European Journal of Science and Theology, February 2013, Vol.

9, Supplement 1, 173-184

_______________________________________________________________________
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH-RUN PROGRAM FOR
THE TREATMENT OF ADDICTIONS IN ROMANIA

Sebastian Moldovan*

University of Medicine and Pharmacy ‚Gr. T. Popa’

Center for Ethics and Public Healthcare Policies, 16 Universitatii Str., 700115, Iasi, Romania
(Received 21 December 2012)

Abstract

The article covers the details of the National Anti-Drug Program initiated by the
Romanian Patriarchate in 2008, and inquires into the several issues raised by its 12 Steps
inspired therapeutic formulation: the heterogeneity in the attitudes of the Orthodox
regarding the AA movement, God‟s „Anonymity‟, the necessity of absolute abstinence,
the disease concept of addiction, as well as their pastoral implications.

Keywords: Romanian Orthodox Church, addiction, Alcoholics Anonymous, 12 steps,

therapeutic programs

1. The beginnings: 12 Steps in post-revolutionary Romania

The history of the use and abuse of alcohol and other psychotropic
substances and societal reactions in Romania is still in infancy [1-3]. The
Romanian Orthodox Church did not make a very consistent reckoning of it until
the beginning of the past century, when the „Lord‟s Army‟, an Orthodox
movement that targeted the spiritual awakening, was born (amongst other
reasons) out of a stringent conscience that alcoholism was a moral pest to be
refuted at any cost [4].
In the only attempt to establish the history of the Alcoholics Anonymous
(AA) groups in Romania, among the factors that made possible the rooting of the
„tree of life‟ - as Mary Theresa Webb calls the AA - into Romanian soil after
1989, the authoress enumerates the following: several contacts with members of
the movement in USA and Belgium, involvement of a number of social
assistance professionals, as well as the readiness to help (by providing spaces for
the meetings) shown by some denominational parochial communities [5]. One
particular person is worth mentioning here, Floyd Frantz, who is both an
addiction counsellor and a missionary for the Orthodox Christian Mission Center
of the Orthodox Church in America. He relocated to Cluj-Napoca and, in 2001,
he managed to open Saint Dimitrie Basarabov Program for Addiction Education
and Counseling in Romania, the first Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC)
*
E-mail and additional contact info: smoldova@yahoo.com, „Lucian Blaga‟ University,
no.10, Victoriei BLVD, 55002, Sibiu, Romania
 Moldovan/European Journal of Science and Theology 9 (2013), Suppl. 1, 173-184

endorsed program on behalf of alcoholics and drug addicts. Saint Demetrios

program has contributed to the setup of several AA/Al-Anon groups in Cluj-
Napoca and surroundings (Săvădisla, Sânpaul), as well as of two other
therapeutic programs organized with the help of the ROC, namely Saint
Nicholas Center for Counseling and Rehabilitation of Persons Dependent on
Alcohol and Other Drugs at the „Solidarity and Hope’ Foundation in Iaşi (2004)
and the St. Nectarios the Wonderworker Association in Bucharest (2008).
In 2004, the National Anti-Drug Agency (NADA) presented the ROC with
the proposal of a collaboration protocol. However, the Holy Synod thought it
was not the right time to sign a protocol on a national level, and recommended
that each bishopric set up some forms of cooperation with the county branch
offices of the NADA. This has already happened and, as a result, there are tens of
smaller protocols established in the eparchies, archpriestships, and parishes [G.
Aniculoaie, online at http://www.ziarullumina.ro/articole;2104;1;37694;0;Preot-
medic-psiholog-doar-impreuna-pot-ajuta-un-dependent.html (accessed
03.11.2012)].
Meanwhile, in 2007, the ‘Solidarity and Hope’ Foundation in Iasi filed a
petition with the Synod suggesting that the ROC institute its own nation-wide
program against the abuse of substances. The proposition was accepted, and the
Romanian Orthodox Church National Anti-Drug Program (NADP) was initiated
in 2008. It is not clear why the Holy Synod was initially reluctant to accept the
NADA proposition. In any case, after the launch of the NADP, its initiator and
coordinator stated in an interview: “The Orthodox Church cannot take up the
programs of the NADA indiscriminately, because sometimes, these stand for the
enacting of a materialist paradigm in a man‟s life, with all that that entails, both
on a therapeutic, and on a spiritual level” [G.C. Popa, online at http://
www.ziarullumina.ro/articole;2057;0;53199;0;Un-curs-de-terapie-a-adictiilor-
va-fi-introdus-in-scolile-teologice.html (accessed 03.11.2012)].

