第七世紀東方教父馬克希穆斯的情緒療癒觀

The Seventh Century Eastern Church Father Maximus the Confessor on the Healing of Passions

人的「偏情」是古希臘哲人與早期基督宗教思想家皆關懷的問題，第七世紀東方教父馬克希穆斯承續了希臘哲學與早期基督宗教對於偏情的討論，但也加以修正與延伸，為第七世紀基督宗教苦修傳統貢獻出重要的情緒療癒觀。馬克希穆斯認為偏情是靈魂之自然的力量被罪扭曲的結果，雖因罪而起，但若能經導正並善用，仍能朝向神，故偏情無需被根除，而應被治癒與轉化。對馬克希穆斯來說，基督宗教苦修理想「了無偏情」也不僅是不再受制於偏情、達成內在的平靜而已，更是一種愛的狀態。基督道成肉身的奧祕則是治癒與轉化偏情的契機：基督抗拒樂趣與痛苦的誘惑、戰勝罪惡、轉化死亡，治癒了人易感的本性，使之得以轉化為愛—有福的偏情。因著參與基督的救贖工作、效法基督，人能使易感的本性獲得療癒，並善用情緒與慾望—靈魂中自然的力量。

The ancient Greek philosophers and early Christian thinkers had been concerned about the problem of passions (πάθη/pathē). Continuing their discussion on passions, the seventh century Eastern Father Maximus the Confessor revised and extended it, contributing to an important view on the healing of passions for the Christian ascetic tradition. According to Maximus, passions resulted from the distortion of the natural powers of the soul due to sin. However, passions could be redirected toward God by being reoriented and made good use of. Therefore, for Maximus, passions were not to be eradicated, but to be healed and transformed. Also, apatheia in Maximus’ view was not just a state of inner peace without being dominated by passions; rather, it is a state of love. The mystery of Christ’s incarnation became a turning point for healing and transforming passions: by having resisted temptations of pleasure and pain, conquered sin, transformed death, Christ healed the human passibility and transformed it into love, or “the blessed passion of holy love.” By participating in the salvific work of Christ and imitating Christ, human beings are enabled to have their passibility healed and thus can make good use of their emotion and desire as the natural powers of the soul.