This book written by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos Vlachos was first published in 1991 and has been translated in French, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian and is in its 9th edition. It is a story of a monk and his staretz on the Jesus Prayer and it was translated into english by Effie Mavromichali.
In Effie Mavromichali's Forward he says something what I find disturbing. He says "His series of four books (Hierotheos Vlachos) on "Orthodox Psychotherapy" is of great interest since he believes that the neptic tradition of the Church has a therapeutic value. Archimandrite Hierotheos Vlachos believes that Christianity is not a philosophy or an ideology, but rather it is a therapeutic science and a therapeutic treatment which cures the innermost aspect of one's personality."
My question is what happened to the Holy Spirit and His action in the soul and ones personality? Has humanism and modernism come to Mount Athos? I have not started to read the book because of this statement and I do not think I will. Is this a start of a new way of thinking for Orthodoxy? This type of "science" has been prevalent in Roman Catholicism thinking since the mid 80's from books written by Roman Catholic authors about Carmelite Spirituality and linking it with Carl Jung, Rogers, and other philosophical writings.