2. The agenda of the ROC’s National Anti-Drug Program

According to the sole systematic public presentation of the NADP - to be

found on its official website - the Program‟s stated goal is “to create an anti-drug
network throughout the Romanian Patriarchate”, scheduled to take shape
through the following three objectives: “the establishment of counselling
centres, training of professionals in addiction and information activities in the
course of Pastoral of Theological Institutes and in the religion classes in
schools/colleges” [http://www.ortodoxantidrog.ro/en/activitati.html (accessed
03.11.2012)]. The presentation insists that the priests be the main target group -
with theologians, Religion teachers, and social workers within the Church as a
secondary target group - so that they are able to achieve two types of roles
within their parishes. First, to act as a vector in the prevention campaign aimed
at the youth and their parents from within the parish, by implementing specific
catechetical activities - as emphasized by Bishop Cyprian of Câmpina, the Holy
Synod member responsible with the social-philanthropic activity of the ROC

174
 The Orthodox Church-run program for the treatment of addictions in Romania

[http://www.ziarullumina.ro/articole;2104;1;37694;0;Preot-medic-psiholog-
doar-impreuna-pot-ajuta-un-dependent.html]. The second is to identify early-on
the problem-consumers, and direct them towards specialized services. As for the
priest‟s main capability, that of being a spiritual leader, it is mentioned only in
the context of its need to be augmented by “specific training to meet the needs of
those who face the physical and spiritual disease of dependence and to help them
get in the necessary recovery” [http://www.ortodoxantidrog.ro/en/cursuri.html
(accessed 03.11.2012)]. Naturally, the role of the clergy in the NADP can only
be central, as the entire mission of the Church orbits around the priest‟s calling
to be a shepherd (and a father) to his flock. When we lecture the first line of the
programmatic declaration of the NADP, which states that “we believe that
addiction is primarily a problem of spiritual nature and that the Romanian
Orthodox Church has the ability and duty to heal its spiritual children”
[http://www.ortodoxantidrog.ro/en/misiune.html (accessed 03.11.212)], it makes
us see that the Church not only has its own vision about the addiction
phenomenon and the proper therapeutic means to fight it, but it also holds the
competence to tackle this issue appropriately through its clergy. On these lines,
Bishop Cyprian‟s following declaration becomes relevant: “the priest... brings
that „extra something‟ that only he has, and which is a gift from the Holy Spirit
as, unlike the doctor or the social worker, the priest exudes a certain warmth and
devotion towards the person. These are qualities that may have an extraordinary
impact on someone, in that they make people aware of their wrong chosen paths
that lead to self-destruction, and then prompt them to come to their senses and
mend their ways, to become aware of their departure from their natural „ego‟,
and finally return to their respective families, friends, and society.” [http:// www.
ziarullumina.ro/ articole;2104; 1;37694;0; Preot-medic-psiholog-doar-impreuna-
pot-ajuta-un-dependent.html] However, the digest of the stated goals of the
NADP mainly to the training of clergy points to the need for an „extra
something‟ to be acquired by them, too. This is openly admitted on the NADP
website, at least as far as the issue of the use of illegal drugs (and, supposedly,
that of other recent addictive behaviours) is concerned, for we are told that,
unlike alcohol consumption, these do not benefit from „canons and pastoral
rules‟ formulated by the Tradition of the Church.
The NADP manages more than the strictly pastoral activity of the priest.
Its agenda also proposes that it stand at the centre of a network of organizations
(several charitable organizations, religious bodies, institutions of the Romanian
state or of the European Community are mentioned here) that are meant to
provide a complete range of services to meet the needs of the addiction
challenged persons. In a concentric diagram, the NADP is represented as
surrounded by its collaborations with the Theological Institutes, the Orthodox
NGOs, the parish priests, the AA groups, other, not specified, organizations, and
the NADA. If we take into account the roles of each identified partner, we can
safely assume that, in reality, the NADP points here to the counselling and the
anti-drug centres (as they are tagged) which, we can also assume, provide the

