By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
The Healing of the Paralytic at the Sheep Pool
There was in Jerusalem a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, that is, House of Mercy. It was remarkable because an Angel of the Lord descended into it from time to time and stirred the water; and the sick person who entered the pool first after the Angel would immediately be healed, whatever his illness might be.
Once Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem during the feast of Passover. Passing by the pool, He saw a multitude of sick people lying around it. There were the lame, the blind, the withered; each one waited for the moment when the Angel would stir the water, so that he might be the first to enter it. Among the other sick there was one man who had lain paralyzed for thirty-eight years. The Savior saw him, had compassion on him, and said to him: “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered Him: “Yes, Lord, but I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred; for while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him: “Rise, take up your bed, and walk” (cf. John 5:6–8). The man was immediately healed, took up his bed, and walked away. The Jews who were there became indignant and said to the healed man that he ought not to carry his bed, because it was a feast day.
But he answered them: “The One who healed me told me: ‘Take up your bed and walk’” (cf. John 5:11).
“And who is that Man?” they asked. But he did not know, for Jesus had withdrawn into the crowd.
After some time Jesus met this man in the temple and said to him: “See, you have now been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (cf. John 5:12–14).
This is what all of us should strive for whenever God delivers us from illness. During sickness we often ask God for help; but afterward, when we recover, we do not think about how to please Him. Once our strength returns, we forget prayer and go back to our former sins, instead of correcting ourselves and beginning a new and more pious life.
The fourth Sunday after Pascha is called the Sunday of the Paralytic, in remembrance of the miracle we have recounted here. During this week the following hymn is sung:
“My soul, O Lord, paralyzed by every sin and by wicked deeds, raise up by Your divine power, as once You raised up the paralytic, so that, being saved by You, I too may cry out: Glory to Your power, O Christ!”
Repentance and Prayer Are the Best Healing for Our Illnesses
The Savior’s words to the paralytic healed at the Sheep Pool: “See, you are now well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (cf. John 5:14), clearly show the close connection that exists between sin and our illnesses. Sinful passions are the first and main cause of our diseases.
If we lived as Christians ought to — temperately, with moderation in labor; if we overcame anger, envy, malice, and the other vices that shorten human life — we would reach old age without sickness. Therefore, Orthodox Christian, if illness comes upon you, first seek healing and help from the one Physician of souls and bodies. “Call upon Me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you,” says the Lord Himself through the mouth of King and Prophet David (Ps. 49:15).
And how accessible this is for each of us! Without leaving the house, without even rising from bed, the sick person can call upon the Lord for help, tell Him of his illnesses, reveal to Him his weaknesses. Do not doubt that you will be heard; the Heavenly Physician is always ready with His almighty help, waiting only for our call. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Rev. 3:20), He says. The Lord always stands at the door of our heart, waiting for the moment when we remember Him and open our heart to Him. He, the Most Merciful One, invisibly and at all times heals all who come to Him with firm faith and sincere repentance for their sins.
For this purpose our Savior Jesus Christ appointed presbyters, commanding them always to receive in His name those who come seeking spiritual healing. “Is anyone among you sick?” teaches the Apostle James. “Let him call for the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him… And the prayer of faith will save the sick” (cf. James 5:14–15).
Therefore, if you who believe in Christ and His mercy suffer from bodily illness, invite a priest to come to you, tell him all your sins, and after receiving absolution through him, partake of the life-giving Mysteries of Christ for the healing of soul and body. How many cases are there in life when, after sincere repentance and the reception of the life-giving Body and Blood of Christ, the sick recover — those for whom human medicine could provide no cure in their severe sufferings!
Here is one such case, recounted by an Orthodox priest:
In the city of Bratslav, the wife of a respected official fell ill with a fever. During her suffering, whenever she regained consciousness, she often asked those around her: “Have they invited Father to come and bless me?” Half a month passed this way; during that time the priest prayed for the sick woman at every service. The doctors abandoned all treatment and pronounced her near death.
Then a servant sent by the woman’s husband came to the priest in church and begged him to hurry to the house in order to prepare his mistress with the Holy Mysteries of Repentance and Communion.
Arriving at the house, the priest first asked everyone to leave the room. Then, after hearing the woman’s sincere repentance for her sins, he communed her with the Holy Mysteries in the presence of all. Soon afterward the sick woman fell asleep, and when she awoke she said to everyone: “I feel better; I will not die.” Indeed, she began to recover quickly, so that within a month she came to church with her whole family and there, falling to her knees before the icon of the Savior, shed fervent tears of gratitude.
True, the Lord does not always work miracles in healing our bodily illnesses, but can this keep us from turning to the path of life and light? Even if the illness, by God’s will, does not end favorably, Christian hope still gives firmness of spirit that eases bodily suffering.
Therefore, beloved brethren in Christ, beware of sin as the most destructive poison to our life. In the illnesses that come upon you, seek first of all spiritual healing in repentance and Holy Communion.
Acknowledge your sin, grieve that by your vices you have offended the All-Good God, promise in your heart and before your spiritual father to correct your life, and the Lord will forgive your sin. And with the forgiveness of sins, the Lord may also grant you recovery.
