Christian psychology and its essence. Free help from a Christian psychologist Institute of Christian Psychology

Psychology originated in ancient times in the depths of philosophy and for a long time developed as one of its areas. In the 1870-80s. psychology develops as an independent discipline (field of knowledge), distinct from philosophy and physiology. Its founder is the ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) (1: 43), who created the first psychological system. The principles and main concepts of this system are set forth in the treatise "On the Soul", its important provisions are contained in other works: "Ethics", "Rhetoric", "Metaphysics", "History of Animals".

Thus, psychology is one of the ancient sciences. At the same time, psychology is also one of the most important and significant teachings for a person, since it is actually (directly) a teaching about a person, covering the innermost side of his nature, and including methods for diagnosing and treating the psyche, this mysterious part of human nature.

Every direction in psychology has this or that relation to the concept of man, to this or that understanding of man. Psychology does not exist at all, by itself, it is always human psychology. Therefore, in order to study human psychology, we must have an image of the person himself, we must understand what his essence is, what his nature is. Each direction in psychology in its own way correlates with this issue - directly or indirectly.

Thus, when we talk about Christian psychology, we are first of all talking about a certain concept of man. In Christian psychology, a person is the image and likeness of God, a person has an immortal soul and a number of other reasons. Psychology in this light is seen not as existing in itself, but as existing to serve man. The fact is that the psyche is, to a certain extent, a tool. With the help of this tool we think, remember, make decisions and so on. But there is famous saying: "thinking is not thinking." That is, by itself, your thinking cannot think, and your memory by itself, for the sake of interest, does not remember anything. You remember and think because it is part of your tasks as a person. In this regard, the study of the psyche is not the prerogative of a Christian or a psychologist who adheres to any other direction in psychology. The laws of the psyche are quite invariant, they are the same for everyone. There is no special psyche of memorization or psyche of perception of a person of the Christian faith. The laws of the mind are general laws, another thing is what they are related to and in what framework they are.

Strictly speaking, Christian psychology, as a kind of new direction, is trying to correlate the body of psychological knowledge, both existing and new, with the Christian concept of man. This is the simple but important difference between it and other areas of psychology. This difference manifests itself primarily in those areas that are associated with personality, psychotherapy, in general, with a person. In studies of, say, the features of simultaneous perception or in something similar, one can hardly find any special things, the view of which a Christian psychologist would differ from the view of representatives of other areas of psychology. But besides this, there is still a difference in attitude towards the subject. An example of this is Christian medicine. Christian medicine does not mean that the doctor does not use the latest medical means, does not use surgery - of course, he does, but there is a different attitude towards patients, based on the principles of a kind and merciful attitude towards a person.

If we take the entire field of psychology, it turns out that there are not so many Christian psychologists. But some still apply the theory of Christian psychology in their work. Say F.E. Vasilyuk is engaged in psychotherapy, and his concept of psychotherapy includes some postulates of Christian psychology. Christian psychology poses other tasks for the psychotherapist, and, accordingly, other ways of fulfilling them follow from this, which are not implied by the traditional areas of psychotherapy. Let's take behaviorism as an example. Here is the situation: a person comes with some problem, something worries him, he is embarrassed, he cannot perform a task related to a public action. And a psychologist can help him, that is, teach him to act in a certain way, but this is where his task as a psychologist ends. It also does not raise the question that perhaps the way the psychologist has taught the patient is actually harming the patient. And the therapist who professes the direction of Christian psychology will always remember this and will try not to make a mistake. Yes, we have people who are engaged in medical activities from such positions, but it cannot be said that this is some kind of strong direction who has many supporters. There are not many of them. Inside science, this is a direction that has only just designated itself. But in science, the right or successful direction is not determined by voting. Those directions that are now dominant in psychology were once on the periphery, and once they were looked at as a misunderstanding.

