Melkite Greek Catholic Church

Paralyzed by Sins and Thoughtless Acts

 Faith, Sunday Scriptures
May 032020
 
THE SCRIPTURES READ on the remaining Sundays in the Paschal season present us with some of life’s most debilitating hardships: blindness, isolation and, today, paralysis. In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles read today, we hear about the healing of a man named Aeneas in Lydda (Lod), some 23 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Aeneas, we are told, “had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed” (Acts 9:33).

In the Gospel reading which follows, we hear about another man “who had an infirmity thirty-eight years” (John 5:5) and who was healed by the Lord Jesus at the Pool of Bethesda (or Bethzatha) outside Jerusalem, where the infirm gathered, hoping for healing. This pool was used to clean the animals destined for sacrifice before they would be brought into the temple.

It is not clear why the sick gathered there. There was no explicit mention of miracles at this pool in Jewish sources of the day, such as Josephus or Philo. The pool itself, buried in the destruction of Jerusalem, was concealed until archeologists discovered it in the nineteenth century. This had led some to think that the passage was not historical at all. Rather, they suggested, it was meant to teach that the “angel in the water” foreshadowed the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in baptism, which heals us of sin (see Tertullian, On Baptism, chapter 5).

Others have noted that there were healing springs and pools in the ancient pagan world as well. Cures at those pools followed specific patterns like the one John records here: the first one entering the pool after the water was “stirred” would be healed. John affirms that Christ’s word alone, without any ritual or procedure, was enough to heal. Like the paralytic, who had to stop relying on the pool for salvation and turn instead to Christ, so Israel had to stop relying upon the Law to save them and turn to Christ instead.

What Does It Mean to be Paralyzed?

In the Early Church, commentators did not often speculate on the pool, or even on the nature of the man’s illness. It was more common to compare the physical infirmity of the paralyzed man to the spiritual paralysis which afflicts Christians, either occasionally or in a regular way. It was often noted how, in the lives of each one of us, there will be spiritual paralysis: moments of weakness or failure, which can last for many years, as with the paralytic at the sheep pool.

In “spiritual paralysis,” the energies of our soul, of our mind, of our heart, of our will, of our body itself are fettered – fettered by the fact that we have no courage and no power within us to move and to act to the full of our longings. We stand, year after year, on the very edge: on the bank of the pool that could give us life, without being able to enter it.

Christian Life as Synergy

In one of the last New Testament books to reach its final form, the Second Epistle of St Peter, we see the Christian spiritual life addressed. Spiritual life, we read, comes “...through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by whom have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that though these you may be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:, 3,4). The way to theosis – being partakers of the divine nature – comes because of Christ. God becomes incarnate so that we might become divinized.

We, however, need to embrace this gift, lest it wither away and we become blind or paralyzed. We do this, the epistle continues, by practicing virtue, self-control, godliness, perseverance, brotherly kindness and love. “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins" (2 Peter 1:8, 9). Fruitful Christian life, then, requires that we do our part to make our own the gift of divine life we have received.

We can become shortsighted or even blind to the gift of our baptism, remaining barren and unfruitful – in other words, paralyzed – without being committed to growing in virtue, knowledge, self-control and the rest. We may see this happen in the life of some Christians who do not consider their baptism seriously: who rarely look to the Gospel, receive the Eucharist, or even attend the Liturgy. They are blind to the gift of Christ and, therefore, paralyzed in the spiritual life. We see it in ourselves, when we cannot focus on the words we read or even the prayers we are saying, distracted by the concerns of daily life.

Paralysis and the Passions

As more philosophically minded Greeks accepted Christ, they identified the signs of spiritual paralysis in terms of the classical passions; gluttony, lust, greed, anger, envy, sloth, pride and vainglory. Someone who is focused on personal comforts (through food and drink, sex or material possessions) will find it difficult, if not impossible, to center on the spiritual life. If they attend church at all, they find their mind wandering back to the object of their passion.

A story is told about St Basil, the revered Fool for Christ, who confronted Tsar Ivan the Terrible one day, because he was not at the Liturgy. Ivan protested that he was indeed in church for the service. Basil replied that the emperor’s body was in church, but his mind was on the Vorobiev hills (where he was having a palace built). When Basil died in 1557, the Tsar acted as one of his pallbearers.

It would be even harder for people ruled by their pride or vanity to look beyond themselves to God or others. Their piety dries up “like baked clay” (Psalms 21:16), withered like a plant with too much sun and no water. This is why combating the passions has been seen as fundamental to a committed Christian life, since the dawn of monasticism in the third century.

