περίλυπος (per-il'-oo-pos): The Hell-encompassing suffering of redeeming Love or the inner torment in its rejection

The Prayer for the Cup

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περίλυπος (perílypos)

Etymology and Definition

From περί + λύπη: Exceeding/overwhelming/encompassing (peri) grief/sorrow/pain/anguish (lupos)

4 occurrences in the NT

All of which come to us in the synoptic Gospels.

Summary Synthesis

The Hell-encompassing suffering of redeeming Love or the inner torment within the heart of man in its rejection for the deceits of this passing age.

Detailed Analysis

The opening and the third instances of perílypos speak of the suffering of Christ in the Garden, when He begins, as has been contended, to bear the weight of the sins of the world. Taking with Him the inner circle of disciples, “He began,” the Gospel writer says, “to be anguished (λυπεῖσθαι [lypéō]) and deeply distressed” (καὶ ἀδημονεῖν [adēmonéō], Mt 26:37, cf. Mk 14:34). Articulating the agony to Peter and the sons of Zebedee, the word Jesus uses to express his inner state is perílypos: Literally, “Perílypos—Encompassed with grief/sorrow/pain is my soul (ψυχή [psyche]) even unto death” (26:38).

“The sorrows of Hell encompassed” Him “and the snares of death came upon” His soul (Ps 18:5).

Jesus then begs his disciples to “remain with” Him and “watch/stay awake/be vigilant (γρηγορεῖτε [grēgoreúō] with” Him (26:39). Then “going a little further and falling on his face, He prays, saying ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me—nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’ (οὐχ ὡς ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλ’ ὡς σύ.

Or in Luke’s Gospel, “Not mine, but Your will be done” (πλὴν μὴ τὸ θέλημά μου ἀλλὰ τὸ σὸν γινέσθω, Lk 22:42-> Mt 6:10).

This is the first image brought to our minds with perílypos.

Then from this all-encompassing sorrows of death and Hell itself, the next use brings us into the inner turmoil of King Herod when he is asked by Herodias’ daughter for “the head of John the Baptist” (Mk 6:25). For while he had imprisoned John, he nevertheless knew him to be a prophet, “righteous and holy” to the degree that he not only “feared him,” but even “protected him” (6:19). And John being with him, the Gospel specifies that, though “perplexed” by his words (ἠπόρει), he “heard him gladly” (6:20).

When, however, taken in by the enticements of beauty, feasting on his birthday with the “high officers and chief men of Galilee,” Herod ultimately gives in. And in this tension of what he knew and what he desired, Mark tells us, the king was exceedingly sorry (perílypos). He somehow, even if but for a moment, felt deep within him the eternal horror what this would cost him; “yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not refuse her” (6:26). But “immediately sent for an executioner,” and commanded him to carry out the murderous request.

For a period, Herod had been granted access to one “sent from God” who “bore witness to the Light” (Jn 1:6-8). “The lust of the eye,” however, “the lust of the flesh and the pride of life,” which the Apostle testifies, are “not of the Father but of the world” held him too tightly in their grips (I Jn 2:16). The tension between the Kingdom and the lusts of This Age formed a battle ground in his heart, articulated in the intensity of perílypos, which bears witness to us of what happens in the soul of a man who rejects the perílypos of Christ, only to bear it himself.

The final use expresses a very similar tension in the heart and soul of man, yet here in relation to, “the deceitfulness of riches” (ἀπάτη τοῦ πλούτου), “the thorns” that work within us to “strangle the Word and make it unfruitful” (ἄκαρπος, Mt 13:22). In this passage, perílypos expresses the inner state of the rich young ruler when Jesus tells him,

“Yet one thing you lack—Sell all that you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasures in Heaven; and come, follow me” (Lk 18:22).

“And when he heard this, he was perílypos—for he was very rich” (πλούσιος σφόδρα, 18:23). Then Jesus, discerning the depths of his inner turmoil, says to his disciples,

“How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Lk 18:24-25).

So the story ends, as with that before it, in bitter tension and with it, perílypos has taken us through the life of Jesus into the suffering of His Passion, which willing suffering of redeeming Love the heart of man can either receive by grace unto salvation or reject for the deceitfulness of This Age, choosing instead to bear its eternal weight of grief ever within ourselves.