Visit to Father Gabriel Bunge

A group of 20 young people from Nepsis Switzerland, together with Father Bogdan Dincă from the Lugano parish, went to visit Father Bunge on the weekend of 15–16 October 2022.

In preparation for the meeting with Father Gabriel, we put together questions from the book “Akedia”, written by him and translated into Romanian by the Deisis publishing house. The book contains a commentary on the spiritual teaching of Evagrius Ponticus about the causes of listlessness or boredom in the spiritual life, its manifestations and the therapeutic means needed. Two possible manifestations of akedia are the two extremes: laziness and hyperactivity — both equally harmful. A violin can be destroyed both when we put it in water and when we wear it out by playing it too much.

As for hyperactivity, the illusion of a full schedule, or tireless activism (even in the service of the Church), all of this is nothing but an illusion if it becomes an obstacle in our communication with God and keeps us from the relationship, the mysterious communion with Him. Father Gabriel emphasised that in our daily programme, no matter how full our schedule is, prayer (the prayer rule) is priority number one. Prayer is the compass that shows us the direction towards God, and without it we are lost.

Details here.