In my opinion, there is no confrontation here. The new position in science does not sweep aside all the knowledge already accumulated before its appearance. Indeed, it so happened that psychology was in a confrontation with theology for a long time, this confrontation from the point of view, so to speak, adolescence was inevitable and necessary. As a science, psychology needed to get back on its feet. And the model of scientific character for psychology was the natural sciences. But now it becomes obvious that behind all this we have lost a man. And not because we were so bad, but because the emerging science required the maximum specification of the scope of research and could not afford to deal with general issues that had a moral and ethical side. In other words, a huge amount of material was accumulated, a lot of special studies were carried out, which made psychology equal in rights with other sciences, but it suddenly turned out that we had missed a person.

And when the problem of an integral person now arises, then, naturally, the problem of that theory arises, from the standpoint of which we will speak about this integrity. If, on the other hand, we neglect the experience accumulated in science, we will fall into error. Since a Christian doctor cannot justify himself (if he has missed the patient) by not trusting infidel pharmacology, he must be a good doctor. Another thing is that he looks at the patient differently, he imagines that he can pray for his soul. Therefore, when they ask me who a Christian psychologist is, where he can work (we discussed this with students), the answer is simple: it is good psychologist, he can work anywhere, but at the same time he still has some idea of \u200b\u200ba person.

In dictionary practical psychologist It is noted that “in the system of sciences, psychology occupies a very special place. The reasons:

? it is the science of the most complex that is known to mankind so far;
? in it, as it were, the object and subject of knowledge merge; only in it does thought make a turn on itself, only in it does the scientific consciousness of man become his scientific self-consciousness;
? its practical consequences are unique - they are not only incommensurably more significant than the results of other sciences, but also qualitatively different: since to know something means to master it and learn how to manage it, and managing one's mental processes, functions and abilities is the most ambitious task; moreover, knowing himself, a person thereby changes himself.
B). The etymology of the words (terms) "psyche" and "psychology" is Greek. From a linguistic point of view, the words "psyche" and "soul" are synonymous. However, over time, the meaning of these two words diverged significantly. This situation is due to the distortion, with a one-sided materialistic approach, of the very concept of "psyche" (the study of which is the subject of psychology), and, consequently, of the corresponding (associated with it) concept of "psychology" (that is, the doctrine of the psyche).

The point here is not at all in the relative value of two different methods of one science, but in the simple displacement of one science by a completely different one, although it retains faint traces of kinship with the first, but has in essence a completely different subject. We are not confronted with the fact of replacing some teachings about the soul with others (in content and character), but with the fact of the complete elimination of the teachings about the soul and replacing them with teachings about the laws of the so-called "mental phenomena", torn off from their inner soil and considered as phenomena of external objective peace. Modern psychology recognizes itself as natural science. If we get rid of the hypnosis of the walking, distorted meaning of words and return to their true, inner meaning, then we will easily understand what this means: it means that modern so-called psychology is not psychology at all, but physiology. It is not the doctrine of the soul as a sphere of some inner reality, which - no matter how it is understood - directly, in its most experienced content, is separated from the sensual-objective world of nature and opposes it, but precisely the doctrine of nature, of external, sensual- objective conditions and patterns of coexistence and change of spiritual phenomena.

The beautiful designation "psychology" - the doctrine of the soul - was simply illegally stolen and used as a title for a completely different scientific field; it has been stolen so thoroughly that when you now reflect on the nature of the soul, on the world of the inner reality of human life as such, you are engaged in a matter that is destined to remain nameless or for which some new designation must be invented.

And even if we come to terms with the newest, distorted meaning of the word, we must admit that at least three-quarters of the so-called empirical psychology and an even greater part of the so-called "experimental" psychology is not pure psychology, but either psycho-physics and psycho-physiology, or else - which will be more precisely clarified below - the study of phenomena, although not physical, but at the same time not mental.

