Neurosis is not the only consequence of internal conflict, different
physical illnesses can also result. Nervous "lava" beats like a whip
on the vessels and bronchi, penetrates the stomach, squeezes the heart with a
steel fist. Scientists single out a special group of disorders, which are now
called psychosomatic, because nervous factors are one of the main
reasons for their occurrence.
Traditionally, the following illnesses are considered part of this group:
stomach ulcers and ulcers of the duodenum, hypertension, ischemia and bronchial
asthma. Lately the following have been added, not without basis: ulcerative
colitis, tireotoxicosis, myoma of the uterus, rheumatoid arthritis and a series
of other illnesses. Modern medicine considers that around 80% of all illnesses
are in one way or another associated with mental disorders.
The Ven. Ambrose of Optina wrote, in letters to laymen, that "illnesses
most often occur as a result of the anxious state of the soul." And the
Ven. Ephraim of Syria says: "The irate person kills and destroys his soul,
because his whole life is spent in confusion and is remote from peace. Peace is
alien to him, he is also a long way from health, because his body aches, and
his soul grieves, and his body wilts, and his face is pale, and his thought
betrays, and his reason is exhausted, and dark thoughts flow like a
river…"
Confusion and nervousness, as was mentioned earlier, often have sinful
roots. Sin, expanding in the depths of the spirit, conquers both the soul and
body of a person. The origin of psychosomatic pathology can be sketched as the
process of expression, or "materialization" of sin: sin — character —
illness. Obviously, this scheme should be applied carefully and not to all
cases.
But sometimes the Lord can permit an illness to test the faith of a person,
or for his spiritual perfection. It is enough to remember the great sorrows of
Job the Much-Suffering, the great patience of the Ven. Pimen the Much-Ailing,
the illnesses of the Ven. Seraphim of Sarov, or Ambrose of Optina and many
other sycophants of God.
Return to the first page
