The Meaning of Misfortunes and the Spiritual Benefits of Enduring Them
The Meaning of Misfortunes and the Spiritual Benefits of Enduring Them

Summary/Abstract: Joy and sorrow, pain and relief, suffering and comfort are constant realities of this life. There is no one who, in the present life, has not felt the bitter taste of hardships, who can claim they lived, from birth to death, only joys and accomplishments and, at the same time, there is no human being who has known in their life only misfortune, suffering and pain. Somewhere in life, all of these blend with one another. The Holy Fathers of the Orthodox spirituality unanimously assert that the difficult circumstances in life, the hardships, misfortunes, suffering and illness are not signs that God has abandoned or forgotten man, but rather signs of His grace and mercy. They represent a narrow and difficult path, but much shorter, at the end of which man can achieve redemption. The fundamental contribution of Christian Spirituality, highlighted by the present paper, is to assess this problem of major importance both for the present life and the future one, and to understand and use its positive meanings for the sake of redemption. The Holy Fathers recommend that, whenever we are subject to suffering, we should “think about illness in philosophical terms”, i.e. meditate profoundly and attempt to ascertain the causes of misfortunes and hardships and their deep meanings, and how we must approach them in order to diminish their difficulty and increase their benefits.

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