View source for Seven deadly sins

{{Short description|Set of vices in Christian theology}}
{{other uses|Seven deadly sins (disambiguation)|Deadly Sins (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|Mortal sin}}
{{Catholic philosophy}}
[[File:Hieronymus Bosch- The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things.JPG|thumb|[[Hieronymus Bosch]]'s ''[[The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things]]'']]
[[File:Dirc van Delft - The Holy Ghost and the Seven Deadly Sins - Walters W171110R - Full Page.jpg|thumbnail|''The Holy Spirit and the Seven Deadly Sins''. Folio from Walters manuscript W.171 (15th century)]]

The '''seven deadly sins''' (also known as the '''capital vices''' or '''cardinal sins''') function as a grouping of major vices within the teachings of [[Christianity]].<ref name="Tucker-2015">{{Cite book |title=The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook |last=Tucker |first=Shawn |publisher=Cascade |year=2015 |isbn=978-1625647184}}</ref> They are not explicitly listed in the Bible but developed within early Christian theological tradition, drawing on various biblical passages. In the standard list, the seven deadly sins according to the [[Catholic Church]] are [[pride]], [[greed]], [[wrath]], [[envy]], [[lust]], [[gluttony]], and [[Sloth (sin)|sloth]]. 

In Catholicism, the classification of deadly sins into a group of seven originated with [[Tertullian]] and continued with [[Evagrius Ponticus]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Seven Deadly Sins |url=https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-seven-deadly-sins |access-date=2023-09-30 |website=Catholic Answers |archive-date=2024-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808052301/https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-seven-deadly-sins |url-status=live }}</ref> The concepts were partly based on Greco-Roman and Biblical antecedents<ref>{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}</ref>. Later, the concept of seven deadly sins evolved further, as shown by historical context based on the Latin language of the Roman Catholic Church, though with significant influence from the Greek language and associated religious traditions. Knowledge of this concept is evident in various treatises; in paintings and sculpture (for example, architectural decorations on churches in some Catholic [[Parish (Catholic Church)|parishes]]); and in some older textbooks.<ref name="Tucker-2015"/> Further knowledge has been derived from patterns of [[Confession (religion)|confession]].

During later centuries and in modern times, the idea of sins (especially seven in number) has influenced or inspired various streams of religious and philosophical thought, fine art painting, and modern popular media such as [[literature]], [[film]], and [[television]].

== History ==
[[File:Tableau de mission -François-Marie Balanant tableau 1-.jpg|thumb|An allegorical image depicting the human heart subject to the seven deadly sins, each represented by an animal (clockwise: [[toad]] = avarice; [[snake]] = envy; [[lion]] = wrath; [[snail]] = sloth; [[pig]] = gluttony; [[goat]] = lust; [[peacock]] = pride)]]

With reference to the seven deadly sins, "evil thoughts" can be categorized as follows:<ref name="Refoule67" />

* physical (thoughts produced by the nutritive, sexual, and acquisitive appetites)
* emotional (thoughts produced by depressive, irascible, or dismissive moods)
* mental (thoughts produced by jealous, boastful, or hubristic states of mind)

The fourth-century [[monk]] [[Evagrius Ponticus]] reduced the ''[[Evagrius Ponticus#Logismoi|logismoi]]'' (or forms of temptation) from nine to eight in number, as follows:<ref name="Pontico">Evagrio Pontico, ''Gli Otto Spiriti Malvagi'', trans., Felice Comello, Pratiche Editrice, Parma, 1990, p.11-12.</ref><ref name="Evagrius">{{Cite book |last=Evagrius |title=The Greek Ascetic Corpus |date=22 June 2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0199297088 |location=Oxford and New York |translator-last=Sinkewicz. |translator-first=Robert E. |author-link=Evagrius Ponticus}}</ref>

