Father Sergius Filimonov Temple of the Sovereign Icon. Priest Filimonov Sergei Vladimirovich. II. modern scientific data on the homeopathic factor
The rector of the Church of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God, Archpriest Sergius Filimonov, answers the questions of the Russian House
Archpriest Sergius FILIMONOV is a member of the executive committee of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia (OPVR), chairman of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg named after St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), candidate of theology, doctor of medical sciences, professor of St. Petersburg State Medical University named after. acad. I.P. Pavlova, practicing ENT surgeon of the highest category, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Church and Medicine”
– Father Sergius, the mere listing of your positions is impressive. Following the example of St. Luke, you combine serving God with the work of a doctor. Why did you choose this particular profession?
– From the cradle, my life was connected with medicine. The smell of childhood for me was the smell of the clinic. I literally absorbed it with my mother's milk. As a baby, I lay on a stretcher in an ambulance while my mother went to calls. In between examinations of patients, she breastfed me. Later, when I was taken from kindergarten and elementary school, I was left among the sick and doctors.
I graduated from high school in 1982. He loved physics and mathematics. Based on the results of the Olympiads, I could be enrolled in a specialized university. But my mother said that in medicine I could realize all my abilities. Of course, I didn’t set such lofty goals as young Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky, but I wanted to serve people, help them in their sorrows and illnesses.
Mom studied and worked at the Research Institute of Prosthetics named after. Albrecht in St. Petersburg. I often had to be among children with damaged psyches. My father worked at the Military Medical Academy named after. CM. Kirov, participated in two wars - the Ethiopian-Somali and Afghan. He had extensive experience in the surgical treatment of gunshot and mine explosion wounds, taught academy cadets and treated patients. I saw that my parents always treated their patients - sick children and adults with amputated limbs - with great attention, love and responsibility.
– There is a well-known phrase from the autobiography of St. Luke “I fell in love with suffering”: “The wounded saluted me with their feet.” What does this saint mean to you?
– Until I was 21, I knew nothing about St. Luke. When I was a cadet at the Military Medical Academy, during the operative surgery course, the teachers recommended to us “Essays on Purulent Surgery” as a classic and excellent work on medicine. In Soviet times, we were not told that its author was a clergyman. When I became a believing doctor and began to join the church, my spiritual father, Archpriest Vasily Lesnyak, having learned that I had not heard anything about St. Luke, brought his autobiography with the wish that I become like him, so that his life would become an example for me. I studied the iconography of St. Luke, and even gave a report on this topic. Having read the works and sermons of the saint, I was amazed by his versatility, titanic height and the power of his thought. It became clear to me that a person will not be able to create anything like this in his life if God does not help him. Thus, for me, through St. Luke, the light of Christ shone. At that time I was an officer and was torn between the desire to be a priest and at the same time not leave medicine. As a doctor, I was then extremely dissatisfied with medicine. A professional crisis arose.
– Why didn’t you leave medicine like some other priests?
– To find out the will of God, I went to the island of Zalit to visit Elder Nikolai Guryanov. He blessed me not to give up medicine, but to combine service to God and my neighbor. The autobiography of the saint struck me to the depths of my soul, and I sought to imitate him spiritually. I have always prayed and pray during surgery, placing a cross on the surgical field with iodine or applying the sign of the cross. During the operation I continuously recite the Jesus Prayer. In difficult moments of surgical intervention, I prayerfully turn to St. Luke for admonition and help, and I always receive it. Non-standard solutions lead to effective results of the operation. It became clear to me that healing the body without cleansing the soul of a sick person from sins is imperfect and half-hearted. The basis of the disease is buried deep in the depths of the sinner’s soul, and it provokes a new disease of the body with its external healing and visible well-being. Often resorting to the Sacraments of the Church in my clinical practice, I quite clearly discovered cardinal changes in the pathophysiological processes in the body of my patients, which defied either general medical canons or logic.
