Shame and Orthodoxy - Father Stephen Freeman

In this episode, Father Stephen Freeman discusses the place and understanding of shame in the Orthodox Christian tradition.
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#Orthodox blogger, author, and #Archpriest, Father Stephen Freeman, is founder and Pastor Emeritus of St. Anne Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, TN. To learn more about Father Stephen’s work, please check out his blog on #Orthodoxy, Glory to God for All Things:
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[@ProtectingVeil]

📙 FREE eBOOK on the wisdom of modern Orthodox Christian elders: social.protectingveil.com/freebook1

[@paulhudson4254]

Guilt=I’ve done something bad. Shame=I’m bad. 🙏🌺☦️🌺🙏

[@neilrollason]

If we are fallen beings and then do something like multiple rapes then wouldn't you say that shows there actually is something wrong with people who do that, (bad)that needs addressing, address the thing thats wrong(bad about them)with them.

[@MsRachelleDA]

Watching this bc I need to fill my head with “things from above” while struggling to love my in-laws. I’m stuck in TX. away from my loving family who I barely see a 1000 miles away. My in-laws are a cross I have to bear…I don’t bear it well either…I fail to love them but I’m commanded to do it….ironically, the more I pray for them, the more God has shown me how similar I am to them. Lord have mercy on me and my in-laws. 🙏

[@pravolub8]

Father Stephen, You are right about living in a culture of shame. From my youth, especially in school, I was always made to feel ashamed about my "religious feelings", both socially and morally. It led me into never acting on them and searching for "happiness" in all the wrong places. God has protected me throughout my life, going through jobs and a "career", just to make money, and a personal life that almost killed any feelings of love. I grew cold and heartless on the inside. I have an inner fear of acting on anything, especially in crisis situations. I just freeze up. It's not terror. It's just a blank, and I can't move. Thank God that I'm retired now, where I don't have to face up to my.....cowardice? Please pray for me that this evil burden can be removed or constructively dealt with. ☦️Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me!

[@toufekeskaf3849]

Grace be with your spirit! Read 1 Peter 3:14 it was helpful for me also! Be Blessed!!! ☦️🙌♥️

[@clbaird40]

You are a kindred spirit brother, I have had many of the same feelings. Shame is so powerful.

[@littlerainyone]

Shame is the "master emotion" because it quickly morphs (transmutes) into sadness or anger. That's good. It's interesting that Tolkien portrays that same sequence occurring in the heart of Melkor (the devil) on several occasions: For example: "Melkor was filled with shame, of which came secret anger." "Melkor departed in shame, for he was himself in peril, and he saw not his time yet for revenge; but his heart was black with anger."

[@kkonrad4165]

I was raised in toxic shame. Saturated in it. Lived in it. Survival from the psychological warfare was the game. Numbing the pain was the goal. Drugs and alcohol at age 11. First attempt of unaliving myself was 11. The Lord has been merciful on my soul. My He be blessed forever and ever. Ps. Bully your children if you hate them and want to watch their destruction. Only rule is, you're not allowed to be confused about why its happening

[@jocelynyared2150]

Shame can be due to Pride, Vanity, or desire to please men. Sorrow for having offended the Good God is what makes true, genuine humility.

[@watchaddicts1213]

Absolutely, one your very best interviews, Brother! I could listen to Fr Stephen for days!

[@Elany.lyon1388]

Thank you, this talk gave me some tools to understanding my childhood. And how shame overlaped into my marriage. Lot to think about.

[@NG-gg9in]

thank you for this :)

[@brandonhethcox5354]

What about Emperor St. Constantine? Did he despise and hate enemies of Christianity? Could it be possible that hatred towards people who are enemies of Christianity be a tool that can manipulate Repentance in enemies of Christianity? If Emperor St. Constantine loved the Tyrannical Pagan Roman Emperors like Licentius, Maximus, and Maximian, would he have still had the courage to face them in Combat on the Battlefield? I sometimes feel that the Roman Catholic Christians who were my Classmates in Public School hated me as a person, and part of the reason why I converted to that Christian Faith Denomination was out of hope that they would repent of having hated me. Was or was not their hatred towards me a tool of Theological Intimidation on their part that they were using as a means of Conquest and Manifest Destiny towards me like that of the Spanish Conquistadors towards the Pagan Native of Indians? The reason I bring this up, is because I am a Blue-Collared Laymen, not a Monastic or Cleric and I am not Mentally Competent enough to be active in that form of Ministry due to my Mild-Form of Autism Spectrum Disorder known as Asperger's Syndrome and my Neurological Disability known as Tourette's Syndrome. Also, none of them cared that I was a victim of Sexual Abuse committed against my by some of the Foster Children that my Biological Parents used to care for.

