Archimandrite Lazarus (Abashidze)
Foul language is in our time one of the most widespread sins, a grave and loathsome one, harmful to the soul and insulting to God. Yet at a superficial glance it seems to those around us trivial, easily pardoned and harmless. And indeed, when a man utters a foul word, he undergoes no physical change. His health seems none the worse, and his tongue does not swell. If we shout out an obscene word, the walls do not fall in on us... But such a heedless outburst often becomes the cause of a fight, and that brings physical injury in its train — a man ends up now bruised, now with his teeth knocked out, and sometimes worse. But in the spiritual realm foul language brings consequences far heavier, more terrible and deadly, and many do not yet see this.
It is not by chance that Satan labours so hard to spread this vile habit widely among the people. Unlike the other creatures of the visible world, man is often called a creature endowed with speech, whereas the animals we call dumb beasts. Man received the gift of speech together with his very being. The image of God in man is reflected precisely in the word — as the organ of reason. The holy Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow says: let us ask ourselves, “Where is the source of the word?” — In heaven, above heaven, in eternity, in God. What is the dignity of the word? — Divine: “the Word was God.” “The word has set man on the ladder of creation above all earthly things, above the sun and moon; it has created cities and kingdoms; in the word knowledge, wisdom and law live and act; the word gives birth to the virtues, quickens them and spreads them; the word in prayer ascends to God, converses with Him and is heard by Him.”
What other creature on earth but man is able to think in words, to express in words his feelings, thoughts and ideas, to set forth his inner world, his experiences and spiritual strivings, and to share them with his neighbour? The word and deed of God are inseparable: “For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created” (Ps. 32:9). But it would be a mistake to think that the word of man is not effective, that it is fruitless and “idle”; that more often than not it is an empty sound, a mere vibration of the air, a phantom that vanishes without trace. The folk proverb bears witness to this: “A word is not a bird: once it has flown, you cannot catch it!” — that is, it is more real than a living bird: it was born on the lips, and if you did not hold it back, you cannot return it to non-being. And how much more sternly does the Lord, the Giver of this gift, speak in the holy Gospel: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matt. 12:36–37). Every foolish word of ours, and still more every evil one, is followed by a whole train of bad consequences; the word afterwards turns into a deed. Let us think: we consider it useful and important to receive a blessing from the clergy; we ask the priest to bless some object; we ourselves bless our food by saying a prayer; we believe that even a blessing given by a priest from afar gives us spiritual strength and consolation. We believe that a thing which has been in the cell of some God-pleasing man of prayer becomes sanctified; we say it is “prayed over.” We say: “a prayed-in church,” “a prayed-over icon,” “a place hallowed by prayer,” and so on. We know well that all sorts of sorcerers, fortune-tellers and psychics, with their mutterings, talismans, witchcraft and “spells,” work upon objects, houses and people with unclean powers, with curses and evil energy. So a word spoken over a thing imparts a kind of spiritual charge even to coarse matter, and the object becomes for its owner either blessed and sanctified, bringing well-being, goodness, peace and happiness, and even having power to drive away an evil spirit; or it may be cursed, defiled, bewitched, a bearer of evil and temptation; it may become a magnet drawing bad energies, may turn into a loophole for demonic powers to creep in, may be a sower of sorrow, enmity, quarrels, misfortune and the like. Foul language is like this, and still more the idle naming of the devil, every kind of swearing and abuse — they poison the very air around the foul-mouthed man, which becomes saturated with the fumes of the passions and the stench of hell. A truly spiritual man would sense this stench as soon as he drew near, and would discern this darkness.
It is not only that a man defiles his lips and soul and drives the Holy Spirit away from himself: (I think there should be no need to say that a Christian who morning and evening lifts up prayer to God, begs for the forgiveness of sins and the descent of the Holy Spirit, and receives Communion in the hope of being transformed, of being born a new man and born again in Christ, must not utter foul and blasphemous words with those very same lips; otherwise he throws all his labour to the winds, drives every spiritual good away from himself, and after Holy Communion becomes still more condemned and guilty before his Lord) — no, the matter is far worse! — the one who utters foul words becomes in some measure a follower of the work of sorcerers, enchanters, charmers and magi, that is, he turns into a channel conducting satanic energy into our world. Satan has spurred people on to invent a whole dictionary of every kind of foul verbal construction, expression and word combination, which already forms an entire system and makes up a complete and “rich” collection of “black words.” These words are a real reviling and trampling of everything that exists on this earth of goodness, honesty and holiness, in whatever form or manifestation.
