09/14/2025
"Be careful… be consciously aware…of emotionalism.
Emotionalism is generally viewed negatively in Orthodox theology as a spiritual approach that relies on emotional highs and lows to define truth or determine spiritual connection with God, rather than on the deeper, enduring reality of God's presence through the nous (mind and heart) and spiritual disciplines.
While Orthodoxy engages the emotions through liturgy and fosters a rich inner life, it emphasizes emotional maturity, soberness, and the cultivation of virtues, viewing emotions as a byproduct of genuine encounter with God, not the goal itself.
What Orthodox Theology Disapproves Of
Emotions as the Authority:
The primary issue with emotionalism is the idea that feelings dictate spiritual truth or serve as the gauge of one's relationship with God.
Chasing Emotional Highs:
Instead of seeking an emotional experience, Orthodox spirituality aims for deeper encounters with God that foster transformation and worship, with emotional responses being a natural consequence of these deeper experiences.
Emotionalism vs. Spiritual Depth:
Orthodox theology distinguishes between the pursuit of emotions and a genuine, deep spiritual life. While emotions are part of the human experience, they are not the foundation of faith.
The Orthodox Approach to Emotion
Soberness and Regulation:
Eastern Orthodoxy encourages emotional regulation and "soberness" to manage feelings and react in healthy, spiritual ways.
Nous as the Spiritual Eye:
The nous, a faculty that combines the mind and heart, is the spiritual "eye" that experiences God, a holistic experience distinct from being solely emotion-based.
Liturgical Engagement:
The beauty of Orthodox liturgy, including hymns, icons, and incense, serves to open the heart to God, creating a holistic experience that involves emotions, senses, and intellect, but this engagement is a means, not an end.
Virtue and Character:
Morality and spiritual life are rooted in virtue and character formation, rather than emotional sentimentality.
Deeper Encounter with God:
The goal is to encounter the Holy Trinity and experience God's grace, which can sometimes lead to intense joy or tears, but also to deep stillness and delight in God's presence.
Emotionalism focuses on feelings, while Orthodoxy emphasizes the training and shaping of the soul through discipline and encounter.
Emotions are a part of being made in God's image, and the Church teaches how to express them in a healthy and spiritual way, rather than suppressing them or relying on them as the primary guide.
The emphasis is on humility, stillness, and seeking God's reality beyond intellectual comprehension or superficial emotional response.
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A conversation with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
Father what you have been saying has been a continuous surprise for me, from which I cannot yet recover. How can it be that emotion is also a result of the Fall, or rather that emotion itself is an ill condition?
-Emotion is mixed up with the passions of pleasure-loving. It is not completely identified with them, but is imbued by them to a great degree.
A healthy man spiritually is a balanced man in all his manifestations. I said earlier that when man’s nous is illumined -when man is at the illumination of the nous- he is not moved by God simply psychologically and emotionally, but has true communion with God.
🌺Moreover, he sees in all creation the “causes of beings” -the uncreated governing energy of God. He is not moved emotionally by nature and its beauty, but sees the energy of God in it.
🌺As St. Isaac the Syrian says, faith based on theoria -which man attains when he is at the illumination of the nous- “is a gate to the mysteries of God”.
I will mention a simple example. St.Diadochos of Photiki says that the introductory joy is one thing and the perfecting joy is another.
The first one, being strongly emotional, is mixed with fantasy, “is not devoid of fantasy”, while perfecting joy is associated with humility.
Between emotional joy and perfecting joy there is “god-loving sorrow and painless tears”.
Emotional joy, which is called introductory, is not entirely rejected, yet we must be led to the perfecting joy.
This perfection and cure is achieved through the cross.
“By the cross gladness prevails to all world”.
Thus within the Church we struggle to transform all emotions as well as everything mundane.
The transformation of emotions to genuine and authentic experiences is accomplished by repentance.
Repentance leads us from a painful and tragic monologue to a dialogue with the living God.
