of addiction to applying more and more new images to their bodies. We must understand that if a person goes to God and repents, he must refuse new tattoos for the rest of his life.

On the attitude of Orthodoxy to other aspects of life:

Some priests who strictly observe church canons may not allow a person with tattoos to take communion for a while. Such a decision by the priest can be caused not only by tattoos, but also by other serious sins.

Advice! In this case, it is important to be sure to resign yourself to this decision of the priest. He can assign some kind of penance - a penitential rule that must be fulfilled. This could be reading some prayers, helping the suffering, working in the temple.

If the penitent accepts such work as from the hands of God, he will feel great spiritual help. After completing the required work, the priest will read a prayer of permission, and the person will be able to begin the Sacraments.

Thus, tattooing a person has never been encouraged culturally or spiritually. The Lord created man in His image and likeness, and we have no right to modify this image. The body must be kept in order, health and neatness, and excessive adornment does not benefit the Christian.

Is it possible to get tattoos - the priest’s answer

Man, according to God's plan, is a two-part being. He has a spiritual immaterial substance - a soul and a material body. The body is also a joint heir of the soul in the Kingdom of God - in the new mountain city of Jerusalem (see Revelation of St. John the Theologian, Chapter 21).

After all, the present death, which separates the soul and body, is not the end. At the Last Judgment, when our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the angels and holy saints, will judge each of us, we will appear before God in the fullness of our nature, that is, not only spiritually - in soul, but also physically. The dead, for example, will be resurrected in such a way that their bodies and members will be collected, the soul will enter into them, and man in his full nature will appear before the Judgment of God (see Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, 37: 1-14). And also mentally and physically, after the final Last Judgment upon him, he will enter for all eternity either hell or heaven.

Therefore, the Church has always treated the body very carefully and reverently as a co-heir of the soul in the eternal future life eighth day. Hence such reverent attitude towards the bodies of the dead in Orthodox rite burial of the dead. That is why the Church has such a negative attitude towards cremation.

Unnatural body decorations are also undesirable: tattoos, piercings, nail polish, makeup and hair dyeing. After all, man is the image and likeness of God. The Lord initially created it as a beautiful self-sufficient microcosm - the entire Universe. Therefore, excessively “modifying” your body is, of course, a dubious practice. It’s as if we don’t trust God and build our own in pride tower of babel, trying to correct the Creator. Such behavior cannot lead to anything good.

This does not preclude caring for your body naturally and treating illnesses such as disabilities.

In addition, often a young guy or girl does not understand the true meaning of tattoos - their historical significance. In the ancient pagan world, where there was no printing technology, tattoos could also be something like a seal or passport. They carried information about a person: belonging to a certain tribe, clan, clan, social status.

There is another subtext here. A modern young man sometimes imagines that a tattoo is a kind of symbol of his personal freedom. But in the pagan world (where its origins come from) it is the exact opposite symbol. There, a tattoo is often a symbol of submission, a sign of belonging to someone or something. This, for example, still happens in closed subcultures such as army units or gangster formations.

Sometimes a person, when applying a tattoo, does not even think about what informational meaning this or that symbol carries. After all, a tattoo is not just a decoration; it often has a philosophical or religious background. And a person running from reality into a fictional dreamy world (where he often tries to “drag” his body, including with the help of tattoos), can, without realizing it, revive neo-paganism, and after it (to name things by their own names) idolatry and service to demons.

This is especially scary for an Orthodox Christian. Since the holy supreme apostle Paul said about us, Orthodox Christians: “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). That is, we are a living church, a temple. Each of us.

An Orthodox Christian has one belonging - to Christ. And the symbol of this has long been pectoral cross on the neck. Such a person is blessed by God and protected by the holy angel. But for a tattooed person everything can be diametrically opposite. Those who have put openly pagan tattoos on their bodies, of course, should confess this sin, and the Lord will certainly forgive them and restore the lost spiritual-physical harmony.

Priest Andrey Chizhenko
Orthodox Life

Is it possible to get tattoos on the body?