On the Causes of Illnesses
By Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow
“Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him: ‘See, you are well. Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.’” (John 5:14)
This was said to a certain man in Jerusalem who, near the Sheep Pool, had spent thirty-eight years paralyzed, vainly waiting for healing from the water which, once a year, became curative for one sick person through the touch of angelic power — until at last the Master of time, the elements, and the Angels Himself appeared and, requiring neither time, nor water, nor Angel, healed the paralytic with the words: “Rise, take up your bed, and walk” (John 5:8). The Healer did not complete everything at that moment because, fleeing glory, He quickly withdrew into the crowd. Some days later, probably during a feast, the healed man came to the temple, perhaps to thank God for his recovery. Then the Healer found him again, and just as before He had given him healing medicine through a word, so now He gives him preventive medicine through a word: “See, you are well. Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (John 5:14).
If we heard a skilled physician say to a patient he had cured, for example: “Do not eat such-and-such food again,” what would we think? Certainly we would think: evidently the patient had previously eaten that food; evidently it had been the cause of his illness; evidently the physician foresees that it will again bring illness if the cured man does not stop eating it. Likewise, what should we think when we hear the Lord say to the healed man: “See, you are well. Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (John 5:14)? Evidently the healed man had sinned before; evidently his sins had been the cause of his illness; evidently the Divine Physician foresaw that renewed sins would renew the evil with even greater force.
Here one may ask: is only the fate of one particular man presented in the Gospel account of the paralytic, or is a general law of judgment upon sin also revealed — partly impressed upon nature itself, partly carried out by Providence, though not always visibly, not always quickly, and not always in the same manner, degree, or circumstance according to the sin? Who can measure the depth and trace the ways of God’s judgments? Who would dare declare every sick person condemned and every illness a public sign of guilt? Righteous Job also suffered illness, and indeed a very grievous one. Yet neither can we deny that the severity of judgment for the sins of youth, which confined this Jerusalem sinner for thirty-eight years in the bonds of sickness and threatened him with an even heavier fate for possible sins of old age, was directed only toward him alone.
A trace of a similar judgment can be seen in the fate of another paralytic, whom the Lord healed by saying: “Your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5). It is evident that, like a profoundly wise physician, He healed the disease by acting upon the causes of the disease. Is this not also what the apostolic word means: “Sin entered the world, and through sin death” (Rom. 5:12) — “the wages of sin is death”? For what is illness if not a branch of the tree of death, or a partial and incomplete tasting of the poison of death? Consequently, together with death, illness also came along the road opened by sin; and therefore it is entirely natural that even now it travels the same road.
Endure to the End
During the time of Saint John Chrysostom, the venerable Hierax labored for many years in the deep desert. One day demons appeared to him visibly and said: “Old man! You still have another fifty years to live. Is it possible to endure so long in this desolate wilderness? Leave this place!” The elder replied to them: “It is a great pity that I have so little time left to live in this world; I had prepared myself with enough patience for another two hundred years.” At these words the demons vanished. This means that the holy ascetic had resolved to endure all sorrows and all the hardships of desert life to the very end. Evidently he firmly remembered the words of the Savior: “By your patience possess your souls” (cf. Luke 21:19), and “He who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22).
Here is what the presbyter Cronius told Palladius of Helenopolis about an ascetic named Eulogios.
“This Eulogios was a very educated man. Having embraced monasticism, because of weak health he did not dare enter a cenobitic monastery, but neither did he consider himself capable of complete solitary asceticism. Once he saw in the marketplace a cripple who had neither hands nor feet. Approaching him, he prayed thus: ‘Lord! In Your name I will take this unfortunate man and care for him until death, so that through him I too may be saved. Help me, Lord, to serve him!’ After this Eulogios brought a donkey, placed the poor man upon it, and carried him to his dwelling.
For fifteen years Eulogios cared for him as though he were his own father. He himself washed him, rubbed him with oil, carried him in his arms, guarded him, and comforted him as best he could. But evidently the ascetic’s patience still had to be tested more deeply, and so the enemy of all good taught the cripple to insult and curse his benefactor in every possible way. In vain Eulogios tried to calm him; in vain he said: ‘Tell me, my friend, how have I offended you? I will correct myself!’ The cripple would not even listen and demanded that Eulogios carry him back to the marketplace where he had found him.
‘I cannot bear your deceitful kindness,’ the miserable man said. ‘This starving life disgusts me — I want meat!’
Eulogios immediately obtained meat for him, but the cripple still was not satisfied.
‘I am bored living with you. I want to see many people.’
Eulogios gently answered: ‘I will bring you as many of the brethren as you wish.’
‘Oh, miserable man that I am!’ cried the cripple. ‘I cannot even bear to look at you, and you want to bring here more idlers like yourself! No, no — I want the marketplace!’
Then Eulogios went to the neighboring ascetics for advice about what to do with the cripple. They answered him: ‘The Great One’ — for so they called Saint Anthony — ‘is still alive. Go to him, and whatever he tells you, do it; through him God will speak to you.’
Eulogios comforted the cripple, placed him in a boat, and traveled with him to Saint Anthony the Great. They arrived late in the evening; the great elder was then receiving all who came to him. And he cried out: ‘Eulogios! Eulogios! Eulogios!’
But Eulogios thought the elder was calling someone else, and so he did not answer.
‘I am speaking to you, Eulogios, who came here from Alexandria,’ said the elder.
Then Eulogios approached Saint Anthony.
‘Why have you come here?’ asked the elder.
