БОЛЕЗНИ

1. Live or die - let it be as God pleases The desire to live is naturally alive. And there is no sin here. But the real disposition in this regard is: “God’s will be done!” Whether to live or die - let it be as God pleases. This disposition must be strengthened and brought to the point that it does not allow any concern regarding this to arise (1, p. 28). 2. Repentance and good feelings and dispositions in the heart replace the practice of virtues (in the patient) What should I come with? It is best to appear before God with this lack of anything. If only everything were purified by repentance and feelings and dispositions were in motion in the heart: both religious and moral, especially the filial fear of God, surrendering oneself to the will of God, trust in His mercy, humility and the like... In your (painful) state, the reproduction of such feelings replaces the acts of virtues (1, p. 28). 3. Dejection – from bodily weakness God leaves no one. He has all the children. No stepchildren. And difficult accidents and conditions - everything is directed to our good. If we could see this, there would be no burden in anything... He who trusts in God will have mercy. Hope will not put you to shame (1, pp. 30–31). 4. Surrendering everything to the will of God - peace for all the sick Having surrendered to the will of God, one should no longer bark here and there, but should inwardly agree with what the Lord gives. This is peace for everyone in general, especially for those who are sick. Where you die, does it matter (1, p. 31)? 5. Illnesses come instead of penances Illnesses come instead of penances. Be patient with grace: they will be like the washerwomen’s soap. Don’t go to church?.. (due to illness). At home, call on God more often! What you can’t does not mean that you are a stepson” (1, p. 32). 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; another - to save you from the trouble that a person would get into if he were healthy; another - so that a person shows patience and deserves a greater reward; other - to cleanse me from some passion, and for many other reasons... You, when you remember your sins, say: “Glory to You, Lord, that You imposed penance on me as punishment” (1, pp. 41-42)! 6. Remembering the suffering and persecuted consoles people in illness Be patient and be patient! And one more thing: be grateful! Restore faith that everything is from God and everything is for our good, even though we don’t see it clearly. What is invisible requires faith, but what is visible - why faith? May the Lord comfort you with inner consolation - invisible... May the Lord heal you, and His Most Merciful Mother, and the Guardian Angel. Remember those who suffer and take comfort in their patience. Remember those who are persecuted, tormented and oppressed, and be inspired by their patience (1, p. 32). 7. God's providence for the fate of the sick person. Example of a pie and a hostess The Lord is near us, and the Mother of God, and Heaven with ambulance helpers embraces us. But we still get sick and don’t see an outcome. Is this really a coincidence?! Can't they see?! And they see, and are compassionate, and are ready to help, and yet they leave us to languish. If they are all love, then everyone, of course, allows this not out of hostility. If so, then what is it?! The same thing that happens between a pie fried in the oven and the hostess. Give the pie a feeling, a thought and a language... What would it say to the hostess?! - Mother! You put me here and I’m frying... Not a single grain of me is left unfryable, everything burns to the point of unbearability... And the trouble is that I don’t see the outcome and there’s no end to the tea. I turn to the right, I turn to the left, forward, or backward, or upward - it is locked in from everywhere and from all sides it carries not coolness, but heat to the point of unbearability. What have I done to you? Why such hostility... and so on and so forth... Give the hostess the ability to understand the speech of the pie. What would she answer him?! - What kind of hostility is there?! On the contrary, I only care about you. Be patient a little longer... and you will see how handsome you will turn out! Everyone can't stop looking at you!.. And what aroma from you will spread throughout the house?.. This is a wonderful miracle! So be patient a little longer and you will see joy. You wrote down Pirogov's speech. Now take over the hostess’s speech and complacently move on to waiting for a beneficial outcome... Put yourself in God’s hands and wait. You are still in the hands of God, you just move your arms and legs... Stop doing this and lie still (1, p. 33). 8. The Lord is everywhere; By praying in your cell (not being in church due to illness), you yourself become God’s church It seems like a great thing that you have to sit in a cell, that you don’t go to church (not because of laziness, but because of illness). When you pray, you always become the church of God (see 2 Cor. 6:16). For the Lord is everywhere (1, p. 34). 9. Illnesses lead to the path of salvation and replace external feats Read more often “Our Father...” and “O Theotokos, Virgin, rejoice...” God is our Father, and the Mother of God is our Mother. ...The Holy Mysteries are Her breasts, for they are flesh borrowed from Her! So occupy your mind... Let the unfolded Gospel and the Apostle lie before your eyes. Read the poem and try to turn every word into a subject of discussion. If God gives you a thought... write it down. Let the sheet lie on the table... And write down other good thoughts (1, pp. 34–35). There is no sin in being treated, even though the disease is from God, for God gives healing intelligence, and God created medicines. Therefore, when resorting to a doctor and medicine, you will not resort to what is outside of God’s ways and institutions. These are the conspiracies - they are not God’s, there is no point in going there (1, p. 42). 