Smoking - is it a sin or just a bad habit? If this is a sin, then what commandment of God is violated by inhaling tobacco smoke? And if this is a habit, why is it that giving up it is associated with despondency, longing, anger, and a person is unable to cope with them? Why do we need the prayer of Ambrose of Optinsky from smoking, because today there is a book by Allen Carr and various means like electronic cigarettes or hookahs? Let's try to understand these issues, and at the same time understand what role smoking plays in a person's life.
Where did it come from?
As you know, smoking came to Europe about five hundred years ago after the discovery and conquest of America. Acquaintance with the ancient civilizations of this region for Europeans was ambiguous. The Spanish conquistadors, far from being the faint of heart, were amazed by the rites of human sacrifice.
The bodies of young men and women were dissected, their pulsating hearts in clouds of tobacco smokeascended to the sun god with various requests, and the bodies were eaten at ritual meals. The image of the sun god - a rattlesnake in green plumage - corresponded to the image of Satan. For Christian Europeans, the demonic nature of the rite was understandable, and they mercilessly exterminated the locals.
Who is the peace pipe calling?
On the other hand, Columbus and his companions were struck by the first impression of meeting with the natives: they sat in a circle and smoked "tobacco" (a pipe rolled from a special grass), releasing smoke from their mouths and nostrils. The ritual was accompanied by the invocation of an invisible "friend" and communication with him in a state of trance. The priests who smoked the pipe of peace inhaled the smoke one after another, releasing it in different directions: into the ground, to all sides of the horizon, to the sky, invoking the corresponding spirits.
The Europeans did not pay attention to the incantatory nature of the rite of smoking, and they liked the state of nicotine trance so much that they spread it throughout the Old World. If the Indians consciously evoked demons in the ritual of smoking, then the Europeans began to do it unconsciously. But an invisible enemy is more dangerous. A person who considers himself a Christian, smoking, calls on evil spirits. No wonder the prayer from the passion of smoking to the Monk Ambrose of Optina contains the words that the tobacco passion, which, like any passion, is evil, goes back to where it came from - to hell, to its very womb.
Satan's Deadly Incense
The Devil is a caricature of God. He doesn't create anything new.but only perverts the divine institutions. So, back in the days of the Old Testament, the Lord commanded people to bring a “stink of fragrance” - to incense with fragrant incense during worship. A pleasant smell attracts the Holy Spirit and drives away unclean spirits. The desire to be saturated with the Holy Spirit reflects the prayer from smoking Ambrose of Optina, so that a person would again have the opportunity for pure prayer.
Tobacco poisonous smoke is an incense to Satan, and the lungs of a person become a censer. While smoking, he takes on the image of a fallen angel, described in the book of Job: a monster like a smoking cauldron (Job 41:12). Since the devil is “a murderer from the beginning,” incense to him is detrimental to people. From the moment you start smoking, the "life-burning scale" comes into play. For a smoker, it is 1:2, that is, ten years of smoking shorten life by 20 years, and there is a degeneration of heirs in five generations.
Why is smoking a sin?
So, the very process of smoking and its consequences is the fulfillment of the godless will and the violation of the first Divine commandment: “I am the Lord your God, that you have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2, 3). The need to smoke is unnatural, human nature does not require poisoning and breathing carbon monoxide. This need is the product of sin. Understanding this well, in the 17th century, Patriarch Nikon flogged Catholic priests who smoked in Moscow with rods, and exiled Russians to Siberia for this sin.
In the last century, Silouan of Athos gave good advice to those who doubted the sinfulness of smoking: before lighting a cigarette, read the prayer "Our Father". Then a believing person without further ado understands the incompatibility of prayer addressed to God and smoking associated with the devil. “Make the heart wise,” Ambrose of Optina prays from smoking to the Savior with a request to overcome the split of the heart, to give it entirely to God.
Beginning of spiritual obscuration
A smoker with any experience will not deny that it all started with curiosity or with a desire to establish himself in the company. To experience a high is a mental state that is unusual for normal life, a harmless and natural offer. Everything in life has to be tried. From the first cigarette begins the spiritual decline of the individual, acquaintance with the vicious sides of life. Clubs of tobacco smoke reveal the permissibility of any sin: foul language, drunkenness, debauchery. Even if it is not actually performed, sinful temptations enter the consciousness: communication with unclean spirits does not pass without a trace. “Cleanse my mouth,” cries out the prayer of Ambrose of Optina from smoking to God, they are defiled by demonic kisses.
Mirage happiness - cigarette
Spiritually, smoking is a manifestation of the passion of self-indulgence: the process itself is identified with the pleasant moments of life that require more and more cigarettes.
The smoker loses the ability to live in the real world without tobacco smoke, considering this a small and forgivable weakness, but not a sin. The process itself brings calm, relaxation, relieves nervoustension, makes the conversation comfortable, helps to think when solving problems - you never know what excuses smokers will give, defending their favorite passion.
