by W. David Holden
OCAMPR EJournal, Volume II Number 2 (June 2004)
When we speak of the types, origins, and treatment of depression, we usually draw our thoughts from modern psychotherapy, even though the tradition of the Christian Church may shape and mold our ideas to some extent. But the Christian tradition has actually thought about and struggled with depression far longer and to much greater depth than the
psychotherapy of the past century. In this article I focus on one of the ways that our tradition has understood and dealt with depression. I review here the most ancient teaching of our tradition on depression, a teaching a thousand years older than the notion of “the dark night of the soul.” This teaching sees depression among “the deadly sins.” I review first the ancient notion of the deadly sins in general. Then I describe the two forms of depression that the Church anciently recognized. Then I discuss the remedies that the ancient Church prescribed for these two forms of depression.
The Deadly Sins
The Christian tradition’s most ancient wisdom about depression is to be found in the old lists of the deadly sins. Many people are familiar with the list of seven deadly sins. Roman Catholics and others in the West have referred to this list for hundreds of years. The list is translated into English in various ways. One common enumeration is pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust.
Now which of those seven great sins has anything to do with depression? They all might be connected to depression in one way or another, but the sin of sloth actually refers directly to depression. The idea is that depression causes us to want to do nothing. The use of the English word “sloth” gets the focus away from sadness. The use of the English word “sloth” implies that the feeling of sadness and the psychiatric affliction of depression are not sinful, but the self-indulgent laziness and indifference that come with sadness and depression are sinful.
But this is merely in English. The Latin words that have been translated “sloth” clearly do imply that sadness itself is somehow sinful. One of the Latin words for “sloth” is acedia, which is simply a transliteration of a Greek word that I shall shortly discuss more thoroughly. This word is the root of the English word “accidie,” which is still used from time to time in theological ethics. Another Latin word for “sloth” is tristitia, which simply means sadness. But these terms are merely Latin. The Seven Deadly Sins constitute a distinctly Western list. The precise form of the list of seven deadly sins that is now common in the West was developed in the Middle Ages. It was based on the thought of Saint Gregory the Great, who was the first pope of Rome that used that name and held the seat of Saint Peter between 590 and 604. To get to the real meaning of the tradition, however, we must go behind Gregory’s list to the sources that Gregory used. Gregory’s principal source was [read more in .pdf file]
Tags: dejection, despondency, Orthodox Theology, Ascetic Therapy, Pastoral Care, Orthodox Psychotherapy
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