Why Is the Truth About the Health of Soul and Body Not Revealed to Everyone?
“Holy Father Gabriel, pray to God for us!”
“Why Is the Truth About the Health of Soul and Body Not Revealed to Everyone?”
We live in an extraordinary time. Almost everything is available to a person today — medical knowledge of every kind, the results of scientific research, tens of thousands of articles about the harm caused by smoking, alcohol, and fast food. Almost everyone knows that cigarettes destroy the lungs, that sugar damages blood vessels, and that a sedentary lifestyle shortens one’s years.
And yet people continue to smoke, drink, overeat, sleep too little, and become anxious over trifles. As if consciously, day after day, they reduce the reserve of their own vital strength.
Why, knowing the consequences, does a person choose not health, but slow self-destruction? Why is it not given to many to understand the simple truth that the body is the temple of the soul, and that destroying it is both sin and foolishness?
Let us try to understand this calmly, without condemnation. Because to understand the cause is to take the first step toward healing.
The cry of the soul, not only the suffering of the body
Every illness is first born in the depths of the spirit and only later appears in the body. Illness is often not merely the suffering of the flesh, but the cry of a soul that has moved away from the Source of Life.
And the person who seeks healing often knows the cause of their sorrow — the spiritual wound that became the beginning of their suffering. But because of weakness, fear, pride, or lack of repentance, they do not wish to open their soul fully before God and bring to Him everything hidden in the depths of the heart.
The Lord, however, does not abandon us and does not turn away from the suffering. With love and longsuffering, He awaits the hour when a person will open their heart in humility and call upon Him in repentance.
The Lord allows sorrows and illnesses in our lives not in order to destroy us, but to bring us to understanding, to purify the heart, and to save the soul. Through bodily suffering, He teaches a person to seek first of all God and His righteousness, and not only earthly blessings.
And when the soul sincerely repents, comes to the Lord, leaves behind its sins, and with living faith entrusts itself into God’s hands — then the grace of God descends upon that person. It heals the broken heart, binds up the wounds of the soul, and brings relief to the suffering body.
The illusion of impunity
The most dangerous trap is the thought: “Perhaps nothing will happen.” A young person lighting their first cigarette does not think about lung cancer at the age of sixty. A woman eating sweets at night does not connect it with diabetes ten years later. An alcoholic never considers himself an alcoholic. A person thinks that they “still have time”, that “this will not happen to me”.
This is self-deception. The Lord created our body wonderfully strong and patient. But this patience has a limit. Illness does not come suddenly — it accumulates, like rust. And when a person finally comes to their senses, it is often too late.
Why, then, does God not stop us? Why does He not give a sign, why does He not strike our hands? Because faith and freedom of choice are the greatest gifts. The Lord wants a person to come to understanding freely, voluntarily. If He forced us, there would be no spiritual struggle, and there would be no love.
Running away from oneself — why harmful habits are so persistent
Almost every addiction rarely begins with physiology. More often, its root lies deeper — in an emptiness of the soul. A person does not know why they should wake up in the morning. They have no purpose, no joy, no peace within. There is anxiety, boredom, resentment, fear. And in order to silence this pain, they reach for a cigarette — it gives the illusion of calm; for a glass of alcohol — it creates the illusion of lightness; for sweets — they offer a substitute for happiness.
This is not weakness of character, but the cry of a soul that does not know where to find true joy. Many people simply do not know another way, because they were never taught. In childhood, no one showed them that one can pray when afraid. No one explained that work and patience bring true depth, not quick dopamine. And so a person grows up with a hole inside and tries to patch that hole with food, smoke, alcohol — but the abyss only grows.
Why is the truth hidden from many? Pride and the unwillingness to hear
There is another reason, a more bitter one. The Lord does not reveal the truth to some people not because He is cruel, but because the person themselves does not want to see it. They have built a comfortable wall: “I am an adult and I decide for myself what to do. No one can tell me what to do. There is no God, and even if there is, He has nothing to do with me.”
Such pride is a terrible barrier. God knocks on the heart quietly; He does not break down the door by force. And if a person plugs their ears and cries out, “I do not want to know! Do not stop me from living the way I want!” — the Lord steps back and waits. Sometimes for years. Sometimes for an entire lifetime.
