Spiritual Ergonomics Of Carrying Burdens: By Diran Avagyan

St. Sophrony, speaking of how involuntary suffering can become an intentional effort toward salvation, tells his students a powerful story about a starving parish in Russia during World War II, when nearly 800,000 people reportedly died of starvation. According to the story, the parishioners approached their priest, asking how to manage their scarce supplies of flour and wine. After prayerful consideration, the priest instructed them to preserve these supplies for Holy Communion, since they were insufficient to sustain them anyway. “Whether you intended to or not, you are already fasting,” he said. He encouraged them to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and receive Holy Communion daily. According to the story, no one in that parish died of starvation.

St. Sophrony taught that even severe, involuntary suffering can be borne with remarkable lightness when one turns wholeheartedly to God and transforms suffering into an intentional effort toward salvation.

The Very Reverend David Alexander, PhD, speaking at the 2026 OCAMPR Conference, further elaborated on this concept by distinguishing between the psychological load-bearing frame and the spiritual load-bearing frame. While the former emphasizes self-reliance, the latter emphasizes surrendering to God and allowing others to help carry our burdens. Using the example of a backpack, he explained that even a relatively light load can cause injury when poorly positioned or inadequately supported, while a much heavier load can be carried successfully with proper support.

This theological connection made me reflect on how we handle difficulties in our own lives. While not all of us experience suffering of the magnitude described in St. Sophrony's story, we all carry burdens that sometimes feel unbearable and beyond our control. Carrying them alone can hurt us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Yet, sometimes it is not the weight of what we carry that breaks us, but the way we carry it.

Proper spiritual ergonomics can help us bear even the heaviest burdens without being crushed by their weight. Faith, humility, prayer, and surrender to God may not remove our difficulties, but they change how we carry them.

Christ Himself invites us: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He does not promise a life without burdens, but teaches us a different way of carrying them, assuring us that “His yoke is easy and His burden is light” (Matthew 11:29–30).

There is also a communal dimension to spiritual ergonomics. St. Paul instructs us, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Surrendering to God also means having the humility to accept the love, care, and support of others.

Perhaps the challenge is not always to ask God to make our burdens lighter, but to ask Him to teach us how to carry them with proper spiritual ergonomics.