seven deadly sins: pride

The Seven Deadly Sins owe there existence among us thanks to a 4^th Century Greek monk named Evagrius Ponticus, who was the first (it is believed) to list eight evil thoughts. They were: gluttony, prostitution/fornication, avarice, hubris, envy, wrath, boasting and dejection (acedias).

These ideas were later translated from Greek into Latin in the writings of John Cassian (360 – 435, a famous Christian theologian and celebrated mystic of the time), and thus became integrated into the Western tradition’s/ Catholic spiritual pietas of the middle ages. Cassian translations were: gluttony, lust, greed, pride, despair, wrath, vainglory, and acedia.

In AD 590, a little over two centuries after Evagrius wrote his list, Pope Gregory I revised this list to form the more common Seven Deadly Sins. In the order used by both Pope Gregory and by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy, the seven deadly sins are as follows:

Lust

Gluttony

Avarice/greed

Acedia/sloth

Wrath

Envy

Pride

There are, according to the Catholic Church, two types of sin. The first is venial sin (the spiritual equivalent to a parking ticket), and the second (and far more severe) is mortal sin. The seven deadly sins or Cardinal Sins (which I always thought meant sins only Cardinals could commit when I first heard of them) and are seen as the origins of all sin. And none is more objectionable than pride.

It was, after all, pride that broke the final clause of Lucifer’s tenancy agreement in heaven, and it can be argued that it is God’s pride that is preventing him from returning home.

We can all agree that envy, wrath and gluttony are not desirable traits, but is pride not also a redeemable quality? Aristotle considered it to be a profound virtue. English novelist Jane Austin wrote: “Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.”

I am inclined to agree. I have never understood why the catholic church would, on one hand have it’s flock believe they were created in the image of god, but with the other hand, condone them for feeling quite proud and having a bit of self-respect over the matter.

Does god want you to mope about, taking no pleasure or satisfaction in or from anything you do?  I can’t imagine what good it would do you in believing so.

It is true though, that excessive pride is easily understandable as ungodly, especially in the cases of extreme national pride.  According to Wikipedia, “, “In Europe before the development of nationalism, people were generally loyal to a city or to a particular leader rather than to their nation. Since that time, nationalism has become one of the most significant political and social forces in history, perhaps most notably as a major influence or postulate of World War I and especially World War II.”

The term nationalism was coined Johann Gottfried Herder in the 1770’s, but no one knows precisely where it emerged first.  Its development is closely associated with the European and American revolutions of the late 18^th century, in retaliation to the oppression of sovereign power. There are many forms of nationalism, from the tribal groupings of sports fans to the dark risings of the Nazi’s and authoritarian fascism. Inherent in all, from the harmless to the hideous, is the intrinsic belief that your “state” is naturally superior to all other states. As Napoleon Bonaparte testified, “a soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”

Yet no one ever choked to death while swallowing pride!

The pride of Dante’s day is not the pride of today; perhaps it is time to reevaluate how we can find salvation for our souls in this modern world. Samuel Butler has perhaps started us on the right track when he postulated the seven deadly sins as: “want of money, bad health, bad temper, chastity, family ties, knowing that you know things, and believing in the Christian religion.”