Sin Is Sickness: Trauma, Compulsion & Orthodox Healing with Fr. Hans Jacobse (St. Paisios Brotherhood)

What if sin is not merely a legal violation, or "rule-breaking," but a sickness of the whole person?

In this episode of the Orthodox Health Podcast, Dr. Michael Christian & John are joined by Fr. Hans Jacobse for a deeply pastoral conversation on trauma, compulsion, embodied memory, prayer, & Orthodox healing.

Dropping the day after Pentecost, this conversation asks what true healing looks like when the Holy Spirit descends not simply to give spiritual experiences, but to restore the whole human person in Christ.

Fr. Hans discusses the Orthodox understanding of sin as sickness, why compulsive behaviors often reveal deeper wounds, how the body can carry trauma, why prayer is not merely a calming technique, & how the Church heals through repentance, communion, fasting, confession, spiritual fatherhood, & life in Christ.

This episode also explores the proper place of therapy, without allowing therapeutic language to become the master language for the human person.

Key Takeaways:

• Sin as sickness & disorder
• The body’s role in healing
• Trauma, memory, & compulsion
• Why willpower alone often fails
• Prayer & the healing Word of God
• Pentecost & the restoration of man
• The Eucharist as uncreated medicine
• Therapy in proper order
• Why no one desires your healing more than God

Sound Bytes:

• “The memory of the brain recalls the narrative of the event. But the actual trauma, the experiences, the things felt, are held in the body.”
• “The past isn’t behind us. The past is in us.”
• “When the trauma is healed, that compulsive behavior moves up to volition.”
• “No one desires your healing more than God.”
• “The closer the person draws to Christ, the more troubled they become.”
• “The Eucharist is the uncreated medicine.”
• “Prayer is action.”

Chapters:

00:00 Coming Up

00:42 Orthodox Health Podcast Intro

02:12 Pentecost & True Healing in Christ

04:44 Meet Fr. Hans Jacobse

09:51 Orthodoxy & the Healing of Sin

12:29 Community, Brotherhood, & Healing

18:18 The Human Heart as the Center of the Universe

23:15 Jordan Peterson, Orthodoxy, & the Search for Christ

25:37 God Is Bound by His Love

26:15 The Healing Power of the Saints

29:46 The Benevolence of Creation

31:48 Miracles & the True Natural Order

35:46 Trauma, Memory, & the Healing of the Body

43:02 The Holy Spirit & Healing Prayer

45:41 The Past Is Not Behind Us

48:30 The Body Remembers Trauma

50:05 Fascia, Trauma, & the Nervous System

53:40 Recovering from Materialism

54:16 Water, Memory, & Healing

55:14 The Eucharist as Uncreated Medicine

57:58 What Does Prayer Actually Do?

01:00:35 Becoming Co-Creators with God

01:02:30 Can Yoga Be Christianified?

01:03:33 Spiritual Illness & Physical Symptoms

01:06:15 Divine Liturgy, Prayer, & the Healing Process

01:09:53 Affection, Trauma, & Pastoral Healing

01:14:28 No One Desires Your Healing More Than God

01:15:27 Fr. Hans Jacobse & the St. Paisios Brotherhood

01:21:15 Outro

Where to find Fr. Hans Jacobse:

⁠St. Peter's Orthodox Church & the St. Paisios Brotherhood

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