175
 Moldovan/European Journal of Science and Theology 9 (2013), Suppl. 1, 173-184

information sessions, the counselling and the rehabilitation programs specified

in the objectives.
The online presentation gives us but little information about the specific
contents of these programs: the therapeutic methods indicated therein are the
individual and group counselling sessions - which are briefly described in
religious terms as „peer confession‟ and „prayer for thy neighbour‟, in the light
of a well-known verse (5.16) from the Epistle of James: “Confess your faults
one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”, and the group therapy, for
which it is recommended to get in contact with the mutual help groups (AA, Al-
Anon). The presentation also refers to the centres that are already established by
the ROC in Cluj, Iaşi, and Bucureşti, alluded to above. These programs provide
specialized information and counselling services to those who need to recover
from alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, gambling, compulsive overeating, sexual
addictions, as well as from co-dependency. According to the understanding of
addiction as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual impaired condition, the therapeutic
model stated is the so-called Minnesota Model adapted to „combine‟ with the
Orthodox spirituality [O. Bălinişteanu, online at http://www.ziarullumina.ro/
articole;1664;0;35915;0;Ce-presupune-recuperarea-unui-dependent-de-droguri.
html (accessed 03.11.2012)]. We may suppose, then, that these active centres
and their programs are already serving as models for the network of therapy
programs that the NADP intends to implement.

3. The Orthodox Church and the Alcoholics Anonymous

The attempt to find out how other Churches relate to the AA movement
and the 12-Step method does not return many results. In Greece, the movement‟s
presence is rather modest, and there are no official stands coming from the
Church, which is mainly concerned with primary prevention. A source stated
that some parishes offer locations for meetings [Δεσπούλα Χαντζή, online
http://www.ekdd.gr/ekdda/files/ergasies_esdd/16/12/901.pdf (accessed
15.07.2012)]. However, in 2005, the periodical „Parakatathiki‟ of the Pan-
Hellenic Organisation for the Greek Orthodox Tradition published an article of
prof. Elena Androulaki, under the title „Alcoholics Anonymous: A way out of
dependence or dependence?‟, where AA is accused of practising methods that are
not scientifically proven, of promoting a false spirituality, of being tied to the
occult, of being a sect that controls and emotionally manipulates its followers,
while depersonalizing them through the compulsory anonymity and by trading
their dependence for another. These accusations come as no surprise; the article
was written with the sole purpose to incriminate, it contains evidence based
mostly on secondary literature, and the few critical voices raised by some ex-AA
members cannot be considered conclusive [6].
In Russia, where the AA movement entered during the Perestroika, it is a
lot more present, and its relationship with the Orthodox Church far more intense.
Some AA groups are exclusively made up of Orthodox Christians, and the

