Penthos: The Doctrine of Compunction in the Christian East

If joy in the resurrection is the distinguishing mark of christian faith, why have christian saints throughout the ages prayed for 'the gift of tears'? What place has penthos, heartfelt compunction, in the sure and certain hope of life in Christ? 

Weeping for Christ crucified is not christian. Penthos in the eastern monastic tradition is never found related to the death of Christ: for death, to the Christian, is birth into new life with Christ. 

Penthos is instead the deep awareness of sin which comes upon the Christian when he realizes that his own sins cut him off from the fulness of God's presence. It is the godly sorrow which accompanies the life-long knowledge that he is deprived of the complete and utter joy which God offers. 

In this study of penthos in the eastern monastic tradition, the late Irénée Hauserr makes available to western Christians some of the heart of patristicand Orthodox teaching.

Irénée Hausherr, SJ, (1881-1978) was a Jesuit of Alsatian origin and specialist in Greek patristic and monastic spirituality.