When I made my choice, Saint Luke began to “accompany” me everywhere. On my life’s path, I began to meet people who had one relationship or another with the saint: patients whom he operated on, doctors who knew him personally or studied with him. Unfortunately, I did not write down these testimonies at the time because I did not understand their importance for myself and others. I just memorized them. One day I accidentally met on a train Professor Belova from the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, whom Vladyka baptized as a child during his exile in Plakhino. In the mountains, she more than once found herself in life-threatening situations during geological exploration of glaciers. Always intuitively sensing the approach of danger, in the last minutes she avoided death and attributed help from above to Saint Luke. She believed that it was his blessing that protected her all her life. And isn’t it a miracle to meet the only living witness of baptism in a country of many millions? After all, during his life the saint baptized only two or three children. And other children had died by that time.
– What other interesting meetings do you remember?
– I met Archimandrite Innocent, the great-grandson of the famous saint - St. Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow, Apostle of Alaska and Siberia, who in his youth was blessed by St. Luke to be a surgeon before taking monasticism. In 25 years of his surgical work, none of his patients died. In Soviet times, he, like St. Luke, gave up before the operation, although he was very afraid that he would be betrayed and fired by godless employees. I also met the writer Lyalin, whom Saint Luke operated on.
A parishioner of my church is Nikolai Nikolaevich Sidorkin, the great-nephew of the saint, who accompanied him in his old age and helped him as a cell attendant. Communication with him helped to get to know the saint’s family better, his parents, children and descendants, among whom was the doctor Tatyana Voino-Yasenetskaya. I understood that these meetings were providential - St. Luke revealed himself to me in the entire breadth of his life.
– How and for what purpose was the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia created?
– OPVR was created as a result of the decline in the spiritual and moral level of modern domestic medicine, the disunity of medical workers professing the Orthodox faith, due to the low level of spiritual and Christian compassion for people in need of medical care, the activation and widespread dissemination of extrasensory perception, magical and other occult techniques impact on the population. In 1998, the hierarchy blessed me to create the Scientific and Educational Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg named after. St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea. We began to pray to him.
The logo of OPV St. Petersburg against the background of the Russian flag depicts an angel on the Alexandria Pillar and a red cross - a symbol of medical care and medical art, enclosed in a circle - a symbol of eternity, uniting the heavenly and earthly. This was one of the first such Societies in revived Russia. It was born on the initiative of the charity department of the diocese and the two largest sisterhoods of mercy: Pokrovsky and St. mts. Tatiana. Then I was the rector of the hospital parish of St. Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon on the Stream. The creation of the Society was preceded by scrupulous preparation of the draft Charter and regulations on internal activities by a specially created working group. In 2001, at the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, we opened the first chapel in St. Petersburg in honor of St. Luke, through which thousands of trauma patients have passed.
– Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg named after St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky) is a regional branch of the Russian Society of Orthodox Doctors named after St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky). How was the OPVR created?
– Nine years ago, on September 29-30, 2007, I had the honor of participating in the founding conference dedicated to the creation of OPVR (opvr.ru), which took place in Belgorod as part of the First All-Russian Congress of Orthodox Doctors. On October 12, Patriarch Alexy II blessed the activities of the OPVR, giving it the name of St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Simferopol. It was surprising and joyful to see that the seed sown by the confessor and doctor more than 50 years ago bore such abundant fruit both in our country and abroad.
Interviewed
Irina Ramizovna AKHUNDOVA
Objectives of the organization
- Father Sergius, tell us about your organization. What are its goals and objectives?
The Society of Orthodox Doctors is a public organization that has united believing Orthodox doctors of St. Petersburg into a single cathedral organism, which allows doctors to have a common opinion on the problems arising in modern medicine, which are now commonly called the special term “biomedical problems”. We also set as our goal to help those citizens - primarily believers, who need treatment and do not have the appropriate funds for this.
