St Basil the Great, St Gregory the Theologian, St John Chrysostom and the Social Issues of their Time

The Church as a Therapeutic Center: The Therapy of the Soul

by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

From Pemptousia

Holy Cross Orthodox Church Yakima WA, Great and Holy Wednesday 2012

Sacrament of Holy Unction

The subject of the therapy of the soul is extremely important for the Orthodox

Church because it expresses the essence of spiritual life. Before

elaborating on this crucial topic, I would like to give some introductory 

explanations.

First, when discussing the therapy of the soul, we do not believe in dualism,

which makes a clear distinction between soul and body, as is the case in

ancient Greek philosophy or some present Eastern religions. Man has two

hypostases, since he consists of soul and body. The soul is not the whole 

man but just the soul of man; the body is not the whole man but just the body

of man. The body is tightly connected to the soul and takes part in all its 

states. The body receives both the fall of the soul as well as its resurrection.

Thus we speak about the death of the body, which is an outcome of the death

of the soul, and about the deification of the body, which comes as a result of 

the deification of the soul. Saint Gregory Palamas teaches that the nous is 

man’s first physical intelligent organ and also teaches that the Grace of God

is ferried through the soul to the body, which is attached to the soul.

Second, the teaching that the Church is a spiritual Hospital and that true 

theology is related to the therapy of the soul is not an isolated part of the 

teaching about the Church, but rather the way and requirement for the 

experiencing of church life and the acquisition of the Orthodox church 

spirit. Of course, the basis of church life is the holy Eucharist, in which 

man partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ. But the entire teaching of

the holy Fathers for the therapy of man is a prerequisite for the correct 

partaking of the holy Eucharist. It is well known that the communion of the

Body and Blood of Christ is light,Kingdom of God, and Paradise for those

in the proper spiritual condition for the holy Communion to act. At the same

time, it is Hell and “condemnation” for all those not cleansed. The teaching

of the Fathers of the Church on this point is telling indeed. Furthermore, the

sacrament of Baptism is, and is called, an introductory sacrament that 

makes us members of the Body of Christ. But, in the ancient Church, 

Catechism, which aimed at man’s therapy, preceded Baptism, and 

asceticism followed Baptism. Christ said: “Go and teach all nations 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy 

Spirit, teaching them to do what I have given to you” (Matt. 28:16–20).

Third, when speaking about the therapy of the soul and, more generally, the therapy of man, we mean nothing else but Orthodox hesychasm. As it is known, Orthodox hesychasm forms the basis of all Ecumenical and Local Synods, because through hesychasm we obtain the experience of Revelation through which we know that Christ is the true God, that the Holy Spirit is God, that the natures are united inseparably, un-changeably, and un-dividedly. For this reason, the fourteenth-century Synods that confirmed Orthodox hesychasm, in the presence of the great Church theologian and Father Saint Gregory Palamas, in reality presented the method through which man can be saved, deified, and go from the image to the likeness. Orthodox hesychasm consists of the transformation of the powers of the soul, of man’s deliverance and liberation from the evil one who rules over man with the spiritual and bodily passions, of the deification of soul and body. In fact, the fourteenth-century Synods state that if a Christian does not accept the teaching of Saint Gregory Palamas and of the monks who speak about Orthodox hesychia as a method for the cleansing of the soul, he should be expelled from the Church.

The Church offers the true life; it transforms biological life, sanctifies and transforms societies. Orthodoxy, if experienced properly and functioning according to the holy Fathers, is a communion of God and man, heaven and earth, living and deceased. In this communion all problems emerging in our life are truly solved.

Other religions, particularly those originating from the East, are indeed the opiate of the people, because they transfer the problem to the transcendental world, they alienate men from society, they tear apart interpersonal relationships and destroy man. The Orthodox Church is true precisely because it heals man; it functions as a therapeutic center, an infirmary of souls, a Hospital. This is why it is very modern to be an Orthodox Christian.

The Main Task of the Church Is to Cure

The objective of the Church is to lead man to God, after curing him. Man’s fall from Paradise, the true communion with God, brought terrible changes to anthropology and sociology. Christ’s incarnation healed man and led him to communion with God. Therefore, the main task of the Church is to cure man.

