Page 350 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
The Church, Psycholog y, and the Ques-
tion of Healing
From this perspective, we may now turn to the human
person and the question of healing. Today it is necessary
to foster communication between two worlds which for cen-
turies have lived and operated in almost complete isolation
from one another: the world of theology and the Church on
the one hand, and the world of medicine, especially psychia-
try, on the other. The age of isolated specializations is pass-
ing. In every field of knowledge there is increasing recogni-
tion that nothing can be understood in separation from the
whole. No one can say to another, “I have no need of you.”
This is true above all in the relation between theology and
medicine, because both have the same subject: the human
person.
Traditionally, medicine has concerned itself with the hu-
man being as biological organism, while theology has con-
fined itself to “spiritual matters,” as though soul and body
could be treated separately. Both sides require correction.
Physicians cannot heal persons without taking into account
the deeper ontological implications of human freedom—the
human urge for transcendence, which leads inevitably to the
question of God. Likewise, theologians and pastors cannot
fulfill their task unless they take seriously the psychosomatic
reality of human beings, lest in the name of spiritual care they
create new and grave psychological wounds. Communication
and cooperation between spiritual fathers and psychiatrists is
therefore indispensable.
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