My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth; and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
Proverbs 3:11-12, Hebrews 12:6
The recent disaster in Greece, in which fiery conflagrations in so many parts of the country have devoured lives, livings, and land, naturally causes great sorrow to us who hold the country so dear, and who are concerned about our relatives and countrymen. As Orthodox Christians, however, it is essential for us to see the spiritual meaning in these terrible events, for nothing happens outside of God's providence, and He desires to use all circumstances, even (or, rather, especially) the worst ones, to draw us closer to Himself. By learning the spiritual meaning of the sufferings of others, we both infuse our prayers and efforts for them with deeper meaning as well as prepare ourselves spiritually for the times when similar things may happen to us.
As the Scripture quoted above says, the Lord chastens and scourges His children, precisely because they are His children, and He wants to train them to be such. He is eternal, heavenly, and unchanging, and He trains us to become eternal, heavenly, and unchanging citizens of His eternal Kingdom. When we forget our true purpose and idolize the goods of this world, He does not abandon us, but allows these temporary goods to be taken away, so that we will come to our senses and remember our true purpose.
Furthermore, we need to be cleansed of the effects of our sins through suffering. The Orthodox Church does not teach the existence of Purgatory, a place in which sufferings after death cleanse the soul of the effects of sins for which adequate penance has not been performed on earth. Rather, the Church teaches that the effects of a sin for which an adequate kanona (epitimion, "penance") has not been performed, are purged from the soul through our sufferings in this life.
There are cases, of course, in which truly holy people suffer, and it is hard to see the sins from which they must be cleansed, but in these cases, the Lord is using their sufferings to exalt them to even greater heights of holiness. In addition, by their sufferings, they make up for the lack of repentance in others; they uphold the sinful world by their prayer and their faith in the midst of sorrow, and, for their sake, God allows the world to go on, as sinful as it is. In the Kingdom of Heaven, their state of happiness will be even higher and greater because of the greater sufferings they endured on earth.
We too, if we knew what joy awaits those who suffer for the sake of Christ, would willingly endure everything with gratitude, if only we could be saved. We must beg with tears for the Lord to take away our blindness and hardness of heart, so that with tender love and faith, we can cry out to the Lord with thanksgiving in the midst of sufferings, and say with Job: "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Furthermore, we need to be cleansed of the effects of our sins through suffering. The Orthodox Church does not teach the existence of Purgatory, a place in which sufferings after death cleanse the soul of the effects of sins for which adequate penance has not been performed on earth. Rather, the Church teaches that the effects of a sin for which an adequate kanona (epitimion, "penance") has not been performed, are purged from the soul through our sufferings in this life.
There are cases, of course, in which truly holy people suffer, and it is hard to see the sins from which they must be cleansed, but in these cases, the Lord is using their sufferings to exalt them to even greater heights of holiness. In addition, by their sufferings, they make up for the lack of repentance in others; they uphold the sinful world by their prayer and their faith in the midst of sorrow, and, for their sake, God allows the world to go on, as sinful as it is. In the Kingdom of Heaven, their state of happiness will be even higher and greater because of the greater sufferings they endured on earth.
We too, if we knew what joy awaits those who suffer for the sake of Christ, would willingly endure everything with gratitude, if only we could be saved. We must beg with tears for the Lord to take away our blindness and hardness of heart, so that with tender love and faith, we can cry out to the Lord with thanksgiving in the midst of sufferings, and say with Job: "The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."
To Rejoice in the Midst of Sorrows
When Jesus Christ was leaving this earthly life, He bequeathed to His beloved disciples sorrows and tears as if they were a most precious gift: Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice (John 16:20). He did this not to doom His beloved ones to inconsolable suffering, but to draw even more radiantly on that dark background of suffering a picture of the immeasurable bliss waiting for them. Your sorrow shall be turned into joy(John 16:20), He said to them, your joy no man taketh from you (John 16:22). Only Christ can give such eternal happiness, a happiness which cannot be taken away. In His sermon, He pronounced blessed those whom this sinful world considers to be the most wretched: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the weeping, blessed are the meek, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the persecuted for righteousness' sake, etc. To all those the Savior said: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad (Matthew 5:12).
How strange! To rejoice when one is unhappy, poor, helpless, persecuted, insulted, despised, hated, slandered! Before Christ, the world did not know how to rejoice over such calamities, but now everything is reversed through the power of the God-Man. All things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28). For the believer, sorrow has lost its poisonous sting. Quiet hope has taken the place of the bitter despair of suffering, and suffering is not unbearably heavy any more, because it gives birth to sweet fruit.
- from The Meaning of Suffering by Archimandrite Seraphim
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