Holy Fathers about illnesses... Are all diseases the result of our sins?

Whoever endures an illness with patience and gratitude is credited with it instead of a feat, or even more. One elder, suffering from water sickness, said to the brothers who came to him with a desire to treat him: “Fathers, pray that my inner man, and as for real illness, then I ask God that He does not suddenly free me from it; for as our outer man decays, the inner man is renewed.” From written instructions St. Seraphim Sarovsky.

“The body is the slave of the soul, and the soul is the queen, and therefore it often happens through the mercy of God that the body is exhausted by illness: from this, passions weaken and a person comes to his senses; and physical illness itself is sometimes born from passions.
Take away sin, and there will be no disease; for they occur in us from sin, as St. Basil the Great asserts: “Where does the illness come from? Where does the bodily injury come from? The Lord created the body, not the illness; the soul, not sin.” What is most useful and necessary? Connection with God and communication with Him through love. By losing this love, we fall away from Him, and by falling away, we are exposed to various and varied ailments.
Whoever endures an illness with patience and gratitude is credited with it instead of a feat, or even more.
One elder, suffering from water sickness, said to the brethren who came to him with a desire to treat him: “Fathers, pray that my inner man will not be subjected to such a disease, and as for the real disease, I ask God that He will not He suddenly freed me from it; for as our outer man decays, the inner man is renewed" (2 Cor. 4:16)."

From the written instructions of St. Seraphim of Sarov

“During illness, we feel that human life is like a flower that dries up almost as soon as it blooms, and a cloud that dissipates and leaves no trace; that our days disappear like a shadow; that our body dries up like the grass of the field, that the life of the strongest man is only a breath, that with each breath it shortens, and that the beating of his pulse, like the beats of a pendulum, brings him closer to last hour, which almost always strikes precisely at the moment when a person thinks that there is still a very long time until this hour.
Oh, illness, bitter but healthy medicine! Just as salt prevents the rottenness of fish or meat, so any illness preserves our spirit from the rottenness and corruption of sin and does not allow passions, spiritual worms, to arise in us.
To endure or not to endure suffering, however, we cannot avoid it, and we cannot avert the impatience of suffering, which God’s Providence has determined for us. And from impatience nothing other than harm and destruction will follow. Patience eases all suffering. Look at those who are in long-term illness, or who sit in prison for a long time; They became so accustomed to that calamity with patience that they would not have felt it. Tribulation makes patience perfect (Rom. 5:3). On the contrary, the disease multiplies with impatience...”

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk

“Sickness is God’s admonishment to us, and serves for prosperity if we thank God. Wasn't Job a faithful friend of God? But what did he not endure, thanking and blessing God? And patience finally led him to unparalleled glory. Be patient for a little while (in illness) and you will see the glory of God (see: John 11:40). If you cannot fast (in illness), do not grieve. God does not require anyone to work beyond their strength. Moreover, what is fasting if not punishment of the body in order to pacify a healthy body and make it weak for passions, according to the word of the Apostle: when I am weak, then I am strong (see: 2 Cor. 12:10). But illness is greater than this punishment, and is charged instead of fasting, and is valued even more than it. Whoever endures it with patience, thanking God, through patience receives the fruit of his salvation. Instead of weakening the strength of the body by fasting, it is already weakened by illness. Thank God that you have been freed from the labor of fasting. Even if you eat ten times a day, do not be sad; you will not be condemned for this, since you are not doing this to please yourself.
(To the sick and despondent person). Kiss the suffering of our Savior - as if you, together with Him, endured reproach, wounds of humiliation, insult through spitting, the reproach of the scarlet, the shame of the crown of thorns, the mark of gall, the pain of piercing nails, the piercing of a spear, the outpouring of water and blood - and borrow from this I will give joy to your illnesses. The Lord will not leave your labor in vain. He allowed you to suffer a minor illness so that you would not be alien to the saints when you see them at that hour bearing the fruits of enduring sorrows and glorified, but would be an accomplice of them and Jesus, having boldness before Him with the saints. Don't be sad; God has not forgotten you, but cares for you as His sincere son, and not as an adulteress.”

Saints Barsanuphius and John

“Everything is from God, both good and sorrowful, but one is by good will, the other by dispensation, the third by permission. By good will, when we live virtuously; for it pleases God that those who live virtuously should be adorned with crowns of patience; according to the economy, when, falling into sins, we are admonished; by allowance, when even those admonished we do not convert. Again, economically, God punishes us who sin, so that we are not condemned with the world, as the apostle says: we are punished by the Lord, lest we be condemned with the world (see: 1 Cor. 11:32). In this mind, there is no evil in the city that the Lord will not create (see Amos 3:6), such as: hunger, plagues, illnesses, defeats, battles; for all this serves to cleanse oneself from sins. God allows and completely forsakes those who either do not want to live without sin, or those who are admonished do not convert, but remain in sin. Then God gives them over to an unskilled mind, that is, he allows them to create incomparable freedom (see: Rom. 1:28).”

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian

• Dmitry Alexandrovich, tell me why one person is prone to neuroses and another is not?

  Of course, I won’t answer this question with mathematical precision. I can say one thing with confidence. Neurotic disorders are characteristic of a soul upset by sins. It is they who disorganize the will, remove emotions and imagination from the control of consciousness. Simply put, a person’s mind, his will and feelings become like the swan, crayfish and pike from the famous fable: everyone pulls in his own direction, there is no harmony, while everything should be in subordination. The will is subordinate to the mind, and the feelings are subordinate to the will.

