Despondency
Despondency (Acedia)
What is despondency?
From the Ladder of Divine Ascent chapter 13
Despondency is a slackness of soul, a weakening of the mind, neglect of asceticism, hatred of the vow made. It is the blessing of worldlings. It accuses God of being merciless and without love for men. It is being languid in singing psalms, weak in prayer, stubbornly bent on service, resolute in manual labour, indifferent in obedience
When dinner is ready, he [the Christian] jumps out of his bed. But now when the time for prayer comes, his body begins to languish once more again. He begins his prayers, but the tedium makes him sleepy and the verses of the psalms are snatched from his mouth by untimely yawns.
When the psalms do not have to be sung, despondency does not arise. As soon as the appointed office is finished, the eyes open. Note how despondency hits you when you are standing and if you sit down, it suggests that it would be a good thing to lean back. It suggests that you prop yourself up against the walls of your cell. It produces noise and footsteps- and there you go peeping our the window.
From other sources
Akidia (acidea or accidie) means languor, spiritual gloom, low spirits, indifference to the work of salvation, distaste for spiritual things, spiritual sloth, lack of care, lack of spiritual energy.
Despondency is a spiritual slothfulness and indifference. We have all experienced this. When we have to say out prayers or go to church we think “I am tired, I deserve a break etc…” Is it putting spiritual life on the back burner and subjecting it to convenience. Despondency is having the time and energy, but not caring enough to dedicate them to spiritual life, though we have plenty of time and energy for entertainment, work, family, or other activities. – 30 steps to heaven
Despondency is the impossibility to see anything good or positive; it is the reduction of everything to negativism and pessimism. [. . .] 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 Schmemman
How does it manifest itself?
Despondency has an infinite array of disguises and symptoms. Among the most universal signs is inner restlessness, inability to sit along t read or pray, boredom, inclination toward sleep, eating, distraction, or worry. Despondent people cover a lot of ground, wondering here and there through the mundanities of life without every finishing or accomplishing anything in particular. – 30 Steps to Heaven
Interior instability, neglect in observing the rule, general discouragement are signs of despondency.
Manifestations of despondency- breezy love, hater of love of work, fight against solitude, thunderstorm in psalmody, aversion to prayer, slackening of asceticism, ill-timed slumber, sleep tossing and turning, burden of solitude, hatred of the cell, ignorance of the scriptures, companion of sadness- Gabriel Bunge, Despondency in the writings of Evagrius
The eye of the person afflicted with acedia stares at the doors continuously, and his intellect imagines people coming to visit. The door creaks and he jumps up; he hears a sound, and he leans out the window and does not leave it until he gets stiff from sitting there. When he reads, the one afflicted with acedia yawns a lot and readily drifts off into sleep; he rubs his eyes and stretches his arms; turning his eyes away from the book, he stares at the wall and again goes back to reading for awhile; leafing through the pages, he looks curiously for the end of texts, he counts the folios and calculates the number of gatherings. Later, he closes the book and puts it under his head and falls asleep, but not a very deep sleep, for hunger then rouses his soul and has him show concern for its needs.- Evagirus of Pontus
Evagrius thinks that acedia arises from desire and anger- anger towards what is present, and desire for what is not.
inner restlessness (the temptation to move/flee/leave, the inability to complete a task, disgust for present company),
viewing one’s work or current status in life (one example: being married or being single) as the source of one’s suffering,
seeking out distraction and amusement,
negligence and laziness in one’s prayer life (minimalism in prayer, distraction, comparison to other’s spiritual life ((ex: “so and so only prays for 10 minutes a day, so it’s okay that I only pray for 15 minutes)),
OR maximalism in prayer (ex: “I’m going to pray for an hour and sing the entire Tasbeha”), which leads to…
discouragement (loss of hope),
a deep depression or feeling of emptiness or numbness
What can we do about it?
