Thanksgiving in Difficulties

Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν παντὶ μοι εὐχαριστεῖν διατέτακται. Εὐχαριστήσω στρεβλούμενος, αἰκιζόμενος, ἐπὶ τροχοῦ κατατεινόμενος, τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκκοπτόμενος; Εὐχαριστήσω τυπόμενος τὴν ἄτιπμον πληγὴν παρὰ τοῦ μισοὺντος; πηγνύμενος ὑπὸ τοῠ κρύους, λιμῷ καταγχόμενος, ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου δεδεμένος, ἀτεκνωθεὶς ἀθρόως, ἤ καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτῆς ἐστερημένος; ἐκ ναυαγίων ἐξαίφνης ἐκπεσὼν εὐπορίας; πειραταῖς κατὰ θάλασσαν, ἢ λησταῖς κατ' ἢπειρον περιτυχών; τραύματα ἔχων, συκοφαντούμενος, ἀλητεύων, τὸ δεσμωτήριον οἰκῶν; Ταῦτα καὶ ἔτι πλείω τούτων, κατηγοροῦντες τοῦ νομοθέτου, συνειρουσιν, ἀπολογίαν τῶν ἁμαρτμάτων ἑαυτοῖς εὐτρεπίζειν ἡγούμενοι τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς διατεταγμένοις ἡμῖν, ὡς ἀδυνάτοις, διαβολήν. Τί οὖν φαμεν; Ὅτι πρὸς ἕτερα βλέποντος τοῦ Ἀποσλτόλου, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν περιωμένου χαμόθεν πρὸς ὕψος μετεωριζειν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ οὐράνιον μετατιθέναι πολίτευρα, οἱ μὴ ἐφικνούμενοι τῆς μεγαλονοίας τοῦ νομοθέτου, περὶ γῆν καὶ σάρκας, ὡς περὶ τέλμα σκώληκες, ἰλυσπώμενοι εὐ τοῖς τοῦ σώματος πάθεσι, τὸ δυνατὸν τῶν ἀποστολικῶν διατάξεων ἀπαιτοῠσιν. Ὁ δὲ προκαλεῖται εἰς τὸ πάντοτε χαίρειν οὐχὶ τὸν τυχόντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν οἶος αὐτὸς ἥν, οὐκέτι ζῶν ἐν σαρκὶ, ἀλλὰ ζῶντα ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν Χριστὸν, ὡς τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀκρότατον τῶν ἀγαθῶν συναφείας μηδαμῶς τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀχληρῶν τῆς σαρκὸς συμπάθειαν δεχομένης. Ἀλλὰ κἂν διακόπτηται ἡ σαρξ, ἡ τῆς συνεχείας διάλυσις ἐναπομένει τῷ πεπονθότι τοῦ σώματος μέρει, τῆς διαδόσεως τοῦ λυποῦντος οὐ δυναμένης διικνεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ νοερὸν τῆς ψυχῆς. Εἰ γαρ ἐνεκρώσαμεν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, κατὰ τὰς ὑποθήκας τοῦ Ἀποστόλου, καὶ τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιεφέρομεν ἀναγκαίως ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ νενεκρωμένου σώματος πληγὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀπολελυμένην τῆς συναφέίας αὐτοῦ ψυχὴν οὐ χωρήσει. Ἀτιμία δὲ καὶ ζημίαι, καὶ οἰκείων θάνατοι οὐκ ἀναβήσονται πρὸς τὸν νοῦν, οὐδὲ καταστέψουσι τὸ ὑψηλὸν τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὴν ὦδε συμπάθειαν. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος Καισαρείας, Περὶ Εύχαριστιας

But in everything I am ordered to give thanks. 1 Shall I give thanks tortured, beaten, stretched on a wheel, with eyes gouged out? Shall I give thanks struck by shameful blows by one who hates me? Shall I give thanks pierced by the cold, wracked by hunger, bound on wood, suddenly deprived of children, my wife violated, having lost all my property in a shipwreck? Shall I give thanks at sea beset by pirates, or on land attacked by bandits? Shall I give thanks wounded, suffering abuse, living a vagrant life, shut up in prison? In all these cases and more, the legislator directs us to be bound, and though our sins think to excuse us, while the precepts are given to us , if we are unable to fulfill them, they denounce us. What therefore do we say? That doubtless the Apostle saw this otherwise, and he tries to raise our souls from earth to heaven and to transport us to a certain celestial way of living. However this high sense of the legislator has not been understood, for the Apostolic commands should not be sought among earth and flesh, like worms in food, sunk in the desires of the body, but he calls to eternal joy not in worldly matters but as he was, no longer living in the flesh but having life in Christ himself, for to that conjunction with the highest good heavy and troublesome carnal affections are not admitted. Truly even if flesh is torn, in that part of the body afflicted, placing it in a state of continuous dissolution, it will not able to communicate its grief to the intelligent part of the soul. For if in accordance with the Apostolic teaching we mortify our members on the earth and in our bodies we bear around the mortification of Jesus, it will be that the blows on a mortified body, it being dissolved, do not reach the soul. For disgrace and loss and proximity to death shall not at all then rise to the mind, nor shall present troubles be admitted to the heavenly soul. Saint Basil of Caesarea, On Thanksgiving 1 1 Thes 5.18