176
 The Orthodox Church-run program for the treatment of addictions in Romania

Russian Service Office established ties with the Church, as many priests
collaborate with the AA, but there are no official contacts with the heads of the
Church as yet. One staff member said: “the most conservative part of the
Russian Orthodox Church does not recognise us and considers us heretics.” “The
indiscriminate blending of different religions is the very worst thing one can
imagine”, stated one clergyman, thus denouncing the religious implications of
the 3rd Step [T. Titova, Alcoholics Anonymous Controversial in Russia, online at
http://www.keston.org.uk/kns/misc2/3AACONTR.html (accessed 15.11.2012)].
In turn, a number of members of the hierarchy have spoken publicly in
favour of the AA methods. “Certainly, they are of Christian, Gospel nature”,
Bishop Alexey of Orekhovo-Zuevo declares, while Bishop Illarion Alfeyev of
Volokolamsk said “They have much to teach us”. Both the former patriarch
Alexy II (d. 2008), and the current patriarch, Cyrill have similar discourses. The
former‟s interest in AA is of a missionary import, as a lack of cooperation from
the part of the Orthodox Church may permit the sects to „take them up‟, as well
as a moral issue, for it involves servicing people who are terribly hurt, and in
need of recovery. At the same time, Patriarch Alexey rebukes the dogmatic
indifferentism and asks that these programs be infused with the religious and
moral elements of Orthodoxy, through catechesis and integration in the life of
the Church. He also points out that the success of the methods may depend upon
the cultural background, and as such, the use of these methods in Russia must be
„intensely looked into‟. Even more open, the current patriarch votes for the
adoption of all methods that do not deny the Christian faith and do not employ
practices pertaining to “witchcraft, occultism, magic, and anything that cuts man
off from faith and grace”. He considers that “there are no theological
preconditions for rejecting this program”, and the negative attitude displayed by
the clergy towards the 12 Steps reflects their “degree of awareness”. [The
Inexhaustible Cup: On Getting Help for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, online at
http://www.pravmir.com/the-inexhaustible-cup-on-getting-help-for-alcohol-and-
drug-abuse/ (accessed 15.11. 2012)].
Outside the AA the 12-Step method is used by the therapeutic
communities that employ the Minnesota Model, for ex., by the „Old World‟
Christian Charity near Moscow, whose rehabilitation program combines the AA
experience with the Christian tradition (especially Orthodox), and with
knowledge extracted from psychology, medicine, and sociology. With the
blessing of Metropolitan Yuvenali of Krutitsy and Kolomna, the program is
supported by a few Orthodox priests and parishes. Another program that uses the
12 Steps and collaborates with the AA is „Metanoia‟ Rehabilitation Centre at
Danilov Monastery in Moscow. Its manager, Starets Jonah Zaimovsky, asserts
that a part of those recovered become practising Christians
[http://www.pravmir.com/the-inexhaustible-cup-on-getting-help-for-alcohol-
and-drug-abuse/].
Within the Orthodox Diaspora and especially the one in the USA, which
is the land of AA, this program seems to enjoy a favourable though distant
position. The Orthodox Christian Mission Center of the OCA in Florida is a

177
 Moldovan/European Journal of Science and Theology 9 (2013), Suppl. 1, 173-184

supporter of the activity of the Saint Demetrios Program in Cluj; similarly, a

number of American Orthodox priests - such as Fathers Meletios Webber and
George Aquaro - came to Romania in order to support the initiation of the
NADP. The Orthodox Christian Association for Medicine, Psychology and
Religion, which is a professional association concerned with pastoral
counselling does not however, give any particular importance to this subject. In
a book dedicated to the way the Orthodox spirituality can free the mind and
heart from the bonds of addiction, the Orthodox author Victor Mihailoff,
recommended as a former addict and one of Australia‟s foremost expert in
addictions, has positive remarks about the AA and the 12 Steps, only he does that
en-passant [7]. The only research consecrated to the relationship between the 12
Steps and the Orthodox spirituality belongs to Father Meletios Webber, and it is
a comparative introduction to the spirituality of the AA, as well as a plea for the
importance of the 12 Steps in the recovery from addictions, and their relevance
on the path to repentance for any faithful concerned with his salvation [8]. Quite
recently, the Right Reverend Archimandrite Andrew (Zoran) Vujisić has
compiled „The Neptic-Psychotherapeutic Treatment Guide for People with
Substance (Ab)use Disorders‟, a handbook based on a model provided by the US
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which
incorporates elements of psycho-education, relapse prevention, cognitive-
behavioural therapy, family therapy approaches, as well as the 12-Step Program
support, with practices and principles found in the Orthodox Church for treating
adults who abuse or who are dependent on stimulant drugs [9].
Practically, there are only two other recovery programs within therapeutic
communities in Orthodox countries outside of Russia, and they are running at
Kovilij (Serbia) and Agia Skepi (Cyprus). Only the first one employs therapeutic
methods drawn from the 12 Steps. A third program is informally operating at the
Grigoriou monastery in Mount Athos, under strictly traditional recovery
principles: work, confession of thoughts, prayer, group discussions, voluntary
attendance to the services and the Holy Mysteries.

