modern monastic medicine

The Protestant Bible scholars tend to teach trust in God, prayer, and fasting as the way to be healed from illness, rather than trusting in doctors or healers. The Bibles used by Catholics and Protestants are not the same. Catholics and Protestants use the word "apocrypha," a group of 14 books, not considered canonical, differently. There are Old Testament books that are considered apocryphal by all Christian churches, including Catholicism. There are other books, called "Deuterocanonical" by Rome, that are considered part of the canon by Rome, and are considered apocryphal by other Christian churches. These Deuterocanonical books are: Tobit, Judith, First and Second Maccabees, The Book of Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with Ecclesiastes, which is accepted as canonical by all Christian churches). Protestant churches do not accept the deuterocanonical books as canonical, and you will not find them in their bibles. With regard to the Biblical instructions to humanity, we note our physicians:

38:1: Honor the physician with the honor due him,  according to your need of him,  for the Lord created him;  2: for healing comes from the Most High,  and he will receive a gift from the king.  3: The skill of the physician lifts up his head,  and in the presence of great men he is admired.  4: The Lord created medicines from the earth,  and a sensible man will not despise them.

6: And he gave skill to men  that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.  7: By them he heals and takes away pain;  8: the pharmacist makes of them a compound.  His works will never be finished;  and from him health is upon the face of the earth.  9: My son, when you are sick do not be negligent,  but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.  10: Give up your faults and direct your hands aright,  and cleanse your heart from all sin.

12: And give the physician his place, for the Lord created him;  let him not leave you, for there is need of him.  13: There is a time when success lies in the hands of physicians,  14: for they too will pray to the Lord  that he should grant them success in diagnosis  and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.  

The Bible honors doctors as we see in Ecclesiasticus. Luke, a companion of the apostle Paul, was said to be a physician (Col 4.14). Also, modern medicine can be seen in light of the biblical command to love one's neighbor (Lev 19.18; Luke 10.25-37) and to practice Samaritan ways of helping others. In fact, Jesus instructed his followers to go heal the sick (Luke 10.9). The Bible also stresses the value and dignity of human life, teaching that all human beings are created by God and in God’s likeness (Gen 1.26,27). This belief has profoundly influenced the practice and ethics of modern medicine as this book will reveal.

Many disciplines are currently involved in medicine and healing. Medicine deals with the elimination of physical symptoms primarily through drugs, surgery removes physical impediments and repairs trauma, psychotherapy treats mental disorders through symbology, physiotherapy assists healing through physiologic stimulation, nutrition fortifies the organism, nature cure purifies the organism and removes the impediments to healing, and sociology tries to restore troubled relationships. In these disciplines, diagnosis and therapy are based on practical observations as well as scientific evidence.

Our histories of medicine discuss Greek medicine at considerable length and pay scant attention to Christian contributions beginning in Europe and the Levant and proceeding through the dark ages of Europe. We know practically all of the great leaders of medicine in earlier and subsequent generations have been influenced by the Greeks. Greek physicians, e.g. Hippocrates, whose works have come down to us seem nearer to our medical sciences today as compared to others, e.g. Oriental.

Clerical medicine, most often called monastic medicine, was developing during the middle ages and was provided as part of a religious duty, with payments and income made through a church rather than directly to the monk. The Rule of St Benedict states that "before and above all things, care must be taken of the sick, that they be served in the very truth as Christ is served." Virtually every monastery had an infirmary for the monks or nuns, and this led to provision being made for the care of laity and secular patients. Almost half of the hospitals in medieval Europe were directly affiliated with monasteries, priories of the Knights or other religious institutions and hospices. Most of the religious communities formulated precise rules of conduct, required a uniform type of dress, and integrated worship services into their daily routine.

Monasticism (from the Greek monos, meaning "single" or "alone") usually refers to the way of life - communitarian or solitary - adopted by those individuals, male or female, who have elected to pursue an ideal of perfection or a higher level of religious experience. Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). Monastic orders historically have been organized around a rule or a teacher, the activities of the members being closely regulated in accordance with the rules adopted. The practice is ancient, having existed in India almost 10 centuries before Christ. It can be found in some form among most developed religions. In the time of Christ, the Essenes at Qumran and Syria were Jewish monks. Outside of Judea, there were said to be a certain number of Jews, men and women, living on the shores of Lake Mareotis, near Alexandria, they were called the Therapeutae, which means Healers.

Technically, monasticism embraces both the life of the hermit, characterized by varying degrees of extreme solitude, or the life of the cenobite, monks or nuns living in a community offering a limited amount of solitude. Monasticism usually entails asceticism, the doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine. This asceticism may include fasting, silence, and an acceptance of bodily discomfort. The goal of such practices is usually a more intense relationship with God, some type of personal enlightenment, or the service of God through prayer, meditation, or good works such as teaching or nursing.

Christian monasticism began in the deserts of Egypt and Syria in the 4th century A.D. Saint Anthony the Great was connected with the first Egyptian hermits; Saint Pachomius, with the first communities of cenobites in Egypt. Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea, placed monasticism in an urban context by introducing charitable, medical service as a work discipline.

The organization of western monasticism is due primarily to Saint Benedict of Nursia (6th century), whose Benedictine rule formed the basis of life in most monastic communities until the 12th century. Among the principal monastic orders that evolved in the Middle Ages were the Carthusians and Hospitallers in the 11th century; the Cistercians in the 12th; and the lesser orders, or friars - Dominicans, Franciscans, and Carmelites - arose in the 13th century.

