Blessed is the Kingdom

Seeking The Kingdom In All Things

St. Theophan on Suffering

It must be realized that the true sign of spiritual endeavor and the price of success in it is suffering. He who proceeds without suffering will bear no fruit. Pain of the heart and physical striving bring to light the gift of the Holy Spirit, bestowed in holy baptism upon every believer, buried in passions through our negligence in fulfilling the commandments, and brought once more to life by repentance, through the ineffable mercy of God.

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This entry was posted by on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 10:45 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • http://annebender.blogspot.com/ anne bender

    Beautiful! Thank you for this!

  • http://livingwaterinanemptydesert.blogspot.com/ Dan

    This reminds me of how often in the Psalms the psalmist compares his own suffering with the apparent ease of life that those without any thought of God enjoys.

    I find my own self sometimes thinking this way.

    It is good to have a reminder of the purifying effects of suffering.

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