4. The 12 Steps and the Orthodox spirituality

The development of NADP on the basis of 12 Steps and related to AA –

that have proved successful in other socio-cultural environments, and
increasingly in our very own courtyard, too – raises a series of issues. From a
theological point of view, these refer to the relation between the 12 Steps
philosophy and the Orthodox spiritual doctrine.
There are obvious similarities between the two, and they are essentially
due to the fact that the AA was rooted in the Oxford Group, an American
independent religious organisation interested in the „spiritual revival‟ of the
Early Christianity, which has been completely handed down by the Eastern
Church. These are: submitting oneself to God‟s will, repenting and trusting He
would help, resorting to a „sponsor‟, confessing one‟s thoughts, focusing on a
daily spiritual program, turning what one requests from God unto one‟s

178
 The Orthodox Church-run program for the treatment of addictions in Romania

neighbour, embedding our whole lives into these principles. It is not by chance
that the „serenity prayer‟ is congenial with the prayers of the Orthodox Church
(see especially the Morning Prayer attributed to the Optina Fathers or to
Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow).
As previously mentioned, the main objection surrounds “God‟s
Anonymity”- as Father Meletios Webber aptly coined it – which seems
paradoxical for a movement that pleads for a personal relationship with the
divinity. However, it is justifiable by several traits. Universalism: AA is for
anyone in need, regardless of their faith; it is not an accident that the evangelical
role model for „my neighbour‟ is a Samaritan. Then, pragmatism: it is highly
important to discover God, and experience His divine interventions, and not to
find an intellectual common ground about Him. To this argument, some might
oppose the belief that only a true faith can manage and mediate grace. The
reality is that the grace – God‟s uncreated energies, according to the Orthodox
doctrine - is everywhere and always active, taking different forms, especially
within any act of conversion and repentance. What the 2nd and 3rd Steps require,
is not the claim to have found the true faith, but the subjective commitment to
accept the grace, in any shape or size God would will it upon one, through
surrender to His mercy and appeal to His loving care. Jesus did not respond to
something else when He did unto the Canaanite woman according to her will.
Even if the case is about a re-discovery, for the religiously educated person, it
will never be about the same „god‟ as before, the one misconstrued and rejected
by egolatry. It is impossible to impose God on others; He reveals Himself only
deep within the heart, and between hearts. As Father Meletios also stated,
attraction and not imposition is the trait of the true faith [8].
Another issue is raised by the principle of complete abstinence, precisely
because from a spiritual point of view the uncontrolled consumption is but a
symptom of the real problem, which is the alienation from God [10]. The
generalization of that principle from alcoholism to all other types of addictions
seems unrealistic, for example in the case of overeating, compulsive buying, or
sex addiction of married persons whose spouses stay with them. By insisting on
complete abstinence, the idea is that, even if the consumption used to be a mere
surrogate for a spiritual void in the beginning, now it became the main problem,
and a controlled consumption is an unlikely alternative. This means that,
although abstinence per se does not solve the underlying problem, it does
become an indispensable condition towards reaching a solution [11]. Yet, the
very achievement of abstinence is impossible without some changes regarding
the solution to that problem, otherwise the relapse, or the so-called “dry drunk”
comes along [11, p. 61]. The question is now, if the spiritual healing - through
repentance and forgiveness - happens, then why shouldn‟t the physical healing
take place, too, at least sometimes? Is the addiction a condition as invalidating as
the amputation, say, of one‟s legs? [12] But “is it easier to say, Thy sins be
forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?” (Mark 2.9) The
AA‟s answer points to the need to understand addiction as a disease.

