It is clear that healing itself, while resulting from natural processes, actually comes from God.
St. Theophilus of Antioch brings this to the attention of Autolycus: "You may have fallen ill and lost weight, your strength and your appearance; but you found in God mercy and healing. You have regained your stature, your appearance and your strength; you do not know where your weight, appearance and strength had gone when they disappeared, neither do you know whence they were formed nor whence they came. But you will say: "They came from the food and the liquids that have gone through the blood. "Very well! But this too is the work of God who has made it so, He and no other."
Sirach already evoked these various notions: "Honor the physician with the honor due him, according to your need of him, for the Lord created him; for healing (the wisdom of the physician, according to the Hebrew text) comes from the Most High, and he will receive a gift from the king... The Lord created medicines from the earth, and a sensible man will not despise them...and He gave skill to men that He might be glorified in His marvelous works. By them He heals and takes away pain, the pharmacist makes of them a compound. His works will never be finished, and from Him health is upon the face of the earth." Sirach 38:1-8
The Christian attitude is thus diametrically opposed to naturalism and sees as an illusion the belief that the medical arts and remedies are, in and of themselves, good and effective means of healing. St. Barsanuphius emphasizes that 'without God, nothing avails, not even the physician." And he adds,
Do not forget that without God there is no healing for anyone.
That is why Christians, while they rely on physicians, see them simply as mediators. They call on them in the name of God, and it is through them, but from God, that they ask for healing. St. Barsanuphius writes the following: "Those who resort to physicians, may they resort to them while relying on God, saying:
It is in the name of God that we entrust ourselves to physicians, believing that He will grant us healing through them.
Likewise, when a Christian takes a prescription, he prays God that it might be effective. And once he is healed, he prays God again in thanksgiving.
Glory to Thee our God.
+ Glory to Thee for All Things +
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