{"id":8959,"date":"2025-07-31T13:33:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/?p=8959"},"modified":"2025-07-31T13:39:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T13:39:32","slug":"the-pastoral-care-of-addicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/the-pastoral-care-of-addicts\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pastoral Care of Addicts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pastoral Care of Addicts<\/strong><\/p>\n

B<\/strong>y Father Julian Negru<\/strong><\/p>\n

Generally speaking about addiction, it is necessary to discuss especially about alcoholism as we see it as the most eloquent example of addiction. This, not only due to the fact that the phenomenon of alcoholism is by far the best-known in our country at the moment, but also to the fact that what is applied to the disease of alcoholism remains valid for the addiction to other substances or behaviors. Furthermore, the spiritual process of recovering from various \u00a0dependencies \u00a0is\u00a0 very \u00a0similar, \u00a0in \u00a0almost \u00a0all \u00a0cases, \u00a0whether \u00a0one \u00a0speaks \u00a0about \u00a0alcohol, cannabis or\u00a0 heroine. Of course, there are \u00a0differences \u00a0between addictions and their \u00a0solutions; however, we shall highlight the similarities between them, trying to understand them better, from a theological coherent perspective.<\/p>\n

Another reason for approaching the subject of alcoholism is that, this way, we will be able to\u00a0find countless scriptural and patristic testimonies about alcohol-alcoholism-drunkenness, unlike illegal drugs, which were not so widespread in the old times. Certainly, a question arises in the mind of the young theologian: where does the necessity of acquiring and understanding these concepts that belong rather to the domain of medical, psychological, medical and social sciences stem from? As long as addiction is a disease, and this has been established since 1956 by the World Organization of Health, why does this domain have to be subject of theological studies as well, not only to those psychological, medical and social?<\/p>\n

The answer lies in the following statements we shall enumerate and sustain with arguments:<\/p>\n

The state of drunkenness is an altered state of mind which can be achieved through various methods. Alcohol is just one of many causes that can produce the wanted feeling of beatitude. In other words, the state of drunkenness can be obtained without consuming alcohol. The Bible speaks very clearly about this possibility: \u201cit is a pity for those that get drunk but not with wine\u201d (Is. 29, 9).<\/p>\n

The Holy Fathers also admit the possibility of experiencing same states of mind that are alike with the state of a man who becomes drunk without consuming alcohol. As a key expert of the human soul insights Saint Basil the Great expresses this in a very clear way: \u201cAnger is a drunkenness of the soul; it makes a human lose his judgment just like the wine itself. Sadness is also drunkenness because it confuses the mind. Fear, when it comes to life without a reason is another state of drunkenness. *\u2026+ And, to put it short, each of this states of mind that confuses the judgment, can be called based on right judgment, drunkenness\u201d. 1<\/p>\n

Further on, developing this idea, Saint Basil The Great shows what astonishing resemblances exists between the drunkenness caused by alcohol and many self-intoxicated state of mind, for example the states of anger : \u201cthink about the angered man, how drunk of passion he is! He can\u2019t control himself anymore; he doesn\u2019t recognize other; just like in a night fight, he grabs all he can. He pounces upon everybody, he isn\u2019t conscious anymore of what he is saying, he can\u2019t be stopped, he swears, he hits, he threatens, he yells, he snaps. Run far from this drunkenness but avoid the alcohol intoxication as well.\u201d 2<\/p>\n

So, we can see that alcohol is viewed by Saint Basil the Great as material substance that has the same effect upon human soul like different causes of spiritual natures. Though the alcohol is a material substance it has an immediate effect on the psychological and spiritual levels, competing therefore with other immaterial causes: anger, sadness, fear.<\/p>\n

Therefore alcohol is just one of various causes that lead to obtaining a modified state of mind, called drunkenness. We find the same idea at Saint John Chrysostom: \u201cit is time now to advise you to avoid not only the common drunkenness but also the one without wine, because that one is much more terrifying.<\/p>\n

