My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY: SUFFERING ACTS
AS A SPIRITUAL CRUCIBLE.and P
"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by
whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make
the captain of their salvation PERFECT THROUGH
SUFFERINGS" (Hebrews 2:10).
"To make… perfect through sufferings" does not suggest there was imperfection in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ before the Cross. Rather, He VOLUNTARILY TOOK ON HUMAN NATURE ("all of one" nature, v. 11), which can BE SAVED and PERFECTED only BY THE SUFFERING OF DEATH. Christ is the only pioneering "captain" of the narrow path to God in His suffering for sin, death, descent into hell, Resurrection and Ascension. IN SALVATION WE TAKE ON CHRIST’S WAY OF SUFFERING. OUR PERFECTION REQUIRES A GROWTH THAT IS MANIFESTED IN SUFFERING.
The Holy Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans writes, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (8:18). The present Christian life is grace mingled with hardship: "we suffer with Him." As Christians, we have God’s glory "in us" and we experience "the firstfruits" (v. 23), though His glory is not yet fully "revealed" (Colossians 3:3, 4). Saint Paul says, "But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings" (Hebrews 10:32). "Illuminated": illumination, or enlightenment refers to baptism.
Suffering, disease, and death entered human existence as a natural consequence of humanity’s separation from God and the corruption of FREE WILL, not as a malicious test sent by our Almighty God and Creator. God is NOT the author of evil or pain; instead, He permists human freedom and the vulnerability of a physical mutable creation while refusing to abandon mankind. Through the Incarnation, our Lord God and Savior did not offer a sterile philosophical explanation for pain; He entered into human suffering directly, wept, and bore the Cross. Believers "take up their cross: by uniting their personal trials ans struggles to Christ’s passion through prayer and the Mysteries (Sacraments).
It is true that suffering acts as a crucible that strips away human pride, self-reliance, vanity, and passions. Afflictions help break inner hardness and turn the soul toward our All-Merciful God. Suffering unites the Christians to our Lord Christ’s suffering on the Cross. "Since therefore Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of time in the flesh no longer by human passions, but by the will of God" (1 Peter 4:1-2). And Saint Paul states, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is the church…" (Colossians 1:24).
Saint John Chrysostom taught that suffering is not meaningless, but a divine training ground that refines the soul, builds endurance, and draws believers closer to God. He viewed trials as an essential part of the Christian journey, describing suffering as a training ground where patience and character are forged. In his writings (such as his letters to Saint Olympias), he stated that patiently enduring pain, illness, or loss is a crown higher than material wealth, wordly honors, or even physical labor.
Saint Maximus the Confessor states that God created human senses not for mindless pleasure or pain, but with a natural noetic capacity–an innate spiritual longing of the intellect to enjoy and unite with God. Out of Providential care, God implanted pain and the law of death into human nature as a "chastising force" to check this runaway, manic obsession with earthly things and prevent humanity from being locked in an endless cycle of self-destruction. He viewed physical and mental distress not as senseless cruelty, but AS A SPIRITUAL MEDICINE. Patiently enduring suffering helps cut away bodily and spiritual passions, purifying the heart and freeing the will from the twin traps of pleasure and pain. The Holy Father of the Church also noted that a person who truly wishes to be healed must not refuse the difficult trials and misfortunes of life, because avoiding them means missing what they accomplish for the soul. He emphasized that our Savior Christ broke the destructive pleasure-pain cycle by freely embracing unmerited suffering, transforming pain into an act of self-sacrifice and love that heals broken human nature and restores divine joy to the intellect.
All those experiencing pain, illness, persecution and suffering must stand firm in their faith in our Lord God Jesus Christ "For in that He Himself suffered" (Hebrews 2:18). The HolyApostle James writes: "My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke n the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord–that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:10-11). The faithful prophets, true Saints of God, are models or examples for us in how to practice "suffering and patience." Consequently Christians, from the New Testament era even till today have honored or venerated the holy practice–indeed, al the Sains–counting them "blessed."
ORTHODOX PRAYER FOR THE SICK
+In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
O Lord our God, Who by word alone did heal all diseases, Who
did cure the kinswoman of Peter, You Who chastise with pity
and able to put aside every malice and infirmity, do You
Yourself, the same Lord, grant aid to this Your servant (Name)
and cure him (her) of every sickness of which he (she_ is grieved;
lift him (her) up from his (her) bed of pain, and send down upon
him (her) Your great mercy, and if it be Your will, give him (her)
health and a complete recovery; for You are the Physician of our
souls and bodies, and to You do we send up Glory: to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and
to the ages of ages. Amen,
_________________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
