The Entrance of the Theotokos

On November 21st of every year, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple.  The Feast commemorates the entrance of the Virgin Mary into the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem when she was three years of age.  Having been dedicated to God by her aged parents, Joachim and Anna, she remained in the Temple until she reached womanhood and was betrothed to the elderly widower, Joseph, who protected the Virgin chosen to be the Mother of God.  In a beautiful sermon, St. Gregory Palamas sets forth the Virgin Mary as an example of a healthy soul who attained to the heights of the spiritual life.  Here is an excerpt from that sermon:


"With profound understanding she listened to the writings of Moses and the revelations of the other prophets when, every Saturday, all the people gathered outside, as the Law ordained.  She learnt about Adam and Eve and everything that happened to them: how they were brought out of non-being, settled in paradise and given a commandment there; about the evil one's ruinous counsel and the resulting theft; about their expulsion from paradise on that account, the loss of immortality and the change to this way of life full of pain.  In addition, she saw that as time passed, life continued under the inherited curse and grew even worse, God's creature made in His image was estranged from the Creator and became more and more closely associated with the one who had evilly schemed to crush him.  (Alas for the evil one's power over us and his insatiable rage against us!  Woe to our insensitivity and our inclination to return to the earth!)  No one was capable of putting an end to this impulse which brings destruction on all men alike, or to the uncheckable rush of our race towards hell.  When the holy Virgin Maid heard and understood this, she was filled with pity for humanity and, with the aim of finding a remedy to counteract this great affliction, she resolved at once to turn with her whole mind to God.  She took it upon herself to represent us, to constrain Him Who is above compulsion, and quickly draw Him towards us, that He might remove the curse from among us, halt the advance of the fire burning men's souls, weaken our enemies, answer our prayers, shine upon us with light that never sets and, having healed our sickness, unite His creatures with Himself."


I highly recommend that Orthodox Christians read the sermon in its entirety for their edification.




St. Gregory Palamas, "On the Entrance into the Holy of Holies II," Mary the Mother of God: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas, ed. by Christopher Veniamin (South Canaan, PA: Mount Thabor Publishing, 2005), 41.

St. Luke the Surgeon on Science and Religion

St. Luke of Simferpol and Crimea served as a bishop, scientist, medical doctor, surgeon, professor of medicine, and author.  His Notes on Purulent Surgery, first published in 1934, may be considered his most significant literary contribution to the surgical arts.  You can read about the life of St. Luke, called "the Blessed Surgeon," on the Full of Grace and Truth blog.  Information is also available on Orthodoxwiki.  The book, The Blessed Surgeon (2nd edition), provides a relatively detailed account of his life.


In an article on "Science and Religion," St. Luke commented on the relationship between science and Orthodox spirituality, true religion. The words of the Blessed Surgeon are relevant today for Orthodox Christians who work in scientific, academic, and/or medical environments steeped in secularism, wherein there is much ignorance regarding the limitation of science and the distinction between scientific knowledge of the rational mind and the theological knowledge of the heart.


St. Luke wrote, 


"We are certain that apart from the material world there is an infinite and incomparably superior spiritual world. We believe in the existence of spiritual beings that have higher intellect than us humans. We believe wholeheartedly that above this spiritual and material world there is the Great and Almighty God.

What we doubt is the right of science to research with its methods the spiritual world. Because the spiritual world cannot be researched with the methods used to research the material world. Such methods are totally inappropriate to research the spiritual world.

How do we know that there is a spiritual world? Who told us that it exists? If we are asked by people who do not believe in the Divine revelation, we shall answer them thus: 'Our heart told us'. For there are two ways for one to know something, the first is that which is spoken by Haeckel, which is used by science to learn of the material world. There is however another way that is unknown to science, and does not wish to know it. It is the knowledge through the heart. Our heart is not only the central organ of the circulation system, it is an organ with which we know the other world and receive the highest knowledge. It is the organ that gives us the capability to communicate with God and the above world. Only in this we disagree with science.

Praising the great successes and achievements of science, we do not doubt at all its great importance and we do not confine the scientific knowledge. We only tell the scientists "You do not have the capability with your methods to research the spiritual world, we however can with our heart.

There are many unexplainable phenomena which concern the spiritual world that are real (as are some type of material phenomena). There are therefore phenomena that science will never be able to explain because it does not use the appropriate methods.

