Врачевание

What anyone can verify is that if the healing of souls is compared with the healing of bodies and knows how difficult the latter is, everyone will understand how much more difficult our healing is, and at the same time preferable: both in terms of the nature of the person being treated, and in the power of knowledge, and in terms of the purpose of healing. One works on bodies, on matter that is perishable and tends to fall, 39 on matter that will certainly be destroyed and suffer its fate, although now, with the help of medical art, the disorder that has occurred in it will be overcome; for the body, having yielded to nature and without leaving its limits, will be destroyed either by disease or by time. And the other cares about the soul, which originated from God and is divine, which is involved in the heavenly nobility and hastens to it, although it is associated with the worst (maybe for other reasons that are known to the One God, who coupled it with the body, and perhaps to the one who is initiated into such secrets by God himself, but as far as we know - I and people like me) for the following two purposes. Firstly, so that the soul could inherit the mountain glory for the feat and for the struggle with the earthly and, having been tempted here by them, like gold by fire, received what was hoped for as a reward for virtue, and not only as a gift from God. And of course, this is the height of God’s goodness, that goodness has become our property, not only instilled in us by nature, but also cultivated by our will and movements of freedom, inclined to both sides. Secondly, so that the soul can, gradually freeing itself from fatness, attract and raise grief to itself, so that it, becoming a leader for the service substance and turning it into service to God, is for the body what God is for the soul. He who heals the body takes into account the place, case, age, season, etc., gives medicines, prescribes a way of life, warns against harmful things, so that the whims of the patient do not interfere with the art; sometimes, when and on whom it is necessary, he uses cauterization, cutting and other, even more cruel methods of treatment. Although all this turns out to be very difficult and difficult, however, it is not as much as observing and healing morals, passions, behavior, free will and everything like that in us, tearing out what has grown into us that is brutal and wild, and introducing and rooting in the vacant place everything that is meek and noble, establishing the proper relationship between soul and body, not allowing the best to be ruled by the worst, which would be the greatest injustice, but inferior in nature subordinating to the superior and sovereign, as, without a doubt, requires God's Law, beautifully decreed for all creation, both visible and supersensible. In considering everything that I have counted, I also note that the body protected by the doctor, as it is by nature, remains such, and in itself does not in the least plot or contrive against the means used by art; on the contrary, the art of medicine masters the substance; Is it possible that sometimes some temporary disorder will occur at the will of the patient, which, however, is not difficult to prevent and suppress. And our wisdom, pride and the fact that we do not know how and do not tolerate easily giving up victory over ourselves serve as the greatest obstacle to virtue and constitute, as it were, a militia against those who give us help. No matter how much effort we should make to reveal the disease to doctors, we use so much effort to avoid treatment. We are brave against ourselves and skillful to the detriment of our health. Then we slavishly conceal sin, concealing it in the depths of our souls, like some festering and malignant scab, as if, by hiding it from people, we will hide it from the great eye and judgment of God; then, under various pretexts, we excuse our sins and come up with excuses for our passions; then, blocking our hearing, like a deaf asp plugging our ears, we take all measures so as not to hear the voices of exorcists (see Ps. 57:5-6) and not to use the medicines of wisdom, which heal mental illness; then, finally (as the bolder and braver among us do), we are clearly not ashamed of either sin or those who heal sin; we go, as they say, with an open head to all lawlessness. What a disorder of the mind! Or what would be an even more decent name for such a disease? – Those whom we should love as benefactors, we drive away from ourselves as enemies, hating the one who accuses at the gate, abhorring those who speak the truth (Am. 5:10), and like those who, tormenting their own flesh, think that they are tormenting the flesh of their neighbors, we intend to cause the greater harm to our well-wishers, the more evil we do to ourselves. Therefore, I believe that our medical art is much more difficult, and therefore preferable, to the art of healing bodies; but it is also more difficult because the latter looks little into the depths, and is more concerned with the visible: on the contrary, our healing and care all relate to the hidden heart of man (1 Pet. 3:4), and our warfare is with the enemy, who is fighting and opposing us within us, who, using us ourselves as weapons against us (which is most terrible of all!), betrays us to sinful death. And for this we need: great and perfect faith, God’s assistance to a large extent, but not to a small extent, as I am convinced, and our own zeal, expressed and actually shown in word and deed, if necessary, so that our souls, which are preferable to us above all, are well healed, cleansed and valued most dearly. As for the purpose of both healings (we still have to compare them in this regard), the purpose of one is either to preserve the health and well-being of the flesh when it exists, or to restore it when it is lost, although it is not known whether this will be beneficial to the one with health. For the opposite of this has often brought great benefit, just as poverty and wealth, glory and disgrace, humiliation and nobility, and also everything that by nature occupies the middle, without bending to either side, becomes better or worse according to the use and arbitrariness of those who possess it. But the goal of other healing is to give wings to the soul, to snatch it from the world and hand it over to God, to preserve the image of God, if intact, to support, if in danger, to renew, if damaged, to infuse Christ into the hearts with the Spirit (see Eph. 3:17); in short, to make the one who belongs to the heavenly rank a god and a partaker of heavenly bliss. This is what the guide-law wants for us, and the prophets who mediate between Christ and the law, and the Perfecter and end of the spiritual law - Christ... It is this healing that ministers and co-workers are all of us who preside over others; We, for whom it is important to know and heal our own weaknesses and ailments, or, rather, this is not so important (but the depravity of many in the rank forced me to express it this way) - it is much more important to be able to heal and skillfully cleanse others, so that both those who need healing and those assigned to heal will benefit from this. Moreover, physicians of the body must endure the labors, vigils, worries known to us, and, as one of their sages said 40, collect sorrows for themselves from other people’s misfortunes; recognizing and inventing some things on their own, borrowing and collecting others from others, they must turn this to the benefit of those who demand it; and what they find or avoid, not excluding the smallest things, is not unimportant for them, but is recognized as having the power to improve health or prevent danger. And what is all this for? So that a person can live more days on earth, and a person, perhaps not useful to society, but the most unfit, for whom, due to his depravity, it would be even better to die long ago and through this be freed from vice, this greatest illness. But let’s assume that he is a good person; how long will he live? Is it really always? And what will he gain from life here? To want to get rid of it, in my opinion, is the first and truest good and is characteristic of a truly sane and intelligent person. But for us, when we are in danger of losing the salvation of our soul, a blessed and immortal soul, which will be eternally either punished for viciousness or glorified for virtue, what feat lies ahead and what information is needed in order to heal others well, and to heal ourselves, in order to correct our way of life and conquer the spirit? For the concepts and aspirations of man and woman, of old age and youth, of poverty and wealth, of the cheerful and sad, of the sick and healthy, of superiors and subordinates, of the wise and ignorant, of the timid and the brave, of the angry and the meek, of those who stand firm and those who fall are not the same. And if we take a closer look, what a difference there is between those who have entered into marriage and those who are celibate! And among the latter again - between the desert dwellers, between those in hostels and between those remaining in the world! Between those who are experienced and successful in contemplation and between those who simply do their duty! Between city dwellers and rural dwellers, between the simple-hearted and the cunning, between those busy with business and those living idlely, between those who have suffered betrayal of happiness and the successful ones who have never encountered failure! All of these differ from each other in desires and aspirations - sometimes more than they differ in bodily appearance or (if you like) in the combination and dissolution of the elements of which we are composed; and therefore it is not easy to have control over them. But just as medicine and food are given to different bodies - some are suitable for the healthy, others for the sick - so souls are healed in different ways and ways. Witnesses of such healing are the sick themselves. Some are edified by the word, others are corrected by example. For some, a scourge is needed, and for others, a bridle; for some are lazy and incapable of doing good, and such should be aroused by blows of words; others are beyond measure ardent in spirit and uncontrollable in their aspirations, like young strong horses running further than their goal, and such can be corrected by a curbing and restraining word. For some, praise is useful, for others - reproach, but both are on time: on the contrary, without time and without reason they harm. Some are corrected by admonition, others by reprimand, and the latter either by public reproof or by secret admonition. For some are accustomed to neglecting admonitions made in private, but they come to their senses if they are reproached in front of many; others, when the denunciations are made public, lose shame, but they are humbled by a secret reprimand, and for such condescension to themselves they repay with submission. Others, puffed up by the thought that their affairs are secrets, which is what they care about, consider themselves smarter than others, and in such people it is necessary to carefully observe all, even the most unimportant, actions; and in others it is better not to notice anything else and, as they say, seeing, not seeing, hearing, not hearing, so that, having suppressed them with jealousy of denunciations, you do not arouse them to perseverance and finally make them daring to do anything, destroying shame in them - this is a means of instilling humility. Sometimes you need to be angry without being angry, show contempt without being despised, lose hope without despair, as much as everyone’s nature requires; others must be healed by meekness, humility and participation in their best hopes for themselves. Some are useful to win; from others it is often more useful to be defeated yourself; and one should praise or condemn - one has wealth and power, and another has poverty and disorder of affairs. For our healing is not the same as virtue and vice, of which the first is always and for everyone the best and most useful, and the last is the worst and most harmful; We have the same thing, for example, severity or meekness, and likewise, the other things I have listed do not always turn out to be either the most saving or dangerous, even for the same people. On the contrary, for some one thing is good and useful, and for others something else, the opposite of the first - according to what, I think, time and circumstances require and as the temperament of the person being treated allows. Although no matter how much effort and intelligence one uses, it is impossible to depict everything in words and grasp it in thought in such detail that the entire course of healing can be briefly seen; however, in actual experience and in reality this is made known to both medical science and the doctor. In general, we know that, as for someone walking on a high-tension rope, it is unsafe to deviate to the sides, and a seemingly small deviation entails a larger one, but its safety depends on balance; so it is in our case: whoever, due to a bad life or ignorance, deviates in one direction or the other, it is very dangerous for him that he himself will fall into sin and draw those governed into it. On the contrary, one must follow the most royal path and beware, so that, as it is said in Proverbs, one does not deviate either to the right or to the left (see Proverbs 4:27). This is the nature of our infirmities, and from this there is so much work for the good shepherd, who is obliged to know well the souls of his flock and to be their leader according to the law of direct and fair shepherding, which would be worthy of our true Shepherd (1). Truly, most of all I wish not to sin at all. And if this is impossible, having committed a lie, I wish to return to the true path, which constitutes the second section of right-thinking people... at least I rejoice when someone else heals me (1). Lawlessness has increased, and I find few people who actually heal it (1). Many sigh under iron chains; some, as far as I know, eat ashes for food, and others’ drink is dissolved with bitter tears; others, covered with winter snows, stand like trees for forty days and nights, raising their hearts from the earth and having the One God in their thoughts. Another closed his mouth and put a bridle on his tongue, which, however, does not always tighten, but loosens it for only hymns, so that his mouth would be an animated harp, struck by the Spirit. And some have consecrated their head to Christ, for the sake of a pious vow they guard it from being cut. The other closed his eyes and put doors to his ears, so that the sting of death would not sting him from somewhere inconspicuously. I used these six methods of healing against hostile flesh (2). Carnal love, drunkenness, jealousy and demons are equal. To whomever they came, his mind was ruined. Mortification, prayer, tears - these are healing aids! This constitutes a cure for my ailments (2). The sick are healed, not crushed (2). To strive downward is to strive downward, to the earth, to earthly things. – Approx. ed. Greek (pagan) sage - Hippocrates. You might be interested in: