Prot. Dionysius Dunaevsky. The price of false shame: metastases of shyness and the burden of unconfessed sintranslated

Introduction.

False Shame as a Spiritual and Physical Pathogen

If in previous articles of the series we talked about false modesty as a spiritual illness, now we will consider its tragic consequences - the metastases that it leaves in the soul if treatment is not sought in time. If in the Optina parable of the freezing traveler a spiritual catastrophe unfolded on snow-covered roads, then in the everyday reality of the 20th and 21st centuries it more often occurs in the remote corridors of government institutions and hospital wards. False modesty, shyness and people-pleasing, accepted in the world as signs of “good manners” and intelligence, turn out to be the most dangerous spiritual illnesses.

False shame is not just a character trait. This is a disease that affects both the professional conscience and the secret life of the soul. Let's take a closer look at him through the story of the hero of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's story “Cancer Ward” - Alexei Filippovich Shulubin. In this story, Solzhenitsyn shows with merciless precision what cowardice leads to.

Chapter 1. Medical level:

decent disgust like an executioner

In the story “Cancer Ward,” we are presented with the figure of Alexei Filippovich Shulubin, a former associate professor of biology,...