A Prayer for Cancer Patients

Icon of the Theotokos "Pantanassa" ("Queen of All"), also known as "The Healer of Cancer" (source)

  

An Orthodox Prayer for Cancer Patients,

from the Cell of Elder Gabriel the Athonite,

Approved by the Orthodox Church of Greece
  

Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who rules over the spirits of affliction and health for those who call upon You with fervor of heart, and who with faith in You have emptied themselves, hearken to us sinners, along with those afflicted with the dangerous illness of cancer, and who have been seized from among us, and who persist in longstanding and painful illness, our fathers, brethren and children, full of deep sorrows and pains, and who, unable to flee from their death, entreat everyone [to pray for them]. O Lord, through Your illumining and sanctifying Spirit, guide in medical science those who are seeking to discover and use the good medicine and revealing therapy. Grant strength to those who are suffering, and patience and relief from their pains, bestowing on them every healing of soul and body, through the intercessions of our Most-blessed Lady the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, the Life-giving Spring, whose waters in the queen of cities [Constantinople] healed the passion of cancer, of our Father among the Saints Parthenios, Bishop of Lampsakos, of the holy, glorious and wonderworking Unmercenaries, of the holy, glorious Great Martyr Panteleimon, [of St. Nektarios of Pentapolis, or other Saints desired to be commemorated, etc.] and of all Your Saints. Amen.
(source)
  

St. Parthenios of Lampsakos, among the Saints whose prayers especially help cancer patients (source)

   

Picture documenting "Great Helpers Against Cancer", or wonderworking Saints whose prayers especially help those suffering from this affliction, including: The Most-Holy Theotokos Pantanassa ("The Healer of Cancer"), Sts. Nektarios of Aegina, Ephraim of Nea Makri, Parthenios of Lampsakos, Patapios of Thebes, John Maximovitch, Anastasia of Rome and John the Russian (source)

   

Icon depicting the Holy Hierarchs and Wonderworkers: Sts. Luke of Simferopol, Nektarios of Pentapolis, and John of San Francisco (source)

   

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"When the thrones are set up, and the books are opened..."

Icon of the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment (source)

  
When the thrones are set up, and the books are opened, and God comes to sit in judgment, O, what fear will be then! Angels stand around in fear, and the river of fire is drawn. O, what will we guilty people do then, who are in many sins? When we hear the calling of the blessed from the Father unto the Kingdom, the sinners will be sent unto perdition, and who will endure that terrible sentence? But You, O only Savior Who loves mankind, the King of the ages, before I reach my end, turn me back through repentance, and have mercy on me.


Having come to know the commandments of the Lord, let us do them. Let us feed the hungry, let us give drink to the thirsty, let us clothe the naked, let us enter in to the houses of the sick and visit those in prison, that He might say to us, when He comes to judge the whole earth: Come, the blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom that has been prepared for you.
-Idiomela from the Sunday of the Last Judgment
  
(source)
  

Jesus Christ coming on the clouds of glory at His Second Coming, to judge the living and the dead (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"The pure wisdom of the Holy Spirit dwelt in your pure heart..."

St. Philothei, the Venerable New-Martyr of Athens (source)

  
The pure wisdom of the Holy Spirit dwelt in your pure heart, O all-blessed Philothei, showing you to be an awesome dispeller of the evil spirits, and an all-perfect and mighty healer of afflictions. Therefore, as you have obtained boldness before God Who loves mankind, ceaselessly intercede that our souls and bodies might be freed from the passions.
-Doxastikon of the Litia for the Feast of St. Philothei of Athens

(source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Elder Ephraim of Katounakia: "Where you kneel and make prostrations, there the feet of Christ are”.

Elder Ephraim of Katounakia (+1998) (source)

  

"I was making some prostrations once, when the following thought occurred to me: “Where you kneel and make prostrations, there the feet of Christ are”. I instantly fell to the floor and started kissing the ground where Christ had stepped. I literally kissed it. These things come by themselves, you cannot provoke them. This is grace, my brother."

-Elder Ephraim of Katounakia (+1998)

 

(source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"I have squandered the essence of my Father's riches as a prodigal..."

Icon of the Parable of the Prodigal Son (source)

  

I have squandered the essence of my Father's riches as a prodigal, and having consumed them all, I have come to dwell in a desert land of evil citizens, and I am no longer able to bear to dwell with them, so I return, crying out to You, O compassionate Father: I have sinned against heaven and before You, and I am no longer worthy to be called Your son. Make me as one of Your hired servants, O God, and have mercy on me.
-Idiomelon from the Sunday of the Prodigal Son in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

(source)

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Silouan: "Many rich and powerful men would pay dearly to see the Lord..."

