The pious is modest, meek, able to avoid temptations. The word is often found in ancient literature. In the Bible it has a fairly broad meaning. What does pious mean?
General information
The word "pious" is an adjective that comes from the noun "piety". And it, in turn, from the words "good" and "honor". What is the meaning of the word "pious"? In order to answer this question, it is worth trying to find synonyms for it. Namely: believer, religious, devout, righteous, God-loving and so on.
A pious person is not one who regularly attends church, but one who lives in harmony with his conscience. The word whose meaning we are considering in this article occurs quite often in the New Testament. Therefore, it is customary to look for its interpretation there. But first, according to tradition, you should look into Dahl's dictionary. What is the definition in this book?
In Dahl's dictionary
Slightly paraphrasing the interpretation given by Vladimir Dal, we can formulate the followingDefinition: A pious person is one who reveres divine truths. This adjective and words with the same root are rarely found in everyday speech today. You can hear them first of all in the church.
Piety
The concept is quite important in Christian teaching. A pious person is a person who has the virtue that is characteristic of believing people. But here it is worth clarifying some points. Piety can be both sincere and ostentatious. The latter involves the performance of all kinds of church rituals, but inconsistency with the requirements listed in the Gospel. A pious lifestyle is not the ability to endure many hours of church services, but constant work on oneself, continuous analysis of one's own actions.
Odysseus
Homer lived long before the advent of Christianity. At the same time, in his most famous work - "The Odyssey" - the word "pious" is found. The ancient Greek storyteller used this epithet in relation to the main character.
However, the author did not stint on adjectives. Odysseus is both cunning, and many-minded, and wise, and long-suffering, and finally, pious. The meanings of these words are, of course, unequal. Calling the hero, who spent most of his life traveling, cunning and clever, the author hinted at his quick wits and dexterity. Speaking about the piety of Odysseus - to his high reverence for the gods, which, as you know, there were many in Ancient Greece.
What does it mean"pious"? Able to follow orders given from above. And by whom they were already given (Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, or, perhaps, Allah), it is not so important.
The sayings of the greats
John Chrysostom said that piety causes disgust among sinners, while for some reason he recalled the parable of pigs, which showed complete indifference to the brilliance and grace of pearls. In general, the famous theologian and preacher spoke a lot about one of the important Christian virtues. Of course, we will not quote all Chrysostom's quotes.
But what did people who were not directly related to the church say about piety? They did not discuss such a topic very often, and if they did, there was sometimes a certain amount of irony in their words. One of the Brontë sisters once said that piety gives charm, but this virtue should not be abused. In one of his diaries, Fyodor Dostoevsky (already without any irony) said that his family was Russian and pious. Probably, the writer meant that his father had nothing to do with such a character as Karamazov Sr.
Pious March
This is the name of the film released in 1980 and the work of the same name by the Spanish playwright Tirso de Molina. Who is Martha? Why did the author call her pious? The heroine of this work is a girl who, with her whole appearance, demonstrated her desire to serve God. She quite often talked about how she wanted to help people, and as proof she treated the poor and evenwas going to open the infirmary.
Martha attended the Catholic Church regularly and used to convince others that she would never marry. Because you have to keep your innocence. But later it turned out that the piety of the girl is nothing but hypocrisy. Of course, she was not a villain, but she was quite far from holiness. In general, the play by Tirso de Molina is about ostentatious piety.
