Petrushko Liudmyla

Sadness and tears in instructive literature of Christian East

Section: Studies of Archival and Book Fonds

Abstract: The goal of the research. The article aims to comprehensively reconstruct the vision of sadness and tears presented in the instructive literature of Egyptian-Palestinian monasticism. Methodology. The research uses methods of analysis, synthesis and generalization, classification and systematization, induction and deduction, narrative, historical-typological, historical-problematic, historical-comparative, historical-systemic, historical-genetic, terminological analysis, content analysis and interpretive. Scientific novelty. The article presents a comprehensive reconstruction of the vision of unhappy emotions in the translated instructive literature. The peculiarities of understanding sadness and weeping in the Orthodox tradition are consideredand generalized. The idea of the significance of tears for medieval monasticism hasbeen further developed. Conclusions. As a result of the analysis of rich in historical content the source base, it is clarified that the monastic tradition of the Christian East distinguished between three types of sadness and weeping. They are characterizedby relevant assessments such as positive, neutral (positive-neutral) and negative, which depends on how those unhappy emotions correlate with the cause of the salvation of the soul. The central aspect of theology is sorrow and tears of love for Lord. There is distinctive ethics of the unhappy emotions which involves the means of achievement of the spiritual crying, its perseverance, maintenance, and affirmationin purity; the methods of combating the sinful sadness; the transition from corruptand natural tears to the pleasing to God ones. The connotation of the unhappy emotionsin the Christian tradition is generally negative. It is due to the understanding of their place in human history: sorrows and tears have appeared as a forced consequence of Adam and Eve lapse from virtue. There was no sign of it in Paradise of Eden; the same will be in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Keywords: history of emotions, sadness and tears, Scete paterik, Sinai paterik, Ladder.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.29.060     Citation

• Petrushko Liudmyla (V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Ukraine, Kyiv, liudmyla1991@ukr.net) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7175-9143

Cite:
Petrushko Liudmyla. (2022). Sadness and tears in instructive literature of Christian East. Manuscript and book heritage of Ukraine, (29) 60-76 . https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.29.060

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