‘The One who revealed my name to you,’ answered Eulogios, ‘will also reveal my reason for coming.’
‘I know why you have come,’ said Saint Anthony, ‘but tell your story anyway, so that the brethren may hear.’
Eulogios recounted everything in order and asked for guidance.
Then the great elder said sternly to him: ‘Eulogios! You want to abandon him, but the One who created him does not abandon him. You would cast him aside, but God would raise up someone better than you to care for him.’
In deep silence the obedient Eulogios listened. Then the elder turned to the cripple and said loudly:
‘And you, sinner, unworthy of both earth and heaven! Will you cease rebelling against God and provoking your brother? Do you not know that it is Christ Himself who serves you? How then dare you speak against Christ? Does not your brother serve you for Christ’s sake?’
Then the elder addressed them both together:
‘Stop quarreling, my children. Go home in peace; do not separate from one another. God is already sending for you. Satan sees that you are both near the end of your struggle, and that soon both of you will receive crowns from Christ — you for him, and he for you. That is why he brought this temptation upon you. Go now with God; if the Angel comes for you and does not find you together, you will both lose your crowns.’
There is no need to say that they were reconciled with all their hearts, returned to their cell, and before forty days had passed, both of them, one after the other, departed to the Lord.
‘I myself served as interpreter during Anthony’s conversation with Eulogios and the cripple,’ concludes Presbyter Cronius, ‘for Anthony did not know Greek, while Eulogios and the cripple did not understand Egyptian.’”
How instructive this story is! “Endure to the end!” it says both to me and to you, my beloved brethren in Christ.
Perhaps crushing poverty has overwhelmed you. Perhaps you wander your whole life as a homeless orphan in strangers’ corners. Perhaps you endure hunger, cold, and every kind of illness. Even then, do not despair and do not murmur against your bitter lot. Do you hear? The Lord Himself calls to Himself all who labor and are heavy laden, promising them rest. He will satisfy the hungry and comfort those who weep. Believe His unfailing word, carry your cross courageously, and endure to the end.
To the end — that is, for as long as the Lord wills to keep you beneath the cross, whether until the end of your life or only until the end of those dark and sorrowful days after which bright days of joy will dawn for you.
The Lord is merciful! According to your humility He will give you patience; according to your patience He will grant consolation; according to consolation love for God will grow within you; and according to that love joy in the Holy Spirit will shine forth in your heart. And then, of course, all sorrows will come to an end.
The Happy Sufferer
“In the multitude of my sorrows within my heart, Your consolations have gladdened my soul” (cf. Ps. 93:19), says the royal sufferer, the Prophet David. He speaks generally of inward griefs and sorrows, yet the truth of his words is most often experienced by those great long-suffering ones who bear severe bodily afflictions with thanksgiving to God.
Let us remember our Kiev wonderworker, Saint Pimen the Much-Suffering. For twenty years he lay upon a bed of sickness. He healed others of their illnesses, yet for himself he not only did not ask for healing, but constantly thanked God for his sickness. Evidently heavenly consolations truly so gladdened his soul that he forgot his illness and saw in it a special mercy of God toward him.
“Mother,” one son once said to his long-suffering mother, “do you really not grieve or grow weary when you spend the long summer days lying here while all of us work in the fields?”
“No, my son,” she answered. “Why should I grieve? It is God’s will. And besides, it would be sinful to complain. How many mercies of God I have seen in my life! Now the time has come for me to suffer for my sins. I lie here, remembering my sins, repenting of them before the Lord God, and thanking His mercy that He did not destroy me because of my iniquities, but chastens me as a loving Father. Is this not God’s mercy? Glory to Him, the Most Merciful!”
Thus the humbly believing sufferer finds within the depths of a heart surrendered to God a great grace-filled consolation, and lives in joy at the thought that for his patience he will receive mercy from God in the life to come.
Here is what a well-known Athonite monk relates in his beautiful letters about a schemamonk, Father Pankraty, who for many years suffered from wounds on his legs:
“Father Pankraty, whose worldly name was Paramon, had been born a serf. In childhood his cruel mistress forced him to walk barefoot late in autumn, when snow and ice already covered the ground, and because of this his legs became terribly diseased. The poor boy could not endure it. Secretly he fled from his mistress and resolved at any cost to cross the Danube. And indeed he crossed over and for some time lived among Russians who themselves had fled abroad.
He became friends with a little Russian who, for some reason, ended his life by suicide. Sensitive Pankraty was deeply shaken and grieved by the loss of his beloved friend, and seeing how vain worldly life is, he abandoned it and departed to the Holy Mountain. There, in the Russian monastery, he found the peace of soul he sought, despite the fact that his leg was already rotting from wounds caused by the terrible frostbite of his childhood.
Yet however dreadful Father Pankraty’s sufferings were, he rejoiced in spirit and often even said to me:
‘Believe me, I would agree to rot entirely away in body, if only God would deliver me from sufferings of the heart, because those are unbearable.’
I once said to him: ‘Sometimes I look at you and pity you. At times you seem beside yourself from inward torment.’
‘Ah,’ he answered, ‘when the heart suffers — that is terrible, that is hellish torment! But my wounds, even if they were ten times worse, are nothing. I rejoice in my illness because, according to the measure of my sufferings, God comforts me. The worse it is for my leg, the more painful the agony, the more joyful I become, because the hope of paradise comforts me. The hope of reigning in heaven is always with me. And heaven is very beautiful!’ Father Pankraty would sometimes exclaim with a smile.