And the person remains in their self-deception. They sincerely believe that a cigarette relieves stress, that a drink warms the soul, that sweets are a little joy. But in reality, these are chains. And they have put those chains on themselves.
The truth is simple, but it requires humility. And the proud person has no humility; therefore, it is not given to them to understand.
The destruction not only of the body, but also of the spirit
When a person smokes, drinks, or overeats, it is not only the liver or lungs that suffer. The soul suffers as well. Because each such “weakness” is a small betrayal of oneself, of one’s purpose. A person loses their will, ceases to be master of their body, and becomes its slave.
“I cannot quit smoking,” we often hear from people of different ages. And indeed, they cannot. Because addiction has already taken root in the soul. But it is important to understand: without God’s help, this chain is difficult to break.
Meanwhile, people even a thousand years ago were saying: gluttony is the mother of all passions. Drunkenness is the door to fornication and cruelty. Smoking is a slow form of suicide which, of course, is not described in ancient books, but in its spirit is also a weakening of the will and a disregard for the gift of life.
How can one nevertheless understand the truth? The first step is to admit one’s blindness
Where does enlightenment begin? With an honest admission: “I do not see. I am mistaken. I do not know how to live rightly. Help me.”
There is no need to pretend that you know everything or to hide behind clever words. Speak to God simply, like a child: “Lord, I smoke, I overeat, I get angry, I am afraid. I cannot stop. Help me, open my eyes.”
This is the very prayer with which healing begins.
Do not expect an instant miracle — that tomorrow morning you will wake up as a completely different person. The truth is revealed gradually, like the dawn. First, you may notice that you no longer want to smoke after lunch. Then, that your hand no longer reaches for the bottle. Later, that you gladly ate an apple instead of a pastry. This is the action of grace. Quiet, unnoticeable, but real help.
Everything depends on us. The Lord said: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Gospel of Matthew, 7:7–11). These words are not a promise of an instant miracle, but a call to our own personal effort. We must not merely wait — we must ask, seek, and knock. And then it will be opened.
Can even the most hopeless find the light?
A person often thinks: “I have fallen too low. I smoked, drank, destroyed myself for too long. There is no forgiveness for me anymore. I can no longer rise.” This is the most terrible lie suggested by the enemy of mankind. Despair is worse than any illness.
We answer directly: yes, they can. In Orthodoxy, there is no such thing as a “hopeless person”. There is such a thing as a “repentant person”. Remember the thief on the cross — he hung beside Christ, had lived a terrible life, yet managed to say just one thing: “Remember me, O Lord.” And the Lord said to him: “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
One moment of sincere repentance can outweigh years of falls. God does not look at the length of your addiction. What matters to Him is your heart now. If it trembles, if it weeps, if it reaches even a little toward the light — He is already near.
We, the Orthodox Association of Disabled People “NiKa” and the Andcross Pilgrimage, Spiritual and Educational Centre, have seen with our own eyes over 26 years of work how people with 30 years of smoking behind them quit, how alcoholics began a new life, how those despised by their loved ones returned to their families. Not because they were strong, but because they believed God. They said: “Lord, I am weak; let Thy holy will be done in me.” And God worked a miracle.
It is precisely for this kind of help that we organise pilgrimage and wellness trips through the “Health of Soul and Body” programme. These are not simply tours — they are an opportunity to unite care for the body, through diagnostics and treatment, with genuine spiritual strengthening.
Prayer at the relics of the saints, confession, communion, conversations with a priest. We travel to the holy places of Georgia, and hundreds of people have already felt this: when the soul finds peace, the body begins to recover.
Everyone can take a step toward the light
We are not calling you to become perfect in one day. But we are calling you to think: why do you continue to do what is killing you? What are you trying to silence? What are you afraid of? What are you running from?
Do not be afraid to ask yourself these questions, and do not be afraid to turn to God. Even if you have never prayed. Even if you consider yourself hopeless. Even if you “feel nothing”.
Say: “Lord, I am tired of my own foolishness. I am destroying myself, and I cannot stop. Help me to see the truth, and I will try to take at least one small step toward You.”
And this step may become the beginning of a new life. A life where the health of the body and the soul are not divided. Where you are the master, not a slave. Where joy is not found in a bottle or a cigarette, but in every day lived with God.
Andrey Yakovlev