• Life is given to us by the Lord

  Abortion is the killing of a child in the womb. Tragically, millions of unborn children around the world are killed in the womb. I can't wrap my head around this fact. Children are killed by their mothers themselves! At their request or with their consent. And the numbers of abortions, unfortunately, not only are not decreasing, but are even increasing. Today there are girls 13-14 years old who have already completed this terrible sin. On October 13, 2016, Western media reported a sensational discovery by European scientists: the human heart “beats” earlier than the 16th day after conception, writes the Russian Mothers website. Previously, there was an opinion in science that a child’s heart begins to beat at least a week later. At three months, doctors stop calling the baby a fetus. This is an already formed fruit that just needs to grow and ripen. I will not forget how one old priest tried to persuade a young woman not to have an abortion. Tears flowed down the priest’s cheeks. He told her about the sin of infanticide, and much, much more. When the elder ran out of “arguments,” he exclaimed: “Maybe there is a saint in your womb, or maybe this is your breadwinner in old age. Come to your senses! Life was given to us by the Lord!”...

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You must definitely go to church services, otherwise you will be sick. The Lord punishes us with illness for this.

It happens that illness seizes to awaken a sleeping soul.

Just as medicine benefits the body, so does disease benefit the soul.

Illness relieves many spiritual passions. The Apostle Paul says: “...if our outer man... decays, yet our inner man... is renewed” (2 Cor. 4:16).

Illness is not a misfortune, but a lesson and a visit from God; the sick Venerable Seraphim was visited by the Mother of God; and we, if we humbly endure the disease, are visited by Higher Powers.

Health is a gift from God, said St. Seraphim of Sarov, - but this gift is not always useful: like any suffering, illness has the power to cleanse us from spiritual filth, atone for sins, humble and soften our soul, make us come to our senses, recognize our weakness and remember God. Therefore, both we and our children need diseases.

When you are bothered by inconvenience or painful suffering, or something similar, then try not to lose from your memory the words of Holy Scripture: “Through many tribulations it is fitting for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

God does not require physical feats from the sick, but only patience with humility and gratitude.

Once I came to Fr. Hegumen Anthony is sick with his legs and says: “Father, my legs hurt, I can’t bow down, and this confuses me.” Father Anthony answered him: “Yes, the Scripture says: “Son, give Me heart,” and not nose.”

St. Theophan the Recluse:

The Lord sends illnesses for this reason, in order to remember about death and to transfer from memory to the fact that the sick person is finally concerned with preparing for death.

Our diseases for the most part come from sins, why the best way to prevent and heal from them is not to sin.

It happens that God, through illness, protects others from trouble that they would not have escaped if they were healthy.

Suffering, if it embitters the sick person without transforming him or giving him a beneficial reaction (correction and thanksgiving), is only pure evil.

All the most severe sorrows and misfortunes are endured by people more easily than serious bodily illnesses. An undoubted expert in the matter of tormenting and tormenting people - Satan - testified before the face of God Himself that bodily illnesses are more unbearable than all other misfortunes, and that a person who courageously and meekly endures other disasters can weaken in his patience and waver in his devotion to God, subjected to a serious illness .

The Lord heals many diseases through doctors and other means. But there are diseases, the cure of which is prohibited by the Lord, when he sees that illness is more necessary for salvation than health.

It is a great feat to patiently endure illnesses and, among them, to sing songs of gratitude to God.

The elder inspired his sick friend: “We must pray more often: “Lord! Give me patience here, forgiveness there.”

However, during those hours when there is a service in church, it is better not to lie down, but to sit on the bed, leaning, if infirmity overcomes, against the wall, and so pray intelligently and heartily, with full desire and cheerfulness of spirit.

A father will not give his children a stone instead of bread or a snake instead of fish. If the natural father does not do this, much less will the Heavenly Father do this. And our petitions often resemble the petition of a snake and a stone. It seems to us that this is what we ask for, bread and fish, but the Heavenly Father sees that what we ask for will be a stone or a snake for us - and does not give what we ask for. The father and mother pour out warm prayers before God for their son, that he may arrange the best for him, but at the same time they also express what they consider to be the best for their son, namely, that he be alive, healthy and happy. The Lord hears their prayer and arranges the best for their son, only not according to the concept of those asking, but as it actually is for their son: he sends a disease from which the son dies. For those for whom everything ends in real life, this is not hearing, but doing in defiance or giving the person for whom they are praying to his fate; for believers, that real life only preparation for another life, there can be no doubt that the son for whom they prayed fell ill and died precisely because the prayer was heard and that it was better for him to leave here than to stay here. You say: so what should we pray for? No, it is impossible not to pray, but in prayers about certain objects one must always keep in mind the condition: “If, Lord, You Yourself find this saving.” St. Isaac the Syrian advises shortening every prayer like this: “You, Lord, know what is good for me: do with me according to Your will.”

In illness, before doing anything else, one must hasten to be cleansed of sins in the Sacrament of Repentance and to be reconciled with God in one’s conscience.

Sin not only affects the soul, but also the body. In other cases it is quite obvious; in others, although it is not so clear, the truth remains the truth that illnesses of the body are always and always from sins and for the sake of sins. Sin is committed in the soul and directly makes it sick, but since the life of the body comes from the soul, then from a sick soul, of course, life is not healthy. The very fact that sin brings darkness and darkness should have an adverse effect on the blood, in which the basis of bodily health is based. But when you remember that it separates a person from God, the Source of life, and puts a person at odds with all the laws operating both in himself and in nature, then one must still marvel at how a sinner remains alive after sin. This is the mercy of God, awaiting repentance and conversion. Consequently, the sick person, before doing anything else, must hasten to cleanse himself of sins and reconcile himself with God in his conscience. This will pave the way for the beneficial effects of medicines. It is known that there was some significant doctor who did not begin treatment until the patient confessed and received Holy Communion; and the more difficult the illness, the more persistently he demanded it.