I know that the organization was originally conceived in order to resist occult, witchcraft and other dark forces, as well as totalitarian sects.
Yes, and also engage in the rehabilitation of victims, and through this rehabilitation, engage in missionary work, and through missionary work, open people’s eyes to what the Church allows you to do in relation to the treatment of your body, and where you should not go, and what serious consequences this can lead to. Therefore, naturally, this resulted in such scientific and educational goals. We hold various meetings where people from all over the city can openly gather, we use various types of printed publications - newspapers, magazines, we make appearances on radio and television, in other words, we use a wide range of all media, including the Internet, in order to indicate your positions.
Rejuvenation is a sin
- Please tell us about the conclusions you came to while researching certain current topics, for example, about your attitude to stem cell rejuvenation.Considering this issue from the point of view of a believer, I believe that we need to be very careful. Typically, rejuvenation occurs with the help of stem cells or some kind of technology is used: fetal therapy, fetal creams or special injections. If rejuvenation is an end in itself, it does not give a person anything. Moreover, it comes into conflict with God’s plan for man: after all, according to the Creator’s plan, man must live a certain number of years and die. And if his goal is to rejuvenate himself in order to be attractive - for example, women want men to react, so that at 50 years old a man can be seduced and he ends up with such a 50-year-old or 60-year-old woman in bed, or concludes a completely absurd marriage with her with a 20-30 year difference - then there is a lie in this.
- Because the goals that are set are earthly, sinful?
Yes, they are quite in conflict with God. It’s another matter when a person maintains the vital functions of his body through some kind of diet, or abstinence from alcohol, or undergoes sanatorium-resort treatment, because he has hard work to do throughout the year, or he has a family and many children, he spends a lot of energy, to feed them - and therefore he undergoes preventive treatment, or goes to the gym once a week - this is normal. This kind of “rejuvenation” of the body can be viewed positively. This does not contradict God's plan for man.
Why are GMOs dangerous?
- Tell me, is there any data on genetically modified products? Are they really harmful to the human body?Work on genetically modified products was carried out, and we had a specialist who dealt with this issue quite seriously, even had monographs, but currently all scientific work in this area has been curtailed.
- Why?
There are certain reasons. Those companies, let's call them transnational (they occupy almost the entire market for these products, and their headquarters are in the United States), are interested in this, so that these products are widely distributed throughout the world. And even when a law was passed in Europe to restrict the import of modified products, thanks to the financial resources that were given to the company, they were able to change the existing legislation. This law was repealed. Grains that are sown from these products, as a rule, do not produce more than two shoots. Then you need to contact the manufacturing company again. This means that everyone is on the so-called “food hook”, since they will depend on the companies that produce it.
- What effect do these products have on the human body?
No research has been carried out on this issue, and it is clear that people who work in the market selling these products are not interested in information about the negative impact of these products on the human body. The interests of big capital, big money are already emerging here, and it is clear that these companies are lobbying for all scientific research in this area. I know that many such laboratories were closed, and scientists who carried out such research were persecuted.
- But is something already known?
In order to talk about how modified products can act, it is necessary for one or two generations of people who consume these products to pass, and a mass survey of a large sample must be conducted - one hundred to two hundred thousand people who consume these products. Then you can determine their positive or negative effect. But we know from the experience of human life that any genetic modifications, any games with genes - they do not pass without leaving a trace on the human body.
I want a baby at any cost?
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There is a conciliar opinion of the Church on these issues. The Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000 clearly determined that all types of in vitro fertilization that currently exist are not blessed by the Church, because during these fertilizations things happen that the Church cannot accept. And the most unacceptable thing is the reduction of excess embryos. A type of artificial insemination is allowed, when everything happens naturally without conception in a test tube. But, unfortunately, its effectiveness is not very high, it does not exceed 20%. Therefore, this is a purely individual question, but, naturally, the use of someone else’s genetic material, no matter how excellent the technique, and even if there is no reduction of embryos, is a violation of the integrity of the marriage. An alien genetic set appears. This means that a stranger appears in the family. It is not visible, but its genes are present in this child. This means that the integrity of the marriage is broken and the spouses do not follow the will of God, but are looking for a workaround.
