Do no harm: who can and who cannot fast? Who can't fast? What indulgences in fasting are allowed for sick and weakened people? What cancer says about its victim

Very often, oncological diseases are preceded by the feeling that no one needs you, that you are not in demand either at work or in the family. And people who, during an illness, struggle with this feeling and set specific goals outside their illness, often, having overcome the illness, live richly and long enough, says Alexander DANILIN, psychotherapist PND No. 23, host of the Silver Threads program on Radio Russia ".

It all starts with the feeling that you are no longer the salt of the earth.

As a psychotherapist, I can speak specifically about psychosomatic problems, that is, about how a spiritual experience can cause one or another somatic reaction. Of course, any illness, even an elementary cold, changes our life plans, sometimes significantly, sometimes not, and a person experiences some kind of anxiety. But these are already consequences, and psychosomatics considers all forms of oncological diseases as the primary manifestation of a person’s unwillingness to live. Unwillingness of the inner, hidden, unconscious.

It is clear that cancer is not suicide, but there are many forms of human behavior that are essentially slow suicide. For example, drunkenness or smoking. Teenagers who start smoking secretly may not know, but any adult smoker knows that it is very likely to lead to swelling, yet many continue to smoke.

Maybe something has changed now, but 10 years ago, when I regularly visited the oncology center, oncologists smoked a lot. I came to the center - from all the doors of the lung department, smoke was coming out in clubs.

I am also a smoker, although I understand that I take risks. How to explain the smoking of doctors, who daily face the consequences of this habit? This, I think, is the ambition of a doctor. Like, I’m a doctor, I can overcome this disease in myself, everyone can’t, but I can. And there is certainly an element of such ambition in my smoking. On the other hand, smoking is pseudo-meditation, an opportunity to withdraw into oneself. This is a separate topic, now I would like to talk about emotional experiences.

I had a close encounter with oncology in the nineties of the last century, when almost all of my parents and my wife died from various types of tumors. As you remember, then life in the country changed dramatically. I noticed that many people then experienced fear (not despair, but fear), and began to understand that my father, father-in-law, mother-in-law somewhere in the depths of their souls did not want to live in the new world that was offered to them.

For most people, their life status and self-identification are very important. This is especially important at our age, on average. We understand that life does not end yet, but it begins to move towards sunset, and at this time it is especially important for a person to understand who he is, what he has achieved, whether he can indicate his status with the words: “I am a famous doctor” or “I am a famous journalist”, etc. .d. The word "famous" here is of great importance to many - even if they hide it, people want such an adjective, meaning the measure of their influence, to exist.

Any existential problem can only be expressed in metaphor. For this situation, the words of Christ seem to me most suitable: "You are the salt of the earth." They sunk into my soul from the first reading of the Gospel. I believe that cancer overtakes a person who begins to feel that he is no longer the salt of the earth.

We all know that salt adds flavor to food. But before the era of refrigerators, it also helped food to be preserved - there was simply no other way to preserve food. Therefore, in all cultures, salt has been a symbol of care. By exchanging salt, people emphasized their closeness and ability to keep each other. So, when a person feels that no one needs his creativity, the fruits of his labor, or that he has no one else to keep, very often he develops a tumor.

For example, my grandmother was the guardian of a large family - I kept in touch with both second cousins ​​and fourth cousins. She always felt like a keeper, and indeed, after her death, the family broke up, with many distant relatives, contact was lost. That is, to feel like the salt of the earth, wide popularity or demand is not necessary, but at least at the level of the family, the closest people - parents, husband, wife, children, grandchildren or friends - everyone needs it. And I don't think it's appropriate to talk about pride. Cancer overtakes both the proud and the humble, humble people. The metaphor “salt of the earth” is closer to me.

And for a person of a creative profession - a writer, an artist, a composer - it is very important to understand (even if he pretends that he does not care) that he will be read, watched, listened to for a long time. Artists (in the broad sense of the word) who believe in this often live long, but those who hope that a written book, picture, music will immediately bring fame, often get sick and die relatively early.

Of course, some good feedback is needed at least from someone: from a wife, husband, children, from those with whom there are connections. But often in reality, especially today, everyone is so absorbed in their own affairs that they even “have no time” to say a kind word to another that even though he retired, we remember and appreciate his “role in history” - a contribution to science or art or family care.