Let science explain how the prophecies appeared on the coming of the Messiah, which were all fulfilled. Could science tell us how the great prophet Isaiah, some 700 years before the birth of Christ, foretold the most important events in His life and for which he was named the evangelist of the Old Testament? To explain the far sighted grace possessed by the saints and to tell us with which physical methods the saints inherited this grace and how they could understand the heart and read the thoughts of a person they had just met for the first time? They would see a person for the first time and they will call him by his name. Without waiting for the visitor to ask, they would answer on what troubled him.

If they can, let them explain it to us. Let them explain with what method the saints foretold the great historical events which were accurately fulfilled as they were prophesied. Let them explain the visitation from the other world and the appearance of the dead to the living.

They shall never explain it to us because they are too far from the basis of religion- from faith. If you read the books of the scientists who try to reconstruct religion, you will see how superficially they look at things. They do not understand the essence of religion yet they criticize it. Their criticism does not touch the essence of faith, since they are unable to understand the types, the expressions of religious feeling. The essence of religion they do not understand. Why not? Because the Lord Jesus Christ says 'No one can come to me unless My Father who sent Me draws him to Me.' (John 6:44)

So it is necessary that we be drawn by the Heavenly Father, it is necessary that the grace of the Holy Spirit enlighten our heart and our mind. To dwell in our heart and mind through this enlightenment, the Holy Spirit and the ones who were found worthy to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, those in whose heart lives Christ and His Father, know the essence of faith. The others, outside the faith cannot understand anything."




Source of quote here.  The image is from Orthodoxwiki.  This icon was authored by Father Daniel from the Holy Hesychastirio of Daniel the Katounakian, Mount Athos and is kept at the Holy Church of St. Paraskevi, Koropi, Attica of Greece.  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

More on the Physicians of the Church

Visit the Full of Grace and Truth blog for a post including information on many of the Physicians of the Church.  The post provides an impressive list of Saints who practiced the healing arts according to the Orthodox Christian Faith and in the context of the ancient Church.  You can also look under the Holy Unmercenaries label on the same site for valuable information.  The Saints serve as role models for those in the medical field who desire to care for their patients with love and prayer and contribute to the healing of the whole person, body and soul.

St. Tryphon

St. Tryphon of Lampsacus is one of the Unmercenary Physicians of the Church.   Listen to an account of his life on Ancient Faith Radio.  

A written account of his life is available on the OrthodoxChristian.info website.

St. Mary of Egypt: A Story of Tranformation

There are so many men and women in our generation who suffer from enslavement to the pleasures of the body.  The story of our Holy Mother Mary of Egypt shows us the symptoms and effects of such illness, the reality that spiritual therapy can be difficult and take a long time, the connection between fasting from food and control of other aspects of one's life, and the depth of healing and transformation available through the Orthodox Way of Life.  You can hear an audio account of St. Mary's life on Ancient Faith Radio.  A written account of her life is available on the website of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.  Another icon of her can be viewed on the same website.  Here is an article I wrote on St. Mary of Egypt a few years ago:

A hiermonk (priest-monk) named Zosimas walked deep into the Palestinian desert to spend several weeks alone in prayer and fasting. While there, he hoped to find a man of superior holiness who could help him with his own spiritual struggle. On his twentieth day in the wilderness, as he was praying, he saw a creature whose form resembled a human being. It was thin and naked. It had dark skin that looked as though it had been darkened by the sun and white hair that fell just below the shoulders. It was a woman. He ran after her. When he approached her she told him that she couldn’t turn around because she was a woman and naked. Zosimas gave her his cloak. After covering her body she turned around, addressed Zosimas by name, and recognized him as a priest, although he was dressed in the simple clothing of a monk.

Believing that God had led him into the desert to meet her, Zosimas begged the woman to tell him her story. Although ashamed of her past, she spoke to him about the life she once lived and how she came to reside in the desert.

She was a native Egyptian. Leaving her parents at the age of twelve, she traveled to the city of Alexandria, where she lost her virginity, became enslaved to lustful passions, and gladly fed her all-consuming desire for sexual pleasure. Her income came from begging and spinning flax, not prostitution. Even though men offered to pay her for her services she refused the money. She didn’t sleep with them for the money. She enjoyed it.

