On Illness - St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia

You may never hear more inspiring, humbling, and challenging words on illness, its purpose, and the best way we can face it. This excerpt from "Wounded by Love" exhibits his insatiable love for Christ, his wounded yet healed heart. St. Porphyrios knew about suffering with illness both by personal experience and his many years as a hospital chaplain in Athens.

The holy Elder suffered from the following illnesses: myocardial infarction (anterior diaphragm with lateral ischaemia), chronic kidney disease, duodenal ulcer (with repeated perforations), operated cataract (loss of lens and blindness), herpes zoster (shingles) on the face, staphylococcus dermatitis on the hand, inguinal hernia (frequently strangulated), chronic bronchitis and cancer of the pituitary gland. Cf. Dr. Georgios Papazachou in an article in the periodical Synaxis, 41 (Jan–Mar) 1992, 93.

This reading is from "Wounded by Love: The Life and the Witness of Saint Porphyrios", pp. 224-231

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St. Porphyrios teaches:

I thank God for granting me many illnesses. I often say to Him: ‘My Christ, Your love knows no limits!’

That’s why I do not pray for God to make me well. I pray for Him to make me good. I’m certain that God knows that I am in pain. But I pray for my soul, for God to forgive my transgressions.

I didn’t want to think about hell and about tollgates. I didn’t remember my sins, although I had many. I set them aside. I remembered only the love of God and was glad. And I made entreaty, "O my God, for the sake of your love, may I also be there. But if on account of my sins I must go to hell, may your love place me wherever it wishes. It is sufficient for me to be with You."

We benefit greatly from our illnesses, as long as we endure them without complaint and glorify God, asking for His mercy. When we become ill, the important thing is not that we don’t take medicines or that we go and pray to Saint Nektarios. We need also to know the other secret, namely, to struggle to acquire the grace of God. This is the secret. Grace will teach us all the other things, namely, how to abandon ourselves to Christ. That is, we ignore the illness, we do not think about it, we think about Christ, simply, imperceptibly and selflessly and God works His miracle for the good of our soul. Just as we say in the Divine Liturgy, "we commend all our life to Christ our God."
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