Pastoral Theology and Depression: A Ministry of Love

THE NEGATIVE REPERCUSSIONS OF A STEREOTYPICAL AND SIMPLISTIC APPROACH TO DEPRESSION IN PASTORAL PRACTICE AND

THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIALITY OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Nikitas Kafkios, clinical psychologist | September 9, 2012

 

 

I. Grief and Depression

In our presentation, we intend to show analytically the negative effects that habitually arise out of a simplistic pastoral approach to depression and to argue that unconditional respect for the freedom of the individual person in conjunction with Christian love is the foundation of true, supportive pastoral intervention.

In psychiatry and clinical psychology, grief is considered a physiological and demiurgic reaction of a person confronting unforeseen traumatic events that contravene one’s security and worth or upset his existential equilibrium. However, when grief becomes more and more intense with the passage of time and impedes one’s physical activities, such as work, eating, sleep, and personal interactions, we can diagnose it as depression.

More precisely, the clinical symptoms of depression are the following: constant grieving, loss of energy, and exhaustion; an increased or decreased desire for food; a proclivity towards isolation and social detachment; anxiety or worry about everything; vacillation, difficulty in making decisions; loss of interest in seeking loving companionship or for intimate relations; feelings of guilt, self-loathing, and unworthiness; too much or too little sleep; a poor disposition during the greater part of the day, almost daily; a reduction of interest in, or enjoyment of, nearly all activities; worry and gloom concerning the future; no hope in any area.

II. The Stereotypes of a Simplistic Approach to Depression:

The Initial Error of “Theological Reductionism”

The stereotypes that we will analyze derive, to a greater or lesser degree, from a corresponding error in assumptions about the experience of depression in the hermeneutic dimensions of pastoral theology. Personal life events, the knowledge and experience of each individual, define his existential horizon and his concept of the world. The more fixed one is on this horizon, that is, the more complete and unique he considers his way of life and his view of reality, the more difficult it is for him to feel what another is feeling and to see reality through another’s eyes: “We can never assume his personality, his life, and his person in such a way as to experience his life exactly as he lives it.” [1]

A spiritual Father, like any other person, is handicapped in comprehending and grasping the existential outlook of an individual who suffers from depression. He perceives and explains the experience and the existential condition of the sufferer [2] by way of his own person and his own experiences of grief. For this reason, he many times finds it difficult to conceive of and understand the seriousness of the symptoms of depression, and believes that a patient can be cured if he or she simply tries harder to apply the Will of God in his or her life. However, it is obvious that it is not possible to understand and to help a sufferer if one assesses the sufferer’s life experience and behaviors by way of one’s own interpretive filters and ethical and religious standards.

As well, it is not correct to make a patient guilty after the fact, when pastoral intervention does not function therapeutically in his or her case. In assessing the experience of depression through the prism of Scripture or the writings of the Holy Fathers, a spiritual Father removes himself from the Weltanschauung and experiential horizon of the believer and falls to the error of theological reductionism; that is, the reduction of the biopsychological phenomenon of depression to the level of theology. Depression is a psychopathological phenomenon, and it is not correct to overlook its psychopathological dimension and to explain it by the principles and axioms of theology. Committing such an error, we wrongly come to think of pathological depression as an experience of grief, the reasons for which derive from selfishness and a distancing of oneself from God.

By this alien theological explanation and the pastoral guidance that it entails, the believer who is afflicted by depression, instead of finding relief, feels that his spiritual Father does not understand him and does not accept him, but rejects him. The error of theological reductionism contributes to the creation of various stereotypes. We will analyze seven of these stereotypes and ascertain what their consequences are for pastoral practice:

1. “Depression is a matter of choice. One who is afflicted by depression chooses to be afflicted.”

This stereotype is based on the following widely held notion: each person is responsible for his actions and his life experiences; therefore, his suffering means that his grief is by choice. “In the case of certain people—do not let this strike you as strange— they like to be in constant perplexity, to be anxious, to be gloomy, to be suspicious, to be jealous, and to be angry.” [3]

In keeping with the Church’s theology, the fall of man to ruination, illness, and death occurred because of the urging of the Devil, but also with the free consent of man. Just as the first man freely chose to fall, so every person freely chooses to distance himself from God and to fall to sin. Since ruination, illness, and death result from sin, this means that an individual who suffers from depression chooses to fall to the sin of depression.