Let this tyrant be bound by the remembrance of your sins. Let us buffet him by manual labour. He should be brought into court by the thought of blessings to come. - John Climacus, the Ladder of Divine Ascent
And when brought as before a tribunal let him be duly questioned:
‘Tell me, you nerveless, shuffling fellow, who viciously spawned you? Who are your offspring? Who are your foes? Who is your destroyer?’ And despondency, under compulsion, may be thought to reply: ‘Among those who are truly obedient I have nowhere to lay my head; but with those amongst whom I have a place for myself, I live quietly. I have many mothers: sometimes insensibility of soul, sometimes forgetfulness of the things above, sometimes excessive troubles. My offspring who abide with me are: changing from place to place, disobedience to one’s spiritual father, forgetfulness of the judgement, and sometimes breach of the vow. And my opponents, by whom I am now bound, are psalmody and manual labour. My enemy is the thought of death. What completely mortifies me is prayer with firm hope of future blessings. – John Climacus, the Ladder of Divine Ascent
“A despondent monk,” wrote Evagrius, “is dilatory at prayer. And at times, he does not speak the words of the prayer at all. [. . .] The despondent monk never, at any time performs the work of God with care.” Mumbling, rushing, skipping formal times of prayer entirely—it’s all okay, despondency tells us, since it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Such thoughts, while rooted in a kernel of truth, lead us further down the path of minimalism, a path that St. Theophan explicitly cautioned against: we cannot bypass the “exterior stages” of prayer and “pass directly into contemplation”—most of us simply aren’t ready for that and may never be. Instead, “everything must be done in its own time. At the beginning, there is only seed, which afterward develops [. . .] into one form of life or another. Gradualness is necessary.”- from Time and Despondency
From Time and Despondency by Nicole Roccas
Stepping stone of humility
1- Be Still – focuses us on being than doing
2- Pray for our enemies- helps us to counteract the blaming spirit of despondency
3- A new litany- formulate a list of people, things or memories you tend to blame for unpleasant things in our life , then use this to pray for everything and person on the list. This lets us let go of blame
Stepping stone of patience
1- Get to know your cell- the space in your life you are responsible to occupy. Choose to be where you are and live in the present moment. Be fully present
2- Stay put…
3- Do more things that require patience- read a section of a book, psalm or poem aloud and slowly. Take a slow walk
Stepping stones of gratitude
1- Pray the thanksgiving prayer
2- Write down 3 things you are thankful for each day
3- Use Glory to God as a frequent prayer
A brother said to Arsenius, “What shall I do, abba? My thoughts trouble me, telling me, ‘You cannot fast, nor work, nor visit the sick, because even these things are selfish.’ ” He saw that the devil had put these thoughts in his mind and said, “Go, eat, drink and sleep, only do not leave your cell: remember that staying in the cell is what keeps a monk on the right path.”
A brother said to a hermit, “My thoughts wander, and I am troubled.” He answered, “Go on sitting in your cell, and your thoughts will come back from their wanderings. If a donkey is tethered, her foal skips and gambols all round her but always comes back to the mother. It is like that for anyone who for God’s sake sits patiently in his cell. Though his thoughts wander for a time, they will come back to Him again.”
Amma Theodora also said: “Recollection is truly a great thing for the virgin and for the monk, especially for the young ones. But know that when someone decides to embrace it, the Evil One arrives immediately and oppresses the soul with disgust, discouragement (acedia), and obsessive thoughts. . . . But if we are vigilant, all that dissipates. There was a monk who, at the start of the Divine Office, was seized with trembling and fever and a very severe headache. He then said to himself: ‘Now I am sick, and I will no doubt die! Let us arise then before dying and recite the office!’ As soon as he had finished the office, the fever subsided also. And again afterward, by this reasoning, he used to recite the office and triumphed over the thought.”
The Liturgy and Despondency (By Elder Zacharias of essex)
The Divine Liturgy is a great means given to us of fighting the passion of despondency, so that we can overcome the spiritual death which preys upon our life. In the Liturgy we learn to do what the Apostle Paul describes in his Epistle to the Philippians, that is, first to offer up mighty thanksgiving to God, and then humbly, with shame because of our spiritual weakness, to make our petitions for all that we need of Him. This is well pleasing to God, so He gives His grace, and gradually light and the feeling of His presence increases in the heart. This small light shines more and more until it breaks forth into a perfect day in our heart, as the Prophet Solomon says, and Christ dwells in our heart by faith.
This is why the Liturgy has such warmth; it is a flame of thanksgiving and gratitude. In the central hymn of the Divine Liturgy we chant, ‘We hymn Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, and we pray unto Thee, our God.’ Three verbs of thanksgiving and glory and one of entreaty are used here, because God the Saviour has already accomplished everything for us; He has given us all that we need for our soul to remain united with His Spirit, and for us to enter His never-ending blessedness.
Despite all this, we must not forget that our participation in the abundance of life which the Lord offers us in the Liturgy, depends not only upon how much we have prepared in our ‘closet’ the day before, but every day as well. Our whole life ought to be a single preparation to present ourselves worthily before God in His house, and to thank Him for what we owe Him with all our heart, and in a manner befitting Him.
One way of preparing is by praying on our own for a period of time before the Liturgy, and then going to Church with our heart full of warmth, faith, love, hope, in expectation of the Lord’s mercy, and full of spiritual dispositions.