# {{lang|grc|Γαστριμαργία}} ({{transliteration|grc|gastrimargia}}) [[gluttony]]
# {{lang|grc|Πορνεία}} ({{transliteration|grc|porneia}}) [[prostitution]], [[fornication]]
# {{lang|grc|Φιλαργυρία}} ({{transliteration|grc|philargyria}}) [[greed]]
# {{lang|grc|Λύπη}} ({{transliteration|grc|lypē}}) [[sadness]], rendered in the ''[[Philokalia]]'' as ''envy'', sadness at another's good fortune
# {{lang|grc|Ὀργή}} ({{transliteration|grc|orgē}}) [[wrath]]
# {{lang|grc|Ἀκηδία}} ({{transliteration|grc|akēdia}}) [[acedia]] (apathy, neglect, or indifference), rendered in the ''[[Philokalia]]'' as [[Depression (mood)|de''jection'']]
# {{lang|grc|Κενοδοξία}} ({{transliteration|grc|kenodoxia}}) [[boasting]]
# {{lang|grc|Ὑπερηφανία}} ({{transliteration|grc|hyperēphania}}) [[pride]], sometimes rendered as ''self-overestimation'', ''arrogance'', or ''grandiosity''<ref>In the [https://archive.org/stream/Philokalia-TheCompleteText/Philokalia-Complete-Text_djvu.txt translation] of the ''[[Philokalia]]'' by Palmer, Ware and Sherrard.</ref>

Evagrius's list was translated into the Latin of Western Christianity in many writings of [[John Cassian]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf211.iv.iii.html |title=NPNF-211. Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |website=www.ccel.org |access-date=2012-05-19 |archive-date=2021-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615203349/https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf211.iv.iii.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |edition=First |title=The Institutes |publisher=Newman Press of the Paulist Press |date=3 January 2000 |location=New York |isbn=9780809105229 |first=John |last=Cassian |author-link=John Cassian}}</ref> one of Evagrius’s students; the list thus became part of the Western tradition's spiritual [[Pietas (virtue)|pietas]] or [[Catholic devotions]] as follows:<ref name="Refoule67">Refoule, F. (1967) "Evagrius Ponticus," In ''New Catholic Encyclopaedia,'' Vol. 5, pp. 644f, Staff of Catholic University of America, Eds., New York: McGraw-Hill.</ref>
# {{lang|la|Gula}} ([[gluttony]])
# {{lang|la|Luxuria/Fornicatio}} ([[lust]], [[fornication]])
# {{lang|la|Avaritia}} ([[greed]])
# {{lang|la|Tristitia}} ([[Sorrow (emotion)|sorrow]], [[Depression (mood)|despair]], despondency)
# {{lang|la|Ira}} ([[wrath]])
# {{lang|la|Acedia}} ([[Sloth (sin)|sloth]])
# {{lang|la|Vanagloria}} ([[vanity]], vainglory)
# {{lang|la|Superbia}} ([[pride]])