‘How do you know this?’ I once asked him.
‘Forgive me,’ he replied, ‘I ought not answer your question openly, but I pity you when your soul suffers, and I want at least to give you some small consolation by my story. You have seen how I sometimes suffer. Ah, it is not without reason that I twist like a serpent upon my bed. The pain is terrible, unbearable! But what happens afterward — only this knows it,’ Father Pankraty mysteriously said, placing his hand upon his heart.
'Do you remember how once, unable to bear the pain, I tossed about on my cot, and even something like murmuring escaped my lips? At last the pain subsided and I calmed down. You all left for your cells, and after arranging my leg I sweetly dozed off. I do not remember how long I slept or drowsed, but I saw something — and God knows why. Even now, whenever I remember that vision, I feel within my heart an indescribable paradise-like delight, and I would gladly suffer forever if only that unforgettable vision might be repeated once more in my life. It was so wonderful!’
‘What did you see?’ I asked Father Pankraty.
‘I remember,’ he answered, ‘that as I dozed, a youth of astonishing angelic beauty approached me and asked:
"Does it hurt you, Father Pankraty?"
‘Now it does not,’ I replied. ‘Glory to God.’
'Endure,' said the youth. 'Soon you shall be free, for a Master has purchased you — and at a very great price.'
‘What?’ I said. ‘I have been purchased again?’
'Yes,' the youth answered with a smile. 'A great price was paid for you, and your Master is calling you to Himself. Would you like to come with me?'
I agreed.
We passed through very dangerous places. Huge dogs rushed savagely at me, ready to tear me apart, but a single word from the youth — and they fled from us like a whirlwind. At last we came out into a vast, pure, radiant field that seemed endless.
‘Now you need fear nothing,’ said the youth. ‘Go to the Master, whom you see seated in the distance.’
I looked and indeed saw three Persons seated together. Marveling at the beauty of the place, I joyfully walked forward. Unknown people in marvelous garments met and embraced me. Many beautiful maidens in white royal attire modestly greeted me and silently pointed into the distance where the Three Strangers sat. When I approached them, two rose and withdrew, while the Third remained waiting for me. With quiet joy and trembling I drew near to Him.
‘Do you like it here?’ the Stranger asked me.
I looked upon His face. It was radiant. A royal majesty distinguished my new Master from ordinary men. Silently I fell at His feet and kissed them. His feet bore wounds pierced straight through. Then I folded my hands reverently upon my breast and asked permission to kiss His right hand. Without a word He extended it to me. On His hands were the same deep wounds. Again and again I kissed the hand of the Stranger, and in quiet, inexpressible joy gazed upon Him. The features of my new Master were wondrously beautiful. They breathed meekness and compassion. A smile of love and welcome rested upon His lips, and His gaze expressed the unshakable peace of His heart.
‘I redeemed you from your mistress,' He began to say to me. 'Now you are Mine forever. It grieved Me to see your sufferings. Your childish cries reached Me when you complained to Me of your mistress, who tormented you with hunger and cold. But now you are forever free. And for your sufferings, this is what I am preparing for you.'
Then the wondrous Stranger pointed into the distance. There it was exceedingly bright. Beautiful gardens in full bloom stretched before me, and beneath paradise-like shade stood a magnificent dwelling.
‘This is yours,' the Stranger continued, 'though it is not yet fully prepared. Endure a little longer. When the time for your rest comes, I will take you to Myself. But for now remain here, behold the beauty of your future home, and endure until the appointed time, for he who endures to the end shall be saved (Matt. 10:22).'
‘Lord!' I cried, beside myself with joy, 'I am not worthy of such mercy!'
And I threw myself at His feet and kissed them. But when I rose, there was no one and nothing before me.
I awoke. The semantron was sounding in our monastery, calling us to Matins. I quietly rose to pray. I felt so light, and what I felt within my heart—that remains my secret. I would endure thousands of years of suffering for the sake of experiencing such a vision once again. It was so wonderful!”
The Sacrifice of Praise of a Martyr of Christ
The great Old Testament sufferer, the righteous Job, blessed God in his afflictions, yet even he, being human, at times complained of his unbearable sufferings. He cursed the day of his birth (see Job 3:2) and lamented that he had not died in his mother’s womb (see Job 3:11–12). “Why is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul? Which long for death, but it comes not; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures” (Job 3:20–21).
But to suffer and in the midst of suffering to forget one’s sufferings; to endure unbearable torments and yet glorify the Lord amid those torments, remembering His unspeakable mercies shown to all mankind; to be cut limb from limb and yet think only of the wondrous works of God — such courage, incomprehensible to the human mind, could be shown only by the martyrs of Christ, in whom the power of Christ manifested itself so gloriously.
Here is one of the many accounts of such martyric courage.
Saint James the Persian was being cut to pieces. They cut off the thumb of his right hand. Raising his eyes to heaven, the martyr said:
“O Lord God, mighty in strength, who by Your finger cast out demons (see Luke 11:20), receive this finger, cut off for Your sake through demonic instigation, as a branch of the vine; for the branches of the vine are pruned so that it may bear more fruit.”
The torturer cut off a second finger, and James prayed:
“Receive also, O Lord, this second branch from the vine which Your right hand planted!”