And do not be surprised of what I say to you. Because there is also drunkenness without wine. And to confirm that such drunkenness exists, listen to the prophet that says: \u201cit is a pity for those that get drunk but not with wine\u201d *Is 29, 9+. What kind of drunkenness is this without wine?<\/p>\n

There are many and of various forms. Because anger also produces drunkenness, and also pride, and madness, and each of the destructive passions that came into us because they produce in us a certain drunkenness and self-fulfilling that blinds our mind.<\/p>\n

Drunkenness is nothing else but the waste of our natural powers and the loss of straight judgment<\/p>\n

and wisdom. *\u2026+ And pride and madness is another form of drunkenness much more terrifying than common drunkenness. Because who is enslaved by these passions loses his straight judgment upon reality and doesn\u2019t have a saner mind than that of insane people\u201d. 3<\/em><\/p>\n

It looks like the expression \u201cdrunkenness without alcohol\u201d was used by The Holly Fathers and not only as figure of speech with which to adorn their speech and writings. It was seen as different reality than the alcoholic intoxication, but one resembling through their manifestations.<\/p>\n

Therefore, we find references of drunkenness without alcohol at many Holly Fathers and not only<\/p>\n

at the greatest speakers. For example Saint Antioch, in his words of wisdom about anger says: \u201cIt is very good for man to force himself to control the passion of anger, to destroy his soul rashness, with long lasting patience and softness, with prayer and devoutness. Because the demon pushes to anger the one that wants to save his soul. Because the efforts that the man gathers through fast and prayer, through wakefulness or ceremonies, vanish after words in one second, the devil of anger taking the reward for many years of efforts. And this is the man that is drunk without drinking wine<\/strong>!\u201d 4<\/em><\/p>\n

So the state of drunkenness regardless of the nature of its causes comes to us as a tempting reasonable alternative, though subjective, at objective realty, many times boring and dissatisfying, in which we live.<\/p>\n

Indeed, this world can not entirely satisfy us because that\u2019s not the purpose it was created for.<\/p>\n

Drunkenness appears then as an easy, subtle and programmable refuge in a euphoric state or as a<\/p>\n

temporary release of one\u2019s ego, oppressive and, many times accusative.<\/p>\n

From this point of view, drunkenness can be understood also as a state that willingly and consciously suspends the human conscience, or a total or partial censorship of the conscience, and substituting its qualms with on undeserved euphoria!<\/p>\n

But a person that can commute can navigate between two or more realities is a person that is a sick as an alcoholic, even if he doesn\u2019t drink alcohol. Consciously change of objective reality with other subjective reality, made at demand, is a disease of the spirit generally speaking, and not only an alcoholic disease.<\/p>\n

For \u00a0example, \u00a0the \u00a0liar \u00a0creates \u00a0his \u00a0own \u00a0reality, \u00a0different \u00a0from \u00a0that \u00a0of \u00a0others, \u00a0enjoying \u00a0with<\/p>\n

selfishness, the fact that he knows things that others don\u2019t know. It\u2019s like the dog that retreats in<\/p>\n

his kennel to leak his bone.<\/p>\n

A genuine mythomaniac lies for pleasure, not with a purpose. To sum up, we can say that, a person that gets drunk (with or without alcohol) is a person that craves to another reality than the one he lives in. It is actually the restlessness and the undefined will towards God\u2019s Kingdom.<\/p>\n

In the opinion of The Holy Fathers, the drunkenness is any method of coming out from ourselves.<\/p>\n

Coming out from ourselves is against the human nature when it\u2019s caused by selfishness. But there is also a coming out into ourselves, when the purified soul meets God. In this case, coming out into ourselves is one that agrees with our nature, because our nature, was created so that it can share with God beyond its natural powers through grace. To get an ecstasy state of coming into ourselves is necessary a rediscovery of the lost ego.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man that got out from Heaven, got out of himself. He is searching for his ontological ego<\/p>\n

outside, in the variety of the creation\u201d. Otherwise God Himself teaches through the example of the prodigal son: \u201cand coming into his senses he said\u2026\u201d (Luke 15, 17)<\/p>\n

