Church as Hospital, Christianity as Spiritual Therapy

Christos Anesti said:

I've probably read this article by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos on a web page years ago but it really caught my attention this time around. At the start of the article there is an unfortunate (imo at least) statement that was a little too uncharitable towards spirituality in other Christian denominations but the segment on the Church as hospital really spoke to me. Here is a small excerpt for discussion:

A fundamental teaching of the Holy Fathers is that the Church is a "Hospital" which cures the wounded man. In many passages of Holy Scripture such language is used. One such passage is that of the parable of the Good Samaritan: "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion . So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you" (Luke 10:33-35).

In this parable, the Samaritan represents Christ who cured the wounded man and led him to the Inn, that is to the "Hospital" which is the Church. It is evident here that Christ is presented as the Healer, the physician who cures man's maladies; and the Church as the true Hospital. It is very characteristic that Saint John Chrysostom, analysing this parable, presents these truths emphasised above.

Man's life "in Paradise" was reduced to a life governed by the devil and his wiles. "And fell among thieves," that is in the hands of the devil and of all the hostile powers. The wounds man suffered are the various sins, as the prophet David says: "my wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness" (Psalm 37). For "every sin causes a bruise and a wound." The Samaritan is Christ Himself who descended to earth from Heaven in order to cure the wounded man. He used oil and wine to "treat" the wounds; in other words, by "mingling His blood with the Holy Spirit, he brought man to life." According to another interpretation, oil corresponds to the comforting word and wine to the harsh word. Mingled together they have the power to unify the scattered mind. "He set him in His own beast," that is He assumed human flesh on "the shoulders" of His divinity and ascended incarnate to His Father in Heaven.

Then the Good Samaritan, i.e. Christ, took man to the grand, wondrous and spacious inn - to the Church. And He handed man over to the innkeeper, who is the Apostle Paul, and through the Apostle Paul to all bishops and priests, saying: "Take care of the Gentile people, whom I have handed over to you in the Church. They suffer illness wounded by sin, so cure them, using as remedies the words of the Prophets and the teaching of the Gospel; make them healthy through the admonitions and comforting word of the Old and New Testaments." Thus, according to Saint Chrysostom, Paul is he who maintains the Churches of God, "curing all people by his spiritual admonitions and offering to each one of them what they really need."

In the interpretation of this parable by Saint John Chrysostom, it is clearly shown that the Church is a Hospital which cures people wounded by sin; and the bishops and priests are the therapists of the people of God.
​

Click to expand...

• The Church is a Therapeutic Center

• The Ethos of Orthodox Christian Healing | Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese

• MYSTAGOGY: The Church As Spiritual Hospital According to Chrysostom

Arsenios said:

The Parable of the Good Samaritan clearly shows the Church as the Dispensary of the Mysteries of Immortality, where Christ leads those whom He has found grievously wounded along the road of our fallen lives, and Who then takes them to the Church [the Inn], and has instructed the Clergy [Inn-keeper] to provide them with whatsoever they might need, and promises to reward those who do so if the cost is more than what Christ has already given them...

The Medicines of Immortality are the Anointing Oils, and the Blood [wine] or our Lord Himself... And in the Pharmocopia that the Church is, there are many, many such medicines... Each having specific applications... Each given by one experienced through his or her own walk in their dispensation...

Christ discipled the Apostles, who in their turn discipled those who came after them, and it is in this transmission of the Grace of God that the Church as Hospital cures the fallen state of man and brings him to God...

Arsenios

Click to expand...

shanethetheologian said:

Except, at least in the view of Christian History Magazine, the church invented the hospital. There is precedent for this understanding of history. The Church as hospital must be read into the text from a later perspective. Jesus as physician is inherent in the NT text - but that is not the same as the Church as hospital .

Click to expand...

FireDragon76 said:

That's more of an ideal than necessarily a reality.

Click to expand...

parsley said:

While millions of people have found healing and restoration through the ministry of the church, Jesus' model for ministry seems much different.

Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. ..."And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
...
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."

"What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.

"Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven."

- Matthew 10
​

It was the believers going out that became the healers and restorers. They were not cloistered, or sanctioned by boards and degrees achieved. Jesus empowered them.

When the balance of the church's role leans too far into restoring lives, people don't grow up. They continue to depend, without giving back in restoring others' lives.

Edifying the body does not just mean to shore up, but to strengthen to a point that each building block takes on an important role in creating a structure.

Click to expand...

mickey30981 said:

Yes, these are the sentiments recently proclaimed by Pope Francis. The article you cite , however is bogus. The Metropolitan makes a supposition with virtually no evidence or even reference. That is shame that some in the Orthodox tradition continue to invent reasons to be separate.

Click to expand...

Arsenios said:

The Parable of the Good Samaritan clearly shows the Church as the Dispensary of the Mysteries of Immortality, where Christ leads those whom He has found grievously wounded along the road of our fallen lives, and Who then takes them to the Church [the Inn], and has instructed the Clergy [Inn-keeper] to provide them with whatsoever they might need, and promises to reward those who do so if the cost is more than what Christ has already given them...

The Medicines of Immortality are the Anointing Oils, and the Blood [wine] or our Lord Himself... And in the Pharmocopia that the Church is, there are many, many such medicines... Each having specific applications... Each given by one experienced through his or her own walk in their dispensation...

Christ discipled the Apostles, who in their turn discipled those who came after them, and it is in this transmission of the Grace of God that the Church as Hospital cures the fallen state of man and brings him to God...

Arsenios

Click to expand...

And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Click to expand...

1A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls.

2I will gather all the nations to my church to fight against it; the church will be captured, the places of worship ransacked, and the congregations raped. Half of the church will I cutoff, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the my church. 3Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. (Zechariah 14:1-3)

Click to expand...