The Most-holy Theotokos holding Christ the Lord (source)

  
"Many rich and powerful men would pay dearly to see the Lord or His Most Pure Mother, but God does not appear in riches, but in the humble heart... Every one of the poorest men can be humbled and come to know God. It need neither money nor reputation to come to know God, but only humility."
-St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, I.11,21
  
(source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"O Lord Pantocrator, I see what tears can accomplish..."

The Prayer of Hezekiah (source)

  
O Lord Pantocrator, I see what tears can accomplish, for Hezekiah was lifted up from the gates of death, having been delivered from many years of sin, while the Publican was justified above the Pharisee, and I entreat you to number me among them and have mercy on me.
-Doxastikon of the Stichera from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

(source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Elder Aimilianos: "If I am not joyous, then I am nothing!"

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (source)

  
"The lack of joy is a pathological state of man, a willing closure within one's self. And whatever he wishes to do he will not be successful.

First, one must clean his field, to find out what is going on and why he is not joyous. Then, he must pursue joy within himself, and then the peace of God will take the place of joy. Thus, man should keep his relationship with God and with his Elder [or Spiritual Father], and should seek a true life.

Am I good, faithful, perfect, holy?
Am I a teacher?
If I am not joyous, then I am nothing.

It is important when they tell me: "Physician, heal thyself, and then, offer him to God." God cannot enter into a heart that is not joyful, He cannot find a place of contact, because He is peace, He is the fulfillment of joy.

Only like things can unite, and because of this, God can only unite with a joyous soul. For the monk who is not joyous, the Elder cannot do anything at all, his hands are totally tied.

Whoever thinks that he is approaching to reach "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", but is not joyous, can understand that he is totally deluded. Joy is the criterion, the thermometer.
Joy is something external, but it is also something internal.

Ultimately, it is a necessary presupposition, because the lack of joy makes man study things differently and to become changed. For example, if one puts even one drop of nitric oxide into pure water, immediately he changes its essence. Thus, exactly, one drop of bitterness, depression, sadness transforms the whole atmosphere of a person, and extinguishes God.

But joy must also exist in a brotherhood [or a family], because it is an element both of one's personal life and of the brotherhood.

I cannot be joyous if all those around me do not have the tendency and the atmosphere of joy, neither, however, can I have any benefit if I do not take on this joy from the brotherhood.

Only when I take it on can I say that I have a relationship with the Elder, and then I can take in God, because God is the life that exists within man, and the life which is transmitted through man."
-Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, from the book Neptic Life and the Ascetical Canons
(source)
  

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra (+2019) (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Paraklesis to St. Julian of Emesa (Mar Elian Homsi) the Martyr and Unmercenary

St. Julian of Emesa (Mar Elian Homsi) the Martyr and Unmercenary - Commemorated February 6th (source)

  

The following are beautiful recordings in three parts of the Paraklesis (Supplication Service) to St. Julian of Emesa (Mar Elian Homsi), the Martyr and Unmercenary (تراتيل براكليسي القديس إليان الحمصي الطبيب الشافي )

   

May St. Elian help all those who are sick and suffering throughout the world, especially the Christians in the Middle East!

  

Part I (source)

 

Part II (source)

 

Part III (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Selected quotes from Sts. Barsanouphios and John

Jesus Christ the Son of God the Savior (source)

  
"Having God, fear nothing, but cast all of your care upon Him, and He will take care of you. Believe undoubtingly, and God will help you according to His mercy."
  
"Don't be deceived regarding the knowledge of what will be after your death: what you sow here, you will reap there. After leaving here, no one can make progress. Here is the work, there the reward; here the struggle, there the crowns."
  

"No one ever accomplishes good by means of evil, because they are themselves conquered by the evil. On the contrary, evil is corrected by good."

"In times of affliction, unceasingly call out to the merciful God in prayer. The unceasing invocation of the name of God in prayer is a treatment for the soul which kills not only the passions, but even their very operation. As a doctor finds the necessary medicine, and it works in such a way that the sick person does not understand, in just the same way the name of God, when you call upon it, kills all the passions, although we don't know how this happens."

"Here is the luminous teaching of our Savior: Thy will be done. (Matt. 6:10). Whoever sincerely pronounces this prayer leaves his own will and puts all things in the will of God. But the will inspired by the demons consists in self-justification and trust in ourselves, and then they easily subject a man who receives this sort of thought."
-Sts. Barsanouphios and John
(source)

  

Sts. Barsanouphios and John (source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

"A paradoxical wonder equal to Moses has occurred..."

St. Agatha the Virgin-Martyr of Palermo (source)

  
A paradoxical wonder equal to Moses has occurred at the martyrdom of the all-glorious Agatha, and Martyr of Christ God, for he passed on to the people the Law received on the Mountain written by God, while an Angel from heaven placed a plaque upon her grave, on which was written: A righteous mind, self-determined, honor from God, the deliverance of her father-land."
-Doxastikon of the Stichera in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone, for the feast of St. Agatha

(source)

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!