Sadness/ Gloominess / Dejection/Sorrow/ Grief /

affliction / pain

του λυπης

Introduction

•CHRISTIANITY is the teaching of our Savior Christ consisting of ascetical practice, the [contemplation of] nature, and theology.

• THERE are eight generic [tempting-] thoughts (logismoi), that contain within themselves every [tempting-]thought:

fourth, sadness;

• Whether these thoughts are able to disturb the soul or not is not up to us; but whether they linger or not, and whether they arouse passions or not; that is up to us.

•36. THE demons that preside over the passions of the soul go on until we die; those which preside over the passions of the body leave sooner.

Gloominess is a passion of the soul

Topics

•Types of Gloominess.

•Why Sadness?

•How to avoid LYPE?

•How to overcome LYPE?

•After calmness of the soul.

Types of Gloominess!

10 For godly sorrow produces repentance

leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the

sorrow of the world produces death.

2 Corinthians 7: 10

•FIRST of all pray that you may receive tears, so that by means of sorrow (penthos) you may be able to calm the wildness within your soul; and by confessing your iniquity to the Lord, obtain forgiveness from him. ( Evagrious - Prakitikos )

CHAPTER 10.........when gloominess is useful to us. ( 1st Type )

10. AND so we must see that gloominess is only useful to us in one case, when we yield to it either in penitence for sin, or through being inflamed with the desire of perfection, or the contemplation of future blessedness. And of this the blessed Apostle says: “The sorrow which is according to God worketh repentance steadfast unto salvation: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Cor. 7:10) St. John Cassian.

CHAPTER 11. How we can decide .... the sorrow according to God

11. BUT that gloominess and sorrow which “worketh repentance steadfast unto salvation” is obedient, civil, humble, kindly, gentle, and patient, as it springs from the love of God, ..................., as it has in itself all the fruits of the Holy Spirit of which the same Apostle gives the list: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, goodness, benignity, faith, mildness, modesty.” (Gal. 5:22, 23) St. John Cassian.

CHAPTER 9. Of another sort of gloominess which produces despair of salvation.

9. THERE is, too, another still more objectionable sort of gloominess, which produces in the guilty soul no amendment of life or correction of faults, but the most destructive despair: which did not make Cain repent after the murder of his brother, or Judas, after the betrayal, hasten to relieve himself by making amends, but drove him to hang himself in despair. St. John Cassian.

CHAPTER 11. How we can decide .... the sorrow that is devilish and deadly.

11. But the other kind is rough, impatient, hard,............, but actually destroys all those fruits of the Spirit of which we spoke, which that other sorrow knows how to produce. St. John Cassian.

80. IT is not possible to resist all the thoughts (logismoi) suggested to us by the angels, but it is possible to reject all those suggested by demons. The former are followed by a state of peace, the latter by a state of turmoil.

Why Sadness?

• Chapter 4. BUT sometimes it is found to result from:

i. the fault of previous anger, or to :

Chapter10. GLOOMINESS sometimes arises from frustrated desires; but sometimes it is the result of anger (is the sharpest passion.  It is said to be a boiling up and movement of indignation (thumos) against a wrongdoer or a presumed wrongdoer: ).

pride anger sadness and the final evil

• 4. Cont.:

ii.spring from the desire of some gain which has not been realized, when a man has found that he has failed in his hope of securing those things which he had planned.

iii.But sometimes without any apparent reason for our being driven to fall into this misfortune, we are by the instigation of our crafty enemy suddenly depressed with so great a gloom that we cannot receive with ordinary civility the visits of those who are near and dear to us; and whatever subject of conversation is started by them, we regard it as ill-timed and out of place; and we can give them no civil answer, as the gall of bitterness is in possession of every corner of our heart.