In his Homily 37 on the Gospel of John, St John Chrysostom discusses the spiritual medicines necessary to combat the passions and other distractions from the Christian life. “The divine Oracles [the Scriptures] are a treasury of all manner of medicines, so that whether it be needful to quench pride, to lull desire to sleep, to tread underfoot the love of money, to despise pain, to inspire confidence, to gain patience, from them one may find abundant resource.” The Scriptures held the medicine; the illnesses were the passions.

The Church as Healer

While the Scriptures portray the incarnate Christ as Healer of the man at Bethesda, it depicts the Body of Christ, the Church, as the source of Aeneas’ recovery. The Church is meant to be a therapeutic community in which Christ continues His healing work in our midst.

“Yesterday you were flung on a bed, exhausted and paralyzed, and you had no one to put you into the pool when the water should be troubled. Today you have Him, who is in one person God and Man. You were raised up from your bed, and even carried your bed, publicly acknowledging the benefit. Do not again be thrown on your bed by sinning, in the evil of a body paralyzed by its pleasures. As you now are, so walk, mindful of the command, ‘See you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14). If you prove yourself bad after the blessing you have received. You have heard the loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” (St Gregory the Theologian, Oration on Holy Baptism, XI, 33)
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Paralyzed by Sins and Thoughtless Acts

 Faith, Sunday Scriptures
Apr 222018
 
THE SCRIPTURES READ on the remaining Sundays in the Paschal season present us with some of life’s most debilitating hardships: blindness, isolation, and, today, paralysis. In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles read today we hear about the healing of a man named Aeneas in Lydda (Lod), some 23 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Aeneas, we are told, “had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed” (Acts 9:33).

In the Gospel reading which follows, we hear about another man “who had an infirmity thirty-eight years” (John 5:5) and who was healed by the Lord Jesus, at the Pool of Bethesda (or Bethzatha) outside Jerusalem, where the infirm gathered hoping for healing. This pool was used to clean the animals destined for sacrifice before they would be brought into the temple.

It is not clear why the sick gathered there. There was no explicit mention of miracles at this pool in Jewish sources of the day such as Josephus or Philo. The pool itself, buried in the destruction of Jerusalem, was unknown until archeologists uncovered it in the nineteenth century. This led some to suggest that the passage was not historical at all. Rather it was meant to teach that the “angel in the water” foreshadowed the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in baptism, which heals us of sin (see Tertullian, On Baptism, chapter 5).

Others have noted that there were healing springs and pools in the ancient pagan world as well. Cures at those pools followed specific patterns like the one John records here: the first one entering the pool after the water was “stirred” would be healed. John affirms that Christ’s word alone, without any ritual or procedure, was enough to heal. Like the paralytic who had to stop relying on the pool for salvation and turn instead to Christ, so Israel had to stop relying upon the Law to save them, and turn to Christ instead.

What Does It Mean to be Paralyzed?

In the Early Church commentators did not often speculate on the pool or even the nature of the man’s illness. It was more common to compare the physical infirmity of the paralyzed man to the spiritual paralysis which afflicts Christians, either occasionally or in a regular way. It was often noted how, in the lives of each one of us, there will be spiritual paralysis: moments of weakness or failure, which can last for many years, as with the paralytic at the sheep pool.

In “spiritual paralysis,” the energies of our soul, of our mind, of our heart, of our will, of our body itself are fettered, fettered by the fact that we have no courage and we have no power within us to move and to act to the full of our longings. We stand, year after year on the very edge, on the bank of the pool that could give us life without being able to enter it.

Christian Life as Synergy,

In one of the last New Testament books to reach its final form, the Second Epistle of St Peter, we see the Christ spiritual life addressed. Spiritual life, we read, comes “… through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by whom have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:3. 4). The way to theosis, being partakers of the divine nature, comes because of Christ, God become incarnate so that we might become divinized.

We, however, need to embrace this gift, lest it whither away and we become blind or paralyzed. We do this, the epistle continues, by practicing virtue, self-control, godliness, perseverance, brotherly kindness and love. “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:3-9). Fruitful Christian life, then, requires that we do our part to make our own the gift of divine life we have received.