10. There is no sin in praying for recovery, adding “if you please, Lord!” There is no sin in praying for recovery. But we must add: if you will, Lord! Complete submission to the Lord, with obedient acceptance of what is sent as good, from the good Lord, and gives peace to the soul... and propitiates the Lord... And He will either heal you or fill you with consolation, despite the deplorability of the situation (1, p. 37). 11. Treating your sister or resorting to saints - one does not interfere with the other. God created the doctor, and medicines are God’s creations. The doctor does not heal himself, but God heals through him Treating your sister or resorting to saints - one does not interfere with the other. God created the doctor, and medicines are God’s creations. The doctor does not heal himself, but God heals through him. God inspires the doctor, and he prescribes real medicine. And when God does not help the doctor, I don’t know if any of them then get the real medicine... And run to the holy saints, and do everything that pious people do in such cases (just don’t know the healers)... Maybe God destined her to be like this, because it is saving for her. And she will remain like this throughout her life for the sake of her salvation. Or God sent this illness for a while to test the faith of her and her parents. God alone knows all this (1, pp. 38–39). 12. Everything is mercy from God: even illness, even misfortune. Illness is not submissive and is not a sign of God’s rejection. On the contrary, and this is the mercy of God. Everything is mercy from God: even illness, even poverty, even misfortune (1, p. 39). 13. God sends a sick or healthy state of the body in types of salvation To my sister – patience and prayer, humble submission to God’s determination and a pure life according to the commandments. God sends the sick or healthy state of the body in the form of salvation. If God deigns her to be healed in an extraordinary way, then He will indicate this... And so, just pray... and prayer is healing everywhere (1, p. 40). 14. Compassionate patience with illnesses is a direct path to heaven Accept this illness as sent by God to save you. And it will happen that, complacently enduring your painful state, you go the straight path to heaven... The path there is both narrow and regrettable... Here you have it: you are on it. Be careful not to miss or, more simply, do not overlook salvation (1, p. 40). Be grateful! Going to some holy place in hopes of healing is good. But not according to your fortune-telling, but when there will be some indication. To the well about. Seraphim (Sarovsky) is good to get to... but if the faith is warm (1, p. 41). 15. You need to pray (about cholera), but it is also true that God protects those who are protected Let us pray and ask the Lord for mercy. However, it is also true that God protects those who are protected. There are books that tell you what precautions to take, and they wrote in the newspapers. Read and do. Do not eat raw food, drink boiled water... (1, p. 66). 16. Illness from the Lord is good for the soul The husband is sick; Of course, this is for the good of him and you, for everything is from the Lord, and what is from the Lord is good, no matter how bitter it is... You take it as your part that your husband’s illness is for your sins. And this is good! It is also good that you remember sin and consider yourself worthy of punishment for it. And the Apostle Paul throughout his life did not forget that he was a persecutor of the Church, even though through his labors for the Church he could atone for the sins of ten persecutors (1, p. 122). 17. The wrath of God - in illness - for breaking a vow, and its cessation - due to repentance Wrath and mercy are upon you! Wrath is in the illness, apparently sent for breaking a vow, and mercy is in the cessation of this illness, due to repentance and complete restoration of the vow (1, p. 214). Usually we don’t like the narrow path... Give us breadth and space. Doesn't the Lord hear these cries? He hears, but does not want to change the structure of our life, because it would not be good for us. Our situation is so arranged that only cramped conditions keep us in the present order... As soon as we enter the wideness, we blur and perish. So cramped conditions reign on earth as the best situation for us. The apostolic mind sees in general, in cramped conditions and in special cramped cases, the fatherly love of God for us, and judges those in cramped conditions as sons close to God (1, p. 214). 18. Passionate people are possessed After all, all passionate people are possessed. Every passion has its own demon, which feeds its passion or itself through a person. Drive him out - and the support of passion will fall away. Then what is natural, for example a habit... can be dealt with very easily (2, p. 3). 19. She (sick) is a recluse without a shutter Illness leads directly to mortal memory; but you can still manage to do this: instill in your thoughts the memory of death (2, p. 81). You did well to visit sick N... Of course, her condition is difficult, but I believe that it is necessary for her soul. She is a recluse without a shutter. The Lord hid her inside. And I would like to be in communication with others, but I can’t. So sit alone with the One Lord (2, p. 81). 20. Encouragement and guidance to the sick You need to get ready to die every day and hour and always be in the same feelings as you are now. And whoever is going to die, whether he sees the proximity of death or not, must clear his conscience of all wrongdoings (2, p. 190). What are the fruits of repentance now? Besides repentance, what else is appropriate now? Please repent, lament and cry. And promise that if God gives you health, you will continually cry and lament and not allow anything bad to happen in the future: neither in thoughts, nor in words, nor in deeds. That's all (2, p. 190). 