Can I play cards in public places? Why is playing cards a sin? What do the suits mean? Is it possible to play cards in the evening

Why Orthodox Christians Can't Play Cards Surely there are quite a few people who like to play cards just for fun, when there is nothing to do. Moreover, many Christians do this without even thinking about whether it is possible for the Orthodox to play cards? At first glance, this is a harmless game that does not carry any negative consequences. But in reality this is far from the case. And in the Orthodox religion, there are certain prohibitions on card games, even if you are not playing for profit. Moreover, this is considered a great sin, which should be taken into account in the list of sins before confession. Cards and faith First of all, why it is impossible for the Orthodox to play cards, it is believed that the card game is a passion, which in turn gives rise to an inevitable addiction that acquires the appearance of sinfulness. In no case should Orthodox people be attracted to cards and play various games with them. Since the demon pursues only one goal - to tempt all those who are closer to God. After playing one game and losing at the same time, a person will want to play more and more until he wins. Even being already addicted, everyone can say that they can stop at any time. But actually it is not. In addition to excitement, the ban on spending time in card games has a different interpretation, which carries a deeper meaning than gambling. It's all about the depiction of the suits themselves, which imply the image of the Cross of Christ, along with other revered objects among Christians. These are items such as a spear, a sponge and nails. After all, it was they who became the instrument of execution, which brought incredible suffering to Jesus Christ. The meaning of suits in Orthodoxy As mentioned above, all four suits of cards carry a certain secret meaning: - Cross means the cross on which Christ was crucified. - Peaks - this is a peak, which pierced his ribs. - Diamonds mean nails. - Worms symbolize a sponge with vinegar, which the tormentors specially gave to Christ instead of water. For example, a player takes a card with the image of the Cross of Christ, which is worshiped by half the world and throws it, exclaiming "clubs". Few people think about the fact that in translation from the Hebrew language it means evil spirits, nasty. In the Bible, this word is interpreted as meat torn to pieces in the field, which cannot be eaten. It should be noted that each of the suits is mentioned in the holy scriptures and the Bible. The unrepentant thief, who was crucified with Christ like a gambler, blasphemes the suffering of God's Son, without sincere repentance went to hell forever. The thief set an example for everyone and repented on the cross, thanks to which he inherited eternal life with God. Cards are demonic revelations, so in no case should they be kept in the house and played or guessed at.

"Save me, God!". Thank you for visiting our site, before you start studying the information, please subscribe to our Orthodox community on Instagram Lord, Save and Save † - https://www.instagram.com/spasi.gospodi/. The community has over 58,000 subscribers.
There are many of us, like-minded people, and we are growing rapidly, posting prayers, sayings of saints, prayer requests, posting useful information about holidays and Orthodox events in a timely manner... Subscribe. Guardian Angel for you!

Surely there are quite a few people who like to play cards just like that, for fun, when there is nothing to do. Moreover, many Christians do this without even thinking about whether it is possible for the Orthodox to play cards? At first glance, this is a harmless game that does not carry any negative consequences. But in reality this is far from the case. And in the Orthodox religion, there are certain prohibitions on card games, even if you are not playing for profit. Moreover, this is considered a great sin, which should be taken into account in.

First of all, why it is impossible for the Orthodox to play cards, it is believed that the card game is a passion, which in turn gives rise to an inevitable addiction that acquires the appearance of sinfulness. In no case should Orthodox people be attracted to cards and play various games with them. Since the demon pursues only one goal - to tempt all those who are closer to God.

After playing one game and losing at the same time, a person will want to play more and more until he wins. Even being already addicted, everyone can say that they can stop at any time. But actually it is not.

In addition to excitement, the ban on spending time in card games has a different interpretation, which carries a deeper meaning than gambling. It's all about the depiction of the suits themselves, which imply the image of the Cross of Christ, along with other revered objects among Christians. These are items such as a spear, a sponge and nails. After all, it was they who became the instrument of execution, which brought incredible suffering to Jesus Christ.

The meaning of suits in Orthodoxy

As mentioned above, all four card suits carry a certain secret meaning:

Cross means the cross on which Christ was crucified.
Peaks are the pike with which his ribs were pierced.
Diamonds mean nails.
Worms symbolize a sponge with vinegar, which the tormentors specially gave to Christ instead of water.