St. rights John of Kronstadt:

Sick and poor - do not complain or grumble about your fate, about God and people, do not envy someone else’s happiness, beware of despondency and especially despair, submit completely to God’s Providence.

Beware that the hater of good does not lead you into ingratitude or murmuring, then you will lose everything.

Thou shalt not kill. By the way, doctors also kill out of ignorance of the patient’s illness, prescribing him harmful medications. Those who do not want to be treated or treat a patient who needs the help of a doctor also kill. Those who kill are those who irritate a patient for whom irritation is fatal, for example, a person susceptible to consumption, and thereby hasten his death. Those who kill are those who do not promptly, out of stinginess or for other evil reasons, provide medical benefits to the sick or bread to the hungry.

St. Demetrius of Rostov:

The Lord makes up for the lack of our good deeds either with illnesses or sorrows.

Patericon of Athos

The brother asked Abba Arseny: “There are some good people“Why are they subjected to great sorrow at the time of death, being stricken with bodily illness?” “Because,” the elder answered, “so that we, as if we had finished with salt here, would go there clean.”

One elder said about poor Lazar: “Not a single virtue is visible in him that he did,” and only one thing was found in him, that he never grumbled against the Lord, as if he did not show him mercy, but with He endured his illness with gratitude, and therefore God accepted him.

Abba Daniel said: as the body blooms, the soul is exhausted, and as the body is exhausted, the soul flourishes.

Every time your body is struck or inflamed with a strong fever, you are also languishing with an unbearable thirst - if you are a sinner, then bear it, remembering the future punishment, oh eternal fire and executions according to the court and “do not despise” real (punishments) (Heb. 12:5), but rejoice that God visited you, and repeat this beautiful saying: “The Lord punished me severely, but did not put me to death” (Ps. 117, 18). You are iron, and fire will cleanse your rust. If you, being righteous, fell into illness, then through this you will succeed from less to greater things. You are gold, and through the fire you became purer... Are we losing our eyes? - let us endure this without burden, for through this we are deprived of the organs of gluttony and are enlightened with our inner eyes. Have we gone deaf? - Let us thank God that we have completely lost our vain hearing. Have your hands become weak? - But we have within ourselves hands prepared to fight the enemy. Will weakness take over the whole body? - But from this, on the contrary, the health of the inner person increases.

Rev. Pimen the Many-Painful:

The Lord, out of love for us, sends illness and sorrow according to the strength of each, but also gives them patience in order to make us participants in His suffering; whoever did not suffer here for Christ’s sake will be remorseful in the next century, - after all, it was possible to show his love for Christ by enduring illness and sorrows, and did not do this, trying to evade and avoid all sorrows... Not in anger, not for punishment The Lord sends us illnesses and sorrows, but out of love for us, although not all people, and do not always understand this.

When you are sick, do not wish yourself to die - it is sinful.

The best gratitude to God for recovery from illness is to serve Him the rest of your life in fulfilling His commandments.

When we see a sick person, we will not poorly explain to ourselves the cause of his illness, but we will try to console him.

If a person grumbles about illness and sorrow, looks for the culprit for these sorrows among people (bewitched, made), demons, circumstances, begins to try by all means to avoid them, then the enemy will help him in this, show him the imaginary culprits (bosses, orders, neighbors, etc., etc.), will arouse in him enmity and hatred towards them, a desire to take revenge, insult, etc., and through this will lead the soul of such a person into darkness, despair, hopelessness, the desire to go to another place, to hide even underground, only not to see, not to hear imaginary enemies, but in fact listening and pleasing his real mortal enemy - the devil, who inspires him with all this and wants to destroy him.

One should not refuse to help the sick for fear of contracting their disease.

Visiting those lying on their beds who are sick and possessed by the sorrow of the flesh delivers from the demon of pride and fornication.

In illness, on the advice of a doctor, we can allow ourselves to temporarily eat fasting food, but in this case we must remember that we are doing this out of necessity, and not for pleasure and enjoyment.

Visit the sick, may God visit you.

The sick person and whoever serves him receives equal reward.

Rev. Anatoly Optinsky:

It doesn’t matter that you are sick: for sinful people this is cleansing; Just as fire cleanses iron from rust, so illness heals the soul.

Reflect on the fact that everything here is fleeting, but the future is eternal. The sick person needs to console himself by reading the Divine Scripture and the suffering of the Savior.

The Lord accepts patience with illness instead of fasting and prayer.

Elder Arseny of Athos:

Thank God that you are on a good path: your illness is a great gift from God; Praise and give thanks for this and for everything day and night - and your soul will be saved.

The devil attacks the dangerously sick more strongly, knowing that he has little time.

It happens that some patients use fasting food as medicine during Lent, and then they repent of this, that due to illness they violated the rules of the Holy Church about fasting. But everyone needs to look and act according to their own conscience and consciousness... It is better to choose from lean foods that are nutritious and digestible for your stomach.

Don’t grieve if you sometimes can’t do it due to illness. prayer rule, but thank God for illness, for it is the same as prayer, if we endure it without grumbling and with thanksgiving.

In dangerous illnesses, take care first of clearing your conscience and the peace of your soul.