Question:

In the Old Testament there is a place where it is said about the prohibition of applying images and inscriptions to the body (in the book of Leviticus). Can this passage be related to the current tattoo? That is, is it a sin? And are there other places in the Bible that talk about this?

Priest Afanasy Gumerov answers:

“For the sake of the deceased, do not make cuts on your body and do not write on yourself. I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:28). This prohibition is repeated twice more: Lev.21:5; Deut.14:1. In the above verse, it is indeed forbidden to apply images to the body by pricking or rubbing paint, as was common among pagan peoples. The attitude towards the body in the inspired Old Testament religion is fundamentally different from paganism. The wonderful connection of body, soul and spirit forms one human being, created in the image of God.

Virtues bring benefit not only to the soul, but also to the body: “A gentle heart is life for the body, but envy is rottenness for the bones” (Proverbs 14:30). Human body testifies to the wisdom and omnipotence of the Creator. The Bible speaks about the damage of human nature by sin, but does not express a single disparaging word about the body, as a creation of God. Plato called the body “the prison of the soul,” and St. the apostle Paul speaks of “the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). Therefore, the Mosaic Law prohibited the adoption of pagan customs. Special mutilation of the body created by God is an insult to God. “For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20).

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Tattoos of a religious nature are perceived quite ambiguously by the Holy Scriptures, as well as by believers. However, you can often find images that are directly related to Christianity. For example, the face of Jesus Christ, crosses, prayers, references to the Bible. Moreover, this kind of tattoo is not always done by religiously minded people. Often they can be found on the skin of prisoners, and they are not always tattooed as a tribute.

Christianity as a world religion

Christianity is rightfully one of the most widespread religions. It is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, which are recorded in the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, the identity of the author of the Bible is considered historical. In terms of area of ​​distribution and number of believers, Christianity is considered the largest world religion. There are three branches: Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Christianity owes its birth to Palestine. However, for the first time it was officially accepted as a state religion in Greater Armenia.

Face of Jesus in chest - Christian tattoo

Christianity is a monotheistic religion. It contains the image of a single Creator. It is mentioned that there are three hypostases of God: God the father, God the son and the Holy Spirit. Christian tattoos, photos of which are publicly available, can depict Jesus Christ. His image is quite popular among Christians who want to get a tattoo.

Christian tattoo: cross inscription on the forearm

The attitude of the clergy to tattoos

Many religions have an extremely negative attitude towards any tattoos. For a number of reasons, the clergy does not accept body painting. It should be noted that there are not many references to tattoos in the Bible. This is due to the fact that mainly pagans were engaged in decorating the body with the help of painting. This is the main argument of the clergy.

Christian praying tattoo on shoulder

Did you know? Islam also has an extremely negative attitude towards the appearance of tattoos among believers. One explanation is based on the fact that the image of Allah should not be mentioned in restrooms. Therefore, if you have jewelry with the name of the Almighty on your body, you must remove it. It is clear that it is more difficult to wash off the drawing from the body. Christian tattoos, the meaning of which everyone chooses for themselves, are also not particularly encouraged by the church.

Christian tattoo: cross and praying hands

Why doesn't the church welcome tattoos?

There are several options why, according to the Bible, Christian tattoos are prohibited. Sketches can be found on the Internet, but first it is better to familiarize yourself with the opinion of the clergy:

• A reference to the book of Leviticus. To paraphrase it, we can say that God was against decorating his body as a sign of grief for the dead. The reason for this prohibition may be the time in which the Holy Books were written. For example, many pagan tribes did not hesitate to decorate their bodies with paint and tattoos. Sometimes, as a sign of grief, barbarians could harm themselves, make cuts and wounds. In order not to be like them in other ways, one cannot follow them in this tradition;
• Adorning oneself is also disgusting to a true Christian. After all, God created man exactly this way, in his own image and likeness. Therefore, trying to make changes that are difficult to reverse is blasphemy. At the same time, the majority get a tattoo precisely because they are dissatisfied with their appearance. Or the owner of the image wants to attract someone’s attention, which also contradicts the very foundations of Christianity.

