Слово 13. О болезни и врачах

When, man, you are exposed to illness, remember the body of Job, his holy flesh, because it, even having such ulcers, was holy and pure. Really, who has ever been so sick? Who has been exposed to such a misfortune or seen someone else subjected to it? No, no, no one. His body was gradually depleted, a source of worms flowed from all his members, and this influx was continuous, there was a terrible stench everywhere, the body gradually disintegrated and, decomposing from such rotting, made the food disgusting. And his hunger was extraordinary and unheard of, because he could not eat the food offered, “I feel the stench in my food” (Job.6:7). But, you will say, he had sufficient consolation and relief in the knowledge that these disasters had been brought upon him by God. On the contrary, this was what especially confused and frightened him, that the righteous God, whom he served in every possible way, was, as he thought, at enmity with him, since he could not find any reasonable reason for what happened. If you think that this is enough for consolation, then you can receive such consolation yourself. Even if you suffered some calamity not for the sake of God, but because of human malice, but if you do not blaspheme, but thank the One who could have prevented this, but allowed it for the sake of your trial, then, just as those who suffer for the sake of God are crowned, you will receive the same rewards for the fact that you courageously endured the disasters inflicted on you by people and thanked the One who could, but did not want to prevent them. There is not a single good person without sin, nor an evil person without truth; retribution and recompense happen to both. If some righteous person does something evil and gets sick and is punished, then do not be embarrassed, but say: this righteous person has ever done a little evil and receives his due here, so as not to be punished there. In the same way, if you see that a sinner steals, deceives, commits thousands of evils and, despite this, prospers, do not be embarrassed in the same way, but say: this sinner, who commits thousands of evils, has ever done something good and receives benefits here for it, so as not to demand a reward there. This can also be seen in the example of Lazarus. Since it happened that he had some sins, and the rich man, in turn, had something good, then listen to what Abraham says: “You have already received your good things... there, but Lazarus received his evil things” (Luke 16:25). Which? Have you done something good? For this you received wealth, health, pleasure, power, honor, and you had no debt left. What about Lazarus? Have you sinned in anything? No. That’s why he says: “and Lazarus is his evil,” because when you received “your good,” then Lazarus was “evil.” So, when you see that a righteous person is suffering punishment, call him blessed and say: this righteous person has some sin, receives retribution for it and goes into the next world clean. If he is punished more than his sins deserve, this is credited to him as an increase in righteousness. And listen to what I say. Job was righteous, blameless, true, godly (Job 1:1), and his body was punished here in order to receive a reward there. “Or do you think that I did wrong to you, or will you turn out to be right?” ( Job 40:3 ). So, was this holy Job seduced by his wife’s advice? On the contrary, he rather did the opposite, strengthened him even more, so that he even expressed reproach to his wife. He preferred to grieve, suffer and endure thousands of disasters rather than find liberation from these evils through blasphemy. Meanwhile, many people, when they are exposed to some kind of illness, immediately spew blasphemies and thus bear the burden of the illness, and are deprived of the benefits from it, acquired through patience. What are you doing, man? Do you blaspheme your Benefactor, Savior, Protector, Trustee? Don’t you notice that you are rushing into the abyss and plunging yourself into the ditch of extreme destruction? This is why the devil brings thousands of disasters to throw you into this ditch. And if he sees that you are blaspheming, then he easily multiplies and intensifies your grief, so that under the influence of torment you again indulge in murmuring; and if he sees that you are enduring courageously, and the more the suffering intensifies, the more you thank God, then he immediately lags behind, already seeing the futility and uselessness of his machinations. Why do you grumble, man, and spew out blasphemies if you are ever subjected to unexpected misfortune? Will you make suffering easier if you blaspheme? On the contrary, you will strengthen it and make the grief much more severe. But you cannot remain silent, being pierced by sorrow? Then, instead of blasphemy, give thanks, praise, glorify God. If you blaspheme, you will push away God’s help and make the devil stronger against you; and if you give thanks, then you will repel the machinations of the evil demon, and you will attract the care of the Patron God to yourself. But often does the tongue, out of habit, tend to utter these obscene words? And you, when he rushes, bite him hard with your teeth everywhere before he utters these words. It is better for him to bleed now than on the day when he longs for a drop of water, not being able to find relief, as was the case with the rich man; It is better for him to suffer temporary pain than to continuously and forever burn in fire in the next world. So, when you are subjected to a serious illness, and many will force you to alleviate the suffering - some with spells, others with amulets, others with some other magical means, and for the fear of God you courageously and firmly endure the burden of the illness and would prefer to endure everything rather than decide to do something like that - this will give you the crown of martyrdom. And don't doubt it; just as a martyr courageously endures