- What about surrogacy?
A new bill on reproductive technologies is currently being prepared (it was prepared by the Russian Ministry of Health), which legalizes surrogacy. And this type of technology is approved in the law on the protection of citizens’ health. But it must be said that this legislative decision is absolutely contrary to the law of God. Because raising a child in the womb of someone else’s mother is unnatural and violates all ethical principles. Such a born child may have several parents at the same time. And this is complete nonsense! For example, in Brazil my daughter was infertile, and her mother decided to give birth to her child. She became a surrogate mother for her daughter and gave birth to a child. A dual situation has arisen: on the one hand, she is the child’s mother, on the other hand, she is also a grandmother. Confusion arises: who is she then - grandmother or mother? Who is her daughter now in relation to her? That is, questions arise both on the medical and social plane, as well as on the spiritual, moral and church plane. And there are problems everywhere. Therefore, of course, this method is unacceptable.
- While we have hundreds of thousands of orphans without parents, we can take them in calmly and raise them.
Yes, if there is desire, responsibility and civic courage.
Sins and illnesses are connected
- Let's talk about diseases. Tell me, is there any logical connection between some human sins and diseases?Well, some connection is visible. Orthodox doctors and priests, based on medical and pastoral experience, see them well. For example, a person is constantly angry, irritated, screaming, yelling, making trouble. What is his sin? He is infected with angry and irritable passion. If he does not fight it and does not educate himself in the spirit of meekness, in the spirit of patience, generosity, humility, then this sin, his sinful passion can result in a stomach ulcer or hypertension. Therefore, hypertension is often suffered by those people who often go crazy, make noise all the time, scream, and are indignant. If a person has a lustful passion, then, of course, he can stumble upon a sexually transmitted infection.
Do believers cope with illnesses differently?
People who understand that sinful passions must be opposed by the virtues of patience and prayer, endure everything complacently, thank God, pray, and thanks to this they overcome depressive states. And those who continue to be in this sin, in this passion, develop various mental illnesses. And if there is no mental illness, then they are in some kind of psychopathic state, and then they poison the lives of both themselves and those around them - hence the thoughts not about continuing to fight for life, but about stopping it. Here is the connection with this passion. So, if you dig, then, of course, you can see that certain diseases are associated with passions. However, one cannot only anthropomorphize passions or say that this particular disease is clearly connected with this passion. There are things that are visible, and there are things that are closed to us and are the secret of God, and we should not try to reveal anything here.
Why are confession and communion important?
- What role does confession and communion play in healing people?Confession and communion play a huge role in the life of a sick person. I must say that, observing what happens to people as a result of confession and communion, at one time, as a doctor, I came to the idea of becoming a clergyman. As a result of deep repentance, the Lord can change a person’s physical condition, and this is a reality, and we are observing it. Our parish is located next to hospitals. There are 3 large hospitals nearby - medical unit 122, the Regional Hospital, and the Municipal Internal Affairs Hospital. We go to the sick, the sick themselves come to us. During this time, and we have been carrying out this ministry for 17 years, there have been tens of thousands of appeals. And we see these patterns quite clearly - how they recover without planned surgical intervention, when they repent and receive communion.
- So people received miraculous healing?
There were cases of miraculous healing, and there were cases of successful recovery, and there were cases of successful surgery. There were cases when people could become crippled, were in a state incompatible with life, and came out, so to speak, unscathed. What we managed to see contradicts the very laws of physics. God intervenes in the ongoing processes and continues, as 2000 years ago, to heal people. He Himself decides how and when to provide healing through a doctor, and when He Himself should intervene. Of course, during this time we have seen, not theoretically, but practically, how the Sacrament of the Church helps the person who turns to it.
