Quack Healers

  

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou 

 

In recent days, following the death of singer Giorgos Mazonakis, we have repeatedly heard that the doctors he had visited did not have the medical specialty required to perform the particular plasmapheresis treatments in question, and for this reason they were described as fake doctors and kompogiannites (quack healers). Of course, a physician practices the science of medicine after learning from qualified physicians, receiving training and specializing in a particular field. The physician seeks to treat people on the basis of scientific knowledge and evidence.

By contrast, a fake doctor may have graduated from medical school, but when he undertakes procedures outside his specialty, particularly when he employs shamanistic methods (shamans being healers in antiquity), he falls under this designation. A fake doctor may also be someone who has not graduated from medical school but recommends herbs and fraudulent treatments, thereby exploiting people—not only failing to cure them but also leading them to their deaths. These fake doctors are also called quacks. We say of someone, “He is a kompogiannitis.” But what does this term mean?

Prologue in Sermons: November 7 (b)

Sins and Lack of Faith Are the Causes of Illness; But Repentance for Sins and Strong Faith in God Are the Causes of Healing.

November 7

(About a Man Healed by Saint John Chrysostom)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Brethren, from the day we are born, we are all plagued by various illnesses. What is the cause of these illnesses? And are there any truly effective means of curing them? In our opinion, the answer to this question should be as follows: the main causes of illness should be recognized as our sins and lack of faith; and the most effective means of healing should be recognized as a strong faith in God and repentance for sins. How, you ask, can this be proven? We answer that with the following example.

Saint Veronica as a Model for our Lives

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Veronica is the bleeding woman whom Christ healed, or rather was healed when she touched the garment of Christ. This miracle is described by the Evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke. Christ was walking with His Disciples - along with the synagogue leader Jairus, who begged Him to go to his house to heal his sick daughter - and many people followed. Then a bleeding woman, who could not be healed by the doctors, approached Christ and touched the hem of His garment and was immediately healed, because she believed and said that “if I only touch His garment I will be healed.” Christ asked who touched Him and His Disciples told Him that "the people have surrounded You and are crushing You and You are asking who touched You!" Christ again said “someone touched Me, for I felt that power has gone out from Me.” Then the healed woman confessed the reason for which she touched Him and that she was immediately healed. Christ comforted her, told her to be courageous, and assured her that her faith had saved her.

The Nurses of Saint Luke the Surgeon

The surgical instruments of St. Luke

Anna Bezrukova recalls:

"I was a nurse from 1942-45 in Krasnoyarsk. Saint Luke loved us and taught us everything. He would advise doctors in the city hospitals.

They brought us seriously ill people, I saw that he prayed before the operation. If there was a fatal outcome, he suffered a lot, cried, locked himself in his room and prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased.

The authorities did not even allow him to eat in the hospital canteen, he was almost always hungry. The nurses brought him food. 

He never got indignant. He lived next to the hospital to be closer to the patients. He lived modestly, observed the fasts.

The Appearance of Saint Anastasios Gordios to a Woman With Depression

There are countless testimonies, as the humble Levite of Christ, Father Panagiotis Tsiolis, says, of people who bowed reverently to kiss the head of the great Saint Anastasios Gordios and found the healing they were seeking. Even demons are terrified at the sight of the most fragrant sacred relics of this great man.

As a priest, although I had heard from the elders about Saint Anastasios, I did not know how much boldness he had before God and how miraculous he is. I realized this as a young and inexperienced priest, shortly after celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the katholikon of the former Sacred Monastery of Saint John the Theologian in Trovato.

Specifically, shortly after the dismissal, a woman from Agrinio approached me, who had come up to meet some of her relatives.

Saint Anastasios Gordios Considered the Psalter an Antibiotic Against Disease

As the inhabitants of Agrafa recounted from generation to generation, their physician and guardian Saint Anastasios Gordios (who reposed on June 7, 1729) never forgot them. Along with the herbs and medical prescriptions he administered, he asked the family to observe a certain prayer rule, which mainly concerned the reading of Psalms. And the combination of the two brought healing to every patient. The mothers begged the Saint many times to grant his blessing to their children. And this because they realized that this blessing of the Saint had great power. It was enough for the healing of their child! He, however, out of humility, provided, along with his blessing, the necessary herb and the rule of prayer. He was always accustomed to saying that prayer saves!