Not everyone can change with life

The feeling that you have ceased to be salt appears in different situations: for someone it is associated with retirement, for someone - with a job downturn, a creative crisis. In the 1990s, when Yeltsin actually closed the KGB - there were big cuts, some departments were liquidated - a huge number of "black colonels" turned out to be outside the system, outside the office (they could be lieutenant colonels, and even majors, but that's not the point ). They were taken care of, they were offered to open companies or they were taken to those that had already opened as deputies, in general, they were satisfied, as far as I know, quite well.

But there is a huge difference between the life of a colonel or lieutenant colonel in the engineering department of the KGB and the life of a director or deputy director of a firm. The life of a director or deputy director of a company is a constant bustle, running around, organizing, selling and reselling, in general, all the delights of our so-called business. And not all of them can. Basically, not all. I don't know if I can. And these people suddenly began to break up into narcological and oncological patients - either they drank too much, or they developed tumors.

Of course, not everyone got sick, but very many - there was an outbreak, the oncologists themselves told me about it. The situation is clear. These people, almost the only ones in the country, lived, if not under communism, then definitely under socialism. From the very beginning of their service, they had a quite predictable career, a relatively short queue for an apartment, a car, vouchers to good sanatoriums - in general, understandable and rather profitable rules of the game. They received not much more than ordinary Soviet employees, but thanks to the preferential supply system, they were spared the fuss of life on which we all spend a significant part of our time.

And suddenly they returned to this fuss against their will. For many, this proved unbearable. It's not about pride, it's not about morbid pride. I talked with many of them, some, of course, had pride, but not all of them. The problem is not in rabid pride, but in the fact that they did not fit this world, could not understand the relationship in it. I had to change something in myself in order to become a new person - a member of the consumer society. Few were able to cope with this task.

This is one example. My dad was a real believing Soviet man. An engineer, non-partisan, he did not have any benefits, he lived only on a salary, but he sincerely believed that the Soviet government was the best in the world. Unmercenary, completely devoid of pride, always acting according to his conscience and teaching me this.

And in the mid-1980s, when I was already living separately, he read Rybakov's Children of the Arbat, which had just been published in Friendship of Peoples, called me at night and asked me, my 25-year-old son: “Sasha, was it true? Is what he writes true?

He died of cancer. The world, where the truth turned 180 degrees, required a completely different person, a person of some other faith. What is Christianity, dad, unlike me, did not know, and treated it with humor. Such a healthy Soviet engineer. By the way, non-partisan, but believed in communism, in Soviet power. I think he also faced the need to become completely different, because his scheme of life - for 120 rubles - already at the end of the 1980s did not allow him to live and, as you understand, it did not allow him to live honestly, in harmony with his conscience.

With all the difference in fate, both the “black colonels” and the pope needed some kind of rebirth. For example, I did a lot of things - oncopsychology, narcology, psychotherapy - but in all these areas my education, my experience is applicable. There has never been a need to change everything radically, to become different.

Most of those who came to me in groups on oncopsychology (now we are planning to continue this practice in Moscow PND No. 23), for various reasons, faced the existential need to literally become different in order to settle in this world (not in the material sense, but in the spiritual sense). or psychological), but did not find the strength for this. And for me, as a psychotherapist (I'm not an oncologist), the main thing in the treatment of cancer is the goals that a person sets for the future outside of his illness.

It is clear that we are all mortal, moreover, it is necessary for our development, creativity. If we knew that we are immortal (I'm talking about earthly life), we would immediately stop. Where to rush, if we have an unlimited supply of time? I’ll write a book or a symphony later, someday, but now I’d rather lie down on the couch.

Death is necessary for us to function. We have an indefinite, but precisely a short period of time, so that we have time to become the salt of the earth. Therefore, the main thing in the treatment of oncology is to set some kind of task.

Initially, there can be two goals: caring for other people or creativity, which inevitably includes this care. Any creativity makes sense when a person creates for others in order to give them beauty, to reveal something new to them about the world around them.