- And you advise all patients, before going to the doctors, to go to church and confess and take communion?
Well, it’s difficult to advise all patients, because among the patients there are both non-believers and those with little faith. And not believing in God is their position. We say that this is necessary, and the person makes the choice himself. We remind them of the words of St. Neil of Sinai that before doctors, turn to God and prayer.
Are we a healthy nation?
- To what extent, in your opinion, are we a sick or healthy nation? Are there any statistics?There are statistics, and these statistics are presented annually at the Christmas educational readings in Moscow. It was brought by people of very high rank, those who had access to information. Statistics are a very complex thing and cannot be completely trusted. But, nevertheless, even with those not always accurate and correct indicators that statistical authorities have, it is possible to trace some trends, and one of them is known as the “Russian cross”.
- Is this when the mortality rate exceeds the birth rate?
Yes. We are clearly seeing a demographic decline. We see this both in our city of St. Petersburg and throughout the country. The reasons are known. But at the moment we cannot influence this process, because, firstly, existing laws do not allow us to change the situation, and, secondly, because the voice of the Church is currently not heard among the people. People do not hear the Church's alarm about the danger that hangs over the people. I don’t want to scare people and upset people with these numbers...
Well, what worries you the most - perhaps the increasing incidence of infertility? I read somewhere that 25% of our couples do not have children due to infertility. Or perhaps an increase in alcoholism?
The number of people who suffer from infertility actually reaches even, according to some researchers, up to 40%.
- What does this have to do with?
With promiscuous sex life. Today, as it were, everything is allowed, and we are instilled with the Western image of relationships in the family, where husband and wife are not husband and wife, but partners, or friends for a while, and as a result of this chaotic life, people do not give birth to children on time, and then illnesses, which develop prevent them from having children. This time. The second is, of course, the high level of alcoholism and drug addiction. In addition, there is a huge number of abortions, now 2 million a year. But, nevertheless, termination of pregnancy is allowed. If the institution of the family is not strengthened and childbearing is encouraged, then we will not be able to get out of the situation of the “Russian cross” that has currently developed.
How to help a dying person?
- Father Sergius, we will all die one day. Perhaps the interview will be read by a person who is terminally ill. Tell me, how can you help a dying person prepare for death?First of all, a dying person needs to be reminded that this is still a certain stage of life. That death is a segment that is part of life. And this is a very important part of life that must be lived, lived meaningfully. And very often this segment helps to dot a lot of i’s in a person’s life. The second is for the person who approaches this milestone to remember that death is only a comma, it is not a point in his personal existence. Because after this comma comes eternal life. And therefore, a person who is at this stage must live in the hope of eternal life, and prepare for this accordingly, understand that a meeting with God awaits him. And that behind this comma a big, real, unfolded life will just begin. That the life that was here is only a preparation, it is only a test of a person’s inclinations, his character traits, his relationship to God, his relationship to eternity, his devotion, and real life will begin there. There a person will be given the opportunity to develop all his abilities, and time there will not be limited. Because our God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Therefore, a dying person should believe in life, and not in leaving into some incomprehensible oblivion. And this should give him very strong support. But for this crucial moment of transition there, to eternity, he must prepare accordingly.
Often, a person’s departure to another world is accelerated by a huge amount of negative news coming from the television screen. Tell me, how can I protect myself?
Firstly, you need to understand that journalists provide information that sells them as journalists; this is their bread. But this does not mean that every person should react to all this. There are wonderful programs that, for example, make a person think about something, analyze what the situation is in the country, for example, the programs of Mamontov, a famous journalist. Then, there are programs where people remember the Great Patriotic War, it’s also worth remembering. There are cultural programs that are important to watch with children, about geography, about animals - some kind of general development. There are very deep programs of spiritual and moral content that make you think about life, look at the problem from some angle - of course, we will choose this program. But this does not mean that we need to look at everything negative that is poured out on us. We are the masters here.
