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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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File: 8c88c8b8228bdee⋯.jpg (123.6 KB, 960x720, 4:3, lament.jpg)

7f883d No.564311

The main disease of the 21st century is sadness. Never has joy, happiness and optimism been so much discussed, but in reality, it's getting more and more absent among the people. In theory, our philosophy is existentialism and victory – in practice, it's nihilism and despair.

The big question is – how do we get from morning to dark without suffering, without sadness and depression?

Christianity, as always, has the answer. In patristic writings there are different types of sorrow described, and I'll try and, to the best of my ability, just copy what the Fathers said.

By the words of St. John of the Ladder, and i'm paraphrasing: "If i would wish to speak against this sin, it would mean i wish to speak against my self."

But I think these words can be very useful to some that are vulnerable to episodes melancholy and depression.

First, we must say that sadness, just as anger and joy, is a natural faculty of man. Misused, it becomes sin – the devil has no power, other than to misguide man and lead him into illusion. The devil can't create anything, but he can misdirect us. Anger, directed at our brother, grows into murder. Directed at demons, it aids us in battle and is what many refer to as "righteous anger".

With this in mind, sorrow has it's good use and negative use. Negatively used, sorrow can become a passion, just like lust, greed and gluttony. We are doomed to face sorrow at some time in our lives – loss of loved one, injustice, prosecution, disease, etc., but if we hold on to sorrow and self pity and somehow, morbidly taking refuge in our little safe sad space in which we are cut off from God and the world – we are comitting a terrible sin. In this case, sadness becomes our master which demands more and more sacrifice. In the end, we bring ourselves to the sacrifice and take away our own lives. This type of sadness can also be caused by unsatisfied passions. The lustful man is sad because he has no women. The greedy man is sad because his house was robbed. St. Seraphim of Sarov wisely said: "He who has defeated the passions has no cause for sorrow."

The other use sorrow has, and this one is positive, is repentance. In the writings of the Holy Fathers, every page, every sentence hold within the spirit of repentance. And repentance isn't only thought of as an movement of the will, or an belief that something is bad and should not be done; it includes those things as well, but true repentance is recognized by tears. These tears move the man towards perfection and towards the Heavenly Kingdom; they are a result of seeing one's own sin. These sacred tears do not only humble man and drive him to right his wrongs, but also, serve as a shield against the enemy. Church begs God for this gift of seeing one's own sin!

A small digression here – some may say that it's not good to incite such feelings in our soul; because man may become discouraged after seeing his soul in such a wretched state. Not so! The Holy Fathers, even though they have wept tears constantly still give off an aura of joy and refuge in the Lord that is otherwordly and very rare in this age. In the words of John of the Ladder: "He who cries in view of his self, does not know of laziness nor despair."

3c6814 No.564317

>>564311

Excellent thesis. As someone who used to suffer from depression until I found God and he directed me to radically improve my diet, mind and body to conform to him. We must use the will to overcome all evil passions including the passions of self pity and despair for they are selfish and proud for they forsake God's gift and think they deserve more.

Bishop Sheen has a great video called how to psychoanalyse yourself which focuses on using the will to control the unconscious passions rather than the other way round


7f883d No.564324

There is another type of sinful sorrow, but which is also a result of seeing one's own soul in it's true sinful form. This is the sorrow of Judas; not Peter. Both have wronged against the Lord – Peter has renounced him, Judas has sold him. But Peter was forgiven, because he had repented, Judas did not. Judas, not believing in the mercy of God, his love and goodness, trusted that he was too much sinful to be saved. We cannot judge him, for many of us are a victim of such thoughts – but we have to say that it is very much a sin! We must remember that God loves us more than the devil hates us, in the words of Origen. We cannot fathom how much God loves us. No matter how much we stray, like the prodigal son, he will always knock on the door and wait. But the demons, being trained and experienced in combat with the human soul, use a cunning tactic; before we commit sin, they suggest that God is loving and forgiving. After we commit sin, they suggest he is righteous and just, and we will not be pardoned for our sin.

There is a sorrow which is present in every human being. To understand it, we need to take a look back at Adam's state in Eden.

Father Siluan, Adam's Lament

"Adam, our forefather, knew the pleasure of God's love in Eden. His soul was torn apart by the thought "I've betrayed God, whom I love so much." Adam wasn't that hurt by not being in Heaven, surrounded by beauty, but he was more hurt by losing God's love. In this case, every soul feels pain and immense sadness.

(…)

"..I have much wept over betraying God, over my sin and ultimately losing peace and love which inhabited the Earth. Tears have run down my face and watered the earth. The desert has heard my cries. You cannot understand my sadness, nor my lamentations. I used to be careless and happy in Heaven. The Holy Spirit embraced me and i did not know of suffering. But when i was exiled, the cold began to bother me. The beasts which used to be harmless and which were obedient to me, began to fear me. Evil thoughts corrupted my mind. The sun and the wind kept torturing me."

There we see the pain which the Godless soul keeps inside. Every man has experienced this, and many now experience it. Thank the Lord, for he has brought us a Redeemer to appease for our sin. Christ, with his sacrifice on the Cross, opened up the path to God again, he has defeated Satan, he has righted Adam's wrong. Some even suggest that he would come to the world even if Adam did not sin.

Still, there is one more problem – even with Christ as a sacrifice and the path to Heaven opened up again. Our own personal sin. If God looked at our sins, we surely wouldn't be worthy of union with Him. We surely would not be worthy of salvation. But God, in his wisdom, has established the ritual of Confession. Confession is the way we wash ourselves of sin and reach forgiveness. If there was no Confession, there would be no forgiveness, therefore, no one would be saved.

Woe to us, because we rarely confess, and when we do, we do it without any feeling of repentance! And what would our forefather Adam give back then for the absolvement of his sins? We can only trust in the Mercy of God, for if he looked upon the entirety of our sins, we would surely be damned.

(I didn't think this through, should have written it all in notepad and then pasted it but oh well)


7f883d No.564329

>>564317

Thanks, i'll probably check it out later.


886a2a No.564361

YouTube embed. Click thumbnail to play.

>>564317

ha ha time for sheenposting


9b808f No.564527

>>564361

It's always time for sheen posting




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