21. To a recovering patient about surrendering himself to the will of God and prayer I am very glad that your health is improving... Surrender everything to the Lord: both your life and death... As His holy will pleases, so let Him do it. Even without such a decision, He will do as He pleases, but for you it makes a big difference whether you enter into this God-determined decision with warm devotion, full of faith and hope, or without it... When you position yourself in this way, then your prayer will go more correctly. You should not pray at all, as some fathers write, that is, with strained attention to the heart and tightness of breathing. Leave it alone. And get used to walking in the presence of God and the memory of death, and this will lead to the same thing (2, p. 191). 22. Instructions for illness In illness, learn humility, patience, complacency and gratitude to God. That impatience comes is a human matter... When it comes, we need to drive it away. That's why there is a feeling of hardship, so that there is something to endure. If the burden is not felt, then there is no patience. But when a feeling of burden comes and is accompanied by a desire to throw it off, then there is nothing sinful here. This is a natural feeling! Sin begins when, as a result of this feeling, the soul succumbs to impatience and begins to incline towards complaining. A feeling has come - we need to drive it away and thank God (2, p. 214215; 8, p. 97). 23. And the doctor does not interfere, and devotion to God is needed And the doctor does not interfere, and devotion to God is needed. Let both go. If you don't get it, change the medicine. Pray that the Lord will enlighten him. If it doesn’t bother you, it’s true, it’s better to live with a headache (2, p. 216). 24. To a sick young man - about healing the disease and blessing to the monastery May the Merciful Lord deliver you from the disease that besets you. But there are medical benefits for catarrh. Have they been used? And those benefits of God are the essence. May the Lord bless you to enter a monastery (a young man of 18 years old, in poor health) (with the consent of your parents) (2, p. 218). 25. Compassionate patience with sorrows is saving, and they constitute the cross of life - the key to heaven Your painful condition, of course, has other reasons. And you have no need to do anything else in relation to him except to endure complacently and gratefully, for everything is from the Lord and everything is for our essential good, namely in the matter of salvation. With complacent patience, you can pray that the Lord will deliver you from weakness, if that will be saving for you (2, p. 225). 26. Advice to the seriously ill Let your prayer to the Lord not be stopped on your lips. Move your mind and heart into another life and do not descend from there into the earth, into the bustle of your stay here. Looking back and seeing many things that are wrong, mourn them and, repenting before the Lord, ask for forgiveness. For every good - both spiritual and worldly - give thanks to the All-Bountiful God. The gates of death are in vain always before you, nourish Christian hope and, driving away the horror of death, rejoice as one entering the royal chambers (2, p. 236). 27. Advice to a convalescent “Grant, Lord, that your illness may completely evaporate. And what you have now received, take it as a beginning... and thank the Lord, and even more so pray, that He who began this mercy will complete it. While sitting, pray to the Lord with short prayers. Memorize 24 prayers of St. Chrysostom, that between prayers for sleep are placed, and repeat them 3-5 times each, and you will become accustomed to the memory of God (2, p. 237). 28. About the sick who have fallen into unbelief I regret N. Grant him, Lord, health, if it is saving; but everyone will come to their senses. Of course, there is no point in thinking highly of those who do not believe in anything. The spirit froze. How do they manage to kill him? I don’t understand. After all, it is part of our nature. It’s true, it’s such a bad time. The pestilence has affected spiritual life. The Lord's will be done! (3, p. 71). 29. He who patiently endures illness is considered a part of the martyrs whom the Lord loves to cherish and adorn. N.N. save me, Lord! I always remember her at the proskomedia. Has been suffering for a long time. Grant, Lord, patience. The Lord rinses it so that it is whiter. And the Lord still browned the martyrs. This is how He loves to pamper and decorate His own! (3, p. 78). 30. Advice on taking advantage of painful seizures But prayer is prayer, and doctors are doctors. God gave doctors, and it is God’s will to turn to them. The Lord comes with His help when the natural means He provided for us are not enough. Therefore, if we pray, we will pray, but we should not neglect natural means. Seek and you will find! (3, p. 97). 31. Consolation of this sick woman That’s right, now you’ve already gone to Moscow and returned. What did God give? Has Zakharyin understood what strength is? If so, thank God! If not, what should I do? But still, don’t despair! Maybe there will be one in Kyiv... This disease is very secretive. And it doesn’t let me get to the root... I don’t think there is anything spiritual or hostile here. No, this is one of the diseases in which the vital force encounters some kind of delay in its movement from time to time. Hence the fainting. But no one has grasped what vitality is yet... And this is the reason for the failure of any treatment. But assume that there will not be a doctor at all who can cure you, and then don’t be timid. Because the life force can again take strength... and fix the matter itself... Just as it happens that seizures stop by themselves. Seizures, of course, are an unpleasant thing, but you can still live. You can live a hundred years... This is a bad consolation both for the patient and for you... But what can you do?! God is our Lord. He decided that it should be this way... How can we say that this disease was not sent by the Lord to ward off any misfortune from the sick person or from you... The course of life is hidden from us, and its accidents are so incomprehensible that we have no choice but to cry: “Thy will be done, Lord!” For we know that only good always comes from the Lord (3, pp. 98–99). 