179
 Moldovan/European Journal of Science and Theology 9 (2013), Suppl. 1, 173-184

Surprising as it might be, the biggest issue that the philosophy of AA pose
for the Orthodox doctrine and for its role within a pastoral program of the
Church, could be the very notion that addiction is a chronic disease, and more
exactly the way in which this is interpreted and promoted inside the Church. Its
importance derives from the statement that the Church‟s historic lack of success
in the treatment of alcoholism may also be credited to the failure to recognize
that alcoholism is a disease of the soul and the body [10, p. 22, 41, 53], as well
as from the important role that the NADP assigns to the education on addiction
as a disease. We need to specify that the initiators of the NADP focus mostly on
alcoholism, and there is no mention in the presentation of the specificity of
addictions and their treatments. The Program itself is named „anti-drug‟, and yet
the majority of its current beneficiaries are the alcoholics. In a former version,
the handbook devised for the lectures at the Theological Institutes was called
„The Pastoral Care for the Persons with Addictions‟. In its final version, the title
reads „... with Alcohol Addiction‟, but in the publisher‟s note and throughout its
pages there is either the explicit suggestion that what works in the case of
alcoholism is true for all addictions [10, p. 6, 11, 23, 41, 63, 89], or only imply
the said equivalence, as there is no mention of likely limits and differences.
The notion that alcoholism is a disease - like diabetes, which is the
preferred analogy nowadays -, has always played a major role in supporting the
AA philosophy. Although AA is not the originator of this notion (as many tend to
believe), and the official AA literature and its founders do not use the term
„disease‟ - but illness and malady - and moreover, they never even intended to
define alcoholism, the AA saluted the medical interpretation of their condition as
a disease, more specifically an „allergy‟, because “it makes sense. It explains
many things for which we cannot otherwise account” [12, p. xxi]. Therefore, the
medical theory was received by the AA because it explained a series of
characteristics of the experience of being an alcoholic and of the method
proposed by AA: why the alcoholic cannot control his alcohol intake, which
progresses speedily, why he is unable to treat himself, but is in an imperative
need of help, why it is necessary to focus on avoiding the consumption
altogether, and not on any prospective causative factors, why it can be treated
but not cured – „once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic‟ - and why the only cure
is complete and utter uninterrupted abstinence. Without all of these, there would
be no AA. At the same time, the notion had a decisive role in the moral de-
stigmatization of the alcoholics, and in the change of public concern, that has
shifted from incrimination, coercion and prohibition to treatment, support and
recovery. The medical model of alcoholism commanded attention and covered
the public eye, including the AA, especially through the rise and spread of the
Minnesota Model (1948-50) and through the influential work of E.M. Jellinek,
Disease Concept of Alcoholism (1960) [13].
There are issues here that require attention. For the AA, as well as for the
Minnesota Model, the important thing is that alcoholism is not a single disease,
but a threefold one, bearing spiritual, psychological, and somatic components,
and, if we look at the decisive role of the support group, we infer it is a fourfold

180
 The Orthodox Church-run program for the treatment of addictions in Romania

disease. Further on, this notion will forgather with the so-called bio-psychosocial
model of health [14] thus facilitating the idea of an integrated clinical approach,
in multidisciplinary teams. However, the acknowledgement of the spiritual
element beyond the Twelve-Step Facilitations, the more recent edition of the
Minnesota Model, remains marginal and controversial in the medical and
psychiatric world [15]. This shows that the relationship between the four
dimensions of health, illness and recovery is complex and exposed to
reductionist interpretations, from the epistemological perspective of each
professional area, as it is fully shown through the numerous concurrent attempts
to define addiction [16]. The rapid progress in medical scientific research brings
mutual changes in this relationship. The medical notion of addiction has much
evolved from “allergy” to „a state of periodic or chronic intoxication” [17] and
then to “a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and
related circuitry”, where “the dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic
biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations” (my emphasis)
[American Society of Addiction Medicine, Public Policy Statement: Long
Definition of Addiction, adopted: August 2011].
Although widely accepted, the medical theory of addiction is also
disputed, even in relation to the compulsive and irreversible character of the
addictive behaviour. For instance, cannabis consumption does not affect the
dopamine levels in the midbrain, but it generates addiction. From an
epidemiological standpoint, addiction appears to be a spectrum of disorders with
a spectrum of recovery characteristics [18]. Alcoholism looks different when
observed in clinical population and in general population. According to its
official statements, the AA applies itself to „real alcoholics‟, people who do
experience compulsion, which is neither a proof that this is the only possible
situation, nor that addiction is compulsion [18-20].
Leaving aside the appropriateness to subscribe to a theory that is
controversial even amid scientific circles, we have to ask: Is the NADP ready to
include in its approach a bio- point of view, where the spiritual manifestations
are cerebrally sourced, and the role of spirituality is to provide a very effective
means to cope with stress factors and confer a state of peace and happiness, in
the same way that other holistic, or „entheogenic‟ methods can induce a
dopamine release? Recent research claim to have identified the „God genes‟, the
dopamine vesicular transporter gene (VMAT2) and the dopamine D4 receptor
gene (DRD4), and is now researching for the dopamine agonist therapy to
reduce cravings and prevent relapse and drug-seeking. A medication based on
dopamine activators that do not down regulate dopamine receptors would
actually facilitate the acknowledgement of the 12-Step programs! [21]
We are far from that kind of “illness which only a spiritual experience will
conquer” [12, p. 42] and from its medical analogue, the „allergy‟. No doubt, the
evolutions in the medical world do not cater for the attitude of the Church, but
neither is the Church compelled to embrace serenely „the brainhood hypothesis‟,
the reduction of the person to a brain and of the soul to cerebral functions, which
is exactly the refuted materialist paradigm cited above. Further, is the biological

