What meaning do religious tattoos carry? What does the bible say about tattoos.

If a believer wonders what the Bible says about tattoos, then there are not many places in the Holy Scriptures that allow you to find out. Today, the number of young believers is growing steadily.

Among the young flock who do not know the answer to this question, there may also be potential visitors to tattoo parlors.

How does the church feel about tattoos?

Every religion is of the opinion that the place of worship must be kept clean. In almost all religions, the severity and decoration of the sanctuary is emphasized by external cleanliness.

The shining, unsullied whiteness of an Orthodox church symbolizes not only external, but also meaningful purity.

The body is the temple of the soul. This statement is found in many religions and philosophies. Christianity is of the opinion that our bodies, neither externally nor internally, should not be desecrated by anything.

The Lord initially created us beautiful, and, therefore, to decorate ourselves with some ornaments, paintings and writings means to doubt His wisdom.

It may not be obvious to a certain contingent, but tattoos with religious motives cause a particularly negative reaction among the clergy. If we continue to draw an analogy between the body and the temple, then traditional Orthodox churches are decorated with icons indoors, and not outside.

The image of holy faces and domes on the mortal human body looks blasphemous and vicious. Such majestic decorations are made by people who are not at all religious, but on the contrary, primitive and superficial, trying to stand out and show off.

Such a painting will not protect from Satan and will not impart divine powers.

Is it a sin in Orthodoxy to get a tattoo?

Girls and women who tattoo their eyebrows and lips for decoration are actually sinning, acting contrary to the Holy Scriptures. After all, their actions are dictated by the desire to improve what was given to them by God.

While the Lord is supposed to be thanked and praised for our marvelous structure (Psalm, Psalm 138, verses 14, 15 and 16). God will definitely see through all these tricks, for He is omnipresent.

Getting a tattoo to impress others is as evil as adultery. By excessively decorating herself, a woman causes a sinful attraction in a decent Christian man; in fact, she is a temptress, a conductor of the will of Satan.

It is important for a believer to remember that modesty is a virtue at all times.

Tattoos and religion

Old Testament injunctions prohibit mutilation of the body and decorating it with writing. What is the basis for this ban?

To answer this question, you should take a historical excursion and get acquainted with the culture of the neighbors of the then Mosaic people.

Both for the Assyrian tribes east of Israel and for Egypt located in the west, tattoos were as traditional as the worship of pagan deities coupled with ritual sacrifices. God's chosen people represented a new nation, radically different from those around them and rejecting their value system.

Nowadays, almost nowhere has the tradition of killing for religious reasons been preserved. Such pagan rituals were preserved only among the aborigines of the Amazon.

And today, when condemning tattoos, it is no longer entirely logical to draw a parallel with the pagan natives who tattoo themselves, but subconsciously such a connection should be obvious to the believer.

Is it possible to go to church with a tattoo?

The church is of course not the place where God lives, since He is omnipresent. But at least this is the room in which a person’s meeting with the Lord takes place.

If you doubt whether you should get a tattoo, ask yourself whether you would be comfortable being in the presence of the Lord in such a “painted” form.

In not so distant times, thieves, exiles and tramps were distinguished by indelible signs in the form of initial letters corresponding to their crimes. Nowadays, young people voluntarily apply similar decorations to their bodies, for example, barcodes and Japanese characters. And prostitutes were branded with the image of a lily.

The image of this flower can often be found on the lower back or chest of an outwardly decent young girl who is unaware of the origins of the symbol.

We must always remember that fashions and hobbies are fleeting, and such mistakes made in youth are especially offensive.

If you do not take painful measures to remove the drawing, then they will accompany the person until his death.

What does the bible say about tattoos

Thus, the Old Testament, and more specifically the third book of Moses, contains an injunction containing a direct prohibition on deliberately changing the appearance of the skin: “... do not make cuts on your body and do not put writing on yourself” (Lev. 19: 28).

Our body is very holy to God because it houses both the spirit of God and our own spirit. The first letter of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Corinthians directly states how blasphemous the destruction and desecration of this receptacle is (New Testament, 1 Cor., chapter 3, verse 16, 17).

Everyone knows how the Bible treats suicide. Deliberately introducing dyes under the skin significantly increases the likelihood of cancer. The larger the area of skin occupied by the tattoo, the higher this probability.