This objective of the Church is seen in Christ’s well-known parable of the good Samaritan. According to Saint John Chrysostom’s interpretation, the man who fell into the hands of robbers is Adam and his descendants who stepped down from the heavenly polity to the polity of the devil’s deceit, which wounded them deeply. The good Samaritan is Christ, who incarnated to cure the wounded man. He gave life to the almost-dead man with wine and oil, that is, with His Blood and the Holy Spirit. Then he carried him to the inn, which is the Church, to be healed. The innkeeper is the Apostles and after them the clerics, who have the commandment to heal men wounded by the devil. Thus, in this parable it is clear that the Church is a Hospital that cures men who are sick because of sin, and the bishops-priests are therapists of the people of God.

Christ referred to His healing work elsewhere too. He said: “They that be whole need not a physician but they that are sick” (Matt. 9:12). All of His sayings referring to the acquisition of humility, the realization of sin, repentance, and so on, show that the Son and Word of God became human to defeat death, sin, and the devil, and to deify man. Hence, all His work refers to man’s cure.

In one of his sermons, Saint Gregory the Theologian presents Christ’s work as curing. His incarnation was aimed at man’s cure. Christ assumed the whole nature of man because “what is not assumed is also not healed.” Everything Christ did aimed at man’s cure. “All this was to educate us in God and to cure our illness”. This is why Christ is often called a physician, a therapist of soul and body. He is also called medicine because cure takes place by the eating and drinking of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Therefore, Christ is both healer and medicine. There are several phrases in the Liturgy describing these qualities of Christ. By the Grace of Christ, clerics throughout the centuries are also healers of the people. Saint Gregory writes: “We who preside over the others are servants and collaborators for this cure.” Every work undertaken by bishops-priests must aim at man’s salvation, at his deification. This is why it has been said characteristically that the task of the Church is to create relics. This means that when man is cured and attains deification, his body is also deified and becomes a relic, by Christ’s Grace.

To read this essay in full please continue here

"For God so Loved the World, that He Gave" John 3:16

Judas Betrays Our Lord-Mural in the Church of Panagia Dexia, Thessaloniki, Greece

The Orthodox Christian Faith views all the work of Christ as an outpouring of Grace, and not in legalistic terms. Christ fulfills the law and dies on the cross, as an indictment against Satan and not because God needed to be appeased; "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham" Hebrews 2:14-16. It was not God the Father, who was holding us captive, but the evil one (Death and sin were the instruments of his tyranny). All the manifestations of God in the Old Testament are manifestations of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son. YHVH, Who revealed Himself to Moses as the I AM, is the very same Person as Yeshua, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Saviour exposes the deception of the accuser when He said; "He ( Satan) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it". John 8:44. The so called doctrine of atonement is a western view of the cross, and it is not Orthodox. This western heretical view of the atonement is formulated by Anselm of Canterbury ( 1033-1109) in his Cur Deus Homo. 

Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in The Hands of An Angry God" is a most grievous slander against the love of the Father. He writes, 

"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell."

But the tone in the Scriptures is much different,  "If God is for us, who can be against us?. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom.8:31-32. Christ did not die on the cross to appease an angry God but to destroy the work of our enemy, the devil. Our Lord 'destroyed Death by death'(from the Paschal Canon). The cross is a most elocuent love letter from the One and only God "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" 1st Tim. 2:4.

Read also, "Once Delivered to The Saints" by Fr. Michael Azkoul, ISBN: 0-913026-84-0 p.128 and note 47 , on the bottom of the page. and in page 133,D "His lost honor must be recompensed or punishment must follow, lest he be unjust to Himself". How far removed is this from the Faith once delivered to the saints!