For example, a player takes a card with the image of the Cross of Christ, which is worshiped by half the world and throws it, exclaiming "clubs". Few people think about the fact that in translation from the Hebrew language it means evil spirits, nasty. In the Bible, this word is interpreted as meat torn to pieces in the field, which cannot be eaten. It should be noted that each of the suits is mentioned in the holy scriptures and the Bible.

The unrepentant thief, who was crucified with Christ like a gambler, blasphemes the sufferings of God's Son, went to hell forever. The thief set an example for everyone and repented on the cross, thanks to which he inherited eternal life with God. Cards are demonic revelations, so in no case should they be kept in the house and played or guessed at.

Other games in Orthodoxy

There are several more common games, the permission to play which is of interest to many believers. For example, a certain part of Christians does not know whether it is possible for the Orthodox to play the lottery.
There are such cases that lottery winnings very often go not to the player for his own gain, but to charity. Despite this, many clergy are convinced that the lottery is also a game of chance. Therefore, playing it is also a sin.

As one priest said: "You should not gamble even if you really need money - as God pleases, it will happen in life."

Can Orthodox Christians play computer games?

Despite the fact that today there are a fairly large number of different computer games, with different goals and tasks they are considered gambling and do not bring any benefit to a person. Therefore, according to the Orthodox religion, playing such games is also a sin. Moreover, such games carry a fairly serious threat of not only psychological illness, but sometimes even death.

The Lord is always with you!

Good afternoon, our dear visitors!

My son learned to play cards at the summer camp, and now he is trying to teach the younger children to do it at home. He says that playing the fool is no more harmful than any board game. What does the Church say about this?

Archpriest Sergiy Nikolaev answers:

“Pay your son's attention to the symbolism of playing cards. This is anti-Christian symbolism. The so-called card suits are signs of the passion of Christ:

Baptize or clubs- the cross on which the Savior suffered.

Peaks- a spear that pierced the pure body of Christ.

Worms- a sponge filled with vinegar and offered to a thirsty Sufferer.

Diamonds- four-sided forged nails with which the Lord was nailed to the cross.

Could it have happened by chance? And who do you think is behind this game?

Maps, as we know them today, have been known in Europe since the 15th century. And even then their origin was attributed to the devil. In the beginning it was the game of the nobility. Pictures on cardboard squares: king, queen, jack (servant) ...

For us, these are all fairy-tale characters, but then, in Christian countries, real kings ruled, and the card hierarchy carried an ominous meaning. In the card kingdom over the king is powerful Ace. This word came to us from Poland, but comes from the German der Daus and, in addition to designating card symbols, serves as one of the nicknames of the evil spirit.

Despite the terrible symbolism, and perhaps thanks to it (after all, just stretch your finger to the demon), playing cards soon became a favorite pastime in the royal courts of Western Europe. But, as in every joke there is some truth, so there is some life in the game. According to the cruel remark of one of the modern authors, European monarchies, without noticing it, lost themselves at cards.

In Russia, for some time, cards were banned. The code of 1649, and later, the decree of 1696, prescribed punishment for gamblers, along with thieves. In 1717 it was forbidden under the threat of a fine. In 1733, those who were seen for the second time at the game were determined - to beat them with batogs and put them in jail. Later, European influence, which increased at the Russian court, supplanted domestic piety, and cards became a familiar entertainment in the world.

Of course, today children, and even adults, when playing cards, do not think about the terrible meaning of colorful icons. They mechanically sort through the cardboard squares, count the points and, carried away, do not hear the malicious giggle next to them. This is laughing at them an old enemy and a crafty deceiver - a demon. Laughs, looking at how Christians, for the sake of the game, thoughtlessly and madly mock at the sufferings of Christ.

Why is it impossible to play cards, play solitaire, use card symbols, and even more so guess at the Queen of Spades, even at the Heart? Symbols, images, hieroglyphs are by no means always harmless pictures. These are the same words presented in the form of graphic images. Some words cannot be spoken at all without harm to the soul. There are concepts that should not be present even in thoughts. For the same reasons, it is impossible to draw impious plots for the sake of the plots themselves in any way: naturalistic, symbolic or symbolic (taboo), including card.

Explanatory Dictionary V.I. Dahl gives the following definition of cards: "glued, small paper sheets with the image of points in four suits and figures." The cards have an ancient history, their origin is still not exactly established. The invention of playing cards is attributed to the Chinese. Ching-tse-tung's dictionary says that cards were invented in 1120. (according to the Christian calendar), and in 1132. were already widely used in China. According to another version, the cards were invented in Egypt and were intended for divination. Card suits were used in Byzantium to decorate fabrics. Maps appeared in Western Europe in the 14th century. In its modern form with kings, jacks, etc. they have existed since the 15th century.

