As the patient recovers, the "specific weight" of psychiatric care will weaken, and the spiritual one, on the contrary, will increase.

17. Question: What does pride produce in the soul?

I will point out a very important spiritual observation: "The enemy has fallen with pride. Pride is the beginning of sin; it contains all kinds of evil: vanity, love of glory, lust for power, coldness, cruelty, indifference to the sufferings of one's neighbor; the dreaminess of the mind, the intensified action of the imagination, the demonic expression of the eyes, the demonic character of the whole appearance; gloom, melancholy, despair, hatred; envy, humility, many have a breakdown into carnal lust; tormenting inner restlessness, disobedience, fear of death or, on the contrary, a search to end one's life, and, finally, which is not uncommon, complete madness. These are the signs of demonic spirituality. But until they manifest themselves vividly, they remain unnoticed by many" (Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), from the book "Elder Silouan the Athonite").

18. Question: Is it possible to bring a priest to a psychiatric hospital to a sick person?

Spiritual nourishment from a priest in a hospital is quite possible. It all depends on the patient's desire and his mental state.

19. Question: Are there hospital churches in psychiatric institutions?

In recent years, by the grace of God, psychiatry has again begun to talk about spirituality. For example, a prayer room was opened at the Research Institute of Clinical Psychiatry, and a church was restored on the territory of the I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy. The temple was consecrated at the V. P. Serbsky Institute. Spiritual nourishment of patients also takes place in the hospital churches of the clinics named after P. P. Kashchenko, O. V. Kerbikov, and the Scientific Center for Mental Health. Divine services are held in the hospital church in the name of the Holy Martyr Boniface in the Regional Psychiatric Hospital. Now scientific and scientific theological conferences are often held with the participation of the clergy and psychiatrists. A number of very useful meetings were devoted to this problem in the publishing department of the Moscow Patriarchate. In December 1995, the first seminar on monastic medicine was held with the invitation of psychiatrists. A pastoral seminar held at St. Daniel's Monastery in early 1997 was devoted to this topic.