I haven't read Fr. John's books, but your article here has given me more reason to. It is marvelous the way engaging with one writer can pull everything together that you've been learning your whole life, from books and people and experiences, and add that last piece of a puzzle. I am so thankful for people who are able to do that for me.
The vision of gender that Patitsas puts forth is deep and joyful, and a little hard to digest intellectually -- but it resonates strongly with what I've learned by experience. It's transcendent! Which of course we would expect God's plan for us to be. Praise His holy Name. But as with the beautiful image of marriage set forth in the Bible, we humans rarely achieve it. Just to have the chance to aim for it and pray toward it is a precious gift. I've recently become more thankful (and less indignant!) for many people and experiences I've known over the decades. Maybe I will tell you sometime how that happened.
Thank you so much for doing the prayerful work of reading, thinking and writing, to the glory of God. May God give you strength and joy and peace.
And beautiful point that just because a certain ideal pattern is challenging and hard to obtain, we shouldn’t let ourselves off the hook regarding it! All the more reason to recognize its Godly origin in that case, and ask God for the strength and perseverance to keep striving! Continuously repenting, one day and one moment at a time!
I haven't read the books, but my godmother has and really likes them. I've heard Fr John's podcasts now and then, and I think his take in general is a good broad-based explanation of how things have shaken out over the centuries.
You'll have to invite me over again to hear my complete spiel. Let me try to be brief - ha ha :)
I'm not sure if first wave feminism (the 19th century variety) was about indignation - might have been, I just haven't studied it deeply. From what I understand, it came out of the desire for women to not be left completely helpless economically, should their husbands desert them or drink up their (the men's) wages, in a time when industrialization was taking over and few women had the skills or ability to support themselves via spinning/weaving/other home-based manufacturing anymore. (See Kingsnorth on the enclosure laws and Luddites in his "Machine" series, and Mary Harrington's writing.) The push for enfranchisement was the means by which (hopefully) women's votes would shift social/economic policy in their favor: they could own property, have custody of children, etc. It's not that (at least most of them) viewed all men as evil and/or unnecessary; they just wanted to be able to have the means to survive and care for themselves and their children if they happened to marry an unreliable, irresponsible one (or if the man died). Second-wave feminism (Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, et al) was definitely fueled by indignation, and I think part of that was driven not only by bad attitudes of (some/many) men, but also the Pill coming on the scene, and the relatively full industrialization of the economy. Yup, I was young when that was going on, but I do remember lots of indignation for sure.
In terms of church, I couldn't have become Orthodox (and I would have been really, really sad about that!!!) if there was any indication that *theologically* women were viewed as less than human. In much of Evangelicalism, that is the case (with notable exceptions on the part of a minority of MEN in those sectors of it who do not want to view women that way!) because 1) they trust only a literalist interpretation of the Bible ("what the Bible means to me" or what makes sense via their favorite teacher/s), 2) they do not trust the extra-scriptural witness of the ancient Church, 3) they do not trust any secular academic research into the social conditions of the 1st century (and very little Evangelical academic study) and 4) they have NO understanding of typology - along with only a VERY superficial understanding of the Holy Trinity, ecclesiology and the Incarnation. Having spent +30 years as an Evangelical, I was quite familiar with the fallout from that bad/non-existent theology, and I studied my Bible and the work of reasonable Evangelical academics very carefully for several years to be able to come to what I knew was the truth about the full humanity of females in Scripture and in God's heart. When I got there, it felt like I had broken the surface of a vast ocean and could finally breathe.
As an Orthodox Inquirer, I was "waiting for the other shoe to fall" - after all, isn't Orthodoxy (big C) Conservative and (big T) Traditional regarding men and women? But the other shoe never fell. And the longer I hung around, the more I saw that bad treatment of women (especially in "the old country") was because of the sinfulness of human beings, not because it was justified by Orthodox theology/theological anthropology - quite the opposite.
I did run into the St Phoebe Center early on. I considered what they had to say. In the end, I decided they were misguided. Yes, there are some priests and bishops who see their office in terms of power and authority. Those clerics clearly do not understand (big time) what it is they have been called to. The answer is to let God deal with them, not to maneuver women into "positions of power" - that kind of action simply continues the delusion, and justifies the supposed solution with secularist logic. Yes, repentance and humility really are the keys to all of it.
