{"id":1093,"date":"2012-02-28T17:00:04","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T01:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/russianorthodoxchurch.ca\/?p=1093"},"modified":"2012-02-28T23:46:30","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T07:46:30","slug":"superstition-an-orthodox-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/russianorthodoxchurch.ca\/en\/superstition-an-orthodox-perspective\/1093","title":{"rendered":"Superstition \u2013 An Orthodox Perspective."},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is a general notion that religious people have their faith and non-religious have their superstitions. On the surface, most people appear to understand and agree that religion and superstition are incompatible but, curiously, superstitious belief is not confined to non-religious people. On the contrary, it is quite startling and disturbing to see people who are otherwise quite religious and pious, often taken up by clearly superstitious belief.<\/p>\n

In fact, if we observe ourselves carefully and others around us, we will readily discover that superstition, in some form or another, consciously or subconsciously, seems to permeate society at all levels. The rich and the poor, educated and uneducated, of ethnic and non-ethnic background, Christian and non-Christian, and even religious and non-religious, all seem agreeable on some level to subscribe to superstitious beliefs in their lives.<\/p>\n

So, to knock on wood when speaking of good or bad fortune, to avoid the number 13, to fear a\u00a0 breaking mirror as a bringer of bad luck, to avoid greeting another across the threshold of a door, to avoid black cats or even clergy or to see signs of events to come in the actions of dropping kitchen utensils or people sneezing \u2013 all of these and a myriad other superstitions are still faithfully adhered to by many, despite the fact that they may seem amusing to others.<\/p>\n

It should be said at this point that it would be tempting and relatively easy to turn this discussion into a citation of a whole list of actual superstitions which could be compared, analysed or scoffed at. Without a doubt, many in the audience would be able to contribute to the extensive list of superstitions and some may even take home knowledge of one or two new beliefs. This is not the purpose of today\u2019s discussion. Rather, the purpose is to come to an understanding of why superstitions are harmful to a true Christian and why they should be avoided and, ultimately, eliminated.<\/p>\n

What is superstition?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word Comes from the \u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00adLatin superstitio<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 meaning standing over <\/em>or higher than. <\/em>In ancient times it was used to describe someone being in excessive awe of the gods, or having an excessive fear of the gods, or of magic, or even of foreign ideas. To medieval scholars the word was applied to beliefs outside of, or in opposition, to Christianity;<\/p>\n

Today, superstition usually denotes a belief in something without foundation, or in contravention of scientific and logical knowledge. <\/em>Another, more telling definition of superstition, is: the state of fear and ignorance resulting from the belief in magic, witchcraft and other things that cannot he explained by reason.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most commonly, superstition is applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck<\/a>, prophecy<\/a> and spiritual beings<\/a>. People fear what they don’t understand, and from that fear superstitions have been practiced. They are a form of protection from these unknown fears. Although most of the superstitions from the past have been proven by science as unnecessary, many are still faithfully adhered to today by very intelligent and sane people.<\/p>\n

However, from a purely Orthodox perspective, I would offer a somewhat different definition which I believe puts things in a more spiritually correct context: superstition is religion without God!<\/em><\/p>\n

Different kinds of superstition.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Superstitions exist around the topics of luck and misfortune, numbers, seasons, work, travel, love,\u00a0 marriage, to name but a few. In fact, for just about every event that can take place between the time when a person is born and when they die there is an applicable superstitious belief. Some superstitions gain such wide acceptability that they become traditions.<\/p>\n

Many of these would be familiar \u2013 carry a rabbit\u2019s foot for good luck; break a mirror and suffer bad luck. Avoid the number 13. Throw a coin in the fountain and make a wish. Don\u2019t let a black cat cross your path. Be born under a lucky star. Speak of luck, but knock on wood. Don\u2019t choose an unlucky month to marry. Play a trick on April fool\u2019s day. Steer clear of certain people and their cursed glances lest misery befall you or even cause your untimely death.<\/p>\n

Certain superstitions are sometimes called sympathetic superstitions because they appear to have the nature of imparting good will or avoiding bad events from occurring.<\/p>\n

However, not all superstitions deal simply with good or bad luck. Some may be pagan in origin or be based on pagan customs, including idol worship. Others may be of occult origin or stem from evil intent and even be outright demonic. People are usually shocked to learn of the pagan or demonic significance of some common superstitions like Trick or Treating on Halloween, playing the April Fool\u2019s Day joke or knocking on wood to avoid tempting fate.<\/p>\n

Religious superstitions \u2013 faith or superstition?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Because of their content, some superstitions can be religious in nature. These are not always obvious, particularly to religious people. They oftentimes do not see the subtle infiltration of crude superstitious attitude into their religious worship and practice.<\/p>\n

At one end of this spectrum for example, religious people may develop an excessive desire to seek out miracles and miraculous events in order to prove their own holiness or to the correctness of their faith. They forget that miracles, whether true or false, do not of themselves prove anything. When a miracle is<\/em> genuine<\/em>, it simply attests to the mercy of God. But God, as we know, is merciful not only to His faithful, but to whomever He chooses.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the spectrum, religious people may exaggerate the Church\u2019s customs and rituals to the point where it becomes impossible to differentiate between these and God\u2019s actual law. For example, the sign of the cross or accompanying prostration must be made with meticulous precision, otherwise the pray is ineffectual.<\/em> In their missplaced religious zeal for correctness people with such attitude can place so much significance on the \u201cletter of the law<\/em>\u201d that often \u201cthe spirit of the law<\/em>\u201d is neglected or ignored completely. This also is superstition and is in fact modern day phariseeism. Behaviour such as this can become obsessive in character and is capable of causing anguish not only to the zealot<\/em>, but to those around him or her. In this context, consider someone being approached in church by a dutiful parishioner and asked to leave because they have unknowingly dressed inappropriately.<\/p>\n

It must be stressed that the point being made here is not that religious discipline is unimportant or that the Church\u2019s traditions and rules for outward conduct should be trivialised, but rather, the Christian context of love and mercy in which they were intended to be applied. Otherwise, these outward things lose their genuine spiritual merit and simply become religious superstitions. True Christianity gives believers an incredible scope for freedom and love. It shouldn\u2019t feel like a sword of Damocles<\/em> hanging over one\u2019s heads.<\/p>\n

The following are some more examples of a religious nature where people\u2019s attitudes are formulated more by superstition than true faith.<\/p>\n