The Sixth Commandment of the Law of God
“You shall not kill.”
By this commandment, the Lord God forbids the taking of life — from other people or from oneself. Life is the greatest gift of God, and only God determines the limits of a person’s earthly life.
Suicide is a grave sin. In suicide, besides murder itself, there are also the sins of despair, lack of faith, murmuring against God, and insolent rebellion against God’s providence. It is also terrible that a person who has violently cut short his own life deprives himself of the possibility of repenting of his sin, because after death repentance is no longer effective. To avoid despair, one must remember that temporary sufferings are sent to us for the salvation of the soul. All the righteous inherited the Kingdom of Heaven through their sufferings. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus vividly illustrates the significance of earthly sufferings (Lk. 16:19–31). In trials, one must remember that God is infinitely good. He will never send us sufferings beyond our strength, and in sufferings He strengthens and comforts us.
A person is guilty of murder even when he does not personally kill, but contributes to murder or allows others to commit murder. For example: a judge who condemns a defendant whose innocence is known to him; anyone who helps others commit murder by command, advice, or consent; anyone who shelters a murderer and thereby facilitates the commission of new crimes; anyone who does not save a neighbor from death when he could do so; anyone who exhausts his subordinates with heavy labor and cruel punishments and thereby shortens their life; anyone who destroys his own health through intemperance and various vices. A person is guilty of murder even if he kills another person unintentionally, because he allowed carelessness. The destruction of an embryo in the mother’s womb the Church counts as murder. A number of church canons impose strict penances on persons guilty of this sin. (See the 2nd and 8th rules of St. Basil the Great, the 21st rule of the Council of Ancyra, and the 91st rule of the 6th Ecumenical Council).
Speaking of the sin of murder, the Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to root out from our heart those feelings of malice and revenge that push a person toward this sin (Mt. 5:21–23). According to the teaching of the Gospel, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (1 Jn. 3:15). Therefore, everyone who harbors feelings of hatred and malice toward others, wishes death to his neighbors, reviles them, starts quarrels and fights, or in any other way manifests enmity toward his neighbor, sins against the sixth commandment.
Besides bodily murder, there is an even more terrible murder — spiritual murder. Spiritual murder is committed by one who leads his neighbor into unbelief or into a vicious life. For both of these states are spiritual death (Jas. 1:15). The Savior said: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Mt. 18:6–7).
As a counter to feelings of malice and revenge, the Lord taught His followers to love all people, including their enemies: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:44).
Note: How should one view war and the death penalty for criminals? Neither the Savior nor His apostles dictated to civil authorities how they should resolve their state and public problems. The Christian faith sets as its goal to transform the very heart of man. As long as evil lives within people, wars and crimes are inevitable. But if people become better, then wars and crimes will cease.
It is undeniable that war is an evil. But a defensive war should be recognized as a lesser evil in comparison with allowing an enemy onto the territory of one’s own country and all the consequences of aggression. Murder in war the Church does not regard as a personal sin of a person when a soldier goes “to lay down his soul for his friends.” Among warriors there are also saints glorified by miracles: the holy Great Martyr George, the holy right-believing Prince Alexander Nevsky, Saints Theodore the Recruit, Theodore Stratelates, and others. The death penalty for a criminal also belongs to public evil and can be explained by the necessity of protecting law-abiding citizens from greater evil — robbery, violence, and murders.
Forbidding the violent taking of life, the Christian faith teaches to look calmly upon death when an incurable illness has brought a person to its threshold. It is wrong to use heroic measures to prolong the hours of a dying person. It is better to help him reconcile with God and peacefully depart into eternity, where we will all meet again.