Thanks for your clearly articulated thoughts, dear Catie. Glad you have the time to be able to do this.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment, Dana! ❤️
I definitely need to read more about first wave feminism, so thank you for those recommendations. I will be checking them out!
I am 100% with you about the concern over anthropology and teachings on womanhood. It has been a very strong area of interest for me for the past few years and I’m very thankful in this regard for the work of women like Topping, Behr-Sigel and FitzGerald.
I could be objectively wrong about this, but I feel it is important for young girls and women growing up in the church to hear directly from women what the Church teaches about womanhood. (This would be a great opportunity for deaconesses.) And I think there has been mostly silence about that for whatever reason, so I see it as an opportunity and a need for us in this generation. And now there is also a dynamic for us in America to navigate, with people converting from evangelicalism and bringing that complementarian baggage, which really is foreign to Orthodoxy. Timothy Patitsas has an interesting gender theology — I don’t remember if you said you’ve read Ethics of Beauty? I’d also love to know in your reading of “reasonable Evangelical academics” if you have any recommendations there, regarding theology of gender/anthropology?
Re: St. Phoebe Center, I am very encouraged by the fact that they exist, and I think Ann Marie Mecera and Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos really embody that humble and peaceful spirit. I also think it is very important that people know about the deaconesses and their history, as a starting point. On the other hand, using secular tactics like signing petitions seems misguided.
Thanks again for reading and sharing your response. 🤗🤗🤗 Yes, definitely come over again and we’ll talk about it more in person! Before baby #2 comes and I have less time!
Dana, this is so helpful! Thank you for posting this disambiguation between first and second wave feminism. I’ve struggled to be able to articulate this.
I have also been greatly blessed by Fr John’s series, in multiple ways, not the least being that it put all of these pieces of history into the puzzle for me. I wasn’t even aware that they were in my mind and psyche as the individual, unconnected bites and how I was longing to see their connections. I have yet to read book 4, but one thing I have as a takeaway now is that, if someone were to ask me what separates the Roman and Orthodox churches, I would now be tempted to answer “whether you consider Peter Damian a righteous person, or St Mark of Ephesus”. By the time he gets to them, I’m can’t recall if Fr John is still using the language of indignation versus repentance, but those two, if anyone, truly exemplify what it means to embrace one versus the other of those paths.
Another thing I found myself doing is, actively unfollowing the social media things, at least, which arouse my ire and cause my adrenaline to flow. Often these aren’t even just the click-baity articles, but sincere hurt people, such as women struggling to figure out how best to respond to their controlling husbands etc. It’s so hard to come to realize, in the culture we swim in, that personal repentance, and participation in the Kingdom through the liturgy, is the only actual, effective way to enact change. That the true freedom is in being transformed by Christ.
Peter Damian was so fascinating to learn about! In some ways he seemed quite righteous—I believe Fr John said in the first volume that he saw the Uncreated Light, and seemed to love God in a very mystical, Orthodox kind of way. But then in the second volume it was clear that he (Peter Damian) really went off the rails, saying all clergy need to be celibate because sex is evil, and being indignant about other things as well as you said, and after that I was glad we don’t have him as a saint!
I love that you connected repentance with St. Mark of Ephesus! We had an amazing conversation in mentorship about that yesterday—I led the discussion on this topic and we talked exactly about how repentance in this cultural climate is so difficult, almost impossible, because almost everyone is often in an indignant space—and so to push back on that, as Mark of Ephesus did, could SEEM indignant to others (because it’s contrary to what everyone else is doing), but that’s just what repentance looks like when you’re the only one doing it.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts ❤️❤️❤️
Well said. It's not our business to fix the world - to create utopia - ours is to keep our eyes on Christ. It's His business to transform both us and the world.
I recently read a few lines from Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios, in his first volume on Revelation, that pointed out this same kind of attitude in people within the church who think it's their job to "save" the church, whether from heresy, or secularism, or whatever. He says it better than I can,
"You are not here to save the Church. The Church will save you...We are being ludicrous when we think we can save the Church. We will save the Church, the Ark of salvation through the centuries? The Church needs salvation? Then the Church does not save if She is in need of salvation herself from time to time! The Church does not need our help. Simply put, if we work for the Church we will save ourselves, not the Church."
Yes! I wrote something similar to myself in the margins of one of the books. So ludicrous to think I have anything to say to the Church and to forget that it is my job to be transformed by her, not to transform her! And yet I fall into this trap anyway!! Thank you for sharing that quote!