32. You need to listen to the doctor I am very glad that you have finally found a doctor whom you trust with your daughter’s illness. May God grant her to get better! They say about Zakharyin that he is a master of his craft. And there is no doubt that he ended up in the real place of the disease, namely, in an abnormal state of the blood, as I see in the prescription. Now just do what is exactly prescribed, and God willing, everything will go well! (3, p. 99). 33. Consolation during the continuation of illness Things aren’t any easier for your beauty... I’m very sorry, but I don’t allow any grumbling thoughts. Everything is from God, and God knows better than us what is best for someone... and don’t be angry with doctors. They don't heal themselves. And they are cured when God blesses. God has completely different thoughts about sickness and health than we do, and they are as distant from ours as heaven is from earth. It happens that God shields others with illness from a misfortune that would not have escaped them if they had been healthy. God hid Vera Alekseevna with illness from her suitors. And it’s not for bad! Believe in God - and you will endure everything well (3, p. 100). 34. After receiving grace-filled help, should you consult a doctor? Are you hesitating whether to go to Zakharyin? When your daughter is healthy and this, as you believe, is the help of St. Tikhon, then you shouldn’t go to Zakharyin. Have you heard the proverb: after scraping with an axe? And the holy lord says to you: God cannot be mocked. This is a reason of both the highest level and stronger. Listen to your master and enter into the power of his faith. His path is more reliable (3, p. 101). 35. Medicines, natural and supernatural, are all from God As I have already written and now prescribe that there is no sin in turning to medicine, for the doctor is God, and the medicines are God, and the prescriptions are God. Ask the humble doctors. They will openly say that they themselves do not know how healing recipes are written. So, if you, trusting in God and receiving help from Him, and not from doctors and drugs, turn to natural means of healing, then there is no sin. When God has given these means, then one must turn to them. God was pleased to surround us with supernatural and natural means. And no one is denied access to these sources. The key to them is faith. And God, when He wants to heal in this way, He Himself also invests the power of faith and draws us to where He deigns to give healing. We are blind. And not knowing where healing is hidden by God for us, we go through all God-given means: both natural and supernatural... (3, p. 101) 36. Instruction on how to pray for a sick person You kindly organized a prayer for your daughter. Two prayer services a week and a commemoration at the proskomedia. It would seem quite enough. But who is praying painfully here? God listens to prayer when one prays with an aching soul about something. If no one sighs from the soul, then the prayer service will crackle, but there will be no prayer for the sick person. The same is the proskomedia, the same is the mass. There is only your faith and hope here, the sign of which is your orders. But do you yourself attend prayer services? If not, then your faith is silent... You ordered - but, having given money so that others would pray, you yourself have thrown all worries off your shoulders... There is no one who cares about the sick one. It doesn’t even occur to those serving the prayer service to feel pain in their souls before the Lord for those who are remembered at the prayer service... And where can they feel pain for everyone?! It’s another matter when you yourself are at a prayer service or in church at the Liturgy, when N. is remembered at the proskomedia... Then your illness is taken up by the prayer of the Church and quickly ascends to the Throne of God... and makes the very prayer of the Church painful, although the servants are not sick... So you see where the power lies!.. Attend prayers yourself and ache with your soul for the sick... And it will happen. In the church at the Liturgy, you are sick during the proskomedia... and especially when after you we sing the Theotokos, they sing the hymn: It is worthy to eat... Here the living and the dead are remembered again for the perfect Sacrifice... The mass is stronger than the commemoration only at the proskomedia because it expresses your strongest condolences for the sick and with that the strongest faith and hope that the Lord will not abandon you with His help... Where to order? In Zadonsk at St. Tikhon... And if your soul lies in Kiev, in Kiev... Where your soul lies, order there... But, most importantly, take care of the sick yourself... And help the poor more... not just those who walk... Make it easier for families burdened by poverty. His prayer will ease your heartache... (3, pp. 102–103) 37. Trumpet for the sick The first thing on your mind is your daughter’s illness. Worry about her and painfully cry out to the Lord, and instill the same in your daughter, and tell all your friends the same. Then all outside prayers about her will merge with yours and form a trumpet sound, powerful to attract the attention of the Lord... (3, p. 104) 38. Tip about headaches A headache such as N.N.’s most directly indicates fatigue of the head with in-depth considerations. But the same thing happens from other accidents, for example, from an undetected cold or a cooling of the back and back of the head. The last case, soon captured, does not bother the pain for long. The first one takes it deeper, but there is nothing to be afraid of. It is necessary, however, to listen to the doctors. You need to give your head a rest. I would like to go somewhere for at least a month, but just ride around the cast iron without any purpose. And entrust the work for this time - for each part - to more intelligent and trusted employees, giving them complete instructions, identifying possible accidents as much as possible. I think it's possible to do this. And there is nothing to be afraid of. Go with him too. The house will remain in mother's hands. Give it a month, your head will clear and become stronger. I’m