6: An Eastern Orthodox View of Suffering

The Podvig with Joel Dunn

Since the undertaking of a podvog involves the acceptance of sufferiung and the practice of self-sacrifice, let us briefly address, at least briefly, the different perspectives of suffering as it relates to salvation in Eastern Orthodoxy as opposed to Western Christianity. In Orthodox Christianity, suffering has no intrinsic value and does not discharge punishment due to sin. By His incarnation, Christ fused eternal being with created body; by enduring suffering, He made this body to learn obedience and thereby conquered the flesh and its passions, which had subjected man to corruption; and by laying down His created bodily with its corruptible nature, and having “taken our sins in His body,” He, killed death. Thereby fashioning a incorruptible nature for mankind through His resurrection.