What are the Ten Commandments? Orthodox parish of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Kamyshin, Volgograd diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church - Ten Commandments

1. I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods besides Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, that is on the earth below, or that is in the waters below the earth; do not worship or serve them.
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. Remember the day of rest, to keep it holy; work for six days and do all your work in them, and the seventh day is a day of rest - it will be dedicated to the Lord your God.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that it will be good for you and that you may live long on earth.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, and thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant... nor anything that belongs to thy neighbor.

An explanation of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament.

God gave the Ten Old Testament Commandments (Decalogue) on Mount Sinai through Moses to the Jewish people when he was returning from Egypt to the land of Canaan, on two stone tablets (or tablets). The first four commandments contain the duties of love for God, the last six contain the duties of love for one's neighbor (i.e., all people).

Every true Christian needs to know the Ten Commandments of God's Law and check his life by them every day. If during the day we have not done anything contrary to the commandments of God, then we should thank God and pray to Him to give us strength not to sin in the future; If it turns out that we have violated the commandments in some way, then we should bring sincere repentance to the Lord and pray to Him for forgiveness of our sins.

The first commandment of the Old Testament:

“I am the Lord your God; let you have no other Gods besides Me.”

With the first commandment, the Lord God points man to Himself and inspires us to honor Him as the only true God, and besides Him, we should not give Divine veneration to anyone. With the first commandment, God teaches us correct knowledge of God and correct worship of God.
Knowing God means knowing God correctly. Knowledge of God is the most important of all knowledge. This is our first and most important duty.
To acquire the knowledge of God we must:
1. Read and study the Holy Scriptures (and children: the book of God’s Law).
2. Visit regularly God's temple, delve into the content of church services and listen to the priest’s sermon.
3. Think about God and the purpose of our earthly life.
Worship of God means that in all our actions we must express our faith in God, hope for His help and love for Him as our Creator and Savior.
When we go to church, pray at home, observe fasts and worship church holidays, we obey our parents, help them in any way we can, study hard and do our homework, when we are quiet, do not quarrel, when we help our neighbors, when we constantly think about God and are aware of His presence with us, then we truly honor God , that is, we express our worship of God.
Thus, the first commandment to a certain extent contains the remaining commandments. Or the remaining commandments explain how to fulfill the first commandment.
Sins against the first commandment are:
Atheism (atheism) - when a person denies the existence of God (for example: communists).
Polytheism: veneration of many gods or idols (wild tribes of Africa, South America, etc.).
Unbelief: doubt about Divine help.
Heresy: a distortion of the faith that God gave us. There are many sects in the world whose teachings were invented by people.
Apostasy: renunciation of faith in God or Christianity due to fear or hopes of receiving a reward.
Despair is when people, forgetting that God arranges everything for the better, begin to grumble dissatisfiedly or even attempt to commit suicide.
Superstition: belief in various signs, stars, fortune telling.

The second commandment of the Old Testament:

“You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, that is on the earth below, or that is in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down or serve them.”

Jews revere the golden calf, which they themselves made.
This commandment was written when people were very inclined to revere various idols and deify the forces of nature: the sun, stars, fire, etc. Idol worshipers built idols for themselves representing their false gods and worshiped these idols.
These days such gross idolatry is almost non-existent in developed countries.
However, if people give all their time and energy, all their worries to something earthly, forgetting family and even God, such behavior is also a kind of idolatry, which is prohibited by this commandment.
Idolatry is excessive attachment to money and wealth. Idolatry is constant gluttony, i.e. when a person only thinks about this, and does only that, to eat a lot and tasty. Drug addiction and drunkenness also fall under this sin of idolatry. Proud people who always want to be the center of attention, want everyone to honor them and obey them unquestioningly also violate the second commandment.
At the same time, the second commandment does not prohibit the correct veneration of the Holy Cross and holy icons. It does not prohibit it because, by honoring a cross or an icon where the true God is depicted, a person gives honor not to the wood or paint from which these objects are made, but to Jesus Christ or the saints who are depicted on them.
Icons remind us of God, icons help us pray, because our soul is structured in such a way that what we look at is what we think about.
While we honor the saints depicted on icons, we do not give them the same veneration as equal to God, and we pray to them as our patrons and prayer books before God. Saints are our older brothers. They see our difficulties, see our weakness and inexperience and help us.
God Himself shows us that He does not prohibit the correct veneration of holy icons; on the contrary, God shows help to people through holy icons. There are many miraculous icons, for example: the Kursk Mother of God, weeping icons in different parts of the world, many updated icons in Russia, China and other countries.
IN Old Testament God Himself commanded Moses to make golden images of cherubim (Angels) and place these images on the lid of the Ark, where the tablets with the commandments written on them were kept.
Images of the Savior have been revered in the Christian Church since ancient times. One of these images is the image of the Savior, called “Not Made by Hands.” Jesus Christ put a towel to his face, and the image of the Savior’s face miraculously remained on this towel. The sick king Abgar, as soon as he touched this towel, was healed of leprosy.

The third commandment of the Old Testament:

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

The third commandment is forbidden to pronounce the name of God in vain, without due reverence. The name of God is pronounced in vain when it is used in empty conversations, jokes, and games.
This commandment generally prohibits a frivolous and irreverent attitude toward the name of God.
Sins against this commandment are:
Bozhba: frivolous use of an oath with the mention of the name of God in ordinary conversations.
Blasphemy: bold words against God.
Blasphemy: disrespectful treatment of sacred objects.
It is also prohibited here to break vows - promises made to God.
The Name of God should be pronounced with fear and reverence only in prayer or when studying the Holy Scriptures.
We must avoid distraction in prayer in every possible way. To do this, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the prayers that we say at home or in church. Before saying a prayer, we must calm down even a little, think that we are going to talk with the eternal and omnipotent Lord God, before whom even the angels stand in awe; and finally, say our prayers slowly, trying to ensure that our prayer is sincere - coming straight from our mind and heart. Such reverent prayer pleases God, and the Lord, according to our faith, will give us the benefits that we ask.

The fourth commandment of the Old Testament:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall work and do all your work in them, but the seventh day is a day of rest, dedicated to the Lord your God."

The word "Sabbath" in Hebrew means rest. This day of the week was called this because on this day it was forbidden to work or engage in everyday affairs.
With the fourth commandment, the Lord God commands us to work and attend to our duties for six days, and to devote the seventh day to God, i.e. on the seventh day to perform holy and pleasing deeds to Him.
Holy and pleasing to God deeds are: caring for the salvation of one’s soul, prayer in the temple of God and at home, studying the Holy Scriptures and the Law of God, thinking about God and the purpose of one’s life, pious conversations about the objects of the Christian faith, helping the poor, visiting the sick and others good works.
In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was celebrated in memory of the end of God's creation of the world. In the New Testament from the time of St. The apostles began to celebrate the first day after Saturday, Sunday - in remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ.
On Sunday, Christians gathered for prayer. They read the Holy Scriptures, sang psalms and received communion at the liturgy. Unfortunately, now many Christians are not as zealous as in the first centuries of Christianity, and many have become less likely to receive communion. However, we must never forget that Sunday should belong to God.
Those who are lazy and do not work or do not fulfill their duties on weekdays violate the fourth commandment. Those who continue to work on Sundays and do not go to church violate this commandment. This commandment is also violated by those who, although they do not work, spend Sunday in nothing but fun and games, without thinking about God, about good deeds and about the salvation of your soul.
In addition to Sundays, Christians dedicate to God some other days of the year on which the Church celebrates great events. These are the so-called church holidays.
Our greatest holiday is Easter - the day of the Resurrection of Christ. It is "the celebration of celebrations and the celebration of celebrations."
There are 12 great holidays, called the twelve. Some of them are dedicated to God and are called the Lord's feasts, others of them are dedicated to the Mother of God and are called the Theotokos feasts.
The Lord's holidays: (1) Nativity of Christ, (2) Baptism of the Lord, (3) Presentation of the Lord, (4) Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, (5) Resurrection of Christ, (6) Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (Trinity), (7) Transfiguration of the Lord and (8) Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. Theotokos feasts: (1) Nativity of the Mother of God, (2) Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, (3) Annunciation and (4) Dormition of the Mother of God.

The fifth commandment of the Old Testament:

“Honor your father and your mother, so that it may go well with you and may you live long on earth.”

With the fifth commandment, the Lord God commands us to honor our parents and for this he promises a prosperous and long life.
To honor parents means: to love them, to be respectful to them, not to insult them either by words or deeds, to obey them, to help them in daily labors, to take care of them when they are in need, and especially during their illness and old age, also pray to God for them both during their life and after death.
The sin of disrespect for parents is a great sin. In the Old Testament, anyone who spoke bad words to their father or mother was punished by death.
Along with our parents, we must honor those who in some respect replace our parents. Such persons include: bishops and priests who care about our salvation; civil authorities: the president of the country, the governor of the state, the police and everyone in general from those who have the responsibility to maintain order and normal life in the country. Therefore, we also need to honor teachers and all people older than us who have experience in life and can give us good advice.
Those who sin against this commandment are those who do not respect elders, especially old people, who are distrustful of their comments and instructions, considering them “backward” people and their concepts “outdated.” God said: “Rise up before the face of the gray-haired man and honor the face of the old man” (Lev. 19:32).
When a younger person meets an older one, the younger one should say hello first. When the teacher enters the classroom, students must stand up. If an elderly person or a woman with a child enters a bus or train, the young person must stand up and give up his seat. When a blind person wants to cross the street, you need to help him.
Only when elders or superiors require us to do something against our faith and law should we not obey them. God's law and obedience to God are the supreme law for all people.
In totalitarian countries, leaders sometimes make laws and give orders that are contrary to God's Law. Sometimes they demand that a Christian renounce his faith or do something against his faith. A Christian in this case must be ready to suffer for his faith and for the name of Christ. God promises eternal bliss in the Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for these sufferings. “He who endures to the end will be saved...Whoever gives his life for Me and for the Gospel will find it again” (Matt. 10th chapter).

The sixth commandment of the Old Testament:

"Don't kill."

The sixth commandment of the Lord God prohibits murder, i.e. taking life from other people, as well as from oneself (suicide) in any way.
Life is the greatest gift of God, therefore no one has the right to take this gift away.
Suicide is the most terrible sin because this sin consists of despair and murmuring against God. And besides, after death there is no opportunity to repent and make amends for your sin. A suicide condemns his soul to eternal torment in hell. In order not to despair, we must always remember that God loves us. He is our Father, He sees our difficulties and has enough strength to help us even in the most difficult situation. God, according to His wise plans, sometimes allows us to suffer from illness or some kind of trouble. But we must firmly know that God arranges everything for the better, and He turns the sorrows that befall us to our benefit and salvation.
Unjust judges violate the sixth commandment if they condemn a defendant whose innocence they know. Anyone who helps others commit murder or helps a murderer escape punishment also violates this commandment. This commandment is also violated by the one who did nothing to save his neighbor from death, when he could well have done so. Also the one who exhausts his workers with hard work and cruel punishments and thereby hastens their death.
The one who wishes the death of another person also sins against the sixth commandment, hates his neighbors and causes them grief with his anger and words.
Besides physical murder, there is another terrible murder: spiritual murder. When a person tempts another to sin, he spiritually kills his neighbor, because sin is death for the eternal soul. Therefore, all those who distribute drugs, seductive magazines and films, who teach others how to do evil, or who set a bad example, violate the sixth commandment. Those who spread atheism, unbelief, witchcraft and superstition among people also violate this commandment; Those who sin are those who preach various exotic beliefs that contradict Christian teaching.
Unfortunately, in some exceptional cases it is necessary to allow murder to stop an inevitable evil. For example, if the enemy attacked a peaceful country, warriors must defend their homeland and their families. In this case, the warrior not only kills out of necessity to save his loved ones, but also puts his life in danger and sacrifices himself to save his loved ones.
Also, judges sometimes have to condemn incorrigible criminals to death in order to save society from their further crimes against people.

The Seventh Commandment of the Old Testament:

"Thou shalt not commit adultery."

By the seventh commandment, the Lord God prohibits adultery and all illegal and unclean relationships.
The married husband and wife made a promise to live together all their lives and share both joys and sorrows together. Therefore, with this commandment God forbids divorce. If the husband and wife different characters and tastes, they must make every effort to smooth out their differences and put family unity above personal gain. Divorce is not only a violation of the seventh commandment, but also a crime against children, who are left without a family and after a divorce are often forced to live in conditions alien to them.
God commands unmarried people to maintain purity of thoughts and desires. We must avoid everything that can arouse unclean feelings in the heart: bad words, immodest jokes, shameless jokes and songs, violent and exciting music and dances. Seductive magazines and films should be avoided, as well as reading immoral books.
The Word of God commands us to keep our bodies clean, because our bodies “are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit.”
The most terrible sin against this commandment is unnatural relations with persons of the same sex. Nowadays, they even register a kind of “families” between men or between women. Such people often die from incurable and terrible diseases. For this terrible sin, God completely destroyed the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the Bible tells us about (chapter 19).

Eighth Commandment of the Old Testament:

"Don't steal."

By the eighth commandment, God prohibits theft, that is, the appropriation in any way of what belongs to others.
Sins against this commandment can be:
Deception (i.e. appropriation of someone else's thing by cunning), for example: when they evade paying a debt, hide what they found without looking for the owner of the found thing; when they weigh you down during a sale or give the wrong change; when they do not give the worker the required wages.
Theft is the theft of someone else's property.
Robbery is the taking of someone else's property by force or with a weapon.
This commandment is also violated by those who take bribes, that is, take money for what they should have done as part of their duties. Those who violate this commandment are those who pretend to be sick in order to receive money without working. Also, those who work dishonestly do things for show in front of their superiors, and when they are not there, they do nothing.
With this commandment, God teaches us to work honestly, to be satisfied with what we have, and not to strive for great wealth.
A Christian should be merciful: donate part of his money to the church and poor people. Everything that a person has in this life does not belong to him forever, but is given to him by God for temporary use. Therefore, we need to share with others what we have.

The ninth commandment of the Old Testament:

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against another.”

By the ninth commandment, the Lord God forbids telling lies about another person and forbids all lies in general.
The ninth commandment is broken by those who:
Gossiping - retelling to others the shortcomings of his acquaintances.
Slanders - deliberately tells lies about other people with the aim of harming them.
Condemns - makes a strict assessment of a person, classifying him as a bad person. The Gospel does not forbid us to evaluate actions themselves in terms of how good or bad they are. We must distinguish evil from good, we must distance ourselves from all sin and injustice. But we should not take on the role of a judge and say that such and such our acquaintance is a drunkard, or a thief, or a dissolute person, and so on. By this we condemn not so much evil as the person himself. This right to condemn belongs only to God. Very often we see only external actions, but do not know about a person’s mood. Often sinners themselves are then burdened by their shortcomings, ask God for forgiveness of sins, and with God’s help overcome their shortcomings.
The ninth commandment teaches us to bridle our tongue and watch what we say. Most of our sins come from unnecessary words, from idle talk. The Savior said that man would have to give an answer to God for every word he spoke.