We can become shortsighted or even blind to the gift of our baptism, remaining barren and unfruitful – in other words, paralyzed – without being committed to growing in virtue, knowledge, self-control and the rest. We may see this happen in the lives of some Christians who do not consider their baptism seriously, who rarely look to the Gospel, receive the Eucharist or even attend the Liturgy. They are blind to the gift of Christ and therefore paralyzed in the spiritual life. We see it in ourselves, when we cannot focus on the words we read or even the prayers we are saying, distracted by the concerns of daily life.
Paralysis and the Passions

As more philosophically-minded Greeks accepted Christ, they identified the signs of spiritual paralysis in terms of the classical passions: gluttony, lust, greed, anger, envy, sloth, pride and vainglory. A person who is focused on personal comforts (through food and drink, sex or material possessions) will find it difficult if not impossible to center on the spiritual life. If they attend church at all, they find their mind wandering back to the object of their passion.

A story is told about St Basil, the revered Fool for Christ, who confronted Tsar Ivan the Terrible one day because he was not at the Liturgy. Ivan protested that he was indeed in church for the service., Basil replied that the emperor’s body was in church, but his mind was on the Vorobiev hills (where he was having a palace built). When Basil died in 1557, the Tsar acted as one of his pallbearers.

It would be even harder for people ruled by their pride or vanity to look beyond themselves to God or others. Their piety dries up “like baked clay” (Psalms 21:16), withered like a plant with too much sun and no water. This is why combatting the passions has been seen as fundamental to a committed Christian life since the dawn of monasticism in the third century.

In his Homily 37 on the Gospel of John, St John Chrysostom discusses the spiritual medicines necessary to combat the passions and other distractions from the Christian life: “The divine oracles [the Scriptures] are a treasury of all manner of medicines, so that whether it be needful to quench pride, to lull desire to sleep, to tread underfoot the love of money, to despise pain, to inspire confidence, to gain patience, from them one may find abundant resource.” The Scriptures held the medicine; the illnesses were the passions .

The Church as Healer

While the Scriptures portray the incarnate Christ as Healer of the man at Bethesda, it depicts the Body of Christ, the Church, as the source of Aeneas’ recovery. The Church is meant to be a therapeutic community in which Christ continues His healing work in our midst.

“Yesterday you were flung on a bed, exhausted and paralyzed, and you had no one to put you into the pool when the water should be troubled. Today you have Him, who is in one Person God and Man. You were raised up from your bed, and even carried your bed, publicly acknowledging the benefit. Do not again be thrown on your bed by sinning, in the evil of a body paralyzed by its pleasures. As you now are, so walk, mindful of the command, ‘See, you have been made well.

Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you’ (John 5:14), if you prove yourself bad after the blessing you have received. You have heard the loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out’.”

(St Gregory the Theologian, Oration on Holy Baptism, XL, 33)
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Mystery of the Pool at Bethesda

 Sunday Scriptures
Apr 172016
 
CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN STUDYING the Gospels since before they were written. Think about it. During the first decades after Christ’s resurrection the apostles reflected on their time with Christ and how to proclaim Him to all nations. Their belief in Him affected the way they told His story. When the evangelists collected their reminiscences and put them in writing they arranged them in ways that proclaimed their faith in Him. The Fathers of the early Church also studied the Scriptures, some writing extensive commentaries. All these authors wrote as believers, seeking to illumine their faith with knowledge. In seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe a different approach developed. Scholars, many of them influenced by rationalist philosophy, rejected one or another aspect of the Gospel, particularly those who conflicted with this philosophy. There was no room for miracles or even the resurrection in the thought of many of these authors. It was not until the late twentieth century that this trend in biblical scholarship came to be replaced by more Scripture-friendly approaches.

Was There a Pool of Bethesda?

One of the approaches in the era of rationalist biblical scholarship was to deny the factual nature of anything in Scripture not corroborated by other contemporary evidence. If a person, place or event did not figure in other writings, it was deemed non-historical. The Gospel passage of Christ healing the paralytic at Bethesda (John 5:1-15) was cast into doubt because there was no evidence that this pool “having five porches” (John 5:1) ever existed. Some scholars concluded that the passage, if not the whole of John’s Gospel, was written by someone who had no knowledge of Jerusalem. All this changed in the nineteenth century when German archeologist Conrad Schick discovered the remains of just such a pool. In the 1960s further excavations unearthed an adjacent Roman temple beneath the ruins of a Crusader era church and an even older Byzantine sanctuary. Scholars now believe that the pool and the adjoining temple were established by the Roman garrison in honor of Asclepius, their god of medicine and health. During the Roman occupation of Jerusalem a number of Roman structures were built in and around the city, including an arena, baths and a theater. A pagan shrine, like these other signs of the Roman presence, would have been outside the city walls of Jerusalem and thus less offensive to the Jewish population. Today it is within the walls, in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. Asclepius was one of the more popular gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon. Over 400 such shrines were reportedly functioning throughout the empire. Everyone, after all, wants good health and well-being, which were Asclepius’ “specialty.”