Personally, I believe that the fall to which the First-Created [Adam and Eve] succumbed has not the slightest connection with a “fall” to depression. I personally believe that depression is not a choice; the choice is in how one chooses to deal with depression. No one would consciously choose to be afflicted or to suffer. A patient cannot choose to be free from depression, though he can learn to cope, as best he can, with negative feelings.

Even in a case where someone becomes accustomed to expressing himself in a depressed manner, such that he somehow gets something from his depression, such as the sympathy and concern of others, in reality this involves an unconscious choice or a neurotic indicator. The phrase, “You do not want to change,” or “If you wanted to, you could,” demonstrates a lack of respect for the peculiar uniqueness and the weakness of a patient. It constitutes an act of violence against his person, which leads to feelings of despondency and abandonment. When a spiritual Father to whom the patient turns to get help considers the patient responsible for his difficulties and attributes guilt to him, the patient inevitably feels betrayed and hopelessly alone.

2. “A depressed person is not suffering from something pathological. He is healthy, but does not try hard enough to help himself”

This stereotype is related to the foregoing one. Since one chooses to fall to depression, he is not ill, but a tormented sinner. Additionally, if he would put forth enough effort, he could overcome his depression by his own strength, calling on the help of God. Anyway, whatever the case, he is surely responsible for his sick condition; for even if God will not help him, this simply means that he is not calling on God in the right way, or stems from his not fulfilling the requirements for receiving God’s help.

In reality, however, with depression it is precisely the ability for conscious effort that has suffered injury. The patient finds it difficult to achieve practical goals. He knows the ways by which he could help himself, but he feels as though he cannot put forth the effort to apply in practice all of the things that could help him. He does not need direction, but strength and energy; he does not need advice, but the necessary existential basics that would allow him to trust his own abilities and to cure himself.

The spiritual Father asks the patient to struggle against the sinful sickness of depression in order to be cured. But to struggle with the power of his will to overcome depression is like trying to turn on his cell phone when its battery has gone dead, or trying to rise into the air by pulling on his shoestrings. The believer feels that he is being asked something that is impossible for him to accomplish. As a consequence of this, he feels an intensification of the negative sensations of guilt, shame, unworthiness, and fear that were already preexistent in him as symptoms of depression.

3. “Psychotherapy or pharmacological assistance is not necessary.”

The majority of spiritual Fathers, and especially those who enjoy only theological reading and do not have experience with, or have not studied, psychopathology, doubt the validity and the usefulness of psychiatry and psychotherapy. “So many have become psychiatric physicians, psychoanalysts, psychologists, and they treat patients.... What patients, indeed? Who are you to treat such patients?” [4] Yet, most scientific statistical studies show that anti-depressants and anxiety medications, in conjunction with psychotherapeutic support, offer crucial aid, in most instances, in confronting depression. In severe forms of depression, pharmaceutical treatment is absolutely necessary.

Psychotherapy helps the person undergoing therapy come to know himself, to recognize and to accept his weaknesses, and with a calm sense of humility to surrender them to the power and love of God. More specifically, psychotherapy can help a person who suffers from depression

• to recognize and rethink thoughts and behaviors that result in the creation of the feelings of despondency, culpability, and guilt that accompany and are found at the roots of depression;

• to know which of the problems that beset him can be resolved, and in what way, and which of them cannot be resolved, but with which it behooves him to co-exist harmoniously;

• to improve his relationship with loved ones;

• to reintroduce into his life pleasing activities that can reawaken within him the joy of life;

• to claim his rights and not retreat out of fear of the opinions of others;

• to base his choices on his own values and on his own desires;

• to gain control of his life;

• to develop his abilities, setting realistic goals for the future, and to assume the responsibility and the risk for these choices.

The disdain of a spiritual Father for psychiatry and psychotherapy turns the believer away from the possibility of accepting the counsel of science, so as to be helped.

4. “Depression is the result of sinful experiences. The accumulation of sin and misdeeds distances man from the salubrious path of God and leads him to depression… Illness, every form of illness, is a consequence of the fall of man. This means that sickness is tied to sin and to human nature. It is not ‘natural,’ therefore, for man to become sick, but unnatural (παρά φνσιν).” [5]

In actuality, depression is a psychopathological phenomenon that has as much connection to sin as a bone fracture or sugar diabetes. Despite this, most spiritual Fathers are certain that, since depression manifests itself in the sphere of behavior and psychology, confronting it, in terms of assessment and therapy, belongs to the jurisdiction of pastoral psychology. With the conviction that clinical depression is a spiritual disease, and as a consequence derives from a departure from God, selfishness, and egotism, the spiritual Father approaches the patient as a sinner.

