Discussion of Albert J. Lubin's Article, The Influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on Freud's Wolf-Man: A Hypothesis (With an Epilogue Based on Visits with the Wolf-Man)

Dr. Lubin sets himself the limited task of a detailed investigation of religion with the goal of adding to our understanding of the case of the Wolf-Man. He equates the wolves with sheep and Christ with a good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. The sheep, however, are really lambs, the well-known symbol of Christ as represented in Christian art. (The sacrificial lamb as the subject of many interesting Christian and pre-Christian rites could carry my discussion far afield.)

Religion was an integral part of the patriarchal Russian life and began at birth. It was omnipresent in the household with pictures, icons, other religious objects and daily rituals. Children were exposed at an impressionable age to manners and customs full of magic and symbols. Identification with the protagonists in these rituals as well as with the exalted religious figures was common in both normal and pathological forms. The Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church services are replete with elaborate and symbolic patterns.

Dr. Lubin overvalues the religious factors in order to prove his hypothesis. His emphasis on the Tree and the wolves as representative of Christ and the Cross exclude many of the associations and interpretations which Freud

presented. It seems that when the Wolf-Man was well, religion and its rituals were of much less importance, whereas, when he was ill, they returned in force as part of his regressive behavior. I would like to present a brief review of Freud's case within this frame of reference.

The stage was set with a background of wealth when the Wolf-Man was born to an ailing mother and a patriarchal father two years after the birth of a bright and precocious sister. His mother did not take care of him. He was cared for by an uneducated, religious nurse who doted on him as a substitute son. He was shy, passive, dependent and helpless. He waged a constant battle with the authority figures and was constantly threatened with the loss of love or with injury.