Christian psychology does not fit into the framework of any one form of extra-scientific knowledge; rather, it combines the features various forms non-scientific and scientific knowledge and is a special area of integrative knowledge, built over modern psychology based on patristic anthropology. At the same time, while claiming to have a holistic view of a person, it also includes the objective data of secular science, not distorted by ideological interpretations that reduce the trinity "spirit - soul - body". Thus, by design, Christian psychology is a continuation, a striving of the objective core of secular psychology into the spiritual vertical of trimeria. Based on biblical and patristic anthropology, Christian psychology assimilates and masters the psychological discoveries of the Church Fathers, expounding them modern language. Such an understanding special status Christian psychology makes it possible to explain its heterogeneous nature: it also contains directions that gravitate toward academic, research psychology, but there are also more rigorous approaches focused on the problems of patristic anthropology. The first correlate with the academic approach to the study of Christian and secular consciousness and behavior, but their difference from the second lies in a different understanding of human nature and in the application of appropriate explanatory schemes.

It seems that the main task of Christian psychology is the spiritualization of that image and concept of a person who appears as an object of psychological research. Humanistic psychology is also trying to solve a similar problem by returning Psyche - the soul, but not the "spirit", to "soulless scientific psychology", since such a concept is not in its arsenal. Christian psychology returns to scientific understanding the whole trimeria of man, together with its divine nature, and returns to the consciousness of psychologists Jesus Christ the Savior, as the Way, Truth and Life, as the starting point of any practical work with people.

So, the spiritual dimension (or component) is the subject of Christian psychology, and everything mental (mind, will, feeling) has a spiritual component (dimension) - spiritual mind, spiritual will, spiritual feelings. There is a spiritual personality, spiritual consciousness, spiritual experience, spiritual doing, spiritual communication, spiritual abilities, etc.

The Christian ideal of a simple, humble and chaste person is infinitely far from the humanistic ideal of a self-fulfilling, self-sufficient personality successfully adapting in this world, enjoying the current moment, believing in "the power of human capabilities."

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov said that only "every good done for the sake of Christ brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Still, what is done not for the sake of Christ, although good, does not represent retribution in the life of the next century, and in this life it also does not give the grace of God" . Kindness without God is ultimately not centered on the true source of goodness, and any sincerity, morality and humanity cannot stand the test. Main symbol of man, the vector of his spiritual development is Jesus Christ, the New Adam. But a person can approach God not by essence, but only by grace-filled energy. The goal of deification is the aspects ("epinoia") of the one God. Among these are called the Judge, the Steward, the Doctor, the Shepherd, the Teacher, the High Priest, the Father, and others. Such are the goals of the spiritual self-realization of man.

In Western theology, the view of the fall of human nature is different. There the thought of the integrity of human nature, outwardly condemned as a Pelagian heresy, with which he fought blessed Augustine, has not been overcome. This was expressed "in an internal rejection and therefore insensitivity to the dissection of the nature of human and world decay." Hence the exaggeration of the capabilities of a person, his selfhood, free will, characteristic of the Western mentality, in any direction of activity and self-improvement.

The internal attitude to the incorruptibility of creation has been assimilated by Western-style Christian psychology, which brings it closer to secular, humanistic psychology, removes the insurmountable barrier between religious and scientific anthropology and makes it possible to implement various synthetic theoretical constructions (for example, such is the concept of "worldly city" X. Cox). However, Orthodox psychology denies such a possibility of a synthesis of incompatible views on the destiny and future of man.

In Christian anthropology, a person is considered as a trinity "spirit - soul - body", sometimes the spirit is understood as the highest part of the soul and the triad turns into a dyad. In the current state of man, his spirit, which has fallen away from God, has lost its dominance in the trimeria, the higher abilities have fallen into submission to the lower ones. Instead of the former harmony of forces and abilities, a new core arises in a person - the core of passion as a new center of his desires and feelings.

Thus, the ontological essentiality and objective significance of humility, chastity and simplicity are established as superphysical and supermoral forces that make all creation in the Holy Spirit consubstantial with the Church. These forces are the revelation of the other world in the world here, the spiritual in the temporal-spatial, the heavenly in the earthly." "Holiness - that is the real progress and the goal of human life. And it is commanded to all."

