receives. It is the nous which has to be healed and nourished by means of illumination (see theoria). In Orthodox thought, the Church offers a therapeutic treatment for pain, suffering, and the search for value in existence. Orthodox Christianity is healing or therapeutic, and works in each individual to overcome their passions (i.e. evil thoughts, pasts, addictions). As a reorientation of the self, faith (pistis) is sometimes used interchangeably with noesis in Eastern Christianity. Faith is the intuitive, noetic experience of the nous or spirit. Transformative faith is a gift from God and among his uncreated operations. According to anti-Latin polemicist John Romanides, Western Christianity does not offer a spiritual cure for spiritual problems, but expresses salvation as a worldly (religious) goal in the pursuit of happiness, rather than seeking to attain the vision of God and transcend the self. Spiritual work is done to reconcile the heart and mind, by putting the mind in the heart, and then contemplating through our intuition. According to Lossky, rationalism reduces man and nature to cold mechanical concepts, interpretations and symbols of reality not reality in and of itself. Mother of God A great many traditions revolve around the Ever-Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, the Birth-giver in Incarnation of the preeternal Word of God. It is believed by Orthodox Christians that she was and remained a virgin before and after Christ's birth. Many of the Church's beliefs concerning the Virgin Mary are reflected in the apocryphal text "The Nativity of Mary", which was not included in scripture, but is considered to be accurate in its description of events. The child Mary was consecrated at the age of three to serve in the temple as a temple virgin. Zachariah, at that time High Priest of the Temple, did the unthinkable and carried Mary into the Holy of Holies as a sign of her importance – that she herself would become the ark in which God would take form. At the age of twelve she was required to give up her position and marry, but she desired to remain forever a virgin in dedication to God. And so it was decided to marry her to a close relative, Joseph, an uncle or cousin, an older man, a widower, who would take care of her and allow her to retain her virginity. And so it was that when the time came she submitted to God's will and