1)St Gregory the Theologian, in Oration 45:22 states; "Now we are to examine another fact and dogma, neglected by most people, but in my judgment well worth enquiring into. To Whom was that Blood offered that was shed for us, and why was It shed? I mean the precious and famous Blood of our God and High priest and Sacrifice. We were detained in bondage by the Evil One, sold under sin, and receiving pleasure in exchange for wickedness. Now, since a ransom belongs only to him who holds in bondage, I ask to whom was this offered, and for what cause? If to the Evil One, fie upon the outrage! If the robber receives ransom, not only from God, but a ransom which consists of God Himself, and has such an illustrious payment for his tyranny, a payment for whose sake it would have been right for him to have left us alone altogether. But if to the Father, I ask first, how? For it was not by Him that we were being oppressed; and next, On what principle did the Blood of His Only begotten Son delight the Father, Who would not receive even Isaac, when he was being offered by his Father, but changed the sacrifice, putting a ram in the place of the human victim? Is it not evident that the Father accepts Him, but neither asked for Him nor demanded Him; but on account of the Incarnation, and because Humanity must be sanctified by the Humanity of God, that He might deliver us Himself, and overcome the tyrant, and draw us to Himself by the mediation of His Son, Who also arranged this to the honour of the Father, Whom it is manifest that He obeys in all things? So much we have said of Christ; the greater part of what we might say shall be reverenced with silence. But that brazen serpent [Numbers 21:9] was hung up as a remedy for the biting serpents, not as a type of Him that suffered for us, but as a contrast; and it saved those that looked upon it, not because they believed it to live, but because it was killed, and killed with it the powers that were subject to it, being destroyed as it deserved. And what is the fitting epitaph for it from us? O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? You are overthrown by the Cross; you are slain by Him who is the Giver of life; you are without breath, dead, without motion, even though you keep the form of a serpent lifted up on high on a pole". As quoted by Felix Culpa in ORA ET LABORA here

2) St Nikolai Velimirovich, from the Akathist To Jesus Conqueror of Death, Translated into English from the original Serbian by St Paisius Monastery, Safford Arizona, 2009, Ikos Three p.18 "Dulled by sin, the people supposed that Thou were fighting against them, so they rejoiced when they raised Thee on the cross, rejoicing as victors over their enemy. But Thy battle was not against man, O Lover of mankind, but against the prince of this world and his myriad of legions who hold mankind in their chains, who play a foolish game with every human body, immorally pouring poison into human souls...Thou didst Thyself descend onto the battlefield; to reveal the weakness of the evil spirits Thou didst choose death as a weapon in the battle against them. Having gained the victory over evil spirits Thou didst destroy sin, having destroyed sin Thou didst trample down death, having trampled down death Thou didst dispel fear, and that prison of slaves, the world, Thou has proclaimed to be the home of freedom, O Jesus my Freedom, Jesus my Courage, Jesus my Light, Jesus my Friend, Jesus my Saviour, Jesus my Conqueror, have mercy on me".

3) St. Ireneus, “Against the Heresies,” Book 3, Chp. 23 "For if man, who had been created by God that he might live, after losing life, through being injured by the serpent that had corrupted him, should not any more return to life, but should be utterly [and for ever] abandoned to death, God would [in that case] have been conquered, and the wickedness of the serpent would have prevailed over the will of God. But inasmuch as God is invincible and long-suffering, He did indeed show Himself to be long-suffering in the matter of the correction of man and the probation of all, as I have already observed; and by means of the second man did He bind the strong man, and spoiled his goods, and abolished death, vivifying that man who had been in a state of death. For at the first Adam became a vessel in his (Satan’s) possession, whom he did also hold under his power, that is, by bringing sin on him iniquitously, and under color of immortality entailing death upon him. For, while promising that they should be as gods, which was in no way possible for him to be, he wrought death in them: wherefore he who had led man captive, was justly captured in his turn by God; but man, who had been led captive, was loosed from the bonds of condemnation". 

4) St John Chrysostom, 6th Homily on Colossians. '…he means that the devil held possession of it, the bond which God made for Adam, saying, "In the day thou eatest of the tree, thou shalt die.” (Genesis 2:17.) This bond then the devil held in his possession. And Christ did not give it to us, but Himself tore it in two, the action of one who remits joyfully'. Source

5) St. Nicholas Cabasilas. Tr. Carmino J. deCatanzaro. The Life in Christ (Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 1974.) pp.162-4. Against the Western Concept of Atonement: Turning Man who Believed Himself the Object of Hate“Just as human affection, when it abounds, overpowers those who love and causes them to be beside themselves, so God's love for men emptied God (Phil 2:7).... He seeks love in return and does not withdraw when He is treated with disdain. He is not angry over ill treatment, but even when He has been repulsed He sits by the door (cf. Rev 3:20) and does everything to show us that He loves, even enduring suffering and death to prove it....It was necessary, then, that the greatness of His love should not remain hidden, but that He should give the proof of the greatest love and by loving display the utmost measure of love. So He devised this self-emptying and carried it out, and made the instrument [i.e., Christ's human nature] by which He might be able to endure terrible things and to suffer pain. When he had thus proved by the things which He endured that He indeed loves exceedingly, He turned man, who had fled from the Good One because he had believed himself to be the object of hate, towards Himself....What could be equal to that affection? What has a man ever loved so greatly? What mother ever loved so tenderly (Is. 49:15), what father so loved his children? Who has ever been seized by such a mania of love for anything beautiful whatever, so that because of it he not only willingly allows himself to be wounded by the object of his love without swerving from his affection towards the ungrateful one, but even prizes the very wounds above everything?” Source