According to the writer S.S. Narovchatov, under Ivan the Terrible, a certain Churchelli appeared in Moscow. Churchelli or, as he was called by the people - Chertello, in Italy was called a Frenchman, in France - a German, in Germany - a Pole, and in Poland - became a Russian. He brought to Moscow a chest wrapped in a shawl, black with red stains, which, as it were, corresponded to the suits - black and red, but Muscovites said that these were the colors of hellfire. A gambling epidemic began in the Third Rome, "they were cut for money." Cards began to be in demand, and Churchelli decided to develop in Moscow a special kind of card business, which by that time was already flourishing in the West - card printing. His tempting offer was received rather coolly by the Muscovites. The first printer Ivan Fedorov flatly refused to participate in such a case.

At first, the authorities were tolerant of practicing with cards, but then they began to persecute them, because they saw the intervention of evil spirits here. Of the legislative monuments about cards, the Code of 1649 was first mentioned, which prescribes to deal with card players “as it is written about taty” (thieves), i.e. beat mercilessly, cut off fingers and hands. Decree of 1696. it was introduced to search all those suspected of wanting to play cards "and whoever has the cards taken out, to beat with a whip." In 1717 It is forbidden to play cards under the threat of a fine. In 1733 for recidivists, a prison, or batogs, is defined. In the 18th century, the attitude towards this game in Russia was greatly softened, and in general, when studying about forbidden games, it was ordered to "act with caution so as not to cause unnecessary slander, insults and anxieties." The passion for the game grew, and no one was interested anymore why these particular figures were depicted on the cardboard rectangles and what, or rather, who is the ace?

Ushakov's dictionary answers: "ace" is a word of Polish origin from the German Daus and means a playing card with one point. The German-Russian dictionary also indicates another meaning of the word: Daus is the devil. It is quite possible that Daus is a corruption of the Greek diabolos, a slanderer. Everyone knows the structure of a card deck: king, queen, jack (from the French “servant”), even lower in value are tens, nines, and so on up to sixes or twos in a full deck - a typical hierarchical ladder from highest to lowest. Sometimes another card is added to the deck - the Joker. A frivolous figure in tights, a jester's cap, bells... And in his hands is a scepter with a man's head strung on it, which has now been replaced by humane artists with musical "cymbals". In pre-revolutionary stage performances, a similar character was called Fradiavolo. The card "Joker" is above all, it has no suit and is considered the strongest in the game. At the top of the pyramid, in any scenario, there is by no means a monarch, but that same Daus, from which only the sign of the cross and prayer can be fenced off. Thus, the hierarchy in the deck of cards obeys the prince of this world, he, the prince of the power of the air, is symbolized not by one point, but by the number one.

"Trump" cards, their very name, have their own special purpose. "Kosher" i.e. Talmudists call ritual sacrifices “clean”, therefore the true meaning of card games lies in the humiliation of our shrines, because by covering the cross with a “trump six” players believe that this “six” is higher and stronger than the Life-Giving Cross!

So, playing cards are by no means a kind of simple game compromised by an element of excitement. This is a model of the dominance of the prince of this world over his free and involuntary subjects. This is the meaning of card symbols, but they don’t joke with symbols. There is the strictest prohibition of the Church: under no circumstances should you touch the so-called "depths of Satan" (Rev. 2.24), therefore, when someone in the company offers to play cards, remember: who is higher than the king of cards.

Happens often with the player:
Sat a rich man -
became poor.
Who took the cards
seduced by profit,
Tom does not know the game
happy.
Gambling is sinful:
It is not given to us by God,
Satan invented it!
Sebastian BRANT. 1494
Cross card "shamrock", spear, sponge and nail

from the book "History of the Development of the Shape of the Cross"
www.wco.ru/biblio section "Reference books"

The motives for the outrageous desecration and blasphemy of the Holy Cross by conscious crusaders and crusaders are quite understandable. But when we see Christians drawn into this heinous deed, it is all the more impossible to remain silent, for, according to the words of St. Basil the Great, “God is given up in silence”!

