Difference between the passions of sadness and despondency?

[SingularityOne]

Anyone know the difference and/or the gray area between them that distinguishes them from each other?

 

[Ricky M]

Sadness is a fleeting thing, something bad happens, you're sad, then you get over it. Despondency is when there is so much sadness, that getting over it can never occur.

 

[ArmyMatt]

yeah, there's a sense of hopelessness with despondency, unlike with sadness.

 

[Chesterton]

Interesting word origin - despondency, from Latin despondere "to give up, lose hope, lose heart, resign, to promise in marriage".

Hey I didn't say that, some etymologist guy did.

 

[SingularityOne]

yeah, there's a sense of hopelessness with despondency, unlike with sadness.

So, if there’s a sense of hopelessness with despondency, what’s the “sense” with sadness?

 

[ArmyMatt]

So, if there’s a sense of hopelessness with despondency, what’s the “sense” with sadness?

dunno, just not hopelessness.

 

[SingularityOne]

dunno, just not hopelessness.

Would it be accurate to say that despondency affects the energetic/irascible part of the soul (due to hopelessness being manifest) and sadness affects the concupiscent/desiring part of the soul?

 

[ArmyMatt]

Would it be accurate to say that despondency affects the energetic/irascible part of the soul (due to hopelessness being manifest) and sadness affects the concupiscent/desiring part of the soul?

I have no idea. you'd have to ask a far wiser person than me that one.

 

[SingularityOne]

I have no idea. you'd have to ask a far wiser person than me that one.

Thank you Fr. Matt.

 

[ArmyMatt]

no probs

 

[Yuriak88]

“Despondency is the impossibility to see anything good or positive. Despondency is the suicide of the soul because when man is possessed by it, he is absolutely unable to see the light and desire it.”

Fr. Alexander Schmemann

 

[ArmyMatt]

“Despondency is the impossibility to see anything good or positive. Despondency is the suicide of the soul because when man is possessed by it, he is absolutely unable to see the light and desire it.”

Fr. Alexander Schmemann

when you’re right, you’re right

 

[Nick1000]

Despondency: What is It and How to Fight It?​

How exactly can one remove despondency from themselves? Holy Hierarch Innokenty of Kherson gives a list of the main means for fighting despondency that a Christian has at their disposal:

Prayer. It attracts grace and help from above, from the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit is, there is no place for despondency, there the sorrow itself will be sweet.

Reading or listening to the Word of God, especially the New Testament.

Church services, especially holy sacraments of the Church.

Communication with people rich in the Christian spirit.

Physical labor, during which the thought turns away from subjects evoking despair.

Despondency: What is It and How to Fight It? | A Russian Orthodox Church Website

It has its own view on the phenomenon that psychology calls “depression”. In Orthodoxy this state of mind is called “despondency”.

www.pravmir.com

​

 

[ArmyMatt]

Despondency: What is It and How to Fight It?​

How exactly can one remove despondency from themselves? Holy Hierarch Innokenty of Kherson gives a list of the main means for fighting despondency that a Christian has at their disposal:

Prayer. It attracts grace and help from above, from the Holy Spirit. Where the Spirit is, there is no place for despondency, there the sorrow itself will be sweet.

Reading or listening to the Word of God, especially the New Testament.

Church services, especially holy sacraments of the Church.

Communication with people rich in the Christian spirit.

Physical labor, during which the thought turns away from subjects evoking despair.

Despondency: What is It and How to Fight It? | A Russian Orthodox Church Website

It has its own view on the phenomenon that psychology calls “depression”. In Orthodoxy this state of mind is called “despondency”.

www.pravmir.com

​

yep.

 

[Platina]

Despondency could be said to be the belief that you can't be saved. Dr. Christopher Veniamin says a despondent monk, for instance, might go to all the service and never sit down, reads all the appointed prayers, does more physical labor than anyone else - he does everything //except// the one thing needful - repent.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Despondency could be said to be the belief that you can't be saved. Dr. Christopher Veniamin says a despondent monk, for instance, might go to all the service and never sit down, reads all the appointed prayers, does more physical labor than anyone else - he does everything //except// the one thing needful - repent.

yep, I remember him saying that