502. Do not the Ten Commandments include also our duties towards ourselves?
Yes; these duties are implied in the commandments of the second table relating to our neighbors; for our duty is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
On the First Commandment.
503. What mean these words, I am the Lord thy God?
By these words God, as it were, points himself out to man, and so commands him to know the Lord his God.
504. What particular duties may we deduce from the commandment to know God?
1. We must seek to learn the knowledge of God, as being the most essential of all knowledge.
2. We must listen attentively to instructions on God and on his works in church, and to religious conversations on the same at home.
3. We must read or hear read books of instruction in the knowledge of God; and in the first place, holy Scripture; secondly, the writings of the holy Fathers.
505. What are we taught in the words, Thou shalt have none other gods but me?
We are taught to turn and cleave to the one true God, or, in other words, devoutly to worship him.
506. What duties are there which refer to the inward worship of God?
1. To believe in God.
2. To walk before God; that is, to be ever mindful of him, and in all things to walk circumspectly, because he seeth not only our actions, but even our most secret thoughts.
3. To fear God, or stand in awe of him; that is, to think the anger of our heavenly Father the greatest ill that can befall us, and therefore strive not to offend him.
4. To trust in God.
5. To love God.
6. To obey God; that is, to be ever ready to do what he commands, and not to murmur when he deals with us otherwise than we could desire.
7. To adore God, as the Supreme Being.
8. To glorify God, as being all-perfect.
9. To give thanks to God, as our Creator, Provident Sustainer, and Saviour.
10. To call upon God, as our all-good and almighty helper, in every good work which we undertake.
507. What duties are there which refer to the outward worship of God?
1. To confess God; that is, to acknowledge that he is our God, and not deny him, although for confessing him we may have to suffer, or even die.
2. To take part in the public divine service enjoined by God and appointed by the Orthodox Church.
508. In order the more exactly to understand and keep the first commandment, we must know farther what sins there may be against it.
1. Atheism; when men, whom the Psalmist justly calls fools, wishing to rid themselves of the fear of God's judgment, say in their heart, There is no God. Psalm xiv. 1.
2. Polytheism; when, instead of the one true God, men acknowledge a number of false deities.
3. Infidelity; when men, who admit the existence of God, disbelieve his providence and his revelation.
4. Heresy; when people mix with the doctrine of the faith opinions contrary to divine truth.
5. Schism; that is, willful departure from the unity of divine worship, and from the Orthodox Catholic Church of God.
6. Apostasy; when any deny the true faith from fear of man, or for worldly advantage.
7. Despair; when men give up all hope of obtaining from God grace and salvation.
8. Sorcery; when men, leaving faith in the power of God, put their trust in secret and, for the most part, evil powers of creatures, especially of evil spirits, and seek to work by their means.
9. Superstition; when men put faith in any common thing as if it had divine power, and trust in it instead of trusting in God, or fear it instead of fearing God; as, for instance, when they put faith in an old book, and think they can be saved by none other, and must not use a new one, though the new book contain the very same doctrine, and the very same form of divine service.
10. Sloth, in respect of learning religion, or in respect of prayer, and the public service of God.
11. Love of the creature more than of God.
12. Men-pleasing; when they seek to please men, so as for this to be careless of pleasing God.
13. Trusting in man; when any one trusts in his own means and strength, or in the means and strength of others, and not in the mercy and help of God,
509. Why must we think that men-pleasing and trusting in man are against the first commandment?
Because the man, whom we please, or in whom we trust, so as to forget God, is in some sort to us another god, in place of the true God.
510. How does holy Scripture speak of men-pleasing?
The Apostle Paul says: For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Gal. i. 10.
511. How does holy Scripture speak of trusting in man?
Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Jer. xvii. 5.
512. In order to succeed the better in fulfilling his duties to God, how must a man act by himself?
He must deny himself.
Whosoever will come after me, says Jesus Christ, let him deny himself. Mark viii. 34.
513. What is it to deny one's self?
Basil the Great explains it thus: He denies himself who puts off the old man with his deeds, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts; who renounces also all worldly affections, which can hinder his intention of godliness. Perfect self-denial consists in this, that he cease to have any affection even for life itself, and bear the judgment of death in himself, that he may not trust in himself. (Can. Long. Resp. 8.)
514. What consolation is there for him who, by denying himself, loses many natural gratifications?
The consolation of grace: a divine consolation, which even sufferings themselves can not impair.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 2 Cor. i. 5.
515. If the first commandment teaches us to worship religiously God alone, how does it agree with this commandment to honor angels and holy men?
To pay them due and rightful honor is altogether agreeable to this commandment; because in them we honor the grace of God, which dwells and works in them, and through them seek help from God.
On the Second Commandment.
516. What is a graven image, as spoken of in the second commandment?
The commandment itself explains that a graven image, or idol, is the likeness of some creature in heaven, or earth, or in the waters, which men bow down to and serve instead of God their Maker.
517. What is forbidden, then, by the second commandment?
We are forbidden to bow down to graven images or idols, as to supposed deities, or as to likenesses of false gods.
518. Are we not hereby forbidden to have any sacred representations whatever?
By no means. This very plainly appears from hence, that the same Moses through whom God gave the commandment against graven images, received at the same time from God an order to place in the tabernacle, or movable temple of the Israelites, sacred representations of Cherubim in gold, and to place them, too, in that inner part of the temple to which the people turned for the worship of God.
519. Why is this example worthy of remark for the Orthodox Christian Church?
Because it illustrates her use of holy icons.
520. What is an icon?
The word is Greek, and means, an image or representation. In the Orthodox Church this name designates sacred representations of our Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, his immaculate Mother, and his saints.
521. Is the use of holy icons agreeable to the second commandment?
It would then, and then only, be otherwise, if any one were to make gods of them; but it is not in the least contrary to this commandment to honor icons as sacred representations, and to use them for the religious remembrance of God's works and of his saints; for when thus used icons are books, written with the forms of persons and things instead of letters. (See Greg. Magn. lib. ix. Ep. 9, ad Seren. Episc.)
522. What disposition of mind should we have when we reverence the icons?
While we look on them with our eyes, we should mentally look to God and to the saints, who are represented on them.
523. What general name is there for sin against the second commandment?
Idolatry.
524. Are there not also other sins against this commandment? Besides gross idolatry there is yet another sort more subtle, to which belong--
1. Covetousness.
2. Belly-service or sensuality, gluttony, and drunkenness.
3. Pride, to which belongs likewise vanity.
525. Why is covetousness referred to idolatry?
The Apostle Paul expressly says that covetousness is idolatry (Col. iii. 5); because the covetous man serves riches rather than God.
526. If the second commandment forbid the love of gain, what contrary duties does it thereby necessarily enjoin?
Those of contentedness and liberality.
527. Why is belly-service referred to idolatry?
Because belly-servers set sensual gratification above every thing, and therefore the Apostle Paul says that their god is their belly; or, in other words, that the belly is their idol. Phil. iii. 19.
528. If the second commandment forbid belly-service, what contrary duties does it thereby enjoin?
Those of temperance and fasting.
529. Why are pride and vanity referred to idolatry?
Because the proud man values above every thing his own abilities and excellences, and so they are his idol; the vain man wishes further that others also should worship the same idol. These proud and vain dispositions were exemplified even sensibly in Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who first set up for himself a golden idol, and then ordered all to worship it. Dan. iii.
530. Is there not still another vice which is near to idolatry?
Such a vice is hypocrisy; when a man uses the outward acts of religion, as fasting, and the strict observance of ceremonies, in order to obtain respect from the people, without thinking of the inward amendment of his heart. Matt. vi. 5, 6, 7.
531. If the second commandment forbid pride, vanity, and hypocrisy, what contrary duties does it thereby enjoin?
Those of humility, and doing good in secret.
On the Third Commandment.
532. When is God's name taken in vain?
It is taken or uttered in vain when it is uttered in vain and unprofitable talk, and still more so when it is uttered lyingly or irreverently.
533. What sins are forbidden by the third commandment?
1. Blasphemy, or daring words against God.
2. Murmuring, or complaining against God's providence.
3. Profaneness; when holy things are jested on, or insulted.
4. Inattention in prayer.
5. Perjury; when men affirm with an oath what is false.
6. Oath-breaking; when men keep not just and lawful oaths.
7. Breach of vows made to God.
8. Common swearing, or thoughtless oaths in common talk.
534. Are not such oaths specially forbidden in holy Scripture?
The Saviour says: I say unto you, Swear not at all, but let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Matt. v. 34, 37.
535. Does not this go to forbid all oaths in civil matters?
The Apostle Paul says: Men swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. Heb. vi. 16, 17. Hence we must conclude, that if God himself for an immutable assurance used an oath, much more may we on grave and necessary occasions, when required by lawful authority, take an oath or vow religiously, with the firm intention of not breaking it.