The so-called "playing cards", which are unfortunately found in many homes, are an instrument of demon-communication, through which a person certainly comes into contact with demons - the enemies of God. All four card "suits" mean nothing more than the cross of Christ, along with other sacred objects equally revered by Christians: a spear, a sponge and nails, that is, everything that was the instruments of suffering and death of the Divine Redeemer.

And out of ignorance, many people, turning “into a fool”, allow themselves to blaspheme the Lord, taking, for example, a card with the image of the “shamrock” cross, that is, the cross of Christ, which half the world worships, and throwing it carelessly with the words (forgive me, Lord !) "club", which in Yiddish means "nasty" or "evil spirits"! And what’s more, these daredevils, who have played suicide, essentially believe that this cross is “beaten” by some lousy “trump six”, not at all knowing that “trump card” and “kosher” are written, for example, in Latin, the same.

It would be high time to clarify the true rules of all card games, in which all players remain “in the fools”: they consist in the fact that ritual sacrifices, in Hebrew called by the Talmudists “kosher” (that is, “clean”), allegedly have power over Life-Giving Cross!

If you know that playing cards cannot be used for other purposes than defiling Christian shrines to the delight of demons, then the role of cards in "fortune-telling" - these nasty searches for demonic revelations - will become extremely clear. In this regard, is it necessary to prove that anyone who has touched a deck of cards and has not brought sincere repentance in confession for the sins of blasphemy and blasphemy has a guaranteed registration in hell?

So, if “clubs” are the blasphemy of raging gamblers against specially depicted crosses, which they also call “crosses”, then what do “blame”, “hearts” and “tambourines” mean? We won't bother translating these curses into Russian either, since we don't have a Yiddish textbook; it would be better if we open the New Testament to shed on the demonic tribe the unbearable Light of God for them.

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov edifies in an imperative mood: “get acquainted with the spirit of the times, study it, so as to avoid its influence as far as possible.”

The card suit “blame”, or otherwise “spike”, blasphemes the gospel peak, then As the Lord predicted about His perforation, through the mouth of the prophet Zechariah, that “they will look at the One who was pierced” (12:10), this is what happened: “one of soldiers (Longinus) pierced His side with a spear” (John 19:34).

The card suit "worms" blasphemes the gospel sponge on a cane. As Christ warned about His poisoning, through the mouth of the king-prophet David, that the soldiers “gave Me bile for food, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink” (Ps. 68:22), so it came true: “one of them took a sponge, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink” (Matt. 27:48).

The card suit of “tambourine” blasphemes the gospel forged tetrahedral jagged nails with which the hands and feet of the Savior were nailed to the tree of the Cross. As the Lord prophesied about his clove cross, through the mouth of the psalmist David, that “they pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps. 22:17), so it came true: the Apostle Thomas, who said “if I do not see wounds from nails on His hands, and I will not put my finger against the nails, and I will not put my hand in His side; I will not believe” (John 20:25), “I believed because I saw” (John 20:29); and the Apostle Peter, addressing his fellow tribesmen, testified: “Men of Israel! - he said, - Jesus of Nazareth (...) you took and, nailing (to the cross) with the hands (of the Romans) of the lawless, killed; but God raised him up” (Acts 2:22, 24).

The unrepentant thief crucified with Christ, like today's gamblers, blasphemed the sufferings of the Son of God on the Cross and, out of arrogance, out of impenitence, went forever to fullness; but the prudent thief, setting an example for all, repented on the cross and thereby inherited eternal life with God. Therefore, let us firmly remember that for us Christians there can be no other object of hope and hope, no other support in life, no other banner that unites and inspires us, except for the only saving sign of the invincible Cross of the Lord!

Playing cards belongs to the category of gambling. When a person gets excited, he forgets God. Unclean spirits begin to influence him (at this moment they have the right to do so). The player harms his soul. If they play for money (or "interest"), the player has greed (acquisition). And this is already a sin. And precious time is wasted, which could be used for the benefit of yourself and your loved ones.

Surely there are quite a few people who like to play cards just like that, for fun, when there is nothing to do. Moreover, many Christians do this without even thinking about whether it is possible for the Orthodox to play cards? At first glance, this is a harmless game that does not carry any negative consequences. But in reality this is far from the case. And in the Orthodox religion, there are certain prohibitions on card games, even if you are not playing for profit. Moreover, it is considered a great sin, which should be taken into account inlist of sins before confession .

Cards and Faith