Every such curse contains a venomous, sarcastic mockery of some holy thing, great or small, whether in the sphere of faith, of morals or of conduct. This is by no means “simply a witty play on words.” At first sight it is the most absurd and senseless combination of dirty words, but in reality a dark, deep-rooted “meaning” lies in it. It is a kind of “school” of anti-morality, anti-goodness and anti-humanity. This “school” has its own “genres,” its “classics,” its poetry and prose, and its own “heroes” as well. They have their own “muse” there too — the one who breathes life into this art, imbued with hatred for everything divine, “trampling underfoot” every kind of goodness, all honesty and beauty, wishing to take away and cheapen everything that is of value in our eyes.
Today the most widespread and deep-rooted is so-called “mother-cursing,” which already makes up a whole branch of foul language and specializes in defiling and maliciously mocking such virtues as virginity, marriage and childbearing. The names of these curses (to men's shame) are derived from the word that is most holy to us after the word God — mother. For a Christian this idea is doubly holy: we call our Church the Mother Church, the Most Holy Theotokos the Mother of God, and we address the holy venerable women as “Mother.” And yet to defile this holy thing hundreds of word combinations have been devised, expressed in the most loathsome form. Instead of having reverence and awe before that greatest of mysteries — the conception of a man and his coming into this world, to which we owe our life — these whelps of yesterday stand about spitting, and more than that, they vomit the vilest abuse at their own mothers. And the very mystery of the conception of new life they turn into an occasion for constant cursing and mockery. Of course this does not happen without the prompting of Satan. To curse one's own mother with the foulest words and to “curse the mother” of one's own brother or son has even become fashionable. Every depravity of fornication, perverted and maniacal manifestations of lust — things of which psychiatrists once spoke only in whispers when discussing the conduct of their insane patients — now lie hidden in terse verbal expressions which for some reason are senselessly flung about wherever they happen to land: in the market or in the street, at home or at a meeting, in front of women or of children. It is as though they were trying to “adorn” their speech with the “light and shade” of this obscenity. What is it? A trampling of the difference between good and evil? Is Nietzsche's Zarathustra striding over the earth? What is it? Self-destruction? Hatred of life itself? It is, of course, the measureless hatred of that invisible spirit, vomited by men into the visible world — the spirit who, himself a hater of God, loathes the whole world created by God as well, and first of all the image of God — man! He hates everyone and everything, down to the smallest molecule; he detests every bond, law, order, honour, everything that is precious and meaningful to this world created by God.
And foul language has developed a whole series of further “genres.” Among them are “thieves' poetry,” “black jokes,” smutty sayings and the rest, where the same theme is unfolded in more “refined” and “poetic” forms. This “street culture” already has thousands of admirers, who positively relish this poeticized obscenity. A whole series of “sadistic jokes” has become quite popular, the essence of which is that some scenario of bloody tragedy is presented in the most comic form possible. The “inimitable flavour” of these jokes lies in a strange combination of opposite feelings: what in ordinary life ought to fill us with horror somehow leaves us helpless with laughter. Of course, this is the same “kitchen”! Satan dances on the very backbone of mankind. To the sound of our brainless guffawing he tramples what is most precious, most essential, most needful, most human. And we call all this humour, wit, a jesting “peppered” word.
...Much more could be said about the snares of this passion, about its deep roots, which draw their sap from the very heart of hell. We would then have to touch on modern “culture,” on the field of modern art (which from a certain moment has found its ideals, its “romance,” its “muse,” its inspiration, its language and style in the criminal world and among street thugs), on cinema and theatre, newspapers and television, on the speeches of “officials,” of various members of parliament, and so on. Evidently “street culture” is already considered good form in “high society” too, among our “intelligentsia,” and, sadly, even among some “Christians”... But what has been said is quite enough for those who still thirst for the salvation of their soul. Whoever wishes to draw near to Christ must flee in horror from this devil's “kitchen” and from the barking of these rabid dogs, must put a strict bridle on his lips and beg God: “Set a watch, O Lord, on my mouth, and a strong door about my lips” (Ps. 140); “I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue” (Ps. 38).