In 2009, the Institute of Christian Psychology (IHP) was opened in Moscow. The rector of the institute is an Orthodox priest Andrei Lorgus. We asked Father Andrey to tell us about the Institute.

- Father Andrei, is your institute the first in Russia? Now there is a faculty of psychology of the Russian Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian, and many psychologists are developing a Christian direction in psychology.

“Our Institute is indeed the first in postgraduate (additional) education to specialize in Christian psychology. The educational program of the Institute is a unique combination of the spiritual tradition of Orthodoxy, Christian anthropology and modern scientific psychology.

We already have experience in organizing higher vocational education. In 2002, I was appointed dean of the first psychology department in Russia at the Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian. Our task was to create on the basis state standard such an educational program in psychology that would be fully consistent with the Christian worldview and modern church tasks. I'm sure we succeeded. However, the development potential of this institution has been exhausted. Therefore, it became necessary to create a scientific educational institution with greater opportunities and prospects. There is no such institution in modern Russian education. The creation of the Institute of Christian Psychology can fill the existing "gap" in the education system.

Is additional Christian education necessary for a specialist?

Additional education is necessary for many psychologists, teachers, medical and social workers, as well as clergymen who want to improve their professional qualification or take a retraining course to successfully combine practical psychological skills and knowledge about the Christian nature of a person's personality in their work.

I'll give you an example. When a psychologist in his work encounters the practice of repentance and the fight against passions, he, as a rule, does not know how to help a believer, and also does not feel where the line lies between psychological and pastoral help. To provide competent psychological assistance to a psychologist, special knowledge of Christian anthropology, asceticism, Christian psychology and a clear understanding of where the work of a psychologist ends and the ministry of a priest begins are necessary. Likewise, a clergyman cannot always distinguish between cases when a person needs not spiritual advice, but psychological counseling.

For any person, the acquired knowledge and tools will serve as a guide on a difficult spiritual life path.

The establishment of a new educational, scientific and educational institute can create a basis for the development of Christian psychology.

— How does Christian psychology differ from other psychological schools and directions?

According to the head Department of General Psychology of Moscow State University Professor B.S. Bratusya, Christian psychology, as a kind of new direction, is trying to correlate the body of psychological knowledge, both existing and new, with the Christian concept of man. This is the simple but important difference between it and other areas of psychology. This difference manifests itself primarily in those areas that are associated with personality, psychotherapy, in general, with a person.

Is there a need to create this new trend in psychology?

There is a need for Christian psychology. Christianity has invaluable spiritual and anthropological wealth (knowledge about man), which is currently embodied in psychology. Christian psychology is a natural stage in the development of psychology on the basis of Christian values, Christian anthropology and theology. However, psychology in general and the Russian school of psychology in particular are very far from Christian values. Therefore, the development of psychology is enriched by the emergence of the Christian school in the general humanitarian paradigm of psychological science.

The need for psychological knowledge for a modern Christian is obvious: helping yourself and your family, raising children, psychological help in the church, nursing and many issues of social church ministry require psychological knowledge.

For successful social activities The church and members of parish communities and clergy need psychological preparation. After all, social service in orphanages, hospitals, neuropsychiatric boarding schools cannot be carried out without special training in communication skills and knowledge of the specifics of helping orphans, the sick and the disabled. Without such special training, volunteers and specialists can very quickly experience emotional burnout - loss of interest and meaning in activities, chronic fatigue, despondency, irritability, which, of course, will negatively affect both the quality of work and the spiritual and psychological state assistant personality.

- What are the goals and objectives of the Institute?

The Institute of Christian Psychology will create a scientific and educational base for the development of postgraduate (additional) education. Educational activities majoring in Psychology Russian education developed enough. However, postgraduate education still needs additional steps. The creation of the Institute of Christian Psychology will contribute to this cause.

Most importantly, this will create the necessary basis for the development and support of efforts aimed at the development of social church (Orthodox) ministry - a service that is so necessary for society.

— Will specialists who do not have a theological education be able to study at the Institute?

AT educational programs The institute includes the basics of Christian anthropology and theology, it is assumed that you will be familiar with the main patristic works necessary for practical work, therefore, for successful learning Christian psychology does not require special theological training.

- And those who have neither psychological, nor medical, nor teacher education can they learn?

- For "non-psychologists" we offer a retraining program. They will be able to master both theological and basic psychological disciplines. The retraining program includes general, social, developmental psychology, psychodiagnostics, history of psychology and psychotherapy, etc. Such a program will last three semesters.

The first set has begun. How do you see your graduates?

Our graduates are primarily psychologically and spiritually mature individuals. After all, only having embarked on the path of self-knowledge, on the path of spiritual and personal growth, having begun to consciously and responsibly realize the talents and abilities laid down by God, a person is able to discern and help reveal the inner potential of another person. Our graduates are qualified participants in Church social service programs - psychologists, volunteers, social workers who have special knowledge and skills and are able to provide professional assistance to those who need it. The acquired knowledge will be useful to our graduates not only in their ministry, but also in their personal, family and social life.

Does this mean that Christian psychology can be applied for personal purposes, and not only for social service?

Education in psychology helps a person to understand himself, so the personal benefits of practicing Christian psychology are obvious. It is no secret that many come to study psychology in order, first of all, to learn to understand themselves, deal with their problems, build their lives in society and help their loved ones.

Our author's programs and master classes on Christian personality psychology, developmental and communication psychology, family and marriage psychology answer many questions that a person faces throughout his life. Knowing the patterns of mental and personal development, stages and steps out of the crisis, ways to resolve conflict situations, a person begins to perceive himself, other people and the surrounding reality more adequately, to respond more calmly to complex life situations find a way out of difficult situations faster, while observing moral and ethical standards and without violating Christian commandments.

— What is your Institute now?

The Institute is just starting its activity, but by now we have accumulated a lot of experience and knowledge. We continue to accept students for three educational programs:

* for psychologists, teachers, physicians and social workers - advanced training,
* for non-psychologists with any higher education - a retraining program,
* for out-of-town specialists – intensive program.

Our teachers are graduates of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, that is, representatives of the Moscow psychological school, candidates and doctors of psychological sciences.

We conduct both educational and scientific activities, we take part in international projects.

We conduct thematic seminars and psychological groups on a wide range of issues modern man, Christian. We have many international contacts in Christian anthropology and psychology. We cooperate with many Christian psychologists from Russia and other countries.

— How much does it cost to study at your institute?

Education, and high-quality, has always been valued, as it is the key to professional success in the future. The quality of education is the competence of teachers, a serious scientific base, an accessible and exciting form of presenting complex material, and verified methods of practical work. By the standards of modern higher education The ratio of the cost of training and its quality is optimal.
We are sure that studying with us will be both honorable and useful and interesting.

Thus, when we talk about Christian psychology, we are first of all talking about a certain concept of man. In Christian psychology, man is the image and likeness of God., a person has an immortal soul and a number of other reasons. Psychology in this light is seen not as existing in itself, but as existing to serve man. The fact is that the psyche is, to a certain extent, a tool. With the help of this tool we think, remember, make decisions and so on. But there is such a well-known saying: “Thinking does not think”. That is, by itself, your thinking cannot think, and your memory by itself, for the sake of interest, does not remember anything. You remember and think because it is part of your tasks as a person. In this regard, the study of the psyche is not the prerogative of a Christian or a psychologist who adheres to any other direction in psychology. The laws of the psyche are quite invariant, they are the same for everyone. There is no special psyche of memorization or psyche of perception of a person of the Christian faith. The laws of the psyche are general laws, another thing is what they are related to and in what framework they are.

Christian psychology from traditional psychological directions distinguishes a different attitude towards a person?