One summer she saw a group of Egyptians and Libyans heading toward the shore to board a ship that would carry them to Jerusalem where they could venerate the Precious and Life-giving Cross upon which Jesus Christ had been crucified. She wanted to go on the trip, not as a spiritual pilgrimage, but to find more men with whom she could satisfy her appetite for sexual pleasure. Since she didn’t have any money, she offered her body as payment. Not only did she seduce men onboard the ship, but after reaching land she continued to seek out lovers among both the residents of Jerusalem and foreigners who were visiting the city. Even on the holy feast day of the Exaltation of the Cross she was still looking for young men to take to bed.

She noticed that the people around her began making their way to the church to see the lifting up of the Precious Cross. She followed them there, but when she tried to enter the church she was stopped by an invisible force. Unable to pass through the door, she was swept aside by the crowd. Thinking that her problem was caused by some kind of womanly weakness, she tried using her elbows to push her way through the people. Again, while everyone else passed beside her to go inside, she was unable to enter as though a detachment of soldiers were guarding the way. After three or four attempts, exhausted, without strength for another try, she walked to the corner of the porch and stood alone.

Why couldn’t she enter the church to see the Life-giving Cross? The reason became apparent to her. She had been barred from the church because of her sinful lifestyle. The filth of sin had polluted her soul. As the eyes of her heart opened to see her shameful way of life, she cried tears of repentance and beat her breast in deep sorrow.

Looking up, she saw above her an icon of the Virgin Mary. In desperation she prayed,

O Lady, Mother of God, who gave birth in the flesh to God the Word, I know that it’s no honor or praise to you when one as impure and depraved as I am looks upon your icon, O ever-virgin, who kept your body and soul in purity. I justifiably inspire hatred and disgust in the presence of your virginal purity, but I’ve heard that God, who was born of you, became a man for the purpose of calling sinners to repentance. So, help me, because I have no other help. Order that the entrance of the church be opened to me. Let me see the Tree, worthy of honor, on which He who was born of you suffered in the flesh and on which He shed His holy blood for the redemption of sinners and for me, unworthy as I am. Be my faithful witness before your Son that I will never again defile my body by the impurity of fornication. As soon as I have seen the Tree of the Cross, I will renounce the world and its temptations and will go wherever you will lead me.

After her prayer, she walked into the crowd. The same force which once prevented her from entering the church seemed to clear her way. She explained to Zosimas what she saw when she entered the church: “I saw the Life-giving Cross. I also saw the Mysteries of God and how the Lord accepts repentance.”

When she left the church, she asked the Virgin Mary to lead her down the path to repentance. She heard a voice speak these words: “If you cross the Jordan you will find glorious rest.” Leaving behind her sinful life, she began living a life of repentance motivated and guided by the Holy Spirit.

By the time Zosimas met this woman, whose name was Mary, she had lived in the desert beyond the Jordan River about forty-seven years. During her first seventeen years in the desert she fought the wild beasts of her passions, the self-centered desires for pleasure that once kept her heart far from God. He past life haunted her. Those old unspiritual songs she once sung with enthusiasm remained fresh in her memory. They confused her mind. Sometimes she was tempted to start singing them again. The sexual appetite she once glutinously satisfied sought to regain control of her soul. “A fire was kindled in my miserable heart that seemed to consume me and to make me thirsty for embraces.” Through a spiritual lifestyle, including fasting and prayer, she overcame the evil passions, was healed of her self-inflicted wounds, and received the purifying grace of God.

St. Mary of Egypt, who fell asleep in the Lord in 522 AD, is a woman that our generation should get to know. So many young men and women in our own time can relate to her before she turned her life around through repentance. How many Americans are inflicting spiritual wounds upon themselves, desecrating the sanctity of their bodies, defiling the image of God within them, and following self-centered passions that lead them farther and farther away from the beauty of Paradise? There are so many young people in America who accept lustful passions and behaviors as “natural,” although they are really corruptions of our human nature that are contrary to sexual wholeness and spiritual life. Our culture, ignorant of the true and living God, accepts and promotes sexual sins that damage the soul, while ridiculing the pure and innocent. The sickness of American culture has caused a great deal of confusion and pain in our generation.