All of that makes SO much sense. I’m thinking of times when I was angry with my husband, sometimes with justification, but when I reacted with indignation and anger it just pushed us further apart, whereas when I reacted in a calm and loving spirit we were able to not just heal the immediate problem but also grow closer together.
I think your point about the Protestant reformation is very true, I grew up in a very strict Protestant church, and there was a lot of doctrinal pride and indignation about “false doctrine” that even at the time I could see was doing lots of harm. I’m now considering converting to Catholicism but am also fascinated by Orthodoxy, I know very little about it so am trying to learn more.
I will see what options there are for sourcing the books, I have a strong preference for reading from physical books (I’m old fashioned that way) but will consider Audible as a last resort!
I just checked on the website and they can ship to any country! And it looks like the deal is valid! I totally agree about hard copy books--they're highly preferable! Also I forgot to mention, my sister lives in the UK (London), she's been many times to the Orthodox monastery in Essex and loves it, she/the monastery might be a good resource depending on where you are located. :)
I really really enjoyed this piece, and it gave me much to think about! I always thought that 'righteous indignation' was a good thing but you make a very compelling case that it isn't. I have certainly found it to be true in my own life that getting indignant (even in situations where it seems justified) doesn't actually help and in fact damages relationships. I'm going to try and get hold of Fr John's books - I'm in the UK so sadly can't take advantage of the current offer (I think).
Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Becca! I've been continuing to think more about the whole topic so forgive me for the long reply . . . One thought that occurred to me this morning is that the emotion of anger or indignation is usually a sign that something is actually wrong. But what makes it a problem or not is how we act on it. We can learn to respond to stimuli in a peaceful, humble, repentant (but still strong and resolute) spirit, which both enables us to address problems, and restore broken relationships (where and when that is possible).
But if we continue instead in a spirit of prideful indignation, it may "solve" the problem in a sense, but at a huge cost. Kind of like if your finger got infected, instead of applying an antibiotic you just cut it off. For example, the Protestant Reformation did ultimately solve the problems of indulgences and clericalism among others, which were present in the medieval Catholic church, but it also broke communion with that church and therefore lost almost everything about traditional Christianity: the respect for tradition, the communion of saints, the sacramental life!
Closer to our day, I think indignation on behalf of a social cause (like feminism for example, or even anti-feminism) might bring about positive gains--but by using anger as a weapon and making those who disagree with us (or whom we disagree with) into our enemy, painting ourselves as the good guy, we alienate all those who are not "on our side" and hold to other values. And this in the Orthodox perspective is very bad. We want to live peaceably with all men as far as that is in our power, and that requires humility. And as you mention we can see the fruit of both approaches in the microcosm of our personal lives as well.
Bummer about the international restrictions! Is Audible available in the UK? The first volume (Age of Paradise) is available there, and the author said he's recorded the other ones and they're just still in production so hopefully they'll be out soon! The book is also available as an e-book!
I'm going to disagree slightly here, though I don't set myself up as being a theologian or anything like that. I haven't read Fr. John's books, and I don't necessarily disagree that lots of really bad things have come from indignation. At its core, a lot of indignation ends up being an excuse to hold wrongs that we feel have been done us, a righteous anger if you will. That holding of grudges, of course, is wrong. However, sometimes, if we are wise, I believe indignation can spur us on to work on behalf of others - do we even have enough indignation, for example, that so many children on this planet work extremely toxic jobs for next to nothing to supply us with gadgets an shiny things? But just as with anger, it's very easy to allow the indignation to control us rather than the other way around.
This is definitely true!!! I think the issue, maybe, is more with preaching indignation to others, almost as a way of life. God gave us negative emotions and anger for a reason; Jesus himself often displays anger as well as many of the saints. But do we stop there? What are we actually doing about the kids in sweatshops? I think that’s where the repentance comes in. Repentance would do something about the kids in the sweatshops (think of St John Maximovitch, literally traveling the world and founding orphanages), not just spread outrage about things that are, definitely, outrageous!
I haven't read Fr. John's books, but your article here has given me more reason to. It is marvelous the way engaging with one writer can pull everything together that you've been learning your whole life, from books and people and experiences, and add that last piece of a puzzle. I am so thankful for people who are able to do that for me.
