Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: November 13

The Month of November

Day 13

77. Repentance for Sins and the Promise to Reform One’s Life Contribute to Healing from Illness

(From the Life of Saint John Chrysostom)

Very many people, when illness befalls them, first begin to think about doctors and medicines. But we advise many such people to act differently from the way they usually do during illness. We advise them, during illness, first of all to strengthen themselves in faith in God, then to repent of their sins, and finally to make a promise that in the future they will reform their lives. Why is this so, you may ask. Because, we reply, examples show that there have been cases in which the faith of the sick in God, their repentance, and their promise to reform their lives brought them healing and completely freed them from their illnesses. What examples are these, you may ask further. To this we answer that the following are such examples.

A man from Antioch became so seriously ill with an affliction of the head that even his right eye began to protrude from its normal position. Having spent a great deal of money on physicians and received no benefit from them, he finally went to the monastery in which Saint John Chrysostom lived, fell at his feet, and began asking John to heal him. Chrysostom said to him: “Illnesses come upon people because of their sins and lack of faith. Therefore, if you now believe with all your soul that Christ is powerful enough to heal you, and promise to turn away from all your evil deeds, you will behold the glory of God.” The sick man answered: “I believe, Father, and I will fulfill everything you command me.” Having said this, he took the garment of Saint Chrysostom in his hands and placed it upon his afflicted head, touching his diseased eye with it as well. And what happened? At once he felt that his illness had passed; his afflicted eye was restored to health and returned to its normal position. “And he became healthy,” it is said, “as though he had never been ill, and went home glorifying God.”

Here is another case. A certain woman named Christina, who suffered from a hemorrhage, began asking her husband to take her to the monastery to see Saint Chrysostom. Her husband fulfilled her request, and when he reached the monastery with her, he left her at the monastery gates and went to Chrysostom himself, asking him to pray for his wife. John said to the husband: “Tell your wife to restrain her wicked disposition, to stop tormenting her servants, both men and women, to care for the salvation of her soul, to distribute alms to the poor, and to pray fervently. At the same time, both of you must preserve the purity of your marriage bed. If everything is as I have said, your wife will receive healing.” The husband conveyed these words of Chrysostom to his wife, and upon hearing them, she made a completely sincere promise to faithfully keep everything commanded of her until her last breath. After this, the husband returned to John and told him of his wife's promise. Chrysostom said to him: “Well then, go now in peace; the Lord has already healed your wife.” “And when the husband departed,” the account relates, “he found his wife healed, and they returned with joy, glorifying God.”

Consider, then, what Chrysostom first said to the man whose eye was diseased. He said: “If you believe with all your soul that the Lord is powerful enough to heal you, and promise to turn away from all your evil deeds, you will behold the glory of God.” What did he say to the husband of the woman who suffered from a hemorrhage? He said that his wife should abandon evil and promise to take up what is good, and she would become healthy. The man with the diseased eye and the sick woman acted according to Chrysostom’s word, and immediately they truly became healthy. Therefore, brethren, do as these two did in their illness. Strengthen yourselves in faith in God, acknowledge your unworthiness before Him, repent of your sins, and make a sincere promise to reform your lives in the future, and all will be well. For it is certain that the Lord is always pleased when we approach Him with faith, turn away from evil deeds, and set out upon the path of virtue. Amen.

Questions for Conversation 77:

1. According to the words of Saint John Chrysostom to the man from Antioch, who is powerful enough to heal him?

2. According to the words of Saint John Chrysostom to the man from Antioch, why should he promise to turn away from all his evil deeds?

3. According to Chrysostom’s words to Christina’s husband, what should Christina care about?

4. According to Saint John Chrysostom, what were the spouses who came to him to preserve?

5. How did the wife, after hearing Chrysostom’s words from her husband, promise to faithfully keep everything she had been commanded to do until her last breath?

 

Source: The Cheti-Minei: Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Book 1: September, October, November) by Archpriest Viktor Guryev. Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 1896. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.