Tenth Commandment of the Old Testament:

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor his field... nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

With the tenth commandment, the Lord God forbids not only doing anything bad to others, neighbors around us, but also prohibits bad desires and even bad thoughts in relation to them.
The sin against this commandment is called envy.
Anyone who envyes, who in his thoughts desires what belongs to others, can easily lead from bad thoughts and desires to bad deeds.
But envy itself defiles the soul, making it unclean before God. The Holy Scripture says: “Evil thoughts are an abomination to God” (Prov. 15:26).
One of the main tasks of a true Christian is to cleanse his soul from all internal impurity.
To avoid sin against the tenth commandment, it is necessary to keep the heart pure from any excessive attachment to earthly objects. We must be content with what we have and thank God.
Students in school should not be jealous of other students when others are doing very well and doing well. Everyone should try to study as best as possible and attribute their success not only to themselves, but to the Lord, who gave us reason, the opportunity to learn and everything necessary for the development of abilities. A true Christian rejoices when he sees others succeed.
If we sincerely ask God, He will help us become true Christians.

People who are far from the Church and have no experience of spiritual life often see in Christianity only prohibitions and restrictions. This is a very primitive view.

In Orthodoxy everything is harmonious and natural. The spiritual world, as well as the physical world, has its own laws, which, like the laws of nature, cannot be violated; this will lead to great damage and even disaster. Both physical and spiritual laws are given by God Himself. We constantly encounter warnings, restrictions and prohibitions in our daily lives, and not a single normal person would say that all these regulations are unnecessary and unreasonable. The laws of physics contain many dire warnings, as do the laws of chemistry. There is a well-known school saying: “First water, then acid, otherwise big trouble will happen!” We go to work - they have their own safety rules, you need to know and follow them. We go out into the street, get behind the wheel - we must follow the rules of the road, which contain a lot of prohibitions. And so it is everywhere, in every area of life.

Freedom is not permissiveness, but the right to choose: a person can make the wrong choice and suffer greatly. The Lord gives us great freedom, but at the same time warns of dangers on the path of life. As the Apostle Paul says: Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial(1 Cor 10:23). If a person ignores spiritual laws, lives as he wants, regardless of moral standards or the people around him, he loses his freedom, damages his soul and causes great harm to himself and others. Sin is a violation of very subtle and strict laws of spiritual nature; it primarily harms the sinner himself.

God wants people to be happy, to love Him, to love each other and not to harm themselves and others, therefore He gave us commandments. They express spiritual laws, they teach how to live and build relationships with God and people. Just as parents warn their children about danger and teach them about life, so our Heavenly Father gives us the necessary instructions. The commandments were given to people back in the Old Testament, we talked about this in the section on Old Testament biblical history. New Testament people, Christians, are required to keep the Ten Commandments. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill(Mt 5:17) says the Lord Jesus Christ.

The main law of the spiritual world is the law of love for God and people.

All ten commandments say this. They were given to Moses in the form of two stone slabs - tablets, on one of which the first four commandments were written, speaking about love for the Lord, and on the second - the remaining six. They talk about attitude towards neighbors. When our Lord Jesus Christ was asked: What is the greatest commandment in the law?- He replied: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; the second is similar to it: love your neighbor as yourself; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets(Mt 22:36-40).

What does it mean? What if a person really achieved true love to God and his neighbors, he cannot break any of the Ten Commandments, because they all talk about love for God and people. And we must strive for this perfect love.

Let's consider ten commandments of God's law:

I am the Lord your God; Let you have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; do not worship them or serve them.
Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; Six days you shall work and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days on earth may be long.
Don't kill.
Don't commit adultery.
Don't steal.
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

First commandment

I am the Lord your God; Let you have no other gods before Me.

The Lord is the Creator of the Universe and the spiritual world. He is the First Cause of everything that exists. Our entire beautiful, harmonious and very complex world could not have arisen by itself. Behind all this beauty and harmony is the Creative Mind. To believe that everything that exists arose on its own, without God, is nothing less than madness. The madman said in his heart: “There is no God”(Ps 13:1), says the prophet David. God is not only the Creator, but also our Father. He cares and provides for people and everything created by Him; without His care the world could not exist.

God is the Source of all good things, and man must strive for Him, for only in God does he receive life. We need to conform all our actions and actions to the will of God: whether they will be pleasing to God or not. So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). The main means of communication with God are prayer and the Holy Sacraments, in which we receive the grace of God, Divine energy.

Let us repeat: God wants people to glorify Him correctly, that is, Orthodoxy.

For us there can be only one God, glorified in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we, Orthodox Christians, cannot have other gods.

Sins against the first commandment are:

atheism (denial of God);
lack of faith, doubt, superstition, when people mix faith with unbelief or all kinds of signs and other remnants of paganism; those who say: “I have God in my soul” also sin against the first commandment, but do not go to church and do not approach the Sacraments or do so rarely;
paganism (polytheism), belief in false gods, Satanism, occultism and esotericism; this includes magic, witchcraft, healing, extrasensory perception, astrology, fortune telling and turning to people involved in all this for help;
false opinions contrary to the Orthodox faith, and falling away from the Church into schism, false teachings and sects;
renunciation of faith, relying on one’s own strength and on people more than on God; this sin is also associated with lack of faith.

Second Commandment

You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; do not worship them or serve them.

The second commandment prohibits worshiping a creature instead of the Creator. We know what paganism and idolatry are. This is what the Apostle Paul writes about the pagans: calling themselves wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image similar to corruptible man, and birds, and four-legged creatures, and reptiles... They replaced the truth of God with a lie... and served the creature instead of the Creator(Rom 1, 22-23, 25). The Old Testament people of Israel, to whom these commandments were originally given, were the custodians of faith in the True God. It was surrounded on all sides by pagan peoples and tribes, and in order to warn the Jews not to adopt pagan customs and beliefs under any circumstances, the Lord establishes this commandment. Nowadays there are few pagans and idolaters among us, although polytheism and the worship of idols exist, for example, in India, Africa, South America, some other countries. Even here in Russia, where Christianity has been around for over a thousand years, some are trying to revive paganism.

Sometimes you can hear an accusation against the Orthodox: they say, veneration of icons is idolatry. The veneration of holy icons cannot in any way be called idolatry. Firstly, we offer prayers of worship not to the icon itself, but to the Person who is depicted on the icon - God. Looking at the image, we ascend with our minds to the Prototype. Also, through the icon, we ascend in mind and heart to the Mother of God and the saints.

Sacred images were made back in the Old Testament at the command of God Himself. The Lord commanded Moses to place golden images of Cherubim in the first mobile Old Testament temple (tabernacle). Already in the first centuries of Christianity, in the Roman catacombs (meeting places of the first Christians) there were wall images of Christ in the form of the Good Shepherd, the Mother of God with raised hands and other sacred images. All these frescoes were found during excavations.

Although there are few direct idolaters left in the modern world, many people create idols for themselves, worship them and make sacrifices. For many, their passions and vices became such idols, requiring constant sacrifices. Some people have been captured by them and can no longer do without them; they serve them as if they were their masters, because: whoever is defeated by someone is his slave(2 Pet 2:19). Let us recall these idols of passion: gluttony, fornication, love of money, anger, sadness, despondency, vanity, pride. The Apostle Paul compares serving the passions with idolatry: covetousness... is idolatry(Col 3:5). Indulging in passion, a person stops thinking about God and serving Him. He also forgets about love for his neighbors.

Sins against the second commandment also include passionate attachment to any business, when this hobby becomes a passion. Idolatry is also the worship of any person. Quite a few people in modern society Popular artists, singers, and athletes are treated as idols.

Third Commandment

Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

To take the name of God in vain means in vain, that is, not in prayer, not in spiritual conversations, but during idle conversations or out of habit. It is an even greater sin to pronounce the name of God in jest. And it is a very serious sin to pronounce the name of God with the desire to blaspheme God. Also a sin against the third commandment is blasphemy, when holy objects become the subject of ridicule and reproach. Failure to fulfill vows made to God and frivolous oaths invoking the name of God are also violations of this commandment.

The name of God is holy. It must be treated with reverence.

Saint Nicholas of Serbia. Parable

One goldsmith sat in his shop at his workbench and, while working, constantly took the name of God in vain: sometimes as an oath, sometimes as a favorite word. A certain pilgrim, returning from holy places, passing by the shop, heard this, and his soul was indignant. Then he called out to the jeweler to go outside. And when the master left, the pilgrim hid. The jeweler, not seeing anyone, returned to the shop and continued working. The pilgrim called out to him again, and when the jeweler came out, he pretended to know nothing. The master, angry, returned to his room and began to work again. The pilgrim called out to him for the third time and, when the master came out again, he stood silently again, pretending that he had nothing to do with it. The jeweler furiously attacked the pilgrim:

- Why are you calling me in vain? What a joke! I'm full of work!

The pilgrim answered peacefully:

“Truly, the Lord God has even more work to do, but you call on Him much more often than I call on you.” Who has the right to be angry more: you or the Lord God?

The jeweler, ashamed, returned to the workshop and from then on kept his mouth shut.

Fourth Commandment

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; Six days you shall work and do all your work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

The Lord created this world in six days and, having completed creation, blessed the seventh day as a day of rest: consecrated it; for in it he rested from all His works, which God created and created(Genesis 2, 3).

In the Old Testament, the day of rest was the Sabbath. In New Testament times, the holy day of rest became Sunday, when the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is remembered. This day is the seventh and most important day for Christians. Sunday is also called Little Easter. The custom of honoring Sunday comes from the times of the holy apostles. On Sunday Christians should be at Divine Liturgy. On this day it is very good to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. We dedicate Sunday to prayer, spiritual reading, and pious activities. On Sunday, as a day free from ordinary work, you can help your neighbors or visit the sick, provide assistance to the infirm and elderly. It is customary on this day to thank God for the past week and prayerfully ask for blessings on the work of the coming week.

You can often hear from people who are far from the Church or have little church life that they do not have time for home prayer and visiting church. Yes, modern people are sometimes very busy, but even busy people have a lot of free time to often and for a long time talk on the phone with friends and relatives, read newspapers, sit for hours in front of the TV and computer. Spending their evenings like this, they do not want to devote even a very short time to the evening prayer rule and read the Gospel.

People who honor Sundays and church holidays, pray in church, regularly read morning and evening prayers As a rule, those who spend this time in idleness manage to do much more. The Lord blesses their labors, increases their strength and gives them His help.

Fifth Commandment

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days on earth may be long.

Those who love and honor their parents are promised not only a reward in the Kingdom of Heaven, but even blessings, prosperity and many years in earthly life. To honor parents means to respect them, to show obedience to them, to help them, to take care of them in old age, to pray for their health and salvation, and after their death - for the repose of their souls.

People often ask: how can you love and honor parents who do not care for their children, neglect their responsibilities, or fall into serious sins? We don’t choose our parents; the fact that we have them like this and not some others is God’s will. Why did God give us such parents? In order for us to show the best Christian qualities: patience, love, humility, the ability to forgive.

Through our parents, God gave us life. Thus, no amount of caring for our parents can compare with what we received from them. Here is what St. John Chrysostom writes about this: “Just as they gave birth to you, you cannot give birth to them. Therefore, if in this we are inferior to them, then we will surpass them in another respect through respect for them, not only according to the law of nature, but also primarily before nature, according to the feeling of the fear of God. The will of God decisively demands that parents be revered by their children, and rewards those who do this with great blessings and gifts, and punishes those who violate this law with great and grave misfortunes.” By honoring our father and mother, we learn to honor God Himself, our Heavenly Father. Parents can be called co-workers with the Lord. They gave us a body, and God put an immortal soul in us.

If a person does not honor his parents, he can very easily come to disrespect and deny God. At first he does not respect his parents, then he stops loving his Motherland, then he denies his mother Church and gradually comes to denying God. All this is interconnected. It is not without reason that when they want to shake the state, to destroy its foundations from within, they first of all take up arms against the Church - faith in God - and the family. Family, respect for elders, customs and traditions (translated from Latin - broadcast) hold society together and make people strong.

Sixth Commandment

Don't kill.

Murder, taking the life of another person, and suicide are among the most serious sins.

Suicide is a terrible spiritual crime. This is rebellion against God, who gave us the precious gift of life. Committing suicide, a person leaves life in a terrible darkness of spirit, mind, in a state of despair and despondency. He can no longer repent of this sin; there is no repentance beyond the grave.

A person who takes the life of another through negligence is also guilty of murder, but his guilt is less than that of one who deliberately encroaches on the life of another. Also guilty of murder is the one who contributed to this: for example, a husband who did not dissuade his wife from having an abortion or even contributed to it himself.

People who shorten their lives and harm their health through bad habits, vices and sins also sin against the sixth commandment.

Any harm caused to one's neighbor is also a violation of this commandment. Hatred, malice, beatings, mockery, insults, curses, anger, gloating, rancor, malice, unforgiveness of offenses - all these are sins against the commandment “thou shalt not kill,” because everyone who hates his brother is a murderer(1 John 3:15), says the word of God.

In addition to physical murder, there is an equally terrible murder - spiritual, when someone seduces, seduces a neighbor into unbelief or pushes him to commit a sin and thereby destroys his soul.

Saint Philaret of Moscow writes that “not every taking of life is a criminal murder. Murder is not unlawful when life is taken by office, such as: when a criminal is punished by death by justice; when they kill the enemy in the war for the Fatherland.”

Seventh Commandment

Don't commit adultery.

This commandment prohibits sins against the family, adultery, all carnal relations between a man and a woman outside of legal marriage, carnal perversions, as well as unclean desires and thoughts.

The Lord established the marriage union and blessed carnal communication in it, which serves childbearing. Husband and wife are no longer two, but one flesh(Genesis 2:24). The presence of marriage is another (though not the most important) difference between us and animals. Animals do not have marriage. People have marriage, mutual responsibility, duties to each other and to children.

What is blessed in marriage, outside of marriage is a sin, a violation of the commandment. The conjugal union unites a man and a woman in one flesh for mutual love, birth and raising of children. Any attempt to steal the joys of marriage without mutual trust and the responsibility that a marriage implies is a serious sin, which, according to the testimony of Holy Scripture, deprives a person of the Kingdom of God (see: 1 Cor 6:9).

An even more serious sin is the violation of marital fidelity or the destruction of someone else's marriage. Cheating not only destroys a marriage, but also defiles the soul of the one who cheats. You can’t build happiness on someone else’s grief. There is a law of spiritual balance: having sowed evil, sin, we will reap evil, and our sin will return to us. Shameless talking and failure to guard one's feelings are also violations of the seventh commandment.

