What are the vices and passions in a person? How can one combat them? What are sinful thoughts? #

Vices, passions, and sins—these are terms describing different phenomena that, in Christian worldview, are interconnected and share much in common. In the vocabulary of Orthodox Christians, the word vice has the following meanings:

A persistent inclination toward a specific type of sin; a sinful passion.
A morally reprehensible flaw (e.g., “poverty is not a vice”).
A physical defect or illness (e.g., “a heart defect”).

It is important to note that in ecclesiastical use, the meanings of words often differ from their everyday usage. Thus, the term vice is not used in church texts to mean “a physical defect or illness.” Similarly, the term passion in everyday speech refers to something quite different than its usage in church texts. In Slavonic, the word passions (страсти) originally means sufferings, which is why the expression the Passions of Christ refers to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. However, the term passions is also often used to denote sinful states of the soul that drive a person toward sin, sometimes even against their will.

The word passion has these varied meanings because its original sense (as with the Greek word πάθος) is “an experienced influence.” In the case of the Passions of Christ, it refers to the sufferings endured by the Savior. In the second sense, it conveys the “passive” state of a person under the influence of sin.

The word sin corresponds to the Greek term ἁμαρτία, meaning “missing the mark” or “a failure.” This conveys anything that leads a person away from God and breaks their communion with Him.

To combat vices, passions, and sins, the Church provides tools left to us by the holy fathers, who in their lives overcame sins, vices, and passions. These tools are threefold: prayer, fasting, and reading Sacred Scripture.

Prayer allows us to receive comfort and encouragement directly from the Lord.
Fasting helps cultivate self-control, which in turn helps us avoid sinful deeds.
Reading Sacred Scripture, as attested in the book Chrysostom, helps to dispel sinful thoughts.

—Priest Mikhail Rodin.