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    1 . - ( ) : Judith Perkins, The Suffering Self:

    Pain and Narrative Representation in Early Christian Era, Routledge. London and New York 1995J.-C. Larchet, Dieu ne veut pas la souffrance des hommes, Les ditions du Cerf, Paris 1999 , Le Chrtien devant la maladie, la souffrance et la mort,Les ditions du Cerf, Paris 20042 , Thologie de la maladie,Les ditions du Cerf, Paris 20013 (. & ), , . , 2005. , , . (Ed. J. R. Hinnells R. Porter), Religion, Health and Suffering, A Cross-Cultural Study of Attitudes to Suffering and the Implications for Medicine in a Multi-Religious Society,

    Columbia University, 1998 F.J.J. Buytendijk, The Meaning of Pain, Philosophy Today1(1957)180185 C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Macmillan, Oxford 1962 G. Pitcher, The Aw-fulness of Pain, The Journal of Philosophy 67.14(1970)481492 Th. Szasz, Pain and Pleasure: AStudy of Bodily Feelings, Basic Books, New York 1975 D. Leder, Toward a Phenomenology of

    Pain, Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry, 19(1984)255266 A. Blum, The Agony ofPain, Philosophical Inquiry, 18.3/4(1996)117120 N. Grahek, Feeling Pain and Being in Pain, Uni-versity of Oldengurg, BIS-Verlag, Oldenburg 2001.

    2 -. - -, - ( -

    , . ., .., onionself, - , Neil

    Young Postmodern Self-Psychology Mirrored in Science and the Arts, , (ed.) St. Kvale, Psychology and Postmondernism, Sage Publications, London

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    62. , 423b27-29 , 437a20 - , 378b11. , , , . G. Stve, Berolini 1900, . 272-275 .. . Ioannes ab Arnem, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, . , B.G.

    Teubner, Stuttgart 1964, .137, 17-21 ().175, 16 .. (). , . (-) , - , 48, . H.Achelis, GCS 1/2, Leipzig 1897, . 308, 35-37 (-) , , PG 28, 548 (-) , -

    , PG 28, 608 , (.),PG 46, 1153 47, , .111, 17-19 , , , PG95,244 -, ( ,Op. 49, (.), . J. M. Duffy, Michael Psellus,Philosophica Minora, . I, Teubner [Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubne-

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    . . Heidegger ( - ) . ! Dasein - , , , -. Dasein (. "" *sich

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    .

    Summary

    The Elder Joseph the Hesychast does not distinguish between different kinds of pain.

    According to him we can define as an experience of pain every feeling which reveals

    that a man is forced to suffer something whether he wishes to or against his own free

    will. In Venerable holy mans thought, man lives those inflictions against his own freewill when he suffers serious illnesses or faces the contingency of death. Moreover,

    temptations and afflictions restrict his freedom in terms of an unexpected feeling of

    pain. Besides, the devil and his daemons fight in any possible way man, bringing to

    him pain and sorrow. On the other side, man lives in situation of pain when he chooses

    to dedicate his life in spiritual exercises. In that case, he chooses to fight devil knowing

    that in fact has chosen to render his life as a place of martyrdom. However, we cantignore a special case too. The anxiety and pain of the spiritual father, while he bearing

    the burdens and the weaknesses of his spiritual children through prayer and other

    struggles, supplementing what is lacking in others.

    In Elder Josephs work is clear that a life full of sorrow and pain, though not acceptable

    for the modern man, is, as a matter of fact, beneficial to him. As he points out tempta-tions are like soap and a mallet which hits us and whitens us. All the clothes that are

    firm are useful for the Bridegroom. But those which do not endure the mallet are torn

    and thrown out in the trash. Which is the perspective of a life full of afflictions andpain then? Studying the Holy mans work, we realize that he connects the pedagogicalcharacter of painful life with the psychological balance of inner man and his spiritual

    rebirth as well.

    The main problem of spiritual life lays in mans exercise of his own will ( ),instead of exercising his ownfree will (). Though they look as different as-

    pects of the same thing, these two terms are not identical, from a theological point of

    view. In first case, man keeps an affirmative position against the laws of nature (

    ). He tries to avoid pain and considers himself as a victim. He thinks that he

    doesnt deserve a life of pain and sorrows. Many times he protests to his spiritual f a-

    150 , , 46, , . ., 1895, . 191-192.

    151 , 13, , . 100. ., , , ( , , 117, PG 111, 764C).

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    ther that cannot bear the misfortunes of his life. Some other times believes that his mis-

    fortunes are due to his spiritual brothers. This man lacks of self-knowledge.

    In the second case, showing endurance and patience to all these inflictions in his life, he

    accepts the Gods will and blames himself for everything (e.g. when he is wronged,endures the harm done to him without a murmur). Elder Joseph the Hesychast teachesus that exercising his own will, man submits himself to the bondages of nature. On the

    contrary, man sets himself free from the bondages of nature when he identifies his own

    will with Gods will. In that case, though he suffers from various inf lictions in his life,he praises the Lord, understanding them as divine medicines and gifts.

    Living in Christ the life of pain, man learns to humiliate himself and this humiliation

    becomes the path that leads him to the knowledge of his inner world and finally to the

    communion with God. In fact, this is a both way path: the more man endures the life of

    pain, the more he sets himself free from any fear against his humiliation. And the more

    he knows himself (knowledge based on his conviction that it is spiritually useless tosupport false ideas about his image), the more he realizes that pain for him is the way

    to live by Gods will.

    Actually, this is the nucleus of the Hesychasts life. The Elder Joseph informs us thatevery time, just before the experiences of Contemplation he was blessed by God to par-

    ticipate, he used to suffer many moments of sorrow and pain. According to him, theman who learnt that all the afflictions in his life and every other result of temptations

    are the Gods gifts to us, this man really found the route of the Lord.