In AD 590, [[Pope Gregory I]] revised this list into the form that has become common.<ref>"For pride is the root of all evil, of which it is said, as Scripture bears witness; Pride is the beginning of all sin. [Ecclus. 10, 1] But seven principal vices, as its first progeny, spring doubtless from this poisonous root, namely, vain glory, envy, anger, melancholy, avarice, gluttony, lust." Gregory the Great, [http://www.lectionarycentral.com/GregoryMoralia/Book31.html Moralia in Iob, book XXXI] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612234814/http://www.lectionarycentral.com/GregoryMoralia/Book31.html |date=2021-06-12 }}</ref> He combined {{lang|la|tristitia}} with {{lang|la|acedia}}; combined {{lang|la|vanagloria}} with {{lang|la|superbia}}; and added ''envy'', which is {{lang|la|invidia}} in Latin.<ref name="DelCogliano-2014">{{Cite book|title=Gregory the Great: Moral Reflections on the Book of Job, Volume 1|publisher=Cistercian Publications|date=18 November 2014|isbn=9780879071493|first=Mark|last=DelCogliano}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook|publisher=Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers|date=24 February 2015|first=Shawn R.|last=Tucker}}</ref> (Pope Gregory's list corresponds to the traits described in [[Pirkei Avot]] as "removing one from the world.")<ref>Pirkei Avot 2:11, 3:10, and 4:21. Also the [[Vilna Gaon]]'s commentary to Aggadot [[Berakhot (tractate)|Berakhot]] 4b.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://seforimblog.com/2016/03/traditional-jewish-source-for-seven/?print=print | title=Traditional Jewish source for the "Seven Deadly Sins" - the Seforim Blog }}</ref> [[Thomas Aquinas]] uses and defends Gregory's list in his ''[[Summa Theologica]]'', although he calls them the "capital sins", because they are the head and form of all the other sins.<ref>{{Cite web|title=SUMMA THEOLOGICA: The cause of sin, in respect of one sin being the cause of another Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 84; I-II,84,3)|url=http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2084.htm#article4|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=4 December 2015|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717151503/https://www.newadvent.org/summa/2084.htm#article4|url-status=live}}</ref> Christian denominations, such as the [[Anglican Communion]],<ref name="Armentrout2000">{{cite book|last=Armentrout|first=Don S.|title=An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church: A User-Friendly Reference for Episcopalians|date=1 January 2000|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc.|language=en |isbn=9780898697018|page=479}}</ref> [[Lutheran Church]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lutheranhour.org/sermon.asp?articleid=648&mode=print|title=Mighty Menacin' Midianites|last=Lessing|first=Reed|date=25 August 2002|publisher=The Lutheran Hour|language=en|access-date=26 March 2017|archive-date=17 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717152903/https://www.lutheranhour.org/sermon.asp?articleid=648&mode=print|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Methodist Church]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ucmpage.org/articles/rspeidel.htm|title=What Would a United Methodist Jesus Do?|last=Speidel|first=Royal|publisher=UCM|language=en|access-date=26 March 2017|quote=Thirdly, the United Methodist Jesus reminds us to confess our sins. How long has it been since you have heard reference to the seven deadly sins: pride, gluttony, sloth, lust, greed, envy and anger?|archive-date=25 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425124302/http://ucmpage.org/articles/rspeidel.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> still retain this list; modern evangelists such as [[Billy Graham]] have explicated it.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Lutheran, Volumes 39–40|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KaHmAAAAMAAJ|year=1956|publisher=American Lutheran Publicity Bureau|language=en |page=332|quote=The world-renowned Evangelist, Billy Graham, presents in this volume an excellent analysis of the seven deadly sins which he enumerates as pride, anger, envy, impurity, gluttony, avarice and slothfulness.}}</ref>

==Definitions and perspectives==
According to [[Anglican|Catholic prelate]] [[Henry Edward Manning]], the seven deadly sins are seven ways to [[Hell in Christianity|eternal death]] (or Hell).<ref name="Manning">{{Cite book|title=Sin and Its consequences|last=Manning|first=Henry Edward}}</ref> The Lutheran divine [[Martin Chemnitz]], who contributed to the development of Lutheran systematic theology, implored clergy to remind faithful congregations about the seven deadly sins.<ref name="Chemnitz2007">{{cite book |author1=[[Martin Chemnitz]] |title=Ministry, Word, and Sacraments: An Enchiridion; The Lord's Supper; The Lord's Prayer |date=2007 |publisher=Concordia Publishing House |isbn=978-0-7586-1544-2 |language=en}}</ref>

In order of increasing severity according to Pope Gregory I, the seven deadly sins are as follows:

=== Lust ===
{{Main|Lust}}
Lust or lechery is intense longing. It is usually viewed as intense or unbridled [[sexual desire]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lust|title=Definition of LUST|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=4 May 2016|archive-date=15 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715092256/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lust|url-status=live}}</ref> which may lead to [[fornication]] (including [[adultery]], [[rape]], or [[bestiality]]), and other sinful and sexual acts; however, lust can also denote other forms of unbridled desire, such as for money or power. [[Henry Edward Manning]] explains that the impurity of lust transforms one into "a slave of the [[Devil in Christianity|devil]]".<ref name="Manning"/>

Lust is generally thought to be the mildest capital sin.<ref name="DLSintro652">[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Purgatory'', Introduction, pp. 65–67 (Penguin, 1955).</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uf62BQAAQBAJ|title=William Blake's Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy: A Study of the Engravings, Pencil Sketches and Watercolors|last=Pyle|first=Eric|date=31 December 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476617022|language=en}}</ref> Thomas Aquinas considers it an abuse of a faculty that humans share with animals, and sins of the flesh are less grievous than spiritual sins.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeP7kg-blnIC&q=lust%2520summa%2520theologica&pg=PA1819|title=Summa Theologica, Volume 4 (Part III, First Section)|last=Aquinas|first=St Thomas|date=1 January 2013|publisher=Cosimo|isbn=9781602065604|language=en}}</ref>

