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7 PRINCES OF HELL
A 4th Century Christian Monk Evagrius of Pontus created a list of 8
"Offenses and Wicked Human Passions" they were
gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia,
vainglory, and pride. He saw the graduated
severity as representing increasing self
obsession, Pride, as in later lists was the most
severe of the sins.
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6th century
Pope - Gregory the Great reduced the list to
seven items combining vaniglory with pride and
acedia with sadness. Lust, gluttony, avarice
sadness, anger , envy and Pride were his
rankings with Pride again being the most severe.
In the seventeenth century, sadness was replaced
with sloth.
According to a 16th Century
German Jesuit priest and demonologist Peter
Binsfield , the 7 princes of Hell equate to the
7 deadly sins. Binsfield was also
involved in the inquisitionary witch hunts of
the era and wrote "The Confession of Warlocks
and Witches", which advocated torture as a means
of extracting confessions from suspected
Witches.
Lucifer - Pride - The sin from which all others
arise
Mammon - Greed and Avarice
Asmodeus - Lust
Satan - Anger and Wrath
Beelzebub - Gluttony
Leviathan - Envy
Belphegor - Vanity and Sloth
He also speculated that other demons invoke sins
as well , the incubi and succubi being the
offspring of Lilith invoke sexual arousal and
wanton lust. The succubi impregnate
themselves by copulating with human males in
order to bear more demons. The incubi seduce
women into sin and impregnate them with demon
spawn.
Anton LaVey and his Satanic Cult cite only four:
Satan
Lucifer
Leviathan
Belial
The
Picture Book of Devils, Demons and Witchcraft
1971 by Ernst and
Johanna Lehner, describes a differing punishment
in Hell associated with each sin, This book is
prized for its collection of "representations,
symbols, and manuscript pages of devils and
death .. "Fascinating graphics depict demons,
witches and warlocks, the Danse Macabre, Hell
and Damnation, the Art of Dying, more"
Pride -broken
on the wheel
Envy - put in freezing water
Anger - dismembered alive
Sloth -thrown in snake pits
Greed -put in cauldrons of boiling oil
Gluttony -forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes
Lust - smothered in fire and brimstone
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Sacred Origins of Profound Things
, by Charles Panati,
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