Yes, and not just a different attitude, but another understanding of man. In my opinion, this is the essence of Christian psychology..

How is the theory of Christian psychology applied in practice?

Doesn't Christian psychology come into conflict with traditional psychological trends?

In my opinion, there is no confrontation here. The new position in science does not sweep aside all the knowledge already accumulated before its appearance. Indeed, it so happened that psychology was in confrontation with theology for a long time, this confrontation from the point of view of, so to speak, adolescence was inevitable and necessary. As a science, psychology needed to get back on its feet. And the model of scientific character for psychology was the natural sciences. But now it becomes obvious that behind all this we have lost a man. And not because we were so bad, but because the emerging science required the maximum specification of the scope of research and could not afford to deal with general issues that had a moral and ethical side. In other words, a huge amount of material was accumulated, a lot of special studies were carried out, which made psychology equal in rights with other sciences, but it suddenly turned out that we had missed a person.

And when the problem of an integral person now arises, then, naturally, the problem of that theory arises, from the standpoint of which we will speak about this integrity. If, on the other hand, we neglect the experience accumulated in science, we will fall into error. Since a Christian doctor cannot justify himself (if he missed the patient) by the fact that he does not trust infidel pharmacology, he must be a good doctor. Another thing is that he looks at the patient differently, he imagines that he can pray for his soul. Therefore, when they ask me who a Christian psychologist is, where he can work (we discussed this with students), the answer is simple: he is a good psychologist, he can work anywhere, but at the same time he still has some idea of a person.

B. S. Bratus, Doctor of Psychology. Sciences,
head Department of General Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University

"Purpose and Meaning of Life".

This article is not yet finished, but everything already stated by the author allows us to draw the attention of readers to it without error, as an outstanding phenomenon in journalism.

Strictly speaking, for people who are well acquainted with the Fathers of the Church, or at least carefully read the psychological treatises of the late Bishop Theophan of Tambov, Mr. Tareev’s article will not say anything fundamentally new. But that would be both impossible and unnecessary.

Bishop Theophan himself only formulated, in relation to the concepts of modern man, what has long, since apostolic and paternal times, been in the Christian view of psychological life person. The same can be said about Mr. Tareev's article. He formulates in his own way, according to his own system and method, what the ancient Christian teaching says, formulates on one's own, with a rare understanding of the meaning of the teaching, with rare clarity, and this, as it were, opens up new horizons for the reader.

In all such works on the development of Christian psychology, the eternal phenomenon is repeated, which Khomyakov excellently described in his poem:

At midnight, near the stream,

You look up at the sky

Are committed far

Miracles in the mountain world...

It seems all the same familiar, long-known sky, but the more you peer into it, the wider the horizons: the stars open behind the stars, and so on ad infinitum. Yes sir:

In the hour of midnight silence,

Drive away the deceptions of dreams,

You look with your soul into the writings,

Galilean fishermen.

And in the volume of a close book

Will unfold before you

Endless vault of heaven

With radiant beauty...

AT this In the sky, the “stars of thought” in the same way multiply the more the more you peer into them, and the very body of the heavenly teaching is expanding and expanding to infinity ...

It is Mr. Tareev’s article that makes the reader look more closely into these endless spaces, and it can help to disperse many “dream tricks” to every sincerely thirsty life.

Christian psychology: in many this word is capable of arousing bewilderment. What's the matter? they will say. And what is Christian psychology? Everything that can be true in it - is it not included in ordinary "scientific" psychology, and what cannot be included - is it not, obviously, a mere fantasy?

This is how educated people now reason, repeating the legendary saying of Omar at the burning of the Library of Alexandria: "If these books agree with the Koran, then they are superfluous, and if they contradict it, then they are false."

For very many tertium non datur.

There are, however tertium, which contains summum truth.

