How an Atheist Cancer Patient Came to Believe in God...

By Antonios Tenedios (Skalohori, Mytilini, Greece)

MYSTAGOGY, ΑΠΑΝΤΑ ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΙΑΣ 

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ: Ένας άθεος καρκινοπαθής

Quite a few years ago the following real-life story took place. This story was told to me by my good friend, Fr. Demetrius, the parish priest of the St. Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church located at Sahtouri Street, Piraeus, Athens, Greece. I present this story to you just as it was narrated to me by Fr. Demetrius himself.

“One morning after the Divine Liturgy, I went to the Church office. A fifty year old man came in to talk to me. I did not know him neither had I ever seen him before in my Church. He spoke to me about a forty-two year old man who was admitted to the hospital in Piraeus, Athens, Greece. He was diagnosed with cancer. The disease had spread throughout his body and had metastasized into his brain. Following an examination, the doctors had told him that there nothing that could be done to save his life. He was taking large doses of medicine but they did not help him. This gentleman told me that the hospitalized man was a close relative of his. He requested that I go to the hospital as soon as possible in order to give him Holy Communion.

As requested, I went to the hospital to fulfill this obligation to administer Holy Communion to the sick man. As soon as I entered the patient’s room, it became apparent to me that he was in bad shape. It was further verified to me that the disease had spread to the brain and there was no chance of survival. His days were numbered. The patient was the only person in the room. The other bed was empty. At a certain point, the patient awakened from his coma and opened his eyes. He immediately saw me and with great difficulty told me the following story:

“My family admitted me to this hospital facility thirty-five days ago. An eighty year old man was already in the room that I was assigned to. This patient was suffering from bone cancer. He was suffering horrific pains. In spite of his pain, he would continuously pray: “Glory to you Oh God, Glory to you, Oh God” and this would be followed by a series of prayers. I was an atheist and I was hearing this for the first time in my life. I had never in my life stepped foot in a Church. This is why I became so startled when I observed that after saying his prayers he would calm down and sleep peacefully for two or three hours. But when he woke up again he would groan from unbearable pain. And then he continued to pray “Glory to You, Oh God!”

I was also groaning suffering from immense pain and yet he, in spite of his pain, continued to glorify God. But I, in my frustration from my pain blasphemed the name of Christ and His Holy Mother. The old man was actually thanking God for giving him cancer. Hearing him go on like this constantly and I, suffering my own pain, became upset with him. In addition to his constant praying, he would daily request to receive Holy Communion.

I, the filthy one, swore at him constantly. I would say to him “shut up, shut up finally! Can’t you see that the God that you glorify is torturing us severely with this cursed illness? What God? There is no God!” The old man would calmly hear me and reply: “He exists, my child, God does truly exist and He is a loving Father. Through the illness that He has given us, we are being cleansed of our many sins.” These replies of the old man made me angrier and I began once again to blaspheme both God and demons. I started yelling out and saying: “God does not exist! I don’t believe in anything; neither in God, His Heavenly Kingdom nor in the other world.”

 

Following this exchange between us, the old man would calmly reply: “Wait and you will see with your own eyes how the soul of a believing Christian is separated from his body. I am a sinner but the Grace of God will save me. Wait, you will see and believe!” He continued to glorify God and His Holy Mother. He would say a specific prayer that repeated the word “hail” for the Virgin Mary (taken from the Salutations of the Akathist Hymn). He also chanted the hymns “Oh Virgin, Birth-Giver of God” and “It is truly meet to bless you.”

At one point, he suddenly stopped praying and I heard him say: “Welcome, my guardian angel! I thank you for coming with such a resplendent party of angels to take my soul.” In great shock, I opened my eyes to see before me the heavenly host. The old man then made the sign of the Cross; crossed his arms on his chest and took his last breath. Suddenly the hospital room was filled with brilliant light that was brighter than ten suns. I, the unbeliever, the atheist, the materialist, saw this miracle with my own eyes. Then an extremely beautiful fragrance filled the room. I was dumbfounded by what I saw because I realized at that point that the old man was right all along.

I then called my parents and told them everything that I had witnessed and experienced. I angrily told them off because they had never spoken to me about the existence of God. I then invited my friends and relatives to come close to me and asked them to tell me everything about faith in God which I had never been taught by anyone. Dear Father, I now believe that God truly exists. This is why I am asking you to hear my confession and for you to give me Holy Communion.