Blazh. Jerome:

The main reason for cowardice and murmuring against God in days of suffering for many is a lack of faith in God and hope in His Divine Providence. True Christian believes that everything that happens to us in life is done according to the will of God; that without the will of God not a hair from our head falls to the ground. If God sends him suffering and sorrow, then he sees in this either a punishment sent to him from God for his sins, or a test of faith and love for Him; and therefore, not only is he not faint-hearted and does not grumble against God for this, but, humbled under the strong hand of God, he also thanks God for not forgetting him; that, out of His mercy, God wants to replace eternal sorrows for him with temporary ones; struck by grief, he speaks to the righteous David: “It is good for me, Lord, for you have humbled me, so that I may learn through your justification.”

In diseases, care must be taken to cure them.

If you are sick, then invite an experienced doctor and use the remedies prescribed by him. For this purpose, so many beneficial plants arise from the earth. If you reject them out of pride, you will hasten your death and become a suicide.

St. Gregory the Theologian:

Truly, through bodily illnesses the soul approaches God.

Rev. Nicodemus Svyatogorets:

When, for example, a sick person is disposed to graciously endure his illness and endures it, the enemy, knowing that in this way he will be confirmed in the virtue of patience, comes to upset his goodwill. For this purpose, he begins to bring to mind many good deeds that he could have done if he had been in a different position, and tries to convince him that if he were healthy, how good he would serve God, and how much benefit he would bring both himself and others: he would go to church, have conversations, read and write for the edification of his neighbors, etc. Noticing that such thoughts are accepted, the enemy more often brings them to mind, multiplies and colors them, brings them to feeling, causes desires and impulses to business, imagines how well this or that business would go for him, and arouses regret that he is bound hand and foot by illness. Little by little, with frequent repetitions of such thoughts and movements in the soul, desire turns into dissatisfaction and annoyance. The former complacent patience is thus upset, and illness is no longer presented as a cure from God and a field for the virtue of patience, but as something hostile to the cause of salvation, and the desire to free oneself from it becomes uncontrollable, still in the form of obtaining through it space for good deeds and pleasing God in every way. Having brought him to this point, the enemy steals from his mind and heart this good goal of the desire for recovery and, leaving only the desire for health as health, makes him look annoyed at illness, not as an obstacle to good, but as something hostile in itself. As a result, impatience, not healed by good thoughts, takes strength and turns into grumbling, and deprives the patient of his former peace from complacent patience. And the enemy rejoices that he managed to upset.

Whether you are sick or poor, endure. God does not require anything from you except patience. By enduring complacently, you will continuously be in good deeds. Whenever God looks at you, He will see that you are doing good or are in goodness if you patiently endure, whereas in a healthy person good deeds come intermittently. Why, wanting to change your situation, do you want to exchange the best for the worst?

Rev. Barsanuphius the Great:

Showing bodily illnesses to a doctor is not a sin, but humility.

The patient must fast on Wednesday and Friday, and on other days he is allowed to eat meat, except meat.

Rev. Seraphim Sarovsky:

One elder, suffering from water sickness, said to the brethren who came to him with a desire to treat him: “Fathers, pray that my inner man will not be subjected to such a disease, and as for the real disease, I ask God that He will not suddenly freed me from it, for as much as “our outer man decays,” so “our inner man is renewed”” (2 Cor. 4:16).

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk:

If you are in a long-term illness and have any consolation from those who serve you, then look at those who suffer grief and sadness inside, are covered with wounds on the outside and have no one to serve them, feed them, give them something to drink, raise them, wash their wounds - and they endure.

St. Philaret of Moscow:

Lightening fasting for the weak is permissible according to the church rule (Apostle, canon 69).

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov:

One of the parish priests became ill, and, approaching his death, he saw his bed surrounded by demons who were preparing to kidnap his soul and bring him down to hell. Then three Angels appeared. One of them stood at the bedside and began to argue about the soul with the most disgusting demon, who was holding an open book in which all the sins of the priest were written down. Meanwhile, another priest came to admonish his brother. Confession began; the sick man, fixing his frightened gaze on the book, pronounced his sins with selflessness, as if spewing them out of himself - and what does he see? He clearly sees that as soon as he uttered any sin, this sin disappeared in the book, in which there remained a gap instead of a record. Thus, by confession, he blotted out all his sins from the demonic book, and, having received healing, spent the rest of his days in deep repentance, telling his neighbors for their edification their vision, sealed by the miraculous healing.

Hegumen Nikon (Vorobiev):

The Lord sent you illness not in vain, and not so much as a punishment for previous sins, but out of love for you, in order to tear you away from a sinful life and put you on the path of salvation. Thank God for this, who takes care of you.

In addition to prayer, you should have a spiritual interlocutor who will relieve you from sorrow and despondency.

Hieromonk Gregory (in the world Hadziemmanuel Panagiotis) was born on the island of Metilene in 1936, graduated from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Athens, then studied patristic theology in Strasbourg. Returning to his homeland, in 1966 he took monastic vows, was ordained a deacon, and a month later - a priest, and went to Mount Athos.

In 1968, following the holy elder Paisius and Archimandrite Vasily, Fr. Gregory settled in the Stavronikita monastery. In 1971, Fr. Gregory was ordained as a confessor and carries out this obedience to this day in Greece and Germany. Since 1980 Fr. Gregory lives with his monastic community in the holy Kutlumush cell of St. John the Theologian.

