Piety - what is it? The meaning of the word "piety"

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Modern man has lost the true meaning of many very important words, such as love, honesty, chastity and others. The word "piety" is no exception. It appeared in Russian as an attempt to translate the Greek ευσέβεια (evsebia) - respect for parents, bosses, brothers and sisters, gratitude, fear of God, worship of God, proper attitude to everything that a person meets in life.

"Translation" into modern language

How can the word "piety" be understood by a modern atheist? Piety is a combination of two concepts: "good" and "honor". With the words "good", "good" everything is simple - they mean everything good, good, positive. But with the word "honor" is more difficult. Honor is both honor, and respect, and dignity, and chastity, and purity. "Honestly" -not just true, but trustworthy. If you think about it, it turns out that this is an extremely positive characteristic of a person by others. Something like reputation. But a reputation can be good or bad, and honor is either there or not. It is impossible to be "evil" or "evil". That is, in the understanding of modern man, "piety" is an enhanced positive meaning of the concept of "honor".

Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church about piety

The best Christian books on godliness - Old and New Testament. But they can be understood correctly only by reading the works of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church. These people, with a particularly pure life, deeds, renunciation of any excesses, attracted the Holy Spirit, who revealed to them the true meaning of Holy Scripture. It can be said that everything written by the saints, theologians, speaks precisely of genuine worship of God. What kinds of piety are there?

"The first - in order not to sin, the second - having sinned, to endure the sorrows that come, the third kind is to, if we do not endure sorrows, weep for lack of patience…" (St. Mark the Ascetic).

"Real piety consists not only in not doing evil, but also in not thinking about it" (St. Simeon the New Theologian).

Church translation

What does this word mean in the understanding of the Orthodox Church? Piety is the veneration of the good. Since for a believergood is God, then, accordingly, the Christian understanding of this word is to honor, glorify the Creator through the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ. "Lord, save the pious …" - the clergy daily turn to God during the service. "And hear us (us)…" - they complete the appeal. That is, the text of the church prayer suggests that the very fact that a person is in the temple, takes part in the service, already confirms that he glorifies God. This is the pitfall. It is important to remember that the words of the prayer are called pious people in order to remind them that they should try to live up to this definition.

Demonstrative piety

Unfortunately, many church-going people find for themselves in these words an inexhaustible source of feeding self-conceit. Hence, a demonstrative form of piety is born - the desire to show everyone around and emphasize their high dignity: "I glorify God!" Last but not least, this is precisely why the word "piety" is absent in the lexicon of most modern people: its meaning is distorted and associated with ostentatious religiosity, hypocrisy, pomposity, and chivalry. But the main reason that this word has disappeared from everyday life, of course, is that the worship of God itself is absent in the heads and hearts of people.

Faith of a father in his son

And it should be like this. Suppose a son is talking to his father, whom he loves and respects very much. The father says to him: "I am glad that you are an honest person with me."The son at this time recalls how he lied at breakfast that he had already cleaned the room. He, of course, becomes ashamed. The boy confesses to his father that he acted dishonestly (something similar happens during confession). Then the son gives his father aloud, and mentally to himself, the word that henceforth he will make every effort to ensure that he no longer lies. So during a church prayer in an Orthodox church, a person hears: "Lord, save the pious …". He understands that he is not entirely pious or does not have the right to refer to this word at all. Then (normally) he has a strong desire to achieve real piety.

View from the outside

There is also the opposite problem. A person who begins to visit church often, distributes alms, observes fasts, prays at home, is inevitably subjected to strict judgment by colleagues, household members, and acquaintances. Especially if he often shares his impressions about services or pilgrimages. Do not rush to immediately hang a shameful stigma on such a person. We can't know what really drives him. We must not forget about the "presumption of innocence". Perhaps the ostensible braggart often talks about the church to share his joy. Most believers experience an irresistible desire to "pull" everyone who catches their eye to the temple. They are good there. Therefore, they really want everyone around them to know what they are voluntarily deprived of. And most importantly, not everything that is done in plain sight is done for show.

Pious woman

Piety of a woman… Meaningthe words of this, or rather phrases, are best explained with a specific example.

The piety of a woman is necessarily reflected in appearance. There are no specific strict requirements for clothing, except for one: "A wife praying with her head uncovered … shames her head …" But the internal state of a person is always reflected in the external appearance. If everything goes right in the soul of a woman, then she herself will gradually refuse to use cosmetics and jewelry, at least while visiting church. In high heels, legs get tired very quickly, which means that it is impossible to defend a two-hour service without compromising he alth. Bowing in a short, tight skirt is simply inconvenient. But the main requirement for a woman striving for real piety is chastity, that is, the desire, including in appearance, to create conditions (both for herself and for those around her) that facilitate prayer, and not distract from it.

The Mother of God, of course, is an example of female Christian piety. During her earthly life, she did not seek to adorn herself with either bright clothes or jewelry. All Her attention was devoted to prayer, contemplation, reading Scripture, reflection on what was read, needlework. She loved to spend time in silence, solitude and only left the house to visit the temple.

The whole appearance of an Orthodox woman is a peculiar form of piety. God can also be glorified by the beauty born of a he althy lifestyle, emphasizing it with modesty, neatness, and tasteful clothing. Normally, worship of God is expressed by the desire to create he althyrelationships in the family and at work, self-expression as a wife, mother, or dedication of one's whole life to God (monasticism).

How godliness is expressed

So what is godliness? The meaning of the word gives only a vague idea of it. Its traditional understanding involves, first of all, regular attendance at divine services, participation in the Sacraments, observance of all church prescriptions, fasts, and the fulfillment of the prayer rule at home. But those who strictly fulfill all these conditions and at the same time do not change anything in their lives, relationships with others, very quickly find that they do not achieve the desired state of mind. A truly pious person is the one through whom those around him see the love of God for all people from his actions or the events of his life. Anyone who, at least in some way, acts as Christ would have done in his place, who correlates all his words and even thoughts with God's assessment, truly honors God. Those who have received relief or help from God and are happy to share their story with others are truly praising God. And services, prayers, Sacraments and fasts only help in this, just like medicines help to regain he alth. No patient takes pride in going to physical therapy, but every reasonable person listens to the doctor's orders and follows them. Christian piety is selfless love for God, people and oneself.

The essence of true piety is explained very well in the Gospel episode when Christ talks with a Samaritan woman at the well. That's when hefirst said that God expects people to worship in spirit and truth, and not just in words. What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? To worship God, the Jews had to travel to Jerusalem, and the Samaritans had to climb Mount Gerizim and sacrifice dead animals and birds. Worshiping God has become for both of them a tribute to tradition, a habitual routine. This is worship of the body, without any participation of the spirit (the same thing is happening now with many Christians, for whom all piety consists in holding services).

Jesus promised the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well that the time is not far off when true worshipers of God will worship Him in spirit and in truth. There will be no need to climb a mountain or overcome the distance from your native city to Jerusalem, dragging a sacrifice that God does not need (after all, everything material in this world already belongs to Him). It is enough to turn to the Creator sincerely in your heart, and not according to tradition or habit.