I think if there was a real Dorian Gray, who fit his life into a portrait, he would die of cancer. Because such creativity is fruitless. Creativity to the detriment of people, for example, the creation of a bomb, other weapons of mass destruction, is also often detrimental to health. At least among our own and among the American bomb makers, many died of cancer, and I think that they fell ill not only because of radiation.

The more awareness, the less pain

I'm sure many of what I'm saying will seem heresy. Although everyone believes that the brain, soul, body are a single structure, and the nervous system controls the whole body. Life confirms the psychosomatic "heresy" - I have seen more than once how people who found purpose and strength to fight the feeling of total uselessness rose up.

For example, a 58-year-old woman, philologist, grandmother of three grandchildren. She had a traditional female tumor, she sat at home, stopped doing anything. I managed to convince her that, firstly, it is not necessary to wait for the children to call - they work from morning to night, they can dial the number themselves, talk, find out how they are doing. Secondly, not only they, but also she is responsible for ensuring that her grandchildren grow up to be worthy people.

If the children working from morning to night do not have the strength and time to take her grandchildren to museums, all the more so should she use the time left to go around with them as many museums as possible, tell about as many favorite paintings as possible, explain why she loves these pictures. She listened to my advice, 10 years have passed, now she is raising her great-grandchildren.

I also had a girl who, at the age of 14, was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor. Her parents put her at home, surrounded her with care, everyone around her jumped, and I began to say things disgusting for my parents: “You are killing yourself. Have you dreamed of being an artist? So do not sit at home, but go to the circle.

Naturally, because of her illness, her figure changed, but I was inexorable: “Do you dream of love? Try no matter what to look so that the boys like. Thank God, her parents supported me, and she lived long enough, she died at 28. I lived a full life, I just don’t want to go into details so that it’s not so recognizable.

I often forced young men to write memoirs. He said: “You have your own attitude to life, to today's events. Now your children are not interested in this, but by the age of 30 they will want to know who they are, where they come from. The man wrote memoirs, published at his own expense.

Of course, sooner or later we all die. The question is whether to live out one's life in complete helplessness, disappointment in everything, or to live interestingly until the last minute, to feel one's need for someone.

There is no such age and no such illness when a person cannot take a smart book or a New Testament and think about the meaning of life, about specific employment, about specific creativity at a given life stage. If I think about it and find meaning, I tend to live longer. If I don't want to think with my head, soul or spirit, my body starts thinking for me.

Everything that a person did not think out, was afraid of and did not overcome, wanted to express, but did not express, will be expressed in muscle clamps, pains and diseases. Also in dreams. We do not have the habit of analyzing our own dreams, thinking about what they are telling us about, about what troubles that we do not want to be aware of.

The more awareness there is in human life (in any language that is closer to you - psychoanalytic, existential, Christian), the less pain and the easier death. Illness is always a kind of metaphor for what we have tried to hide from ourselves.

Which this year fell on the period from February 23 to April 12. The Church, as a rule, recommends making indulgences to people for whom fasting is an unaffordable "luxury" for health reasons. Therapist of the highest category, associate professor of the Department of Therapy of the Smolensk State Medical Academy Natalya Konyshko told website, for whom it is harmful, and for whom it is useful to observe Great Lent from the point of view of medicine.

Everything in moderation

Evgeny Gavrilov, website: Natalya Alexandrovna, who, from the point of view of health, is it desirable to refuse fasting?

Natalya Konyshko: For some healthy people, children, adolescents, pregnant women, lactating women, and patients with chronic, certain diseases of the blood system (eg, anemia), debilitated, cachectic, metabolic disorders, acute and chronic infectious diseases, in most cases, it is recommended to maintain a nutritious diet .

Of course, it is advisable for these categories of citizens to regularly consult with specialists and be under supervision if they still plan to fast. On the other hand, people with overweight, obesity, chronic liver and kidney failure, coronary heart disease, arterial hypertension, some metabolic diseases, such as gout, metabolic syndrome, are recommended not only in and animal fats in particular, but, in some cases, complete temporary abstinence from them.

Before fasting, you need to consult not only with your confessor, but also with your doctor. Photo: Depositphotos

- Are these all restrictions?

It should be remembered that some people should also limit their intake of salt and carbohydrates. The most frequent question that patients ask me after such an explanation is: what then can I eat?

Ilya Mechnikov also recommended, in order to slow down the aging process and prolong an active life, to increase boiled vegetables and sour-milk products in the diet, which. At the same time, you should drink liquid in the amount of 1-2 liters per day (the main thing is not less than the norm): vegetable juices, vegetable broths, fruit drinks, decoctions of diuretic herbs. Well-known leaders in protein content among plant foods: legumes, nuts, mushrooms. But it should be remembered that the digestibility of vegetable protein in the human body is slightly lower than that of animal protein.

Long term

The period of Great Lent is quite long - more than a month. Will such prolonged abstinence and restriction in food harm even those to whom it is recommended?

The terms of abstinence from animal products are individual, they can vary from one day a week, to full observance of the fasting period. I think that the timing and duration of each Christian fast is based on centuries of experience. And it is quite logical that after a long sedentary period in the winter and high-calorie animal foods, people gained weight. Therefore, apparently, the logical “treatment of this problem” is Lent.

As in many other situations, it is obvious that any beliefs and beliefs of a person should not go to the detriment of health. Therefore, in any case, when at least some doubts arise regarding the question: “Will I hurt myself?” - it is better to consult with a specialist.

Great Lent Calendar 2015. Click to enlarge. Infographics: AiF

What does cancer say about its victim?

Cancer can tell a lot about its victim. Someone suffers due to circumstances beyond their control, and this disease denounces someone in vices. Moreover, the disease fulfills its “mission” extremely harshly and impartially ...

Gluttonous Monster

What are cancer cells? These are healthy cells of the body that degenerate into a malignant tumor under the influence of carcinogenic factors. As soon as the immune system weakens, they begin to intensively divide, give rise to similar monsters and take away the right to life from their healthy counterparts. The fact is that due to genetic failures in cancer cells, the mechanisms of self-destruction are turned off. Mutant cells lose their ability to die naturally! Like a predatory, gluttonous monster, cancer, with its sharp fangs - metastases, injures and devours neighboring and distant parts of the body.

Foreign microorganisms destroy the integrity of the mucous membranes, for example, male and female urinary organs. Thus, lesions are created in them and immunity is weakened. And failures at the level of the immune system, especially against the background of hereditary predisposition, “trigger” oncological processes.

A number of tumors do indeed have an infectious genetic origin. Their appearance is largely promoted by venereal diseases and inflammatory processes. So, the viruses of some types of herpes and hepatitis are introduced into the body sexually and serve as carcinogenic factors. They provoke the development of cancer of the walls of blood vessels (Kaposi's sarcoma) and liver cancer (up to 80% of cases), respectively.

The 16th and 18th types of human papillomavirus infection have a high oncogenic activity. Harmful microbes are transmitted through semen, hands, household items and lead to cervical cancer. It has been proven that if a man has a wife with this type of cancer, is not treated and contacts another woman, then he will infect her with the same disease. Danger can lurk inside the male body, although outwardly the disease does not manifest itself.

About 15% of all cancer patients suffer and die from infectious forms of cancer. The number is impressive. People with promiscuity and homosexuals are most at risk of becoming infected.

Retribution for bad habits

We also know which forms of cancer occur predominantly in drinkers. Alcohol lowers the immune system and thereby activates "sleeping", "dormant" oncogenes. Moonshine is very harmful, as it contains a lot of fusel oils. In general, the stronger the drinks, the worse they are purified, the longer they are abused and the more they are stuffed with chemicals (stabilizers-preservatives), the sooner complications develop.

Even pure ethyl alcohol is not harmless. It contributes to chronic inflammation of the esophagus and stomach, destroys liver cells up to cirrhosis. The natural end of an alcoholic bacchanalia is cancer of the stomach and liver. True, the latter diagnosis is made relatively rarely: most alcoholics simply do not live to this stage.

The price for addiction to tobacco is also terrible: 90% (!) of cases of lung cancer, 80% of cases of cancer of the larynx, oral cavity and esophagus and 25% of cases of stomach cancer. Nearly half of all bladder cancer patients and over a third of kidney, pancreatic and uterine cancer patients are also heavy smokers. According to the most conservative estimates, tobacco smoke - this "sworn friend" of a person - provokes a third of all cancers, and their most severe forms with an extremely unfavorable outcome. The contingent of patients is now rejuvenated, as children get used to cigarettes from an early age.