The life of St. Mary offers hope for those who have ripped and stained their virginal purity and lay in despair. Through repentance, turning to the loving God who heals, restores, and transforms, they can throw off their ruined garments and be clothed once again with the radiant garments of purity and holiness. No matter how distant they find themselves from God and how much they have been enslaved to sinful passions, God will meet them where they are and set them free. They can leave behind their sins and begin a life renewed by the Spirit. Through a lifestyle of repentance, the passions calm so that the temporary pleasures of the body lose their luster compared to the pleasure of union with the One who bestows every good and perfect thing upon us.

St. Mary was led into the desert. Does this mean that everyone who leaves behind a lifestyle of sexual sin will need to live the rest of his or her life alone in a deserted place? No, the desert is not for everybody. Perhaps God will lead some people in our generation away from society into the wilderness to live alone as hermits. Maybe He will draw some into monastic communities to fast and pray with others dedicated to the same kind of life. As God knew what St. Mary needed to overcome her sins, He knows what each one of us personally needs to overcome ours. Most people will probably live their lives of repentance while remaining in society. Instead of escaping to the wilderness or a monastery, some will remain unmarried, finding refuge in the life of a parish. For others, a marriage blessed by the Church and nurtured within the Church will be their path of salvation. Marriage is a relationship in which a husband and wife can repent of their past sins together and express their sexuality with one another in love and purity, without sin or shame.

St. Mary’s personal story involves repentance from sexual sins in particular, but she’s a model of repentance in general. Her life encourages us to repent of every kind of sin that afflicts us and draws us from God, in whose image we have been made. No matter what particular sins we find ourselves committing, repentance leads us to healing and wholeness. St. Mary shows us how to leave behind everything that hinders our spiritual health and growth, and to stay on the path to Paradise. Although she struggled violently against her former ways of thinking and acting for many years before she overcame them, she kept the Faith, remained in prayer, and stayed on course, guided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. Healing sometimes takes time, but the Great Physician of our souls is always with us to care for us through the process. Let’s follow St. Mary’s example and ask her to prayerfully intercede with Christ, our God, on our behalf.

O Thou who searches the depths of our heart, who hast foreseen all things concerning us before we came into existence, Thou hast delivered from a life of bondage the woman who fled to Thee, O Saviour; and with never-silent voice she cries out to Thy tender love: ‘O ye priests bless Him, and ye people exalt Him above all for ever.’

O holy transformation, that brought thee to a better way of life! O godlike love that hated carnal pleasures! O burning faith in God! We bless thee, Mary worthy of all praise, and we exalt thee above all for ever.

O holy Mary, thou hast received the recompense for thy toil, and the due reward for all the labours whereby thou hast cast down the vengeful enemy. And now thou singest with the angels, crying aloud with never-silent voice and exalting Christ above all for ever. (Triodion)

The complete story of St. Mary of Egypt, as recorded by St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, can be found at monochos.net. An abbreviated version of the story is printed in First Fruits of Prayer by Frederica Mathewes-Green, Paraclete Press, 2006.

Copyright © 2006 by Dana S. Kees. (The verses quoted at the end of this essay are from Vespers and Matins of the Fifth Sunday of Lent on which we celebrate the memory of Our Holy Mother, Mary of Egypt, canticle 8, 2nd canon, taken from the Lenten Triodion, St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2001. The icon of St. Mary of Egypt is from the IconoGraphics ColorWorks Library, Theologic Systems, Theologic.com. Used by permission.)

St. Sampson the Hospitable of Constantinople

"Sampson was born of wealthy and eminent parents in old Rome where he studied all the secular sciences of that time and dedicated himself particularly to the science of medicine. Sampson was compassionate and an unmercenary and administered cures to the sick, both body and soul, counseling everyone to fulfill the requirements of the Christian Faith. Afterward he moved to Constantinople where he lived in a small house from which he dispensed alms, comfort, counsel, hope and medicine to all just as the sun disperses its rays of light and, in general, gave help to the helpless, both spiritually and physically. The patriarch heard of the great virtues of this man and ordained him a priest. At that time, Emperor Justinian the Great became ill and his illness, according to the conviction of all physicians, was incurable. The emperor prayed to God with great fervency and God revealed in a dream to him that Sampson would heal him. And indeed, when the emperor learned of Sampson, he invited him to his court and just as the elder placed his hand on the ailing place, the emperor recovered. When the emperor offered him enormous wealth for this, Sampson thanked him and did not want to accept anything saying to him: 'O Emperor, even I had gold and silver and other goods, but I left all for the sake of Christ in order to gain eternal heavenly goods.' But when the emperor insisted on doing something for him, holy Sampson implored the emperor to build him a home [hospice] for the poor. In this home Sampson served the poor as a parent serves his children. Mercy toward the poor and the helpless was natural to him. Finally, this saintly man, completely filled with heavenly power and goodness, reposed peacefully on June 27, 530 A.D. and was interred in the church of his relative, the holy martyr Mocius. After his death, Sampson appeared many times to those who called upon him for assistance."

