Seven Deadly Sins

Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins or the Capital Vices as some would say is a classification of Christian Ethics and this has been used since early Christian times to teach and instruct Christians on what is considered to be a sin. The Catholic Church separates sin into two distinct categories. These categories are venial sins, the less of the two where guilt is relatively minor, and mortal sins, which is the worse of the two. If one is two partake in a mortal sin it is said that they are destined for eternal damnation with no possibility of forgiveness. It is thought that the seven deadly sins are not different from other sins but rather the origin from which they come from. The seven deadly sins really began to become a theme in the early 14th century when the European artists of the time spread this belief. Even though the seven deadly sins became popular in the 14th century there is proof that they go back to the 4th century with the work of monk Evagrius Ponticus, who listed the Eight Evil Thoughts in Greek. Later they were translated to Latin largely due to the writings of John Cassian which made it apart of the catholic devotion. A little over two centuries after Evagrius wrote the Eight Evil Thoughts, Pope Gregory revised the list to the Seven Deadly Sins commonly referred to today. The list that Pope Gregory created was then used by Dante Alighieri in his epic poem The Divine Comedy. The Seven Deadly Sins are luxuria (lust), gula (gluttony), avaritia (greed), acedia (sloth), ira (wrath), invidia (envy) and superbia (pride). The definitions of the Seven Deadly Sins is a process that continues to evolve as time goes on and Dante does used a revised list from what originally was created. Now each of the Seven Deadly Sins has a direct opposite and they are referred to as the Seven Holy Virtues. Lust is an intense desire, this is usually thought of in a sexual manner however the word means a desire therefore lust could involve the desire of many things...