guiltywisdom - Tumblr blog

[guiltywisdom]

i'm curious what your bio means by Anti-Abortion/Prochoice? Do you mean it's a topic you talk about a lot or are you one side or the other, or more so in the middle?

This comes up a lot but it means I'm both! I'm against abortion in that I don't think they should ever be performed (that a foetus is a life) but I also believe in free choice and the fact that sometimes abortions must be performed as a means of healthcare. I don't really talk about this topic unless people bring it up in asks but I have it in my description as a signal to tell people that it's possible to believe this way. I've answered this question multiple times so I recommend searching through my blog for further explanations under the abortion tag, although I will mention my beliefs have matured over time and some have changed.

[guiltywisdom]

Christ on the Cross Between the Two Thieves by Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640)

[guiltywisdom]

The Lord became Man in the flesh and took upon Himself all human cares, suffering, and pain.

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

[guiltywisdom]

Maybe you aren’t the one to ask, and I’m sorry if this is an unfair question. But I’ve seen the wisdom and gentleness with which you’ve handled others, so here’s my question:

What is the Orthodox view regarding suffering and Divine Providence? I’m not Orthodox but I’m certainly interested in Orthodoxy and this seems to be stumping me. From what I can find, it seems the most common framing is to view suffering as akin to a bitter medicine prescribed to us to free us from worldly attachments and sin.

I have problems accepting this as I understand it and wonder if there’s something I’m missing. For one, this somewhat flies in the face of my experience with suffering, from which Christ delivered me. I confess Christ is the One who rescued me from the darkest pits of my depression, and I felt the healing touch of God relieving me of my heavy heart when I was under the worst stress I’ve ever endured. It’s because of these experiences that I’ve been taking my faith much more seriously, which has led me to my inquiring into Orthodoxy.

As much as I wrestle with it in my mind, I might be able to accept that my own suffering was some kind of “bitter medicine” to bring me to Him. But I don’t love that and it doesn’t make the most sense out of my experience. Beyond that, what really bothers me is applying that thinking to others. I have a very privileged lot in life and have suffered little compared to others, so it wouldn’t seem right for me to witness to others that their suffering is somehow allowed by God for their benefit. I don’t know how to reach those who are hurting more than I can imagine, and yet I know God is calling me to help others (what else are my blessings for?).

Please help me make sense of this. It seems natural for us to want to relieve suffering for those we love, but imagining suffering as “bitter medicine” makes it out to be something good that we shouldn’t spare our neighbors. Like we should just tell them to “suck it up” or something? Surely I am missing something!

Any light you can cast on this for me would be much appreciated. Thank you.

I think you have some of it understood. The fact we suffer, the fact we suffer at all, can be a bitter medicine for our benefit but the Lord doesn't want us to suffer and the Lord is the source of our healing! I suffer from chronic pain but a small miracle I have experienced is temporary relief from that pain by reciting the Jesus Prayer repeatedly. The world is as it is because it is fallen, the world is not as God originally intended, so we must suffer and sometimes that suffering can be a lesson but God gave Christ to us and reunited our natures. We are called to be Christ-like and just like Christ we are called to alleviate suffering as best we can until He returns to us once more. When we see suffering we don't tell people to "suck it up" we try our best to help them and when help is impossible for whatever reason, we say that Christ is suffering with them right now because our God is no stranger to pain.

[guiltywisdom]

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane by Gerard van Honthorst (1592 - 1656)

[guiltywisdom]

“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.”

— Henry Louis Mencken

[guiltywisdom]

'The Descent to Hell' by Mikhail Nesterov (1897)

[guiltywisdom]

Please pray for my friend Amara. When her father found out she was pregnant, he was so outraged by her teenage pregnancy that he beat her until she miscarried. My family and I have taken her in as the police investigate and press charges, but she's devastated. I know there's a lot of discourse online about teen pregnancies but 1, she was assaulted, she didn't get pregnant on purpose and 2, she didn't get any choice in keeping her baby. Her dad just decided for her that she didn't, in his words, "have any chance of being a good mother" and it's a violation that has truly devastated her. I'm trying so hard to be there for her, but I know I'm not doing enough. I don't know how to make this better for her when it's such a vile, evil thing he's done to her.

Firstly I wouldn't judge no matter the situation but my dear sibling in Christ you are helping right now; just be there for your friend and let her know that you love her no matter what. Practice gentle and patient love because that's what she needs right now; your love and support. Somethings cannot be "fixed", instead they must be accepted and endured. I will pray to the Theotokos for both of you.