Are all diseases the result of our sins? Of course not. Sometimes the Lord allows illness to educate or sanctify His beloved children. As it is said in the “Response of the Holy Great Elder Barsanuphius to the novice brother who was sick and could not patiently endure this sorrow,” “there is an illness that is sent for testing. And this test is given to make us worthy children of God. A husband who has not been tested by temptation remains inexperienced and immature. He who has been tested by adversity is experienced and skilled, like gold refined by fire. BecausePatience brings experience, experience gives hope, and hope does not shame (Rom. 5:4-5) the one who has it.” In these cases, a person gains a heavenly reward through his patience. Christ assured us that every believer, when he has spiritual fruit, is pruned like a vineyard to bring forth more fruit. (see: John 15:2). And, as St. Cyril of Alexandria writes, “if some pruning of branches on the mental vine is done, this will not happen without pain... Because our merciful God guides us through pain and suffering... But this small suffering makes us blessed, for it presents Divine guidance. And this is witnessed by the prophet David, who says:Blessed is the man whom You admonish, O Lord (Ps. 93:12).”

God is love, and His guidance is wonderful and unknown. The Venerable Elder Paisios gave a very clear example when he was asked why the Lord gives many tests to some people, but does not give others: “What does the Holy Scripture say?The Lord loves him and punishes him (Prov. 3:12). For example, some father has eight children. Five live at home with their father, and three leave home and forget about their father. If the children living with their father are guilty of something, he can pull their ears, or slap them on the head, or, if they are reasonable, caress them, give them a chocolate bar. But those who live far from their father have neither affection nor a slap on the head. God does the same. If people who live with Him make a mistake, He punishes them with a “slap on the head,” and they pay for their sin. Or, if He gives them more “slaps on the head,” they accumulate heavenly rewards for themselves. And to those who live far from Him, He gives long years life so that they will repent."

Other causes of illness

While exploring the causes of disease, we must not forget that characteristic our time is despondency and stress. Our life is full of sorrows. A person who approaches the difficulties of his life without faith and hope in God lives in constant stress. On the contrary, the one who entrusts his life to the love of God lives in peace and tranquility. Saint John Chrysostom says that “the cause of our anxiety and worries is not a sudden change in external circumstances, but ourselves and our thoughts. If we have them right, then we will always remain in peace and quiet, even if countless storms arise from everywhere.”

Thus, it is completely natural for a person who does not resort to God to suffer and be in constant worry, to complain about everything and everyone around him, and in the end all this can result in some kind of physical or even mental illness.

Saint John also speaks about the causes of bodily illnesses - “gluttony, drunkenness and inactivity.” All this “also produces disease.” Indeed, it has been observed that a pampered person who lives in luxury is more susceptible to illness and lives less than a person who loves work. Thus, the multiplication of various diseases is natural for our time of striving for an easy life and pleasures.

* * *

Finally, there are cases among holy people when a person himself asks God for an illness. He asks to atone for his sins, or to answer great love God, or to help other people. Those who asked for such a gift from God were moved great love to Him and to people. And this love made them beloved children of God. We must be careful not to try to imitate them while we are on a much lower spiritual level. Because there is a danger of grumbling against God, who allowed us to be tested, although we ourselves asked for it.

Elder Porfiry of blessed memory said: “I thank God, who gave me many illnesses. Often I tell Him: “My Christ, Your love is limitless!” It's a miracle that I'm alive. Among my illnesses is pituitary cancer... It hurts terribly. But I pray, patiently lifting up the Cross of Christ... Very severe pain, I suffer, but my illness is beautiful. I perceive it as the love of Christ. I am moved and thank God. This is for my sins. I am a sinner and God is trying to cleanse me. When I was sixteen years old, I asked God to give me a serious illness, cancer, so that I could suffer for the sake of His love and glorify Him in suffering... God did not forget my request and sent me such a blessing after so many years! Now I am not asking God to take what I asked Him for. I rejoice in what I have, so that, out of His great love, I can share in His suffering. God is raising me.The Lord punishes whomever he loves (Heb. 12:6). My illness is a special favor of God, which calls me to enter into the mystery of His love... That’s why I don’t pray for God to make me healthy. I pray that He will make me good.”

Benefits of diseases

Let us now consider the benefits that diseases bring us. Illness is a visit from God, it is an expression of His love for the sake of healing our soul from the disease of sin. “God gives illnesses for the health of the soul,” says St. Isaac the Syrian.

Saint John, speaking about the paralytic who had been waiting for his healing for thirty-eight years, notes that his illness “revealed God’s love for mankind. Truly, the very defeat of such an illness and the continuation of the illness for so long is a matter of the greatest care of God. Just as a goldsmith, throwing gold into a furnace, leaves it to melt in the fire until he sees that it has become pure, so God allows the souls of people to be tempted by disasters until they become pure and bright, until from this temptation will gain great benefit. And this is the greatest blessing.”

The words of St. John may seem to us an exaggeration. Then we must examine why illness is considered a blessing from God. The answer to this question, according to the God-bearing holy fathers, lies in the paternal love of God, who with love and wisdom finds a way to heal our sick soul. Diseases, as well as other sufferings that God allows in our lives, are, as St. Theophan of Nicea writes, “medicines for our soul and for the eradication of sin that has been strengthened in it for a long time; These medicines are bitter and unpleasant, but they have the power, greater than all other means (fasting, vigils, etc.), to cure the soul.”

All the saints of our Church experienced the spiritual benefits of bodily illnesses. That is why, when the Lord visited them with illness, they did not ask for deliverance from it, but for the strength to endure it.