Through repentance, self-condemnation and humility, we transform emotions to spiritual experiences.
In this case also holds true what we mentioned about fantasy. The more a person is emotionally ill, the more he reveals the death and darkness of his nous.
And the more a person’s emotions are transformed, the more his nous is illumined; he is at the state of illumination.
Can you see that the movement of the nous is very important?
Can you see that it plays an important role whether the nous follows the movement according to nature or contrary to nature?
-Allow me, continued Irene, to ask you to explain even further how the emotions are transformed to spiritual experiences.
-I think I referred to the basic points. But since you wish I can expand more on the subject.
The Fathers say that in the woman’s soul psychological experiences are connected more with spiritual ones.
In other words, many women consider the so-called psychological conditions to be spiritual experiences. They may for example feel an emotional sweetness, while praying, and think that it is the coming of the grace of God. A lot of attention is needed, because at this point many images of fantasy intervene and create the preconditions for serious psychological anomalies.
I give you an example. A small girl expresses motherhood by playing with dolls. She feeds them, washes them, puts them to sleep, etc. When, however, she grows up and becomes a real mother, she does all these things undergoing pain.
She feels pain to give birth to the child and pain and toil to bring it up. The little girl expresses motherhood, and, I could say, enjoys it emotionally, without pain and suffering, whereas becoming a mother for a woman is connected with pain and suffering; it is a “cross”.
It is in this way somehow that we distinguish emotional joy from spiritual joy, emotions from spiritual experiences.
Only true and complete repentance can cleanse all these psychological states and make them spiritual.
And, naturally, it is our spiritual father who helps us with this; it is he who has the responsibility of distinguishing and curing this condition.
In this way and with the help of our spiritual guide our nous is cured; it is led from the movement contrary to nature to that according to nature and, even more, above nature; the nous then is illumined and united with God and it is cured from fantasies and emotions.
This is why the realisation of the real problem, and also the cure of the darkened nous are absolutely necessary.
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The illness and cure of the soul in the Orthodox Tradition
By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos
The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition" is a book by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos that presents the Orthodox understanding of spiritual healing as a therapeutic process.
Through discussions, the book explores how the soul's "malady" is cured within the "hospital of the Church," emphasizing that spiritual healing is not a moral system but a process of re-establishing one's relationship with God through the Holy Mysteries and ascetic practice.
The book references Church Fathers and saints to explain the illness of the soul, which distorts relationships with God and others, and the path to spiritual life.
The Church as a Spiritual Hospital:
The book posits that the Orthodox Church serves as a hospital, where individuals, regardless of their spiritual state, are welcomed and healed from their spiritual ailments.
The Soul's Illness:
Metropolitan Hierotheos describes the soul as suffering from an illness or malady that leads to a distorted relationship with God, other people, and nature.
The Search for Fullness:
Man's inner desire for fulfillment, or an existential impetus, leads to a quest for God and communion with Him, a quest that the Orthodox Church is uniquely equipped to satisfy.
Therapeutic Treatment:
The central idea is that Orthodox Christianity provides a "therapeutic treatment" for the deepest aspects of the personality, not just moral conduct.
Spiritual Fathers and Psychologists:
The book discusses the role of spiritual fathers and distinguishes their role from that of psychologists in the process of spiritual healing.
Three Stages of Spiritual Life:
The author outlines the stages of purification, illumination, and deification, which are crucial steps in the soul's healing process.
Three Categories of Christians:
The text categorizes Christians into those who are uncured, those who are being cured, and those who have been cured, illustrating the progression of spiritual growth.
Content of the Book
The book is based on a lecture series by the author for the St. John of Damascus Faculty of Theology at the University of Balamand.
It was published by St. Nikodemos Publications and is available through various Orthodox bookstores.
The work incorporates direct quotes and insights from the teachings of the Church Fathers and saints to support further support with divine spiritual discernment."