The mirage dissipates when they decide to give up their little sin - and fail. Such a harmless habit turns out to be irresistible. Soberly assessing the situation, a courageous person recognizes that he needs prayer help. “Father Ambrose, only you have the boldness to ask something from God,” it is not by chance that the prayer to St. Ambrose of Optina from smoking begins with such words. The smoker himself, who has unclean lips, does not hope to be heard without the help of the saints.
Ambrose Optinsky: a program of healing
Blowing in and out of smoke is not a sin, but becoming a slave to this habit is indeed a sin. So thought Ambrose Optinsky. The struggle against sinfulness is an internal struggle and must be waged by spiritual means. Pills and substitutes, advice and books are weak helpers. The prayer against smoking to Ambrose of Optina is connected with the next episode of his life. A resident of St. Petersburg, who smoked up to 75 cigarettes a day, has been struggling with his passion for two years already - and hopelessly. He turned to the elder for advice and received a letter from him with a program of military operations. This program should be adopted by everyone who is starting to fight with their passions.
- Confession for a lifetime. Remember all sinsseven years of age and repent of them.
- Communion of the Holy Mysteries.
- Read the Gospel chapter a day. And if despondency attacks - read repeatedly. That is, by reading the Gospel to beat the demon of longing and despondency.
- Make 33 earthly bows according to the number of years lived by the Savior.
Having received this program, the addressee automatically puffed on a cigarette, but a sudden headache prevented him from doing so. The strong prayer of Ambrose of Optina from smoking did its job: neither on this day, nor on other days, the former smoker could not endure tobacco smoke because of the pain in his head. When he came from St. Petersburg to Optina Pustyn to thank Father Ambrose, he touched his head with his staff and relieved him of pain.
Dead end and tears
This is how one believing woman summed up her struggle with the passion of smoking. The experience of smoking is the whole life from the age of 13 with interruptions for pregnancy. All attempts to quit smoking were accompanied by depression, hatred for loved ones (husband, children), tantrums, and apathy. The prayer of Ambrose of Optina from smoking was read at such moments mechanically, “on the machine”. But as soon as she puffed on a cigarette, love and gratitude returned to her for her patience with her dear family. The cigarette, which evoked physical disgust in her, returned, nevertheless, the fullness of life and adequate behavior. The psychiatrist said that she was not his client, the psychologist prescribed a bunch of sedative pills. Four times she read the notorious Allen Carr. A swimming pool, a gym, a gym, an interesting job, an equally interesting part-time job, knitting - all worldly distractions are nothelp: this woman cannot become an adequate non-smoking person, a loving mother and wife without a cigarette.
There must be two of you
This woman is not alone in her seemingly hopeless struggle with her passion for smoking. Many people give up and continue to smoke. Although the struggle is not hopeless, it is simply waged by the wrong means. None of the points of the program outlined by Ambrose of Optinsky was mentioned in this story: neither confession, nor communion (she admitted that she had not received communion for a long time), nor reading the Gospel as the main way to deal with the attack of unclean spirits (despondency, hatred, anger, irritation), no bows. Despite numerous worldly means, the struggle was fought alone, not even fought, because she longed to lie down all day without being touched.
Prayer for smoking Ambromsy of Optina offers to call on God's help: "Ask the Lord to help me in the fight against impure passion." You can’t rely on your own will, this is a sign of pride, which turns away the help of God. But you can't give up either. We must constantly and patiently do everything in our power, and not lose hope for deliverance. “There are two of you: you and the Lord, and the devil is one, and therefore you will win,” Saint Ambrose said to one of his spiritual children.
Subtleties of spiritual struggle
The prayer of Ambrose of Optina to get rid of smoking is a powerful tool in the spiritual struggle, because it correctly places all the accents and assumes the humility of those who applied for help. Where there is humilitymissing, there will be failure. This is what happened in our history. There was a moment in this woman's life when she made a vow to God to stop smoking. Here's what you shouldn't do. The fight against smoking became a fixed idea for her, a matter of honor: how can I not do what I promised!
Theophan the Recluse wrote about this that only an enemy can advise binding oneself with vows, so that later a person would be tormented by the impossibility of fulfilling them. The correct approach to the problem would be: "I want to quit smoking, I'll try what I can, maybe God wills, and it will work out." A vow leads either to pride or to failure. The struggle can be waged for a long time with varying success, when there are breakdowns, the prayer of Ambrose of Optina must certainly continue in order to quit smoking completely.
Sometimes this is hindered by the so-called "generic sin", when the unexpired passions of deceased relatives interfere with the deliverance from the sins of their living descendants. Instead of contempt and reproaches, you need to take care of their afterlife: sing a funeral service, remember them in prayers and do alms.
Salvation Prayer
Above, the prayer from smoking Ambrose of Optina was analyzed. It is better to know the text by heart. It may happen that the attack of tobacco passion overtakes somewhere along the way or among people. There will be no prayer book at hand, and without prayerful help, you can get confused and break loose. The habit in such cases to read a familiar prayer will always help out. Father Ambrose, help us!