the torments of torture so as not to bow to an idol, so you endure the torments of illness so as not to need anything coming from him and not to do what he commands. But are those torments stronger? But these last longer, so they turn out to be equal to those, and often even stronger. In fact, when a fever inside torments and burns you, and you, despite the admonitions of others, reject the spell, are you not putting on the crown of martyrdom? When you drive the spellcasters out of the house with great shame, then everyone who hears will praise and be surprised at you, and will say among themselves: such and such, suffering from illness, despite the fact that some many times convinced, persuaded and advised to use magic spells, did not allow this, but said: “It is better to die like this than to renounce piety.” If there is so much praise here, then imagine what crowns you will receive there when, in the presence of Angels and Archangels, Christ comes up to you and, taking you by the hand, leads you into the middle of the spectacle and says out loud to everyone: “This man, once suffering from a fever, despite the countless number of people who advised him to get rid of the fever, for the sake of My name and fear of Me, so as not to sin, he drove out in shame those who promised to cure him like that.” way and chose better to die from illness than to renounce serving Me.” Indeed, if He brings into the middle those who gave Him drink, nourishment and clothing, then much more than those who decided to endure fever for His sake. It is not the same thing whether to give bread and clothing or to endure a long illness; the latter is much more than the former; and therefore the crown will be more brilliant. Let us think about this and talk with each other, while we are healthy. Remember blessed Timothy, for whom illness never gave rest, but was constantly connected with his body. If this righteous and holy man, who was entrusted with the care of the universe, who raised the dead, cast out demons and healed countless illnesses in others, endured such suffering, then what excuse will you have, who are indignant and complaining during short-term illnesses? Sons, although their fathers often and undeservedly punish them, are forced to patiently endure punishment; But you cannot tolerate it when God punishes you, Who loves you more than your fathers and arranges everything for your benefit, but even if even a minor illness occurs, you immediately leave His rule and run to the demons? And what kind of forgiveness will you receive? How will you be justified before Christ? How will you call upon Him in prayer? With what conscience will you enter the church after that? With what eyes will you look at the priest? With which hand will you touch the sacred meal? With what ears will you listen to the Scriptures read there, committing such crimes against yourself? How can you beg God again? And no one else, even if he had the boldness of Moses, will be able to pray for you. Or don’t you hear what God says to Jeremiah regarding the Jews: “I will not pray for these people, for even if Moses and Samuel become, I will not listen to them” (Jer. 15:1)? Just as slave traders, offering small children pies, sweet fruits and the like, often ensnare them with such bait and deprive them of freedom and even life itself, so so too do sorcerers, promising to cure a sick member, drown all the salvation of the soul. Many who have fallen into extreme madness not only ask God for all sorts of riches, power, and the like, but also curse their enemies and beg to send them some kind of punishment; they wish that the very One whom they pray to be lenient and merciful towards them would be hard-hearted and inhumane towards their enemies. Those sailing on a ship do not give orders to the helmsman to hold the helm in a certain way and direct the ship, but, sitting on the deck, they trust his art not only when the ship is sailing safely, but also when it is in extreme danger; and they do not want to trust God alone, Who carefully arranges what is beneficial for us, like a sick person who begs the doctor to give him not something that stops the disease, but something that nourishes the substance that is the mother of the disease. But the doctor will not listen to the patient’s request; and even if he saw him crying and piteously begging, he would rather follow the law of his art than bow to his tears. And we call such inattention not hard-heartedness, but philanthropy, because if he obeys the patient and gives him pleasure, then he treats him as an enemy, and if he persists and resists his desire, then he reveals mercy and love. Likewise, tenderly loving fathers will in no case allow themselves to give their children a knife or burning coals when they ask for them, because they know well that satisfying such a request is detrimental to them. Likewise, God cannot give those who ask what is harmful as something useful, because He knows that it will be to their destruction. I think that it was not in vain and not without reason that the ancient doctors decided by law to publicly demonstrate the effect of various instruments, but in order to warn the healthy, showing them in advance what they would need if they began to lead a disordered life. So, Christ must be for us both more terrible than Gehenna and more desirable than the Kingdom of Heaven; and if we get sick, it is better to remain sick than to fall into wickedness through liberation from illness. Even if the sorcerer cured you, he did more harm than good. It often benefits the body, which must die and rot a little later anyway, but causes harm to the immortal soul. It is better for someone who is not a doctor to have no medicine. He who does not have them neither saves nor destroys; but he who has it destroys, not knowing how to use them, because salvation is not only in the nature of medicines, but also in the art of the one who uses them. Having, therefore, the title