Before the interview, you looked at our newspaper. Tell me, how important is it for newspapers like “Eternal Call” to have a place in society? And what advice would you give to readers?
The guidelines that your newspaper gives lead a person to think about how he should spiritually build his life and what conclusions he should draw when analyzing his current state. This should not be idle reading, but reading for action, reading for practice. A person must ask: what can I do, what in me corresponds to what I read, what does it give me? Any spiritual literature, including the newspaper you are involved in, certainly contributes to influencing the salvation of a person’s soul. Everything that influences the salvation of a person’s soul is positive, it is blessed by God. And everything that turns him away from this salvation harms the person and simply wastes his strength. Therefore, I wish the readers that they would not be “tadpoles”, that is, it would not turn out that there is a lot in the head, but in practice very little, but that they would gradually introduce into their lives, measure against it what they read in the newspaper or in other spiritual publications.
- Thank you very much, Father Sergius!
Conducted by Sergei ROMANOV
Photos from the archive of Fr. Sergius
Archpriest Sergius Filimonov The most important and most terrible thing is that the Russian woman, turning into a Soviet woman, was taught to be submissive to the will of God. But submission to God also means submission to the husband who is appointed head. “Why should I obey him? Who is he? I’m smarter than him, I have a higher education, and he’s a carpenter (or a janitor, or a mechanic).” Who gave you the right to insult and humiliate your husband? You married him out of love, why now do you neglect the one who was given to you by God? But, holding her proud head high and forgetting that marriages are made in heaven, that not a single person in life meets us by chance, a woman begins to command in the family. And she herself loses from this, she herself suffers terrible sorrows, loses the love and respect of her husband. The husband does not need commanders in the family, he needs a loving assistant, a gentle wife who will raise the children. But she does not know how, cannot and does not want to bear the cross that the Lord gives her. Yes, this cross is very difficult. Men are different: some want to work, others don’t; some want to serve in the army, others don’t; some want to follow the honest path, others neglect it. But you were aware of who you were marrying, what principles you were building your marriage on. Did you definitely want to marry an honest man, or did you deliberately not see in your chosen one the beginnings of future drunkenness, dislike for children, disdain for you as a woman and a person? So why are you moaning now? Ask God for forgiveness for what you have done; ask for strength and strength to bear the cross that has been given to you so that you can save your soul. A wife who is disobedient to her husband means she is disobedient to God and His will. And the Lord makes children exactly the same - so that the deluded one can feel what she is doing, how she is acting towards her Creator, how far she is from the image of the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. How did the Blessed Virgin Mary carry Her cross? With what humility She accepted the gospel of God and the prophecies that concerned Her, everything that happened to Her Son: when the Son left Her, when he preached the gospel, died, when He was crucified on the Cross - She accepted all this as God’s will. When the Lord sees that a woman is submissive in her cross-bearing, He puts everything in its place. The time comes, and the husband stops drinking, peace and order comes to the family, everything is arranged. If the husband was a random person in her life, she eventually finds another spouse who was truly sent to her by God - for her humility and patience with suffering. But this happens only when a woman wants to do the will of God. And if she does not fulfill it, then instead of saving her, the cross of life becomes for her a cross of shame. She remains lonely, the children do not listen, they slander their own mother, they say blasphemous words to her, they betray her, abandon her, drive her out onto the street - this is what she reaps in her old age. If she is disobedient to the will of God, then the cross of shame is revealed to her at the end of her life: she is left with nothing. Without knowing prayers, without knowing the order of services, she cannot pray, she does not know how to communicate with God. This is such a depressing result. The Lord is merciful. He tries to bring everyone who has endured sorrow and suffering, at least at the end of their lives, to repentance. So that they fall to their Creator, so that, looking back at their previous life - terrible, immoral, disobedient to God, with the destruction of their family - they mourn with all their hearts what they have done. The Lord gives the opportunity to the one who has always raised her head high to bow her head low before the lectern with the Cross and the Holy Gospel and sincerely repent of the errors and terrible acts that she had previously committed.
priest Sergius Filimonov
From the compiler
Homeopathy as a method of treating human diseases causes a lot of controversy, both in the medical and church environment.
The Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg twice over the past three years has held joint meetings with prominent homeopaths of the city to develop a correct and unbiased opinion on this issue.
The results of the analysis of this problem and the conciliar opinion of Orthodox doctors in St. Petersburg are presented in this brochure.
Chairman of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg, candidate of medical sciences, priest Sergiy Filimonov
Priest Sergius Filimonov - graduate of the Military Medical Academy named after. CM. Kirov and St. Petersburg Theological Academy;
Chairman of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg, Candidate of Medical Sciences, doctor of the highest category;
rector of the hospital parish. and healer Panteleimon, at the same time a practicing physician, assistant at the Department of ENT Diseases of the St. Petersburg State Medical University. I.P. Pavlova;
Head of the Counseling Center for Assistance to Victims of Magic, the Occult, Drug Addiction, and Alcoholism;
Chairman of the Mercy Center St. Mts. Tatiana;
I. INTRODUCTION. WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?
From the history of homeopathy. Beginnings
...The year 1831 burst into the life of Europe as a terrible and, it seemed, insurmountable disaster: funeral bells rang incessantly through the squares, lines of mournful processions stretched endlessly to cemeteries, fires flared in the streets, devouring the contaminated belongings of the poor dead, and rich carriages with With tightly shuttered windows, wealthy townspeople were hastily carried away - away, away from the cities where death feasts, whose name is: cholera...
A man of venerable age, with a worn doctor's bag, hastening as best he could, wandered through the streets of a frozen city, accompanied by several young companions - his students. From house to house, where those sick with a terrible illness cried out for help...
This was Dr. Hahnemann, already well-known in Germany by that time.
Alas! In the 19th century, humanity had not yet discovered antibacterial drugs, and traditional medicine was powerless against cholera. However, Dr. Hahnemann and his associates selflessly entered into the struggle for the life and health of their fellow citizens - despite the horror of the epidemic, and, most importantly, relying on their own - homeopathic a method of treatment that he, Hahnemann, discovered while still a young doctor, and then defended and improved it almost all his life. However, it was then, in the alarming year of 1831, when the cholera epidemic devoured entire villages and cities - after the unexpected healing of many, many by his method, despite the usual fatality of the disease - homeopathy really began to be talked about seriously and widely all over the world.
What, many years before the epidemic described here, prompted the then young doctor to take his own, different look at the “habits” of human ailments, and therefore, on the path to their healing?.. Answers to these questions must be sought beyond every milestone of his long life, full of incessant scientific research.
Samuel Hahnemann was born on April 10, 1755 in the city of Meissen, which was famous for its famous Saxon porcelain, by painting which his father and his large family fed.
Even at school, Samuel showed considerable aptitude for science. He was especially attracted to medicine and pharmacy, and foreign languages. It is no coincidence that, upon graduating from school, Hahnemann, who had already mastered several foreign and ancient languages, presented a graduation essay that was not quite ordinary - “On the amazing structure of the human hand”... The grades were brilliant!
Then, from 1775 - the medical faculty of the University of Leipzig, where he also amazed his teachers with his abilities and diligence. However, after a two-year break in training due to lack of money, when he entered the service of the governor of Transylvania, Baron Brukenstahl, as a family doctor and librarian (which in itself already speaks of the level of his medical knowledge back in those student days) - Hahnemann continued his studies in Erlagen, which was more accessible to his wallet.