The carcinogenic effect of tobacco smoke is explained by the presence of various aromatic hydrocarbons, aniline, pyridine, arsenic, and cadmium in it. Carcinogens are also found in cigarette paper.

Radioactive isotopes (primarily lead, bismuth, potassium and polonium-210) are also sources of malignant neoplasms. The following fact testifies to the radiation hazard: who smokes a pack of cigarettes every day, he receives a radiation dose per year that is 3.5 times higher than the safe level.

The dose of ionizing radiation from 20 cigarettes smoked every day for a year is equal to 200-300 (!) X-rays taken during the same period. Who among us will agree to irradiate himself so many times in 12 months? Can you smoke with the same effect?

Cigarette smoke also opens the “gateway” for tumors by causing genetic disorders. This "dirty" work is performed by aromatic hydrocarbons. Their main target is the so-called p53 gene. Having examined many patients with lung cancer, the American scientist Gerd Pfeiffer found changes in this DNA region in more than 60% of cases. When mutations occur there, normal tissue turns into a tumor.

It is no coincidence that the Church equates smoking with slow suicide, or at least an attempt on it. And for the people around the smoker becomes an unwitting killer.

Family members of a smoker are on average 20% more likely to get lung cancer and 15% more likely to get stomach and esophageal cancer than people from non-smoking families. If one of the spouses constantly “tars”, then the likelihood of lung cancer in the other rises to 70%. American scientists have shown that non-smokers who work in a smoky room also have mutations in the p53 gene. At the same time, cancer of the larynx and lungs is associated precisely with passive smoking, and not with other reasons.

There is a persistent misconception that filters successfully trap or neutralize almost all tobacco poisons and make smoking harmless. This illusion is strongly promoted by commercially interested companies, declaring the alleged complete absence of toxic compounds in filtered tobacco smoke.

Yes, filters protect the lungs from soot particles and cool the smoke. This reduces the risk of thermal burns, the likelihood of cancer of the lips, oral cavity and slows down tooth decay. It's certainly better than nothing, but...

Even good quality filters retain less than half of carcinogens, no more than a third of nicotine and up to 20% of hydrocyanic acid, ammonia and pyridine. The concentration of carbon monoxide does not change, and almost no hydrogen sulfide is captured. In addition, the smoker more than compensates for the decrease in the concentration of nicotine in tobacco smoke with the number of cigarettes. As a result, the total dose of poisons, despite the craftiness of manufacturers, remains the same. No wonder the "Ministry of Health warns ..."

Personal crisis as a dangerous factor

Unfavorable psychological factors also have a carcinogenic effect. They do not act directly, but indirectly, on the sly. Suppose a person learns to relieve stress with the help of tobacco and (or) alcohol. He does not want to use sound methods of dealing with emotional overload. But can you explain this choice to the body?!

The death of a loved one, complete hopelessness, deep loneliness, the collapse of ideals, the loss of the meaning of life and similar situations lead to a personal crisis. And this extremely depresses the psyche, weakens the immune system and stimulates the growth of tumors. Scientists believe that some time after such mental trauma, women develop cervical and breast cancer, and men develop bronchial cancer.

In fairness, we note that these hypotheses need further confirmation. Not all experts share them. But it is clear that depression and stress complicate the course of oncological diseases. And social support and a benevolent atmosphere mobilize the patient's strength to fight for life.

According to psychosomatic medicine, in the origin of leukemia, cancer of the bronchi, colon, breast and cervix, the inability to reasonably express one's feelings and emotions, in particular anger and irritability, is of great importance.

post-abortion syndrome

Stress also has a carcinogenic effect. He "beats" not only the nerves, but also the genes. In order to understand this, we will have to make a brief digression into genetics. The uninterrupted transmission of nerve impulses from external and internal organs to the brain and back is provided by special proteins. But when a person experiences a strong emotional shock (for example, post-abortion syndrome), his nervous system, figuratively speaking, loses orientation. The brain sends signals anywhere, including directly to DNA. At the same time, the genes that control the transmission of nerve impulses are also modified, which further aggravates the disorder in the body.

