Customer Reviews

Orthodox Psychotherapy

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I can't tell you how much this book has changed my life. I've been a therapist for years and a friend of mine has begged me to read this book. I despised psychobabble-fluff. After this book I know why! It's a bit difficult to understand particularly if you're not familiar with the Orthodox Church but don't let that scare you off! It's well worth the struggle!

What is the purpose of the Church and the goal of following Christ? It's not always easy to answer these questions given the range of experiences and agendas people bring. Vlachos' answer is that the Christian Church is not in essence a religious institution but a clinic for spiritual therapy. Human beings are plagued with disorders of the soul, which Christ came to heal us from and allow us to regain communion with God. Ordained leaders should be those who have been healed themselves and are able to make informed diagnosis and treatment of others. He delves deeply into Patristic psychological writings and draws out the methods and experiences of healing the mind and the heart which have been practiced in the church since earliest times. Special emphasis is put on the 'hesychastic' tradition as represented by the Philokalia and other spiritual writers such as John Climacus and Symeon the New Theologian. Vlachos believes this is the premier method of spiritual healing and the authentic tradition of the Church as 'hospital' for the soul.

Based on my other intellectual investigation and practical pastoral experience I would generally accept his thesis about the nature of the Church. To the extent that it operates as a 'religious' group based around rituals and theological confessions it tends to either have little spiritual power or to actively harm people within it. A book like this is important to reorient us towards the specific purpose for which the Christian church was founded, and the methods by which it should achieve its work. There are of course many things that the Church is and does, but spiritual healing and transformation is the cornerstone of this work, and one that is unfortunately often missing. And because it is, so much else becomes distorted and useless. There is a profound challenge issued here for those who want to lead, that intelligence or natural empathy is not enough to be a pastor - genuine experience of 'deification' is necessary. While I do accept this as a necessity, it is disheartening in some way to think that according to his definition about 99% of Christian congregations are led by people who are unqualified for the job. The way indeed is narrow, and few are those who find it.

This is an important and profound book, and deserves a five-star rating. But it also appears to be only lightly edited or was written with haste. The numerous quotations and references to patristic writings tend to undercut the structure and flow of the chapters, leading to a bit of obscurity as to the argument in several places. He also relies very heavily on the vocabulary and analysis of the Fathers, where I believe what we really need is a genuine translation of this material into a modern idiom. More discussion of how to apply this to ordinary believers as well would be of help. This is a line of development of church life that needs to continue.

Update: I have recently discovered the work of Sergey Horujy, of the Institute of Synergetic Anthropology in Moscow. He appears to be developing precisely the kind of updated reading of patristic psychotherapy that I believe is the next step after Vlachos. His essays on hesychasm are highly recommended.

Birth of the Theotokos Monastery (Levadia, Greece) released this translation of +Hierotheos' (Metropolitan of Nafpaktos) text in 1994. Already well into distribution of the fourth reprint of same, the Monastery responds to the hunger of seekers for counsel about Orthodox Christian treatment for troubles of soul, nous, heart, and mind.

Esther Williams, English-language translator, superbly conveys compassion as embedded in the Greek manuscript. His Eminence, the author, opens the therapeutic advice of pre-Schism Fathers of the Church, such as St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. John Chrysostom, to illustrate protracted evangelism by the Holy Church to 'Person.' Authentic compassion by the author ignites the reader's "Person' to participate in therapy and cure according to the Gospel of Christ.

Concepts in this book alternate between familiar and obtuse to contemporary psychotherapists with training in medicine, psychology, nursing, psychoanalysis, or other modern-sciences without theological foundations or associations identified. Indeed, anyone with modest or no lexical foundation in patristic literature's might mistake the author's vein as occult and/or Gnostic. If the text were to include a dictionary of terms in a subsequent edition (unknown by this reviewer), it would go far to reduce faulty interpretations. However, as it stands now, generous indices of 'persons' and 'subjects' compensate for lack of dictionary.

No doubt modern or post-modern readers may trip on the word 'science' in this book. The central premise of 'Orthodox Psychotherapy' is that Nature can be studied by 'science.' In short, His Eminence +Hierotheus defines science as Nature transformed among Christians so that they may act according to planned therapy and reflect upon consequences of their actions. The study of therapy and consequences to actions can happen within theology alone. Finally, lest mistakes divide readers, the author advances prayer as theology, which is the emphasis of the Orthodox Church concerning theosis or deification. Theosis is the only purpose of the Christian's life.

The mind and, much less, the nous remain charted yet mystical domains in human experience. Mind and nous both disclose and guard their subject. When they disclose, risk of illusion necessitates caution over any attempt to create a spiritual manual, such as a manual for Confession. The author exercises such caution in two major ways. First, he sticks close to the paths of 'watchfulness' cleared by the 'Neptic' Fathers. Second, he returns often to the counsels of St. Gregory Palamas concerning stillness of mind.

I am enthusiastic when recommending this text with two proviso's: (1) Read, discuss, debate, pray, and write about chapter 1: 'What Christianity is' along with 'Author's Prologue' and "Introduction' over time; (2) 'Study' this book by way of prayer.

While this book may not be for the novice it is certainly a glimpse into the knowledge of psychology that the early Christians possessed. It presents a very mature, mystical and dare I say? more Gnostic version of Christianity. It is a fantastic must read for anyone who is a therapist trying to present meditation to Christian clients. These days with so many therapies incorporating meditation and mindfulness into treatment; DBT, ACT, MBSR, and the vast majority of the clients having a background within the Christian tradition this book is a fabulous adjunct to the field. It does not however contain any clinical language from the actual modern field of psychotherapy. It addresses therapy and the mind through the Orthodox Christian view. I found it to be very devotional and beautiful despite occasional theological discourse.
Readers who are therapists and are interested in applying this to their work with clients should know briefly that, Orthodox Christianity is much closer to the original Christianity than Catholicism. While you can find much on the net to refute this statement, by actually travelling to Monasteries such as Mount Athos and others as well as the Vatican, it is very easy to see that these guys were the original Catholic church before it became a vehicle for political power. Thus this is the reason why you find so much depth psychology in Eastern Orthodox teachings and virtually none in Roman Catholic teachings. See the writings of the "Philokalia" for more evidence of this.