This account of the life of St. Sampson is from The Prologue of Ohrid (June 27), Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America website. 

You can also hear about the life of St. Sampson on an Ancient Faith Radio podcast.

St. Symeon the New Theologian: Overcoming Depression

Listen to Fr. John McGuckin speak about St. Symeon the New Theologian on the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN).  Fr. John comments on St. Symeon's very simple instructions for overcoming depression through prayer.

You can read about the life of St. Symeon the New Theologian on the OrthodoxChristian.info website.

St. Innocent of Alaska - Spiritual Sickness, Pain, and Healing

"Finally let us say why we cannot possibly avoid the narrow way into the Kingdom of Heaven.  a) Because in every man there is sin, and sin is a wound that does not heal by itself, without medicines; and in the case of some people this wound is so deep and dangerous that it can be healed only by cauterization and amputation.  That is why no one can be cleansed of his sins without spiritual sufferings.  b) Sin is the most horrible impurity and abomination in the eyes of God; but nothing abominable, vile, and unclean can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Wherever you put a person suffering from an internal disease or oppressed with cruel sorrow, he will suffer, even if he is put in the most magnificent palace; that is because his disease and sorrow are always and everywhere with him and in him.  It is the same in the case of a sinner who is impenitent and not cleansed of sins -- wherever you put him, he will suffer even in Paradise itself, because the cause of his suffering (i.e., sin) is in his heart.  To a sinner everywhere will be hell.  On the other hand, whoever feels real, heartfelt joy will rejoice both in a palace and in a hut, and even in prison, because his joy is in his heart.  So too for a righteous man whose heart is filled with consolations of the Holy Spirit, wherever he may be, everywhere will be Paradise because the Kingdom of Heaven is within us (Luke 17:21).  However much you cut off the branches of a living tree, it will not die, but will against produce new branches and in order to destroy it completely you must tear it out of the ground by its roots.  In exactly the same way, you cannot destroy sin from the human heart by lopping off or giving up a few vices or habits; and therefore whoever wishes to destroy sin from the heart must tear out the actual root of sin.  But the root of sin is deeply embedded in the human heart and firmly attached to it, and therefore it is quite impossible to eradicate it without pain.  And unless the Lord had sent us the Great Physician, Jesus Christ, no one could have destroyed the root of sin, and all efforts and attempts to do so would have proved absolutely futile."

This selection is from Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven by St. Innocent of Alaska (Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 2006), 29-30.  This text was originally written in the Aleut language.

Read about the life of St. Innocent of Alaska (OCA.org) or listen to an account of his life on Ancient Faith Radio.


The above icon of St. Innocent is from the website of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA.org).  The OCA is a jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church with strong historical and cultural connections to the Russian Orthodox Church.

St. Nektarios the Wonderworker

St. Nektarios the Wonderworker is an Orthodox Saint whose intercessions are sought by those seeking healing from cancer.  You may listen to an account of his life on Ancient Faith Radio.  A brochure on "St. Nectarius the Wonderworker: Patron of Cancer Sufferers" is available from the All Saints of North America Orthodox Church (OCA) in Ontario, Candada.

Saint-Nectarios-of-Aegina.org has provided several valuable resources, including a biographical account with photos and the text of Saint Nektarios: The Saint of Our Century.

Part of a Paraclesis (supplicatory service) to St. Nektarios sung by the Boston Byzantine Choir can be found on Youtube.

Here is a selection from the "Akathist to St. Nectarios, Wonderworker of Aegina and Pentapolis":

Kontakion 12

 
Multitudes of the faithful from all lands continually flee to your shrine, O holy one, and from your precious relics faithfully obtain divine grace and answers for their every petition. O Father, as you know how, fulfill you also the petitions of those who now cry: Alleluia!