=== Gluttony ===
{{Main|Gluttony}}

[[File:Albert_Anker_-_Stillleben_-_Unmässigkeit.jpg|thumb|''Still life: Excess'' ([[Albert Anker]], 1896)]]

Gluttony is the overindulgence and [[overconsumption]] of anything to the point of excess. The word derives from the Latin {{lang|la|gluttire}}, meaning 'to gulp down' or 'to swallow'.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Latin Definition for: gluttio, gluttire, -, – (ID: 21567) – Latin Dictionary and Grammar Resources – Latdict |url=https://latin-dictionary.net/definition/21567/gluttio-gluttire |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=latin-dictionary.net}}</ref> One reason for condemning gluttony is that gorging by prosperous people may leave needy people hungry.<ref name="Okholm 2000">Okholm, Dennis. [http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2000/september4/3.62.html "Rx for Gluttony"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324175340/http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2000/september4/3.62.html |date=2016-03-24 }}. ''[[Christianity Today]]'', Vol. 44, No. 10, 11 September 2000, p.62</ref>

Medieval church leaders such as [[Thomas Aquinas]] took a more expansive view of gluttony,<ref name="Okholm 2000"/> arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, as well as overindulgence in delicacies and costly foods. Aquinas listed five forms of gluttony:<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06590a.htm|title=Gluttony|encyclopedia=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]|access-date=2007-09-18|archive-date=2010-06-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613024328/http://newadvent.org/cathen/06590a.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

* {{lang|la|Laute}} – eating too expensively
* {{lang|la|Studiose}} – eating too daintily
* {{lang|la|Nimis}} – eating too much
* {{lang|la|Praepropere}} – eating too soon
* {{lang|la|Ardenter}} – eating too eagerly

=== Greed ===
{{Main|Greed}}

[[File:The_worship_of_Mammon.jpg|thumb|''The Worship of [[Mammon]]'' (1909) by [[Evelyn De Morgan]]]]

In the words of Henry Edward Manning, avarice "plunges a man deep into the mire of this world, so that he makes it to be his god".<ref name="Manning"/>

Greed, or ''avarice'' as it came to be known, has many forms. When Pope Gregory I revised the sins, he defined greed as "treachery, fraud, deceit, perjury, restlessness, violence and hardnesses of heart against compassion." This definition would evolve into the modern interpretation: outside Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to [[material wealth]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/greed|title=greed| encyclopedia=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language|edition=5th|year=2016|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|via=The Free Dictionary|access-date=4 February 2019}}</ref> Aquinas believed that greed, like pride, can lead to evil.<ref name="Aquinas">{{Cite book |last=Aquinas |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YiJCBAAAQBAJ |title=Summa Theologica (All Complete & Unabridged 3 Parts + Supplement & Appendix + interactive links and annotations) |date=20 August 2013 |publisher=e-artnow |isbn=9788074842924 |language=en |author-link=St Thomas Aquinas}}</ref>

=== Sloth ===
{{Main|Sloth (deadly sin)}}

[[File:Abraham Bloemaert - Parable of the Wheat and the Tares - Walters 372505.jpg|thumb|''[[Parable of the Tares|Parable of the Wheat and the Tares]]'' (1624) by [[Abraham Bloemaert]], [[Walters Art Museum]]]]
''Sloth'' refers to many related ideas, dating from antiquity, and includes spiritual, mental, and physical states.<ref name="Lyman-1989">{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|year=1989|isbn=0-930390-81-4|pages=5|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref> The definition has changed considerably since it was first recognized as a sin. Today it can be defined as the absence of interest in or habitual disinclination to exertion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sloth?s=t|title=the definition of sloth|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=17 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617033740/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sloth?s=t|url-status=live}}</ref> Originally, however, Christian theologians believed it to be a lack of care for performing spiritual duties.