The vision of gender that Patitsas puts forth is deep and joyful, and a little hard to digest intellectually -- but it resonates strongly with what I've learned by experience. It's transcendent! Which of course we would expect God's plan for us to be. Praise His holy Name. But as with the beautiful image of marriage set forth in the Bible, we humans rarely achieve it. Just to have the chance to aim for it and pray toward it is a precious gift. I've recently become more thankful (and less indignant!) for many people and experiences I've known over the decades. Maybe I will tell you sometime how that happened.
Thank you so much for doing the prayerful work of reading, thinking and writing, to the glory of God. May God give you strength and joy and peace.
And beautiful point that just because a certain ideal pattern is challenging and hard to obtain, we shouldn’t let ourselves off the hook regarding it! All the more reason to recognize its Godly origin in that case, and ask God for the strength and perseverance to keep striving! Continuously repenting, one day and one moment at a time!
Thank you SO much, Gretchen ❤️❤️❤️ yes, I would be honored to hear more about that sometime!!!
I haven't read the books, but my godmother has and really likes them. I've heard Fr John's podcasts now and then, and I think his take in general is a good broad-based explanation of how things have shaken out over the centuries.
You'll have to invite me over again to hear my complete spiel. Let me try to be brief - ha ha :)
I'm not sure if first wave feminism (the 19th century variety) was about indignation - might have been, I just haven't studied it deeply. From what I understand, it came out of the desire for women to not be left completely helpless economically, should their husbands desert them or drink up their (the men's) wages, in a time when industrialization was taking over and few women had the skills or ability to support themselves via spinning/weaving/other home-based manufacturing anymore. (See Kingsnorth on the enclosure laws and Luddites in his "Machine" series, and Mary Harrington's writing.) The push for enfranchisement was the means by which (hopefully) women's votes would shift social/economic policy in their favor: they could own property, have custody of children, etc. It's not that (at least most of them) viewed all men as evil and/or unnecessary; they just wanted to be able to have the means to survive and care for themselves and their children if they happened to marry an unreliable, irresponsible one (or if the man died). Second-wave feminism (Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, et al) was definitely fueled by indignation, and I think part of that was driven not only by bad attitudes of (some/many) men, but also the Pill coming on the scene, and the relatively full industrialization of the economy. Yup, I was young when that was going on, but I do remember lots of indignation for sure.
In terms of church, I couldn't have become Orthodox (and I would have been really, really sad about that!!!) if there was any indication that *theologically* women were viewed as less than human. In much of Evangelicalism, that is the case (with notable exceptions on the part of a minority of MEN in those sectors of it who do not want to view women that way!) because 1) they trust only a literalist interpretation of the Bible ("what the Bible means to me" or what makes sense via their favorite teacher/s), 2) they do not trust the extra-scriptural witness of the ancient Church, 3) they do not trust any secular academic research into the social conditions of the 1st century (and very little Evangelical academic study) and 4) they have NO understanding of typology - along with only a VERY superficial understanding of the Holy Trinity, ecclesiology and the Incarnation. Having spent +30 years as an Evangelical, I was quite familiar with the fallout from that bad/non-existent theology, and I studied my Bible and the work of reasonable Evangelical academics very carefully for several years to be able to come to what I knew was the truth about the full humanity of females in Scripture and in God's heart. When I got there, it felt like I had broken the surface of a vast ocean and could finally breathe.
As an Orthodox Inquirer, I was "waiting for the other shoe to fall" - after all, isn't Orthodoxy (big C) Conservative and (big T) Traditional regarding men and women? But the other shoe never fell. And the longer I hung around, the more I saw that bad treatment of women (especially in "the old country") was because of the sinfulness of human beings, not because it was justified by Orthodox theology/theological anthropology - quite the opposite.
I did run into the St Phoebe Center early on. I considered what they had to say. In the end, I decided they were misguided. Yes, there are some priests and bishops who see their office in terms of power and authority. Those clerics clearly do not understand (big time) what it is they have been called to. The answer is to let God deal with them, not to maneuver women into "positions of power" - that kind of action simply continues the delusion, and justifies the supposed solution with secularist logic. Yes, repentance and humility really are the keys to all of it.
Thanks for your clearly articulated thoughts, dear Catie. Glad you have the time to be able to do this.
Dana
Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment, Dana! ❤️
I definitely need to read more about first wave feminism, so thank you for those recommendations. I will be checking them out!
