Akedia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A state of spiritual listlessness and apathy in which a person feels indifferent to prayer, faith and religious obligations
2. Spiritual torpor or weariness marked by a lack of care for one's devotional life and moral duties
3. The condition of being spiritually sluggish and indifferent, a neglect of religious duty born of boredom and dejection

Etymology: Akedia comes from ancient Greek "akēdia," literally "lack of care," formed from the negative prefix "a-" and "kēdos," meaning care or concern. It was a term for spiritual listlessness, a state of restless boredom and indifference toward one's religious duties. Early Christian monks in the deserts of Egypt and Syria in the fourth century wrote about it as one of the chief temptations of the day, sometimes personified as a demon that brought on a weary sense that time was crawling. The word reached English in the modern era, in the nineteenth century, as a learned borrowing, and it has stayed largely a term for specialists in monastic and theological history. Its later relative, "acedia," shows up in English texts with the same meaning, and the Latin form "acedia" carried the concept into Western medieval thought, where it was later folded into the wider idea of sloth among the seven deadly sins.

Synonyms: acedia, apathy, listlessness, torpor, sloth

Antonyms: zeal, diligence, eagerness, enthusiasm