Orthotherapy: Hidden Truth

Many today are increasingly enamoured by various sciences that seek to rationalize the ‘causes’ behind every aspect of human behavior. Our environment, our upbringing, our genes, the people around us, our gender and social class, all at one time or another, have been accentuated as reasons for the psychological disorder within man. Next to this scientific backdrop, the diagnosis of the Church often remains unchanged: man suffers because of his miscommunication with God.

Singling out anxiety as the one disorder disproportionately affecting people today, His Grace Bishop Emilianos of Meloa uses this latest instalment of the Hidden Truth series to reveal how the Church’s timeless wisdom can be used to properly understand, prevent and cure such troublesome conditions. If union with God is the ultimate treatment, then thoughts, we are told, are the foundation for spiritual health. Based on the ideas shared by the Very Rev. Archimandrite Barnabas Yiangou, we learn of the dangers inherent in wrongful thinking, specifically the mind’s preoccupation with thoughts of pride and negativity. In a series of ‘Questions and Answers’ from gatherings held in Perth and Sydney, we are offered the formula for overcoming our egocentric thought-processes and developing a God-centred mindset.

Moving beyond psychology’s moralistic aim of creating ‘good men’ and nihilistic counterpart to morally ‘free men,’ Bishop Emilianos terms the word ‘OrthoTherapy’ to point us toward the only mission of the Church: to become new men, a new creation, with a new nous that has overcome the fear of death. How do we begin this process of rebirth?

In responding to our Creator’s Gift of salvation, Bishop Emilianos outlines a framework for applying, but not relying on our personal ascesis to build a relationship with God. Using the healing remedies of a spiritual father, self-acceptance, repentance, confession, love and forgiveness, we are given simple and tangible ways to unite ourselves to the One who can free our hearts from every anxiety and grant rest to our souls.

Will we embrace a life of self-acceptance and inner stability, crucify our logic and overcome our ‘small god’ complex? Will we follow the proven path taken by the Saints, free ourselves from worries and heal our broken relationships? Because the truth is no longer hidden: neither our environment nor any other psychological construct can keep us from freely calling upon our God who has overcome the world and Who is ready to help us overcome our own with the use of OrthoTherapy.