In his ''Summa Theologica'', [[Saint Thomas Aquinas]] defined sloth as "sorrow about spiritual good".<ref name="Aquinas"/>

The scope of sloth is wide.<ref name="Lyman-1989"/> In a spiritual sense, ''acedia'' first referred to an affliction attending religious persons, especially monks, wherein they became indifferent to their duties and obligations to [[God]]. In a mental sense, ''acedia'' has a number of distinctive components: the most important of these is affectlessness—a lack of any feeling about self or other; a mind-state that gives rise to boredom, rancor, apathy; and a passive inert or sluggish mentation. In a physical sense, ''acedia'' is fundamentally associated with a cessation of motion and an indifference to work; the sin finds expression in laziness, idleness, and indolence.<ref name="Lyman-1989"/>

Sloth includes ceasing to use the seven gifts of grace given by the [[Holy Spirit (Christianity)|Holy Spirit]]; these gifts are [[Wisdom]], [[Understanding]], Counsel, [[Knowledge]], [[Piety]], [[Courage|Fortitude]], and [[Fear of the Lord]]. Such disregard may lead to slower spiritual progress towards eternal life, neglect of multiple duties of [[Charity (practice)|charity]] towards a [[neighbourhood|neighbor]], and animosity towards those who love God.<ref name="Manning"/>

The other deadly sins are sins of committing immorality; by contrast, sloth is a sin of avoiding responsibilities. The sin may arise from any of the other capital vices: for example, a son may avoid his duty to his father because of anger. The state and habit of sloth is a mortal sin; but the habit of the soul tending towards the last mortal state of sloth is not mortal in and of itself, except under certain circumstances.<ref name="Manning"/>

Emotionally, and cognitively, the evil of ''acedia'' (or sloth) finds expression in a lack of feeling for the world, the people in it, or the self. ''Acedia'' takes form as an alienation of the sentient self first from the world and then from itself. The most profound versions of this condition are found in a withdrawal from all forms of participation in, or care for, others or oneself. Nevertheless, a lesser yet more harmful element was also noted by theologians: Gregory the Great asserted that, "from ''tristitia'', there arise malice, rancour, cowardice, [and] despair". 

Chaucer also dealt with this attribute of ''acedia'', reckoning the characteristics of the sin to include despair, somnolence, idleness, tardiness, negligence, laziness, and ''wrawnesse'', the last variously translated as 'anger' or better as 'peevishness'. For Chaucer, human sin consists in languishing and holding back, refusing to undertake works of goodness because (people tell themselves) the circumstances surrounding the establishment of good are too grievous and too difficult to suffer. ''Acedia'' in Chaucer's view is thus the enemy of every source and motive for work.<ref name="Lyman">{{Cite book|title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Society and Evil|last=Lyman|first=Stanford|pages=6–7}}</ref>

According to Stanford Lyman, sloth subverts the maintenance of the body, taking no care for its daily needs; sloth also slows down the mind, diverting its attention away from important matters. Sloth hinders a person in moral undertakings, and it thus becomes a significant source of a person's ruin.<ref name="Lyman" />

=== Wrath ===
{{Main|Wrath}}

[[File:Jacques_de_l'Ange_-_A_young_Man_with_a_Sword_restrained_by_a_young_Woman,_'Anger'.jpg|thumb|''Wrath'', by [[Jacques de l'Ange]]]]
Wrath can be defined as uncontrolled feelings of anger, rage, and even hatred. Wrath often reveals itself in the wish to seek vengeance.<ref name="Landau-2010">{{Cite book|title=The Seven deadly Sins: A companion|last=Landau|first=Ronnie|isbn=978-1-4457-3227-5|date=30 October 2010|publisher=Lulu.com }}</ref>

According to the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'', the neutral act of anger becomes the sin of wrath when it is directed against an innocent person; when it is unduly strong or long-lasting; or when it desires excessive punishment. "If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin". Hatred is the sin of desiring that someone else may suffer misfortune or evil, and it is a mortal sin when one desires grave harm.<ref>{{CCC|pp=2302|pp_range=2302-3}}</ref>

People feel angry when they sense that they or someone they care about has been offended; when they are certain about the nature and cause of the angering event; when they are certain someone else is responsible; and when they feel that they can still influence the situation or cope with it.<ref name="Anger pg 290">International Handbook of Anger. p. 290</ref>

Henry Edward Manning considers that "angry people are slaves to themselves".<ref name="Manning"/>