They cut off a third finger, and he said:
“Having been delivered from the three temptations in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — I bless the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and with the Three Youths I glorify You, O Lord!”
They cut off a fourth finger, and he prayed:
“O You who receive praise from the four living creatures (see Rev. 4:6–8), receive the suffering of this fourth finger for Your holy Name!”
They cut off the fifth finger, and James said:
“My joy is fulfilled, like the joy of the five wise virgins!” (see Matt. 25:2)
The torturers urged him to spare himself, but the sufferer answered them:
“When shepherds shear sheep, do they leave one side unshorn? I am a sheep of Christ’s flock. Cut off all my members like wool!”
And again he entered into prayerful conversation with God.
Then they cut off the first finger of his left hand, and he said:
“I thank You, O Lord, that You have counted me worthy to offer You this sixth finger, You who on the sixth day and hour stretched out Your most pure hands upon the Cross for me!”
They cut off another finger, and he glorified God:
“As with my lips seven times a day with David I praised Your judgments, O Lord, so now with these seven fingers cut off for Your sake I glorify Your mercy manifested toward me!”
They cut off yet another finger, and he proclaimed:
“You Yourself, O Lord, received circumcision on the eighth day according to the Law, and I endure the cutting off of my eighth finger for Your sake. Do not deprive me of the vision of Your most radiant face!”
They cut off the next finger, and the martyr prayed:
“O my Christ, at the ninth hour You commended Your Spirit to God the Father upon the Cross, and I in the pain of the cutting off of this ninth finger thank You that You have counted me worthy to lose my members for Your Name!”
When they cut off the tenth finger, he cried out:
“With a ten-stringed psaltery I glorify You, my God, who have counted me worthy to endure the cutting off of all the fingers on both my hands for the tithe of Your Covenant written on the two tablets!”
Again the torturers pleaded with him, and again he rejected all their exhortations, promises, and threats.
Then they began cutting off the toes of his feet, and with the same calmness he glorified the Lord as each toe was severed.
At the cutting off of the first, he said:
“Glory to You, O Christ God. In You not only Your hands but also Your feet were pierced. Count me worthy that this right foot may stand, even among the least, at Your right hand!”
At the second toe he prayed:
“Your mercy toward me is doubled, O Lord, for You deliver me from the second death” (see Rev. 20:14).
They cut off and cast before him the third toe, and the martyr said with a smile:
“Go in the Name of the Trinity, you third toe, to your companions. Like a grain of wheat cast into the earth, you too will bear much fruit on the day of the general resurrection!”
They cut off the fourth toe, and the Saint comforted himself, saying:
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, by the power of the four-ended Cross which saves me!” (“Take note,” says the narrator, “you senseless zealots for the eight-pointed Cross, what the martyr of Christ says!”) “And I glorify Him who created me from the four elements!”
They cut off the fifth toe, and the martyr said:
“I glorify You, O Lord, who endured five wounds upon the Cross, that You count me worthy of the portion of those faithful servants who multiplied the five talents!”
They cut off the little toe of his left foot, and he said:
“Take courage, little sixth toe. God, who created you small together with the great on the sixth day, will likewise raise you together with them!”
They cut off the seventh toe, and the martyr said to his tormentors:
“Destroy this old dwelling in which the seven-headed serpent hides himself. The Creator, who rested on the seventh day from His works, has prepared for me a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in the heavens!”
They cut off the eighth toe, and James reasoned:
“He who preserved eight souls in Noah’s ark will save me also, though you pour out my blood like water.”
They cut off the ninth toe, and he prayed:
“Strengthen me in patience, O true God, as You strengthened the nine ranks of Angels in Your grace during their trial!”
They cut off the last toe, and he cried out:
“Behold, I have offered to You, O Christ Jesus, perfect God and perfect Man, two tithes of my fingers and toes!”
Then they cut off his whole right foot, and he said:
“May my foot stand on the right side in the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Next they cut off the left foot, and gazing at heaven he prayed:
“Hear me, O Lord. Show me a sign for good. Deliver me from standing at Your left hand!”
They cut off his right hand, and he exclaimed:
“I will sing of Your mercy forever, O Lord. You Yourself fulfill in me Your word: ‘If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you!’”
They cut off the left hand, and he prayed:
“It is not the dead who will praise You, O Lord, nor those who go down into Hades by the path on the left, but we the living will bless You from now and forever.”
They cut off his right shoulder, and he said:
“He who laid the lost sheep upon His shoulders will also place me at His right hand with His sheep.”
They cut off the left shoulder, and he said:
“The Lord, upon whose shoulder is authority (see Isa. 9:6), will not permit me to incline toward the dominion of darkness on the left side.”
When they began cutting off his legs up to the knees, the sufferer cried out in pain:
“O Lord my God, who delight not in the strength of men’s legs, but in those who fear You (see Ps. 146:10–11), help me Your servant, for the pangs of death crush me!”
The torturers remarked:
“See? We told you that terrible sufferings awaited you, but you did not believe us.”
The sufferer answered:
“I cried out in my pain so that you might know that I am a man clothed in flesh, and that it is God alone who strengthens me! But He will also clothe me in a new flesh which none of your instruments of torture can touch!”
And the unconquered warrior of Christ began glorifying the Lord with the Seraphic hymn:
“Holy, Holy, Holy are You, Lord God Almighty!”
