Met. Antonie Plamadeala: The hidden joy of those who pray
Joy is an essential coordinate of Orthodox spirituality. In Orthodoxy, everything gives birth to joy. Birth is joy because the world is beautiful, and its Master is God; life is joy because it is God’s gift; death is joy because it is a gate to God. Prayer leads to joy. Living, both in the world and in the desert, leads to joy. Palladius says in his Lausiac History: “I have not seen anyone gloomy or sad among those who live in the desert. They could be seen to be really happy in their solitude and unable to think of enjoying any other form of pleasure or relaxation on earth.”
Even those overcome by tears are not sad but declare themselves happy. The hermits often have an appearance like that of an angel, as was said about St. Arsenius the Great and St. Anthony the Great. We read in “The life of St. Anthony” that “his countenance had a great and wonderful grace,” and those who didn’t know him could recognize him by his countenance alone. He was always “in joy.” Many people said, even though the quote is attributed to St. Francis de Sales, that a saint who is sad is a sad saint!
St. Seraphim of Sarov, who said that the goal of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, greeted everyone by calling them: “My joy!”
Translated from an article in Romanian from doxologia.ro, extracted from the book:
Antonie Plămădeală, Mitropolitul Ardealului, “Tradiție și libertate în spiritualitatea ortodoxă” [Tradition and Freedom in Orthodox Spirituality], Editura Pronostic, București, 1995, p. 88