[BalaGire]

I need to understand what is meant when Roman Catholics use the term "dark night of the soul".

"The term and metaphysicality of the "dark night of the soul" was coined from the writings of Saint John of the Cross in the sixteenth century. Christian teachings explain the "dark night of the soul" as a spritual phenomenon (that comes in an episode or episodes) that is named as the second Divine purgation to sear off the imperfections that infect a soul. The subject feels spiritually, as if the shadow of Hell passes over them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_night_of_the_soul"

St. John of the Cross :

"In Chapter viii, St. John of the Cross begins to describe the Passive Night
of the senses, the principal aim of which is the purgation or stripping of
the soul of its imperfections and the preparation of it for fruitive union.
The Passive Night of Sense, we are told, is "common" and ˜"comes to many," whereas that of Spirit "is the portion of very few."[5] The one is "bitter and terrible" but "the second bears no comparison with it," for it is
"horrible and awful to the spirit." [6] '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' ''''

Having described this Passive Night of Sense in Chapter viii, he explains
with great insight and discernment how it may be recognized whether any
given aridity is a result of this Night or whether it comes from sins or
imperfections, or from frailty or lukewarmness of spirit, or even from
indisposition or "humours" of the body. "

Link http://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/dark_night.txt

The "passive night of sense" refers to beginners in spirituality who :


" would have God will that which they themselves will,
and are fretful at having to will that which He wills, and find it repugnant
to accommodate their will to that of God. Hence it happens to them that
oftentimes they think that that wherein they find not their own will and
pleasure is not the will of God; and that, on the other hand, when they
themselves find satisfaction, God is satisfied. Thus they measure God by
themselves and not themselves by God, acting quite contrarily to that which
He Himself taught in the Gospel, saying: That he who should lose his will
for His sake, the same should gain it; and he who should desire to gain it,
the same should lose it. [55]" This excerpt is also from the same link as above.

Therefore these "beginners" have to go through the first type of "dark night of the soul" to be cleansed, to be transformed into a likeness of Christ.

The full text is very interesting and very readable and it is too long for me to post any other excerpts. It explains clearly the Roman Catholic understanding of this.




What is our orthodox understanding of this phenomenon?

Is it the apparent "absence" of God - not that God disappears but that we, because of our sins, are no longer able to sense Him?

Christ was sinless so how does His lament " My God, My God why has Thou forsaken me" relate to the above understanding of the apparent "absence" of God.

I found the following on the site of the St. John Coptic Orthodox Church concerning this subject and the latest revelations concerning Mother Teresa.

http://blog.mystjohn.org/

"And meaningless is the last word you would think of to describe Mother Teresa. To help the poorest of the poor die with dignity was the greatest example of faith, particularly while you are suffering yourself, with doubts and with pain and with depression.

She continued to do the toughest job anyone could possibly do. And she did it to her dying day. Why? As she wrote to her spiritual advisor, she submitted to God. “I accept,” she wrote, “not in my feelings—but with my will, the Will of God—I accept His will.” I came to that realization in my own dark night of the soul a couple of years ago when two of my three kids had cancer.
The very essence of faith, you see, is believing even in the absence of evidence. And it is the only way we can know Christ. We can conclude rationally that God exists, that His Word is true, and that He has revealed Himself. But without that leap of faith, we will never know God personally or accept His will in Christ.

So what do the letters of Mother Teresa reveal? For one, they reveal the true cost of discipleship. To follow Christ is to embrace suffering and the Cross. And, at times, to say with Jesus, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”

Certainly Mother Teresa took on the suffering of the world just as her Lord had done. And she demonstrated a kind of faith that few ever experience. But hers is a faith that will be a lasting witness to the world—when Christopher Hitchens and the media critics are long forgotten."

Is it the orthodox understanding that we need to go through these barren periods to separate the "dross from the gold" ?



Forgive me my ignorance but the Orthodox understanding of this subject interests me greatly and I would be grateful for any insights from all those much more knowledgeable than I on this forum.

Effie