GLORY TO GOD IN HIS SAINTS

 

Click:

 

Death is Unnatural
Death! Death! DEATH! (The Mystery and the Process of Death)

ATHEISM (tag)

We and the spirits of the departed 

A revelation on the torments of hell & the unworthy priest

The Way - An introduction to the Orthodox Faith 
Theosis (deification): The True Purpose of Human Life
Theosis, St. Silouan and Elder Sophrony

Why’s the smile of elder Joseph of Vatopedi from eternity?

LOVERS OF TRUTH: THE LIFE OF HIEROMONK SERAPHIM ROSE

A Deer Lost in ParadiseLIVE, BEYOND THE LIMITS!

OUR TALENT OF FREEDOM & SOME PITFALLS

The Mystery of the Touch of Saint Thomas and the Empirical Experience of the (Orthodox) Church

 

Icon from St. Simon of Cyrene Orthodox Mission

 

+ HIEROTHEOS of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiries 

Spiritual Travels in Greece

 

Beloved brethren, Christ is Risen!

The feast of the Resurrection of Christ, Pascha, is the central feast of the entire ecclesiastical year and the last of the Triodion and Great Lent, but also the beginning of another period that concludes with the great feast of Pentecost. This feast we celebrate today as well as throughout the entire period of the Pentecostarion, and every Sunday which is dedicated to the Resurrection of Christ.

Many events occurred on the first day of the Resurrection of Christ, as well as the days that followed. Christ appeared to His Disciples, who had prepared properly to see Him Risen and this appearance contributed to their salvation.

On the first day, late in the evening, the Risen Christ appeared to His Disciples, although Thomas was absent, and the next Sunday He appeared again to His Disciples in the Upper Room, with Thomas present. The Apostle Thomas wanted to put his finger on the mark of the nails and his hand on His side to be assured of His Resurrection. It is known that the nails of the crucifixion created wounds on the body of Christ and the lance opened His side from which flowed blood and water. For Thomas to see the wounds caused by the Cross and to touch them he considered it as an assurance of His Resurrection.

Christ, by His appearance after eight days, invited the Apostle Thomas to touch the wounds of His body and His side. This is the extreme humility – emptying of Christ, to accept to be touched, as well as His love towards man by satisfying all of his sacred desires. This is why in a hymn of the Church it is written: “Rejoice, investigator!”. In other words, Christ rejoices when we investigate. As soon as the Apostle Thomas saw Christ and heard His invitation to touch, he proclaimed: “My Lord and my God” (Jn. 20:19-29). This is a confession of the divinity of Christ with the vision of the Risen Body of Christ.

The Gospel of John does not confirm whether the Apostle Thomas touched the Risen Body of Christ, but it only records his confession.

However, in the hymns of the Church it is written that the Apostle Thomas confessed Christ, since previously he had touched the wounds of Christ created by the Cross. “Therefore, having touched and beheld, he confessed that Thou art an unabstract God, and an unsimple Man.” In another hymn it is written that the Apostle Thomas by “touching the side theologized the One incarnate”. He recognized that the Son of God suffered in the flesh and he preached the Risen God. Thus, in Orthodox theology the vision and touching of God are connected.

In another hymn it is written that John, who leaned on the breast of Christ, drew up from there the depth of theology, while Thomas was made worthy of the mystery of the divine economy by touching, that is, he came to know the mystery of the incarnation of Christ and he initiated us into it. Again, in another hymn it is written that Thomas, by putting his hand in the fiery side of Jesus Christ, was not burned by the touch, but the unbelief of his soul changed to verification.

The desire of the Apostle Thomas to see and touch the wounds of the body of Christ was not an unbelief in today's meaning of the word, but it was his desire to go from faith by hearing to faith by seeing. He did not only want to hear from the Disciples that Christ had risen, but he wanted to see and verify the Resurrection with his senses. This shows that the life of the Church is empirical, a spiritual relationship, a touching of Christ.

The Church is not an abstract system, but life in its fullest. Christ is not imaginary, but the God-man who has a resurrected body, that shines with the Light of Divinity and we have the ability to touch Him. The Church is the Body of Christ, that consists of its Mysteries, is expressed by its dogmas and sacred canons, and is established by a particular ecclesiastical government. The theology of the Church is empirical, it is “the mystery of the touch”.

We commune of the Body of Christ, when we Clergy liturgize we hold it in our hands. We kiss the Cross, the sacred relics of the Saints, the sacred icons. And when a Christian prays with spiritual strength, he touches eternity and participates in the glory of God.