So, before meeting the Father the estranged son had to meet with himself. Only afterwards the feast could take place. Holy Scripture categorically condemns the habit of drinking excessive alcohol, because amplify the human nature defects: “Drunkenness multiplies the anger of the fool (…) shrinking the virtues and acquires injury” (Is. Sir. 31, 35) and that brings suffering and death: \u201cDon’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Spirit\u201d. (Eph. 5, 18)<\/p>\n

But excessive drinking not only leads to a sickness of soul and body, but may take some more<\/p>\n

severe forms. Therefore, the attitude of some of the Holy Fathers is very categorical. If in general is put into practice the “hates sin and loves the sinner” principle, approaching the drunkenness issue we can see an obvious change of tone. Clement of Alexandria firmly states that drinking is poison: “should you abstain from drunkenness as hemlock, that both lead to death.” 5<\/p>\n

Saint John Chrysostom states that \u201ea drunken man is worse than a dead one\u201d 6. In his opinion,<\/p>\n

\u201cdrunkenness is a willing surrender to the devil<\/strong>. Drunkenness clouds the mind much more than demonic possession and it robes a drunken man of any kind of judgment. Often, when we see a possessed man, we pity him, we suffer for him and we show him much compassion; however, we behave in a totally different way with an drunk man; we revolt ourselves, we get angry, we call him names of all sorts. And why do we behave in this way? Because a man tortured by the evil demon unwillingly does what he is doing; he deserve forgiveness even if he kicks with his legs, even if he tears his clothes, even if he speaks shameful words; the alcohol addict, however, does not deserve forgiveness for what he is doing; he is utterly accused by family, by friends, by neighbors, by everybody, because he willingly got himself into this bad situation, he willingly surrendered himself to \u00a0drunkenness. \u00a07\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>In \u00a0the \u00a0view \u00a0of \u00a0Saint \u00a0John \u00a0Chrysostom, \u00a0the \u00a0passion \u00a0of \u00a0drinking \u00a0is \u00a0indeed \u00a0synonymous with demonic possession: \u201ethe one who spends his time in drunkenness and caress and feasts, serves the devil himself.\u201d 8<\/em><\/p>\n

Therefore, the one who gets drunk risks losing his own salvation: \u201cYou cannot see the kingdom of heaven if\u00a0 you\u00a0 are\u00a0 an\u00a0 alcohol addict. Don\u2019t be mistaken\u2019, says Saint Paul, \u2018neither the alcohol addicts, nor those who curse shall see God\u2019s kingdom. But why do I speak of God\u2019s kingdom? If you are an alcohol addict, you cannot see the things of this world. Drunkenness changes the day into a night and the light into darkness. Alcohol addicts have their eyes opened, but they cannot even see what lies in front of their feet. The atrocity does not resume only to this, beside it, alcohol addicts endure a much more frightening punishment: they are sad without a cause, angry, ill, continuously bantered and scolded. What forgiveness can these men, that bring upon themselves so many misfortunes, achieve? None! Where there is drunkenness, there is the devil himself.\u201d 9<\/p>\n

The one who drinks without a measure is avoided not only by others, but even the Holy Spirit himself estranges from him: \u2018Smoke drives away the bees, drunkenness drives away the heavenly graces.\u2019 10\u00a0 \u00a0Alcohol (Spiritus) drives away the Spirit (um)! \u2018My Spirit shall not remain in these people, as they are only flesh.\u2019 (Fac. 6, 3)<\/p>\n