Patterned cross - Christian tattoo

Tattoo options

The reasons listed above do not indicate that a person who decided to get a tattoo as a sign of his sincere attitude towards faith is a sinner. There are no direct prohibitions on decorating yourself with drawings. Therefore, Christian tattoos are quite popular. All possible variations of crosses are considered one of the most common tattoos on religious themes. Moreover, it can carry a number of meanings:

• Designation of attitude towards a specific religion;
• The desire to always have a cross with you;
• Symbol of goodness and altruism;
• Protection from evil forces. Previously, it was believed that the place where the cross is located was protected from enemy wounds.

Other options not related to Christianity are quite varied. For example, a cross can mean the collapse of hopes, or serve as a reminder of a completed task. But the main symbol of the cross - honor, valor, strength. A person who chooses from a variety of sketches the one in which a cross is present either possesses these qualities or wants to develop them in himself.

Crucified Jesus Christ - Christian tattoo

As a sign of faith I have a small tattoo of Orthodox cross on the wrist . I know that I am not exactly the standard of religiosity, I often sin, and God hardly has a positive attitude towards tattoos. But it's easier for me. The tattoo is small, not pretentious, very modest.

Maria, Nizhny Novgorod.

Christian tattoo with praying hands and cross

Places for tattoos

This type of tattoo is best applied to the area above the waist. It is also not recommended to print images in the intimate area. The image of Jesus, quotes from the Bible, scenes from the Scriptures can take up a lot of space, so they are preferred to be applied to the back, chest area, and forearm. Small tattoos can be easily placed almost anywhere. For example, many girls like to get a tattoo on their wrist or neck.

Did you know? Tattoos depicting Jesus and crosses are very popular among prisoners. In some cases, this is a reference to the fact that they have really taken the path of correction, repent of the past, and want to return to the world as new people. However, there is also a category of offensive tattoos. In them, divine images are what the prisoner ridicules. This means that the power of God means nothing to him.

Nun with a cross in her hands - Christian tattoo

This kind of tattoo requires a special manner of sketching. For example, they are made black and white, or in several soft colors. Laconic sketches are also selected.

My tattoo shows a cross. Large, massive, antique-style. It is located directly under the left breast Average rating: 5 out of 5.

About tattoos and Orthodoxy. The Bible clearly prohibits this:

“For the sake of the deceased, do not make any cuts on your body, and do not write on yourself. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:28); “You are the sons of the Lord your God; You shall not make any cuts on your body, or cut off the hair above your eyes for the dead; For you are a holy people to the Lord” (Deuteronomy 14:1-2).

God repeated this commandment for the priesthood: “

And the Lord said to Moses: Proclaim to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ... They shall not shave their heads, nor trim the edges of their beard, nor make cuts on their flesh” (Leviticus 21: 1,5). It is very important that the prohibition is accompanied by a reference to the fact that their God is Lord. That is, to the first commandment of the Law:

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2-3).

tattoo throughout human history played a different role. In the ancient world, where one person could become the property of another, a tattoo, for example, served as a mark. A tattoo reduced a person to the level of an animal: cattle wear the owner’s brand, and a slave wears a tattoo with the name of his owner.

However, in the pagan world, the basis of the meaning of a tattoo was an appeal to spirits (that is, as we Christians know, to demons). Through an image on the body (sacred signs), a person calls the spirit he worships into his life.

Tattoos are rejected by the Church precisely because of their mystical significance. Through a tattoo, a person communicates with unclean and evil spirits, but not with God. The nature of a tattoo is inevitably cultic and magical.

Of course, today tattoos are not done as some kind of mystical ritual, but rather for the sake of fashion or tradition. But this very action - applying a tattoo - is deeply pagan... Therefore, it is not strange that tattoos negatively affect a person’s life.