According to researchers, even examination passions do not lead to good. In students, the activity of DNA regions responsible for the preservation of genetic material increases sharply. Blood tests and questionnaires, which assessed the level of stress, were carried out on the third day of the session. The tests were repeated 3 weeks later (after the students returned from vacation). When the young people calmed down and rested, the system of restoring hereditary material, disturbed during the session, returned to normal. This is a normal response to stress, as the cell must repair DNA damage immediately. If the defective section cannot be “repaired”, it is destroyed.

But if the system for eliminating the consequences of stress does not cope with the loads, then errors are possible. The genetic program is broken, and healthy cells are reborn into ... malignant ones. This is the chain that links stress to cancer. A “counter movement” is also possible: stress damages the cells of cancer patients and thereby aggravates the course of the disease.

How much mental anguish of a woman who killed her baby is stronger than the feelings of students about the next tests and exams?! Artificial abortions (especially repeated ones) are accompanied by a sudden disruption of the work of the whole organism as a whole. Damage to the walls of the uterus creates a powerful stream of pathological impulses to the brain. As a result, there is a pathological excitation of the centers that regulate the functions of the endocrine glands. This results in hormonal imbalance and depression. The mammary gland is also prone to cancer because it is a very vulnerable hormone-dependent organ.

In addition, during normal pregnancy, regular changes occur in the tissues of the mammary glands and conditions are created for the production of milk. After the birth of a child, the mother is physiologically ready to produce milk to feed him.

And premature termination of pregnancy forcibly stops the development of millions of cells, knocking down their genetic program. Hence, again, a high risk of their degeneration into a malignant tumor.

A number of scientists believe that early abortions increase the likelihood of breast cancer. This indirectly confirms the following observation. The birth of the first child at an early age reduces the risk of this disease. Women who have known motherhood before the age of 18 have a risk of 3 or more times less compared to those who gave birth to their first child after 35 years.

From the day of conception, processes are launched in the body, calculated on average for 2 years (pregnancy and feeding). But now, having given birth to the only heir, the mother is in a hurry to go to work. And nature is appointed to give birth and breastfeed many children. The endocrine system ensures the fulfillment of this biological purpose. Therefore, the glands that synthesize hormones work regardless of our career plans and ambitious plans. Previously, life was coordinated with these rhythms: throughout the entire reproductive age, women carried children and breastfed them. Moreover, in order not to become pregnant again, they fed for a long time - up to 2-3 years. The chest was constantly working. What now? And you have to pay for this!

And the last moment. Breast cancer can be passed on through the mother. Scientists have even identified the genes that trigger the development of the disease. The probability of cancer in carriers of these genes is 40% - up to 50 years and 80% - up to 70 years. But do not panic because someone in the family had breast cancer. On the contrary, our women should conduct self-examination monthly and visit a mammologist once a year.

Publication date: 01.06.2012

Father Eugene, from what point of view does the Russian Orthodox Church view such a serious illness as cancer?

Any disease has a triple meaning. If we turn to the biblical Book of the long-suffering Job, then an instructive example is shown there. God allows the devil to inflict illness on Job on the condition that he save his life. And now Job is stricken with a terrible disease - leprosy, but he does not deviate from God. And no matter how hard it is for him, and no matter how his relatives persuade him to repent, he does not want to repent feignedly. “I am not more sinful than you, but if God pleases, I will endure this test,” the righteous man declares. So, a disease is sent to a person in order for him to show his faith in the Creator and His Providence. A bodily illness can be sent down to us, including as punishment, if we lead an obscene lifestyle. Often people use the gift of life to commit vice, and then God admonishes them through such punishment. Why does a mother punish her child? That's right, because he loves. She does not reconcile herself to the fact that her child is false, cruel, selfish, and after persuasion, she takes tougher measures to influence him. The Lord Himself says: "Whom I love, I punish."