[guiltywisdom]

"Nature Morte.", Joseph Brodsky (tr George L. Kline)

[guiltywisdom]

2nd Sunday of Great Lent: St Gregory Palamas

Commemorated on March 31

O luminary of Orthodoxy, support and teacher of the Church, ideal of monks and invincible champion of theologians, O wonderworker Gregory, boast of Thessalonika and herald of grace, always intercede for all of us that our souls may be saved.

This Sunday was originally dedicated to Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (February 23). After his glorification in 1368, a second commemoration of Saint Gregory Palamas (November 14) was appointed for the Second Sunday of Great Lent as a second “Triumph of Orthodoxy.”

Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, was born in the year 1296 in Constantinople. Saint Gregory’s father became a prominent dignitiary at the court of Andronicus II Paleologos (1282-1328), but he soon died, and Andronicus himself took part in the raising and education of the fatherless boy. Endowed with fine abilities and great diligence, Gregory mastered all the subjects which then comprised the full course of medieval higher education. The emperor hoped that the youth would devote himself to government work. But Gregory, barely twenty years old, withdrew to Mount Athos in the year 1316 (other sources say 1318) and became a novice in the Vatopedi monastery under the guidance of the monastic Elder Saint Νikόdēmos of Vatopedi (July 11). There he was tonsured and began on the path of asceticism. A year later, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian appeared to him in a vision and promised him his spiritual protection. Gregory’s mother and sisters also became monastics.

After the demise of the Elder Νikόdēmos, Saint Gregory spent eight years of spiritual struggle under the guidance of the Elder Nikēphóros, and after the latter’s death, Gregory transferred to the Lavra of Saint Athanasius (July 5). Here he served in the trapeza, and then became a church singer. But after three years, he resettled in the small skete of Glossia, striving for a greater degree of spiritual perfection. The head of this monastery began to teach the young man the method of unceasing prayer and mental activity, which had been cultivated by monastics, beginning with the great desert ascetics of the fourth century: Evagrius Pontikos and Saint Macarius of Egypt (January 19).

Later on, in the eleventh century Saint Simeon the New Theologian (March 12) provided detailed instruction in mental activity for those praying in an outward manner, and the ascetics of Athos put it into practice. The experienced use of mental prayer (or prayer of the heart), requiring solitude and quiet, is called “Hesychasm” (from the Greek “hesychia” meaning calm, silence), and those practicing it were called “hesychasts.”

During his stay at Glossia the future hierarch Gregory became fully embued with the spirit of hesychasm and adopted it as an essential part of his life. In the year 1326, because of the threat of Turkish invasions, he and the brethren retreated to Thessalonica, where he was then ordained to the holy priesthood.

Saint Gregory combined his priestly duties with the life of a hermit. Five days of the week he spent in silence and prayer, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he come out to his people. He celebrated divine services and preached sermons. For those present in church, his teaching often evoked both tenderness and tears. Sometimes he visited theological gatherings of the city’s educated youth, headed by the future patriarch, Isidore. After he returned from a visit to Constantinople, he found a place suitable for solitary life near Thessalonica the region of Bereia. Soon he gathered here a small community of solitary monks and guided it for five years.

In 1331 the saint withdrew to Mt. Athos and lived in solitude at the skete of Saint Savva, near the Lavra of Saint Athanasius. In 1333 he was appointed Igumen of the Esphigmenou monastery in the northern part of the Holy Mountain. In 1336 the saint returned to the skete of Saint Savva, where he devoted himself to theological works, continuing with this until the end of his life.

In the 1330s events took place in the life of the Eastern Church which put Saint Gregory among the most significant universal apologists of Orthodoxy, and brought him great renown as a teacher of hesychasm.

About the year 1330 the learned monk Barlaam had arrived in Constantinople from Calabria, in Italy. He was the author of treatises on logic and astronomy, a skilled and sharp-witted orator, and he received a university chair in the capital city and began to expound on the works of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite (October 3), whose “apophatic” (“negative”, in contrast to “kataphatic” or “positive”) theology was acclaimed in equal measure in both the Eastern and the Western Churches. Soon Barlaam journeyed to Mt. Athos, where he became acquainted with the spiritual life of the hesychasts. Saying that it was impossible to know the essence of God, he declared mental prayer a heretical error. Journeying from Mount Athos to Thessalonica, and from there to Constantinople, and later again to Thessalonica, Barlaam entered into disputes with the monks and attempted to demonstrate the created, material nature of the light of Tabor (i.e. at the Transfiguration). He ridiculed the teachings of the monks about the methods of prayer and about the uncreated light seen by the hesychasts.