Eighth Commandment

Don't steal.

A violation of this commandment is the appropriation of someone else's property - both public and private. Types of theft can be varied: robbery, theft, deception in trade matters, bribery, bribery, tax evasion, parasitism, sacrilege (that is, appropriation of church property), all kinds of scams, fraud and fraud. In addition, sins against the eighth commandment include all dishonesty: lies, deception, hypocrisy, flattery, sycophancy, people-pleasing, since by this people are trying to acquire something (for example, the favor of their neighbor) dishonestly.

“You can’t build a house with stolen goods,” says a Russian proverb. And again: “No matter how tight the rope is, the end will come.” By profiting from the appropriation of someone else's property, a person will sooner or later pay for it. A sin committed, no matter how insignificant it may seem, will certainly return. A man familiar to the authors of this book accidentally hit and scratched the fender of his neighbor's car in the yard. But he didn’t tell him anything and didn’t compensate him for the damage. After some time, in a completely different place, far from his home, his own car was also scratched and they fled the scene. The blow was delivered to the same wing that he damaged his neighbor.

The passion of love of money leads to violation of the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.” It was she who led Judas to betrayal. The Evangelist John directly calls him a thief (see: John 12:6).

The passion of covetousness is overcome by cultivating non-covetousness, charity towards the poor, hard work, honesty and growth in spiritual life, for attachment to money and other material assets always comes from lack of spirituality.

Ninth Commandment

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

With this commandment, the Lord prohibits not only direct false testimony against one’s neighbor, for example in court, but also all lies spoken about other people, such as slander, false denunciations. The sin of idle talk, so common and everyday for modern man, is also very often associated with sins against the ninth commandment. In idle conversations, gossip, gossip, and sometimes slander and slander are constantly born. During an idle conversation, it is very easy to say unnecessary things, to divulge other people’s secrets and secrets entrusted to you, and to put your neighbor in a difficult position. “My tongue is my enemy,” people say, and indeed our language can bring great benefit to us and our neighbors, or it can do great harm. The Apostle James says that with our tongues we sometimes we bless God and the Father, and with it we curse men, created in the likeness of God(James 3:9). We sin against the ninth commandment not only when we slander our neighbor, but also when we agree with what others say, thereby participating in the sin of condemnation.

Judge not, lest ye be judged(Matthew 7:1), the Savior warns. To condemn means to judge, to boldly admire a right that belongs only to God. Only the Lord, who knows the past, present and future of man, can judge His creation.

Story St. John Savvaitsky

One day a monk from a neighboring monastery came to me, and I asked him how the fathers lived. He answered: “Okay, according to your prayers.” Then I asked about the monk who did not enjoy a good reputation, and the guest told me: “He has not changed at all, father!” Hearing this, I exclaimed: “Bad!” And as soon as I said this, I immediately felt as if in delight and saw Jesus Christ crucified between two thieves. I was about to worship the Savior, when suddenly He turned to the approaching Angels and said to them: “Cast him out, - this is the Antichrist, for he condemned his brother before My Judgment.” And when, according to the word of the Lord, I was driven out, my robe was left at the door, and then I woke up. “Woe is me,” I then said to the brother who came, “I am angry this day!” “Why is that?” - he asked. Then I told him about the vision and noticed that the mantle I left behind meant that I was deprived of God’s protection and help. And from that time I spent seven years wandering through the deserts, not eating bread, not going under shelter, not talking to people, until I saw my Lord, who returned my mantle to me.

That's how scary it is to make a judgment about a person.

Tenth Commandment

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

This commandment prohibits envy and grumbling. You cannot not only do evil to people, but even have sinful, envious thoughts against them. Any sin begins with a thought, with a thought about something. A person begins to envy the property and money of his neighbors, then the thought arises in his heart to steal this property from his brother, and soon he puts sinful dreams into action.

Envy of the wealth, talents, and health of our neighbors kills our love for them; envy, like acid, eats away at the soul. An envious person has difficulty communicating with others. He is delighted by the sorrow and grief that befell those whom he envied. This is why the sin of envy is so dangerous: it is the seed of other sins. An envious person also sins against God, he does not want to be content with what the Lord sends him, he blames his neighbors and God for all his troubles. Such a person will never be happy and satisfied with life, because happiness does not depend on earthly goods, but on the state of a person’s soul. The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). It begins here on earth, with the correct spiritual structure of man. The ability to see the gifts of God in every day of your life, to appreciate them and thank God for them is the key to human happiness.

(30 votes: 4.33 out of 5)

God wants people to be happy, to love Him, to love each other and not to harm themselves and others, therefore He gave us commandments. They express spiritual laws, they protect us from harm and teach us how to live and build relationships with God and people. Just as parents warn their children about danger and teach them about life, so our Heavenly Father gives us the necessary instructions. The commandments were given to people in the Old Testament. People of the New Testament, Christians, are also required to observe the Ten Commandments.“Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (), says the Lord Jesus Christ.

The most important law of the spiritual world is the law of love for God and people.

All ten commandments speak about this law. They were given to Moses in the form of two stone slabs - tablets, on one of which were written the first four commandments, speaking about love for the Lord, and on the second - the remaining six, about attitude towards others. When our Lord Jesus Christ was asked: “What is the great commandment in the law?”, He answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”: this is the first and greatest commandment. The second is similar to it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The whole law and the prophets are based on these two commandments” ().

What does it mean? The fact is that if a person has truly achieved true love for God and others, he cannot break any of the Ten Commandments, because they all talk about love for God and people. And we must strive for this perfect love.

Let's look at the ten commandments of God's Law in order:

2. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol or any likeness, such as the tree in heaven, and the tree below on earth, and the tree in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy: you shall do six days, and in them you shall do all your work; but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, shall be to the Lord your God.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Don't commit adultery.

8. Don't steal.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy sincere wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

This is how they sound in Church Slavonic. In the future, when analyzing each commandment, we will also give their Russian translation.

FIRST COMMANDMENT

I am the Lord your God; let there not be any gods for you, unless Mene.

I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods besides Me.

The Lord is the Creator of the universe and the spiritual world and the First Cause of everything that exists. Our entire beautiful, harmonious and incredibly complex world could not have arisen by itself. Behind all this beauty and harmony is the Creative Mind. To believe that everything that exists arose on its own, without God, is nothing short of madness. “The madman said in his heart: “There is no God” (), says the prophet David. God is not only the Creator, but also our Father. He cares and provides for people and everything created by Him; without His care the world would collapse.

God is the Source of all good things and man must strive for Him, for only in God does he receive life. “I am the way and the truth and the life” (). The main means of communication with God is prayer and the holy sacraments, in which we receive the grace of God, divine energy.

God wants people to glorify Him correctly, that is, Orthodoxy. One of the most harmful modern misconceptions is that all religions and faiths talk about the same thing and strive for God in the same way, they just pray to Him in different ways. There can be only one true faith - Orthodox. The Holy Scripture tells us: “For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord created the heavens” ().

In the book of Acts of the Holy Apostles it is said about Christ: “there is no other name under heaven, given to people, by which we should be saved" (). For us, faith in Jesus Christ as God and Savior is the main dogma, while other religions generally deny the deity of Christ. Either they consider him one of the many pagan deities, or simply a prophet, or even, God forgive me, a false messiah. So we can't have anything in common with them.

So, for us there can be only one God, glorified in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we Orthodox Christians cannot have other gods.

Sins against the first commandment are: 1) atheism (denial of God); 2) lack of faith, doubt, superstition, when people mix faith with unbelief or all kinds of signs and other remnants of paganism. Also sin against the first commandment are those who say: “I have God in my soul,” but at the same time do not go and do not approach the sacraments, or do so rarely; 3) paganism (polytheism), belief in false gods, Satanism, occultism and esotericism. This also includes magic, witchcraft, healing, extrasensory perception, astrology, fortune telling and turning to people involved in all this for help; 4) false opinions that contradict the Orthodox faith and falling away from the Church into schism, false teachings and sects; 5) renunciation of faith; 6) trust in one’s own strength and in people more than in God. This sin is also associated with lack of faith.

SECOND COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol or any likeness, such as the tree in heaven, and the tree below on earth, and the tree in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them.

You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything in heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth; do not worship or serve them.

The second commandment prohibits worshiping a creature instead of the Creator. We know what paganism and idolatry are, this is what the Apostle Paul writes about the pagans: “professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed creatures, and creeping things... They replaced the truth of God lies, and served the creature instead of the Creator" (). The Old Testament people of Israel, to whom these commandments were originally given, were the custodians of faith in the true God. He was surrounded on all sides by pagan peoples and tribes, in order to warn the Jews that in no case should they adopt pagan customs and beliefs; the Lord establishes this commandment. Nowadays there are quite a few pagans and idolaters left, although polytheism and the worship of graven images and idols still exist. For example, in India, Africa, South America, and some other countries. Even here in Russia, where Christianity has been around for over 1000 years, some are trying to revive ancient Slavic paganism.

The veneration of holy icons in Orthodoxy cannot in any way be called idolatry. Firstly, we offer prayers of worship not to the icon itself, not to the material from which it is made, but to those who are depicted on it: God, the Mother of God and the saints. Looking at the image, we ascend with our minds to the Prototype. Secondly, sacred images were made back in the Old Testament at the command of God Himself. The Lord commanded Moses to place golden images of Cherubim in the first mobile Old Testament temple, the tabernacle. Already in the first centuries of Christianity, in the Roman catacombs, meeting places of the first Christians, there were wall images of Christ in the form of the Good Shepherd, the Mother of God, with raised hands and other sacred images. All these frescoes were found during excavations.

Although there are few direct idolaters left in the modern world, many people create idols for themselves, worship them and make sacrifices. For many, their passions and vices became such idols, requiring constant sacrifices. Passions are ingrained sinful habits, harmful addictions. Some people were captured by them and can no longer do without them, and serve them as their masters, for: “whoever is defeated by someone is his slave” (). These idols are passions: 1) gluttony; 2) fornication; 3) love of money, 4) anger; 5) sadness; 6) despondency; 7) vanity; 8) pride.

It is not for nothing that the Apostle Paul compares serving the passions with idolatry: “covetousness...is idolatry” (). Serving passion, a person stops thinking about God and serving Him, and he also forgets about love for his neighbors.

Sins against the second commandment also include passionate attachment to any business, when this hobby becomes a passion. Idolatry is also the passionate worship of a person. It is not for nothing that some artists, singers, and athletes in the modern world are called idols.

THIRD COMMANDMENT

You have not taken the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

What does it mean to take the name of the Lord in vain? That is, pronounce it not in prayer, not in spiritual conversations, but in idle conversations, as they say, “for the sake of a catchphrase,” or just to connect words, or maybe even as a joke. And it is a very serious sin to pronounce the name of God with the desire to blaspheme God and laugh at Him. Also, a sin against the third commandment is blasphemy, when holy objects become the subject of ridicule and reproach. Failure to fulfill vows made to God and frivolous oaths invoking the name of God are also a violation of this commandment.

The name of God is sacred to us, and it cannot be exchanged in empty, idle speech. The saint gives a parable about taking the name of the Lord in vain:

Why are you calling me in vain? What a joke! I'm full of work!

The pilgrim answered peacefully:

Truly, the Lord God has even more work to do, but you call on Him much more often than I call on you. Who has the right to be angry more: you or the Lord God?

The jeweler, ashamed, returned to the workshop and from then on kept his mouth shut.

The word has great meaning and power. God created this world through the Word. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were created, and by the spirit of His mouth all their hosts” (), says the Savior. The ap. wrote about the “rotten word”. Paul. In the 4th century. the saint says that “Whenever swear words swears, then at the Throne of the Lord the Mother of God takes away the prayer cover given by Her from a person, and She retreats, and whichever person is chosen obscenely, exposes himself to a curse that day, because he scolds his mother and bitterly insults her. It is not proper for us to eat and drink with that person unless he stops using his swear words.”

FOURTH COMMANDMENT

Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy: you shall do six days, and in them you shall do all your work; but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, shall be to the Lord your God.

Remember the Sabbath day to spend it holy: work for six days and do all your work during them, and dedicate the seventh day - the Sabbath day - to the Lord your God.

The Lord created this world in six stages - days and finishing creation. “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; for in it he rested from all His works, which God created and created” (). This does not mean that God does not care about the created world, but it does mean that God has completed all activities related to creation.

In the Old Testament, Saturday was considered a day of rest (Translated from Hebrew peace). In New Testament times, Sunday became the holy day of rest, when the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is remembered. The seventh and most important day for Christians is the day of resurrection, Little Easter, and the custom of honoring Sunday dates back to the times of the holy apostles. On Sunday, Christians abstain from work and go to the church to pray to God, thank Him for the past week and ask for a blessing for the work of the coming week. On this day it is very good to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. We dedicate Sunday to prayer, spiritual reading, and pious activities. On Sunday, as a day free from ordinary work, you can help your neighbors. Visit the sick, provide assistance to the infirm and elderly.

Often from people who are far from the Church or have few church members, you can hear that they, they say, do not have time for home prayer and visiting church. Yes, modern people are sometimes very busy, but even busy people still have a lot of free time to talk on the phone with girlfriends, friends and relatives, read magazines, newspapers and novels, sit for hours watching TV and the computer, and time to pray No. Some people come home at six o’clock in the evening and then lie on the sofa watching TV for 5-6 hours, and are too lazy to get up and read a very short evening prayer rule or read the Gospel.

Those people who honor Sundays and church holidays, pray in church and are not lazy to read morning and evening prayers receive much more than those who spend this time in idleness and laziness. The Lord will bless their labors, increase their strength and send them His help.

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

Honor your father and your mother, may you be well, and may you live long on earth.

Honor your father and mother, so that you may be well and may live long on earth.

Those who love and honor their parents are promised not only a reward in the Kingdom of Heaven, but even blessings, prosperity and long life in earthly life. Honoring parents means respecting them, showing obedience to them, helping them, taking care of them in old age, praying for their health and salvation, and when they die, praying for the repose of their soul.

People often ask: how can you love and honor parents who do not care about their children, neglect their responsibilities, or fall into serious sins? We do not choose our parents; the fact that we have them like this and not some others is the will of God. Why did God give us such parents? In order for us to show the best Christian qualities: patience, love, humility, learn to forgive.

