The Healing Science of The Church Fathers
The spiritual life is not guesswork. The Orthodox Faith is a science which cures “it is clear that Christianity is principally a science which cures, that is to say, a psychotherapeutic method and treatment. Only those who have been cured and have attained communion with God are theologians, and they alone can show Christians, the true way to reach the ‘place’ of cure.” Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos in Orthodox Psychotherapy p. 30-31.
In this post, we will examine the life and writings of St Nicholai Velimirovich as a guide and teacher of the way to the heart, the way to cure. Eventually we will also look at the lives of St John the Theologian, St Gregory the Theologian, St Symeon the New Theologian, St Gregory Palamas and Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex who, though not glorified by the Church yet, is most certainly a Saint, as his life and writings demonstrate.

The Method of Cure
Metropolitan Hierotheos describes the method by which we can be healed;”The soul is referred to as the spiritual element of man’s existence; the heart , as the essence of the soul, and the nous as the energy of the soul (Nous=mind, intellect or spiritual awareness in the heart, which is to be distinguished from reason or logic which is a function of the brain. In a healthy person the reason is under the control of the nous- emphasis mine). Thus when the nous enters the heart and acts therein, there exists a unity between the nous (energy), the heart (essence), and the soul. All asceticism in the Church aims at man’s divinization, at his communion with God the Trinity. This is acomplished when the energy of the soul (nous) returns to its essence (heart) and ascends to God. The fact is that when a person lives the inner life- when his nous returns within his inner world from its previous dispersion( in sinful thoughts or logismoi, distractions of life and our surroundings, and the appetites of the body- emphasis mine); when he experiences mourning and in the deepest sense, repentance- he is then conscious of the existence of this centre, i.e. the existence of the heart. He feels therein pain and spiritual sorrow; he experiences the grace of God; there also he even hears the voice of God”. Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Orthodox Spirituality, p.34-36.
Note: ” Man has two centers of knowing: the nous which is the appropiate organ for receiving the revelation of God that is later put into words through the reason, and the reason which knows the sensible world around us” Metr. Hierotheos Vlachos, The Person in Orthodox Tradition, p.24