Should I go to a priest or a psychologist?

Good Morning & Praise The Lord!

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Good morning, and praise the Lord! Today is Wednesday June 5, 2024.

Today we celebrate Dorotheos the Holy Martyr, Bishop of Tyre

Saint Dorotheus became Bishop of Tyre in Phoenicia about the end of the third century. During the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, about the year 303, he fled to Odyssopolis in Thrace to preserve his life, and after the death of the tyrants he returned to Tyre. He lived until the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), from whose persecution he again fled to Odyssopolis (or, according to Theophylact of Bulgaria, Edessa), but was found by Julian's men and slain in great torments, at the age of 107, in 361. He was very learned, and has left behind writings in both Latin and Greek relating the lives of the holy Prophets, Apostles, and other Saints.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us.

Lord, forgive our sins.

Master, pardon our transgressions.

Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Your name's sake.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; both now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Acts of the Apostles 13:13-24

IN THOSE DAYS, Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem; but they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, "Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it."

So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: "Men of Israel, and you that fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. And for about forty years he bore with them in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king; of whom he testified and said, 'I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.' Of this man's posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel."

John 6:5-14

At that time, Jesus, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!"

Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, present everywhere and filling all things, treasury of blessings and giver of life, come and abide in us.

Cleanse us from every stain and save our souls, gracious Lord.

Should we go to a priest or a psychologist?

Question: If i have a problem, please, tell me, should I go to a priest or to a psychologist?

Father Raphael: I’d say, of course, you should go to a priest. But, very sadly, I see something in our world: it’s happening more and more often that us, priests, do not find the orthodox way of receiving a man, of listening to him, of understanding him, of resurrecting him.

As one coming from The West, where the Church has not been for 1,000 years and western spirituality has gone totally bankrupt – the 20th century has brought about its full bankruptcy that was already within it from long ago. And, now, those from the West who are illumined, are looking more and more towards orthodoxy, the orthodoxy that is badly misunderstood in these lands of its origin, where we are at risk of being in the same position as the Jews who lost the tradition once given to them. I am telling you this, precisely, so, it doesn’t have to happen, to ask the Lord that not only those from the West find the truth, but that He also adds to the riches of our already existing inheritance.

So, in the West […] I have the impression that this science of psychology is also a kind of Mercy of God, in a world where God no longer exists and there is a man-made Church, a man-made priesthood, so to speak – I don’t want to use the word “pseudo”, even though, I should, perhaps.

What is a psychologist? He is one to whom you go to and leave all your burdens and tell him everything, and know that he won’t judge you, and for professional reasons, he will not disclose the mystery of your confession, in principle.

Fathers, priests! This is our prerogative! We must not only be able to replace the psychologist, but surpass above any expectation what he can do for a client. Why? Because we have the Mystery [Sacrament], we have God Whom we can impart to people. I am telling you this, so that we go only a little bit into God’s Mystery, and then we don’t know how far it will get! I’ve seen mass resurrection, tens of families raising from the dead in the West, as well as here!

So, I’d say, of course, see a priest, but forgive me, brother priests, hierarchs, we must confess this and it is the truth: we are so bad, that we no longer know our vocation, and then the people are confused and go to wherever and whomever they can.

I will tell you this also: psychology, from what I know, it started with Freud and continued with Jung and it caused man many problems. But, then again, if you look at it from a historical point of view, you’ll see that even there, man is searching for his true identity; and there are many psychologists who discover some truths, but, if you look at it closely, you’ll see that these truths were once already known by the Church, yet to our shame, we don’t live by these truths, we don’t apply them anymore.

I say our shame – you know, I believe that we are all as one person, my confession is your confession, my life is your life, we all share into the same fate, and I’d like to call all of you, as one person, to be renewed in The Spirit.

I don’t mean this, so that you, laypeople, judge priests, but that you pray for us that God illumines us, so that we can illumine you. I mean this for my brother priests, so that we know we are in a terrible decline; so, we have to learn from the left and from the right, from the fathers, through psychology, from the world of the righteous, as well as from the world of sin, from all avenues. And, with God’s help, we must understand and turn around, as it is said in [the book of] Revelation to one of the Churches: Repent and do your first works, or else… I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp-stand from its place — unless you repent.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.