Was the Paralytic a Jew?

If the pool at Bethesda was a Roman shrine to a pagan god, was the paralytic a pagan rather than a Jew? The Gospel passage does not suggest it. By noting that “a great number of sick people” were there, the Gospel suggests that they were Jews. A passage in the Babylonian Talmud mentions that people were actually cured after visiting “the shrine of an idol.” The sick probably wouldn’t care who healed them if there was a chance that they could be cured. Since the paralytic, once cured, was reproached by Jews for carrying his bed on a Sabbath it is safe to assume that the man was himself a Jew. The passage ends with the following: “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.’ The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.” (John 5:14). If the man was not a Jew; this exchange would not have taken place. Some commentators have suggested that, if the pool was attached to a pagan shrine, Jesus would not have gone there. Others have countered that He who ate with publicans and sinners would not hesitate to go among His people wherever they were.

What About the Angel?

There remains controversy regarding the following description of the pool: “In these [the porches] lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had” (John 5:3,4). The reason for the controversy is this; a number of the oldest and best manuscripts of the Gospel simply do not have the end of verse 3 (“waiting for the moving of the water”) or verse 4. The earliest surviving manuscripts containing this verse are “Western” (from North Africa and Italy). The first Greek mention of John 5:4 is in a homily of St John Chrysostom. By the ninth century, however, almost all the Greek texts of the Gospel contain it. This has led most biblical scholars to consider these verses a “gloss” or commentary in the margin added by a scribe which eventually was copied directly into the text.  On the other hand, without these verses Verse 7 begs for an explanation. It says, “The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.’” Who stirs up the water? – the only explanation put forth is the one in the contested verse (the angel). Perhaps this event was so well-known that the evangelist neglected to explain it and the explanation was added later. At this time we do not know with any certainty. There is one other indication that verses 3 and 4 are a gloss. We read there that it was an angel (some versions even say “an angel of the Lord”) who stirred the water. Early Christians, however, saw any power in pagan religions as satanic. This “angel,” then, would have been a fallen angel. Thus the St Justin the Philosopher, writing in the early second century, noted that “the Devil brings forward Asclepius as the raiser of the dead and healer of all diseases” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 69). One hundred years later, Tertullian contrasted the angelic presence in the waters of baptism with the “unholy angel of the evil one [who] often does business with that same element [i.e. water], with a view to man’s perdition” (De Baptismo, 5).

Meaning of the Passage

Taking the above points into consideration we can see a deep meaning in this passage. The evangelist is contrasting the capricious, lottery-like application of the demon’s healing power at Asclepius’ pool with the loving, personal encounter which the paralytic had with Christ, the true Physician of souls and bodies. The regenerative power of Christ is open to all who seek union with Him. The Lord’s question to the paralytic at the pool, “Do you want to be made well?” is echoed by the priest’s question to the catechumen at the font, “Do you unite yourself to Christ?” In each case, the desire is sufficient to evoke Christ’s healing power.
My soul has suffered cruelly for many years, O God of all goodness: do for me what You once did for the paralytic, that I may be able to walk in the ways where You invite those who love Your name.
From the Canon, Ode 3
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Peter Raises Tabitha