Through our parents we came into this world, they are the reason for our existence and the very nature of our descent from them teaches us to honor them as people higher than ourselves. Here is what the saint writes about this: “... just as they gave birth to you, you cannot give birth to them. Therefore, if in this we are inferior to them, then we will surpass them in another respect through respect for them, not only according to the law of nature, but mainly before nature, according to (the feeling of) the fear of God. The will of God decisively demands that parents be revered by their children, and rewards those who do this with great blessings and gifts, and punishes those who violate this law with great and grave misfortunes.” By honoring our father and mother, we honor God Himself, our heavenly Father. He, together with our earthly parents, gave us the most precious gift - the gift of life. Parents can be called co-creators, co-workers with the Lord. They gave us a body, we are flesh of their flesh, and God put an immortal soul in us.

If a person does not honor his parents and denies this hierarchy, he can very easily come to disrespect and deny God. At first he does not respect his parents, then he stops loving his homeland, then he denies his mother church, and now he no longer believes in God. All this is very interconnected. It is not without reason that when they want to shake the state, destroy its foundations from within, they first of all take up arms against the church, faith in God, and the family. Family, reverence for elders, transmission of traditions (and the word tradition comes from the Latin tradition - transmission), cements society, makes the people strong.

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not kill.

Don't kill.

Murder, taking the life of another person and suicide, that is, unauthorized death, are among the most serious sins.

Suicide is the most terrible sin. This is rebellion against God, who gave us the precious gift of life. But our life is in the hands of God, we do not have the right to leave it whenever we please. Committing suicide, a person leaves life in a terrible darkness of despair and despondency. He can no longer repent of this sin, nor can he bring repentance for the sin of murder, which he commits against himself; there is no repentance beyond the grave.

A person who takes the life of another through negligence is also guilty of murder, but his guilt is less than that of one who kills deliberately. The one who facilitated the murder is also guilty of murder. For example, a woman’s husband who did not dissuade her from having an abortion or even contributed to it himself.

People who, through their bad habits and vices and sins, shorten their lives and harm their health, also sin against the sixth commandment.

Any harm caused to one’s neighbor is also a violation of this commandment. Hatred, malice, beatings, bullying, insults, curses, anger, gloating, rancor, ill-will, unforgiveness of insults - all these are sins against the commandment “thou shalt not kill,” because “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (), says Word of God.

In addition to bodily murder, there is an equally terrible murder - spiritual murder, when someone seduces, seduces a neighbor into unbelief or pushes him to commit a sin, and thereby destroys his soul.

The Holy Scripture classifies fornication among the most serious sins: “Do not be deceived: neither fornicators... nor adulterers... will inherit the Kingdom of God” ().

A sin even more serious than fornication is adultery, that is, violation of marital fidelity or physical relations with a person who is married.

Cheating destroys not only a marriage, but also the soul of the one who cheats. You can’t build happiness on someone else’s grief. There is a law of spiritual balance: having sowed evil, sin, we will reap evil, and our sin will return to us. Adultery and fornication begin not with the fact of physical intimacy, but much earlier, when a person gives himself permission to dirty thoughts and immodest glances. The Gospel says: “Whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (). Therefore, mental fornication, failure to preserve sight, hearing, shameless conversations, these and other similar sins are a violation of the seventh commandment.

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

Don't steal.

Don't steal.

A violation of this commandment is the appropriation of someone else's property, both public and private. Types of theft can be varied: robbery, theft, deception in trade matters, bribery, bribery, tax evasion, parasitism, sacrilege (that is, appropriation of church property), all kinds of scams, fraud and fraud. In addition, sins against the eighth commandment include all dishonesty: lies, deception, hypocrisy, flattery, sycophancy, people-pleasing, since in this case people also try to acquire something, for example, the favor of their neighbor, by dishonest, thieves.

“You can’t build a house with stolen goods,” says the Russian proverb, and also “No matter how much string you hang, the end will come.” By profiting from the appropriation of someone else's property, a person will sooner or later pay for it. “God cannot be mocked” () A sin committed, no matter how insignificant it may seem, will certainly return. Evil will definitely find us. One of my friends accidentally hit and scratched the fender of his neighbor's car in the yard. But he didn’t tell him anything and didn’t give him money for repairs. Some time later, in a completely different place, far from home, his own car was also scratched and he fled the scene. Moreover, the blow was delivered to the same wing that he damaged his neighbor.

The basis of theft and theft is the passion of love of money and it fights by acquiring the opposite virtues. The love of money can be of two types: Extravagance (love for luxurious life) and stinginess, greed Both require funds that are often acquired dishonestly.

The love of money fights by acquiring the opposite virtues: mercy towards the poor, non-covetousness, hard work, honesty and spiritual life, for attachment to money and other material values always stems from lack of spirituality.

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

Do not listen to your friend's false testimony.

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

With this commandment, the Lord prohibits not only direct false testimony against one’s neighbor, for example in court, but also all lies spoken about other people, such as slander, slander, false denunciations. The sin of idle talk, so common everyday for modern man, is also very often associated with sins against the ninth commandment. In idle conversations, gossip, gossip, and sometimes slander and slander are constantly heard. During an idle conversation, it is very easy to “talk too much”, to divulge other people’s secrets and secrets entrusted to you, to let down and set up your neighbor. “My tongue is my enemy,” people say, and indeed, our language can bring great benefit to us and our neighbors, or it can do great harm. The Apostle James says that with our tongue we sometimes “bless God and the Father, and with it we curse men, created in the likeness of God” (). We sin against the ninth commandment when we not only tell lies and slander our neighbor, but also when we agree with what others say, thereby participating in the sin of condemnation.

“Judge not, lest ye be judged” (), the Savior warns. To condemn means to judge, to anticipate the judgment of God, to usurp His rights (this is also terrible pride!) for only the Lord, who knows the past, present and future of a person, can judge him. Rev. John of Savvaitsky says the following: “Once a monk from a neighboring monastery came to me, and I asked him how the fathers lived. He answered: “Okay, according to your prayers.” Then I asked about the monk who did not enjoy a good reputation, and the guest told me: “He has not changed at all, father!” Hearing this, I exclaimed: “Bad!” And as soon as I said this, I immediately felt as if in delight and saw Jesus Christ crucified between two thieves. I was about to rush to worship the Savior, when suddenly He turned to the approaching Angels and said to them: “Take him out, - this is the Antichrist, for he condemned his brother before My Judgment.” And when, according to the word of the Lord, I was driven out, my robe was left at the door, and then I woke up. “Woe is me,” I then said to the brother who came, “I am angry this day!” “Why is that?” - he asked. Then I told him about the vision and noticed that the mantle I left behind meant that I was deprived of God’s protection and help. And from that time I spent seven years wandering through the deserts, not eating bread, not going under shelter, not talking to people, until I saw my Lord, who returned my mantle.”

That's how scary it is to make a judgment about a person.

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not covet thy true wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, and thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant... nor anything that belongs to thy neighbor.

This commandment prohibits envy and grumbling. You can’t not only do bad things to people, but even have sinful, envious thoughts against them. Any sin begins with a thought, with a thought about it. At first, a person begins to envy the money and property of his neighbors, then the thought arises in his heart to steal this property from his brother, and soon he puts his sinful dreams into action. Adultery, as is well known, begins with immodest views and envious thoughts regarding one’s neighbor’s wife. It must also be said that envy of wealth, property, talents, and the health of our neighbors kills our love for them; envy eats away at the soul like acid. It is no longer pleasant for us to communicate with them, we cannot share their joy with them; on the contrary, an envious person is very pleased by the sudden sorrow and grief that befalls those whom he envied. This is why the sin of envy is so dangerous; it is the beginning, the seed of other sins. An envious person also sins against God, he does not want to be content with what the Lord sends him, it is always not enough for him, he blames his neighbors and God for all his troubles. Such a person will never be happy and satisfied with life, because happiness is not some sum of earthly goods, but the state of a person’s soul. “The Kingdom of God is within you” (). It begins here on earth, with the correct structure of the soul. The ability to see the gifts of God in every day of one’s life, to appreciate them and thank God for them is the key to human happiness.

GOSPEL COMMANDMENTS OF THE HAPPINESS

We have already said that God gave people the Ten Commandments back in Old Testament times. They were given in order to protect people from evil, to warn about the danger that sin brings. Lord Jesus Christ established New Testament, gave us the New Gospel Law, the basis of which is love: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another” (). However, the Savior in no way abolished the observance of the Ten Commandments, but showed people a completely new level of spiritual life. IN Sermon on the Mount, talking about how a Christian should build his life, the Savior, among other things, gives nine Beatitudes. These commandments no longer speak of the prohibition of sin, but of Christian perfection. They tell how to achieve bliss, what virtues bring a person closer to God, for only in Him can a person find true bliss. The Beatitudes not only do not cancel the ten commandments of the Law of God, but very wisely complement them. It is not enough simply not to commit a sin, or to expel it from our soul by repenting of it. No, we need our soul to be filled with virtues that are opposite to sins. “A holy place is never empty.” It is not enough not to do evil, you must do good. Sins create a wall between us and God; when the wall is destroyed, we begin to see God, but only a moral Christian life can bring us closer to Him.

Here are the nine commandments that the Savior gave us as a guide to Christian deed:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them is the Kingdom of Heaven
Blessed are those who cry, for they will be comforted
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied
Blessed be the mercy, for there will be mercy
Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God
Blessed are the peacemakers, for these shall be called sons of God
Blessed is the expulsion of truth for the sake of them, for those are the Kingdom of Heaven
Blessed are you, when they revile you, and despise you, and say all sorts of evil things against you lying, For my sake: Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is many in heaven.

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

What does it mean to be "poor in spirit" and why are such people "blessed"? In order to understand this, you need to use the image of an ordinary beggar. We have all seen and know people who have reached extreme levels of poverty and destitution. Among them, of course, there are different people and we will not now consider their moral qualities, no, we need the lives of these unfortunate people as a kind of image. Every beggar understands perfectly well that he stands on the last rung of the social ladder, that all other people are materially much higher than him. And he wanders around in rags, often without his own corner, and begs for alms in order to somehow support his life. While a beggar communicates with poor people like him, he may not notice his situation, but when he sees a rich, wealthy person, he immediately feels the misery of his own situation.

Spiritual poverty means humility, V And realizing your true state. Just as an ordinary beggar has nothing of his own, but dresses in what is given and eats alms, we must also realize that everything we have we receive from God. This is not ours, we are only clerks, stewards of the estate that the Lord gave us. He gave it so that it would serve the salvation of our soul. You can by no means be a poor person, but be “poor in spirit,” humbly accept what God gives us and use it to serve the Lord and people. Everything is from God, not only material wealth, but also health, talents, abilities, life itself - all this is exclusively a gift from God, for which we must thank Him. “Without Me you cannot do anything” (), the Lord tells us. Both the fight against sins and the acquisition of good deeds are impossible without humility; we do all this only with the help of God.

To the poor in spirit, to the humble in wisdom, it is promised "Kingdom of Heaven". People who know that everything they have is not their merit, but the gift of God, which needs to be increased for the salvation of the soul, will perceive everything sent to them as a means of achieving the Kingdom of Heaven.

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

« Blessed are those who mourn." Crying can be caused by completely different reasons, but not all crying is a virtue. The commandment to mourn means repentant crying for one’s sins. Repentance is so important because without it it is impossible to get closer to God. Sins prevent us from doing this. The first commandment of humility already leads us to repentance, lays the foundation for spiritual life, for only a person who feels his weakness and poverty before the Heavenly Father can realize his sins and repent of them. And how evangelical prodigal son returns to the Father's house, of course, the Lord will accept everyone who comes to Him, and will wipe away every tear from his eyes. Therefore: “blessed are those who mourn (for sins), for they will be comforted.” Every person has sins, only God alone is without sin, but we have been given the greatest gift from God - repentance, the opportunity to return to God, to ask for forgiveness from Him. It was not for nothing that the Holy Fathers called repentance the second baptism, where we wash away our sins not with water, but with tears.

Blessed tears can also be called tears of compassion, empathy for our neighbors, when we are imbued with their grief and try to help them as much as we can.

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

"Blessed are the meek." Meekness is a peaceful, calm, quiet spirit that a person has acquired in his heart. This is submission to the will of God and the virtue of peace in the soul and peace with others. “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me: for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (), the Savior teaches us. He was submissive in everything to the will of the Heavenly Father, He served people and accepted suffering with meekness. He who has taken upon himself the good yoke of Christ, who follows His path, who seeks humility, meekness, and love will find peace and tranquility for his soul both in this earthly life and in the life of the next century, for the meek "inherit the earth" first of all, not material, but spiritual, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The great Russian saint, the venerable one, said: “Acquire a peaceful spirit and thousands around you will be saved.” He himself fully acquired this meek spirit, greeting everyone who came to him with the words: “My joy, Christ is risen!” There is an episode from his life when robbers came to his forest cell, wanting to rob the elder, thinking that the visitors were bringing him a lot of money. Saint Seraphim was chopping wood in the forest at that time and stood with an ax in his hands. But, having weapons and himself possessing great physical strength, he did not want to resist them. He placed the ax on the ground and folded his arms across his chest. The villains grabbed an ax and brutally beat the old man with its butt, breaking his head and breaking his bones. Not finding any money, they fled. The monk was barely able to get to the monastery; he was ill for a long time and remained bent over until the end of his days. When the robbers were caught, he not only forgave them, but also asked to be released, saying that if this was not done, he would leave the monastery. What amazing meekness this man was.

That “the meek shall inherit the earth” is true not only in spiritually, but even in the earthly. Meek and humble Christians, without war, fire or sword, despite terrible persecution from the pagans, were able to convert the entire vast Roman Empire to the true faith.

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

There are different ways to thirst and seek the truth. Eat certain people, who can be called “truth-seekers”, they are constantly indignant at the existing order, seek justice everywhere and complain to higher authorities. But this commandment is not talking about them. This means a completely different truth.

It is said that one must desire truth as food and drink: “ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” That is, very much, like a hungry and thirsty person, he endures suffering until his needs are satisfied. What kind of truth is being said here? About the Supreme Divine Truth. A The highest truth, Truth is Christ. “I am the way and the truth” (), He says about Himself. Therefore, a Christian must seek the true meaning of life in God. In Him alone is the True Source of Living Water and Divine Bread, which is His Body.

The Lord left us the Word of God, which sets out the Divine teaching, the truth of God, He created the Church and put into it everything necessary for salvation. The Church is also the bearer of truth and correct knowledge about God, the world and man. This is the truth that every Christian should thirst for, reading the Holy Scriptures and being edified by the works of the Fathers of the Church.

Those who are zealous about prayer, about doing good deeds, about saturating themselves with the Word of God, truly “thirst for righteousness,” and, of course, will receive saturation from the ever-flowing Source of our Savior both in this century and in the future.

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

Mercy, mercy– these are acts of love towards others. In these virtues we imitate God Himself: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” ().

And he teaches us all the same selfless love, so that we do acts of mercy not for the sake of reward, not expecting to receive something in return, but out of love for the person himself, fulfilling the commandment of God.