not suggesting riotous... Pray to God, read the Gospel, cast all your sorrow on the Lord... If this method of recovery is inconvenient, here’s another. After all, it is not so much the deepening of the mind that torments the head, but rather the anxiety that destroys and torments the heart, and from the heart the languor passes into the head. My second recipe is aimed at this, namely, not to torment the heart with grief and care, but to surrender all sadness and care into the hands of God, so that the heart remains completely free. Then the head, no matter how deep you go, will endure everything without exhaustion. In establishing such a mood, the work is moral, with reflection that would revive trust in God. Please do so, N.N. You can combine both of these plans. You cannot give up everything and go for a ride without placing all your trust in God... Living in this hope exclusively for a whole month, the soul will be strengthened in it. Then, upon your return, you just have to maintain it... and it will remain with you for the rest of your life and all your life it will ease the burden of worries... and will not let your head get as tired as it is now...” (3, pp. 105–106) 39. About complacent patience with illness “...We need to keep in mind the law according to which the Lord measures our fate on earth. Everything here is from the Lord - from small to large, and this is a means in preparing for the future life. The same meaning of illness and health, this is the meaning of your N’s illness. On the road to the future blissful life, she certainly, according to God’s wise and good judgment, must endure what she endures. Assimilate this view and instill the same in her, and what is painful in this illness will cease to burden the soul and will calm it down. Faith is a healer of the soul, inspired by hope and warmed by love (3, p. 109). 40. Those who humbly endure sorrows and illnesses are in the rank of martyrs Your health has deteriorated. Shaky health can also shake salvation when grumbling speeches and cries of despair are heard from the lips of the sick person. May God help you get rid of this and that trouble!.. Do you see where I'm going with this?! Such speeches erupt from you, and speeches, of course, come from feelings and thoughts, but these latter are of such a nature that with them the work of salvation is not valid. Please heed this and get better... (3, pp. 113–114) Health and illness in the hands of God's providence for us are means to salvation when they are used in the spirit of faith... But they also lead to destruction when they are treated capriciously. What you especially need is patience that is complacent and submissive to God. As soon as such a disposition appears in your soul, you will immediately enter the path of salvation - to heaven. And look, then be inspired!.. (3, p. 114) You have another pain from your daughter’s illness... I’ll tell you what... Since you have already tried all possible means, there is only one thing left for you - to make peace with this grief and bear it with obedience to God, believing that this illness is necessary for the salvation of you and your daughter... as well as her husband... Having made peace in this way, keep yourself calm and lend the same calm to your daughter. Remember the position of the martyrs, who sometimes, being tortured, were left in prison for several years - 5, 10, 20. But they humbly endured and were complacent, having heaven before their eyes... for their patience (3, p. 114). 41. Illness is not always God’s punishment for sins, but everything is from God, for the good of the soul That you consider your illness to be God's punishment for your sins... this happens, although it is not always seen. For everything is from God and everything is for our good - spiritual and eternal (3, p. 125). Health, God willing, will return in full force... Be patient. And do not forget to thank God, who humbles your soul with infirmities. If you feel like you're tired of it, drive it away. It is not pleasing to God. Because it means that you are dissatisfied with God’s orders about you... and you want to tell Him. Take care to receive Holy Communion this Lent. May the Lord visit your soul and abide in it (4, p. 78). 43. Nursing is a blessed work Have you worked on the sick? Blessed work, for even here the consoling word is applicable: I am sick and have visited Me 25. For this, the Lord visits merciful and willing souls to those in need. And if he sees someone who is sick, like Petrov’s mother-in-law once, he takes her by the hand - readiness to submit to Him - and raises her up (4, p. 90). Get inspired! Look into the eyes of illness cheerfully... But dream less... Various trifles will start swarming in your head... You will quarrel with just anyone... All this is in your thoughts... Then everything will pass (4, p. 113). Be grateful! It’s true that something dangerous would have met you on the road. So the Lord planted or placed you at home... Thank the Lord. But still, pray, may He grant you health (4, p. 114). Before you had time to write that you had recovered, the disease struck again. I'm very sorry. May the Lord give you the strength to endure illness and be complacent in a serious painful state. The Jesus Prayer can replace all prayers. You would learn, if not learn, 24 prayers and read them often. Through them, reflection on spiritual subjects will be supported, and prayer will be warmed up (4, p. 117). May the Lord return you to health as soon as possible. And keep it. And shift the chores to another head; Take care of yours until everything is strengthened in you in health (4, pp. 117–118). 45. Every illness is sent from God for our good Your thoughts about your seemingly desperate situation are no good. It's the enemy who's making trouble. Who can say what will happen? One God. But the enemy, wickedly declaring himself to be God, interferes everywhere with his evil prophecy and disturbs faith and drives away peace from the heart. Do not listen to him, but stand in faith that illness is from God and for your good, and when it has done its work, it will go away... and you will be healthy, and you will serve the Lord in some monastery (4, p. 114). 