Accordingly, the spiritual Father advises, admonishes, and urges the sufferer to change his way of life and to align his life with the Will of God. In this attempt, however, he usually fails to take into account the psychological dimension of depressive experiences. And when we are ignorant of the psychology of a patient, that is, the characteristics of his personality, his needs, his desires, his interpersonal relationships, his traumatic experiences, his fears, his insecurities, and his unrealistic aspirations, it is not possible to help him.

5. “Depression is the result of selfishness and unbridled egotism. ...The chief reason for depression and all that we call demonic, Satanic...is that you have within you an inflated ego.” [6]

The individual who is afflicted by depression presents with behaviors that can easily be construed as egotistical, such as grumbling, making demands on others, withdrawal from society, sleeping long hours, and a lack of desire to work or to interact with others. The experience of depression drains an individual of all of his energy to act and he becomes preoccupied with nothing other than his own problems.

The patient is bogged down by grief and is continually preoccupied with what he is thinking about and what he feels. This painful, overwhelming preoccupation of an individual with his own self is wrongly taken by some spiritual Fathers to be egocentrism: “The depressed individual experiences sadness, bitterness, and pain precisely because he will not bend, will not show humility, will not repent, but is [rather] overcome by wounded pride and the desire to please others.” [7]

In reality, a person who suffers from depression is not selfish, since he has no love for himself; he does not have inner balance and harmony, has excessive feelings of guilt and inadequacy for his faults and weaknesses—and especially for his depression; he is not happy, enjoys nothing, does not look after himself, and does not satisfy his basic needs. With depression, a person does not suffer from unbridled egotism, but from a pathological egocentrism, since his pain makes him attend constantly to his needs and focus insistently on his negative feelings and weaknesses.

6. “The cause of depression is a lack of faith, prayer, love, and trust in God. If you find a good Elder and partake of the Mysteries of the Church, you will overcome it. ...We greatly set upon the Will of God when, on account of the grievances and worries that come to us, we fall to gloom, murmuring, hopelessness, immeasurable sadness, and stern coldness.” [8]

Of course, the cultivation of spiritual virtues and participation in the Mysteries help one in facing grief, but the person who suffers from depression typically has not the slightest desire to be present at services or to engage in spiritual struggle. The believer who lives with the symptoms of pathological depression not only has no appetite or desire to respond to the guidance of his spiritual Father or the Church, but he is likewise not able to cope with his basic everyday obligations.

Because he finds it difficult to keep himself clean, to eat, or to sleep, it is only natural that he should find it even more difficult to pray, to participate in services, to fast, or to show love and provide comfort to those in his family environment. Depression, like other psychopathological disturbances, does not arise from, and is not reinforced by, a lack of faith, obedience, love, or trust in God.

On the contrary, depression impedes a conscious growth in faith, obedience, love, and trust in God. A person suffering from depression feels that his life is empty, without any meaning; as a result, it is very difficult for him to feel at a conscious level that he can trust in God. He feels that all of his powers are ineffective, and he is struck by panic in seeking any improvement in his condition. Anything outside his need to survive or to alleviate his grief he considers an unrealistic luxury.

Many Grace-endowed spiritual Fathers believe that prayer and the worship of God, with the help of Grace, transform depression into joy. “Prayer and the worship of God transform depression, little by little, and turn it into joy, because the Grace of God acts on it. Here one must have the strength to draw on the Grace of God, Who will help you to unite with Him.” [9]

They do not explain, however, by what means the debilitated sufferer, who lacks exactly strength and power, is able to draw on Grace. This is so only if by “power” we mean our delivery from our weakness and its placement in God’s hands: “Place the sickness of your nature in the hands of God, fully realizing your own weakness, and you will then receive the gift of wisdom, without even knowing it.” [10] In the pit of grief, God is present, and it is possible to have a relationship of silent prayer with Him there.

The wounded with the Wounded One, the crucified with the Crucified One, the one who is alone with the One Who alone is, in a mystical, personal relationship of communion.