6) And St Silouan,( He entitles his poem Ádam’s Lament) at the realization of such a wondrous love, weeps with great sadness! :“The desert cannot pleasure me; nor the high mountains, nor meadow nor forest,nor the singing of birds.I have no pleasure in anything.My soul sorrows with great sorrow:I have grieved God.And were the Lord to set me down in Paradise again, there too, I would sorrow and weep-Oh why did I grieve my beloved God?” From St Silouan, The Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony, p.450

7) St Symeon The New Theologian, Hymns of Divine Love, Trans. by George A. Maloney,p 45-46“And being in the middle of my cell, I see Him who is outside of the world as here present,I see Him and I converse with Him and, dare I then to say it!I love Him and He loves me.I eat, I nourish myself with only this contemplation.And being made one with Him, I am transported above the heavens.That this is true and certain I know. I know that He who remains immovable descends.I know that He who is invisible appears to me.I know that He who is separated from all creation takes me within Himself and hides me in His arms.….And I know that I will not die because I am inside of Life,and that I have the entire Life that completely flows out from within me.He is in my heart.."

"Christ's victory over the grave is now, today as the Feast of Pascha ecstatically proclaims. He is already the 'firstfruits' of the Age to Come, the first man of the new creation. The last enemy, death, is already destroyed( 1 Cor.15:26). The creation is already offered and accepted by God the Father as a 'sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor' Eph.5:2, meaning that 'the remission of sins' has been achieved, the regenerated creation has been offered to the Father, and the risen Lord, re-presenting mankind, ascends to the Right Hand of Majesty. Finally, the Holy Spirit is sent by Christ to His people. "The Church is the Age to Come,"St. John Chrysostom said. Nothing any longer impedes the koinonia (communion) between the Creator and the creature, save disbelief". From Once Delivered to The Saints" by Michael Azkoul, St Nectarios Press 2000, p.130

And St. John the Apostle , joins the choir of the redeemed saying;

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain [Rev.5:12]
and has redeemed us to God by His blood [Rev.5:9]
To receive power and riches and wisdom
And strength and honor and glory and blessing. [Rev.5:12]

Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him,
Who sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb
forever, and ever [Rev.5:13]

..Amen! [Rev.5:14]

The Holy Belt of the Theotokos

The Holy Belt of the Theotokos Source
In the fall of 2002, I had the blessing of visiting Mount Athos for
the second time. I stayed at the Holy Monastery of Vatopaidi for
a couple of days of spiritual blessings. It would be hard to choose
which of the relics or icons had the most impact on me. The
sash of the Theotokos especially touches my heart because it
demonstrates the love that the most holy Virgin has for us. I was
in awe when I was finally able to get close to it and kiss it and
venerate it. The monastery blesses pieces of ribbon with this
belt and gives it to pilgrims seeking to have children. The men
take it home to their wives who wear this ribbon for two weeks
while fasting. At the end of this period the couple goes to their
priest and after receiving his blessing, they go home and unite
as husband and wife. In this way many are able to conceive.
The monks say they have lost count of all the children who have
been conceived in this manner. Among some of the relics kept
in this monastery are the heads of St Gregory the Theologian,
St John Chrysostom and St Eudokimos. There are also relics
belonging to St Bartholomew, St Hermolaus, St Panteleimon,
St Tryphon, St Theodore Stratelates, and many others.
Among the many wonder-working icons of the monastery the
icon of the Theotokos Panthanassa has healed many people
from cancer. I also had the blessing of kissing Elder Joseph's
hand and received his blessing. May his memory be eternal. 

