How many paradisaic characters have you known?

[romano]

Father Alexander Yelchaninov (1881-1934) wrote in his diary:

"There are persons of a wonderful, paradisaic character, with souls born before Adam’s fall – childlike, simple, and direct, unacquainted with anger and untruth. And this is not the result of a struggle within themselves, of an effort; they are born that way – without sin. And, curiously enough, these persons very often stand outside the Church, and sometimes live entirely without religion. They are too simple, too much of one piece, to be able to live by principles drawn from theology; they are too modest and chaste to express their feelings in words or signs. . . ."

How many such persons have you known?

 

[puzzleannie]

this perfectly described several children and adults I have helped prepare for the sacraments, those born with cognitive disorders, communication disorders, who radiate simple childlike knowledge of God and faith. Can’t explain it but know it when I see it. Whether as this priest claims they are born without original sin, I cannot say, but they are certainly innocent of the knowledge of the possibility of actual sin and entirely untroubled by the concept.

 

[romano]

puzzleannie:

this perfectly described several children and adults I have helped prepare for the sacraments, those born with cognitive disorders, communication disorders, who radiate simple childlike knowledge of God and faith. Can’t explain it but know it when I see it. Whether as this priest claims they are born without original sin, I cannot say, but they are certainly innocent of the knowledge of the possibility of actual sin and entirely untroubled by the concept.

Interesting. But Fr. Yelchaninov isn’t talking about people with “cognitive” or “communication disorders.” He’s talking about otherwise perfectly normal adults, not the mentally defective. I know what he’s talking about because I know one such person myself. She has pursued a very successful career and has degrees in mathematics.