 

Ikos 12

 
Singing praises we glorify you, O all-praised Nektarios; for in you God Who is glorified in the Trinity is wonderfully glorified. But even if we were to offer you a multitude of psalms and hymns composed from the soul, O holy wonderworker, we should do nothing to equal the gift of your miracles, and amazed by them we cry unto you:
Rejoice, you who conquered all the snares of the Evil One;
Rejoice, you who were sanctified both in soul and body!
Rejoice, speedy helper of those in need;
Rejoice, restoration of health to the sick!
Rejoice, healer of diseases by the Grace of God;
Rejoice, helper of those that suffer cruelly!
Rejoice, O Father Nektarios, model of patience and lover of virtue.

 

Kontakion 13 [3 times]

As a partaker in the life of heaven and a dweller with the angels, O Father Nektarios, in that you labored to please God, accept our present offering, and unceasingly intercede for your flock and for all the Orthodox who honor you, that we may be healed of all diseases of both body and soul, that together with you in the eternal Kingdom we may unceasingly cry: Alleluia!

Unmercenary Physicians Cyrus and John

You can listen to an account of the lives of Sts. Cyrus and John the Unmercenary Physicians (martyred c. AD 304) on an Ancient Faith Radio podcast.

Also, read about the lives of Sts. Cyrus and John on the OCA website. 

They are commemorated every year on January 31st.

Great Martyr Anastasia, Deliverer from Potions

St. Anastasia "went from city to city ministering to Christian prisoners. Proficient in the medical arts of the time, she zealously cared for captives far and wide, healing their wounds and relieving their suffering. Because of her labors, St. Anastasia received the name Deliverer from Potions (Pharmakolytria), since by her intercessions she healed many from the effects of potions, poisons, and other harmful substances." (Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese/OCA)

The Orthodox Church commemorates the Great Martyr Anastasia on December 22nd.

Read more about the life of St. Anastasia on the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) website or listen to an account of her life on Ancient Faith Radio.

Holy Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian

Among the Unmercenary Physicians of the Orthodox Church are three sets of brothers named Cosmas and Damian:  Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Cilicia (Arabia) (Oct. 17), Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor or Mesopotamia (Nov. 1), and Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Rome (July 1).  These links go to accounts of their lives on the website of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA).

You can also listen to accounts of the lives of Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Cilicia and Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Rome on an Ancient Faith Radio podcast.

St. Theodeta, whose life is briefly mentioned on the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese website, is the mother of the twin Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor.


Icon: IconoGraphics ColorWorks Collection, TheoLogic Systems, Theologic.com

Orthodox Christian Medical Care in the Eastern Roman Empire

“From their origins in the fourth century until 1453 Byzantine hospitals were conceived as expressions of Christian charity. They carried out in the real world the orthodox doctrine regarding philanthropic medicine. When Basil the Great opened his extensive charitable institution—his ptochotropheion—outside Caesarea, he saw its medical services as the deepest possible expressions of philanthropia. As Greagory of Nazianz phrased it, one could see there love put to the test in their treatment of disease. John Chrysostom built his hospitals in Constantinople 'for the glory of Christ' and staffed them with ascetics who viewed their service to the sick as a religious duty. Sampson, the legendary physician of the Eastern capital, founded his hospital on the principles of the physicians’ profession and on the divine laws which Christ laid down. Even after Justinian introduced the archiatroi of the ancient pagan profession in the Christian xenones, a step which encouraged lay professionals to enter hospital service at all levels on the staff, the religious mission of the nosokomeion was never forgotten. When, about 800, Theodore Stoudites described a large nosokomeion with a complete staff of physicians and nurses, he emphasized that all the doctors from the chief physicians to the practical nurses strove to follow the divine plan of philanthropia. When John II Komnenos established the Pantokrator Xenon in the twelfth century, he prayed that it would always be a fountain of mercy, a refuge for men and women, a pure offering to the Lord. Moreover, John hoped that the philanthropia which he displayed in founding this hospital would attain for him the forgiveness of his many sins. The emperor also reminded the physicians, medical assistants (hypourgoi), and servants of the Pantokrator that they should never neglect patients, since Christ, the Creator of All, considered these sick his beloved brethren. Thus, John wanted the monks and the lay staff of the Pantokrator complex to care not only for the buildings he had built—the lifeless temples—but especially for the patients of the hospital—the living temples of God.”