181
 Moldovan/European Journal of Science and Theology 9 (2013), Suppl. 1, 173-184

determinism compatible with the Christian view on self-determination? The

craving is a real terrible suffering that drastically limits the volitional control of
one‟s behaviour, but the alcoholic has not lost his will. On the contrary, the
required effort of will in order to accept one‟s helplessness, to surrender to a
“Higher Power”, and to engage on the path of the Steps can be compared to that
of “cutting one‟s will” during the exercise of Christian “self-renunciation”. Just
as Floyd Frantz would note, “the alcoholic is weak when confronted with
alcohol, but not with alcoholism.” [10, p. 49] Furthermore, the isolation of the
addiction issue inside the body of the afflicted individualizes its causality, in
contrast with the signally communitarian spirit of the AA (the reason the
movement is accused of being a cult). It is debatable that one sins alone - just as
the experience of co-dependency proves - yet for the Church, the restoration is
only possible in communion, hence the very existence of the Church.

5. Conclusions

AA and 12 Steps have considerable strengths, since are based on

experience and practicing spirituality, and are self-through-others directed, yet
spiritu-bio-psycho-social might be not the same as bio-psycho-social even when
spiritual is added. When attempting to draw an integrated model to understand
and approach addiction, the four anthropological dimensions cannot be
juxtaposed like in a chain of pluridisciplinary views and interventions, where
each one asserts its own competence within its professional limits. In reality,
each one has repercussions upon the other dimensions, thus claiming mutual
coherence and comprehensiveness. The Christian notion of passion as a sinful
habit is more apt at the integration, while accounting for synergic action between
the faculties of the soul and the body, the etiopathological variety of addictions
and the moral impasse of their “willing slavery” [22], than the imposition of an
animal-derived notion of disease on the puritanistic notion of sin. Surely, the
Church is thus challenged to re-evaluate its traditional dichotomist anthropology.
This is obviously a problem whose solution cannot be reached too early
for the pastoral urgency to help the addicts. In this sense, it is highly important to
fully support the initiative to act on the basis of the best recovery experience at
hand, and according to a spiritual practice that is fairly accepted by the medical
community, though not for the same reasons. However, we must meditate
whether the Twelve Step Facilities and the connection with the AA should pen a
national program of the Church, or whether a therapeutic eclecticism, open to
other spiritually compatible programs, would not correspond in a better way to
the complexity of the human nature, behaviours and contexts.
Anyway, the fact that in the existing programs the priest comes after the
group and the addiction counsellor is telling, and this is where a last problem
arises: as much as they rescue some and become useful to others, are the 12
Steps – or any other therapeutic methods ingenerated extra ecclesia - really
necessary for a pastoral activity directed towards the addicts from within the
Church, when we know that man‟s „rebirth‟ is the very reason why the Church