June: Day 1: Teaching 1: Venerable Agapitus the Unmercenary of the Kiev Caves

 

June: Day 1: Teaching 1:
Venerable Agapitus the Unmercenary of the Kiev Caves

(Lessons From His Life: 
a. Healing Diseases is a Gift From God, and 
b. In Illness One Must Resort to God in Prayer)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Agapitus, celebrated today, labored in the Kiev Caves, under the guidance of Venerable Anthony. To his difficult monastic labors the Venerable One added the labor of gratuitous service to those suffering from illness. If any of the brethren fell ill, the Venerable One immediately hastened to provide assistance and remained at the sick person’s bedside until the patient recovered. The Venerable One served the sick brother with all zeal, personally lifting him from his bed, laying him down, carrying him from one place to another, and all this was accompanied by prayer for the healing of the sick person.

The means used by the Venerable One for healing were the simplest, and even ordinary plants used for food were given to the sick and, by the power of faith and prayer of the Venerable One, provided real help in the most serious illnesses. The fame of the healing power of Venerable Agapitus spread far, and many sick people came to him and received benefit. But he always refused those who begged him to come to the city or the surrounding areas to heal the sick, strictly keeping to his monastic vow not to leave the monastery and fearing that by gaining human glory he would harm his salvation; for he deeply believed that the power of healing lies not so much in medical skill as in the gracious help brought down by humble prayer. Thus, when the Chernigov prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich, being seriously ill and hearing about the successes of the healing of Venerable Agapitus, sent to ask him to come to him, the Venerable One resolutely refused, but with a boyar sent by the prince he sent a plant from his farm, and the sick man quickly and completely recovered. The prince himself came to the Kiev Caves Monastery to thank his deliverer, but the Venerable One hid and, not accepting the gifts from the prince, said to those who brought him them: “I have never taken anything from anyone; for it is not my art, but the power of Christ that heals the sick.” This unmercenrary doctor and man of prayer died in extreme old age around 1095 A.D. and was buried in the Antoniev Cave.

March: Day 10: Teaching 1: Holy Martyr Kodratos

March: Day 10: Teaching 1:
Holy Martyr Kodratos
 
(It's Not a Sin To Get Treatment)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Martyr Kodratos, whose memory is celebrated today, was found as a newborn infant in the wilderness near the city of Corinth. Here he was born to Rufina, the wife of a Corinthian citizen who hid in the wilderness during the persecution of Christians in the third century, and died. When Kodratos grew up, with the obvious help of Divine Providence, he learned to heal diseases, but out of love for solitude he withdrew to the mountains, where he struggled in fasting and prayer. From time to time he still visited the city to heal diseases, since, living in the wilderness, he studied many healing herbs and plants, and, moved by love for his neighbors, he shared his knowledge, helping the poor. When Decius raised a persecution of Christians, Jason, the royal official, who arrived in Corinth, summoned Kodratos and his friends and demanded that they renounce Christ. When they refused, he ordered them to be hung upside down, beaten, their bodies scraped and burned, and finally, their heads cut off. At the place of execution, where the ground was stained with the blood of the martyrs, a spring of clean water suddenly appeared.

October: Day 18: Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke

October: Day 18:
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke

(Refutation of Prejudices That Make People Not Want To Be Treated by Doctors)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Church now glorifies in its hymns Saint Luke, whose memory is celebrated today, as an Evangelist and writer of the Acts of the Apostles, and as a doctor. Saint Luke was born in Antioch and was considered one of the 70 apostles chosen by the Lord Himself. During the suffering of the Lord, after the defeat of the Shepherd, the sheep of the flock scattered and Saint Luke abandoned the Lord. When the news of the resurrection of the Savior reached Luke, he did not believe the joy and wondered. From such a confused state the Lord Himself brought him out, appearing to him on the road to Emmaus. The Savior walked with Luke and Cleopas to Emmaus unrecognized and convinced them of the truth of His resurrection with the words of Holy Scripture. Then He revealed Himself to them during the breaking of bread and became invisible. After the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, Saint Luke, in the rank of bishop, was a co-worker of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in spreading the Christian faith.