WHO IS MENTALLY ILL ACCORDING TO THE CHURCH FATHERS?

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

WHO IS MENTALLY ILL ACCORDING TO
THE CHURCH FATHERS
By Protopresbyter John S. Romanides,
of blessed memory.

Everyone is mentally ill according to the Patristic meaning of mental illness. You do not have to be schizophrenic in order to be mentally ill. The definition of mental illness from a Patristic point of view is that PEOPLE ARE MENTALLY ILL WHEN THE NOETIC ENERGY THEY HAVE INSIDE THEM IS NOT FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. In other words, being mentally ill means your NOUS is full of thoughts, not only bad thoughts, but good thoughts as well.

According to the Church Fathers, anyone WHOSE SOUL HAS NOT BEEN PURIFIED FROM THE PASSIONS AND WHO HAS NOT REACHED THE STATE OF ILLUMINATION THROUGH THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MENTALLY ILL, ,BUT NOT IN THE PSYCHIATRIC SENSE. For a psychiatrist, being mentally ill is something else. It means suffering from psychosis or being schizophrenic. For Orthodoxy, however, if you have not bee purified of the passions and have not reached a state of illumination are you normal or abnormal? That is the question.

Who is considered a normal Orthodox Christian in the Patristic tradition? If you want to see this clearly, read the service of Holy Baptism, read the service of Holy Chrism that is held at the Patriarchate of Constantinople on Holy Thursday, read the service fro the consecration of Church sanctuaries. There you will see what it means TO BE A TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. There you will see who is illumined.

In all of the Church services as well as the ascetic tradition of the Church, mainly THREE SPIRITUAL STATES are mentioned: THE STATE IN WHICH THE SOUL AND BODY HAVE BEEN PURIFIED FROM THE PASSIONS, THE STATE IN WHICH THE HUMAN NOUS HAS BEEN ILLUMINATED BY THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,, AND THE STATE IN WHICH THE HUMAN SOUL AND BODY EXPERIENCE THEOSIS or ‘GLORIFICATION.’

In his English writings, Father John Romanides consistently avoids the term ‘deification’, sparingly uses the term theosis as it is (although he uses it frequently in Greek) and prefers the term ‘GLORIFICATION.’ The value of a term such as glorification is that IT REFLECTS BOTH THE BIBLICAL CONTINUITY and THE NATURE OF THE EXPERIENCE. According to the will of God, the Prophets could see God’s glory, the Apostles could see Christ’s glory at the Transfiguration.

So who is the normal Orthodox Christian? Can someone who has been baptized but not purified be considered normal? What about someone who has not yet been illuminated? Or is it someone who has been purified and illumined? Naturally, someone in the last categroy is a normal Orthodox Christian.

So, what makes normal Orthodox Christians different from the rest of the Orthodox? Is it dogma? Of course not. Take the Orthodox in general. They all share the same dogma, the same tradition, and the same common worship. A church sanctuary, for example, might hold three hundred Orthodox Christians. Of that number, however, only five are in a state of illumination, while the rest of them are not. The rest of them have not even the slightest idea what purification is. So this raises the question: How many among them are normal Orthodox Christians? Unfortunately, out of three hundred only five are.

All the same, PURIFICATION and ILLUMINATION are specific conditions of healing that experienced and illumined spiritual fathers can recognize. So we have here clearly medical criteria. Or maybe you are not convinced that these criteria are strictly medical? Consider the fact that THE NOUS IS A PHYSIOLOGICAL HUMAN ORGAN THAT EVERYONE HAS. It is not only Greek and Orthodoxy that have a nous. So do Muslims, Buddistis, and everyone else. So all human beings have the same need fro purification and illumination. And there is only one therapeutic treatment. Or do you think there are many therapeutic treatments for this illness? And is it really an illness or not? [Resources: Patristic Theology]

__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George