By doing good deeds to people, as creation, the image of God, we thereby bring service to God Himself. The Gospel describes the Last Judgment of God, when the Lord will separate the righteous from the sinners and say to the righteous: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him: “Lord! when did we see you hungry and feed you? or to the thirsty and gave them something to drink? when did we see you as a stranger and accept you? or naked and clothed? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You?” And the King will answer them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it to Me” (). Therefore it is said that "merciful" themselves “They will have mercy.” And on the contrary, those who have not done good deeds will have nothing to justify themselves at the judgment of God, as is said in the same parable about the Last Judgment.

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

"Blessed are you pure in heart» , that is, pure in soul and mind from sinful thoughts and desires. It is important not only to avoid committing a sin in a visible way, but also to refrain from thinking about it, because any sin begins with a thought, and only then materializes into action. “From the heart of man come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy” (). A person who has an unclean soul and unclean thoughts is a potential committer of later visible sins.

“If your eye is pure, your whole body will be bright; if your eye is bad, then your whole body will be dark” (). These words of Christ are spoken about the purity of the heart and soul. A clear eye is sincerity, purity, holiness of thoughts and intentions, and these intentions lead to good deeds. And vice versa: where the eye and heart are blinded, dark thoughts reign, which will later become dark deeds. Only a person with a pure soul and pure thoughts can approach God, see He is seen not with the eyes of the body, but with the spiritual vision of a pure soul and heart. If this organ of spiritual vision is clouded, spoiled by sin, the Lord cannot be seen. Therefore, you need to refrain from unclean, sinful, evil and sad thoughts, drive them away as if they were all from the enemy, and cultivate in your soul, cultivate others - bright, kind ones. These thoughts are cultivated by prayer, faith and hope in God, love for Him, for people and for every creation of God.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” The commandment of peace with people and reconciliation of warring people is placed very highly; such people are called children, sons of the Lord. Why? We are all children of God, his creations. There is nothing more pleasant for any parent when he knows that his children live in peace, love and harmony among themselves: “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together!” (). And vice versa, how sad it is for a father and mother to see quarrels, strife and enmity between children; at the sight of all this, the parents’ hearts seem to bleed! If peace and good relationships between children please even earthly parents, all the more does our Heavenly Father need us to live in peace. And a person who keeps peace in the family, with people, reconciles those at war, is pleasing and pleasing to God. Not only does such a person receive joy, tranquility, happiness and blessing from God here on earth, gaining peace in his soul and peace with his neighbors, he will undoubtedly receive a reward in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Peacemakers will also be called “sons of God” because in their feat they are likened to the Son of God Himself, Christ the Savior, who reconciled people with God, restored the connection that was destroyed by sins and the falling away of humanity from God.

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

"Blessed are those who are exiled for righteousness' sake." The search for Truth, Divine truth, has already been discussed in the fourth commandment of beatitude. We remember that Truth is Christ Himself. He is also called the Sun of Truth. It is about oppression and persecution for the truth of God that this commandment speaks of. The path of a Christian is always the path of a warrior of Christ. The path is complex, difficult, narrow “strait is the gate and narrow is the path that leads to life” (). And the fact that so many people are following in this direction should not confuse us. A Christian is always different, not like everyone else. “Try to live not “as everyone else lives,” but as God commands, because “the world lies in evil,” says the monk. It doesn’t matter if we are persecuted and reviled here on earth for our life and faith, because our fatherland is not on earth, but in heaven, with God. Therefore, to those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, the Lord promises in this commandment "Kingdom of Heaven".

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT OF HAPPINESS

The continuation of the eighth commandment, which speaks of oppression for the Truth of God and Christian life, is the last commandment of beatitude, which speaks of persecution for the faith. “Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you unjustly because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”

Here it is said about the highest manifestation of love for God - about the readiness to give one’s life for Christ, for one’s faith in Him. This feat is called martyrdom. This path is higher and has a higher "great reward" This path was indicated by the Savior Himself; He endured persecution, torment, cruel torture and painful death, thereby giving an example to all His followers and strengthening them in their readiness to suffer for Him, even to the point of blood and death, as He once suffered for all of us.

We know that the Church stands on the blood and perseverance of the martyrs; they defeated the pagan, hostile world, giving their lives and laying them at the foundation of the Church. A Christian teacher of the 3rd century said: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity.” Just as a seed falls into the ground and dies, but its death is not in vain, it produces fruit several times greater, so the apostles and martyrs, having given their lives, were the seed from which the Universal Church grew. And at the beginning of the 4th century, the pagan empire was defeated by Christianity without force of arms and any coercion and became Orthodox.

But the enemy of the human race does not calm down and constantly initiates new persecutions against Christians. And when the Antichrist comes to power, he will also persecute and persecute the disciples of Christ. Therefore, every Christian must be constantly ready for the feat of confession and martyrdom.

These are the Commandments that the Lord God of Hosts gave to the people through His chosen one and the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai (Ex. 20:2-17):

1. I am the Lord your God... You shall have no other gods before Me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in the sky above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water below the earth.

3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain.

4. Work six days and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

5. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days on earth may be long.

6. Don't kill.

7. Do not commit adultery.

8. Don't steal.

9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

Truly, this law is short, but these commandments speak a lot to anyone who knows how to think and who seeks the salvation of his soul.

Anyone who does not understand this main law of God in his heart will not be able to accept either Christ or His teachings. Whoever does not learn to swim in shallow water will not be able to swim in deep water, for he will drown. And whoever does not first learn to walk will not be able to run, for he will fall and be broken. And whoever does not first learn to count to ten will never be able to count thousands. And whoever does not first learn to read syllables will never be able to read fluently and speak eloquently. And whoever does not first lay the foundation of the house will try in vain to build a roof.

I repeat: whoever does not keep the commandments of the Lord given to Moses will knock in vain on the doors of Christ’s Kingdom.

And what the First Law of God says and what the Commandments of the Lord mean, we will understand if we take a closer look at them and think about them longer.

FIRST COMMANDMENT

I am the Lord your God... You shall have no other gods before Me.

This means:

God is one and there are no other gods besides Him. All creation comes from Him, thanks to Him they live and return to Him. In God resides all power and might, and there is no power outside of God. And the power of light, and the power of water, and air, and stone is the power of God. If an ant crawls, a fish swims and a bird flies, then it is thanks to God. The ability of a seed to grow, of grass to breathe, of a person to live is the essence of God’s ability. All these abilities are the property of God, and every creation receives its ability to exist from God. The Lord gives to everyone as much as he sees fit, and takes back when he sees fit. Therefore, when you want to gain the ability to do anything, look only in God, for the Lord God is the source of life-giving and mighty power. There are no other sources besides Him. Pray to the Lord like this:

“Merciful God, inexhaustible, the only source of strength, strengthen me, weak, and give me greater strength so that I can better serve You. God, give me wisdom so that I do not use the power received from You for evil, but only for the good of myself and my neighbors for the magnification of Your glory. Amen".

In God is all wisdom, and outside of God there is neither wisdom nor a drop of knowledge. The Lord has endowed every creature with a piece of His wisdom. Therefore, my brother, if you think that God gave wisdom only to man, you will be mistaken. The bee and the fly, the swallow and the stork, the tree and the stone, the water and the air, the fire and the wind have wisdom.

The Wisdom of God abides in everything, and nothing could exist without a grain of wisdom. According to the wisdom of God, the animal senses danger in advance; and the bee builds a honeycomb; and the fly anticipates the rain; and the swallow makes a nest; and the stork nurses the chicks; and the tree knows how to grow; and the stone knows how to remain silent and keep its shape; and water can flow down from the mountain and soar in a cloud; and the fire that lies dormant in every thing can warm and shine; and the wind knows where to blow, and brings purity to uncleanness and health to the sick. Indeed, no one and nothing has its own wisdom, which it itself created or gave birth to, but all wisdom flows from one single source of all kinds of wisdom. And this source is in God. Therefore, when you seek wisdom, seek it only in God, for the Lord is the Source of life-giving and great Wisdom. Apart from this Source there are no others. So pray to God like this:

“God, Almighty and All-Seeing, grant me, the foolish one, Your life-giving wisdom, so that I can better serve You. And guide me, Lord, so that I do not use the knowledge given to me for evil, like Satan, but only for the good of myself and my neighbors, to Your great glory. Amen".

All goodness is in God. Christ said about this: No one is good but God alone(Matt. 19:17). His goodness includes His mercy, patience, and forgiveness of sinners. The Lord has endowed all His creation with His goodness. Therefore, in any creature of God there is Divine goodness. Even the devil has God’s goodness, because of which he desires good for himself and not evil, but out of his stupidity he thinks to achieve good with evil, that is, he thinks that by causing evil to all of God’s creatures, he is doing good for himself. Oh, how much goodness of God is in every creation of God: in stone, in plant, in beast, in fire, in water, in air! All this goodness is borrowed from God - the inexhaustible, bottomless and great Source of all virtue. Therefore, when you seek goodness, do not look for it anywhere except in God. Only He has goodness in abundance. So, pray like this:

“All-merciful, all-merciful and long-suffering God, grant me, the wicked, your goodness, so that from your goodness I may rejoice and shine and be able to serve you even more and better. Guide me and support me, Lord, so that I do not turn Your kindness into evil, like Satan, but direct me only to joy and happiness for myself, so that I can glow with kindness and illuminate with it myself and all of Your creatures surrounding me.”

Let there be no other gods besides Me,- the Lord commanded. Why do you need other gods if there is the Lord God of Hosts? As soon as you have two gods, know: one of them is the devil. But you cannot serve both God and the devil at once, just as one ox cannot plow two fields at the same time, just as one candle cannot illuminate two houses at the same time. The ox does not need two masters, for they will tear it to pieces; and the forests do not need two suns, for they will burn; and the child does not need two mothers, for there will be a “child without an eye.” And you don’t need two gods, for you will become not richer, but poorer. So remain alone with your only Lord of hosts, in Whom is all power, all wisdom and all kindness, inseparable, inexhaustible, endless. Honor Him, the One, worship Him, only fear Him. And when you begin to pray to Him, pray like this:

“Lord, my God, countless creations belong to You, but Your creations cannot have more than one God - You, the Consubstantial One. Dispel, Lord, my bad thoughts and dreams about other gods, like a strong wind disperses an annoying swarm of flies. God, cleanse my soul, illuminate it, expand and settle in it, You, the Only One, like a King in Your palace. This will lift my spirit, strengthen me, educate me, correct me and renew me. Glory and praise to You, the One True God, standing above all false deities, like the top of a mountain above the reflection in a puddle. Amen".

SECOND COMMANDMENT

You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth.

It means:

Do not deify the creation instead of the Creator. If you climbed a high mountain, where you met the Lord God, why would you look back at the reflection in the puddle under the mountain? If a certain person longed to see the king and, after much effort, managed to appear before him, why would he then look left and right at the king’s servants? He can look around for two reasons: either because he does not dare to face the king alone, or because he thinks: the king alone cannot help him.

But why doesn’t a person dare to appear face to face before the King of God? Is this King not at the same time his Father? And who else was afraid to stand face to face with his father?

Wasn't it the Lord who thought about you, man, even before you were born? Wasn’t He silently touching you with His fingers in your sleep and in reality, but you didn’t even suspect about it and didn’t feel it? Doesn't He think more about you every day than you think about yourself? Why are you afraid of Him then? Verily, you fear God not as a man, but as a sinner. Sin always breeds fear. And he appears where there is no place for him or his offspring. It is sin that causes you to turn your eyes away from the King and towards your servants. Among servants sin is easy; this is his environment, where he rules and feasts. But you should know that the King is more merciful than his servants. Therefore, do not hide your eyes, but look boldly at the King, your Father. The glance of the King will burn away the sin in you. So the sun's ray destroys harmful microbes in the water, purifying it, and the water becomes clean and drinkable.

Or do you not believe that the King God can help you, and therefore rely on His servants?

But think for yourself: if the Lord God cannot help you, then all His servants are even less. Don't all of God's creatures expect help from God? So what kind of help from God's creatures do you hope for? If a thirsty person cannot drink from a gushing mountain spring, will he really get drunk by absorbing dew drop by drop from the meadow grass?

Who deifies a carved face or a painted image? Only those who do not know the carver and the painter. Anyone who does not believe in God or does not know about Him is forced to deify things, for a person must deify something. The Lord carved mountains and valleys, sculpted plants and animal bodies; He painted meadows and fields, clouds and lakes. The one who understands this gives praise to the Lord as the greatest Carver and Iconographer, and the one who does not know this gives praise to the carved faces and icons of God themselves.

But this is not the worst sin yet. The most terrible sin is when a person deifies what he himself has created, the work of his own hands and his mind. The savages carve an idol out of wood and pray and worship it. But for savages, this is forgivable. Their savagery serves as their justification. The True and Eternal Lord God is merciful and condescending to them. He accepts the prayers with which they address their wooden product as if they were directed to Him, and sends help and protection to His unenlightened children.

However, there are also enlightened people who create something with their minds or with their own hands, and consider their own creation to be a deity. There are artists who revere their paintings and worship them as if they were a real deity. There are writers who, having written a book, get it into their heads that their book is the pinnacle of heaven and earth, and they worship this book of theirs. There are rich people who accumulate goods like a hamster stores up for the winter, and begin to turn up their noses and look up, not noticing God and His light, worshiping their rotten, moth-eaten wealth. Where a person has all his thoughts and all his heart, there is his God.

If a person devotes all his thoughts and gives his whole soul to his family and does not know any other god, then his family is a deity for him. This is a disease of the soul of one kind.

If a man devotes all his thoughts and gives his whole heart to gold and silver and does not want to know another god, then gold and silver are for him a deity whom he worships day and night until the night of death overtakes him and envelops him in its darkness. This is a disease of the soul of a different kind.

If a certain person concentrates all his thoughts on rising above other people, tries at all costs to be the first, desires glory and praise, considers himself the best of people and all creatures in heaven and on earth, then such a person is himself himself a deity to whom he sacrifices everything. This is a disease of the soul of the third kind.

Truly, only sick souls do not know the true God. And healthy souls are healthy thanks to the knowledge and recognition of the true one Lord God, the Creator and Ruler of all carved faces and all images, all human families, all gold and silver, all mortal people on earth.

If someone writes the name of God on paper, or on wood, or on stone, or on snow, or in mud, then honor this paper, and this tree, and this stone, and snow, and mud for the sake of the Most Holy Name written on them. However, do not deify that on which the most holy name is written.

Or when someone depicts the face of God on anything, you bow down, but know that you are not worshiping the matter on which the Lord is written, but the Living Great God, of whom the image reminds.

Or when someone pronounces or chants the Name of God, you bow down, but know that you are not worshiping a human voice, but a Living and To the Mighty God, which human speech reminded you of.