THE HOLY GIRDLE OF OUR LADY

The Girdle of the Blessed Virgin Mary, today divided into three pieces, is the only remaining relic of her earthly life. According to tradition, the girdle was made out of camel hair by the Virgin Mary herself, and after her Dormition, at her Assumption, she gave it to the Apostle Thomas. During the early centuries of the Christian era it was kept at Jerusalem and in the 4th century we hear of it at Zela in Cappadocia. In the same century, Theodosius the Great brought it back to Jerusalem, and from there his son Arcadius took it to Constantinople. There it was originally deposited in the Chalcoprateion church, whence it was transferred by the Emperor Leo to the Vlachernae church (458). During the reign of Leo VI ‘the Wise’ (886-912), it was taken to the Palace, where it cured his sick wife, the Empress Zoe. She, as an act of thanksgiving to the Mother of God, embroidered the whole girdle with gold thread, giving it the appearance which it bears today.

In the 12th century, in the reign of Manuel I Comnenus (1143-1180), the Feast of the Holy Girdle on 31 August was officially introduced; previously it had shared the Feast of the Vesture of the Virgin on 1 July. The Girdle itself remained in Constantinople until the 12th century, when, in the course of a defeat of Isaacius by the Bulgar King Asan (1185), it was stolen and taken to Bulgaria, and from there it later came into the hands of the Serbs. It was presented to Vatopaidi by the Serbian Prince Lazarus I (1372-1389), together with a large piece of the True Cross. Since then it has been kept in the sanctuary of the katholikon. Under Turkish rule, the brethren of the Monastery took it on journeys to Crete, Macedonia, Thrace, Constantinople and Asia Minor, to distribute its blessing, to strengthen the morale of the enslaved Greeks and to bring freedom from infectious diseases.

The miracles performed by the Holy Girdle in various ages are innumerable. The following are a very few examples:

At one time, the inhabitants of Ainos called for the presence of the Holy Girdle and the Vatopaidi monks accompanying it received hospitality at the house of a priest, whose wife surreptitiously removed a piece of it. When the fathers embarked to leave, although the sea was calm, the ship remained immobile. The priest’s wife, seeing this strange phenomenon, realised that she had done wrong and gave the monks the piece of the Girdle, whereupon the ship was able to leave immediately. It was because of this event that the second case was made. The piece in question has been kept in this down to the present.

During the Greek War of Independence of 1821, the Holy Girdle was taken to Crete at the request of the people of the island, who were afflicted by the plague. When, however, the monks were preparing to return to the Monastery, they were arrested by the Turks and taken off to be hanged, while the Holy Girdle was redeemed by the British Consul, Domenikos Santantonio. From there the Girdle was taken to Santorini, to the Consul’s new home. News of this quickly spread throughout the island. The local bishop informed the Vatopaidi Monastery and the Abbot, Dionysios, was sent, in 1831, to Santorini. The Consul asked the sum of 15,000 piastres to hand over the Girdle, and the people of the island, with touching eagerness, managed to collect together the money. Thus the Holy Girdle was bought back and Abbot Dionysios returned it to Vatopaidi.

What had happen with the priest’s wife of Ainos was repeated in the case of the Consul’s wife. She too, un beknown to her husband, cut off a small piece of the Holy Girdle before it was handed back to the Abbot Dionysios. Within a very short period her husband died suddenly and her mother and sister became gravely ill. In 1839, she wrote to the Monastery asking that representatives should be sent to take possession of the piece which she had removed.

In 1864, the Holy Girdle was taken to Constantinople, since there was a cholera epidemic among the inhabitants. As soon as the ship bearing it approached the harbour, the cholera ceased and none of those already suffering from it died. This strange miracle excited the curiosity of the Sultan, who had the Girdle brought to the Palace so that he could reverence it.

During the time when the Holy Girdle was at Constantinople, a Greek of Galata asked that it should be taken to his house, since his son was seriously ill. When, however, the Holy Girdle arrived at his house, his son was already dead. The monks, however, did not give up hope. They asked to see the dead boy, and as soon as the Girdle was placed on him, he was raised from the dead.

In 1894, the inhabitants of Madytos in Asia Minor sought that the Holy Girdle should be taken there because a plague of locusts was destroying their trees and crops. When the ship carrying the Girdle came into the harbour, the sky was filled with clouds of locusts, which then began to fall into the sea, so that it was difficult for the vessel to anchor. The people of Madytos, seeing the miracle, kept up a constant chant of Kyrie eleison from the shore.

Down to our own times, the Holy Girdle has continued to work many miracles, particularly in the case of infertile women, who, when they request it, are given a piece of cord from the case holding the Girdle and, if they have faith, become pregnant.Source