Passions have always been substituents of true spiritual joy. We only need one thing in our life and God has come on earth to give us joy, a true joy as He says in the Gospel of John. Thus, we do need joy, as for this reason we were created by God. But spiritual joy is not same as the joy of this world. True spiritual joy means having a free heart, filled with the peace of Jesus. We have spiritual joy when we free ourselves from the dominion of the enemy, of evil thoughts and temptation.

Sufferance is needed until our heart is purified, until is hurt and then starts to commit itself to talking with God. I shouldn’t use big words, for who has a truly pure heart? But if we talk to God, defeated in our heart, we will most certainly find soothing. And our soothing is to be free, with a free heart that beats for God, as that of Luke and Cleopatra on the way to Emmaus, a heart filled with peace and the word of Christ.

(Translation from Arhimandrite Zacharias Zaharou, Adu-ţi aminte de dragostea cea dintâi (Apocalipsa 2, 4-5) – Cele trei perioade ale vieţii duhovniceşti în teologia Părintelui Sofronie, Editura Doxologia, Iaşi, 2015, p. 205)