=== Envy ===
{{Main|Envy}}
Envy is characterized by an insatiable desire such as greed and lust. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of another person. Envy stems from [[Vanity|vainglory]]<ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7Cf9Bt1DWsC |title=Summa Theologica, Volume 3 (Part II, Second Section) |last=Aquinas |first=Thomas |author-link=St Thomas Aquinas |date=1 January 2013 |publisher=Cosimo, Inc. |isbn=9781602065581 |language=en}}</ref> and cuts a person off from their neighbor.<ref name="Manning"/>

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the struggle aroused by envy has three stages: 

# During the first stage, the envious person attempts to lower another person's reputation
# In the middle stage, the envious person receives either "joy at another's misfortune" (if he succeeds in defaming the other person) or "grief at another's prosperity" (if he fails)
# the third stage is hatred because "sorrow causes hatred"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aquinas/summa/sum291.htm |title=Summa Theologica: Treatise on The Theological Virtues (QQ[1&#93; – 46): Question. 36 – Of Envy (four articles) |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2 January 2010 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303182651/http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/aquinas/summa/sum291.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Bertrand Russell]] said that envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness, bringing sorrow to committers of envy, while giving them the urge to inflict pain upon others.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Conquest of Happiness |url=https://archive.org/details/conquestofhappin0000russ |url-access=registration |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |author-link=Bertrand Russell |publisher=[[Horace Liveright|H. Liverwright]] |year=1930 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |page=86}}</ref>

=== Pride ===
{{Main|Pride}}

[[File:Jheronimus Bosch Table of the Mortal Sins (Superbia).jpg|thumb|Detail of ''Pride'' from ''The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things'' by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500]][[Pride]] is known as ''[[hubris]]'' (from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{wikt-lang|grc|ὕβρις}}) or futility; it is considered the original and worst of the seven deadly sins—the most demonic—on almost every list.<ref name="Climacus 62–63">{{Cite book |last=Climacus |first=John |author-link=John Cliamcus |title=The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Translation by Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell |pages=62–63}}</ref> Pride is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins. Pride is viewed as the opposite of [[humility]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Humility vs Pride And Why The Difference Should Matter To You {{!}} Jeremie Kubicek |url=https://jeremiekubicek.com/humility-vs-pride/ |access-date=2 March 2018 |website=jeremiekubicek.com |language=en-US |archive-date=18 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618175743/https://jeremiekubicek.com/humility-vs-pride/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Acquaviva |first=Gary J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAtNAPteVk0C&q=Pride+is+generally+associated+with+an+absence+of+humility&pg=PA31 |title=Values, Violence and Our Future |date=2000 |publisher=Rodopi |isbn=9042005599 |language=en}}</ref>

[[C. S. Lewis]] writes in ''[[Mere Christianity]]'' that pride is the "anti-God" state, the position in which the ego and the self are directly opposed to God: "Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that Lucifer became wicked: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind."<ref>Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis, {{ISBN|978-0-06-065292-0}}</ref> Pride is understood to sever the human spirit from God, as well as from the life and grace given by God's presence.<ref name="Manning"/>

A person can be prideful for different reasons. Author [[Ichabod Spencer]] states that "spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride, if not worst snare of the devil. The heart is particularly deceitful on this one thing."<ref name="Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers-1895">{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers|year=1895|pages=485}}</ref> [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]] wrote: "remember that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin that ever was and lies lowest in the foundation of Lucifer's whole building and is the most difficultly rooted out and is the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts and often creeps in, insensibly, into the midst of religion and sometimes under the disguise of humility."<ref>{{Cite book |title=To Deborah Hatheway, Letters and Personal Writings (Works of Jonathan Edwards Online Vol. 16) |last=Claghorn |first=George}}</ref>

Modern use of the term ''pride'' may be captured in the [[Book of Proverbs|biblical proverb]], "Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (which is abbreviated as "Pride goeth before a fall" in [[Book of Proverbs|Proverbs]] 16:18). The "pride that blinds" causes foolish actions against common sense.<ref name="Hollow-2014">{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/6081830 |title=The 1920 Farrow's Bank Failure: A Case of Managerial Hubris |journal=[[Journal of Management History]] |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=164–178 |publisher=[[Durham University]] |access-date=1 October 2014 |last1=Hollow |first1=Matthew |doi=10.1108/JMH-11-2012-0071 |year=2014 |issn=1751-1348 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714204331/https://www.academia.edu/6081830 |url-status=live }}</ref> In political analysis, ''hubris'' is often used to describe how powerful leaders become irrationally self-confident and contemptuous of advice over time, leading them to act impulsively.<ref name="Hollow-2014" />