Saint Gregory, at the request of the Athonite monks, replied with verbal admonitions at first. But seeing the futility of such efforts, he put his theological arguments in writing. Thus appeared the “Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts” (1338). Towards the year 1340 the Athonite ascetics, with the assistance of the saint, compiled a general response to the attacks of Barlaam, the so-called “Hagiorite Tome.” At the Constantinople Council of 1341 in the church of Hagia Sophia Saint Gregory Palamas debated with Barlaam, focusing upon the nature of the light of Mount Tabor. On May 27, 1341 the Council accepted the position of Saint Gregory Palamas, that God, unapproachable in His Essence, reveals Himself through His energies, which are directed towards the world and are able to be perceived, like the light of Tabor, but which are neither material nor created. The teachings of Barlaam were condemned as heresy, and he himself was anathemized and fled to Calabria.

But the dispute between the Palamites and the Barlaamites was far from over. To these latter belonged Barlaam’s disciple, the Bulgarian monk Akyndinos, and also Patriarch John XIV Kalekos (1341-1347); the emperor Andronicus III Paleologos (1328-1341) was also inclined toward their opinion. Akyndinos, whose name means “one who inflicts no harm,” actually caused great harm by his heretical teaching. Akyndinos wrote a series of tracts in which he declared Saint Gregory and the Athonite monks guilty of causing church disorders. The saint, in turn, wrote a detailed refutation of Akyndinos’ errors. The patriarch supported Akyndinos and called Saint Gregory the cause of all disorders and disturbances in the Church (1344) and had him locked up in prison for four years. In 1347, when John the XIV was replaced on the patriarchal throne by Isidore (1347-1349), Saint Gregory Palamas was set free and was made Archbishop of Thessalonica.

In 1351 the Council of Blachernae solemnly upheld the Orthodoxy of his teachings. But the people of Thessalonica did not immediately accept Saint Gregory, and he was compelled to live in various places. On one of his travels to Constantinople the Byzantine ship fell into the hands of the Turks. Even in captivity, Saint Gregory preached to Christian prisoners and even to his Moslem captors. The Hagarenes were astonished by the wisdom of his words. Some of the Moslems were unable to endure this, so they beat him and would have killed him if they had not expected to obtain a large ransom for him. A year later, Saint Gregory was ransomed and returned to Thessalonica.

Saint Gregory performed many miracles in the three years before his death, healing those afflicted with illness. On the eve of his repose, Saint John Chrysostom appeared to him in a vision. With the words “To the heights! To the heights!” Saint Gregory Palamas fell asleep in the Lord on November 14, 1359. In 1368 he was canonized at a Constantinople Council under Patriarch Philotheus (1354-1355, 1364-1376), who compiled the Life and Services to the saint.

[Text from OCA]

Now is the time for action! Judgment is at the doors! So let us rise and fast, offering alms with tears of compunction and crying: “Our sins are more numerous than the sands of the sea; but forgive us, O Master of All, so that we may receive the incorruptible crowns.”

Holy and divine instrument of wisdom, radiant and harmonious trumpet of theology, we praise you in song, O divinely-speaking Gregory. As a mind standing before the Primal Mind, guide our minds to Him, Father, so that we may cry aloud to you: “Rejoice, herald of grace.”

[guiltywisdom]

Holy Mary, today we remember your son who was executed by an occupying empire, but we also remember you, and we bear witness to the grief of all the mothers in Gaza whose children have been murdered by empire.

Holy Mary, protect the women of Palestine. Protect the mothers whose children are starving. Protect the women who are being raped by occupation forces. Protect the women whose whole families have all been martyred.

Holy Mary, let us have the courage to fight our oppressors, give us the strength to resist empire.

Holy Mary, bring us justice, bring us freedom, bring an end to genocide and occupation.

[guiltywisdom]

We went grave sweeping today and now I'm back editing our family tree after a long hiatus but it's so annoying that I can trace one line back to the 1500s but another one ends in the 1870s.

[guiltywisdom]

1st Sunday of Great Lent: Sunday of Orthodoxy

Commemorated on March 24

We venerate Your most pure image, O Good One, and ask forgiveness of our transgressions, O Christ God. Of Your own will You were pleased to ascend the Cross in the flesh to deliver Your creatures from bondage to the enemy. Therefore with thanksgiving we cry aloud to You: You have filled all with joy, O our Savior, by coming to save the world.

The first Sunday of Great Lent is called the Sunday of Orthodoxy because it commemorates the restoration of the Holy Icons and the triumph of the Orthodox Faith against the terrible heresy of the Iconoclasts, i.e. those heretics who refused to honor the Holy Icons. For more than a hundred years the Church was disturbed by the evil doctrine of iconoclasm.