Psychology, the so-called "scientific", seeks to find the laws human mental life. But along with the human spiritual life in man may be and for the completeness of its existence there must be, divine spiritual life. The laws and conditions of this Divine spiritual life bring to the experimental "scientific" psychology the revelations of the "Fishermen of Galilee" and the research of the Fathers, who pondered over the revelations and were rich in experience of spiritual life.

The formulation of this Christian psychology is made, with understanding and clarity, by Mr. Tareev's article.

I will not describe its content. This would either be overkill or not enough. But when you imagine the many current "teachers" of life in journalism, you see with certainty two circumstances:

First, it is obvious that even now, fortunately and honorably for human nature, man is not satisfied with "scientific" psychology. Whatever "hypnotisms", "suggestions", etc., she introduces into her "naturalistic" doctrine of life, a person feels that this Not all that it has something other, without which he cannot do, for this other is a reality no less than nerves, electric currents etc.

But, feeling this, today's people are not able to get rid of the nightmare of dreams that have enveloped them in some kind of "delusion" of evil power.

The nightmare of false dreams weighs equally on the thoughts and writings of apparently the most diverse people. Look at Count L. Tolstoy, or Messrs. Rozanov, Merezhkovsky, Engelhardt, not to mention the many smaller ones, even less capable of protecting their souls from delusion - this nightmare weighs on everyone, and distorts every glimpse of the truth in everyone, turning it into a lie, mostly painful for the “reasoner” himself. ".

Yet this is based on complete ignorance. Christian psychology, that psychology which points out to us, along with spiritual life (worldly, natural, science to be investigated), - life spiritual, that is, the life of God in man.

Forgetfulness of this basic idea of Christianity, which little by little became for many educated people completely unknown, has as its consequence a lot of not only false opinions, but also false feelings. Having lost a clear idea or even any idea of the laws of this part of our psychology, people can no longer maintain in themselves the sparks of spiritual life, and mental life from generation to generation more and more deprived of their best normal foundations. The result is a variety of types of psychopathy, incompleteness, ugliness of sensation and thinking.

To combat these phenomena of mental illness in the highest degree it is important to restore in people - at least for the first time, - knowledge Christian psychology. It is remarkable that such a subtle and sensitive thinker as Bishop Theophan, precisely in our mentally ill time, devoted his best efforts to works on Christian psychology, as if realizing that now this is the most important, the most important thing.

G. Tareev, of course, is not Bishop Feofan, but in his own way he does the same thing in his article. The only pity is that our society reads few spiritual magazines. But this is no longer the fault of Mr. Tareev. For my part, I consider it my duty to draw the attention of readers to this really excellent work.

INSTITUTE OF CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY(IHP) is the first educational, scientific and educational institution in Russia that develops the Christian trend in Russian psychology.

Founder of the Institute Charitable Foundation "Russian Orthodoxy".

The rector of the IHP is a priest and psychologist - Andrey Vadimovich Lorgus.

The need for Christian psychology. The need for psychological knowledge for modern Christian ministry is obvious: caring for the sick, raising children, helping families and many other issues of ministry need psychological knowledge. However, psychology in general and the Russian school of psychology in particular are very far from Christian values.

Christianity has invaluable spiritual and anthropological riches, which are already embodied in psychology. Christian psychology is a natural stage in the development of psychology based on Christian values, Christian anthropology and theology.

The development of psychology is enriched by the appearance of the Christian school in the general humanitarian paradigm of psychological science.

The need to create an institute: the establishment of an educational, scientific and enlightening educational institute can create a basis for the development of Christian psychology. In addition, the IHP may become the second stage in Christian psychological education after the creation in 2002 of the Faculty of Psychology of the Russian Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian. There is no such institution in modern Russian education. The creation of the IHP can fill in the natural "gap" in the education system.

Challenges facing the Institute (IHP)

The Institute of Christian Psychology is designed to create a scientific and educational base for the development of postgraduate education. Educational activity in the specialty Psychology in Russian education is quite developed. However, post-graduate education still needs additional steps. The creation of the IHP will contribute to this cause.

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