In this way, we become more vulnerable to demonic attacks that slowly take control of our free will. Although it cannot be certified that all <\/strong>alcoholics are under a demonic possession, the passion of drinking represents\u00a0 the \u00a0visible \u00a0sign of our defeat \u00a0in the invisible \u00a0fight \u00a0with the powers of darkness. That is why the most adequate person to approach the problem of alcoholism, due to his spiritual nature, is the priest. However, this requires much prayer and spiritual maturity on one hand, and understanding and professional training on the other, as \u2018our fight is not one against the body and the blood, but one against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the evil powers that roam the skies.\u2019 (Efes. 6, 12) Although he fought with nerve against drunkenness, calling it \u2018the national vice of countries with a cold climate\u2019, Saint Theodosius recognizes his limits at a certain point, stating: \u2018The priest easily drives away a demon from a possessed man, but to drive it away from an alcoholic addict is something that surpasses the exorcism of priests all over the world!\u2019 11 <\/strong>It\u00a0is an extremely provoking statement for a priest!<\/p>\n

These thoughts help us understand that repeated states of drunkenness can drive a man, slowly but irreversibly, into \u2018a much more terrifying situation that demonic possession\u2019, towards a physical and psychological addiction to alcohol. Due to the fact that the alcoholic addict is a \u2018willing demon\u2019, there also exists the prejudice that he can willingly relinquish this passion. However, his free will, maybe the greatest gift from God, is enslaved by the devil and unable to fight. Will becomes of no use to an alcoholic addict. He finds himself in the dramatic situation in which he \u2018would like to have the will to quit\u2019 drinking. That is why, beside prayer, much effort, cooperation and spiritual support from others are required. Perhaps nowhere else are the words of the Holy Fathers more appropriate: \u201cWhen it comes to sinning, the man sins on his own; but when it comes to recovering, he can recover only in communion.\u201d As for the rest, according to studies, only 5 % (meaning 1 out of 20) succeed in remaining abstinent without help from a group support. In the case of alcoholism, group therapy is essential, and the involvement of the community in the recovering of the addict is an obligation and not an option.<\/p>\n

source- THE PASTORAL CARE OF ADDICTS, <\/strong>8 Saint John Chrysostom, Omilii la parabola despre s\u0103racul Laz\u0103r \u015fi bogatul nemilostiv<\/em>, Editura Sophia, Bucuresti, 2002, p. 7, <\/strong>9 Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies to Mathew, <\/em>Homily no. LXX, trad. by Pr. D. Fecioru, E.I.B.M.B.O.R, Buc., 1986, vol. 23, p.<\/p>\n

809, 10 Sf. Basil the Great, Homilies and Speeches, <\/em>trad. by Fr. D. Fecioru, E.I.B.M.B.O.R, Buc., 1986, p. 357, 11 T. Spidlik, The Great Russian Mistics, Ed. Ep. Dun\u0103rii de jos, Gala\u0163i, 1997, p. 35,<\/p>\n

1 St. Basil the Great, Homilies and Speeches, trad. by Fr. D. Fecioru, E.I.B.M.B.O.R., Buc., 1986, p. 356<\/p>\n

2 ibidem, 3 John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions, Lord\u2019s Army PH, Sibiu, 2003, p. 83<\/p>\n

5 Clement of Alexandria, The Paedagogus (The Instructor)<\/em>, Book II, Cap. 56. 3, \u00een PSB, vol. 4, p. 263<\/p>\n

6 Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies to Genesis<\/em>, trad. by Pr. D. Fecioru, E.I.B.M.B.O.R, Buc. 1987, p. 368<\/p>\n

7 Ibidem<\/em>, p. 372<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Generally speaking about addiction, it is necessary to discuss especially about alcoholism as we see it as the most eloquent example of addiction. This, not only due to the fact that the phenomenon of alcoholism is by far the best-known in our country at the moment, but also to the fact that what is applied to the disease of alcoholism remains valid for the addiction to other substances or behaviors. Furthermore, the spiritual process of recovering from various dependencies is very similar, in almost all cases, whether one speaks about alcohol, cannabis or heroine. Of course, there are differences between addictions and their solutions; however, we shall highlight the similarities between them, trying to understand them better, from a theological coherent perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-scriptures","category-sermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8959"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8965,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8959\/revisions\/8965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}