46. Illness teaches humility and submission to the will of God I really regret that you haven’t recovered yet. Grant you, Lord, to become completely healthy... Illness, however, teaches humility and submission to the will of God. Be grateful and thank God for everything, confident that everything is for the better, even though it is not visible now. Afterwards you will see (4, p. 115). 47. Worrying about the holidays Celebrate in spirit. Of course, you can’t read everything, but you should read more than usual... Then pray, in addition to your prayer rule; then think and reason about something spiritual... This will take quite some time. But to be free from everything, to be with one thought about God, sitting, or walking, or standing... this is so good. I think, however, that it’s possible to do something easy, not as work, but just casually... (4, p. 115) 48. Instruction for a sick woman about fasting I'm very glad that you feel better. Be careful not to irritate the pain again. Regarding fasting, do not listen to the doctor, but just ask: what kind of lean food is good for you? Don’t ask if it’s possible to fast, but say directly: I want to fast, what kind of food? And no matter what he says, do not submit! Is it enough to eat light lean foods? Soup with almond milk... Liquid porridge from any large grains, oatmeal, etc. Tea with the same milk - in the evening. Is a week too long? Some of our monks don’t eat at all all week... (4, pp. 115–116) 49. Advice to a sick woman about food Save you, Lord! Eat fish when you are weak. God bless. There is no sin here when it is done out of necessity and not out of whim. And when you begin to fast, then abstain, if you are strong; and if not, then abstain for a day or two just before Communion; Even without this it is possible when there is weakness. I wrote then, believing that you had completely recovered (4, p. 116). 50. Convalescent about spiritual renewal I am very glad that you are finally back on your feet. The recovered person usually feels renewed. I think you had the same feeling. We must ensure that this bodily renewal is accompanied by a spiritual renewal. God gave it to you or indicated it in the short prayer that you performed then. It occurred to me to suggest to you: take up one short prayer - and do it all... both while doing and without doing, and walking, and sitting - incessantly. First you will force yourself to do this prayer, and then it will read itself... Just get going and work without stopping... This is a prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. At the same time, keep your attention not in your head and not in Heaven, but in your heart, there, inside, under the left breast. When you get used to it, you will dispel everything that confuses you and call for peace in your soul (4, pp. 116–117). Although your strength has not completely returned, it still turns out to be enough to take care of someone who is sick and not worth such care. But the merciful Lord will not look at the unworthiness of the sick person and will take this care to Himself. And then he will send consolation for that, either complete recovery or postpone the due reward until the next century (4, p. 118). Restlessness of spirit and passions spoil the blood and significantly harm health. Fasting and a fasting life in general is the best means for maintaining health and its prosperity... (4, p. 154) 53. Dangerously ill - instructions on prayer, food and bows When there is pain, you can relax a little, especially if you drink cocoa. That you don’t all bow down – nothing. You don’t have to write down passes in the penalty book, but cross out what you have written down. Follow the rule with the silent Jesus Prayer. At the same time, if you can bow, bow as much as you can, otherwise you just stand there. If you can't stand, sit; If you can't sit, lie down. Don’t stop being with the Lord only in your mind (4, p. 237). 54. Instruction on courageously enduring illness Thank God for everything and thank God for ill health. From the outside it’s easy for me to say this, but in reality it’s not easy for you to feel this way. Every time you hear a word about patience, I pray that the Lord will grant you to bear the illness with good grace 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 somehow maintain yourself. From this point of view, you don’t have to torture your illness anymore (4, p. 239). Seek courage for complacent patience in moments of heaviness of suffering, in addition to what has been said, in the memory 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 through many sorrows it is fitting for all to enter into the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22) 26. 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 (4, p. 239). 55. Consolation in grief over a mentally ill person In sorrows, good is hidden under the sorrow of the heart, which is why it is not felt or seen, although it is not mental, but actually. And now you have it and it works, both in N. and in you. Rejoice, humbly believing that this is the case for you, even though it is not visible (4, p. 250). So, put it in your mind and in your heart that for N., due to the course of events in your life and hers, which you do not see and do not know, it was necessary to stop eating visible blessings - for a while or forever. And the Lord arranged it this way. Having arranged or allowed her to suffer a serious illness, He protected her from everything that could have a negative effect on her mood. The dangers will pass and health will return. If they don’t pass, it will remain so (4, pp. 250–251). 