Stories about tattoos and Orthodoxy

Thus, journalist Svetlana KUZINA, in her article “Fatal Tattoos,” after talking with tattoo removal specialist Konstantin Avramenko, gave many examples of this: Alexey Voronin from Odintsovo wrote to us in the newspaper: “My beloved girl was a quiet, kind angel. We lived with her in perfect harmony for two years, and even planned to get married. And then one day in the salon she got a tattoo on her buttock - a devil with a dagger. And her character suddenly changed dramatically. She began to quarrel over trifles, to be jealous and became angry with her tongue. It was as if this little devil was stabbing her in the ass with a knife. As a result, we separated. Can a tattoo really change a person?

“Maybe,” assures Konstantin Avramenko, “Tattoos change the lives of people - those who, through thoughtlessness, got a tattoo of dubious content.” I was convinced from my own experience.
Konstantin Avramenko, an optical physicist by training, has been removing tattoos from the skin of his clients for several years. He said that tattoos sometimes change people’s character and literally attract trouble. But the fashion for these “decorations”, unfortunately, does not go away. Patients usually tell Konstantin why they decided to get rid of their tattoo.

DAEMON.

— A girl came to me with Chinese character. Also on the butt,” says Avramenko.
“She cried and begged to erase the tattoo immediately. According to her, misfortunes rained down on her immediately after drawing. Within a year she lost her job, gave birth dead child and her husband left her. And the last straw, which almost led her to suicide, was the gang rape by drunken teenagers. I recovered a little and ran to remove my tattoo, which, as I found out, meant the word “demon”. Now everything in her life is settled.

PATROMAN AND SPIDER.

— I had a former paratrooper with a complex tattoo: airplanes, wings, a parachute and the Grim Reaper. He begged me to erase the drawing of death for any money. I, he says, am a realist and never believed in magic. But when I started walking around with this tattoo, luck seemed to turn its back on me.

GUARD AND THE NUMBER "13".

— Twenty years ago, a 40-year-old security guard at a bank on Arbat got a tattoo on his little finger - the number “13”. And all these years, according to him, “bad luck” haunted him. At first, the mother became seriously ill, and in order to pay for treatment, she had to sell the dacha. Then he got into a car accident, for which he had to pay with an apartment. The daughter became a drug addict. The family fell apart.
When I erased the tattoo, everything changed in his life... He met the woman he loved, and he inherited a luxurious dacha from his deceased grandfather. Now the number “13” is still visible a little. Recently he called me and asked: come and finish, maybe life will change even better?

GIRL AND BUTTERFLY.

— A 16-year-old girl made herself a tattoo on her back - a beautiful colored butterfly. Since then, the main thing in her life was to meet a new boy every evening. After school, she did not go to college, but ran around nightclubs. Young people treated her without respect. And she didn’t get out of other people’s beds.
Her boyfriend said nasty things to her and started dating her friend. Someone advised her to get rid of the tattoo by sending her to me. I explained to her that according to old beliefs, a butterfly is a sign of a prostitute. After the tattoo was removed, her boyfriend returned to her, and a month ago they got married. Now she is expecting a child.

THE BOY AND DEATH.

“Recently I was asked to come to the 1st City Hospital to remove the tattoo of a 15-year-old boy lying in a coma,” recalls Konstantin. “I was very surprised: is it really impossible to wait until he comes to his senses?” It turned out that his parents insisted on my arrival, who only in the hospital saw a terrible inscription on their son’s right shoulder: “Live quickly die young” (in Russian, “Live quickly, die young”).
It turns out that the parents sent the boy to Cyprus on vacation. There he got a tattoo. After which he seemed to break loose. In two months, he managed to drop out of school, get caught by the police several times for hooliganism, and contract a venereal disease. And then he took his father’s car and crashed into a pole at a speed of 120 km per hour. The airbag saved the day. But he broke his pelvis and hip.

“I was afraid to erase the entire inscription,” continues Avramenko, “what if complications arise?” I decided to display only the word “DIE” (die), which changes the meaning. And then something strange happened. The guy was lying unconscious. And I also administered local anesthesia. He began to erase the tattoo, and the guy in a coma (!) suddenly began to move his shoulder away, and with his other hand tried to push the device away.
The pulse rose to 138 beats. I doubled the dose - the boy still felt everything. Three nurses and the manager who were present intensive care unit They were shocked just like me. The impression is as if Satan himself possessed him and did not allow him to get rid of the fatal words. When I removed the tattoo, the pulse dropped to normal, and the boy recovered very quickly.

Tattoos and Orthodoxy Continued

“I think that you shouldn’t get tattoos,” Avramenko sums up. “It’s not for nothing that there is a prohibition in the Gospel: “Do not decorate your bodies with drawings and writings.”
“It’s easy to make a tattoo,” says Konstantin. “It’s much more difficult to get rid of it.” Unfortunately, people have no idea what they will have to face. What torment to endure... It is necessary here surgical intervention. Most ancient way- cut off a piece of skin with a knife or scalpel.

Plastic surgeons for tattoo removal large area takes several years. The time can be reduced by transplanting skin into place of the cut area, for example, from the back or buttocks. But then there will be wounds in two places. They are trying to remove tattoos with a laser. It burns through tissue to a considerable depth. They die off. Scars appear at this place. Why am I telling all this? And so that you think ten times before getting a tattoo.

On the website Kulturolog.ru, in an article about tattoos, an analysis of this phenomenon is given.

For example, it is obvious that the owner of a tattoo provokes others to pay attention to it. This gives you a feeling of self-worth. Any tattoo attracts attention, but we need to be more specific - attention to what? First of all, to the body... A tattoo by its nature is a confession of physicality. A person who has a tattoo, one might say, professes a cult of his body... Of course, such an escape into the external is a sign of spiritual weakness.

Mystical component. Tattoos and Orthodoxy

A tattoo can change a person's life. To understand this, it is not necessary to turn to mysticism. Having made a conscious act of applying a tattoo to one’s body, having accepted some sign as defining oneself, and often having thereby challenged the people around one, a person can no longer remain the same. And this change does not bring a person either peace or peace in his soul. A tattoo works like an anchor, psychoanalytically speaking. It constantly reminds its wearer of the choice he made, spurring the corresponding emotions. You can't gouge out a wolf without acquiring some wolf stuff. Naturally, the habits of a real wolf have nothing to do with it, we are talking about the image of the beast as we imagine it.

In general, man is a symbolic being, and the world that we perceive and understand is, to a lesser extent, the physical world.

Behind every physical object, behind every thing there is a tradition of understanding, symbols and signs that we do not even always notice. Many signs influence us through the subconscious.
Sometimes we underestimate the power of a sign, but a tattoo is by no means such a case. Just don’t succumb to the commercial advertising of tattoo parlors, which are in a hurry to present tattoos as a kind of fashionable decoration. It is not profitable for tattooists to say serious things. But those who take tattoos seriously know its symbolic power.

That’s why you shouldn’t pin up drawings that may seem innocent at first glance. Even an image of a butterfly tattooed on the body, as shown in the example above, can lead to negative consequences in life.

Tattoos and Orthodoxy. Continuation.
Also, among the signs used in tattoos, there are many, including those whose magical nature is not obvious. But it is there; such as, for example, hieroglyphs or runes. Magic signs since ancient times used for various pagan rituals, in which blood and sacrifice were usually necessary. Tattooing is not done without blood; the person on whose body it is done acts as a victim.

The sign, the sacrifice and the blood are all there, which turns tattooing into a pagan ritual.

Tattoos and Orthodoxy. Conclusion.
Modern consciousness considers such rituals to be toothless archaic, but human psychology has not changed much. In the past, such rituals were used to establish the power of one person over another. There is reason to believe that even today a tattoo can be used as one of the techniques of zombification, that is, the subordination of a person to someone else’s will. It remains only to say that the will can be not only human, but also demonic. Therefore, religious consciousness clearly defines a tattoo as an appeal to demons... It is impossible to turn to God without breaking with demons...