• [1] For it is impossible to fall into the spirit of adultery, unless one has succumbed to gluttony;

• [2] it is impossible to be agitated by anger, unless one covets and fights for food, or money, or fame;

• [3] and it is impossible to avoid the demon of sadness, unless one has been deprived of all he wants to obtain;

• 19.  ANYONE who flees from all worldly pleasures is a tower which cannot be breached by the demon of gloominess.

• Gloominess is the deprivation of pleasure, either an actual or an expected pleasure.

• So long as we have any attachment to anything on earth, it is impossible for us to drive away this enemy. He sets his trap and produces gloominess just where he sees that our inclinations lead us.

• 10. (Cont.......) When desires are frustrated it arises thus: certain [tempting-]thoughts first seize the soul and remind it of home and parents and its former course of life. When they see the soul following them without resistance,  and dissipating itself in mental pleasures, they take and dunk [lit baptize] it in gloom, since it is the case that these earlier things are gone and cannot be recovered due to the [monk's] present way of life Then the miserable soul, having been dissipated by the first [tempting-]thought, is humiliated all the more by the second. (from the Praktikos)

• 12. [POhK 11] All the demons teach the soul to love pleasure; only the demon of dejection refrains from doing this, since he corrupts the thoughts of those he enters by cutting off every pleasure of the soul and drying it up through dejection, for `the bones of the dejected are dried up’ (Pr 17:22 LXX). Now if this demon attacks only to a moderate degree, he makes the anchorite more resolute; for he encourages him to seek nothing worldly and to shun all pleasures. But when the demon remains for longer, he encourages the soul to give up, or forces it to run away. Even Job was tormented by this demon, and it was because of this that he said: ‘O that I might lay hands upon myself, or at least ask someone else to do this for me’ (Job 30:24. LXX).

• Cont. 12. [POhK 11]……..The symbol of this demon is the viper. When used in moderation for man’s good, its poison is an antidote against that of other venomous creatures, but when taken in excess it kills whoever takes it. It was to this demon that Paul delivered the man at Corinth who had fallen into sin. That is why he quickly wrote again to the Corinthians saying: ‘Confirm your love towards him... lest perhaps he should be swallowed up with too great dejection’ (2 Cor. 2: 7-8). He knew that this spirit, in troubling men, can also bring about true repentance.

CHAPTER 5. That disturbances are caused in us not by the faults of other people, but by our own.

5. WHENCE it is clearly proved that the pains of disturbances are not always caused in us by other people’s faults, but rather by our own, as we have stored up in ourselves the causes of offense, and the seeds of faults, which, as soon as a shower of temptation waters our soul, at once burst forth into shoots and fruits. St John Cassian.

Where is the war coming from ?

•From Demons or form .........?

•18.IT is impossible for life and death to be in the same subject at the same time. Evagrious Prakitikos.

•There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12

A very tricky demon !

How to Avoid Lype?

.......... all sorrow and gloominess must equally be resisted, as belonging to this world, and being that which “worketh death,” and must be entirely expelled from our hearts like the spirit of fornication and avarice and anger. St John Cassian.

CHAPTER 12. That except that wholesome sorrow, which springs up in three-ways, all sorrow and gloominess should be resisted as

hurtful.

1. OF the demons opposing the ascetical life [pratiké], those standing in the first [wave] for combat are:

[1] those entrusted with the appetites of gluttony,

[2] those that inspire us to love money, and

[3] those that entice us to seek human glory.

All the rest march behind and receive the wounded whom these three pass along to them.

•25.  GUARD yourself, that you never so provoke any of the brethren that he runs away, or you will never escape during your lifetime from the demon of despondency, which will always become an obstacle for you at the time of prayer

• 23. A solitary should never withdraw into solitude [burdened] with anger or gloominess, nor flee from the brethren while perplexed by these [tempting-]thoughts. For madness can arise from such passions as these: when the heart shifts from one [contemplative] insight to another, from this to that, from still another [insight] to yet another one, it [thus] tumbles by stages into the pit of amnesia. However, we have known many brothers who fell victim to this shipwreck but were brought back again to human life through the tears and prayers of the other [brethren].

