Articles

Selected articles and interviews by His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos. You can also follow His Eminence’s activities on the official website of the Holy Metropolis of Nafpaktos and St Vlassios: www.parembasis.gr

The Orthodox Church on Human Health

Ι thank Professor Dimitrios Linos for the invitation to take part in this online course on the general subject of ‘Health and Religion’. I regarded this invitation as a challenge, and at first I hesitated to accept it. I have spoken on many occasions to different audiences inside and outside Greece about Orthodox psychotherapy and about human health in general from different viewpoints, and I did not want to repeat the same things. For that reason I looked for a subject which would contribute something new to what I have written until now.

Orhodox Theology and Medical Science

Presented at the 15th virtual Panhellenic Congress of Nuclear Medicine

Thank you for the invitation to take part in the 15th Panhellenic Congress of Nuclear Medicine with a paper on Orthodox theology and medical science.

This subject is timely, because in our day various views are expressed about the relationship and difference between theology and science, and we attempt to find the boundaries between them and to achieve good collaboration between them, because we are concerned with the whole human being.

Orhodox Theology and Medical Science

Presented at the 15th virtual Panhellenic Congress of Nuclear Medicine

Thank you for the invitation to take part in the 15th Panhellenic Congress of Nuclear Medicine with a paper on Orthodox theology and medical science.

The Therapeutic Character of Orthodoxy

Presented at: Online Theological Meeting: The Message of Orthodoxy to Modern People

I am delighted with this meeting with His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, my dear distinguished fellow-speakers, and our dear viewers today, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, and I should like to take this opportunity to pray that the God of our Fathers may bless us and keep us within the Orthodox Church.

The Therapeutic Character of Orthodoxy

Presented at: Online Theological Meeting: The Message of Orthodoxy to Modern People

2020

The Mutual Link between Pleasure and Pain

I read an significant book entitled Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants ^[1], which sets out the value of pain in human life. The author of this book is Paul Brand, a doctor, who was born in India in 1914 to missionary parents. He studied in England and worked as a doctor in India among lepers. He was “a pioneer in treating leprosy in India” and “demonstrated that the lack of a sensation of pain was what caused the characteristic deformities of leprosy. Later in the USA he confirmed his findings on diabetes and other illnesses. This important discovery led him to the conclusion that not only should pain not be silenced, but it also constitutes one of the body’s most effective ways of communication.”

Coronavirus and the Church

Interview with Hierotheos, Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlasios to the "Church Intervention" for the coronavirus epidemic (covid-19)

Elder Ephraim of the Holy Mountain and Arizona

I have been linked with the ever-blessed Hieromonk Ephraim in many and different ways over many years, and in this article I shall set out some of my thoughts about the Elder of blessed memory.

Hesychia and the Vision of God in the Epistles of the Apostle Paul

Translation of Chapter 6 from the book in Greek by Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos Mysteries, Sacraments and Asceticism, pub. Birth of the Theotokos Monastery, Levadia 2011, pp. 241-31

When one reads Holy Scripture and the Holy Fathers carefully and with an open mind, without speculative and philosophical analyses, one realises that the theology that inspired the Apostles and the Fathers was a matter of revelation and experience, and that they themselves collaborated in this revelation, in the sense that they lived within the tradition of the Church.

2017

The Views of Orthodox Theology on Bioethical Issues

I have been involved for many years with bioethical problems arising from contemporary genetic issues concerning the beginning of biological life, its prolongation and its end. The outcome of this involvement was my book Orthodox Bioethics - The Theology Perspective, which was published in Greek.

The Messiah in the Old and New Testaments

One of the basic phrases associated with St Andrew the First-Called Apostle is his statement to his brother Simon, the Apostle Peter: “‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated, the Christ)” (John 1:41).

2016

In the Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Antioch – America, July 2016 - Biology, Bioethics and Biotheology

(Lectures given by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos, Hierotheos (Vlachos) at the July 18–22 Archdiocesan Clergy Symposium, convened by Metropolitan Joseph and hosted at Antiochian Village by the Antiochian House of Studies.)

The Orthodox Church has its own realm where all the applications of the teaching and work of Christ take place. The Church cures people and helps them to overcome all problems, even death itself and the fear of death.

In the Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Antioch – America, July 2016 - Orthodox Psychotherapy and Western Psychology

In my previous paper I referred to the difference between Orthodox and Western theology. In this paper we should go on to look at this difference in a practical form, at the subject of how each of these traditions cures people.

In the Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Antioch – America, July 2016 - Orthodox and Western Theology

When I am invited to speak to members of the Clergy who exercise the pastoral ministry I usually stress that theology is pastoral and the pastoral ministry is theology. When someone wants to shepherd a particular flock, and when he is shepherding human beings, he must necessarily speak theologically.

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