7. “Depression is a demonic-Satanic condition. ...He (the Devil) succeeds in tapping our very energy and makes it into grief, depression, and whatever—I don’t know what the so-called psychiatrists may call it. We do not call it by the names they use. We call it satanic activity; we call it coldness; we call it evil thought; we call it the demon of coldness, the demon of immorality, the demon, the demon, the demon. There are different demons for every Satanic activity that is created in us. [11] ...That is, what had overtaken her [a depressed person—see endnote below] was a psychic force, and instead of becoming something good, the Devil made this psychic power into depression and tormented the person.” [12]

We cannot prove that depression results from satanic activity; nor can we prove the contrary. In most instances, however, the assumption of satanic intervention is not necessary, since the phenomenon of depression is more easily and more simply explained on the basis of the biochemistry of the brain, personal history, or the negative experiences, thoughts, and behaviors of the patient. In the past, in the realm of the Church all diseases were considered the results of satanic activity, and even bodily disease; indeed, we often hear our brothers and sisters reduce anything difficult or negative to demonic activity. The devil is made responsible for all of their errors, failures, and weaknesses.

I believe that if something negative can be simply and easily explained by simple and objective givens, there is no need to ascribe responsibility for it to evil spirits. Therefore, it is preferable to limit the attribution of the phenomenon of satanic influences to other unusual demonic disturbances, and not to instances of depression.

 

 

III. The Pastoral Aspect of Love

A. Grief and Depression as a Gift

Aside from his positive support in confronting the everyday problems that result from the associated effects of depression, a spiritual Father can help assist a patient with love, humility, and prayer. A spiritual Father’s love, in particular, is a necessary prerequisite for soteriologically fruitful pastoral activity. Depression is not simply a painful experience without significance or meaning. As the expression of human weakness par excellence, there is concealed within depression a therapeutic and soteriological power.

In the Church, grief is transformed into a gift; illness, by the Grace of God, mystically prepares the ground of the soul for the manifestation of God. At a spiritual level, a person becomes capable, to the extent that he recognizes his weakness, of surrendering himself to the love of God. The existential return to God, that is, repentance, is consummated to the extent that human weakness is baptized in the Grace of God.

The role of the Grace-endowed spiritual Father is to make the Grace of God visible to the believer through unconditional love; without this love, the spiritual Father cannot carry out his work. “The Grace-endowed spiritual Father loves and feels the pain of a soul.... A spiritual Father who is not resolved even to go into hell for the love of his spiritual children is not a spiritual Father.” [14]

In the following paragraphs we will focus especially on love, basing ourselves on the supposition that it is closely related to, and inseparable from, humility and prayer. First, however, we will make extensive reference to the therapeutic power of depression itself, since it is our belief that depression contains within it the possibility of becoming holy humility.

B. The Therapeutic Power of Weakness

In the Church, external circumstances of a disadvantageous kind, temptations, and illnesses are considered basic presuppositions for the salvation of man. “No one who has not experienced temptation can enter into the Kingdom of God, and no such one can be saved.” [15] Human weakness is made wholly visible in the experience of depression. The believer is called to hand himself over to the love of God, so as to become perfectly strong: “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” [16]

Even though in the state of depression a patient may find it difficult to pray for keenness of mind, to participate in the Church’s services, or to help himself in any way whatever, it is possible for his relationship to God to function at a deeper, internal level. For when a person is ill and cannot help himself, it is then that God activates the mystery of sadness in his heart, in order to save him. “The person takes part in his salvation by synergy, even if the possibility of synergy is a gift of Grace… Man is not a passive, but an active, recipient of Grace. It is simply that even this active reception is a Divine gift.” [17]

In the Church, illness is considered a precursor to spiritual health and power: “When I am ill, only then am I strong.” [18] The deadlock of sorrow in a person suffering from depression has existential and spiritual meaning; for God works in the heart of a person by means of illness and grief: “Their souls are guided, by visible instances of grief, to virtue.” [19] Depression can more greatly connect one to knowledge of God through repentance than visible and demonstrable ascetic practices. The crushing sadness of the soul brings into action the succor of Grace; pain comes to act as a therapeutic means of cleansing, that one might partake of the joy of the Holy Spirit.

“Since by this crushing sadness the soul is freed from anger and bitterness, its place is taken by spiritual Grace.” [20] The Providence of God renders worthy human errors and sadness, leading a well-intentioned individual to the blessed state of humble self-knowledge. In the Orthodox spiritual tradition, self-knowledge is humility and humility is self-knowledge. “He who truly knows himself possesses humility. And when a man is made humble, the Grace of God will certainly come upon him.” [21]

The intensity of despair increases the probability that the heart of the sufferer will be energized by the mystery of repentance. Nothingness lies on the border of the sensible perception of God; an existential void can potentially spark a change of course and the entrusting of one’s existence to God. “With my whole heart I cried unto the compassionate God, and He hearkened unto me from the lowest depth of Hades, and brought my life out of corruption.” [22] This shifting in the center of gravity from the impotent self to the omnipotence of God unlocks the possibility of salvation.