Thus he cried while lying upon the ground, praying for the mercy of God to strengthen him to the end.
At last the torturers cut off his honorable head, and he surrendered his spirit to God.
Like a candle he burned away before God. Like fragrant incense his praises ascended to heaven. Even now the wondrous fragrance of his prayers is perceived, and even today one cannot read the account of his sufferings without heartfelt compunction. And after reading it, one involuntarily exclaims with the royal Prophet:
“Wonderful, truly wonderful is God in His saints!”
A Maiden Baptized by Angels
Abba Theonas and Abba Theodore, writes Blessed John Moschos, told us:
“During the patriarchate of Paul in Alexandria, a young maiden was left an orphan after the death of her very wealthy parents. She had not been baptized. One day, while walking in the garden left to her by her parents, she saw an unknown man preparing to hang himself. Running quickly to him, the maiden asked:
‘What are you doing, good man?’
‘What is it to you? Go away! I am in great distress...’
‘Tell me the whole truth. Perhaps I can help you.’
‘I owe a great deal of money. My creditors are pressing me hard, and I would rather die than continue such a bitter life.’
‘I beg you... take everything I have and pay them — only do not destroy yourself.’
The man gratefully accepted and paid his debts.
Meanwhile, the maiden herself fell into hardship. It was no wonder: she had no parents, and no one to care for her. Reduced to extreme poverty, she began living a sinful life. Those who had known her parents would say:
‘Who knows the judgments of God, and why He allows a soul to fall?’
The maiden could not bear such a life for long. She became ill and suddenly came to her senses. With a contrite spirit she begged her neighbors:
‘For the Lord’s sake, have pity on my soul and speak to the bishop so that I may become a Christian.’
But everyone turned away from her in contempt.
‘Who would want to sponsor such a depraved woman?’ they said.
And she fell into deep sorrow.
When she had completely lost heart, an Angel of the Lord appeared to her in the form of the man to whom she had once shown mercy.
‘What troubles you?’ the Angel asked.
‘I wish to become a Christian, but alas, no one is willing to speak for me.’
‘Do you truly desire this?’
‘Yes — and I beg you to help me.’
‘Do not despair. I will bring someone, and you will be received into the bosom of the Church.’
The Angel brought two other Angels, and they carried her to a church. Then, taking the appearance of officials in the governor’s service, they summoned the clergy responsible for baptizing catechumens. The clergy asked the officials:
‘Does your honor stand surety for her?’
‘Yes,’ they replied.
The clergy performed all that was required according to the rite for those preparing for baptism, and they baptized her in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Then they clothed her in the white garments of the newly illumined. The Angels carried her back to her house and laid her down, then became invisible. When the neighbors saw her dressed in white, they asked:
‘Who baptized you?’
‘Some men came,’ she answered. ‘They carried me to the church, spoke to the clergy, and they baptized me.’
‘But who exactly were they? Which clergy?’
She could say nothing more about them.
The matter was reported to the bishop, who summoned the clergy appointed for baptisms.
‘Did you baptize that woman?’ he asked.
They admitted that they had, and explained that certain officials of the governor had requested it.
The bishop sent for those officials and asked whether they had truly stood surety for the maiden.
‘We know nothing about this,’ they answered. ‘Nor do we know who could have done it.’
Then the bishop understood that this was the work of God.
Calling the newly baptized woman, he asked:
‘Tell me, my daughter, what good deed have you done?’
‘I am a sinful woman and poor... What good could I possibly have done?’
‘Surely you remember at least one good deed?’
‘No... except perhaps this: once I saw a stranger preparing to hang himself because creditors were tormenting him. I gave him all my possessions and saved him from disaster...’
After saying this, she fell asleep in the Lord, having received forgiveness for all her voluntary and involuntary sins.
And the bishop glorified the Lord, saying:
‘Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments!’ (cf. Psalm 118:137).
Do Angelic Visitations Still Occur Today?
In our sinful times one often hears people reason this way: “There are no miracles today. Angels no longer come down from heaven to instruct people as they did in ancient times.” Is this true?
Our Lord Jesus Christ is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
To have communion with Angels, one must also possess angelic qualities — purity of heart and the childlike simplicity of faith. Where these exist, the appearance of Angels is possible.
Here is what the late Metropolitan Innocent of Moscow once recounted from the time when he was preaching the Christian faith on the Aleutian Islands:
“In April of 1825, during Great Lent, I traveled for the first time to Akun Island to visit the Aleuts. As we approached the island, I saw that all the inhabitants were standing on the shore dressed in festive clothing, as though for a great feast. When I stepped ashore, they joyfully rushed toward me. I asked them why they were dressed so festively. They replied:
‘Because we knew you had departed and would arrive today. In our joy we came out to meet you.’
‘Who told you I would come today,’ I asked, ‘and how did you recognize that I was Father John?’
‘Our shaman, Ivan Smirennikov, told us,’ they answered, ‘and he described your appearance exactly as we now see you.’
