HEALTH AND SICKNESS IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHURCH AND HER HOLY FATHERS
/ZDRAVIE A CHOROBA V PONÍMANÍ CIRKVI A JEJ SVÄTÝCH OTCOV/

Peter KORMANIK

emeritus professor, secretary, Office of the Metropolitan Council of the Orthodox Church in Slovakia, Bayerova 8, 080 01 Presov, Slovakia, kormanik@orthodox.sk, 00421517724736

Abstract

The theme of health and sickness is perceived quite strongly in the Church. The Church looks at human health from several angles and constantly points out that the cause of most illnesses in man is his spiritual state of soul, which is also reflected in the state of the human body. In this article we seek to bring to bear the most important ideas of Holy Scripture, and of the Holy Fathers, which deal with man's mental and bodily health, as well as with his diseases in both spheres of his life, and with the most common causes of his morbid condition.

Keywords

Health, sickness, Church, Holy Fathers, Bible

SUMMARY

Health is understood in the teaching of the Holy Fathers as a great gift of God. Greater attention has always been paid not to the health of the body but to the health of the soul. Among the essentials of a truly healthy life, the Church Fathers include: peace in all things, peace of mind, an upright life of prayer, faith and love for God and neighbor, and physical labor. From the numerous documentary sources of ancient Christian authors we learn that the Christian ascetics enjoyed a very modest diet consisting of vegetables, fruit, bread and water, and even then not every day, and lived much longer, healthier lives, preserving strength of body and clarity of mind. Health-wise, they did not suffer from so many diseases and were immune to contagions.

These and other numerous examples testify to the fact that in fact "man shall not live by bread alone," as Isus Christos says and that there are other (non-food) sources of energy that the human organism needs. The teachings of the Holy Fathers on the question of healthy existence value very highly the importance of physical work, which should be above all spiritual work, appropriate to the possibilities of the human being. If idleness were a good, then everything would be yielded by the earth unsown and uncultivated; but it does nothing of the kind. Sicknesses tend to be a test of patience and faith, but they are generally the result of our sins, beginning with original (grandparental) sin, and in this sense sickness is the beginning of physical death. In connection with the various spiritual causes of sickness, there may also be various appeals to God by the sufferers themselves, the sick. The Church, in praying during services for the healing of the sick, assumes that the act of faith and charity to which the Church witnesses in this prayer complements what the Lord wants from the soul of the sick person. And then the Lord heals him as well.

(Language: slovak)

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