My beloved brethren,

The Risen Christ is not a man who once lived, but He is the God-man who is always with us. The Resurrection of Christ is not an event of the past, but it is experienced within the life of the Church. We are not people who believe in God only in theory, but we are members of His Risen Body. Christ calls us to touch Him and we must respond to this invitation. This is “the mystery of the touch”. The mystery of divine communication.

I wish you all many years and exclaim: “Christ is Risen”.

With resurrectional paternal blessings,

The Metropolitan

+ HIEROTHEOS of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Source:  https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com  
 
See also

Sunday of Saint Thomas (2nd Sunday after Easter) - The example of the doubting
Why I'm not an atheist 

In the Steps of the Apostle Thomas - The Orthodox Church in West Bengal, India 
The Lord’s Pascha
in Search of Orthodoxy
The Way - An introduction to the Orthodox Faith 
Father Moses Berry: From Hippie Bad-Boy Cool-Cat to Humble…
The Sundays after Easter in the Orthodox Christian Heritage!

Sunday of Saint Thomas (2nd Sunday after Easter) - The example of the doubting

Orthodox Archbishopric of Zimbabwe & Angola

In the joy of Resurrection, our Church spotlights the example of the doubting Thomas, who through the greatness of his faith, constitutes a lesson for all those who pass through the phase of unbelief.

So, even if the doubting Thomas was close to Christ for three whole years where he had an opportunity to witness miracles and various good works, still he found himself doubting the Resurrection of Christ, insisting on touching and feeling the nail marks of the crucified body of Christ.

The meaning of unbelief has either a well-intentioned or ill-intentioned quality.

It has a well-intentioned quality when you are struggling to believe something because it seems to you unlikely and you are seeking more evidence, more information, so that you might believe. However, unbelief also has an ill-intentioned quality when you reject something, which can help you simply, and only because you are negatively predisposed towards whatever it is that you cannot comprehend.

Naturally, the term unbelief has many meanings, like the mistrust between spouses when their love begins to fray. Beyond however the moral and material quality of unbelief, there exists also the religious quality of unbelief. This is the situation where man falls into the error of rejection of every religion and religiousness.

It is the situation where man becomes presumptuous, arrogant, and selfish, where he levels out everything, rejects everything in order to give an exclusive priority to himself, to his self, to his ego. However, a person can also be unbelieving in relation to contemporary scientific knowledge, where he finds it impossible to believe new scientific facts and he insists on living in his enclave of darkness.
Today’s Gospel extract however refers to well-intentioned unbelief where man, with every good intention, seeks much more evidence so that
he is able to believe whatever he is struggling to believe due to his limited knowledge.

We can further say that our Church by spotlighting the example of the doubting Thomas tries to console us, to give us courage and to support us when we also go through the phase of unbelief similar to that of Saint Thomas. Therefore, if one of Christ’s disciples, who experienced so many of Christ’s miracles at such close range, could arrive at the point of doubting the Resurrection and divinity of Christ, is it not possible that some of us, after two thousand years, who did not personally live Christ’s miracles, will also pass at a specific time through this phase of unbelief, which in reality is an expression of faithlessness?

It is necessary however at the difficult testing moments of our unbelief, with patience and prayer and the spiritual guidance of our spiritual advisor to strengthen our belief. The example of Saint Thomas comes to console us and simultaneously to remind us of his confession of the person of Jesus Christ as the real God.

Therefore, the important point of today’s Gospel extract is not the unbelief of the doubting Thomas, but the confession of Saint Thomas’ belief that Jesus Christ is the Son and Word of God, our Lord and our God.

The genuine realization on our part concerning the Divinity of Christ is shown with our resolution to follow His Divine Commandments to live according to these all our life. This is exactly what all of Christ’s Apostles did, like the Apostle Thomas and all the Saints of our Church.

The framework within which we can follow the example of our Saints is from inside our pure and indiscriminate love towards every person who needs our help, black, white, relative, friend, stranger, young or old – just as Christ and his disciples and our Saints would do.