of doctor does not mean being a doctor. Have you heard the story about Lazarus, how all his life he struggled with hunger, illness and complete loneliness, so that he ended his very life in front of the rich man’s gate, being despised, experiencing hunger and serving as food for dogs. His body weakened to such an extent that he could not even drive away the dogs that attacked him and licked his wounds. And yet he did not look for a spellcaster, did not hang incense, did not turn to witchcraft, did not call sorcerers to him, did not do anything else forbidden, but preferred to die among such evils than to betray at least part of his piety. So, when he suffered so many disasters and bravely endured them, what kind of forgiveness will we have if, for the sake of fever or wounds, we call healers and sorcerers into our home? Many are often ill, but do not lack the necessary food; others live constantly in extreme poverty, but enjoy good health; Lazarus was so exhausted that he could not even drive the dogs away, but lay like a living dead, seeing how they attacked him, without having the strength to drive them away - his limbs were so weak, so exhausted by the disease, so exhausted by the trial. If each of these disasters in itself is unbearable and terrible, then when they were combined together, was it not adamant who endured them? If he had endured all this and been left without any care, lying in a deserted and uninhabited area, then he would not have felt grief so much, because the absence of anyone else would have forced him to involuntarily endure the misfortune that had happened; but the fact that he lay in the sight of so many people, and prosperous ones at that, and did not receive even the slightest care from anyone, made the feeling of pain much more acute. Imagine what he must have felt, seeing how parasites, flatterers descended, rose, went out, entered, made noise, got drunk. Even though we have suffered thousands of misfortunes, we can, looking at him, receive sufficient consolation, because it brings great consolation to those who grieve that they find accomplices of their suffering; Meanwhile, Lazarus had no one else before his eyes who would suffer equally with him, and he even thought that real affairs would end in this life, since he was one of those who lived before grace. If now, in our times, after such knowledge of God, after good hopes for the resurrection and the blessings prepared for those who struggle well, some turn out to be so cowardly that they are not corrected even by these hopes, then what should he have felt? Let us all imitate Lazarus, both rich and poor. He endured not one, not two, not only three feats of virtue, but much more - poverty, lack of patrons: illness, the fact that not two, not three days, but all his life he saw himself in this state, and a rich man in the opposite; that he did not have the opportunity to see another Lazarus, could not philosophize about the resurrection; finally, that along with the indicated disasters, he also had a bad opinion of himself among people as a result of these misfortunes. So, when he endured all these disasters together with such courage, what excuse will we have if we do not endure even half of them? In fact, you cannot point out or name anyone else who would suffer so much, and such evils. This is why Christ presented him in a parable, so that no matter what misfortune we may fall into, looking at the abundance of his misfortunes, we would receive sufficient consolation and relief from his wisdom. Truly, he is the general teacher for the entire universe, allowing everyone suffering any kind of calamity to look to him, and conquering everyone with the excess of his own suffering. Likewise, wise doctors, when they want to cut off a rotten member, or remove stones clogged in the canals of the body, or correct some other error of nature, do this by taking the patient not somewhere to a corner, but, on the contrary, put him in the square and, having formed spectators from the passing crowd, perform a section. And they do this not because they want to put human misfortunes on display, but in order to use the bodies of others to teach those who are watching to take proper care of their own health. So, when you see that the righteous man is in poverty, exposed to insults and ends his present life in illness and other countless disasters, then tell yourself: if there had been no resurrection and Judgment, then God would not have allowed the one who endured so many evils for His sake to leave here without experiencing any good. From this it is obvious that He has prepared for them another life, more pleasant and much more tolerable than this one. Otherwise, would it be in accordance with reason that He allows many of the wicked to enjoy contentment in this life, and leaves many of the righteous among countless evils - He, who is called righteous, is in fact so, and has the power to righteously reward everyone according to his dignity. To him befits glory, power, honor and worship, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Ἐκλογαί άπό διαφόρων λόγων . Under this name are known collections of conversations compiled by various persons after the death of Chrysostom on certain topics, from those related to the topics and especially liked by the compilers of the works of the saint. The passages are given partly in a literal presentation, partly in a free retelling and are borrowed both from the original works of Chrysostom, and from works only attributed to Chrysostom, which have not only survived to this day, but have also been lost. These Eclogues (selections) were widespread and were used by both private individuals and kings. Known, for example, is the luxurious collection of Eclogues, owned by the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Botaniatus (1078–1081), registered among the codices of the Koalene Library under No. LXXIX. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: