sin. A similar list of 1585 associated Lucifer with Pride, Beelzebub with
Gluttony and Satan with Wrath. According to a study of 2009 by a Jesuit
scholar, men’s most common sin is Lust and women’s Pride.-Pride, in Greek
’hybris’, is considered the original and most serious sin and source of all the
others, it is identified as believing that one is essentially better than others,
and has excessive admiration of the personal self (out of proportion toward
God).
The best known story illustrating this is Lucifer’s pride, his desire to compete
with God, which caused his fall from Heaven and his transformation into
Satan. Dante’s example for Pride is the Tower of Babel.
Recently an essay in the magazine ‘Politico’ (16 December 2015) by Michael
d’Antonio, described the politics of Donald Trump as an embodiment of the
Deadly Sins. . This author wrote a biography of Trump with the title: “Never
enough, Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success”, in which he outlines his
non-stop aggression, fear-mongering, bigotry, racism and hatred on the
campaign trail as appealing to feelings in his audience already present in the
human heart, as well as his love of opulence shown, among others, in the
building of his tower in Manhattan like the Tower of Babel.
The catalogue of Deadly Sins as such is not in the Bible, but there are
‘antecedents’ , both in the Book of Proverbs 6, 16-19 , and in St Paul’s Letter
to the Galatians 5: 19-21.. While you are certainly familiar with Paul’s list, let
me remind you of the one in the Proverbs:
“There are six things the Lord hates, seven are detestable to Him: Haughty
eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises
wicked schemes, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up
dissension among brothers.”
B Williams
Save the Dates - Diocesan Pilgrimage Days
Some of you will remember the very successful Diocesan Pilgrimage Days
which we had a few years ago at our Cathedral. This message is to alert you
to the fact that there will be two further such days in the New Year.
The Cathedral will be hosting pilgrimage days on 20 and 27 February 2016.
The days will have the theme "Who On Earth Are You" and will be an
exploration of our identity as Scottish Episcopalians.
I look forward to these days myself and hope for wide participation from
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