From the foregoing, we can conclude that oncological disease is given to a person for his admonition, to test faith in God, as a punishment. There is another reason - the test. Sometimes some of us need to pass the test of this disease in order to strengthen ourselves. This is a kind of test of how spiritually strong you are, how much the carnal component has penetrated into your life. Here, a parallel with Great Lent is appropriate - a kind of annual exam to check the spiritual state. Likewise, cancer is a test of how ready you are for death and a meeting with God.

How do you think a person with cancer should behave?

I immediately recall the incident with one of my high-ranking acquaintances, whom I could not bring to the sacrament of confession and repentance. He kept promising to come, but he never showed up. Then he died - instantly, in a matter of seconds, without confessing and without repenting. From a secular position, such a death is considered a blessing - they say, he left easily and without suffering. But according to Orthodoxy, this is a terrible death. Before stepping into eternity, it is better to go through suffering. Oncology is a kind of God's mercy to a person when he realizes that his days are numbered, but at the same time he has enough time to correct his sins. If it is no longer possible to correct, then at least repent before God and ask for forgiveness for all misconduct.

I heard a report by an academic, a hospice director, in which he told the following story about two people. One terminally ill patient - a famous director who staged death many times on stage and in films - convinced the doctor that there would be no problems with him, since he was already ready for the transition to Eternity. He asked for only one thing - to say when the last week of his life would come. And here she comes. Then he asked: "And what can delay death?" He was given some super-expensive drug that was sold only in the West. The dying man calls his wife and tells her: "Sell everything, but buy me this medicine." But his plea was not a desire to fix anything - he just wanted to breathe a little more air. Another patient is a famous bard, also hopeless. After learning that he had the last week left, he gathered his friends and arranged a mini-concert in his room to calm them down. “I have never stood so firmly on my feet as now, having come to faith in God. I understood the meaning of life and I understand the meaning of death.” And he died quite peacefully. Here it is - the correct interpretation of the use of oncology as a gift from God. Oncology is a special disease when a person is consciously called to another world. Yes, it can be overcome by the power of faith and the power of the desire to live, but with a specific meaning, and not just the desire to waste time. It is cancer that can shake a person and make him think about the true meaning of life. And the point is to know the will of God in relation to yourself. If you begin to fulfill this will, or at least strive for it, God will extend your days up to a hundred years. But if you live aimlessly, He has the right to take you to him, but before that, out of mercy, give you a disease. They say, come to your senses, shake yourself up, and maybe in your last earthly test you will try to fulfill the will of God.

- Are there special parishes in our metropolis that work with cancer patients?

At the Holy Trinity Church of Arkhangelsk there is an institute of sisters of mercy. Among these sisters there are those who directly help the sick in their suffering. In the regional oncology dispensary there is a house church, consecrated in honor of the Miraculous Icon of the Mother of God "The Tsaritsa", where Father Vyacheslav regularly holds liturgies and confessions. There, the suffering can always find spiritual support.

- In your opinion, how many people who have been given a terrible diagnosis come to God?

Lots of. In any case, there are attempts, however, not all of them are successful. People often try to enter into some kind of deal with the Almighty. Like, I will begin to confess, take communion, and You heal me. And if healing does not occur, then even greater rejection ensues. Here the priest very subtly needs to show the person that he may have come very late. You can’t instantly cure a runny nose, you can’t instantly become smart, you can’t instantly learn a foreign language. And you are already so spiritually emaciated and weak that you simply cannot lift the burden that God measured out for you. Then it's better to leave.

Not so long ago, a case became known throughout the country about how guardianship authorities seized a minor child from a cancer patient in Arkhangelsk. Motivation - staying at home poses an "immediate threat to the life and health" of the boy. How would you comment on this situation?

We have lost the concept of the word "love". And love is the ability and desire to properly sacrifice oneself. This boy first of all loves his mother, for him living conditions are secondary. Breaking up with a mother is always a tragedy for a child. These employees of the juvenile justice authorities, who allegedly take care of the son of a sick woman, simply do not know how to love. They simply work out their salaries and create the appearance of vigorous activity. I was in orphanages, talked with children who were beaten by their own mothers, and they told me that they wanted to return to them, even so drunk and unlucky. And here, in the orphanage, where there seems to be food, clean bedding and clothes, they feel bad. You have to make sure the kids don't get hurt. If a child himself wants to leave a dysfunctional family, of course, he must be taken away. And in the situation we are considering, it is simply the height of meanness to deprive the boy of his loving mother and the opportunity to care for her.