The Dangers of Wrong-minded Solitude

•37. WHETHER it is ideas (ennoia - ἔννοια ) which incite passions or passions which incite ideas is a matter which needs attention. Some have held the first view, others the second.

• 50. IF any monk wishes to experience of the savage demons and to become acquainted with their art, he should (1)observe his [tempting-]thoughts and (2) note [down] their intensification and diminution, (3) and their interconnectedness, (4) and their timing, and (5)

which demons produce what, (6) and which demon comes after another, and (7) which does not follow after which; and he should seek from Christ the seek from Christ the inner meaningsinner meanings [logoi]* of these things. They dislike those who approach the ascetic life with greater knowledge, for they wish to shoot in darkness at the upright of heart (Ps 10:2).

* λογισμος = calculation, reasoning, reflection, thought, sophistry.

• 19.ANYONE who flees from all worldly pleasures is a tower which cannot be breached by the demon of gloominess.

• Our Lord :28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it 29lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? St.Luke 14

• Fr. Andriy Chirovsky’s comment on chapter # 50: it is all about self-awareness.

And there is none upon earth that I

desire besides You.

Psalms 73:25

•38. BY means of sensations passions are naturally aroused: if both charity and self-control are present they will not be aroused; [but] if absent, they will be aroused.

1.Resist all sorrow and gloominess, except that wholesome sorrow.

2.Fight the 3 main demons: gluttony, love of money and vainglory.

3.Avoid the demon of despondency by not provoking brethren.

4.Don’t withdraw to solitude burdened with anger and gloominess.

5.Study acts of demons.

6.Charity & self-control .

Summary: How to avoid LYPE?

How to overcome Lype?

Prayer with tears.•6. MAKE use of tears to realize every

petition, for it delights your Master to receive prayer [offered] with tears.(Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they

not in Your book? Psalms 56:8)

•15. PRAYER is the budding forth of joy and thankfulness.

•16. PRAYER is an antidote to gloominess and despondency.

•27.  WHEN we are oppressed by the demon of listlessness, we should tearfully divide our soul in two, making one part encourage the other, sowing good hopes in ourselves and singing David’s words, ‘Why are you depressed, my soul, why do you disturb me? Hope in God, because I will praise him, the Savior of my person, my God’ (Ps. 41:6).

Church Prayers!

CONCLUSION OF EVERY HOUR :

Lord receive from us our prayers in this hour and in every hour. Ease our life and guide us to fulfill Your commandments. Sanctify our spirits. Cleanse our bodies. Conduct our thoughts. Purify our intentions. Heal our diseases. Forgive our sins. Deliver us from every evil grief and distress of heart. 

Give joy to the face of the earth.    

A Litany   from ST. BASIL LITURGY

What i want i will struggle to acquire.

WHATEVER a person ardently loves (eros) he will want completely. And what he wants he will struggle to acquire. Now every pleasure  is preceded by desire (epithumia) and desire is born of sensation: thus that which is not subject to sensation is also free from passion. St. Evagrious , Praktikos.

Understand ... Act !• Cont. .9. Lk.tr.] ……But if we really want to

understand the cunning of this demon, we should not be hasty in speaking to him, or tell others what is taking place, how he is compelling us to make these visits in our mind and how he is gradually driving the intellect to its death -for then he will flee from us, as he cannot bear to be seen doing this; and so we shall not grasp any of the things we are anxious to learn. But, instead, we should allow him one more day, or even two, to play out his role, so that we can learn about his deceitfulness in detail; then, mentally rebuking him, we put him to flight.

The Life of St. Antony - Athansius

Page 38-39: .... but being in control of his thoughts and as if mocking them, he said: “If there were some power among you, it would have been enough for only one of you to come. But since the Lord has broken your strength, you attempt to terrify me by means with the mob; it is a mark of your weakness that you mimic the shapes of irrational beast”....... they (demons) gnashed their teeth because of him, for they made fools not of him , but themselves.

