My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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ON ILLNESS
Saint Ambrose of Milan says of the Christian attitude toward illness: "If the occasion demands it, a wise man will readily accept bodily infirmity and even offer his whole body up to death for the sake of Christ...This same man is not affected in spirit or broken with bodily pain if his health fails him. He is consoled by his struggle for perfection in the virtues" (Exegetical Works). Hearing this, the man of the world is quite likely to exclaim: "What an idea! How can a man 'readily accept' illness and disease?"
To an unbeliever, this is indeed an incomprehensible thing. He cannot reconcile the fact of human suffering with his own idea of God. To him, the very thought that God would allow pain is repugnant; usually he sees every kind of suffering as evil in an absolute sense.
Without the aid of Divine Revelation man cannot understand the origin and cause of pain, nor its purpose. Many people, not having help in understanding, are haunted by the fear of pain, terrified at the thought of a lingering illness, and quick to seek medical relief because they believe illness is only the result of "chance."
But even in everyday life, we know that suffering really isn't "absolutely evil." For example, we submit to the surgeon's knife in order to have a diseased part of the body is cut away; the pain of the operation is great, but we know that it is necessary in order to preserve health or even life. Thus, even on a strictly materialistic level, pain can serve a higher good.
Another reason why human suffering is a mystery to an unbeliever is because his very "idea" of God is false. He is shocked when the Holy Fathers of the Church speak of God in the following way: "Whether God brings upon us a famine, or a war, or any calamity whatsoever, He does so out of His exceeding great care and kindness" (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 7, On the Statues).
The God-bearing Elder Macarius of Optina, in 19th-century Russia, wrote thusly to a friend: "Being weak in health as you yourself are, I cannot fail to feel much sympathy for your plight. But kind Providence is not only more wise than we are; It is also wise in a different way. It is this thought which must sustain us in all our trials, for it is consoling, as no other thought is."
Wise in a different way...Here we can begin to see that the Patristic understanding of God's ways is contrary to the world's view. In fact, it is unique: it is not speculative, scholarly, or "academic." As Bishop Theophan the Recluse has written: "Christian faith is not a doctrinal system but a way of restoration for fallen man." Therefore, the criterion of faith--true knowledge of God--is not intellectual. The measure of truth, as Professor Andreyev wrote, "is life itself...Christ spoke of this clearly, plainly, and definitely: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). That is "I Am the Way" of perceiving the Truth; I Am Myself the incarnate Truth (everything I say is true)...and I Am Life (without Me there cannot be life)" (Orthodox Christian Apologetics). This is very far from the wisdom of this world...
"...For we know that all creation groans and travails in pain until now" (Romans 8:22).
"The way of salvation which leads to eternal life is "narrow and hard" (Matthew 7:14). It is appointed both by our Lord's Holy example and by His Holy teaching. The Lord foretold to His Disciples and followers that in the world, that is, during their earthly life, "they would have tribulation" (John 16:33; 15:18; 16:2-3)...From this, it is clear that sorrow and suffering are appointed by the Lord Himself for His True servants during their life on earth" (Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Arena).
The Purpose of Illness
"But if we are sons, we are heirs also; heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ, provided, however, we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:17).
Our Savior and the God-bearing Fathers of the Church teach that our only concern in this life should be the salvation of our souls. Bishop Ignatius says: "Earthly life--this brief period--is given to man by the mercy of the Creator in order that man may use it for his salvation, that is, for the restoration of himself from death to life" (The Arena). Therefore, we must "look upon everything in this world as upon a fleeting shadow and cling with our heart to anoint of it...for we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (Saint John of Kronstadt, Spiritual Counsels). For Orthodox Christians, the center of life is not here, but there, in the eternal world.
How long we live, what disease or illness accompanies our death--such things are not the proper concern of Orthodox Christians. Although we sing "many years" for one another at Names-days and other celebrations, this is only because the Church in her wisdom knows that we indeed need "many years" to repent of our sins and be converted, not because a long life has any value in itself. God is not interested in how old we are when we come before His Judgment, but whether we have repented; He is not concerned about whether we died of a heart attack or cancer, but whether our soul is in a state of health.
Therefore, "we should not dread any human ill, save sin alone; neither poverty, nor disease, nor insult, nor malicious treatment, nor humiliation, nor death" (Saint John Chrysostom, On the Statues), for these "ills" are only words; they have no reality for those who are living for the Kingdom of Heaven. The only real "calamity" in this life is offending God. If we have this basic understanding of the purpose of life, then the spiritual meaning of bodily infirmity can be opened for us. (Source: The Holy Fathers on Illness by Father Alexey Young)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George