56. Consolation of a daughter grieving over her illness How clever are you?! Of course, it’s impossible not to grieve, but what’s the point in killing? What's the problem that your daughter got sick? He will get sick and get better. After all, not all people who get sick die. Why on earth are you seeing your daughter off to the next world when she has just gotten sick? That she became worse, the usual order of illnesses. It was worse, but when the messenger arrived, she felt better. And when you get there, you will see that she is walking around the room. Of course, we are all in the hands of God and death can happen to everyone at any moment. The patient has the peculiarity that death, if it is destined to come, will not come suddenly. In this regard, the sick person benefits from the disease. She can think about herself and prepare for the outcome in a Christian way. This is what we need to take care of now, rather than killing ourselves with grief. Let's assume - at most - that he will die. What harm does it matter if he dies? Is she the only one subjected to this? After all, we will all die. She is today, we are tomorrow. Who cares? It’s not she who will die... The body will die, but the soul will live. And she will be even better off without a body than with a body. Having left the body, it will fly to you... and will caress you. She will say to your soul: “Oh, mom, how good I feel! Quickly drop the earth and come to me.” She will not be able to understand your grief when she is better and you are grieving. So you see that not only because of illness, but even because of death, if it happened, you should not kill yourself. And if you please, get up right now, be inspired and be at peace... and thereby console everyone (5, pp. 134–135). 57. Instructions of the sick woman among the works for the sick We worked a lot for the sake of the sick and fell down. You can console yourself with the fact that it was not your fault that you fell. Although A. is not worth it, the Lord, by His mercy and for the sake of your motherly love and patience for the sake of the one who insults you, will accept caring for him as caring for Himself: I am sick... Grant you, Lord, to recover... by the time the spring air settles... so that you can be refreshed by it and breathe new strength (5, p. 156). 58. Should I pray for deliverance from diseases? I really regret that your weakness continues and continues to expand its dominion; Grant, Lord, that you get rid of this pain. Although the Lord, who sends ailments, always has our good in mind, we nevertheless, not without God’s permission, pray for deliverance from them, as if turning away from the good that is promised in this way. For perhaps this is what the Lord wants from us, so that we pray to Him more earnestly. Then our prayer will coincide with God’s intentions (6, p. 100). 59. Well wishes and consolation of the sick The main thing I wish is that your health is fully restored and then continues to be healthy. Then I wish that your inner life continues to be in the same good order in which you presented it in your letters... And I will also add: so that the new ruler, who will not hesitate to visit your monastery, will be much merciful to you. I think it will not be comforting for you to receive all this (6, p. 125). And if you are still sick, be patient. At the sickbed there is threshing. The more blows, the more grains will be knocked out and the richer the grind. Then you need grain for the millstones, then flour for mixing the dough and leavening it, then in the form of bread for the oven and, finally, for the table of God (6, p. 125). Do you ever have to leave here?.. An hour earlier or later - the difference is small. If the Lord now decides to call you, humbly accept the calling and come in peace. One could wish for an extension of days in the form of prosperity. But the foundations of mercy are strong: there you will ripen, if you are not ripened enough. For death does not stop the course of spiritual life. Move from here both in thought and in heart - and be there without leaving, forgetting everything that is happening (6, p. 126). I’ve also heard about the healing properties of artos with Epiphany water. However, be it the will of God. Don’t you take medications?! Both can be used - both Divine and human... And in human means the healing effect is from God. According to this faith, the human also passes into the Divine... or the Divine comes through the human (6, pp. 128–129). The thought comes to you that it would be better for you to live a little longer... But let God’s will be in everything, especially in this matter. Who knows what the coming day will produce? If departure is set before you, go in peace. If you stay, may the Lord grant you to stay here for the greater whitening of the robe of your soul for your safe entry into the chamber of the heavenly Bridegroom (6, pp. 129–130). Compassion turns every vain lie into a deposit of satisfaction in the future. And stay in this tone until the end. Here the loss is only apparent... in reality, everything is a gain, both the surest and the richest, richer than one might expect. In your patience gain your long-suffering soul (6, pp. 130–131). Through your weakness, the Lord protected you from something... that would have been much more difficult. That's what I thought. Rejoice until the Lord is pleased to keep you in this cave... (6, p. 131) 60. Instructions for a recovered woman Have you recovered?! God bless! But do not put off that disposition and aspiration that death is just around the corner... and as a result, remain in a state of constantly preparing to depart... May you, Lord, still work for His glory (6, pp. 131-132). That your soul has already parted with all things, good... And don’t bring them back into your soul... let them outside, as if they were strangers (6, p. 132). 61. Don’t neglect treatment Your resistance to the doctor’s instructions is hardly worthy of praise... God created both the doctor and the medicine not so that they would only exist among us, but so that the sick would use them. Everything is from Him; He allows you to get sick, and He surrounded you with healing methods. If there is a duty to guard God’s gift of life, then to be treated when there is an illness. You may not undergo treatment in the expectation that God will heal, but this is very courageous. 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 every oh! will be blamed, but only grateful joy is appropriate... (6, p. 156) 62. Illness is sometimes more necessary for salvation than health I continue to drink eye healing water. I just received a new one and I’m using it for the first day... This lotion is of high strength. This, I believe, is the best remedy. But will it help? It is desirable, but it will be what God pleases... There are diseases, the cure of which is prohibited by the Lord when he sees that illness is more necessary for salvation than health. I can’t say that this didn’t happen in relation to me (6, p. 167). 63. Instruction for a sick woman on home behavior during church services It is good to apply your home prayer book to church services and at the same time read a little, pray a little with your own prayer, but everything can be replaced with your own mental prayer, or the Jesus prayer, perhaps saying some short prayers from memory, such as: “Behold the Bridegroom is coming...”, “This is a terrible day...” and the like... And even this is better when, without words, there is a feeling for the Lord that brings peace to the God. You can lie here all day and not lose your inner confidence that God’s service does not stop. However, during those hours during which there is a service in church, it is better not to lie down, but to sit on the bed, leaning against the wall if infirmity prevails, and so pray intelligently and heartily, with full desire and cheerfulness of spirit (6, p. 210). That there is no sin in being treated, there should be no question about this. But the fact that many have not used this remedy out of faith and patience is not without value. Only then must you endure it complacently, so as not to fall into murmuring. Murmuring is a sin. Whoever does not feel courage, as we all are, sinners, it is better to resort to doctors, still expecting help from God, for He admonishes doctors (7, p. 47). 65. Cures for diseases - ordinary and beneficial The main thing is that God does not always want to rely on His extraordinary means, but has surrounded us with ordinary means, which are also His essence. They switch to unusual ones when the usual ones are exhausted. Of course, this is not a law either, for the independent God acts as His holy will pleases. One old woman from the common people was sick for a long time from a cold. Exhausted, she began to cry and after crying, in some inspiration of faith, she ordered her granddaughter, a little girl, to hand over the lamp that was burning in front of St. Nikolai, anointed herself with oil - and got up healthy. This is in our province (8, p. 18). Your husband needs to rush to the doctors. There is catarrh... but there is also rheumatism in the lungs and even in the heart... There is trouble here without a doctor. Either to Moscow, or to talk to the doctors here... But to Moscow, of course, is better and more certain (8, p. 25). 67. Blessing to go for treatment May the Lord bless your path... and may he send a Guardian Angel to guard, guide and protect you. Help, Lord, your daughter to benefit from treatment. Let him pray and ask the Lord to enlighten the doctors, so that they can guess the disease and come up with the proper medicine. For the Lord heals. The healer is a tool (8, p. 31). 68. Thoughts and feelings befitting those who are sick God sent the disease. Give thanks to the Lord, because everything that comes from the Lord is for good. If you feel and see that you yourself are to blame, then start with repentance and regret before God for not taking care of the gift of health that He gave you. And then, nevertheless, reduce it to the fact that illness is from the Lord, for every coincidence of circumstances is from the Lord and nothing happens by chance. And after this, thank the Lord again. Illness humbles, softens the soul and eases its usual heaviness from many worries (8, p. 61). In illness, learn humility, patience, complacency and gratitude to God. That impatience comes is a human matter. If he comes, he needs to drive him away. That's why there is a feeling of hardship, so that there is something to endure. If the burden is not felt, then there is no patience. But when a feeling of burden comes and is accompanied by a desire to throw it off, then there is nothing sinful here. This is a natural feeling! Sin will begin when, as a result of this feeling, the soul succumbs to impatience and begins to incline towards grumbling. The feeling came - we need to drive it away. Thank God (8, p. 97). And the doctor does not interfere, and devotion to God is needed. Let both go. If you don't get it, change the medicine. Pray that the Lord will enlighten him... If he doesn’t, it’s true that it’s better for you to live with a headache. O Lord, bless you to speak for consolation and strengthening (8, p. 99). Your neighbor is exhausted under the weight of her illness, may the Lord grant her peace in the will of God! In all our adversities we cannot find any other consolation than in the faith that everything happens according to the will of God. The will of God wants nothing for us more than our salvation, and directs everything that suffers towards this goal. May the Lord enlighten her (8, pp. 103–104). Let your sick neighbor surrender her fate into the hands of God and rest in the confidence that everything is from the Lord and everything is for her good, whether she sees it or not. We are all children of the Lord. He has neither stepsons nor stepdaughters. What does illness mean, it’s better not to delve into it. It means the mercy of God - not visible to us, but nevertheless real (8, p. 105). Blueberry also fell ill with another disease. And I thought that now she had completely recovered. Give her, Lord, complacent patience to endure weakness and labor to recover (8, p. 106). 71. You can be treated with milk during fasting too. Are you going to milk the milk? Good! May there be good health. since this will be like a course of treatment, then there is no sin if the fast is broken (8, p. 130). ...was sick, and you visited Me (Matthew 25:36). ...through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God. You might be interested in: