Q&A Home > S > Smoking

• In the Coptic Orthodox Church, why do our deacons smoke outside and take communion? Would the priest not be part of the blame because he knows certain people are smoking on that day?
• My husband had been smoking Shisha off and on for some time before I met him. At the beginning of getting to know him, I made it very clear how I don't like it and don't want to be involved with someone smoking shisha; not just because it is unhealthy but because, as a physician, I know of how it may become detrimental physically and emotionally for himself and others; including our future children. My words were based on the review of sixty four articles on the subject. He promised that he would stop after marriage; and he did. But he has been persistently wanting to do it again. He accuses me of always wanting to get my way and that he wants this one thing. Even after quoting to him the verse "our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" and how we should protect it; he argues otherwise insisting that he would still do it. As an aside, I've noticed (being one of the older youth in the Sunday School service), this issue is spreading among Coptic men; even Sunday school servants who feel it is not like smoking cigarettes; and therefore have no problem doing it. On top of that, it has led those and others to dabble in other things like cigarettes, alcohol, drugs etc.
• What characterizes smoking as a sin? Is it not the addiction, and the detrimental effects it has on the body (the temple of God). If so, is it NOT a sin to smoke a cigar since the person does not inhale it in the lungs and no addiction occurs after only one try of it a couple of months ago? My friend asked me this and I did not know how to answer, please help.