Say "Ahhh"

I might have mentioned before that my dad was a physician, an internist, with a private practice for over 40 years. It was interesting as a child with a doctor in the house. There was no faking being sick to get out of going to school. Even with things we thought needed some special care and cure, my dad sometimes said, “Yes, well, we will just keep an eye on it and see how it does in a day or two.”

One concern that came up from time to time was opening up the fridge for a snack, and the eyes of the non-suspecting kid would go straight to the little gizmo for injections. We would shut the refrigerator door and run to mom or dad to ask with alarm, “Who has to get a shot?” Home health care, before it was a thing! Oh, and the worse was when we would spy the dreaded “red medicine” in the fridge. A once per year treatment for God knows what, maybe some kind of worms. It was the foulest tasting stuff one could ever be ordered to swallow. We would run to keep from it. Mostly, it was hugely helpful to have a doctor for a dad, and we loved him for all kinds of care we got from him.

These days, our hearts go out to all the medical workers, from the lab to the clinic to the bedside. It is a monumental wonder how they have been able to deliver care in such complicated conditions as we have. Among all people, we should pause to thank them. We thank God for doctors and the variety of medical folk:

Sanctify, God, those whom you have called to the study and practice of the arts of healing, and the prevention of disease and pain. We ask, O Divine Physician that you strengthen doctors and nurses by your life-giving Spirit, that by their ministries the health of the community may be promoted, for the sake of your love. Amen.

Today the church calendar notes some saints I had never heard of, and their notable qualities are on this topic, so let me share some things about these saints who lived about the turn of the second century. Many of you are aware Luke, who gave us the Gospel that bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles was a physician.

In line with that ministry, Zenaida of Tarsus and Philonella were traditionally the first "unmercenaries" (physicians who would not accept fees from their patients). They are particularly venerated in Eastern Christianity. They were sisters, born into a well-educated Jewish family, and said to be cousins of Saint Paul the Apostle. The website “Satucket.org” informs us that on entering the philosophical academy at Tarsus, they devoted themselves to the study of medicine, and when they completed their studies moved to the mountains around Pelion near Demetriada in Thessaly. This was a region renowned for its healing springs and shrines to Asclepius. The physicians who practiced there catered to the wealthy, charging exorbitant amounts for their services, and augmented their incomes with the sale of magical amulets and charms.

The same source, “Satucket” tells us of a third figure commemorated today, Hermione, born in Caesarea of Palestine early in the first century. She was the daughter of Saint Philip the Deacon. Inspired by a true understanding of the gospel, she studied the philosophy of medicine in her native city.

She bought a house and founded a medical clinic, devoted to the treatment of the poor and the homeless. Joined by her sister Eukhidia, she added rooms for these homeless ones and for poor travelers who were ill. Thus was established the first of those hospital-hostels or xenodukia, which would become so much a part of the Orthodox Christian tradition. While ministering to the physical illnesses of those who came to her, she also nourished them with the gospel. Late in her years, under the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, she was arrested and eventually martyred.

We are all called to be people after Jesus’ own heart—people who come not to be served but to serve. Saints such as Aenaida, Philonella, and Hermione, and medical practitioners from our own experience who have been “saints,” have taught us something about leading lives of service. Look to Jesus, even if not in the medical field, you can be a healer in other ways to the people around you. Forgiveness, reconciliation, tenderness, and kind words are all “medicines’ you are qualified to dispense by your humanity and the grace of Baptism.

Merciful God, whose most dear Son came to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and preach the gospel to the poor; Teach us by the example of your servants, Zenaida, Philonella, and Hermione to freely give even as we have freely received; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.