As a sufferer of OCD/scrupulosity, I would like to share with my fellow Christians the discoveries I make in struggles with this mental illness. As an Orthodox Christian, I have the great blessing of having access to roughly 2000 years of church history and knowledge composed by the Church Fathers (disciples of the Apostles).
It has been documented by the Church Fathers that Christians have been suffering OCD/scrupulosity as early as the 5th century AD. They also documented how to battle this foe as well as overcome it.
I get the impression that much of the Christian world outside Orthodoxy does not know about the writings of the Church Fathers. If you have, you would have heard about a 5th century monk known as Saint John Climacus (or Saint John of the Ladder). If not, try researching him. Youll find he wrote an extraordinary book known as The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which details the following regarding unspeakably blasphemous thoughts:
a) Assault. This is the first stage and signifies the initial presence within us of some alien impulse intervening into consciousness from outside by the will of the adversary. You cannot prevent thoughts from arising, but you can resist them. This stage is not the same as sinful activity, it is guiltless, since only the surface of the heart is affected. If you can cut off the temptation at this stage, you will be entirely rid of it.
b) Converse. In this stage we start a conversation with the invading thought. It is a flirting familiarity with the thought, with feelings of passion or even dispassion, but it nonetheless stops short of consent or approval.
c) Consent. In this step one gives approval and sanction to the temptation. This step initiates sin.
d) Captivity. At this stage ones free will is impaired and undermined, so that one is now forced to consent involuntarily. The heart is carried away, yet not irrevocably.
e) Struggle. This stage can be the occasion of crowns or of punishments. Do you act with force equal to the invading thought, or do you enjoy it further?
f) Passion. This is the last stage, from which one is rescued in repentance, or for which one is punished through unrepentance.
This is the basic hierarchy given by the Church Fathers. As you can see, being attacked by such horrible and invading thoughts is no sin. Only when we consent to them and take them into our hearts do we succumb to sin. As our Lord Jesus Christ said:
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man (Matthew 15: 19-20).
Our heart is what Jesus is looking at, not the invading thoughts, provided we cast them out in time.
I hope this thread has helped in putting this illness in perspective. And remember, youre not alone. Devoted monks, Christians and even Saints have been suffering just as we have.
May God be with you all.
It has been documented by the Church Fathers that Christians have been suffering OCD/scrupulosity as early as the 5th century AD. They also documented how to battle this foe as well as overcome it.
I get the impression that much of the Christian world outside Orthodoxy does not know about the writings of the Church Fathers. If you have, you would have heard about a 5th century monk known as Saint John Climacus (or Saint John of the Ladder). If not, try researching him. Youll find he wrote an extraordinary book known as The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which details the following regarding unspeakably blasphemous thoughts:
a) Assault. This is the first stage and signifies the initial presence within us of some alien impulse intervening into consciousness from outside by the will of the adversary. You cannot prevent thoughts from arising, but you can resist them. This stage is not the same as sinful activity, it is guiltless, since only the surface of the heart is affected. If you can cut off the temptation at this stage, you will be entirely rid of it.
b) Converse. In this stage we start a conversation with the invading thought. It is a flirting familiarity with the thought, with feelings of passion or even dispassion, but it nonetheless stops short of consent or approval.
c) Consent. In this step one gives approval and sanction to the temptation. This step initiates sin.
d) Captivity. At this stage ones free will is impaired and undermined, so that one is now forced to consent involuntarily. The heart is carried away, yet not irrevocably.
e) Struggle. This stage can be the occasion of crowns or of punishments. Do you act with force equal to the invading thought, or do you enjoy it further?
f) Passion. This is the last stage, from which one is rescued in repentance, or for which one is punished through unrepentance.
This is the basic hierarchy given by the Church Fathers. As you can see, being attacked by such horrible and invading thoughts is no sin. Only when we consent to them and take them into our hearts do we succumb to sin. As our Lord Jesus Christ said:
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man (Matthew 15: 19-20).
Our heart is what Jesus is looking at, not the invading thoughts, provided we cast them out in time.
I hope this thread has helped in putting this illness in perspective. And remember, youre not alone. Devoted monks, Christians and even Saints have been suffering just as we have.
May God be with you all.