==Historical Sins==

=== Acedia ===
{{Main|Acedia}}

[[File:Acedia_(mosaic,_Basilique_Notre-Dame_de_Fourvière).jpg|thumb|''Acedia'' [[mosaic]], [[Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière]]]]
''Acedia'' is neglecting to take care of something that one should do. The term can be translated as '[[Apathy|apathetic]] listlessness' or [[Depression (mood)|depression]]. It is related to [[Melancholia|melancholy]]; ''acedia'' describes the behaviour, and ''melancholy'' suggests the emotion producing it. In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a willful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God. By contrast, apathy was considered a refusal to help others in times of need.

''Acēdia'' is the negative form of the Greek term {{lang|grc|κηδεία}} ({{transliteration|grc|Kēdeia}}), which has a more restricted usage. ''Kēdeia'' refers specifically to spousal love and respect for the dead.<ref>Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised by Sir Henry Stuart Jones and Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940.</ref>

Pope Gregory combined acedia with ''tristitia'' to form sloth in his list. When [[Thomas Aquinas]] considered acedia in his interpretation of this list, he described it as an "uneasiness of the mind", which was a progenitor for lesser sins such as restlessness and instability.<ref>{{Citation |title=From Gent to Gentil: Jed Tewksbury and the Function of Literary Allusion in A Place to Come To |url=https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/rpwstudies/vol2/iss1/6/ |last1=McCarron |first1=Bill |last2=Knoke |first2=Paul |journal=Robert Penn Warren Studies |date=2002 |volume=2 |issue=1 <!-- |article-number=6 -->}}</ref>

Acedia is currently defined in the ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' as spiritual sloth—believing spiritual tasks to be too difficult.<ref>{{CCC|pp=2733}}</ref> In the fourth century, Christian monks believed that acedia was primarily caused by a state of [[melancholia]] that caused spiritual detachment rather than laziness.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/desert-fathers-sins-acedia-sloth|title=Before Sloth Meant Laziness, It Was the Spiritual Sin of Acedia|date=14 July 2017|work=Atlas Obscura|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en|archive-date=14 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714204329/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/desert-fathers-sins-acedia-sloth|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Vainglory ===
{{Main|Vanity}}

''Vainglory'' is unjustified boasting. Pope Gregory viewed it as a form of pride, so he merged vainglory into pride in his list of sins.<ref name="DelCogliano-2014"/> Vainglory is the progenitor of [[envy]].<ref name="books.google.com"/>

Professor Kevin M. Clarke observes that vainglory is technically different from pride: vainglory is “when we seek human acclaim”, while pride is “taking spiritual credit for what I’ve done, instead of ascribing one’s good deeds to God.”{{sfn|Clarke|2018|p=163}}

The Latin term {{lang|la|gloria}} roughly means 'boasting', although its English cognate ''glory'' has come to have an exclusively positive meaning. Historically, the term ''vain'' meant roughly 'futile' (a meaning retained in the modern expression ''in vain''); but by the fourteenth century, ''vain'' had come to have the strong [[Narcissism|narcissistic]] undertones that it retains today.<ref>''Oxford English dictionary''</ref>