One old man, who suffered from dropsy, said to the brothers who were caring for him:Fathers, pray that a similar illness does not affect my soul. But regarding a physical illness, I pray to God not to heal me soon, for, although outer man and suffers, the inner one is renewed day by day (see: 2 Cor. 4: 16). That is, this holy elder felt, following the example of the Apostle Paul, an increasing benefit to the soul from this serious illness.

The holy elder Paisios, after a severe test, said: “When the body undergoes suffering, the soul is sanctified... Christ would have done me a great honor if for the sake of His love I had suffered even more. If only He would strengthen me so that I could withstand this pain. But I don’t need retribution... I received such benefit from my illness that I did not receive from the entire feat of asceticism that I performed before I got sick.” “Health is a big thing, but the good that illness brings to a person, health cannot give him! Illness brings spiritual good to a person. Illness is a great blessing. She cleanses a person from sin, and sometimes collects heavenly rewards for him. The human soul is like gold, and illness is like the fire that purifies this gold. Look, Christ also said to the Apostle Paul:My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The more a person suffers from illness, the more pure and holy he becomes - as long as he endures and accepts the illness with joy... After all, physical illness helps in healing mental illness. Physical illness brings humility to a person and thus eradicates his mental illness.”

HOLY FATHERS ABOUT MEDICINE. “When reading medical books or asking someone about them, do not forget that without God no one receives healing. So, whoever devotes himself to the art of medicine must surrender himself to the name of God, and God will give him help. The art of medicine does not prevent a person from being pious; but do it as if you were doing handicraft for the benefit of the brethren. Whatever you do, do it with the fear of God, and you will be preserved by the prayers of the saints” (St. Abba Dorotheos) “Nothing prevents you from inviting a doctor during illnesses. God foresaw that there would be a need for healing art, and deigned that it would finally be compiled on the basis of human experience; For this purpose he gave existence in advance to medicines in the series of creations. However, the hope of healing should not be placed on them, but on our true Doctor and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Blessed Diadochos) "For the joy and healing of the body, to satisfy its needs, the Lord gave medical means to worldly people... because they are not in I am still able to completely entrust myself to God” (St. Macarius of Egypt)

Saint Basil the Great about medicine: “Like any aid of the arts, medicine against the infirmities of nature is given to us from God, for example: agriculture because what naturally grows from the earth is not enough to satisfy our needs; the art of weaving, and similarly architecture, because the use of coverings is necessary for decency and for the sake of the harmfulness of the air; so is the art of medicine. Since our body, which is disturbed by everything, is subject to various types of damage, both occurring externally and generated internally by the food taken, and is brought to exhaustion by both excesses and shortcomings, then God, who controls our entire life, has allowed us the art of medicine, which, as an example of mental healing, has the goal of ridding us of unnecessary things. and make up for what is insufficient. As if we were still living in a paradise of sweets, we would have no need for agricultural inventions and labors; so if we were not subject to suffering due to the gift that was given to us at creation and was preserved by us until the fall, then we would not need the benefits of the medical art to relieve ourselves. But as after our exile to this place, after it was said: in the sweat of your brow, bear your bread (Gen. 3:19), in order to alleviate the sorrowful consequences of the curse, through long-term experience and many labors on the earth, we developed the art of agriculture, because God has given us intelligence and the ability to comprehend this art, so, since we were commanded to return again to the land from which we were taken, and since we are associated with painful flesh, which for sin was condemned to decay, and through this we were subjected to these infirmities, then it was given to us the help of medical art, although to some extent provided to those suffering from illness. For the herbs that are useful for this or that disease did not grow by themselves, but, obviously, by the will of the Creator they were produced for the purpose of serving for our benefit. Therefore, the properties contained in roots, in flowers, in leaves, in fruits and in juices, and in metals and in the sea of ​​openly usable flesh - all this is similar to the invention of what is eaten and drunk. But what is refined, unnecessary and requires long labor, and as if turns our whole life into caring for the flesh, should be forbidden to Christians. And we must try to use art in such a way, in case of need, that it is not in it alone that the cause of health or a painful condition is identified, but that we accept the benefits it offers for the glory of God and as an example of caring for the soul.” “It would be bestial nonsense to hope to get health solely from hands of a doctor, which, as we see, other miserable people are subjected to, who are not ashamed to call doctors their saviors. But even this will be stubbornness if, in any case, you avoid using the medical art” “... Just as one should not avoid the medical art at all, it is also inappropriate to place all one’s hope in it.”

Saint Theophan, the Recluse of Vyshensky about medicine: “...God gave doctors, and it is God’s will to turn to them.” “...Don’t be angry with doctors. They don't heal themselves. And they are cured when God blesses" "...If you, trusting in God and from Him for help, and not from a doctor and medicines, turn to natural means of healing, then there is no sin" "...God created doctors and medicines . Using them does not mean going against the orders of God." "Everything is from God; He allows us to get sick, and He surrounded us with healing methods.” “You don’t have to get treatment in the expectation that God will heal; but this is very boldly daring. You don’t have to undergo treatment to exercise patience and devotion to the will of God, but this is very high, and at the same time everyone - oh! - will be blamed, but only grateful joy is appropriate...” “Whoever does not feel the courage to endure an illness... it is better to resort to doctors, still expecting help from God, for He admonishes doctors.”

Holy Fathers about illnesses and the sick

The body is the slave of the soul, and the soul is the queen, and therefore it often happens through the mercy of God that the body is exhausted by illness: from this, passions weaken and a person comes to his senses; and physical illness itself is sometimes born from passions.

Take away sin, and there will be no disease; for they are in us from sin, as St. Basil the Great: “Where does the disease come from? Where did the bodily injuries come from? The Lord created the body, not the disease; soul, not sin." What is most useful and necessary? Connection with God and communication with Him through love. By losing this love, we fall away from Him, and by falling away, we are exposed to various and varied ailments.

Whoever endures an illness with patience and gratitude is credited with it instead of a feat, or even more.

One elder, suffering from water sickness, said to the brethren who came to him with a desire to treat him: “Fathers, pray that my inner man will not be subjected to such a disease, and as for the real disease, I ask God that He will not suddenly freed me from her; for as our outer man decays, the inner man is renewed (2 Cor. 4:16).”

From written instructions

Rev. Seraphim of Sarov

During illness, we feel that human life is like a flower that dries up almost as soon as it blooms, and a cloud that dissipates and leaves no trace; that our days disappear like a shadow; that our body dries up like the grass of the field, that the life of the strongest man is only a breath, that with each breath it shortens, and that the beating of his pulse, like the beats of a pendulum, brings him closer to the last hour, which almost always strikes precisely at that moment, when a person thinks that this hour is still a long time away.

Oh, illness, bitter but healthy medicine! Just as salt prevents the rottenness of fish or meat, so any illness preserves our spirit from the rottenness and corruption of sin and does not allow passions, spiritual worms, to arise in us.

To endure or not to endure suffering, however, one cannot avoid it, and impatience cannot avert the suffering that God’s Providence has determined for us. And from impatience nothing other than harm and destruction will follow. Patience eases all suffering. Look at those who are in long-term illness, or who sit in prison for a long time; They became so accustomed to that calamity with patience that they would not have felt it. Tribulation makes patience perfect (Rom. 5:3). On the contrary, the disease multiplies with impatience...

St. Tikhon Zadonsky

The fear for the body is so strong in people that as a result they often remain unable to do anything honorable and honorable. But when fear for the body is penetrated by fear for the soul, then bodily fear faints before spiritual fear, like wax from the power of a burning fire.

And when you are sick, say: “Blessed is he who has been found worthy to be tested by God in that for which we will inherit life.” For God sends illnesses for the health of the soul.

St. Abba Isaac the Syrian

I ask you, my son, to be patient and grateful for the stumbling blocks that occur in illness, according to the words of him who said: “Take whatever is done to you for good” (Sir. 2:3), so that the intention of Providence is fulfilled on you, my son because it pleases Him. So, be courageous, be strong in the Lord and (trust) in His care for you.

God be with you!

From the messages of St. Abba Dorotheus

Illness is sometimes sent to cleanse sins, and sometimes to humble the ascension.

St. John Climacus

Everything is from God: illness, health, and everything that is from God is given to us for our salvation. So you, too, accept your illness and thank God for the fact that he cares about your salvation. What exactly is sent by God that serves for salvation, you don’t have to look for it, because maybe you won’t know. God sends other things as punishment, like penance, and others as discipline, so that a person will come to his senses; other things, to save you from the trouble that a person would get into if he were healthy; another thing is for a person to show patience and thereby deserve a greater reward; other, in order to cleanse me from all passion, and for other reasons... You, when you remember your sins, say: “Glory to You, Lord, that You imposed penance on me as punishment!” When you remember that before you did not always remember God, say: “Glory to You, Lord, that You have given me the reason and the knowledge to remember You more often!” When the thought comes to you that if you were healthy, you would do something different and not good, say: “Glory to Thee, Lord, that you do not allow me to sin,” and so on... So be complacent!

Give thanks to God for everything; and give thanks for ill health. It’s easy for me to say this from the outside; It may not be easy for you to feel this way. Every time you hear a word about patience, I pray that the Lord will allow you to endure illness graciously and learn something from it. Why did the Lord bind you, who can guess? But there is no doubt that this, too, was allowed to you in order to further the goals of the life that you have chosen, and in which you are trying to at least somehow maintain yourself. From this point of view, you don’t have to torture your illness anymore. In addition to what has been said, seek courage for complacent patience in moments of heaviness of suffering, in remembrance of the patience of all the saints, and especially the martyrs. How long and how did they endure?! And it's hard to imagine. Yes, and for everyone, “through much tribulation it is necessary to enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

And what is promised by the Lord is called the crown. For what? Because it is impossible to climb there without suffering. There is only one road there - a cross, voluntary or involuntary.

May the Guardian Angel bring you comfort and complacency! Don’t complain that the noise in your head doesn’t allow you to keep your thoughts. God judges the soul according to what depends on it, and not because of what it has no control over. Keep the intention in your heart not to depart from the Lord, and He will accept this matter.

Now you need to leave your fasting rule. Afterward, fast if it pleases God to raise you up; and now, in illness, in the form of medicine, you can eat everything, on the advice of a doctor.

There are diseases, the healing of which is prohibited by the Lord when He sees that illness is more necessary for salvation than health.

From letters to St. Feofan the Recluse

Illness is God’s admonition to us, and serves for prosperity if we thank God. Wasn't Job a faithful friend of God? But what did he not endure, thanking and blessing God? And patience finally led him to unparalleled glory. Be patient a little (in illness) and you will see the glory of God (John 11:40). If you cannot fast (in illness), do not grieve. God does not require anyone to work beyond their strength. Moreover, what is fasting if not punishment of the body in order to pacify a healthy body and make it weak for passions, according to the word of the Apostle: when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:10). But illness is greater than this punishment, and is charged instead of fasting, and is valued even more than it. Whoever endures it with patience, thanking God, through patience receives the fruit of his salvation. Instead of weakening the strength of the body by fasting, it is already weakened by illness. Thank God that you have been freed from the labor of fasting. Even if you eat ten times a day, do not be sad; you will not be condemned for this, since you are not doing this to please yourself.

(To the sick and despondent person). Kiss the suffering of our Savior - as if you, together with Him, endured reproach, wounds of humiliation, insult through spitting, the reproach of the scarlet, the shame of the crown of thorns, the mark of gall, the pain of piercing nails, the piercing of a spear, the outpouring of water and blood - and borrow from this I will give joy to your illnesses. The Lord will not leave your labor in vain. He allowed you to suffer a minor illness so that you would not be alien to the saints when you see them at that hour bearing the fruits of enduring sorrows and glorified, but would be an accomplice of them and Jesus, having boldness before Him with the Saints. Don't be sad; God has not forgotten you, but cares for you as His sincere son, and not as an adulteress.

St. Barsanuphius and John

Everything is from God, both good and sorrowful, but one is by good will, the other by dispensation, the third by permission. By good will, when we live virtuously; for it pleases God that those who live virtuously should be adorned with crowns of patience; according to the economy, when, falling into sins, we are admonished; by allowance, when even those admonished we do not convert. Again, economically, God punishes us who sin, so that we are not condemned with the world, as the Apostle says: we are punished by the Lord, lest we be condemned with the world (1 Cor. 11:32). In this mind, there is no evil in the city that the Lord will not create (Amos 3:6), such as: hunger, plagues, illnesses, defeats, battles; for all this serves to cleanse oneself from sins. God allows and completely forsakes those who either do not want to live without sin, or those who are admonished do not convert, but remain in sin. Then God gives them over to an unskilled mind, that is, He allows them to create inappropriately free ways (Rom. 1:28).

St. Ephraim the Syrian

When, for example, a sick person settles down to bear his illness complacently, and does; the enemy, knowing that in this way he will be confirmed in the virtue of patience, comes to upset his goodwill. For this, he begins to bring to mind many good deeds that he could have done if he had been in a different position, and tries to convince him that if he were healthy, how well he would serve God and how much benefit he would bring to himself and others: would go to church, have conversations, read and write for the edification of others, etc. Noticing that such thoughts are accepted, the enemy more often brings them to the mind, multiplies and colors them, carries them through to feelings, arouses desires and impulses to action thereby imagining how well this or that business would go for him, and arousing regret that he was bound hand and foot by illness.

Little by little, with frequent repetitions of such thoughts and movements in the soul, desire turns into dissatisfaction and annoyance. The former complacent patience is thus upset, and illness is no longer presented as a cure from God and a field for the virtue of patience, but as something hostile to the cause of salvation, and the desire to free oneself from it becomes uncontrollable, still in the form of obtaining through it space for doing good and pleasing God. all sorts of things.

Having brought it to this, the enemy steals from his mind and heart this good goal of the desire for recovery, and leaving only the desire for health, as health, makes him look annoyed at illness, not as an obstacle to good, but as something hostile in itself. As a result, impatience, not healed by good thoughts, takes strength and turns into grumbling, and deprives the patient of his former peace from complacent patience. And the enemy is glad that he managed to upset him.

In exactly the same way the enemy upsets the poor man who patiently endures his fate by depicting to him how good deeds he would have decorated himself if he had a fortune.

One can easily get rid of all such temptations if one, having an experienced leader, adviser and interlocutor, follows their instructions with humble obedience. And whoever is deprived of such a good for some reason, let him pay attention to himself and strictly learn to distinguish between good and bad according to Christian principles, by which the life of all of us should be organized. If the cases that, as it seems to us, prevent us from expanding our good deeds more widely, are not from our will, but are sent by God, then accept them with humility and do not listen to any suggestions that deviate you from this humility. Having sent such an opportunity, God does not expect anything from you, except that you behave and act as the opportunity that has visited you requires and allows.

Whether you are sick or poor, endure. God does not require anything from you except patience. By enduring complacently, you will continuously be in good deeds. Whenever God looks at you, He will see that you are doing good, or are in goodness, if you endure complacently, whereas healthy person good deeds come at intervals. Why, when wanting to change your situation, do you want to exchange the best for the worst?

St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain

Illnesses and unpleasant incidents are sent to us for the benefit of our soul and, above all, for our humility, and so that we lead our lives more prudently and judiciously.”

Is it possible to be treated by doctors and take medications?

“There is no sin in this; because everything comes from the Lord God, both medicinal remedies and the doctors themselves. And the sin does not consist in the fact that a person resorts to medical aids, but in the fact that the patient places all hope for recovery in one doctor and medical remedies, forgetting that everything depends on the All-Good and Almighty God, who is One, who wants them , lives or dies.

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky

From the all-good God only good things come, and not evil, - and your very illness is good, but you grumble, are faint-hearted, and despondent; be patient, give thanks; for free indulgences in youth - involuntary illnesses in old age.

He who suffers in the flesh ceases to sin (1 Pet. 4:1). This is why suffering and the cross are necessary for a Christian: without suffering, without dejection, our flesh fools, rages, sins, angers God, creates misfortune for itself and the soul. O damned flesh, multi-passionate, because of which all the troubles in humanity! O multi-passionate, nasty heart! What comes from a person defiles a person. For from within, from the human heart, come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, an envious eye, blasphemy, pride, madness. All this evil comes from within and defiles a person (Mark 7:20-23). This is where the source of evil is in a person - in the heart!

St. John of Kronstadt

Abba Pimen the Great said: “The following three are equal: when someone is silent correctly; when he is sick and thanks God; when someone is in unfeigned obedience. These three have one job.”