182
 The Orthodox Church-run program for the treatment of addictions in Romania

lives? [23] Apart from a few notable exceptions, its failure to approach and treat
alcoholism and drug addiction is remarkable. However, the explanation may not
lie in the lack of competence of the spiritual methods, but rather in their lack of
implementation, as probed a contrario, for instance, by the experience of the
therapeutic community at Grigoriou monastery. As Floyd Frantz emphasizes,
“one of the most significant aspects [...] is that people do not simply develop a
daily reflection, meditation and prayer program” [10, p. 103-104].
Unfortunately, the complacency felt regarding the daily spiritual life in general,
the prevalence of formality, and the „anonymous‟ ecclesiastic communities may
not contribute to the fight against the proliferation of addictions. The Church‟s
appeal to the 12 Steps and the AA, the American contribution to the “path
towards repentance”, as Father Webber tags them, are indicators of a pastoral
impasse. It is quite true that the alienation from God in the case of such passions
is so severe, that the affiliation to the Church is practically annulled.
Nevertheless, the „sheep lost‟ are still members of our families and our
communities. The disease concept is debatable, but the communitarian ethos of
the AA is resolute. While the addicts are taught and aided by these programs to
help themselves, it is the Orthodox Christian communities that have to learn over
and over again the steps towards their own transformation.

Acknowledgements

The hereby research was done within the program „Postdoctoral studies in
the field of ethics of policy in public healthcare‟, which is supported by
POSDRU/89/1.5/S/61879, „G.T. Popa‟ University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Iaşi, Romania. Thanks are due to Ana-Maria Ilieş for providing the English
translation of this article.

References

[1] A. Oişteanu, Narcotice în cultura română. Istorie, religie şi literatură, Polirom,

Iaşi, 2010.
[2] M. Rotar, Apulum, 45 (2008) 259-281.
[3] O.M. Tămas, The Uses and Abuses of Alcohol in Romania in a European Context
at the End of the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Century, PhD Thesis, Babes-
Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, 2012, 370-373.
[4] I. Trifa, Alcoolul – duhul diavolului, 3rd edn., Oastea Domnului, Sibiu, 2001.
[5] M.T. Webb, Copacul vieţii reînnoite. Biserica şi cei 12 Paşi, 2nd edn., GEDO, Cluj-
Npoca, 2004.
[6] E. Androulaki, Παρακαταθήκη, 43 (2005) 6-14.
[7] V. Mihailoff, Breaking the Chains of Addiction, Regina Orthodox Press, Salisbury
(MA), 2005.
[8] M. Webber, Paşii transformării. Un preot vorbeşte despre cei 12 Paşi, Kolos, Iaşi,
2008.
[9] Z. Vujisic, Eur. J. Sci. Theol., 9(suppl. 1) (2013) 131.
[10] I. Negru, F. Frantz and N. Amariei, Pastoraţia persoanelor dependente de alcool,
Basilica, Bucureşti, 2012, 12-13.

183
 Moldovan/European Journal of Science and Theology 9 (2013), Suppl. 1, 173-184

[11] F. Floyd, Cum tratăm alcoolismul, Trinitas, Iaşi, 2007, 27.

[12] ***, Alcoolicii Anonimi, Alcoholics Anonymous Word Services, New York, 2000,
29.
[13] W. Miller and E. Kurtz, J. Stud. Alcohol drugs, 55(2) (1994) 159-166.
[14] G. Engel, Science, 196 (1977) 129–136.
[15] K.M. Tangenberg, Journal of the Evidence-Based Social Work, 2(1-2) (2005) 19-
40.
[16] S. Sussman and A.N. Sussman, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 8 (2011) 4025-
4038.
[17] ***, Expert Committee on Addiction-Producing Drugs: Seventh Report, World
Health Organisation, Geneva, 1957.
[18] J.A. Cunningham and J. McCambridge, Addiction, 107 (2011) 6-12.
[19] L.C. Charland, AJOB Neurosciences, 3(2) (2012) 50-51.
[20] G. Heyman, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, Harvard University Press,
Cambridge (MA), 2009.
[21] K. Blum, A Chen, J. Giordano, J. Borsten, T. Chen, M. Hauser, T. Simpatico, J.
Femino, E. Braverman and D. Barh,, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 44(2) (2012)
134-143.
[22] C. Cook, The Philokalia and the Inner Life. On Passions and Prayers, James
Clarke & Co, Cambridge, 2011, 47-98.
[23] P. Nellas, Contacts, 33(114) (1981) 82-102.

184