Arsenios said:

There are real reasons why we do not extend our Communion to the Latin Churches...

Yet perhaps we can explore the healing modes we both offer...

Because Chrysostom is our common Saint...

Dismissing the Hierotheos article as "bogus" is a separatist action...

Arsenios

Click to expand...

Berean777 said:

Is it your communion or is it Christ's?

Click to expand...

Hmmmmmm................

Click to expand...

Berean777 said:

The dew from heaven falls upon those who the sovereign Lord desires.

When I grew up, I used to think like the way of the world, thinking that people are assigned positions, and their efforts/works entitles them to the concept of privilege. In essence people reflect upon people by way of their perceived position, which are associated with efforts/works. The concept can be described by one word, that is SELF-MADE.

What makes one a CEO of a company is no different to why one is a Patriarch of a church congregation. The concept of self-made privilege is a personal perceived role that is determinant on how people see that person. For example let us say a lay as compared to a patriarch, the people will generally perceive the patriarch as an authoritative figure with a higher privilege and one that is in a position to administer or impart the beatitudes of Christ upon that lay person. So in essence human beings perceive the patriarch as self-made on a personal level, whilst presuming that God has favoured the patriarch as compared to the lay person.

The question is can any lay person work their way up to becoming a CEO or even a patriarch?

It is very possible, so much as it requires the success of the individual efforts to convince those of that company or church hirarachy to promote them to that position and the outcome comes back to the word self-made.

It was only later in life that I wanted to ask the question as to why many others are not self-made, even when they put all they have to reach that self-made status or to aspire to live that dream?

After deep reflection I have come to understand that the world or concept of the world and how it operates is divorced from God, in so much that Jesus would tell Peter who thought himself better than John, to say that the greatest amongst you is your servant. To reflect upon a servant status, one must deny the self-made status and forgo privilege. How can the greatest amongst Christ flock be a servant, if people look upon that person, as a person with the least privilege?

The answer will amaze you. The workings of God doesn't entitle his greatest amongst his flock with a worldly perception of privilege of position and Peter was corrected by Jesus when he wanted to take a leadership role over and above John, when Peter said "what is to become of him", meaning as his leader, is John going to follow me? Jesus replies, no, you are to follow me. I then came to the shocking realisation that the greatest amongst Christ's flock cannot be a patriarch who is perceived as self-made, who is a man of privilege associated with the worldly position held, rather Christ predestines an individual from his mother's womb, that this person will be great as far as Christ is concerned and dismal as far as the world is concerned. The standards of the world are not the standards of the Lord, hence why he chose fishermen, who we the nobodies (zeros of the Jewish culture. We see that predestined individuals are not self made and can never be self made, because they are not self-made worldly leaders from a worldly human perspective, but rather they find out their assigned roles that Christ gives them, when doors are opened for them to succeed. The concept of silent achievers are the true leaders of his church, not ones who are manifested by worldly standards and perceived self made men of stature with privilege.

I noticed when watching particular congregation leaders, that they are trying to show that they are forgoing privilege of position in order to convince the true leaders of Christ's church to consider them as a greatest amongst Christ's flock. The fact of the matter is only Christ knows his leaders and they are the quiet achievers and ones that are not recognised as privileged.

Jesus warned against a church hierarchal church structure that is a model after the Pharisees model, by stating the following....



The word Christ means anointed and for any person to be self-made, who has worldly perceived privilege as an anointed one, is by definition of the verse above a person who has a title that everyone looks up to as a leader of a church and in this regard Jesus says do not go after them as the world goes after them. So leaders of Christ who are the greatest amongst the flock are not recognised as I am Christ, meaning to openly proclaim an anointed status amongst the congregation, that is associated with self-made status with privilege, as Peter was wanting self-made status with privilege over John.

Church is the hospital, the physician Christ Jesus does not operate through one self made individual with privilege, but rather Jesus Christ operates through all members of the body as he has assigned. The message from Paul is one that doesn't specify a static awarded position but one that is known only by the Lord and is assigned by the Lord as he wishes. So the physicians on the church are not self-made individuals with privilege, but the church today has become a company with positions of privilege that entitles those particular members, to impart the beatidudes of Christ. Today's church has all the trappings of the old pharisaical system hirarachy and this is not discrete nor is it flexible to the Lord's liking. What we have is a company of dictators and we know in today's context of situation, people of the world are ridding the world of dictators who have been in power far too long and who are not accountible to the people, in this case the congregation. In today's age dictatorship is unacceptable and it is the congregations duty to hold these self made men of privilege to accountability. We see from world media that many of these dictators are being brought to trial and being made accountible for their past actions.

We know that power yields corruptions and absolute power yields absolute corruption and understand that Jesus Christ never intended his church to have unaccountable self made dictators who are imposing their will over and above God's will. That is why the Lord states that he is going to bring all nations against Jerusalem (the church) to purge it from its hierarchal dictators who have been in power for far too long....



It was very hard for Saul of tarsus a Pharisee of Pharisees to accept Saint Stephan's testimony, until he was blinded, after which he became divorced from the clergy of dictators that ran the church congregation of his days. Today we have others like Saul of tarsus (Paul). These people are doing the same thing as Paul did by blindly following their self made dictators, in
enforcing a concentration camp, rather than a hospital as it should be.

Click to expand...

Arsenios said:

Yes...



Indeed... It is our Communion IN Christ...
The Latins have offered their Communion TO us...
We have not offered ours TO them...

The category you are missing here is "Church Discipline"...
Withdrawal of Communion from another Church is the only means the Orthodox have for assuring compliance with the Faith of Christ entrusted to them...
The Latin Church has been under Anathema by us for a thousand years...

Arsenios

Click to expand...