Akedia is sloth, spiritual boredom, indecisiveness, lack of vigour, self-absorption, inordinate concern with our own logismoi, cor curvum in se, spleen, Oblomovism.
How did the Fathers of the desert deal with all that?
Here is a fragment from the apophtegmata patrum.
α′. ῾Ο ἅγιος ἀββᾶς ᾿Αντώνιος, καθεζόμενός ποτε ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἐν ἀκηδίᾳ γέγονε καὶ πολλῇ σκοτώσει λογισμῶν· καὶ ἕλεγε πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· Κύριε, θέλω σωθῆναι, καὶ οὐκ ἐῶσί με οἱ λογισμοί· τί ποιήσω ἐν τῇ θλίψει μου; πῶς σωθῶ; Καὶ μικρὸν διαναστὰς ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω, θεωρεῖ τινα ὁ ᾿Αντώνιος ὡς ἑαυτὸν, καθεζόμενον καὶ ἐργαζόμενον, εἶτα ἀνιστάμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔργου καὶ προσευχόμενον, καὶ πάλιν καθεζόμενον καὶ τὴν σειρὰν πλέκοντα, εἶτα πάλιν εἰς προσευχὴν ἀνιστάμενον· ἦν δὲ ἄγγελος Κυρίου, ἀποσταλεὶς πρὸς διόρθωσιν καὶ ἀσφάλειαν ᾿Αντωνίου. Καὶ ἤκουσε τοῦ ἀγγέλου λέγοντος· Οὕτως ποίει, καὶ σώζῃ. ῾Ο δὲ τοῦτο ἀκούσας, πολλὴν χαρὰν ἔσχε καὶ θάρσος, καὶ οὔτως ποιῶν ἐσώζετο.
Source of the English version: The Desert Fathers.
21 octombrie 2012 at 5:22 pm
Şalom!
Cred că cea mai completă lucrare într-un singur volum privitoare la duhovnicie aşa cum este ea înţeleasă în spiritualitatea răsăriteană (mai concret, lucrare în limba română) este “Terapeutica bolilor spirituale”, de Jean-Claude Larchet, apărută la editura Sophia.
…Totuşi, ortodoxia are o antropologie care, pe alocuri, trebuie abordată cu prudenţă, antropologie care, bine-înţeles, plasată în cadrul mai vast al teologiei sistematice (sau dogmatice) determină o soteriologie distinctă.
Berakhoth!