== Patterns of confession ==
{{Further|Confession (religion)}}

According to a 2009 study by the Jesuit scholar [[Roberto Busa|Fr. Roberto Busa]], the most common deadly sin confessed by men is lust, and the most common deadly sin confessed by women is pride.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7897034.stm |title=Two sexes 'sin in different ways' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=18 February 2009 |access-date=24 July 2010 |archive-date=18 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218000318/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7897034.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> It is unclear whether these differences were due to the actual number of transgressions committed by each sex, or whether the observed pattern was caused by differing views on what matters or should be confessed.<ref>{{cite web |author=Morning Edition |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100906920 |title=True Confessions: Men And Women Sin Differently |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=20 February 2009 |access-date=24 July 2010 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714204329/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100906920 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Arishadvargas]] in [[Hinduism]]
* {{anl|Cardinal virtues}}
* {{anl|Chivalry}}
* {{anl|Christian ethics}}
* [[Vice#Dante's seven deadly vices|Dante's seven deadly vices]]
* [[Tenrikyo anthropology#Eight Dusts|Eight Dusts]] in [[Tenrikyo]]
* {{anl|Enneagram of Personality}}
* {{anl|Eternal sin}}
* [[Kleshas (Buddhism)#Five poisons|Five poisons]] in [[Buddhism]]
* [[Five thieves]] in [[Sikhism]]
* [[Nafs]] and [[Tazkiah]] in [[Islam]]
* {{anl|Prajnaparamita}}
* {{anl|Seven Social Sins|''Seven Social Sins''}}
* [[Seven virtues]]
* {{anl|Ten Commandments}}
* {{anl|The Fable of The Bees: or, Private Vices, Public Benefits|''The Fable of The Bees: or, Private Vices, Public Benefits''}}
* {{anl|The Seven Deadly Sins of Modern Times|''The Seven Deadly Sins of Modern Times''}}
* {{anl|The Seven Sins of Memory|''The Seven Sins of Memory''}}
* {{anl|Theological virtues}}
* [[Three poisons]] in [[Buddhism]]
* {{anl|Tree of virtues and tree of vices}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Dante Alighieri|Alighieri, Dante]], ''[[Divine Comedy]]''
* {{cite book |chapter=[[s:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XI/John Cassian/The Twelve Books|The Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults.]] |title=Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Volume XI |year=1885 |publisher=T. & T. Clark in Edinburgh |first=John |last=Cassian |author-link=John Cassian |translator-first=Philip |translator-last=Schaff}}
* {{cite book|chapter=[[s:Meditations On The Mysteries Of Our Holy Faith/Volume 1/Meditations to obtain purity of soul#230|On Pride and Vainglory]]|title=Meditations On The Mysteries Of Our Holy Faith|year=1852|publisher=Richarson and Son|first=Lius|last=de la Puente|author-link=Luis de la Puente}}
* {{ill|Schumacher, Meinolf|de|Meinolf Schumacher}} (2005): "Catalogues of Demons as Catalogues of Vices in Medieval German Literature: 'Des Teufels Netz' and the Alexander Romance by Ulrich von Etzenbach." In ''In the Garden of Evil: The Vices and Culture in the Middle Ages''. Edited by Richard Newhauser, pp.&nbsp;277–290. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
* ''The Concept of Sin'', by [[Josef Pieper]]
* ''The Traveller's Guide to Hell'', by Michael Pauls & Dana Facaros
* ''Sacred Origins of Profound Things'', by [[Charles Panati]]
* ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', by [[Edmund Spenser]]
* ''[http://www.oup.com/us/collections/7_sins/?view=usa The Seven Deadly Sins Series]'', [[Oxford University Press]] (7 vols.)
* [[Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung]], ''Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies,'' (Grand Rapids: BrazosPress, 2009)
* [[Solomon Schimmel]], ''The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian and Classical Reflections on Human Psychology,'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
* {{cite book|chapter=[[s:A manual of moral theology for English-speaking countries/Book 4#97|Book 4: On Sin (Pride)]]|title=A manual of moral theology for English-speaking countries|year=1925|publisher=Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd.|first=Thomas|last=Slater S.J.}}
* Tucker, Shawn. ''The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook'', (Eugene, OR: Cascade Press, 2015)
* {{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Kevin M. |title=The Seven Deadly Sins: Sayings of the Fathers of the Church |publisher=CUA Press |date=May 18, 2018 |isbn=978-0-8132-3021-4 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Seven_Deadly_Sins/MM9ZDwAAQBAJ?hl=en |access-date=May 3, 2025}}

== <span lang="en" dir="ltr">External</span> links ==
* {{YouTube|id=Beu-XQHH9xQ|title=''Se7en'' (Film) – Paradise Lost}}

{{Commons category|The Seven Deadly Sins}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Seven Deadly Sins|state=expanded}}
{{Catholic virtue ethics}}
{{Christianity footer}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Seven deadly sins| ]]
[[Category:Catholic theology and doctrine]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Cultural lists]]