THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL MEDICINE

“The Science of Spiritual Medicine”

Orthodox Psychotherapy in Action

Introduction  

Part 1 - Orthodox and Humanistic Psychotherapy  

Opening Remarks    

1. “The Science of Spiritual Medicine”

     1. The Quinisext Ecumenical Council          

     2. The Text of Canon     

     3. Analysis of Canon     

2. Orthodoxy: Ideology or Therapy?

     1. What is Orthodoxy?        

     2. The Holy Fathers 

3. Liturgy and “Non-Liturgy”

     1. The Original Liturgy       

     2. “Non-Liturgy”    

     3. Sharing the Life of the Church     

4. St Gregory Palamas in Our Time  

     1. Theology and the Vision of God  

     2. Philosophy and the Knowledge of God   

     3. Psychoanalysis and Unification of the Soul          

     4. Action and Hesychasm    

5. Metaphysics and Theology

     1. The Central Message of the Book Orthodox Psychotherapy 

     2. The Importance of the Holy Fathers        

     3. Orthodox Theology heals Human Beings

     4. Analysis of the Content of the Book         

6. Humanistic and Orthodox Psychotherapy           

     1. The Emergence of Psychotherapy

     2. Orthodox Psychotherapy 

     3. Essential Clarifications    

     4. Differences between Humanistic and Orthodox Psychotherapy  

a) Ontology of the Soul-Psyche and Psychotherapy

b) Health of the Soul

c) Illness of the Soul

d) Healing the Soul

e) The Distinction between Created and Uncreated

7. Psychosomatic Illnesses    

Part 2 - Illness and the Passions

Opening Remarks    

1. Illness of the Soul According to the Orthodox Church   

     1. The Function of the Nous - the Noetic Faculty     

     2. Consequences of the Dysfunction of the Nous     

2. Inner States

     1. Self-sufficiency    

     2. Despair   

     3. Courage  

3. Self-Love    

     1. What is Self-Love?           

     2. The Consequences of the Passion of Self-Love     

     3. The Cure for Self-Love    

4. Envy            

     1. What is Envy?     

     2. How Envy Manifests Itself          

     3. The Consequences of Envy          

     4. How the Passion of Envy is Cured          

5. Self-Indulgence     

     1. Names and Definitions of the Passion     

     2. Types of Sensual Pleasure and How They Function         

     3. The Origin of Sensual Pleasure    

     4. The Consequences of Self-Indulgence      

     5. The Cure for Self-Indulgence       

6. The Imaginative Faculty, Fantasy and Imagination        

     1. Terms Used by the Holy Fathers 

     2. Defining the Imaginative Faculty and Fantasy     

     3. Imagination and Fantasy as a Phenomenon of Man’s Fallen State

     4. Four Kinds of Imagination          

     5. Manifestations of Fantasy and Imagination         

     6. The Consequences of Fantasy and Imagination   

     7. Imagination, Fantasy and Prayer 

     8. Imagination, Fantasy and Theology         

     9. Liberation from Fantasy and Imagination

7. Dreams       

     1. What are Dreams?           

     2. Types of Dreams 

     3. Dreams and Passions       

     4. Dealing with Dreams      

8. The Problem of Suffering 

     1. Suffering is Part of Our Life         

     2. The Causes of Suffering   

     3. The Benefits Derived from Suffering       

     4. Dealing with Suffering    

9. The Devil and His Wiles   

     1. The Existence of the Devil

     2. Types of Demon  

     3. Whom Does the Devil Attack and In Whom Does He Act?          

     4. How the Devil Fights Human Beings      

     5. The Devil’s Tactics          

     6. Confronting the Devil     

Part 3 - Healing     

Opening Remarks    

1. The Meaning and Method of Healing in the Orthodox Church 

     1. The Method of Healing   

     2. The Teaching of St Silouan the Athonite on Healing        

2. Healing According to St Gregory Palamas           

     1. Sacramental Life  

     2. Hesychastic Life  

3. Spiritual Health     

     1. Love for God       

     2. God’s Justice       

     3. Godly Humility   

     4. Converting Thoughts      

     5. Ascending to a Higher Level of Life        

4. Spiritual Tuning    

     1. Being Out of Tune and In Tune   

     2. The Neptic Life of St Basil the Great        

     3. Monasticism and Married Life     

5. The Priest as Healer According to St Gregory the Theologian   

     1. What is Healing? 

     2. Priesthood as a Therapeutic Science        

     3. The Priest and Bishop as Healers 

     4. Methods of Healing         

     5. Denial and Acceptance of Priesthood      

6. Spiritual Fatherhood and the Sacred Canons      

     1. The Theology of Spiritual Fatherhood     

     2. The Sacred Canons and Man’s Healing   

7. Spiritual Priesthood and the Remission of Sins  

     1. Sacramental Priesthood   

     2. Spiritual Priesthood         

     3. Remission of Sins

8. Bringing up Children according to St John Chrysostom

     1. The Purpose of Marriage 

     2. The Presence of Children in the Family   

     3. Those Responsible for Bringing Up Children       

     4. Youth is a Difficult Age   

     5. Bringing Up Children Well          

     6. How Children Should be Brought Up      

     7. Bringing Up Children in the Church        

9. Idleness and Work 

     1. The Problem of Idleness  

     2. The Value of Work          

     3. Inner Work          

Part 4 - Fruits of Healing      

Opening Remarks    

1. Divine Providence 

     1. What is Divine Providence?         

     2. The Purpose of Divine Providence          

     3. The Healing Work of Divine Providence 

     4. The Awareness of Divine Providence      

2. Preparing for and Experiencing Easter     

     1. Christ and the Jewish Passover    

     2. St Maximos the Confessor’s Interpretation          

3. Celebrating Spiritual Renewal, According to St Gregory the Theologian         

     1. Celebrating Renewal in the Old Testament          

     2. The Theology of the Feast of Easter         

     3. Personal Transformation and Personal Renewal  

     4. The Social Dimension of the Feast

     5. The Participation of Nature in the Feast of Renewal        

     6. The Participation of the Saints in the Feast          

4. Noble Joseph          

     1. Joseph as a Type of Christ

     2. Lessons from the Life of Joseph   

5. Saint Macrina         

     1. Her Ascetic Life   

     2. Confronting Temptations

     3. Teacher of Eminent Figures         

     4. Overcoming Death          

     5. Lamentation for the Saint’s Death

6. Overcoming Death (Metropolitan Kallinikos of Edessa)  

     1. Death that Brings Life

     2. Love from the Life-giving Tomb  

     3. The Sweet Smell of Freedom       

     4. Remembrance of Death and Resurrection

7. Deification and the Deified          

     1. The Deified         

     2. Deification           

a) Names and Definitions

b) What is Deification?

c) God’s Energy and Man’s Collaboration

d) Degrees of Deification and Theoria

e) Deification of Soul and Body

f) Potential for Deification

g) Deification Starting from This Life

Translator’s Bibliography