Or when you see at night the greatness of the stars of heaven, you bow low, but bow not to the creation of God’s hands, but to the Most High Lord, Who is above the stars, whose radiance reminds you of Him.

And when you kneel in the evening, pray like this:

“Lord, my God! I know You alone, I recognize and praise always: and when the day reveals to me all Your Beauty through the beauty of Your deeds, and when the night covers everything with a dark mantle and leaves me alone with You. Amen".

THIRD COMMANDMENT

Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain.

What, are there really people who decide to commemorate, without reason or need, a name that awes - the name of the Lord God Almighty? When the name of God is pronounced in the sky, the heavens bow, the stars flash brighter, the Archangels and Angels sing: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts,” and the saints and saints of God fall on their faces. Then which mortal dares to remember the Most Holy Name of God without spiritual trembling and without deep sighing from longing for God?

If a person is dying, call him any name, and you will not be able to cheer him up or restore peace to his soul. But when you remember one single name - the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will encourage and calm him. And the one leaving for another world with his last glance will thank you for the balm of a great name for his soul.

If a person’s relatives turn away or his friends betray him, and he realizes that he is alone in this endless world, then remind him, tired of loneliness on the road, the name of God, and you will, as it were, give him a staff for his heavy arms and legs.

If evil neighbors take up arms against someone and, with false testimony, bring him to chains and prison, having won over the judges against the righteous, approach the sufferer and whisper in his ear the name of the Lord. And at that very moment tears will flow from his eyes, tears of hope and faith, and the heavy fetters will seem lighter to him.

If someone is drowning in the depths and at the last moment between life and death remembers the name of God, then his strength will double.

If a scientist strives to solve some difficult mystery of nature and, feeling that he has relied in vain on his limited mind, one day remembers the name of God, then a sudden insight will stir his soul, and the veil of mystery will be lifted.

Oh, wonderful name of God! How omnipotent you are, how wonderful, how sweet! May my lips be silent forever if they pronounce it carelessly, casually, in vain.

Listen to the parable of the blasphemer.

- Why are you calling me in vain? What a joke! I'm full of work!

The pilgrim answered peacefully:

“Truly, the Lord God has even more work to do, but you call on Him much more often than I call on you.” Who has the right to be angry more: you or the Lord God?

The jeweler, ashamed, returned to the workshop and from then on kept his mouth shut.

So, brothers, let the name of the Lord, like an unquenchable lamp, constantly glow in the soul, in the thoughts and heart, let it be on the mind, but not leave the tongue without a significant and solemn reason.

Listen to another parable, the parable of the slave.

There lived in the house of a white master a black slave, a humble and pious Christian. The white owner used to curse and blaspheme the name of God in anger. And the white gentleman had a dog, which he loved very much. One day it happened that the owner became terribly angry and began to revile and blaspheme God. Then the black man was seized with mortal agony, he grabbed the owner’s dog and began to smear it with mud. Seeing this, the owner shouted:

- What are you doing with my beloved dog?!

“The same as you and the Lord God,” the slave answered peacefully.

There is another parable, a parable about foul language.

In Serbia, in one hospital, a doctor and a paramedic worked from morning to evening, visiting patients. The paramedic had an evil tongue, and he constantly, like a dirty rag, whipped anyone he thought of. His dirty language did not spare even the Lord God.

One day the doctor was visited by a friend who had come from afar. The doctor invited him to attend the operation. There was also a paramedic with the doctor.

The guest felt sick at the sight of the terrible wound, from which pus with a disgusting smell was flowing. And the paramedic kept cursing. Then the friend asked the doctor:

“How can you listen to such blasphemous language?”

The doctor replied:

“My friend, I’m used to festering wounds.” Pus should flow out of purulent wounds. If pus accumulates in the body, it flows out of an open wound. If pus accumulates in the soul, it flows out through the mouth. My paramedic, cursing, only reveals the evil accumulated in the soul, and pours it out of his soul, like pus from a wound.

O Almighty, why does not even an ox scold You, but a man scolds You? Why did You create an ox with purer lips than a man?

O All-Merciful One, why do not even frogs revile You, but man does? Why did You create a frog with a nobler voice than a man?

O All-Patient One, why do not even snakes blaspheme You, but man does? Why did You create a snake more like an angel than a man?

O Most Beautiful One, why is it that even the wind, rushing across the earth length and breadth, does not carry on its wings Your name without reason, and the person says it in vain? Why is the wind more God-fearing than man?

Oh, wonderful name of God! How omnipotent you are, how wonderful, how sweet! May my lips be silent forever if they pronounce it carelessly, casually, in vain.

FOURTH COMMANDMENT

Work six days and do all your work; and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

This means:

The Creator created for six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His labors. Six days are temporary, vain and short-lived, but the seventh is eternal, peaceful and long-lasting. By creating the world, the Lord God entered time, but did not leave eternity. This mystery is great...(Eph. 5:32), and it is more fitting to think about it than to talk about it, for it is not accessible to everyone, but only to God’s chosen ones.

God's chosen ones, being in body in time, rise in spirit to the top of the world, where there is eternal peace and bliss.

And you, brother, work and rest. Work, for the Lord God also worked; rest, for the Lord also rested. And let your work be creative, for you are a child of the Creator. Don't destroy, but create!

Consider your work as cooperation with God. So you will not do evil, but only good. Before doing anything, think about whether the Lord would do this, because, basically, the Lord does everything, and we only help Him.

All of God's creatures are constantly working. May this give you strength in your work. When you get up early in the morning, look, the sun has already done a lot, and not only the sun, but also water, air, plants, and animals. Your idleness will be an insult to the world and a sin before God.

Your heart and lungs work day and night. Why not put some effort into your hands too? And your kidneys work day and night. Why not give your brain a workout?

The stars rush non-stop across the expanses of the universe, faster than a galloping horse. So why do you indulge in idleness and laziness?

There is a parable about wealth.

In one city there lived a rich merchant, and he had three sons. He was a good trader, resourceful and managed to make a huge fortune. When they asked him why he needed such wealth and so much trouble, he answered: “I am all in work, trying to provide for my sons so that they do not suffer.” Hearing this, his sons became lazy and stopped working altogether, and after their father’s death they began to spend the wealth their father had accumulated. That's why my father wanted it. light to come see how his sons live without labor and worries. The Lord God released him, he went down to his hometown and approached his house.

But when he knocked on the gate, a stranger opened it for him. The merchant asked about his sons and heard in response that his sons were in hard labor. Idleness led them to a quarrel, and the quarrel led to the burning of the house and murder.

“Alas,” sighed the father, distraught with grief, “I wanted to create heaven for my children, but I myself prepared hell for them.”

And the unfortunate father began to walk throughout the city and teach all the parents:

- Don't be as crazy as I was. Because of immeasurable love to my children, I myself pushed them into the hell of hell. Do not leave your children, brothers, any property. Teach them to work, and leave this as an inheritance. Give all the rest of your wealth to the poor before your death.

Truly, there is nothing more dangerous and destructive for the soul than inheriting a large fortune. Be sure that the devil rejoices more at a rich inheritance than an angel, for the devil does not spoil people so easily and quickly as with a large inheritance.

Therefore, brother, work hard and teach your children to work. And when you work, do not look only for profit, benefit and success in your work. It is better to find in your work the beauty and pleasure that work itself gives.

For one chair that a carpenter makes, he can get ten dinars, or fifty, or a hundred. But the beauty of the product and the pleasure from the work that the master feels when he is inspiredly strict, gluing and polishing the wood, does not pay off in any way. This pleasure is reminiscent of the highest pleasure that the Lord experienced at the creation of the world, when He inspiredly “planed, glued and polished” it. The whole of God's world could have its own certain price and could pay off, but its beauty and the Creator's pleasure during the Creation of the world has no price.

Know that you demean your work if you think only about the material benefits from it. Know that such work is not given to a person, he will not succeed, and will not bring him the expected profit. And the tree will be angry with you and resist you if you work on it not out of love, but for profit. And the land will hate you if you plow it without thinking about its beauty, but only about your profit from it. Iron will burn you, water will drown you, stone will crush you, if you do not look at them with love, but in everything you see only your ducats and dinars.

Work without selfishness, just as a nightingale unselfishly sings its songs. And so the Lord God will go ahead of you in His work, and you will follow Him. If you run past God and rush forward, leaving God behind, your work will bring you a curse, not a blessing.

And on the seventh day rest.

How to relax? Remember, rest can only be close to God and in God. In this world, true rest cannot be found anywhere else, for this light is seething like a whirlpool.

Dedicate the seventh day entirely to God, and then you will truly rest and be filled with new strength.

Throughout the seventh day, think about God, talk about God, read about God, listen about God and pray to God. This way you will truly rest and be filled with new strength.

There is a parable about labor on Sunday.

A certain person did not honor God’s commandment to celebrate Sunday and continued Saturday labors on Sunday. When the whole village was resting, he worked until he sweated in the field with his oxen, which he also did not allow to rest. However, the next week on Wednesday he became weak, and his oxen became weak; and when the whole village went out into the field, he remained at home, tired, gloomy and despairing.

Therefore, brothers, do not be like this man, so as not to lose strength, health and soul. But work for six days as companions of the Lord, with love, pleasure and reverence, and devote the seventh day entirely to the Lord God. I have learned from my own experience that spending Sunday correctly inspires, renews and makes a person happy.

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days on earth may be long.

This means:

Before you knew the Lord God, your parents knew Him. This alone is enough for you to bow to them with respect and give praise. Bow down and give praise to everyone who knew the Highest Good in this world before you.

One rich young Indian was passing through the passes of the Hindu Kush with his retinue. In the mountains he met an old man grazing goats. The poor old man came down to the side of the road and bowed to the rich young man. And the young man jumped off his elephant and prostrated himself before the old man. The elder was amazed at this, and the people from his retinue were also amazed. And he said to the old man:

“I bow before your eyes, for they saw this world, the creation of the Almighty, before mine.” I bow before your lips, for they uttered His holy name before mine. I bow before your heart, for before mine it trembled with the joyful realization that the Father of all people on earth is the Lord, the King of Heaven.

Honor your father and your mother, for your path from birth to this day is watered with your mother’s tears and your father’s sweat. They loved you even when everyone else, weak and dirty, disgusted you. They will love you even when everyone else hates you. And when everyone throws stones at you, your mother will throw you immortelle and basil - symbols of holiness.

Your father loves you, although he knows all your shortcomings. And others will hate you, although they will only know your virtues.

Your parents love you with reverence, because they know that you are a gift from God, entrusted to them for their preservation and upbringing. No one except your parents is able to see the mystery of God in you. Their love for you has a holy root in eternity.

Through their tenderness towards you, your parents comprehend the tenderness of the Lord towards all His children.

Just as spurs remind a horse of a good trot, so your harshness towards your parents encourages them to care about you even more.

There is a parable about a father's love.

A certain son, spoiled and cruel, rushed at his father and plunged a knife into his chest. And the father, giving up the ghost, said to his son:

“Hurry up and wipe the blood off the knife so you don’t get caught and brought to justice.”

There is also a parable about maternal love.

In the Russian steppe, one immoral son tied his mother in front of a tent, and in the tent he drank with the walking women and his people. Then the Haiduks appeared and, seeing the mother tied up, decided to immediately avenge her. But then the bound mother shouted at the top of her voice and thereby gave a sign to her unfortunate son that he was in danger. And the son escaped, but the robbers killed the mother instead of the son.

And another parable about the father.

In Tehran, a Persian city, an old father and two daughters lived in the same house. The daughters did not listen to their father's advice and laughed at him. With their bad lives they besmirched honor and disgraced good name father. The father interfered with them, like a silent reproach of conscience. One evening, the daughters, thinking that their father was sleeping, agreed to prepare poison and give it to him in the morning with tea. But my father heard everything and cried bitterly all night and prayed to God. In the morning, the daughter brought tea and placed it in front of him. Then the father said:

“I know about your intention and will leave you as you wish.” But I want to leave not with your sin in order to save your souls, but with my own.

Having said this, the father overturned the cup of poison and left the house.

Son, do not be proud of your knowledge before your uneducated father, for his love is worth more than your knowledge. Think that if it weren’t for him, there would be neither you nor your knowledge.

Daughter, do not be proud of your beauty in front of your hunched mother, for her heart is more beautiful than your face. Remember that both you and your beauty came from her exhausted body.

Day and night, develop in yourself, son, reverence for your mother, for only in this way will you learn to honor all other mothers on earth.

Truly, children, you do not do much if you honor your father and mother, and despise other fathers and mothers. Respect for your parents should become for you a school of respect for all men and all women who give birth in pain, raise them in the sweat of their brow, and love their children in suffering. Remember this and live according to this commandment, so that the Lord God will bless you on earth.

Truly, children, you do not do much if you honor only the personalities of your father and mother, but not their work, not their time, not their contemporaries. Think that by respecting your parents, you honor their work, their era, and their contemporaries. This way you will kill in yourself the fatal and stupid habit of despising the past. My children, believe that the days given to you are no more dear and no closer to the Lord than the days of those who lived before you. If you are proud of your time before the past, do not forget that before you even blink an eye, the grass will begin to grow over your graves, your era, your bodies and deeds, and others will begin to laugh at you as a backward past.

Any time is full of mothers and fathers, pain, sacrifices, love, hope and faith in God. Therefore, any time is worthy of respect.

The sage bows with respect to all past eras, as well as to future ones. For the wise man knows what the fool does not know, namely, that his time is only a minute on the clock. Look, children, at the clock; listen to how minute after minute passes, and tell me which minute is better, longer and more important than others?

Get on your knees, children, and pray to God with me:

“Lord, Heavenly Father, glory to You that You commanded us to honor our father and mother on earth. Help us, O All-Merciful One, through this veneration to learn to respect all men and women on earth, Your precious children. And help us, O All-Wise One, through this to learn not to despise, but to honor previous eras and generations who saw Your glory before us and uttered Your holy name. Amen".

THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

Don't kill.

This means:

God breathed life from His life into every created being. Life is the most precious wealth given by God. Therefore, the one who encroaches on any life on earth raises his hand against the most precious gift of God, moreover, against the life of God itself. All of us living today are only temporary carriers of the life of God within ourselves, guardians of the most precious gift that belongs to God. Therefore, we do not have the right and cannot take away the life borrowed from God, either from ourselves or from others.

And this means

- firstly, we have no right to kill;

- secondly, we cannot kill life.

If a clay pot happens to break at the market, the potter will become furious and demand compensation for the loss. In truth, man is also made from the same cheap material as a pot, but what is hidden in it is priceless. This is the soul that creates a person from the inside, and the Spirit of God that gives life to the soul.

Neither father nor mother have the right to take the life of their children, for it is not parents who give life, but God through parents. And since parents do not give life, they have no right to take it away.