 

Orthodox Church in Rwanda (Holy Liturgy),
Saturday on 14th April 2018 (from here)

ST. THOMAS SUNDAY (ANTIPASCHA) - BELIEF AND UNBELIEF

St. Luke, Archbishop of Crimea
Orthodox Metropolis of Zambia and Malawi

It was very, very, extremely hard for the apostles to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ had risen.
They considered the words of the Myrrh-bearers who brought them this news to be lies.
When they went to Galilee, to the mountain as Jesus had commanded them, and saw Him, some fell down and worshipped Him while others stood petrified and did not believe their own eyes.
When Jesus appeared to all of them in the upper room in Jerusalem, they thought that they were seeing a spirit.
Strongest of all was the unbelief of the apostle Thomas, who had to place his fingers on the wounds from the nails on the Savior’s hands and feet and his hand on His side before he would believe.
Why did the apostles believe even their own eyes with such difficulty? After all, they were witnesses to the Lord Jesus resurrecting the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and even Lazarus, the four days dead.
But after all, these were the acts of a very great Miracle Worker, and the dead did not resurrect of their own strength; but to believe in the possibility of a dead body coming back to life by itself, of its own power, was immeasurably more difficult.
Thus, it was extremely difficult for Christ’s apostles to believe even what they saw with their own eyes.
But for us who have seen neither the living nor the resurrected Jesus—is it harder or easier to believe what we read in the Gospels and in the writings of the holy apostles? Oh, of course it’s easier, much easier—for the great multitude of historical facts and events convince us beyond a doubt of the truth of Christ’s resurrection.
What is there to say about the fact that the preaching of unlearned Galilean fishermen and their successors over the course of just a few centuries won over the entire inhabited world of the time—not only cultured Greeks and Romans, but even half-wild Germans, Galls, and Celts, and dealt a fatal blow to paganism?
Could this have been possible if Christ had not risen? Wouldn’t have any preaching about the Crucified One as the Son of God been met everywhere only with mockery?

The martyrdom of st apostle Thomas, in India (from here)

Would it have been thinkable that tens of thousands of holy martyrs would have gone to horrifying tortures and terrible deaths if they did not believe in the Resurrection of Christ and were not on fire with love for the Conqueror of death?
Would the hard ascetic labors of fasting and prayer of numberless anchorites and monks for the sake of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and for the acquisition of the mind of Christ have been possible?
Millions upon millions of people of all ages and sexes were true Christians, especially during the first fourteen centuries since the Birth of Christ.
However, no matter how enormous was the power of preaching and the works of Christ, no matter how the Son of God’s death on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead shook the world, not all believed in Him.
Already among the Lord Jesus’s and His apostles’ contemporaries even the majority of God’s chosen Jewish race did not believe in Him.
Unbelief, which has crashed like a huge wave over our modern nations of Europe and America, all formerly Christian, is ever growing and spreading. It began of course not during the Renaissance era of science and arts, not from Voltaire and the other Encyclopedists, but incomparably earlier, already during the first century after the Birth of Christ.
What does this mean? It means that our Lord and God Jesus Christ does not forcibly draw people’s hearts to Himself, something He of course could do with His divine power, but looks for voluntary love and faith.
Not every heart joyfully accepts His great commandments. Proud and domineering people laugh at the commandments of poverty of spirit, meekness, and mercy; they do not even think about God’s higher and eternal truth, they only want to hear about the rightness of social relationships, and they consider only proper relationships between nations to be the highest ideal.
Do many want to be persecuted for righteousness sake, to be reviled and slandered for Christ’s sake?
Do many enter through the straight gates by the narrow path, so that at the end of their difficult road they might hear the blessed call: Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt. 24:34)?
What will the scientist say to you if you try to preach Christ to him? Of course he will reply with annoyance, “Don’t bother me, I am busy with my science, because for me all truth is in it.”

The apostle Paul speaks in his epistle to the Corinthians about the wise and prudent who have rejected faith in God for the sake of science: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are (1 Cor. 18–28).
Even during His earthly life, our Lord Jesus Christ called those who believe in Him His “little flock”.
Do not be disturbed by this, but rejoice. And know that belonging to this flock throughout the ages and until the present day are very many quite important scientists, scholars, and philosophers, who were able to combine their belief in science with their higher faith in God and His Christ. And of those who reject religion based upon scientific data, the vast majority in fact have nothing to do with science and talk about it only on hearsay.
And for you, simple, unlearned people, let the words of Christ be a strong support: Except ye be converted,[1] and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3).

See also

In the Steps of the Apostle Thomas - The Orthodox Church in West Bengal, India 
The Lord’s Pascha
in Search of Orthodoxy
The Way - An introduction to the Orthodox Faith 
Father Moses Berry: From Hippie Bad-Boy Cool-Cat to Humble…
The Sundays after Easter in the Orthodox Christian Heritage!