Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ III. Filologiâ (Dec 2022)
A sinful state of man. A fragment from a systematic french-russian dictionary of religious lexis (part 1)
Abstract
This article continues the publication of certain parts of the Systematic French-Russian Dictionary of Religious Lexis and represents a section of the larger chapter which includes the topics. As in the previous topics, the main problem in establishing equivalents was the fact that French lexemes are used in the Catholic context, which — in order to identify the degree of their equivalence — made it necessary to compare the concepts of the Catholic and Orthodox creeds. The ideas about sinful urges of human soul are generally the same in Catholicism and Orthodoxy, though there are dissimilarities too, e.g. in the understanding and the number of sins which are characterised as “cardinal”. In 590, St. Gregory the Great proposed a list of seven main sins, i.e. vanity, envy, wrath, sadness, greed, gluttony, lust. Historically, their number fluctuated between seven and eight. Pride often occupies a separate position. Sadness is sometimes united with despondency and is sometimes seen as a specific sin. Envy is not always listed specifically. In the 13th c., blasphemy was added to the Catholic list. There is a notion of “seven cardinal sins”. In Orthodoxy, these are sometimes called “basic” (or primary): avarice, fornication, pride, wrath, envy, gluttony, despondency (sadness). They are general categories divided into more specific manifestations, e.g. love of profit, love of money, excessive accumulating of property, self-interest, greed, avarice. Lust also includes fornication. Pride is self-reliance, excessive self-confidence, wilfulness, disobedience, etc. The deadly vice in Orthodoxy is a sinful passion which man is unable to get rid of up to the negation of God. In Catholicism, a list of seven péchés capitaux was in the 13th century proposed by St. Thomas Aquinas: orgueil, gourmandise, luxure, avarice, jalousie (envie), colère, paresse. These are regarded as fundamental and generating other sins. Catholics clearly distinguish péchés véniels and péchés mortels. The former are insignificant and forgivable. The latter are deadly sins committed deliberately (en connaissance de cause) and with full consent (avec un consentement délibéré). In our list, the cardinal sins are italicised. As in the preceding articles, our main aim is to present the relevant vocabulary without offering a theological interpretation.
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