How this change of course and surrender to God vis-a-vis one’s existence can be brought to fruition is mysterious and something that cannot be explained [merely] by scrutinizing the factors that determine the life of an individual. “By the Grace of God I am what I am..., yet not I labored, but the Grace of God which was with me.” [23] The love of a genial spiritual Father works in synergy, in an essential way, with the functioning of the mystery of repentance, such that the depression of the impotent believer is turned over to the therapeutic omnipotence of God.

The therapeutic function of Divine love does not mean the inevitable relief of symptoms, but rather the enlightenment of the soul by the Grace of God. “For the Church, therapy is not a psychogonical and moral matter, but an ontological one. The aim of therapy is not to relieve the symptoms of a person’s illness, but to regenerate him.” [24] And when a person is united with God, the sadness of these symptoms subsides to the extent that they are endowed with eschatological significance in the Holy Spirit. It is then that these symptoms are experienced as the marks of crucifixion and take on a resurrectional significance.

C. Unconditional Love in Christ

The spiritual Father who is unable to understand the depth and the complex functionings of human existence rushes to offer the believer concrete counsel and guidance. He wants immediately to solve the problems of the sufferer and to place him on the right path. For this reason, he adopts a pastoral approach based on reason, words, and action, and does not appreciate the therapeutic functionality of unknowing, of silence, of humility, and of love. A spiritual Father is called to love, and is not called to focus on the existential and spiritual weaknesses of the believer or to counsel him in self-evident ethical matters. “Many times I see something in the agony of another, understanding or knowing what he has done, yet out of respect I do not say anything to him, if he does not tell me himself.... It does not help, indeed, to play the teacher to another and to examine him about his habits, if he does not grant you that right.” [25]

The Grace-endowed Elder, and especially in Confession, embraces with discretion a pastoral approach that is rooted in humility and unconditional love. He does not seek to aid the believer so much with his own knowledge and social skills, as to do so with the revelation of the love of God. “It is a great delusion for you to think that by your efforts you can change a man.... When someone prays for another person, this is fine; but when one tries to change him, it is not. That is solely in the Hands of God.” [26]

Instead of insisting, propose solutions with correct religious counsel, it being preferable to respect the existential reality of the believer and to embrace with maternal affection his sadness, his weaknesses, and his freedom. In this way, the encounter of the spiritual Father and the believer is elevated to the experience of peaceful Grace, which is inspired by the therapeutic energy of Divine love. The love of the spiritual Father for the believer is the catalyst, so that sadness and depression might operate in a sanctifying manner.

In pastoral communication, the spiritual Father who loves, being filled with the love of God, communicates with the believer, having emptied out himself. He adopts the way of seeing and living of the believer, without being tied to his personal theoretical schemata about the world and his individual systems of belief. Within the boundaries of charismatic, unconditional, distinctive love, a believer can be absolutely and freely himself, without feelings that his spiritual Father is judging him, confining him, or failing to understand him.

D. The Cognizance of God

Love is the cognizance of God. The spiritual Father vividly manifests this love to the degree that he participates in it. Sweet, prayerful, humble love is therapeutic. “If you wish to correct someone’s errors, do not think that you can correct him by your own power. Pray to God, Who ‘searches the heart and the reins,’ with your whole soul, that the Same may enlighten the heart of the person.” [27] In our daily communication, let us affirm that the condition in which life experiences place one person affects the condition in which another’s life experiences place him; common sentiments, such as joy, sadness, anxiety, fear or enthusiasm, are passed from one to another, like liquid elements flowing from one container to another.

This communion in life experiences, and specifically the influence which the love of the spiritual Father exercises over the believer, we can better understand with the following example: If we place two guitars opposite one another and stroke a string on the first guitar, we will observe that a corresponding string on the other guitar will begin to vibrate. In the same way, in the relationship of a spiritual Father and believer, when the spiritual Father feels sweet love in his heart, this love awakens the Divine therapeutic power which is hidden in the heart of the believer. “One soul communicates with another and the one soul senses the other.” [28]

A Grace-filled spiritual Father sees in the face of the believer a potential Saint; he sees Christ Himself. With the spiritual sensory organs of love and humility, he feels that the believer is one with him within the Body of Christ, the Church.