 Sunday Scriptures
Apr 212013
 
“All the widows stood around him, crying…” (Acts 9:39). The description of the recently deceased Dorcas or Tabitha does not mention that she was a widow. It does note, however, that those who mourned her were not her relatives but widows. It is likely, then, that Dorcas herself was a widow. As we know from the institution of deacons, care for widows was one of the first functions that the earliest Christians undertook. It was not long before these women were organized into formal groups with specific responsibilities in the Church. St Paul’s First Epistle to Timothy, written 20 to 25 years later, includes a chapter devoted to overseeing the formal group of widows in the Church at Ephesus. The epistle indicates that this group should include: ∙ Widows Who Had No One to Care for Them – “Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grand-parents, for this is pleasing to God. The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (verses 3-8). That families care for their elderly members is a hallmark of most traditional societies. There are always exceptions, however, due to inability, greed or other circumstances such as upheavals in societies. In 2012 China enacted a law requiring adult children to visit their parents regularly, As Chinese traditional society changes into a modern urban nation, the elderly are often left to their own devices. The new law threatens court action against those who abandon or neglect their parents. “If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need” (verse 16). ∙ Widows 60 Years of Age and Older – “No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, … As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to. So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan” (verses 9, 11-15). By the time this epistle was written widows in Ephesus has a recognized status in the Church. Like the bishops and deacons, enrolled widows had to show a certain stability of life before they could be enrolled. They had to be content with their station in life, to be psychologically free to pledge themselves to the service of God and the Church. This is the same principle behind the later regulation that married men could be ordained deacons, but once ordained could not marry. ∙ Widows Known for Doing Good –  “… and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds” (verse 10). Dorcas is described in the Scripture as “always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36). We do not know what else she did but we do know that she made “robes and other clothing” (Acts 9:36) because the mourners displayed them to Peter. Handiwork was a preferred occupation for women in the Church for centuries, lay and monastic. In nineteenth-century Britain a “Dorcas Society” was founded to provide clothing and other necessities to the poor. Chapters that continued to exist since then diversified to include other forms of community service.

Widows in Later Centuries

Widows’ institutes continued to be a feature of Church life in the second and third centuries. We find references to them in the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, in The Shepherd of Hermas and in the works of Clement of Alexandria and Origen. The late second-century Didascalia or Instructions of the Apostles describes the principles governing enrolled widows in Antioch. Bishops are enjoined to only enroll widows over 50 who are mild and even-tempered. They were to be at the service of the bishop and have one particular occupation. Didascalia 15 lays down this precept: “A widow should have no other care save to be praying for those who give, and for the whole Church.” In 1899 the Syriac Catholic Patriarch, Mar Ignatius Ephrem II Rahmani published a fifth-century Syrian work called The Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Syrian Church at the time widows seem to have served as eldresses. They are charged with instructing other women, supervising the deaconesses, and visiting sick women, “but in the church let her be silent” (Testament 40). A prayer for instituting widows is given in which the bishop prays that the widow be instituted “for edification and good example.” In this prayer the widows are called “those who sit in front” in recognition of their special status within the Church. In The Testament’s order for the Oblation (Liturgy), however, the widows are positioned “within the veil” on the left side of the sanctuary, behind the presbyters. The widows are directed to receive the Eucharist after the deacons, but before the readers and subdeacons. This is the last reference to an order of widows that survives from the early Church. It is assumed that this order, like those of virgins and deaconesses, was absorbed in the newer institution of monasticism. Women monastics would exercise many of the same functions as these earlier women both in their monasteries and in the churches of the people.

Widows Today

Up to our own day widows and other older women continued to contribute their handiwork and other forms of service to the Church. Many of our churches dating from the nineteenth century were supported by the older women in the community who baked or cooked various foods every week to raise money for their church. More recently the Church has focused on providing senior citizens (men as well as women) with opportunities to socialize (bingos, trips etc.). Would not some of these seniors find new life devoting themselves to prayer and/or service? The Church might best serve them by reminding them of the words of St. Paul: “The widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.”
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A Place of Healing

 Sunday Scriptures
Apr 292012
 
ON THE FIRST FEW SUNDAYS of the paschal season we recall the events surrounding the Lord’s resurrection: the empty tomb, the appearance to the disciples, and the confession of Thomas. The next Sundays speak of the effects of the resurrection in the Church through the risen Christ. Each Sunday we find ourselves near water – today it is the pool by the Sheep Gate – because we first experience these effects at baptism. The first effect, mentioned today, is healing. The man in John 5:1-15 is described as paralyzed, unable to move, in other words powerless. The woman presumed dead and resuscitated by Peter in Acts 9:36-40 was even more powerless. But as Christ had foretold about the emerging Church, “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). In the Church’s imagery both these people represent all of us who have been rendered helpless through the fall. Separation from direct communion with God renders mankind powerless to reach its intended goal: the true fulfillment of human nature, created after the image and likeness of God. Our human nature remained broken, unable to heal and restore itself until the coming of Christ. As Christ’s coming to Siloam transformed the life of the paralytic and the coming of the Church in the person of Peter to Joppa, so too the kingdom of God in our midst transforms our human frailty. We become capable once more of growing into communion with God. We find many images in the Scriptures, the Fathers and in the works of Christian writers meant to illustrate what Christ has done for us by His coming. We hear of “salvation,” “redemption,” and “deliverance” or – more recently – “liberation.” One of images more likely to be found in the Eastern Fathers is “healing.” Christ treats our bruised and wounded nature with therapy rather than with judgment or punishment. As St. John Chrysostom taught, Christ tends our wounds like the Samaritan, with wine and oil – His precious blood and the gift of the Holy Spirit – and entrusts us to a spiritual hospital, the Church, for our ongoing therapy. In the Gospel story of the paralytic Christ prescribes such an extended treatment for His “patient”. “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest something worse come upon you” (John 5:14). Our nature can suffer a relapse without some form of ongoing rehabilitation. And, as often happens in physical conditions, a spiritual setback can make us worse than our original conditions. Spiritual healing, then, is not an instant cure but a lifelong remedy.

