"Elizaveta Iurievna Kuzmina-Karavaeva Skobtsova, later known as Mother Maria, was a Russian Orthodox religious thinker, poet and artist. Her multi-faceted legacy includes articles, poems, art, and drama. In the 1910s she was part of the literary milieu of St. Petersburg and was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. She fled Russia soon after the Bolsheviks' takeover and lived in Paris, where she became a nun. In 1935, she participated in organizing the so-called Orthodox Action, which was designed to help Russian immigrants in France. She and her fellow-workers from Orthodox Action opened a house for homeless and sick immigrants in Paris. During the Nazi occupation of the city, the house was transformed into a refuge for Jews and displaced persons. Mother Maria and her son were arrested by the Gestapo in 1943 and died in the Ravensbruck camp in Germany. Mother Maria's selfless devotion to people and her death as a martyr will never be forgotten. In 2004, the Holy Synod confirmed the glorification of Mother Maria." - from Columbia University Libraries Special Collection link

Again with the Suffering

"In Christianity, the attitude towards suffering and death is quite basic and definitive.  Suffering is the result of sin. And death likewise is the result of sin. Outside of sin, death would be a transfiguration. Man bears the result of sin, -- and by necessity the result of suffering. It is impossible even to say, that God punishes man by suffering, but rather evil itself punishes through some irreversible law of its inner logic. In an epistle  of the Apostle Paul this is thus expressed: "Just as God Himself is not tempted by evil, so also He tempts no one". And together with this: "Blessed is the man, undergoing  emptation". - Mother Maria of Paris

Mother talks about the basic and generic rip in the fabric; crack in the cosmic egg.  Suffering.  Suffering exists because of sin and evil.  It is not God punishing.  It is EVIL punishing.

This changes a lot of peoples' cosmology.  If God is not pointing His Divine Finger at us and zapping us, how do we then "Divinize our Suffering"?  How do we "redeem" suffering in our lives?

I believe the first step in making our suffering holy is to acknowledge we do suffer.  And, second - much like the Buddha's antidote - the suffering we experience is because of our physicalness.  We suffer because in our physical state we desire.  Our desires cause us to attach.  When the attachments break - as they inevitably will (Death) - we suffer.

Our sin brought death into the equation and it is precisely this feature which is the backdrop of all suffering.  Death.  Evil.  Sin.  Brokenness.  And, these things do not really need to become fearfully black and insidious. They just represent a rip in the fabric; a crack in the cosmic egg.

Part of the antidote of suffering comes from the knowledge layed out above.  With this knowledge we move our understanding of suffering to a new level and it loses its power; loses its sting.

Suffering is inherent in a broken, ripped, and cracked world.  It is not because God selects us and fires away at us.  Recognizing the nature of suffering is part of the antidote.  Detaching from desires that lead to suffering is another part of the antidote.

Ciao!

+Tom


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