The Capital Sins

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, in this sermon, speaks about what he calls “the mother sins” — the great sins that give birth to many others. He explains that if a person conquers these root sins, he automatically overcomes a great multitude of sins born from them.

1. Self-love – The root of all sins

• Self-love is the first and most dangerous of the mother sins, as it makes a person self-centered, leading to pride, selfishness, desire for recognition, constant self-defense, and justification of one’s mistakes.

• Christ said: “Whoever loves his life will lose it, and whoever hates his life for My sake will find it.”

• The self-centered person exhausts himself and others by always wanting to be first and most visible.

• Signs of self-love include self-admiration, self-defense, justification, covering faults, and meddling in others’ affairs.

2. Pride – The sin of downfall

• Pride is another mother sin, for it was the cause of Satan’s fall, and it gives birth to many evils: arrogance, argument, stubbornness, love of control, and rejection of correction.

• Pride may appear in thought (stubborn opinion), heart (despising others), body (arrogance in posture), or speech (boastful talk or disdainful silence).

• The proud person cannot bear correction because his ego is easily hurt.

• Pride gives birth to anger, strife, and rebellion against God and people.

3. Hatred – The fountain of evil

• Hatred is also one of the mother sins, as it breeds judgment, envy, bitterness, and mockery.

• Scripture says: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.”

• Hatred makes one rejoice in others’ downfall, speak ill of them, and suspect their intentions.

• Whoever hates cannot truly love God, for “if you do not love your brother whom you see, how can you love God whom you do not see?”

4. The spiritual cure – Denial of self

• The root cure of all these sins is self-denial, as Christ said: “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.”

• A person should learn to blame himself rather than justify himself, as the Fathers said: “It is best for a person to bring blame upon himself in all things.”

• He who blames himself grows in repentance, while he who justifies himself moves away from God.

• True self-denial leads to inner peace, for he who controls himself controls the world.

Conclusion
His Holiness urges everyone to fight the three mother sins — self-love, pride, and hatred — for they are the roots of all evil. When a person uproots the root, the bad fruits fall away. The humble person, who loves others and denies himself, becomes like Christ and gains peace of heart and salvation of soul.

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