The Church’s Course of Therapy

The early Church set as the goal of this therapy the continual remembrance of the presence of God. Only to the degree that we live consciously in His presence will we become strangers to that spiritual infirmity which is sin. To achieve this awareness that God is ever with us, the Eastern Churches have generally prescribed three ongoing “medications” to be taken together:
  • The Purification of the Heart
  • Unceasing Prayer
  • Sharing in the Holy Mysteries
The heart – that innermost core of our being – is meant to be “wholeheartedly” turned to God. We are called to “serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12); yet we know that it is often far from God and His ways. We desire to be “independent,” of God and of others who stand in the way of our “fulfillment.” In order to attain that fulfillment we may find ourselves seeking to control, to manipulate, to possess whatever we can, not realizing that we have fallen into the same trap that Eve did. Any “success” we may have in contriving to dominate others or the world only results in shame at our nakedness. The true course of our life is meant to reflect our creation after the image and likeness of God. We are created to reflect the heart of God in our own hearts, so often far from Him. As Christians we see this true humanity perfectly fulfilled only in Christ “…who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7-9). At the same time we aspire to imitate Him by pruning our hearts of our selfish cravings to mirror His heart of love for the world. We begin the therapy of the heart by examining the cravings that distract our heart from serving God. According to a number of the Fathers, denying even our most innocent needs or wants can help train our hearts to control rather than follow the lead of its cravings. “If you have the urge to ask something, don’t ask! If you have the urge to drink two cups of coffee, drink only one! If you have the urge to look at the clock, don’t look! If you wish to smoke a cigarette, refrain! If you want to go visiting, stay at home!” (Tito Colliander, Way of the Ascetics, chapter 5). To the degree that we are no longer captive to our passions will we be free to put God and others first in our lives. In that our hearts will be renewed after the pattern of Christ. As St Diadochos of Photiki wrote in his Hundred Texts on Spiritual Knowledge, “Only when we do not belong to ourselves do we become like Him who through love has reconciled us to Himself” (#4). Just as some medications must only be taken with others, purification of the heart must be accompanied by a commitment to a fuller prayer life. As eliminating or controlling our passions empties the heart of its distorted cravings, working towards the constant recitation of the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.) fills the heart with the awareness that we are constantly in the presence of God. Our path to spiritual healing is marked by milestones, the Church’s mysteries. Each time we approach the chalice or humble ourselves in the mystery of repentance we are reaffirming our baptismal commitment to die with Christ in order to live with Him. In turn we are receiving the help for our journey that only the indwelling presence of the Lord can bring. Few of us would undergo any physical therapy under our own direction. In the same way spiritual therapy should be followed with the help of an experienced therapist. The elder or spiritual guide – one who knows the proper course of therapy and the needs of the individual patient – is necessary for truly effective treatment. When the Lord asked the paralytic, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6) he responded that he had no one to help him. Our willingness to seek out a spiritual guide to help us is an important indication that we too want to be restored to spiritual health through the therapy of the Church.
By the pool of Probatica lay a paralytic. Seeing You, O Lord, he cried out: “I have no one to plunge me into the pool once the water has been stirred up! By the time I get there, someone else has gone in ahead of me and received healing. Thus I remain paralyzed!” The Savior was touched with compassion and said to him: “I have become a man for your sake. I have assumed flesh for your sake. How can you say that you have no one? Pick up your mat, I say, and walk!” All things are subject to You, Lord; all things obey You; You do whatever You wish. Be mindful of us all, O holy God, and in Your love for mankind, take pity on us! Vespers, Sunday of the Paralytic
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