 

Endnotes and References

1. Nikitas Kafkios (2009), “The acceptance without limits of the existential presuppositions of the person in pastoral practice.” See www.psyche.gr/poimantiki3.htm. (Emphasis added.)

2. A psychologist uses the term “άσθενής” (a patient or ill individual) in accordance with the etymological meaning of the term: “ασθενής” or one who is without “σθένος,” or strength. As well, this term underscores the fact that a person who suffers from depression bears no fault on account of what is happening to him, and cannot be cured simply by the power of his will.

3. Metropolitan Nicholas (Chatzenikolaou) of Mesogaia and Lavreotike (2010), from an interview in the newspaper Makedonia. [One might rightly note, of course, that His Eminence is not necessarily addressing, in his comments, the issue of clinical depression or pathological behavior, but certain personality traits that individuals sometimes adopt in social interaction. At the same time, the line that separates personality traits from personality disorders of a pathological kind is a thin one, and we must therefore take the author’s comments quite seriously.]

4. Constantine Giannitsiotes, Near to Elder Porphyries. Athens: Ekdosis Hierou Hesychasteriou “He Metamorphosis tou Soteros,” 2006, p. 199.

5. Metropolitan John (Zezioulas) of Pergamon, “Theology and Psychiatry in Dialogue,” in Conference Proceedings. Athens: Ekdoseis “Apostolike Diakonia,” 1999, pp. 141-156.

6. Elder Porphyrios, Hieromonk, A Conversation on Depression. Melesi (Greece): Ekdosis Hierou Gynaikeiou Hesychasteriou “He Metamorphosis tou Soteros,” n.d., p. 12.

7. Elder Paisios the Hagiorite, “Discourse V,” in Passions and Virtues. Sourote (Thessalonike): Ekdosis Hierou Hesychasteriou “Evangelistes Ioannes ho Theologos,” 2006, p. 139.

8. Staretz Zacharias, Apophthegmata From Russian Saints and Elders. See http://users.uoa.gr/~nektar/orthodoxy/gerontikon/gerontikon5_russians.htm.

9. Constantine C. Karakoles, The Gift of Discernment (Elder Porphyrios). Melesi (Greece): Ekdosis Hierou Gynaikeiou Hesychasteriou “He Metamorphosis tou Soteros,” 2011, p. 352.

10. St. John the Sinaite, The Ladder, “On Chastity II,” Step XV.

11. Elder Porphyrios, op. cit., p. 10.

12. Elder Porphyrios is referring to a discussion of his with a certain female professor.

13. St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite, The Book of Barsanouphios and John. Ekdoseis Soteriou Schoina, 1960, pp. 82-83 (Reply 110).

14. Elder Paisios the Hagiorite, Spiritual Struggle, “Discourse III.” Sourote (Thessalonike): Ekdosis Hierou Hesychasteriou “Evangelistes Ioannes ho Theologos,” 2007.

15. St. Anthony the Great, Patrologia Grceca LXV, col. 77A.

16. II Corinthians 12:9-10.

17. Nikitas Kafkios (2010), “Freedom and Divine Grace: The Role of Human Effort in The Work of Salvation.” See www.psyche.gr./graceandworks.htm.

18. II Corinthians 12:10.

19. St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies, “Discourse XXV.” Thessalonike: Ekdoseis Basileiou Regopoulos, 1997, p. 28.

20. St. Gregory Palamas, ‘To the Nun Xene,” in The Philokalia. Ekdoseos “To Periboli tes Panagias,” Vol. IV, p. 98.

21. Elder Paisios, op. cit.

22. St. Andrew of Crete, “The Great Canon,” Ode VI.

23.1 Corinthians 15:10.

24. Metropolitan John (Zezioulas) of Pergamon, op. cit.

25. Elder Paisios the Hagiorite, op. cit.

26. Nun Gabrielia, The Eldress Gabrielia. Athens: Ekdoseis “Eptalophos,” 1996, p. 181.

27. St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ. Athens: Ekdoseis “Aster,” 1974, p. 25.

28. Elder Porphyrios Kavsokalybites, Life and Writings. Chrysopege, Chania (Crete): Ekdosis Hieras Mones Zoodochou Peges, 2003, p. 273.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXXII (2015), No. 1, pp. 4-18.