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Τρίτη 9 Ιανουαρίου 2018
Bodily Suffering.Abbot Tryphon
Bodily Suffering
The role of bodily suffering in the salvation of human
kind
Elder Ambrose of Optina Monastery said, “We should not
forget that in our age of ‘sophistication’ even little children are spiritually
harmed by what they see and hear. As a result, purification is required, and
this is only accomplished through bodily suffering….You must understand that
Paradisal bliss is granted to no one without suffering.”
A person has salvation not only by his good deeds, but
also by his patient suffering of various griefs, illnesses, misfortunes, and
failures (Luke 16:19-31, Mark 8:31-38, Romans 6:3-11, Hebrews 12:1-3, and
Galatians 6:14). Jesus Christ gives us the power which is needed for
transformation, and prepares us to live with a strength under the most
difficult conditions, preparing us for the peace that is eternal.
Heaven and Hell are a condition of relationship with
God that is either theosis or perdition. The lake of fire and heaven occur
within the same realm, both being not about places, but about relationship. For
one who hates God such a place as in the presence of God, will be eternal
suffering. The Orthodox Church teaches that Heaven and Hell are in the same
realm, and that Hell is not separation from God symbolically or physically,
Hell is a place chosen.
Without suffering, we can not join ourselves to the
cross, and when we do take up our cross in suffering, it is with our
Co-Suffering Saviour. Sickness and suffering are not given to us by a wrathful
and punitive God because we have sinned, but rather allowed by this loving God
who co-suffers with us. It is Western juridical misconceptions concerning sin
which has tended to distort a proper recognition of suffering and its
connection to sin.
With
love in Christ,
Abbot
Tryphon
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