But even the tiniest body image made with an unsterilized needle can lead to infection with HIV and hepatitis C, which are fatal. Anyone who is aware of such a risk is actually committing suicide. This act is considered the most serious sin. Even for murder you can repent and earn forgiveness, but a suicide simply does not have this opportunity.

Are tattoos just fashion or something much more serious? Can a Christian get a tattoo if he really wants to? Archpriest Alexander Avdyugin reflects.

Tattoos in the life of a Christian

Fans of tattoos, seeing my rejection of them, immediately counterattack: they say, look at your Okhlobystin, all painted.

The technique of justification is old, well-known and, sadly, often works. Remember how parents were attacked with a request, where the main argument for fulfilling it was “everyone has it, and I want it.”

Ivan Okhlobystin:

Everyone knows that I led a rather controversial life. My tattoos are related to travel and drinking.

...There was a naked lady here, when I got married, it became uncomfortable. This is laser cut... Oh, if God forbid, they burn me, then now I know what I smell like when I catch fire. The smoke in the room was knee-deep. Colored tattoos are also deep. Then I tattooed the text - “radiation”... But Oksanka and I got this tattoo for our wedding. She has exactly the same one. This is a unicorn, it is a symbol of purity. According to legend, only a virgin can pacify a unicorn. And these runes are in Ireland.

...When I said goodbye to the last motorcycle, I made this skull. I already have too many children to drive on two wheels. And this is one of the tattoos that bikers get that go away forever. This is one of the options - a skull with teeth grew into the ground, took root, and flowers grew from it. And I never got on a motorcycle again. They even offered it to me on the set.

But with tattoos the situation is different, here “I want” is only found in the negative, because any tattoo is an overt connection with paganism and the occult. Pagans made tattoos and cuts on the body either in honor of the dead, or in order to enter a trance during occult sessions. As soon as you want to summon the spirits, you get a tattoo, and to enter into unity with them, you get a tattoo. That is why the Lord warned in the Old Testament: “For the sake of the deceased, do not make cuts on your body and do not write on yourself. I am the Lord"(Leviticus 19:18). Also in Deuteronomy 14:1 “You are the sons of the Lord your God; “You shall not make any cuts on your flesh or cut off the hair above your eyes for the dead.”

So any tattoo, no matter how “harmless” it may be, is an abomination before God. It is with this impartial word that the Lord defines everything that relates to occult practices. Objections that a pinned flower or figurine are harmless in spiritual terms and are only made for beauty are absolutely incorrect.

The Lord created the human body perfect. Remember: “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). There is no need to throw down the gauntlet to God with a challenge: “I will do better.” It couldn't be more beautiful. Perfection cannot be improved upon. There have been quite a few similar attempts. The result is sad. Because of these rational proposals for “change and improvement,” our earthly age has become shorter by many years, we live on a polluted earth, and in moral terms we remain in a geometric progression of sin.

In addition to the fact that a tattoo is a pagan symbol, another objective reality is added: its application can seriously change your life, make such changes against your will in your own way of thinking and character that it will be very difficult to correct them.

Konstantin Kinchev:

The skull in the helmet is a warrior who is ready to die for Christ. I would like to survive in difficult times and be closer to this warrior whom I carry on my arm. The tattoos signify the difficult path “Alice” went through. This is the girl Alice and the temptations that she encountered on her way in this fairy-tale world.

Regarding the fact that internal changes should lead to external ones, I can say the following. When I read from Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh that the body is the visible part of the soul, I stopped getting tattoos. Although the temptations to inject myself with something else come upon me with colossal force.

I was once quite skeptical about the story of a priest I knew about a girl who had a beautiful image of a butterfly tattooed on her forearm. The life of a previously quite morally prosperous woman changed dramatically. She turned into an outright harlot. The butterfly has been a symbol of fornication since ancient times.

My skepticism was defeated by my own priestly experience. The young man came to confession and instead of repenting of his sins, he kept complaining that everything in his life had been going wrong lately. Only his enemies surround him and everyone wishes him harm. We began to figure out when these troubles began. They came to a mutual decision: from then on there were troubles and troubles, like the tattoo he made with satanic symbols.

And another typical example. Not long ago I talked with a man who had visited not so distant places three times and spent a total of eleven years there. The man lamented:

- So, father, I decided to really “give it up”, but how can anyone look at my hands, completely filled with prison signs, and turn away. No smart work, no trust...

Tattoos are a scary thing. We insult God, and we create problems for ourselves that did not exist before.

How is the presence of God in the human heart determined? By external modesty and internal modesty. A tattoo is an escape from modesty, since you are trying to distinguish yourself, and at the same time it is a killer of modesty, because it harms the soul.

And one more characteristic feature of such a fashionable tattoo today. Having decided to carry out such execution on your own body, you, in addition to the listed sins, are also engaged in self-mutilation. There are a colossal number of examples where tattooing becomes the cause of a wide variety of diseases, including AIDS. Visit a dermatologist and complain about a skin disease. The doctor's first question will be about the tattoo.

I go to church or down the street in a cassock - the girls shyly hide their cigarettes. The presenter on a TV show comes up to me with a question and pulls my short skirt lower. The confessor approaches the lectern and walks sideways so that I don’t see the tattoo on her opposite shoulder.

Why is this happening?

Because it's embarrassing.

So why do something that is shameful, harmful and humiliates you as the image and likeness of God?

Man, according to God's plan, is a two-part being. He has a spiritual immaterial substance - a soul and a material body. The body is also a joint heir of the soul in the Kingdom of God - in the new mountain city of Jerusalem (see Revelation of St. John the Theologian, Chapter 21).

After all, the present death, which separates the soul and body, is not the end. At the Last Judgment, when our Lord Jesus Christ, together with the angels and holy saints, will judge each of us, we will appear before God in the fullness of our nature, that is, not only spiritually - in soul, but also physically. The dead, for example, will be resurrected in such a way that their bodies and members will be collected, the soul will enter into them, and man in his full nature will appear before the Judgment of God (see Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, 37: 1-14). And also mentally and physically, after the final Last Judgment upon him, he will enter for all eternity either hell or heaven.

Therefore, the Church has always treated the body very carefully and reverently as a joint heir of the soul in the eternal future life of the eighth day. Hence such reverent attitude towards the bodies of the dead in the Orthodox rite of burial of the dead. That is why the Church has such a negative attitude towards cremation.

Unnatural body decorations are also undesirable: tattoos, piercings, nail polish, makeup and hair dyeing. After all, man is the image and likeness of God. The Lord initially created it as a beautiful self-sufficient microcosm - the entire Universe. Therefore, excessively “modifying” your body is, of course, a dubious practice. It is as if we do not trust God and are building our own tower of Babel in pride, trying to correct the Creator. Such behavior cannot lead to anything good.

This does not preclude caring for your body naturally and treating illnesses such as disabilities.

In addition, often a young guy or girl does not understand the true meaning of tattoos - their historical significance. In the ancient pagan world, where there was no printing technology, tattoos could also be something like a seal or passport. They carried information about a person: belonging to a certain tribe, clan, clan, social status.

There is another subtext here. A modern young man sometimes imagines that a tattoo is a kind of symbol of his personal freedom. But in the pagan world (where its origins come from) it is the exact opposite symbol. There, a tattoo is often a symbol of submission, a sign of belonging to someone or something. This, for example, still happens in closed subcultures such as army units or gangster formations.

Sometimes a person, when applying a tattoo, does not even think about what informational meaning this or that symbol carries. After all, a tattoo is not just a decoration; it often has a philosophical or religious background. And a person running from reality into a fictional dreamy world (where he often tries to “drag” his body, including with the help of tattoos), can, without realizing it, revive neo-paganism, and after it (to name things by their own names) idolatry and service to demons.

This is especially scary for an Orthodox Christian. Since the holy supreme apostle Paul said about us, Orthodox Christians: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this temple is you” (1 Cor. 3:16). That is, we are a living church, a temple. Each of us.

An Orthodox Christian has one belonging - to Christ. And the symbol of this has long been the cross on the neck. Such a person is blessed by God and protected by the holy angel. But for a tattooed person everything can be diametrically opposite. Those who have put openly pagan tattoos on their bodies, of course, should confess this sin, and the Lord will certainly forgive them and restore the lost spiritual-physical harmony.

Priest Andrey Chizhenko
Orthodox Life

Is it possible to get tattoos on the body?

Question:

In the Old Testament there is a place where it is said about the prohibition of applying images and inscriptions to the body (in the book of Leviticus). Can this passage be related to the current tattoo? That is, is it a sin? And are there other places in the Bible that talk about this?

Priest Afanasy Gumerov answers:

“For the sake of the deceased, do not make cuts on your body and do not write on yourself. I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:28). This prohibition is repeated twice more: Lev.21:5; Deut.14:1. In the above verse, it is indeed forbidden to apply images to the body by pricking or rubbing paint, as was common among pagan peoples. The attitude towards the body in the inspired Old Testament religion is fundamentally different from paganism. The wonderful connection of body, soul and spirit forms one person, created in the image of God.

Virtues bring benefit not only to the soul, but also to the body: “A gentle heart is life for the body, but envy is rottenness for the bones” (Proverbs 14:30). The human body testifies to the wisdom and omnipotence of the Creator. The Bible speaks about the damage of human nature by sin, but does not express a single disparaging word about the body, as a creation of God. Plato called the body “the prison of the soul,” and St. the apostle Paul speaks of “the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). Therefore, the Mosaic Law prohibited the adoption of pagan customs. Special mutilation of the body created by God is an insult to God. “For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20).

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Are tattoos just fashion or something much more serious? Can a Christian get a tattoo if he really wants to? Archpriest Alexander Avdyugin reflects.

Tattoos in the life of a Christian

Tattoo lovers, seeing my rejection of them, immediately counterattack: they say, look at yours, all painted.

The technique of justification is old, well-known and, sadly, often works. Remember yourself, how parents were attacked with a request, where the main argument for fulfilling it was - “everyone has it, and I want it.”

Ivan Okhlobystin:

Everyone knows that I led a rather controversial life. My tattoos are related to travel and drinking.

...There was a naked lady here, when I got married, it became uncomfortable. This is laser cut... Oh, if God forbid, they burn me, then now I know what I smell like when I catch fire. The smoke in the room was knee-deep. Colored tattoos are also deep. Then I tattooed the text - “radiation”... But Oksanka and I tattooed this tattoo for our wedding. She has exactly the same one. This is a unicorn, it is a symbol of purity. According to legend, only a virgin can pacify a unicorn. And these runes are in Ireland.

In addition to the fact that a tattoo is a symbol, another objective reality is added: its application can seriously change your life, make such changes in your own way of thinking and character against your will that it will be very difficult to correct them.

Konstantin Kinchev:

A skull in a helmet is a warrior who is ready to die for Christ. I would like to survive in difficult times and be closer to this warrior whom I carry on my arm. The tattoos signify the difficult path “Alice” went through. This is the girl Alice and the temptations that she encountered on her way in this fairy-tale world.

And another typical example. Not long ago I talked with a man who had visited not so distant places three times and spent a total of eleven years there. The man lamented:

So, father, I decided to really “give it up”, but how can anyone look at my hands, completely filled with prison signs, and turn away. No smart work, no trust...

Tattoos are a scary thing. We insult God, and we create problems for ourselves that did not exist before.

Why is this happening?

Because it's embarrassing.

So why do something that is shameful, harmful and humiliates you as the image and likeness of God?

The Bible on tattoos says: “For the sake of the dead, do not make any cuts on your body or write on yourself. I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:28). The interpretation of the saying is obvious at first glance: an Orthodox person should not get a tattoo. Why is such an act condemned in the Christian religion, and is it a sin?

What the Bible Says

Body paintings were a distinctive sign of pagans and barbarian tribes. Tattoos had a sacred meaning for them; they served as an amulet, totem and protective amulet against evil spirits. Almost not a single bloody ritual or sacrifice ceremony took place without a public drawing. What does the Bible say about this?

The Bible contains a description of the life of the followers of the pagan deity - the prophet Baal. They tried to enter a trance by piercing their bodies with spears and needles in order to contact Baal and ask him to become more powerful than God.

God bequeathed to the Jews a completely different system of values and wanted to bring the people to a completely different level of consciousness. The commandments of Moses were intended to separate Israel from the cruel pagan culture. God's law also prohibited occultism, idolatry, and self-mutilation. Communication with the dead, a state of trance, demonic possession and possession were considered an “abomination.”

Why is a tattoo a sin?

If you are wondering why a tattoo is a sin, turn to the Old Testament, one of the components of the Bible. Much has been written here about body designs, but people’s reading of the Holy Scriptures is not always interpreted correctly. Why is it considered unacceptable to get tattoos?

At the same time, tattoos can be applied as a testimony of faith. Thus, Coptic Christians living among Muslims put a cross tattoo on their arm (this is the so-called Coptic cross).
Thus, the Bible’s attitude towards tattoos cannot be called unambiguous. But if you are an Orthodox Christian, it is better for you to refrain from applying a permanent image to your body. Atheists are free to do as they please here.

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