I am 100% with you about the concern over anthropology and teachings on womanhood. It has been a very strong area of interest for me for the past few years and I’m very thankful in this regard for the work of women like Topping, Behr-Sigel and FitzGerald.
I could be objectively wrong about this, but I feel it is important for young girls and women growing up in the church to hear directly from women what the Church teaches about womanhood. (This would be a great opportunity for deaconesses.) And I think there has been mostly silence about that for whatever reason, so I see it as an opportunity and a need for us in this generation. And now there is also a dynamic for us in America to navigate, with people converting from evangelicalism and bringing that complementarian baggage, which really is foreign to Orthodoxy. Timothy Patitsas has an interesting gender theology — I don’t remember if you said you’ve read Ethics of Beauty? I’d also love to know in your reading of “reasonable Evangelical academics” if you have any recommendations there, regarding theology of gender/anthropology?
Re: St. Phoebe Center, I am very encouraged by the fact that they exist, and I think Ann Marie Mecera and Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos really embody that humble and peaceful spirit. I also think it is very important that people know about the deaconesses and their history, as a starting point. On the other hand, using secular tactics like signing petitions seems misguided.
Thanks again for reading and sharing your response. 🤗🤗🤗 Yes, definitely come over again and we’ll talk about it more in person! Before baby #2 comes and I have less time!
Dana, this is so helpful! Thank you for posting this disambiguation between first and second wave feminism. I’ve struggled to be able to articulate this.
Erika Bachiochi's book "The Rights of Women" was incredibly helpful for a historical distinction between the two!
I have also been greatly blessed by Fr John’s series, in multiple ways, not the least being that it put all of these pieces of history into the puzzle for me. I wasn’t even aware that they were in my mind and psyche as the individual, unconnected bites and how I was longing to see their connections. I have yet to read book 4, but one thing I have as a takeaway now is that, if someone were to ask me what separates the Roman and Orthodox churches, I would now be tempted to answer “whether you consider Peter Damian a righteous person, or St Mark of Ephesus”. By the time he gets to them, I’m can’t recall if Fr John is still using the language of indignation versus repentance, but those two, if anyone, truly exemplify what it means to embrace one versus the other of those paths.
Another thing I found myself doing is, actively unfollowing the social media things, at least, which arouse my ire and cause my adrenaline to flow. Often these aren’t even just the click-baity articles, but sincere hurt people, such as women struggling to figure out how best to respond to their controlling husbands etc. It’s so hard to come to realize, in the culture we swim in, that personal repentance, and participation in the Kingdom through the liturgy, is the only actual, effective way to enact change. That the true freedom is in being transformed by Christ.
Peter Damian was so fascinating to learn about! In some ways he seemed quite righteous—I believe Fr John said in the first volume that he saw the Uncreated Light, and seemed to love God in a very mystical, Orthodox kind of way. But then in the second volume it was clear that he (Peter Damian) really went off the rails, saying all clergy need to be celibate because sex is evil, and being indignant about other things as well as you said, and after that I was glad we don’t have him as a saint!
I love that you connected repentance with St. Mark of Ephesus! We had an amazing conversation in mentorship about that yesterday—I led the discussion on this topic and we talked exactly about how repentance in this cultural climate is so difficult, almost impossible, because almost everyone is often in an indignant space—and so to push back on that, as Mark of Ephesus did, could SEEM indignant to others (because it’s contrary to what everyone else is doing), but that’s just what repentance looks like when you’re the only one doing it.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts ❤️❤️❤️
Well said. It's not our business to fix the world - to create utopia - ours is to keep our eyes on Christ. It's His business to transform both us and the world.
I recently read a few lines from Archimandrite Athanasios Mitilinaios, in his first volume on Revelation, that pointed out this same kind of attitude in people within the church who think it's their job to "save" the church, whether from heresy, or secularism, or whatever. He says it better than I can,
"You are not here to save the Church. The Church will save you...We are being ludicrous when we think we can save the Church. We will save the Church, the Ark of salvation through the centuries? The Church needs salvation? Then the Church does not save if She is in need of salvation herself from time to time! The Church does not need our help. Simply put, if we work for the Church we will save ourselves, not the Church."