Monasticism has flourished both in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches from earliest Christian times to the present, being reformed and renewed periodically by dynamic individuals with new emphases or departures from current practices. With the rise of the universities after the renaissance, the monastic control of education came to an end. It must be clearly understood however, that monasticism has never become stereotyped in practice, and that it would be futile to hold up any single example as a supreme and perfect model. Monasticism is a living dynamic and consequently it must be informed with a principle of self-motivation and adaptability to its environment. Only one thing remains the same and that is the motive power which brought it into existence and has maintained it throughout the centuries - the love of God and the desire to serve Him as perfectly as this life permits, leaving all things to follow Christ.

It must be understood that a monastic orders differ from the friars, clerks regular, and other later developments of the religious life in one fundamental point. Monastic physicians had essentially some special works or objectives, such as medical practice, teaching, or serving in the care of others, which occupies a large place in their activities. In a later section we shall see that monk physicians have actually undertaken external labors of the most varied character, but in every case this work is not essential to the monastic state. Christian monasticism has varied greatly in its external forms.

The central question of this book is how today's Church lost a special healing ministry and how can we reclaim back our culture, works and rights. How did Jesus' healing ministry relate to these many therapeutic disciplines and what contributions were made by Christian physicians? Has Jesus' healing ministry been “absorbed” or eliminated by these modern scientific disciplines so that it lost its uniqueness?

During the last millennium, medicine claimed and ultimately received the professional acceptance and nearly exclusive control for physical care. In the 19th century, new scientific disciplines such as balneotherapy, hypnotism, and nature cure, as well as a new form of medicine called homeopathy, developed with their own claims and offerings to heal people. The medical doctors intervened and eventually received a nearly universal claim to health matters. The disillusioned and resigned summary of this development is that Jesus' ministry has fallen out of grace, and into the hands of medical doctors; and Christian medicine no longer claims a place among the many therapeutic approaches. Theology it appears has forgotten or abandoned the therapeutic dimension of the Christian tradition.

This book will outline Jesus' Mission to Heal interpreted through history and the activities of Christian scholars, dedicated Christian doctors, and the activities of the Knights Hospitaller. This book attempts to elucidate by first explaining the early history of medicine and then Jesus' healing ministry and miracles, and how Jesus' ministry has been interpreted or even misunderstood throughout the centuries. Finally and most importantly, this book will offer some guidance about how Christian churches can understand and implement Jesus' healing ministry in the contemporary world.

Divination in Early Medicine, Divinatory Arts which have a Natural Basis are permissible, EXAMPLES OF DIVINATION IN ANCIENT MEDICINE

Saint John the Baptist, Saints Cosmas and Damian, Saint Basil of Caesarea, Saint Julia, Saint Lazarus, Saint Lucy, Saint Luke, St. Martin the Herbalist, St. Padre Pio, Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Hilarion, Saint Niels Stensen, Saint Richard Pampuri, Sanit Guiseppe Moscati

The Survival of Greek Medicine Through the Dark Ages, Jesus' Healing Ministry up to the Renaissance

Monk Physicians, Barber/Surgeons, Leeches, Dentatores, Herbalists, Midwives, Nurses, How the Healing Arts were Practiced

Mesmerism, Homeopathy, Elixirs, The Water Cure, Father Sebastian Kneipp, Revered Sylvester Graham, Louis Kuhne, Emanuel Felke, John Harvey Kellog, Johann Künzle,

DECLARATION OF ALMA-ATA, WHAT THE WORLD’S GOVERNMENTS PROMISED, The New Medicine, Role Model of a Monastic Physician Today, Congregation based Monastic Medical Ministry, The Model of Soul Care

Nearly one thousand years of history makes the original religious Order of St. John, one of the oldest charitable organizations in the world today. Our symbol, the Maltese Cross, originated with the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who became known as the Knights Hospitallers because of their care of the sick and poor. These knights of centuries past were united by a pledge of compassion and courage.

This Sovereign Medical Order was established to return to the world the Hospital Missions originally started by this Order. What could only be termed natural medicine, the Knights had only indigenous methods of treatment, yet were responsible for the development some of our most time honored methods of sanitation, surgery, nursing care and hygiene. At this time when the world’s poor face a crisis of primary medical care, the Knights of this Order are returning natural care as a reformation of rural medical practices. What could today be termed drugless therapies, the doctors of this Order specialize and practice time honored uses of bedside diagnosis, nursing, use of botanical and mineral medicines, as well as physical diagnosis and therapies in order to benefit the poor and needy.

CHAPTER I – MEDICO-RELIGIOUS ORIGINS & PRACTICES OF THE HOSPITALLERS A Developmental History

The Military Order of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist Of Jerusalem In the Holy Land

CHAPTER VIII— THE SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA

CHAPTER IX— THE SACRED AND MOST DISTINGUISHED MILITARY ORDER OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST OF JERUSALEM IN THE SPANISH LANGUE

CHAPTER XII— THE GRAND PRIORY IN THE BRITISH LANGUE OF THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

CHAPTER XIII—THE ANCIENT, EXALTED ILLUSTRIOUS RELIGIOUS AND MILITARY ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA AND THE ORANGE INSTITUTE

CHAPTER XIX— OTHER MODERN ORGANIZATIONS CALLED ORDERS OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OR KNIGHTS OF MALTA