The spiritual sensitivity of a living soul

A pastoral reflection on why witnessing wrongdoing causes spiritual pain – and what our response to the sins of others reveals about the state of our hearts.

Yevhen Boldin asks:

Why does a believer experience pain and sorrow when surrounded by people who do evil?

Archpriest Vasyl Kucher responds:

Let me begin with what people usually think in situations like this: "There must be something wrong with me. I'm too sensitive, too anxious, too easily upset." In fact, the opposite is true.

The pain we feel at the wrongdoing of others is a sign of health, not sickness. A healthy hand feels the pain of a burn, while a frostbitten hand feels nothing. And when someone can live amid filth and lies without being troubled in the slightest, that is what should truly frighten us – because their sensitivity has been completely dulled.

Consider righteous Lot. The Apostle Peter writes that while living among the people of Sodom, Lot "tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds" (2 Peter 2:8). Notice that the apostle calls him righteous and yet says he was tormented. This means that suffering over the evil around us can, in a sense, even accompany righteousness.

There is another reason, one the Holy Fathers also speak of. We are created with an awareness that humanity is not merely a collection of separate individuals but a single living body. The Apostle Paul writes, "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it" (1 Corinthians 12:26). That is why another person's sin can cause us pain. It is not merely sensitivity – it is the bond we share as human beings.

But here we must be very careful not to confuse two things, because there are different kinds of sorrow over evil.

One arises when our hearts ache for the person committing the sin and for those who suffer because of it. Such sorrow gives rise to prayer.

The other arises when irritation, condemnation, and anger toward the people themselves begin to well up inside us. This second kind of pain has nothing to do with God, even though it disguises itself as zeal for righteousness.

St. Isaac the Syrian described a merciful heart as one that burns with love for all creation, even for the enemies of truth. Notice: it burns with love, not hatred.

So there is a very simple way to examine ourselves. Ask yourself what you feel compelled to do after witnessing someone else's wrongdoing.

If you want to pray for that person, your heart is responding as it should. But if you want to see them get what they deserve, then pride, judgment, or hatred has become mixed with your compassion.

And one final thought. The Holy Fathers teach that the more clearly we recognize our own sins, the less fiercely the sins of others burn within us. Not because we have become indifferent, but because we have come to understand that we ourselves suffer from the very same affliction.