Yes! I wrote something similar to myself in the margins of one of the books. So ludicrous to think I have anything to say to the Church and to forget that it is my job to be transformed by her, not to transform her! And yet I fall into this trap anyway!! Thank you for sharing that quote!
Ooh amazing, I will check out the website again! I’m in Devon, in the south west of England so a few hours from London but thank you!
All of that makes SO much sense. I’m thinking of times when I was angry with my husband, sometimes with justification, but when I reacted with indignation and anger it just pushed us further apart, whereas when I reacted in a calm and loving spirit we were able to not just heal the immediate problem but also grow closer together.
I think your point about the Protestant reformation is very true, I grew up in a very strict Protestant church, and there was a lot of doctrinal pride and indignation about “false doctrine” that even at the time I could see was doing lots of harm. I’m now considering converting to Catholicism but am also fascinated by Orthodoxy, I know very little about it so am trying to learn more.
I will see what options there are for sourcing the books, I have a strong preference for reading from physical books (I’m old fashioned that way) but will consider Audible as a last resort!
I just checked on the website and they can ship to any country! And it looks like the deal is valid! I totally agree about hard copy books--they're highly preferable! Also I forgot to mention, my sister lives in the UK (London), she's been many times to the Orthodox monastery in Essex and loves it, she/the monastery might be a good resource depending on where you are located. :)
I really really enjoyed this piece, and it gave me much to think about! I always thought that 'righteous indignation' was a good thing but you make a very compelling case that it isn't. I have certainly found it to be true in my own life that getting indignant (even in situations where it seems justified) doesn't actually help and in fact damages relationships. I'm going to try and get hold of Fr John's books - I'm in the UK so sadly can't take advantage of the current offer (I think).
Thank you so much for reading and commenting, Becca! I've been continuing to think more about the whole topic so forgive me for the long reply . . . One thought that occurred to me this morning is that the emotion of anger or indignation is usually a sign that something is actually wrong. But what makes it a problem or not is how we act on it. We can learn to respond to stimuli in a peaceful, humble, repentant (but still strong and resolute) spirit, which both enables us to address problems, and restore broken relationships (where and when that is possible).
But if we continue instead in a spirit of prideful indignation, it may "solve" the problem in a sense, but at a huge cost. Kind of like if your finger got infected, instead of applying an antibiotic you just cut it off. For example, the Protestant Reformation did ultimately solve the problems of indulgences and clericalism among others, which were present in the medieval Catholic church, but it also broke communion with that church and therefore lost almost everything about traditional Christianity: the respect for tradition, the communion of saints, the sacramental life!
Closer to our day, I think indignation on behalf of a social cause (like feminism for example, or even anti-feminism) might bring about positive gains--but by using anger as a weapon and making those who disagree with us (or whom we disagree with) into our enemy, painting ourselves as the good guy, we alienate all those who are not "on our side" and hold to other values. And this in the Orthodox perspective is very bad. We want to live peaceably with all men as far as that is in our power, and that requires humility. And as you mention we can see the fruit of both approaches in the microcosm of our personal lives as well.
Bummer about the international restrictions! Is Audible available in the UK? The first volume (Age of Paradise) is available there, and the author said he's recorded the other ones and they're just still in production so hopefully they'll be out soon! The book is also available as an e-book!
<3
I'm going to disagree slightly here, though I don't set myself up as being a theologian or anything like that. I haven't read Fr. John's books, and I don't necessarily disagree that lots of really bad things have come from indignation. At its core, a lot of indignation ends up being an excuse to hold wrongs that we feel have been done us, a righteous anger if you will. That holding of grudges, of course, is wrong. However, sometimes, if we are wise, I believe indignation can spur us on to work on behalf of others - do we even have enough indignation, for example, that so many children on this planet work extremely toxic jobs for next to nothing to supply us with gadgets an shiny things? But just as with anger, it's very easy to allow the indignation to control us rather than the other way around.
This is definitely true!!! I think the issue, maybe, is more with preaching indignation to others, almost as a way of life. God gave us negative emotions and anger for a reason; Jesus himself often displays anger as well as many of the saints. But do we stop there? What are we actually doing about the kids in sweatshops? I think that’s where the repentance comes in. Repentance would do something about the kids in the sweatshops (think of St John Maximovitch, literally traveling the world and founding orphanages), not just spread outrage about things that are, definitely, outrageous!
I’ve been thinking about this a lot.
Thanks for reading and commenting. 🤗