But if parents who work so hard to put their children on their feet do not have the right to take their lives, how can those who accidentally encounter their children along the path of life have such a right?

If you happen to break a pot at the market, it will hurt not the pot, but the potter who made it. In the same way, if a person is killed, it is not the person killed who feels the pain, but the Lord God, Who created man, exalted and breathed His Spirit.

So if the one who broke the pot must compensate the loss to the potter, then even more so must the murderer compensate God for the life he took. Even if people do not demand restitution, God will. Murderer, do not deceive yourself: even if people forget about your crime, God cannot forget. Look, there are things that even the Lord cannot do. For example, He cannot forget about your crime. Always remember this, remember in your anger before you grab a knife or gun.

On the other hand, we cannot kill life. To kill life completely would be to kill God, for life belongs to God. Who can kill God? You can break a pot, but you cannot destroy the clay from which it was made. In the same way, you can crush a person’s body, but you cannot break, burn, scatter, or spill his soul and his spirit.

There is a parable about life.

A certain terrible, bloodthirsty vizier ruled in Constantinople, whose favorite pastime was to watch every day how the executioner cut off heads in front of his palace. And on the streets of Constantinople lived one holy fool, a righteous man and a prophet, whom all people considered God's saint. One morning, when the executioner was executing another unfortunate man in front of the vizier, the holy fool stood under his windows and began swinging an iron hammer right and left.

- What are you doing? - asked the vizier.

“The same as you,” answered the holy fool.

- How is this? - the vizier asked again.

“Yes,” answered the holy fool. “I'm trying to kill the wind with this hammer.” And you are trying to kill life with a knife. My work is in vain, just like yours. You, vizier, cannot kill life, just as I cannot kill the wind.

The vizier silently retreated into the dark chambers of his palace and did not allow anyone to approach him. For three days he did not eat, drink, or see anyone. And on the fourth day he called his friends and said:

- Truly the man of God is right. I acted stupidly. Life cannot be destroyed, just as the wind cannot be killed.

In America, in the city of Chicago, two men lived next door. One of them was flattered by his neighbor’s wealth, sneaked into his house at night and cut off his head, then put the money in his bosom and went home. But as soon as he went out into the street, he saw a murdered neighbor who was walking towards him. Only on the neighbor’s shoulders was not his head, but his own head. In horror, the killer crossed to the other side of the street and started to run, but the neighbor again appeared in front of him and walked towards him, looking like him, like a reflection in a mirror. The killer broke out in a cold sweat. Somehow he made it to his home and barely survived that night. However, the next night his neighbor again appeared to him with his own head. And this happened every night. Then the killer took the stolen money and threw it into the river. But that didn't help either. The neighbor appeared to him night after night. The killer surrendered to the court, admitted his guilt and was sent to hard labor. But even in prison the killer could not close his eyes, for every night he saw his neighbor with his own head on his shoulders. In the end, he began to ask an old priest to help him. I prayed to God for him, a sinner, and would give him communion. The priest replied that before prayer and communion he must make one confession. The convict replied that he had already confessed to the murder of his neighbor. “It’s not that,” the priest told him, “you must see, understand and admit that your neighbor’s life is your own life. And by killing him, you killed yourself. That's why you see your head on the body of the murdered man. By this God gives you a sign that your life, and the life of your neighbor, and the life of all people together, is one and the same life.”

The convict thought about it. After much thought, he understood everything. Then he prayed to God and took communion. And then the spirit of the murdered man stopped haunting him, and he began to spend days and nights in repentance and prayer, telling the rest of the condemned about the miracle that was revealed to him, namely, that a person cannot kill another without killing himself.

Ah, brothers, how terrible are the consequences of murder! If this could be described to all people, truly there would not be a madman who would encroach on someone else's life.

God awakens the murderer's conscience, and his own conscience begins to wear away at him from the inside, like a worm under the bark wears away at a tree. Conscience gnaws, and beats, and rumbles, and roars like a mad lioness, and the unfortunate criminal finds no peace either day or night, neither in the mountains, nor in the valleys, nor in this life, nor in the grave. It would be easier for a person if his skull were opened and a swarm of bees settled inside, than for an unclean, troubled conscience to settle in his head.

Therefore, brothers, God forbade people, for the sake of their own peace and happiness, from murder.

“Oh, Good Lord, how sweet and useful is every commandment of Yours! O Lord Almighty, save Your servant from evil deeds and a vengeful conscience, in order to glorify and praise You forever and ever. Amen".

SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

Don't commit adultery.

And this means:

Do not have an illicit relationship with a woman. Truly, in this, animals are more obedient to God than many people.

Adultery destroys a person physically and mentally. Adulterers are usually twisted like a bow before old age and end their lives in wounds, pain and madness. The most terrible and evil diseases known to medicine are diseases that multiply and spread among people through adultery. The body of an adulterer is constantly in illness, like a stinking puddle, from which everyone turns away in disgust and runs away with their nose pinched.

But if evil concerned only those who create this evil, the problem would not be so terrible. However, it is simply terrible when you think that the illnesses of their parents are inherited by the children of adulterers: sons and daughters, and even grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Truly, diseases from adultery are the scourge of humanity, like aphids on a vineyard. These diseases, more than any other, are dragging humanity back toward decline.

The picture is quite scary if we only bear in mind bodily pain and deformity, rotting and decay of the flesh from bad diseases. But the picture is complemented and becomes even more terrible when mental deformity is added to physical deformities, as a consequence of the sin of adultery. Because of this evil, a person’s spiritual strength weakens and becomes upset. The patient loses the sharpness, depth and height of thought that he had before the illness. He is confused, forgetful and constantly tired. He is no longer capable of any serious work. His character changes completely, and he indulges in all sorts of vices: drunkenness, gossip, lies, theft, and so on. He develops a terrible hatred for everything that is good, decent, honest, bright, prayerful, spiritual, and divine. He hates good people and tries his best to harm them, denigrate them, slander them, harm them. Like a true misanthrope, he is also a hater of God. He hates any laws, both human and God's, and therefore hates all legislators and keepers of the law. He becomes a persecutor of order, goodness, will, holiness and ideal. He is like a fetid puddle for society, which rots and stinks, infecting everything around. His body is pus, and his soul is also pus.

This is why, brothers, God, who knows everything and foresees everything, has imposed a ban on adultery, fornication, and extramarital affairs between people.

Young people especially need to beware of this evil and avoid it like a poisonous viper. The people where young people indulge in promiscuity and “free love” have no future. Such a nation will, over time, have increasingly crippled, stupid and feeble generations, until finally it is captured by a healthier people who will come to subjugate it.

Anyone who knows how to read the past of mankind can find out what terrible punishments befell the adulterous tribes and peoples. The Holy Scripture speaks of the fall of two cities - Sodom and Gomorrah, in which it was impossible to find even ten righteous people and virgins. For this, the Lord God rained fire and brimstone on them, and both cities immediately found themselves buried, as if in a grave.

May the Lord Almighty help you, brothers, not to slip on dangerous path adultery. May your Guardian Angel keep peace and love in your home.

May the Mother of God inspire your sons and daughters with Her Divine chastity, so that their bodies and souls are not stained by sin, but they are pure and bright, so that the Holy Spirit can fit into them and breathe into them what is divine, what is from God. Amen.

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

Don't steal.

And this means:

Do not upset your neighbor by disrespecting his property rights. Don't do what foxes and mice do if you think you are better than the fox and the mouse. The fox steals without knowing the law on theft; and the mouse gnaws at the barn, not realizing that it is harming anyone. Both the fox and the mouse understand only their own needs, but not the loss of others. They are not given to understand, but you are given. Therefore, you cannot be forgiven for what is forgiven for a fox and a mouse. Your benefit must always be legal, it must not be to the detriment of your neighbor.

Brothers, only the ignorant steal, that is, those who do not know the two main truths of this life.

The first truth is that a person cannot steal without being noticed.

The second truth is that a person cannot profit from stealing.

“How is this?” - many nations will ask and many ignorant people will be surprised.

Here's how.

Our Universe is many-eyed. All of it is strewn with an abundance of eyes, like a plum tree in spring sometimes completely covered with white flowers. Some of these eyes people see and feel their gaze on them, but a significant part they neither see nor feel. An ant swarming in the grass does not feel the gaze of a sheep grazing above it, nor the gaze of a person watching it. In the same way, people do not feel the gaze of an innumerable number of higher beings who watch us at every step of our life's path. There are millions and millions of spirits who closely monitor what is happening on every inch of the earth. How then can a thief steal without being noticed? How then can a thief steal without it being discovered? It is impossible to put your hand in your pocket without millions of witnesses seeing it. Moreover, it is impossible to put your hand in someone else’s pocket without millions of higher powers raising the alarm. One who understands this argues that a person cannot steal unnoticed and with impunity. This is the first truth.

Another truth is that a person cannot profit from theft, for how can he use stolen goods if the invisible eyes saw everything and pointed to it? And if they pointed to him, then the secret will become clear, and the name “thief” will stick to him until his death. The powers of heaven can point out a thief in a thousand ways.

There is a parable about fishermen.

On the banks of one river lived two fishermen with their families. One had many children, and the other was childless. Every evening both fishermen cast their nets and went to bed. For some time now, it has become so that a fisherman with many children always had two or three fish in his nets, while a fisherman without children always had an abundance. A childless fisherman, out of mercy, pulled out several fish from his full net and gave them to his neighbor. This went on for quite a long time, perhaps a whole year. While one of them grew rich by trading fish, the other barely made ends meet, sometimes not even being able to buy bread for his children.

“What’s the matter?” - thought the unfortunate poor man. But then one day, while he was sleeping, the truth was revealed to him. A certain man appeared to him in a dream in a dazzling radiance, like an angel of God, and said: “Get up quickly and go to the river. There you will see why you are poor. But when you see it, don’t give in to your anger.”

Then the fisherman woke up and jumped out of bed. Having crossed himself, he went out to the river and saw his neighbor throwing fish after fish from his net into his. The poor fisherman's blood boiled with indignation, but he remembered the warning and humbled his anger. Having cooled down a little, he calmly said to the thief: “Neighbor, maybe I can help you? Well, why are you suffering alone!

Caught red-handed, the neighbor was simply numb with fear. When he came to his senses, he threw himself at the feet of the poor fisherman and exclaimed: “Truly, the Lord has pointed out to you my crime. It’s hard for me, a sinner!” And then he gave half of his wealth to the poor fisherman so that he would not tell people about him and would not send him to prison.

There is a parable about a merchant.

In one Arab city lived the merchant Ishmael. Whenever he released goods to customers, he always shortchanged them by a few drachmas. And his fortune greatly increased. However, his children were sick, and he spent a lot of money on doctors and medicine. And the more he spent on treating children, the more he deceived his customers. But the more he deceived customers, the more sick his children became.

One day, when Ishmael was sitting alone in his shop, full of worries about his children, it seemed to him that for a moment the heavens opened. He raised his eyes to the sky to see what was happening there. And he sees: angels are standing at huge scales, measuring out all the benefits that the Lord bestows on people. And now it’s the turn of Izmayal’s family. When the angels began to measure the health of his children, they threw less weights on the scale of health than there were weights on the scales. Ishmael became angry and wanted to shout at the angels, but then one of them turned to him and said: “The measure is right. Why are you angry? We don’t give your children exactly as much as you don’t give to your customers. And this is how we fulfill God’s righteousness.”

Ishmael jerked as if he had been pierced with a sword. And he began to bitterly repent of his grave sin. From then on, Ishmael began to not only weigh correctly, but always add extra. And his children returned to health.

Moreover, brothers, a stolen thing constantly reminds a person that it is stolen and that it is not his property.

There is a parable about a clock.

One guy stole a pocket watch and wore it for a month. After that, he returned the watch to the owner, admitted his offense and said:

“Whenever I took my watch out of my pocket and looked at it, I heard it say: “We are not yours; you are a thief!

The Lord God knew that theft would make both of them unhappy: the one who stole and the one from whom it was stolen. And so that people, His sons, would not be unhappy, the Wise Lord gave us this commandment: do not steal.

“We thank You, Lord our God, for this commandment, which we really need for the sake of our spiritual peace and happiness. Command, O Lord, Thy fire, let it burn our hands if they reach out to steal. Command, O Lord, Thy serpents, let them wrap themselves around our feet if they go out to steal. But, most importantly, we pray to You, Almighty, cleanse our hearts from thieves’ thoughts and our spirit from thieves' thoughts. Amen".

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

A this means:

Do not be deceitful, either to yourself or to others. If you lie about yourself, you know you are lying. But if you slander someone else, that other person knows that you are slandering him.

When you praise yourself and brag to people, people do not know that you are falsely testifying about yourself, but you yourself know it. But if you repeat these lies about yourself, people will eventually realize that you are deceiving them. However, if you constantly repeat the same lies about yourself, people will know that you are lying, but then you yourself will begin to believe your own lies. So the lie will become the truth for you, and you will get used to the lie, like a blind man gets used to darkness.

When you slander another person, that person knows that you are lying. This is the first witness against you. And you know that you are slandering him. So you are a second witness against yourself. And the Lord God is the third witness. Therefore, whenever you bear false witness against your neighbor, know that three witnesses will testify against you: God, your neighbor, and yourself. And rest assured, one of these three witnesses will expose you to the whole world.

This is how the Lord God can expose false testimony against one's neighbor.

There is a parable about a slanderer.

In one village lived two neighbors, Luka and Ilya. Luka could not stand Ilya, because Ilya was a correct, hard-working person, and Luka was a drunkard and a lazy man. In a fit of hatred, Luke went to court and reported that Ilya had spoken abusive words to the king. Ilya defended himself as best he could, and in the end, turning to Luke, he said: “God willing, the Lord Himself will reveal your lies against me.” However, the court sent Ilya to prison, and Luke returned home.

As he approached his house, he heard crying in the house. From a terrible premonition, the blood froze in his veins, for Luke remembered Elijah’s curse. Entering the house, he was horrified. His old father fell into the fire and burned his entire face and eyes. When Luke saw this, he was speechless and could neither speak nor cry. At dawn the next day, he went to court and admitted that he had slandered Ilya. The judge immediately released Ilya, and punished Luka for perjury. So Luke suffered two punishments for one sin: both from God and from people.

Here is an example of how your neighbor can expose your false testimony.

In Nice there lived a butcher named Anatole. A certain rich but dishonest merchant bribed him to give false testimony against his neighbor Emil, that he, Anatole, saw how Emil poured kerosene and set fire to the house of this merchant. And Anatole testified to this in court and swore an oath. Emil was convicted. But he swore that when he served his sentence, he would live only to prove that Anatole had perjured himself.