The first Emperor to persecute the Church was Leo the Isaurian, and the last was Theophilos, the spouse of Saint Theodora (February 11), who reigned after her husband's death and re-established Orthodoxy in the time of Patriarch Methodios (June 14). Empress Theodora proclaimed publicly that we do not kiss the Icons as a sign of worship, nor do we honor them as "gods," but as images of their prototypes.

In the year 843, on the first Sunday of the Fast, Saint Theodora and her son, Emperor Michael, venerated the Holy Icons together with the clergy and the people. Since that time this event has been commemorated every year, because it was definitively determined that we do not worship the Icons, but we honor and glorify all the Saints who are depicted on them. We worship only the Triune God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and no one else, neither a Saint, nor an Angel.

Originally, the Holy Prophets Moses, Aaron, and Samuel were commemorated on this Sunday. The Alleluia verses appointed for today’s Liturgy reflect this older usage.

[Text from OCA]

No one could describe the Word of the Father; but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described, and restored the fallen image to its former state by uniting it to divine beauty. We confess and proclaim our salvation in word and images.

[guiltywisdom]

Anger moves you foward, love sustains you.

Truly, I believe that the fight for justice in this world is only achievable through love. Anger, fear, righteousness, and hatred is like gasoline to a fire. It might make the flame grow high temporarily, but it doesn't sustain it.

[guiltywisdom]

As a nurse in the US, where the anon and his wife are from (Southern Baptists are almost all in the US): the surgery needed to create a vaginal canal in someone with vaginal agenesis is about 100k to 200k, depending on your insurance. Additional costs include antibiotics, post-surgery examinations, physical therapy, possibly blood if you hemorrhage, bloodwork post-op, and recovery time is usually 2 to 3 months. Most insurance does not cover it and considers it an elective surgery, not a necessary one. My guess is the couple in question don't have that much money to spend on it.

Yeah this was my assumption too and thank you for your input! I am very glad to hear from a nurse on this matter. I have had many friends who live in the US who cannot get surgeries performed because of their insurance etc. sometimes it really isn't that simple even though it should be.

[guiltywisdom]

I'm able-bodied, so I guess I just don't understand, but why wouldn't anon's wife want to have the surgery that can give her the body part she's missing? If God in all His wisdom gave us the knowledge needed to do such a thing, then He must approve. And since psychologically, being disabled can hurt someone so much, wouldn't it be better to get the surgery and get the disability removed? I'm not saying "oh surgeries should be mandatory" or saying I know better than any disabled person. I just don't understand why someone wouldn't take that option if it could bring them some internal peace. Everyone deserves to be happy.

Oh no I think you misunderstood. You see the way anon was talking I assumed that they'd already explored that option and for whatever reason decided it wasn't a viable one, at least at this time. Of course we should all have access to medical care and use it to try and ease the suffering of this world but it's only that sometimes there is no cure or you can't afford the cure or the "cure" isn't worth the results.

‭‭Sirach 38:6-7 says, "And [the Lord] gave skill to human beings that he might be glorified in his marvelous works. By them the physician heals and takes away pain..." Sirach 38:12-15 then continues to say, "...give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him. There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life. He who sins against his Maker, will be defiant toward the physician."

[guiltywisdom]

I have a question and I know this is going to sound stupid, but this is something that's always bothered me. Why does God make people like that man's wife who lack a body part? The world appears to have been very cruel to her, and she could have been spared that pain. I don't understand why He would create someone whose life is going to involve so much hardship. I have nothing but love and support for her as a person, I just also have nothing but confusion about why that kind of birth defect happened.

This is how I think about it but it isn't the only answer, cannot be the only answer, and I suggest you seek out other explanations but for me a simple answer is, this world is fallen. Birth defects and other infirmities we are subject to because of our separation from Him; this isn't however to be understood as a punishment, God is not punishing anyone. It is just a simple fact that we are separated from God as a whole and that because of this bad things do happen.

In ‭‭John 9:1-3 it says, "As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him."

Sometimes also it is God's plan to give us crosses to bear in order for those things to impact our lives and the lives of those around us, our overall impact on the world. God himself suffered for us, our God is not unaccustomed to suffering for future good. I'm disabled and I often wish I wasn't disabled but I know how different my life would be if I were not, honestly I'm not sure I would be so loving and so compassionate and therefore I may not be able to help people as I do here. One way to think about disabilities is to think of them as lessons; lessons for both the person dealing with it and also for everyone around them.

For Christ Jesus said ‭in Matthew 25:45, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."