Should You Pursue Medical Treatment?

You should pursue treatment. Who says you should not? Under current law, a physician who conceals the diagnosis from the patient is a criminal, and is subject to incarceration for, I believe, up to three years, which is a fair sentence. The doctor is required to tell not the relatives, but the patient himself. I believe that this was enacted in 1995, following the example of the West.

-- What do you do if the relatives won't disclose the patient's condition to him?
They are criminals. If one knows that death is approaching, but conceals the fact, he is a criminal; he is an awful person. It is not good to lie, especially in such circumstances. AIDS is a punishment from God, one that can bring about a person's correcting himself. What is the cause of 90% of the cases of AIDS? Narcotics or homosexuality. Only 3% of those infected with AIDS are children. 90%, or some say 95%, from drug addiction and depravity. [AIDS] is obviously a punishment from God. However, let's get back to our subject.

Preparations for Death, Temptations and Virtues

How does one prepare for death? When one is sick, what does he need to do? "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." (James 5: 14-15). When illness strikes, we turn to Holy Unction. However, to this day, there is a myth, with origins in Roman Catholic teaching, that Holy Unction is the performance of "last rites." That understanding is incorrect. Holy Unction in fact is administered for the purpose of getting well, and is often a Mystery of healing. I have witnessed many instances of healing.

I know priests who have personally witnessed hundreds, even thousands of healings following Holy Unction. Why? Because in healing a sick person, the Lord proves to him that his body will be resurrected. Do you see why healing is given? In order to convince us in the resurrection of the body. If the body has no value, if it rots in the grave, there is no point in healing it. Thus, in case of any illness, it is essential to turn to the Mystery of Holy Unction.

If you have been diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease, be it an oncological or some other malady, it is essential to prepare in the following way. First of all, it is essential to cut back to all your secular affairs to the very minimum, i.e. to say goodbye to all of your earthly affairs. You need to settle all of your debts, so that they not burden other people. You must be reconciled to those near and dear to you. You need to so arrange things that you have a lot of free time.

The devil prompts us to lead an exhausting, frantic life. He tries to occupy us with so much hustle and bustle that we don't have time to take a breath. In the Bible, when Moses came to Pharaoh and said "Let my people go," (Exodus 5: 1), how did he respond? "Ye are idle, ye are idle; therefore ye say, let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord." (Exodus 5: 17). That is how, to this day, the devil continues to speak (and why he is called a spiritual Pharaoh), so that in occupying themselves with daily hustle and bustle, people might forget about everything.

If you have been given a diagnosis that is not comforting, you need to try to make more free time for yourself. Note that for us, things are now quite the opposite. People given such a diagnosis burden themselves with ever more work in an effort to avoid thinking about death. That is stupid. You need to think about it. You need to look into your soul and try to see what is missing, try to do now whatever good works you can. The gist is that the trajectory you take into eternity depends upon what you do before your death. To make a comparison: the faster a plane accelerates at takeoff, the steeper will be its ascent. This is to say, the more you strive after the life in God before your death, the higher you will ascend to the Kingdom of God. Remember that our task is not simply to get into Paradise, but to ascend as high as possible within Paradise, to receive as many gifts as possible. God wishes for His children to want the greater and not the lesser.

The temptation that strikes before death is a temptation to become despondent. An awful sense of anguish comes crashing down upon the person, and he says, "How, why, for what reason am I dying now?" That question is pointless. You need to ask instead, "What should I do now?" Remember, that kind of silent anguish does not come from God. Christ is called God the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1: 1). Our God is Christ, He is the Word, and that is why the Christian is completely rational, and every dumb irrational desire stems from God's enemy. Who is it that wants to deprive us of reason? Only the enemy of God. Any despondency, any fatigue you experience does not come from God. How are you healed of them? By hope. Despondency is treated with sure hope.

When one sees that he is threatened with death, in what should he surely hope? In the Creed, the Symbol of Faith, it says, "I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come." That is the best medicine for fatigue and despondency. Time is short, and we should thank God that he has revealed our looming death; it follows that it is time to pack our bags. Silly people say, "I am going to go on a tear before I die." But why? It is much better to pack your bags. For example, suppose you have purchased a tour and have gone off to rest in a resort in some foreign land. While there, you need to buy something, so you have to exchange your rubles for dollars or euros. Do you have the required new currency? Exactly in like manner, when preparing to go off into the other world, it is essential to quickly convert as much as possible so that you will have the wherewithal to live there.

It is literally through acts of charity that we gather up a heavenly treasure. The Lord says, "Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Luke 12: 33-34).

What is your task? To quickly acquire as much capital as possible for yourself. Yet,it will not be very pleasant for me if I should go off to a foreign land with a lot of capital, but naked. The climate may be a problem for me. So it is after all essential for me to review my wardrobe and see whether my clothing is so ragged that I will disgrace myself before the foreigners.

Likewise, when preparing to depart from this world, it is essential to see how your soul is clothed. The Lord said of the church of Laodicea, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Revelation 3: 17-18). Here is your task: to look to the clothing of your soul. In what is it attired? In virtues. Therefore it is necessary to see what is lacking, in order to at least begin to take corrective action.

Remember, any passion that you do not oppose will consume you, for after your death, all of the passions come crawling out into the open. Note that this does not mean that you have to get a complete grip on yourself. Of course, it would be wonderful to be able to cope and be dispassionate. What is the best kind of death? When the Holy Spirit says to you plainly that you are already saved. There is an idea, like an assurance, a special state of the heights of spiritual life, in which the Holy Spirit Himself tells someone that he will get into the Heavenly Kingdom. The Apostle Paul said on the subject, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." (II Timothy 4: 7-8). That is to say, the Apostle Paul was certain that he would be saved.

Likewise, another interesting example: St. Anthony the Great rejoiced before his death, because he was certain that the Lord would save him, for the Lord Himself had so advised the saint. Remember what St. Seraphim of Sarov said, "Come to me at my grave, and I will pray to God for you." Blessed Matrona would say the same. Why? Because they were so confident in themselves? No, rather because they had received the assurance from the Holy Spirit that they would be saved. That is not something you can do on your own. It is a decision made by God Himself, as He said, but it is something toward which you should strive, for in fact, your best assurance of being saved is God's Word.