Note: Philanthopia – “love toward mankind”

Source: Timothy S. Miller, The Birth of the Hospital in the Byzantine Empire (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985), 61-62.

(The image is a copy of the Hippocratic Oath from the Byzantine Empire.)

Great Martyr Panteleimon, the Unmercenary Physician

The Great Martyr Panteleimon (martyred c. AD 305) is one of the great Unmercenary Physicians of the Orthodox Church. Listen to an account of the life of St. Panteleimon on Ancient Faith Radio or read an account of his life on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese website.

An Akathist to Great Martyr-Healer Panteleimon, a service through which we ask for the intercessions of St. Panteleimon on behalf of the sick for the healing of their souls and bodies, is available online.  The text has been made available as a PDF file by St. Barbara Antiochian Orthodox Church in Costa Mesa, CA. 

Here is a selection from the Akathist:

Possessed by a storm of polytheistic thoughts, the impious Emperor was confused on learning from the doctors who
were jealous of thee that thou healest all kinds of incurable illnesses by the name of Christ. And we, glorifying with gladness our wonderful God in thee, cry to Him: Alleluia! (Kontakion 4)

Most Holy Saint and Martyr Panteleimon-the-Healer, intercede to the Most Merciful God for [Name(s)] for the healing of his (or her, their) soul(s) and body (bodies).

When the people of Nicomedia heard of thy great compassion for the suffering and of thy free healing of all illnesses, all rushed to thee with faith in the healing Grace in thee, and receiving swift healing of all their diseases they glorified God and magnified thee, their most gracious healer, crying to thee:

Rejoice, thou who art anointed with the myrrh of Grace!
Rejoice, sanctified temple of God!
Rejoice, great glory of the pious!
Rejoice, firm wall of the oppressed!
Rejoice, thou who surpassest the wise in knowledge!
Rejoice, thou who enlightenest the thoughts of the faithful!
Rejoice, recipient of divine gifts
     and source of many of the Lord’s mercies to us!
Rejoice, speedy helper of the suffering!
Rejoice, harbor of the storm-tossed!
Rejoice, instructor for those astray!
Rejoice, thou who dost heal the sick freely!
Rejoice, thou who dost impart healing abundantly!
Rejoice, Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon! (Ekos 4)

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, the Physician

"Luke was born in Antioch. In his youth, he excelled in his studies of Greek philosophy, medicine and art. During the ministry of the Lord Jesus on earth, Luke came to Jerusalem, where he saw the Savior face to face, heard His saving teaching and was witness to His miraculous works. Coming to belief in the Lord, St. Luke was numbered among the Seventy Apostles, and was sent out to preach. With Cleopas, he saw the resurrected Lord on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24). After the descent of the Holy Spirit, Luke returned to Antioch and there became a fellow worker of the Apostle Paul and traveled to Rome with him, converting Jews and pagans to the Christian Faith. Luke, the beloved physician, … greets you, writes the Apostle Paul to the Colossians. (Colossians 4:14). At the request of Christians, he wrote his Gospel in about the year 60. Following the martyrdom of the great Apostle Paul, St. Luke preached the Gospel throughout Italy, Dalmatia, Macedonia and other regions. He painted icons of the Most-holy Theotokos-not just one, but three-and icons of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Hence, St. Luke is considered to be the founder of Christian iconography. In old age, he visited Libya and Upper Egypt. From Egypt he returned to Greece, where he continued to preach and convert many with great zeal despite his old age. In addition to his Gospel, St. Luke wrote the Acts and dedicated both works to Theophilus, the governor of Achaia. Luke was eighty-four years old when the wicked idolaters tortured him for the sake of Christ and hanged him from an olive tree in the town of Thebes, in Boethia. The miracle-working relics of this wonderful saint were transported to Constantinople in the reign of Emperor Constantius, the son of Constantine."

The above account is from The Prologue of Ohrid by St. Nikolai of Zica, October 18th, website of the Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church (westsrbdio.org). You may also read an account of the life of the Apostle and Evangelist Luke on the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.