Understanding Suffering

Ὁ ἀββᾶς Ἰσίδωρος εἶπεν· Ἡ σύνεσις τῶν ἅγίων ἅυτη ἐστὶ, τὸ ἐπιγνῶναι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πάντων γὰρ περιγίνεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τῇ ὑπακυῇ τῆς ἀληθείας, ὅτι εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστι. Πάντων δὲ πνεύματων δεινόν ἐστι τὸ ἀκολουθεῖν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ καρδίᾳ, τουέστι τῷ ἰδίῳ λογισμῷ, καὶ μὴ τῷ νομῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ ὕστερον γίνεται αὐτῷ εἰς πένθος, ὅτι οὐκ ἔγνω τὸ μυστήριον, οὐδὲ εὖρε τὴν ὁδὸν τῶν ἁγίων ἐργάζεσθαι ἐν αὐτῇ. Νῦν οὖν καιρὸς τοῦ ποιῆσαι τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὅτι σωτηρία ἐν καιρῳ θλιψεως· οτι γέγραπται· Ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ ὑμῶν κτήσασθε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν. ᾽Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Isidore said, 'This is the understanding of the saints: to know the will of God. A man may prevail over everything in obedience to truth, for then he is like an image and likeness of God. But it is of every wretched spirit to follow his own heart, that is, his own thought and not the law of God, and afterward he comes to grief, for he did not know the mystery nor was the way of the saints found to be fashioned in him. Now is the time to work for the Lord, for salvation is in the time of suffering. Thus it is written: ' In your suffering you will find your souls.' 1 Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia  1 Lk 21.19