This greatly surprised me, though I paid little attention to it at first and began preparing them for confession and Communion. The shaman himself came to me and expressed the desire to prepare for Communion. He behaved with great reverence, and I still paid him no special attention. After hearing his confession and giving him the Holy Mysteries, I dismissed him. But afterward, to my astonishment, he went to the village elder and complained that I had not asked him during confession why the Aleuts called him a shaman, because it greatly displeased him to be called that, since he was not a shaman at all. The elder conveyed Smirennikov’s complaint to me, and I immediately sent for him to explain matters. When those sent for him were still on their way, Smirennikov was already coming toward them saying:
‘I know the priest, Father John, is calling for me, and I am going to him.’
I questioned him closely about his life. When I asked whether he could read, Ivan replied that he was illiterate, but that he knew the Gospel and prayers. Then I asked him how he had known me so accurately that he even described my appearance beforehand, and how he knew on what day I would arrive and teach them to pray. The old man answered that two companions had told him all this.
‘And who are these two companions of yours?’ I asked.
‘White men,’ he replied. ‘They also told me that in the near future you would send your family overland, while you yourself would travel by water to a great man and speak with him.’
‘Where are these white men, and who are they?’ I asked.
‘They live nearby in the mountains,’ he answered, ‘and come to me every day.’
‘When did they first appear to you?’
He replied that shortly after he had been baptized by the hieromonk Macarius, one spirit first appeared to him, and then two — unseen by anyone else — in human form, with bright white faces and garments resembling white sticharia trimmed with rose-colored bands. They told him they had been sent by God to guide, teach, and protect him. For thirty years they had appeared to him almost daily, usually during the day or toward evening, though never at night. When they appeared, they first instructed him in all Christian theology and the mysteries of the Christian faith. Second, they gave help both to him and, occasionally at his request, to others — especially during illness or severe famine. Yet regarding help for others, they always said they must first ask God, and if it pleased Him, they would fulfill the request. Third, they sometimes told him about events happening elsewhere, and very rarely about future events — but only if God permitted it to be revealed. They always assured him that they did these things not by their own power, but by the power of Almighty God.
Although their teaching was that of the Orthodox Church, I knew that even demons believe and tremble, and so I wondered whether this might be a subtle snare of the evil one. Therefore I asked him how they taught him to pray — to themselves or to God — and how they taught him to live with others. He replied that they taught him to pray with spirit and heart, and that they sometimes prayed with him for a very long time. They instructed him in every pure Christian virtue — which he described to me in detail — but above all they emphasized faithfulness and purity, both in marriage and outside marriage, perhaps because the local people were especially inclined toward sins against chastity. They also taught him various outward practices and disciplines: how to make the sign of the Cross properly, not to begin any task without prayer, not to eat early in the morning, not to have many families living together in one dwelling, not to eat freshly killed fish or animals while still warm, and not to eat certain birds or sea creatures at all, along with many other things.
After this I asked whether they had appeared to him after confession and Communion, and whether they told him to obey me. He answered that they had appeared after both confession and Communion and told him not to reveal his confessed sins to anyone, not to eat rich food immediately after Communion, and to listen to my teaching, but not to listen to the traders — that is, the Russians living there. They had even appeared to him that very day on the road and told him why I was calling him, instructing him to tell me everything and not be afraid, because no harm would come to him.
Then I asked him when they appeared and what he felt —joy or fear. He said that only when he had done something wrong did he feel the sting of conscience upon seeing them. Otherwise he felt no fear at all.
Since many considered him a shaman, and he did not wish to be regarded as such, he had often asked them to depart and stop appearing to him. But they answered that they were not demons and that they had not been permitted to leave him. When he asked why they did not appear to others, they told him that such was God’s command.
In order to determine whether these guides truly appeared to him, I asked:
‘Could I see and speak with them?’
He answered that he did not know, but would ask them.
An hour later he returned and said:
‘They replied: “What more does he wish to know from us? Does he still think we are demons? Very well — let him see and speak with us if he wishes.”’
They also said something approving about me, but lest it be considered vanity on my part, I shall remain silent about it.
At that moment something indescribable came over me. A kind of fear seized me, together with deep humility.
‘What if,’ I thought, ‘I really do see these Angels, and they confirm all that the old man has said? How could I go to them? I am a sinful man and therefore unworthy to speak with them. It would be pride and presumption for me to seek such a meeting. And perhaps, after such an encounter, I might become spiritually proud or think too highly of myself.’
And so, considering myself unworthy, I decided not to go to them. Before leaving, however, I gave suitable instruction both to Ivan Smirennikov and to the Aleuts, urging them no longer to call him a shaman.”
Thus the hierarch concluded his account.
Grace-Filled Help Through Prayers to Saint Theodosius of Chernigov
I, the undersigned, wife of a priest of Kaluga Province, Meshchovsk District, the village of Nekhodovo, Irina Afanasyevna Smirnova, 53 years old, suffered for about twenty-five years from severe headaches and other bodily ailments, especially pains in the abdomen. My illnesses were always accompanied by hysterical attacks and ended in vomiting. From these terrible sufferings I acquired yet another illness — a heart condition, as the doctors diagnosed it. According to the doctors, especially our district physician, Nikolai Ivanovich Orlov, I was expected to die prematurely and suddenly.
I sought treatment from many doctors and even traveled to Moscow, but my chief concern was always to pray to the Lord God and His Most Pure Mother for mercy, and to ask His saints for intercession and help for me, who suffered so grievously.
Though I tried not to speak openly about my illness to my husband or children, so as not to frighten or grieve them, my cries, writhing on the bed, and agony spoke more clearly than words and brought sorrow and tears not only to my family but even to strangers.
