Gebre,
Do you see a justification for, say, self-flagellation in those verses? What types of self-imposed suffering are you advocating, exactly?
Fasting and praying, prostrations, fidelity in marriage, celibacy before marriage, abstinence from destructive physical pleasures, sacrificially giving alms, allowing ourselves to be injured rather than causing injury, allowing oursleves to be killed rather than to kill, etc...
I cannot really speak to self-flagellation, for this is very subjective and can be defined numerous ways. But off the top of my head I would surmise that bringing inentional
pain to one's self for the purpose of subduing the passions is not an unhealthy thing, but to cause intentional
injury to one's self is not a godly endeavor. For example, when we excercise we bring intentional pain to our body; but this pain is not injurious, but healthy.
Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and thus we must not defile them- either with sinful pleasures or masochistic torments. St. Paul said,
"I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." [I Corinthians 9:27]But I think that the authentic Christian life in general is essentially a life of sef-imposed suffering. I imagine that every Orthodox poster on this forum has or is suffering in some way. Our Lord told us that if we are to come after Him, we must
"deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him." [St. Luke 9:23]Selam
