THE CUP OF SALVATION, says St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, is suffering.
The disciples James and John asked to sit on the right hand and on the left of the Saviour. He replied by offering them His cup - the cup of suffering and death (Mark 10:35-40). The disciples, not realising the significance of this cup, said yes, but later fled to avoid the cup they had been offered. How many times do we do the same?
The Lord, Who taught not only by word, but also by deed, revealed His glory to His beloved disciples, Peter, James and John, so that they would not be scared of His suffering:
On the mount Thou wast transfigured,
and Thy disciples as much as they could bear
beheld Thy glory, O Christ God,
that when they should see Thee crucified
they would know Thy passion to be willing,
and would preach to the world
that Thou art in truth the Effulgence of the Father.
(Contakion of the Transfiguration).
Without the hope given us by Christ, we find suffering offensive. Suffering is the most often used excuse for not believing in a Creator or God. No matter how we live, suffering will touch our lives at some point. We cannot avoid it. The nature and maturity of our character is revealed by how we deal with these times of suffering.
Our modern society does little to help us deal with suffering in a constructive manner. It offers little clarity and very few good examples of how to interpret this most basic of human experiences, unlike the Lord Himself Who drank the cup of His Father willingly (John 18:11). Little understanding is offered by other religions of how to deal with suffering creatively, in a manner which is true to our nature and the dignity of human life. As Orthodox Christians, we should always be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you the reason of the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15).
In the world, confusion reigns over where we start for answers. The first question is: do we know what suffering is? We are not good at distinguishing between what we experience as physical pain, and that elemental suffering that occurs even when we are not in physical pain. Physical pain is a sensation of the nerves that tells our body that something wrong is occurring. Thus, it has a function. If we did not experience this physical pain, we would not do anything about the damage or imbalance in our bodies. Thus, this sort of pain is beneficial. “From the head, the nerves spread out to all parts of the body, and by means of these nerves, all parts of the body perceive, feel and have the power of motion. It can be said that the head, through the brain and the nerves, is present in every part of the body.” (St. Nikolai Velimirovic of Ochrid).
However, few people would say that suffering is beneficial. Physical pain and suffering do occur alongside each other. They are interdependent, but not synonymous. An athlete after a particularly hard training session may say that his muscles are burning or painful, but nevertheless probably wouldn’t describe himself as suffering. Again, this sort of pain tells us what is happening in our body, and, if we understand and interpret these sensations correctly, we know what we need to do about them to correct what this pain is telling us.