At last, however, a joyful and unforgettable dawn rose for me.
When I learned that on September 9, 1896, the relics of St. Theodosius of Chernigov would be uncovered, I resolved, despite every obstacle, and armed only with my husband’s blessing, without even informing my relatives, to travel to that unknown land to seek help from the newly glorified wonderworker.
My first fear was: how could I, sick and alone, travel such a distance?
But God’s saint, Theodosius, to whom I fervently prayed, removed this fear by sending me, at the very first railway station, a kind and pious nun named Selaphiila. Together with her — as with a beloved sister — we safely endured the terrible overcrowding and suffocating heat of the train and arrived in Chernigov on the eve of the uncovering of the relics, before the all-night vigil. There, as I believe, the Saint himself guided me to a quiet and comfortable lodging not far from the cathedral.
Because of the enormous crowds and terrible crush of people, in my weakness I was able only on the fourth day to approach the healing shrine and kiss the incorrupt body of the holy hierarch and wonderworker Theodosius.
How I prayed at that moment, how I begged for the salvation of my sinful soul — only the God Who knows hearts and His saint Theodosius know this.
The next day I again attended the cathedral, listened to the Divine Liturgy and moleben, and once more was counted worthy to venerate the Saint’s relics.
On the sixth day my companion and I departed by steamer for Kiev to venerate its holy places.
During the journey I fell asleep from exhaustion, and — O wonder! — I saw, as though awake, St. Theodosius himself approach me in episcopal vestments. He said:
“Your heart hurts.”
Then with his holy hand he placed a pinch of salt upon the very place on my chest where the pain was strongest and departed.
When the Saint spoke to me about my heart, I uncovered my chest at his request. My companion, seeing this and not understanding why I was doing it publicly, came to cover me up and accidentally woke me.
From the very moment St. Theodosius placed the salt upon my chest, I have felt no more pain in my heart, no discomfort at all, and my heart began beating normally again, just as it had when I was completely healthy.
After visiting all the holy places in Kiev, I began my return journey home with a severe headache. I parted from Nun Selaphiila and traveled in a second-class railway carriage.
While sleeping on the journey, I was granted a second vision of St. Theodosius, this time in shining episcopal vestments, wearing a mitre and holding a staff.
The wonderworker approached me, placed his holy hand on one side of my head, and said:
“The pain in your head will pass.”
He blessed me and departed.
At that very moment I saw, as though awake, blood flowing from that side of my head through my nose like a stream — at first dark and corrupted, then clean blood, which flowed for a long time, after which water began to flow.
I awoke and felt greatly relieved.
Giving thanks to God and His wondrous saint Theodosius, I told my fellow travelers about the vision and my healing.
The other side of my head was healed after I returned home. My cheek swelled and a large abscess formed in my mouth. Several days later it burst, leaving a large wound. But after it was anointed with oil brought from the relics of St. Theodosius in Chernigov, it quickly healed.
Now no pain remains in either side of my head, and my health has been completely restored.
Attributing my healing entirely to the miraculous power of St. Theodosius, and with the advice and blessing of my gracious archshepherd, Bishop Macarius of Kaluga — who was informed of my healing during his visit to our village in June of 1897 — I have resolved to tell the whole world that God is wondrous in His saints, and that to His servants He grants, in His goodness and justice, the miraculous power to heal the illnesses and infirmities of those who come to them with faith and love, asking for help and intercession.
Glory to You, O God, Who blesses and has mercy on us, and Who through Your saints grants swift help to sufferers whose hope in human assistance, after many trials, has proven hopeless!
To confirm that I truly recovered, and that I speak the absolute truth concerning my healing through Christ’s saint Theodosius, according to my pure Christian conscience, I append the testimony of the district physician who treated me constantly during my illness — Nikolai Ivanovich Orlov.
Priest’s wife
Irina Smirnova
CERTIFICATE
By the duty of my office and oath, I hereby certify that Irina Afanasyevna Smirnova, wife of a priest of Meshchovsk District, village of Nekhodovo, suffered for several years from an organic heart defect: severe palpitations, shortness of breath, abnormal heart sounds, and irregular heartbeat.
As a consequence of this condition, she frequently experienced attacks of angina: feelings of terror, pressure in the chest, lack of air, violent heart palpitations, and severe shortness of breath.
I and other physicians treated the patient and provided temporary relief, but according to present medical science, a complete cure was impossible, and her death in the near future was considered inevitable.
When I was summoned again on July 20 of this year and urgently asked to come, I assumed the same illness had returned.
Upon examining the patient, however, I discovered she was suffering from a different ailment — an inflammation of the stomach and intestines.
To my great astonishment, examination of the heart revealed it to be entirely normal: the heart sounds were clear, there was no murmur, the pulse was regular, and there were no irregular beats.
Frankly speaking, I could hardly believe my own findings. Therefore, on the following day, accompanied by another physician, I again examined the patient — who was already much improved — and we both fully confirmed that her heart was completely normal.
June 26, 1897
Physician of the Meshchovsk District Zemstvo,
Zubov Medical Station,
Collegiate Assessor N. I. Orlov
Source: From the book Simple Gospel Word: Stories and Reflections on the Gospel Readings for Sundays and Feast Days, (published in 1890). Translation by John Sanidopoulos.