- Father Eugene, what would you, as a priest, say to those who are now seriously, and perhaps terminally ill?

Today we live a strange life. We cannot but recognize that the world exists according to laws. Simple matter obeys laws, and the origin of laws is a mystery to any materialist. However, we understand that God created the world according to such laws, which we simply study. If we break the laws, the world is destroyed. There are also spiritual laws - good and evil, love, morality. Unfortunately, today people do not know them and therefore violate them. But the soul is alive, it hurts. The main thing for all cancer patients is to try to understand these laws and make sure that the life of the soul returns to their limits. You cannot live without loving God. And love for God is manifested in the right service to Him. How many of us, going to bed or waking up, say, “Lord, thank you for the gift of life?”. Units. I wish everyone to learn to love the Creator. We are commanded to love God and love your neighbor. And in order to love, you must learn to love. The soul was given to us just for this. A person who does not know how to do this will never be happy, no matter how glorious deeds he does.

Konstantin TAGANOV
According to materials 29.ru

Supporters and opponents of fasting talk about its undoubted benefits or irreparable harm. However, both agree on one thing: there are people for whom fasting is dangerous to health.

Text: Sergei Buyanov, general practitioner

Expectant and breastfeeding mothers

During pregnancy, the body needs protein products, and it is of animal origin. It is impossible to replace milk and dairy products with soy surrogates. A set of essential amino acids is vital for the development of the fetus and infant, which cannot receive nutrients in any other way than through the blood of a pregnant woman or with mother's milk. For example, the amount of hemoglobin in the blood depends on the iron content in food. And only meat contains the necessary amount of iron., it is impossible to replace it with apples. For the normal development of the nervous system of the fetus, fatty acids are necessary, which make up the shells of neurons. Without these membranes, a child is born with a metabolic disorder, which is much more difficult to correct than to prevent.

Men: soldiers and miners

Every man is considered an earner, no matter in what area he works. Physical activity requires increased energy consumption, the sources of which are products containing animal proteins. Eating exclusively plant foods does not contribute to recovery after physical exertion. Purification of "slags" for a person engaged in physical labor is an irrelevant problem. No toxins in his body simply do not form.

Children and teenagers

A growing organism requires a full-fledged "refueling" with fuel. This is especially true for girls before puberty. Vegetable food postpones the process of becoming a woman for an indefinite period.

Patients with metabolic disorders

Categories of patients who need a strict or specific diet cannot exclude protein products from the diet. Such experiments with one's own health lead to an exacerbation of diseases. The consumption of meat, milk and eggs is vital in diseases:

• Endocrine system: diabetes mellitus, thyroid gland, adrenal glands - an excess of carbohydrates with a lack of proteins makes it difficult to synthesize hormones, or even stops it.

• Digestive tract: cholecystitis, duodenal and stomach ulcers - due to impaired absorption of the mucous membrane.

• Kidney diseases: pyelonephritis, glomerulonephritis - the loss of protein in the urine leads to irreversible consequences.

knowledge workers

It would seem that office workers do not belong to any of the above categories, but it would not hurt them to fast! However, not all so simple. Strict fasting implies the exclusion of confectionery and sweets from food. The brain without glucose is "bored" and refuses to work at full capacity.

Who benefits from fasting?

Any person will say: “Of course, overweight people!” They de lose weight, improving their health and saving on clothes that they need to buy, as they say, "for growth." But, the fact is that people do not get fat from meat and even fat. From pasta, which are not prohibited in fasting, weight is gained much faster. With strict starvation, too, it is not possible to lose weight. Switching to dry bread with water, a person launches an emergency mechanism for storing reserves in the body for a rainy day. As a result, weight increases without eating meat.

Fasting as a diet is useful for healthy people who do not have the need for energy sources for the intense load associated with the work and growth of the body. Exclusion of products containing cholesterol is indicated for patients who are prescribed drugs that remove cholesterol, such as simvastatin. For such people, fasting is simply necessary, otherwise the effect of the drug will be ineffective.

Photo istockphoto.com