How do we cope with a serious illness? | Met. Neophytos of Morphou

[Question]: What do you have to say about the serious illnesses that afflict some people. I think you’ve already given some answers, but feel free to elaborate further. A related question: Today, self-confidence and faith in ourselves are considered an asset. Our Church teaches humility. Are these two ideas contradictory, or can they co-exist?

There are some additional questions: Our Church teaches that after death, “there is no repentance in Hades” and that memorial services provide only some consolation to the souls of the departed. Will this consolation only last until the end of [unintelligible] Church, since there will no longer be memorial services after that? I wrote down a similar question: Do memorial services merely comfort the souls of the departed, or do they actually improve their state? Can we even save souls with our prayers? There is one final question: Are there any cases where the prayers of the living saved the souls of the departed? These questions are all similar related.

[His Eminence]: Regarding serious illnesses, they offer people suffering from them an opportunity for holiness. As we mentioned earlier, in our times, illness can be a path to acquire humility. And this is not something new. Going back to the time of St. Isaac, [the Holy Fathers] have continually taught this truth. In addition, illness is not only an opportunity for holiness for the sufferer, but also for those around them. For those who put up with them, who show empathy to them, offer hope and courage, pray for them, who guide them to go to church. For example, in Cyprus, many people who fell ill with cancer learned to attend confession, even though before their illness, they wanted nothing to do with such matters, let alone with priests. Thus, illness — whether minor or severe — is a great blessing. The more severe the illness, the greater the blessing.

Let me share something important there. This is a very important question, we only briefly discussed earlier. Consider another example from the life of Saint Evmenios the Leper, a disciple of St. Nikephoros [the Leper]. He was only 24 years old at the time. Back then, Venizelos (Greek politician) had passed a law requiring all monks to serve in the military, (Today, monks are exempt from military service in Greece.) The military would shave their long beards and take them into the army. So he did. Even though he was a monk, he went to serve in the army. He was stationed in Thessaloniki. There, he began to develop large lesions on his body, and he told me that the pain was so severe it felt as if someone had placed a rake on his back and was tearing his flesh down. Such pain! A doctor examined him and said, “You are a monk, and yet you have an STD?” “What’s STD?” he asked. “You slept with a woman.” “What are you talking about, my doctor?” he said, “I am a virgin. You are mistaken.”

Then another doctor came in, examined him properly, he gave the correct diagnosis: “Geronda, you have Hansen’s disease — you have leprosy. “The medical team will come to get you and send you to the anti-leprosy station,” which existed back then in Aigaleo. That’s where I first met him, in Aigaleo, at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. I asked him, “Geronda, how did you react when you heard this?” Listen to what he told me: “I was so happy that I fell off the bed onto the floor. “Lord, have mercy,” I said. Did you really do that?” “Of course,” he replied. “Why were you so happy?” I asked. “Because great illness [means] a great visitation from God. “I was so happy that I started crying and saying, ‘My Christ, how can You love me so much?’ “Remember this,” he told me. “Great illness [means] great Cross (i.e. hardship). “And great Cross [means] great Resurrection!”

That’s why when people come to me for confession, I don’t impose strict fasts or heavy penances. Instead, I tell them, “Find an abandoned elderly person — someone not related to you — and visit them either at their home or in a retirement house. Care for them, take them on a trip or a pilgrimage, help them go to confession, bathe them. That’s the right way. “Or, if that is too difficult, go to a hospital and do simpler tasks — but know that the reward [by God] will be less. You will simply be offering some consolation [to the sick]. However, know that the first option is far greater.”

On Mount Athos, the Athonites [monks] say something striking — especially in the sketes, which are [even] stricter [than the monasteries]. Let me share it, but don’t misunderstand me. [I’ll say it] for you to see how “practical” Orthodoxy truly is. [They say], “If you don’t ‘eat’ an old man’s shit (i.e. to clean him), you will never become an elder.” That’s how important it is to take care of an elderly person, that’s how important it is to serve a sick person.

Think about St. Evmenios, who took care of so many old people, including St. Nikephoros. That’s why God blessed him with such extraordinary grace. St. Porphyrios once told me, “How can anyone consider me a saint? Have they not heard of Evmenios? He is far above me. He is a hidden saint.” Because he embraced his illness and served those in pain, the ones who were abandoned by the rest of the world.

Now, onto a second example that leads us to the next questions concerning the souls of the departed. I know a modern-day saint, I won’t share his name. Like me, he was a spiritual child of Holy Elder Evmenios but managed to make [spiritual] progress, unlike me. All I do is give homilies. He doesn’t preach. Listen to his story. You know, he listens to all my homilies and later calls to say, “You spoke well here,” or “You should have been gentler there.” He [even] critiques me. He knows I am here with you now and I always ask for his blessing before I talk to people. He is my age. He is a monk, just a monk. He is adopted. He met St. Evmenios and began visiting him. Let’s call him, “George” for this story.

George kept visiting him and he made progress in noetic prayer, the prayer of the heart but he yearned for more. He understood that he could make even more [spiritual] progress. So he said, “Geronda [Evmenios], tell me something more to do, not just inner life, something ‘outer’ too.” “Well, if you want to do something outer, find an abandoned elderly man near you — one whose children don’t take care of, who can’t afford a retirement home — and become his nurse.” So George obeyed. He found an old man, he would cook for him every day, he would clean his house and bathe him. All those things we said earlier.

Every time he did that, his inner prayer grew. He realized that Christ added [extra] grace to him for the ministry he did to the sick and abandoned old man. Soon he said, “Father Evmenios, can I take on one more elderly man?” “Certainly.” After the second came a third — and, [mind you], he worked full-time, he wasn’t unemployed. He took care of the elderly from the evening and on. At some point, he was serving nine elderly men –bathing, cleaning and feeding them all. He had to ask other people to help him at least with the cooking. But George personally handed the most demanding tasks.

When the elderly men he served became nine, he heard Christ in his heart. Recall the prayer of Holy Communion which says, “You converse with them as with dear friends” St. Symeon the New Theologian says this. Christ speaks this to the hearts of those who strive to imitate His humility. And Christ told him, “My George, ask anything of Me.” “And I was able to tell,” he said, “that this was the voice of the Lord.” And I said, “My Christ, I want you to show me, even for just a minute, show me what we call ‘hell’ — what is it truly? What is hell? And then, I want you to show me heaven too.” And Christ showed him how hell and how heaven is. I had him write these down for me.

“I was astonished,” George said. “The same Light that flows from the Holy Trinity and passes through the Panagia, …” – This is why we call her, “Theotokos and Mother of Light” – this [same] Light is received as light by the righteous and they are comforted and enlightened by it. It fills them with knowledge and information on questions they have as human that they are. Yet this same Light to those who are not righteous, who didn’t humble themselves during their lives, who died without repenting, [this Light] is received as a fire that burns their conscience. The same Light again! God isn’t punishing them, it’s just they are not receptive of the Light. That’s what hell is.

That’s why we hear at an Exapostilarion “Light is the Father, light is the Word, light is the Holy Spirit.” We should pay attention to what is said in the hymns. Our hymns aren’t poetry — they’re revealed truth, written from experience.