The Life of St. Antony - Athansius

Speaking to others -as per Evagrious- would be, by speaking to a “wise” spiritual father / mother.

It was as if he were a physician given to Egypt by God. For who went to him grieving and didn’t return rejoicing? Who came to him tempted by a demon and didn’t gain relief? And who came to him distressed in his thoughts and did not find his mind calmed? ( page 94 )

CHAPTER 13. The means by which we can root out gloominess from our hearts.

13. WE should then be able to expel this most injurious passion from our hearts, so that by spiritual meditation we may keep our mind constantly occupied with hope of the future and contemplation of the promised blessedness. St. John Cassian.

The Life of St. Antony - Athansius

(The sign ...... )A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:13. Antony recognized, for he was never troubled, his soul being calm, and he never looked gloomy, his mind being joyous. ( page 81 )

1.Pray ( Psalms , church prayers ) joyfully.

2.Decide to be joyful.

3.Speak to the demons.

4.Unveil your thoughts to your Spiritual Father.

5.Choose a “Wise” spiritual father.

Summary: How to overcome LYPE?

After calmness of the soul.

•44. WHEN the demons are helpless in their conflict with monks, (1)they retire for a while (2) and watch to see which area of virtue they are neglecting in the mean time, (3) and then suddenly rush in (4) and devastate the poor soul.

• 9. But because during temptation the intellect is clouded and does not see exactly what is happening, do as follows after the demon has withdrawn. (1) Sit down and recall in solitude the things that have happened: (2) where you starred and where you went, (3) in what place you were seized by the spirit of unchastity, dejection or anger and (4) how it all happened. Examine these things closely and commit them to memory, so that you will then be ready to expose the demon when he next approaches you.

• Cont. 9 ..... Try to become conscious of the weak spot in yourself which he hid from you, and you will not follow him again.If you wish to enrage him, expose him at once when he reappears, and tell him just where you went first, and where next, and so on. For he becomes very angry and cannot bear the disgrace. And the proof that you spoke to him effectively is that the thoughts he suggested leave you. For he cannot remain in action when he is openly exposed. The defeat of this demon is followed by heavy sleepiness and deadness, together with a feeling of great coldness in the eyelids, countless yawnings, and heaviness in the shoulders. But if you pray intensely all this is dispersed by the Holy Spirit.

•67. THE soul possesses apatheia not when it is unmoved by matters, but when it remains undisturbed by the memory of them.

Note in particular the role of nocturnal fears: the mental gloom that overtakes the monk during

temptation in [what must have been the wild and frightening] Egyptian

desert.Evagrious ANTIRRHETIKOS

•4.11. For the soul that is cast into gloom because of disturbances at night and imagines  it will become perpetually dismayed [i.e. mentally unbalanced] because of its terror:

•+ Lev 26:6-7 And I will give peace in your land, and you shall sleep, and none shall make you afraid; and I will destroy the evil beasts out of your land,

• 4.22. For the [tempting-]thought that does not realize that singing the Psalms changes the temperament [krasis] of the body and drives away the demon touching one on the back and cutting at the nerves and troubling every part of the body

• 1 Sam 16:23  And whenever the evil spirit was upon Saul, David took the lyre, and played it with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

•4.42. For the soul concerning the [tempting-] thought of sadness which portrays before our eyes the father’s old age, the mother’s weakness, and the relatives’ inconsolable sorrow.

•Ps 54.22[3]  Cast your cares upon the Lord and he will support you; he will never permit the righteous to be tossed about.

•50. For the [tempting-] thought that tells me the road to the knowledge of Jesus Christ is full of great difficulty and much suffering:

•Prov 22:13  The sluggard makes excuses, and says, ‘There is a lion in the way, and danger in the streets!

"The joy of the Lord is your strength." 

Nehemiah 8:10

"THANK YOU"

Glory be to God for ever!