[@lindawells8167]

Thank you. When you visited Annunciation some years ago, you touched on shame. I have contemplated the topic privately ever since and can see how it has played out in the family, both immediate and extended and throughout generations. It is helpful to healing.

[@nickabraham2919]

Everyday is a struggle

[@watchaddicts1213]

Absolutely, one of your very best interviews, Brother! I could listen to Fr Stephen for days!

[@rickharper6420]

Thank you, such an important subject.

[@strugglingathome]

Fantastic interview!

[@theoneoutofnazareth]

Thank you! This is so helpful and practical, God bless you both

[@st.maximusvstheuglies1309]

Lovely words through a lovely man.

[@watchaddicts1213]

I just watch [this presentation] this and watch it again…such good programming!

[@MrAndre505]

This is SO good! Thank you for this! 🙌🏻

[@sureiajergman6408]

🖤🙏🏽💜

[@petergunn9149]

☦️☦️☦️

[@HannahVHendrix]

🩶🩶🩶

[@peteblack7052]

Father Stephen Freeman is my starets but he doesn't know it. 😄

[@PhilThompson-mb3fi]

Why would you post something like "**WATCH NOW! --} The FULL video will only be available for ONE WEEK!" ...? When you do that, you associate a thoughtful, wise priest's book with clickbait and manipulative artificial urgency. This sort of marketing belongs on abusive hard-sell products, not on teaching about the soul. The medium, in this case, discredits the message and associates Father Stephen with the worst of online attention-seeking. I have bought and enjoyed books published by Protecting Veil. But you need to fire your marketing company: they are *not* representing your voice, and they are not doing you any favors.

[@ananonymouseuser2571]

"Atheists and pagans HATE this one simple trick to attain eternal salvation!"

[@strugglingathome]

Relax Phil! :)

[@5050TM]

@@ananonymouseuser2571 🤣

[@cyberpunkworld]

There's despondency about the Eucharist in Churches that are more liberal about the Eucharist. The devil says in your head: "you know what, take the Eucharist tomorrow." Hah.

[@owainthoma3945]

Snawg

[@creampuffwar4457]

This priest must have come from a Protestant background .The way he intellectualises simple matters and the words he uses, like „toxic shame“ etc. I watched this half way through and concluded that it wasn’t worth listening to more. For him shame is a socially triggered feeling. But real shame is what Adam felt after he ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree and that is a matter between man and God. It’s a spiritual problem that can only be resolved through repentance. It can never be toxic. In sum, this is a banal lecture about embarrassment, not about shame.

[@lornadoone8887]

This is a Priest with a great gift for relating the truths and relevance of Orthodoxy to a predominant culture that is informed by Protestantism and its shaming distortions of the gospel, not Orthodoxy. He speaks that language, yes. For the sake of my loved ones in Protestant traditions, I’m grateful. “Toxic” shame is not what Adam experienced. Adam’s shame was healthy. Many Protestants have been robbed of the ability to trust God with their sinful wounds because Protestant theories of Atonement have distorted their understanding of the nature of God in His love and “justice.” Fr. Stephen expands on the distinction between healthy vs. toxic shame in his blog. I look forward to reading his book. If you have not experienced these distortions, consider yourself blessed, but the likelihood your pious Protestant neighbors, who comprise the majority of would-be followers of Christ here in the West, have escaped their often spiritually crippling influence is slim. It is for these an expansion on the topic of shame, even in its more psychological aspects, can be very useful.

[@thedisintegrador]

1) socially triggered feeling is a relevant topic to talk about, especially for a priest who is supposed to teach his flock how to live well. Not to mention that it is very much connected to spiritual realities, even though it's socially triggered. 2) that religion-induced shame can never be toxic? man... people (mostly in the Roman catholic church) leave the faith en masse because of how incredibly shameful it is and what various kinds of depression that induces. There surely is toxic religious shame. 3) if you'd actually watched the entire video, you'd find that he talks about Adam at the end

[@petergunn9149]

☦️☦️☦️