Coming out of prison, Emil, being a efficient man, soon accumulated a thousand Napoleons. He decided that he would give this entire thousand to force Anatole to admit to witnesses his slander. First of all, Emil found people who knew Anatole and made such a plan. They were supposed to invite Anatole to dinner, give him a good drink and then tell him that they needed a witness who would testify under oath at the trial that a certain innkeeper was sheltering the robbers.

The plan was a great success. Anatole was told the essence of the matter, laid out a thousand gold Napoleons in front of him and asked if he could find a reliable person who would show what they needed at the trial. Anatole's eyes lit up when he saw a pile of gold in front of him, and he immediately declared that he would take on this matter himself. Then his friends pretended to doubt whether he would be able to do everything right, whether he would be afraid, whether he would not be confused at the trial. Anatole began to passionately convince them that he could do it. And then they asked him if he had ever done such things and how successfully? Unaware of the trap, Anatole admitted that there was a case when he was paid for false testimony against Emil, who as a result was sent to hard labor.

Having heard everything they needed, the friends went to Emil and told him everything. The next morning, Emil filed a complaint with the court. Anatole was tried and sent to hard labor. Thus, the inevitable punishment of God overtook the slanderer and restored the good name of a decent person.

Here is an example of how a false witness himself confessed to his crime.

In one town lived two guys, two friends, Georgy and Nikola. Both were unmarried. And both fell in love with the same girl, the daughter of a poor artisan, who had seven daughters, all unmarried. The eldest was named Flora. It was this Flora that both friends were looking at. But Georgy turned out to be faster. He wooed Flora and asked his friend to be the best man. Nikola was overcome with such envy that he decided to prevent their wedding at all costs. And he began to dissuade George from marrying Flora, because, according to him, she was a dishonest girl and went out with many people. His friend’s words struck George like a sharp knife, and he began to assure Nikola that this could not be true. Then Nikola said that he himself had a relationship with Flora. George believed his friend, went to her parents and refused to marry. Soon the whole city knew about it. A shameful stain fell on the whole family. The sisters began to reproach Flora. And she, in despair, unable to justify herself, threw herself into the sea and drowned.

About a year later, Nikola went to church at Maundy Thursday and heard the priest calling the parishioners to communion. “But let no thieves, liars, perjurers and those who have sullied the honor of an innocent girl come near the Chalice. It would be better for them to take fire into themselves than the Blood of the pure and innocent Jesus Christ,” he concluded.

Hearing such words, Nikola trembled like an aspen leaf. Immediately after the service, he asked the priest to confess him, which the priest did. Nikola confessed everything and asked what he should do to save himself from the reproaches of a bad conscience, which was gnawing at him like a hungry lioness. The priest advised him, if he was truly ashamed of his sin and afraid of punishment, to tell about his offense publicly, through the newspaper.

Nikola did not sleep the whole night, gathering all his courage to repent publicly. The next morning he wrote about everything he had done, namely, how he had cast a disgrace on the venerable family of a decent artisan and how he had lied to his friend. At the end of the letter he wrote: “I will not go to trial. The court will not condemn me to Death, but I only deserve death. Therefore, I sentence myself to death.” And the next day he hanged himself.

“Oh, Lord, Righteous God, how miserable are people who do not follow Your holy commandment and do not bridle their sinful heart and their tongue with an iron bridle. God, help me, a sinner, not to sin against the truth. Make me wise with Your truth, Jesus, Son of God, burn away all the lies in my heart, like a gardener burns the nests of caterpillars on the fruit trees in the garden. Amen".

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; neither his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

And this means:

As soon as you desire something that belongs to someone else, you have already fallen into sin. Now the question is, will you come to your senses, will you come to your senses, or will you continue to roll down the inclined plane, where the desire of someone else is taking you?

Desire is the seed of sin. A sinful act is already a harvest from the seed sown and grown.

Pay attention to the differences between this, the tenth commandment of the Lord, and the previous nine. In the previous nine commandments, the Lord God prevents your sinful actions, that is, does not allow the harvest to grow from the seed of sin. And in this tenth commandment, the Lord looks at the root of sin and does not allow you to sin in your thoughts. This commandment serves as a bridge between the Old Testament, given by God through the prophet Moses, and the New Testament, given by God through Jesus Christ, because when you read the New Testament, you will see that the Lord no longer commands people not to kill with their hands, not to commit adultery with the flesh, not to steal with your hands, don't lie with your tongue. On the contrary, He descends into the depths of the human soul and obliges us not to kill even in our thoughts, not to imagine adultery even in our thoughts, not to steal even in our thoughts, not to lie in silence.

So, the tenth commandment serves as a transition to the Law of Christ, which is more moral, higher and more important than the Law of Moses.

Do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. For as soon as you desired something that belongs to someone else, you have already sown the seed of evil in your heart, and the seed will grow, and grow, and grow, and become stronger, and branch out, causing your hands, and your feet, and your eyes, and your tongue to sin. , and your whole body. For the body, brothers, is the executive organ of the soul. The body only carries out the orders given by the soul. What the soul wants, the body must fulfill, and what the soul does not want, the body cannot fulfill.

Which plant, brothers, grows the fastest? Fern, isn't it? But a desire sown in the human heart grows faster than a fern. Today it will grow just a little, tomorrow - twice as much, the day after tomorrow - four times, the day after tomorrow - sixteen times, and so on.

If today you are envious of your neighbor’s house, tomorrow you will begin to make plans to appropriate it, the day after tomorrow you will demand that he give you his house, and after the day after tomorrow you will take his house away or set it on fire.

If today you looked at his wife with lust, tomorrow you will begin to figure out how to kidnap her, the day after tomorrow you will enter into an illegal relationship with her, and the day after tomorrow you will plan, together with her, to kill your neighbor and possess his wife.

If today you desired your neighbor’s ox, tomorrow you will want that ox twice as much, the day after tomorrow four times as much, and the day after tomorrow you will steal his ox. And if your neighbor accuses you of stealing his ox, you will swear in court that the ox is yours.

This is how sinful deeds grow from sinful thoughts. And also, note that the one who tramples this tenth commandment will break the other nine commandments one after another.

Listen to my advice: try to fulfill this last commandment of God, and it will be easier for you to fulfill all the others. Trust me that the one whose heart is filled with evil desires darkens his soul so much that he becomes unable to believe in the Lord God, and to work at a certain time, and to observe Sunday, and to honor his parents. In truth, it is true for all commandments: if you break even one, you will break all ten.

There is a parable about sinful thoughts.

One righteous man named Laurus left his village and went to the mountains, eradicating all his desires in his soul, except the desire to devote himself to God and get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Laurus spent several years in fasting and prayer, thinking only about God. When he returned to the village again, all his fellow villagers marveled at his holiness. And everyone revered him as a true man of God. And there lived in that village someone named Thaddeus, who envied Laurus and told his fellow villagers that he too could become the same as Laurus. Then Thaddeus retired to the mountains and began to exhaust himself with fasting alone. However, a month later Thaddeus returned. And when fellow villagers asked what he had been doing all this time, he replied:

“I killed, I stole, I lied, I slandered people, I extolled myself, I committed adultery, I set houses on fire.

- How can this be if you were there alone?

- Yes, I was alone in body, but in soul and heart I was always among people, and what I could not do with my hands, feet, tongue and body, I did mentally in my soul.

This is how, brothers, a person can sin even alone. Despite the fact that a bad person leaves the society of people, his sinful desires, his dirty soul and unclean thoughts will not leave him.

Therefore, brothers, let us pray to God that He will help us fulfill this last commandment of His and thereby prepare to listen, understand and accept God’s New Testament, that is, the Testament of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

“Lord God, Great and Terrible Lord, Great in His deeds, Terrible in His inevitable truth! Give us a little of Your power, Your wisdom and Your good will to live according to this holy and great commandment of Yours. Choke, O God, every sinful desire in our hearts before it begins to choke us.

O Lord of the world, saturate our souls and bodies with Your power, for with our strength we cannot do anything; and nourish with Your wisdom, for our wisdom is stupidity and darkness of mind; and nourish with Your will, for our will, without Your good will, always serves evil. Come closer to us, Lord, so that we too may come closer to You. Bend down to us, O God, so that we may rise to You.

Sow, Lord, Your holy Law into our hearts, sow, plant, water, and let it grow, branch, blossom and bear fruit, for if You leave us alone with Your Law, without You we will not be able to get closer to it.

May Your name be glorified, O Lord, and may we honor Moses, Your chosen one and prophet, through whom You gave us that clear and powerful Testament.

Help us, Lord, to learn word for word that First Testament, in order through it to prepare for the great and glorious Testament of Your Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ, our Savior, to Whom, together with You and with the Life-giving Holy Spirit, eternal glory, and song, and worship from generation to generation generation, from century to century, until the end of time, until the Last Judgment, until the separation of unrepentant sinners from the righteous, until the victory over Satan, until the destruction of his kingdom of darkness and the reign of Your Eternal Kingdom over all kingdoms known to the mind and visible to the eye human. Amen".

The Seven Deadly Sins and the Ten Commandments

In this short article I will not pretend to be an absolutist statement, including that Christianity is somehow more important than other world religions. Therefore, I reject in advance all possible attacks in this vein. The purpose of the article is to provide information about the seven deadly sins and ten commandments noted in Christian teaching. The extent of the sinfulness and importance of the commandments can be debated, but at a minimum it is worth paying attention to.

But first, why did I suddenly decide to write about this? The reason for this was the film “Seven,” in which one comrade imagined himself to be an instrument of God and decided to punish selected individuals, as they say, point by point, that is, each for some mortal sin. It’s just that I suddenly discovered, to my shame, that I couldn’t list all seven deadly sins. So I decided to fill this gap by publishing on my website. And in the process of searching for information, I discovered a connection with the Ten Christian Commandments (which also doesn’t hurt to know), as well as some other interesting materials. Below it all comes together.

Seven deadly sins

There are seven mortal sins in Christian teaching, and they are called so because, despite their seemingly harmless nature, if regularly practiced, they lead to much more serious sins and, consequently, to the death of an immortal soul that ends up in hell. Deadly sins Not based on biblical texts and Not are a direct revelation of God, they appeared in the texts of theologians later.

First, the Greek monk-theologian Evagrius of Pontus compiled a list of the eight worst human passions. They were (in descending order of severity): pride, vanity, acedia, anger, sadness, avarice, lust and gluttony. The order in this list was determined by the degree of a person’s orientation towards himself, towards his ego (that is, pride is the most selfish property of a person and therefore the most harmful).

At the end of the 6th century, Pope Gregory I the Great reduced the list to seven elements, introducing the concept of vanity into pride, spiritual laziness into despondency, and also adding a new one - envy. The list was slightly reordered, this time according to the criterion of opposition to love: pride, envy, anger, despondency, greed, gluttony and voluptuousness (that is, pride is more opposed to love than others and is therefore the most harmful).

Later Christian theologians (in particular, Thomas Aquinas) objected to this particular order of mortal sins, but it was this order that became the main one and remains in effect to this day. The only change in Pope Gregory the Great's list was the replacement of the concept of despondency with sloth in the 17th century. Also see a brief history of sin (in English).

Due to the fact that representatives of the predominantly Catholic Church took an active part in compiling and finalizing the list of the seven deadly sins, I dare to assume that this is not applicable to the Orthodox Church, and especially to other religions. However, I believe that regardless of religion and even for atheists, this list will be useful. Its current version is summarized in the following table.

№	Name and synonyms	English	Explanation	Misconceptions
1	*Pride* , pride(meaning “arrogance” or “arrogance”), vanity.	Pride, vanity.	Excessive faith in one's own capabilities, which conflicts with the greatness of God. It is considered a sin from which all others come.	Pride(meaning “self-esteem” or “feeling of satisfaction from something”).
2	*Envy* .	Envy.	Desire for another's properties, status, opportunities, or situation. It is a direct violation of the tenth Christian commandment (see below).	Vanity(historically it was included in the concept of pride), jealousy.
3	*Anger* .	Anger, wrath.	Opposed to love is a feeling of strong indignation, indignation.	Revenge(although she cannot do without anger).
4	*Laziness* , laziness, idleness, despondency.	Sloth, acedia, sadness.	Avoidance of physical and spiritual work.
5	*Greed* , greed, stinginess, love of money.	Greed, covetousness, Avarice.	The desire for material wealth, the thirst for profit, while ignoring the spiritual.
6	*Gluttony* , gluttony, gluttony.	Gluttony.	An uncontrollable desire to consume more than is required.
7	*Voluptuousness* , fornication, lust, debauchery.	Lust.	Passionate desire for carnal pleasures.

The most harmful of them is definitely considered pride. At the same time, the belonging of some items on this list to sins (for example, gluttony and lust) is questioned. And according to one sociological survey, the “popularity” of mortal sins is as follows (in descending order): anger, pride, envy, gluttony, voluptuousness, laziness and greed.

It may be interesting to consider the influence of these sins on the human body from the point of view modern science. And, of course, the matter could not do without a “scientific” justification for those natural properties of human nature that were included in the list of the worst.

Ten Commandments

Many people confuse mortal sins with commandments and try to illustrate the concepts of “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal” with references to them. There are some similarities between the two lists, but there are more differences. The Ten Commandments were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and are described in the Old Testament (in the fifth book of Moses called Deuteronomy). The first four commandments concern the relationship between God and man, the next six – man with man. Below is a list of commandments in a modern interpretation, with original quotes (given from the 1997 Russian edition, approved by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus') and some comments by Andrei Koltsov.

Believe in the only God. “I am the Lord your God... let you have no other gods before Me.”– initially this was directed against paganism (polytheism), but over time it lost relevance and became a reminder to honor the one God even more.
Don't create idols for yourself. “You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I am the Lord your God..."- initially this was directed against idolatry, but now “idol” is interpreted in an expanded way - this is everything that distracts from faith in God.
Don't take God's name in vain. “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain...”- that is, you cannot “swear”, say “my God”, “by God”, etc.
Remember the day off. “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy...six days you shall work and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.”– in some countries, including Russia, this is Sunday; in any case, one day of the week must be entirely devoted to prayers and thoughts about God; you cannot work, since it is assumed that a person works for himself.
Honor your parents. "Honor your father and your mother..."- After God, one should honor father and mother, since they gave life.
Don't kill. "Thou shalt not kill"– God gives life, and only He can take it away.
Don't commit adultery. "Thou shalt not commit adultery"– that is, a man and a woman should live in marriage, and only in a monogamous one; for the eastern countries where all this happened, this is a rather difficult condition to fulfill.
Don't steal. "Don't steal"- by analogy with “thou shalt not kill,” only God gives us everything, and only He can take it back.
Don't lie. "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor"– initially this concerned judicial oaths, later it began to be interpreted broadly as “do not lie” and “do not slander.”
Don't be jealous. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor shall you covet your neighbor’s house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor anything that your neighbor has.”– sounds more figurative in the original.