Why are the consequences of Adam’s disobedience so disastrous? Why does spiritual life in Christ take, in this world, the tragic form of a hand-to-hand battle against death? Why is God’s creation linked to this negation, to death, to this struggle full of pain? Why does His act of creation not lead harmoniously to the fulfillment of humankind in the image of God? Why must I struggle against things which kill me without having the strength for it? I do not understand. To the degree that Christ and the Holy Spirit are, for me, the solution to all the problems which are beyond me, I can live in ignorance of many things. Christ is the foundation of my life. His way of acting attracts me. I do not understand what He said, but what He said is enough for me. I will understand when I pass from this world to the beyond.
Why are Gethsemane and Golgotha necessary for the salvation of the world? The conflict between the world and Christ is completely incomprehensible. When we see the sufferings of millions of humans, we cannot remain indifferent. By what means can we serve those who suffer? From the Christian viewpoint, this tragedy on earth is the consequence of disobedience. Adam sought for a divine state, for eternal life, by breaking the bond with his Father and Creator. The Christ-Man, first in the history of mankind, went to Golgotha; He chose a most painful death in order to break this curse. To decide to follow Christ means to expose oneself to suffering. It is inevitable! Insofar as we are one cell of the great body of all humanity since the creation of the world, and insofar as all cosmic life passes through us, we live the tragedy of humanity as our own personal tragedy.
When we read the Gospel, the reactions of Christ to what is taking place around Him astonish us. When Judas is going out to betray Him, He says: ‘Today the Son of Man is glorified’. At every Liturgy we commemorate this moment, we repeat it in our consciousness. If a hostile enemy military force takes us to kill us, will we be capable of saying: ‘It is today that I am glorified and that God is glorified in me’? You all know this account in the Gospel; it is the very content of our everyday life.
There are many very subtle and interesting aspects of spiritual life. But we can be deprived of them if we dwell on the exterior difficulties. To change our life, we need ascetic effort, we need to learn to move our mind from banal and passionate things towards God. Our life can thus become full of interest, even if it is always linked with a painful effort. We must not try to avoid this pain. Live it! It is by it that our desire to follow Christ is
~Adapted from Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), Words of Life, translated from the French by Sister Magdalen (Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex)
