Theosis/Kenosis

Light of the East said:

I was driving back from Baltimore today and had the radio off, giving myself time to think rather than be bothered by noise.

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LaSorcia said:

Tears for our wounds and their resulting sins, yes. Self-reproach, no.

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Ezana said:

I hear you, but I don't think it's quite right to say that. Perhaps there's just a misunderstanding as to what self-reproach is?

Saint Paisios of Mount Athos: We Need Self-Reproach, Not Despair

It is always possible to make a new start by means of repentance. "You fell," it is written, "now arise" (cf. Prov. 24:16). And if you fall again, then rise again, without despairing at all of your salvation, no matter what happens. So long as you do not surrender yourself willingly to the enemy, your patient endurance, combined with self-reproach, will suffice for your salvation. - St Peter of Damaskos

“We cannot live in such a way that no one grieves or offends us, for the Apostle Luke writes: we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), and bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). Let us therefore ask that we may bear sorrows with self-reproach and humility and not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, and with the Prophet say: With them that hate pace I was peaceable (Ps. 119:6).” - St Hilarion of Optina

"...A cleaner look notices more, a reproachful life gives rise to a great sorrow of self-reproach, the correction of morals and zeal for virtues multiply wailing and sighing. For no one can be satisfied with the degree of perfection in which he has succeeded, and the cleaner one will be in the spirit, the more he sees himself unclean, the more he finds reasons for humility. And the faster he strives for height, the more he sees that he has more where to strive." - St John Cassian

When the Archbishop of Alexandria, Theophilos, visited the fathers of Mount Nitria, he asked the Elder of the mountain, “What have you found, Father, more than us in this way of ascesis?” And the venerable one replied, “To reproach myself at all times.” “Truly,” replied Theophilos, “there is no shorter road to God than this!”

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