In 1779, having graduated from the university and at the same time defending a dissertation on the topic of convulsive conditions, he finally entered the field of independent medical practice. Ten years later, the young doctor was already famous in many cities where he worked: among patients - thanks to the successful healing of the sick; among colleagues - thanks to his scientific research and translations of foreign medical treatises into German.
But, obviously, the key event in the scientific and medical life of Samuel Hahnemann was the decision to undertake the translation of Cullen’s book “Medicine Science” (1790), which played an important role in the emergence of homeopathy.
The fact is that it was precisely at that time that quinine was barely used to treat malaria for the first time. Translating an article about the action of this still little-known drug, Hahnemann noticed that the symptoms of cinchona poisoning described in it were very similar to the clinical picture of malaria. A characteristic fever, with a frequency of 3-4 days, trembling without chills, dull senses, stiff joints, thirst, a kind of oppressive numbness - Hahnemann, who himself had once suffered from malaria, immediately recognized it in these symptoms!.. It turned out that malaria and an overdose of quinine cause identical, similar conditions in humans. The discovered phenomenon no longer left his attention. For the purity of further research and reflection, it was necessary to either confirm or refute the facts presented in the article. And Hahnemann decides on a dangerous, selfless experiment: he himself takes large doses of cinchona peel internally.
And what? He experienced all the described symptoms of quinine poisoning in his own body, making sure that they were indeed similar to the symptoms of malaria. But if quinine, in large doses, causes symptoms similar to malaria - in small doses, on the contrary, it cures malaria - perhaps other poisonous substances known to people can do so - in small doses! - also heal the corresponding diseases?.. Those that have symptoms, similar symptoms of poisoning with such a substance?..
To answer such questions, a study of the clinical picture of poisoning for each of the other poisonous substances that attracted Hahnemann's attention was required, as reliable as with quinine. And he took this exceptional step in terms of scientific heroism, starting to test poisons on himself, consciously placing his own health, well-being, and, possibly, life itself on the altar of mercy and science... It is noteworthy that later, when Hahnemann taught at the University of Leipzig, His colleagues and students, who were passionate about his developments, also selflessly joined in these dangerous studies... Thus, the first 60 titles were examined, which were then included in the four-volume edition of his work “Pure Medicine”.
Hahnemann carefully compared the course of poisonings to which he exposed himself with the symptoms of all diseases known at that time and, having discovered similarities, tried to treat the “recognized” disease. Exactly the same as in the case of quinine: small doses of the corresponding toxic substance. And often the disease succumbed!
However, Hahnemann analyzed both the failures and the results of treatment with varying success with the utmost scrupulousness. And he noticed: the effect of treating a specific disease with the same drug could be very different in different patients from others. The strength of the influence of one and the same medicine manifested itself, literally, depending on the external type, appearance of a person, his mental characteristics, preferences in this or that food, and even on what events or circumstances around him alleviated and which aggravated for him course of the disease.
It was obvious that the same medicine has an equally effective effect on people, as a rule, with similar external and mental characteristics, and with similar sets of symptoms of the disease... So Dr. Hahnemann came to the conclusion that it was necessary to divide all medicines according to their constitutional type. And - gave a clear formulation of this concept.
The toxic substances that he selected for use in treatment - whether solution or powder - were diluted to a very weak concentration. Moreover, Hahnemann became convinced that the more he diluted the substance, the weaker its toxic properties manifested themselves. But the therapeutic effect increased!
He also discovered another amazing phenomenon: the healing properties of the drugs he prepared became stronger, the more energetically and for a longer time the container in which the substance was diluted was shaken.
Conclusions from the experiments allowed Hahnemann to formulate the main principles of a new treatment method he founded, which was called “homeopathy” - that is, ,
“disease-like”, from the Greek words “homoion” - similar, and"pathos" - disease.
The basic principles of homeopathy are:
1. Similia similibus curentur, which is translated from Latin as “ like is cured by like.”
2. To obtain the medicine, it is necessary to strongly dilute the corresponding toxic substance by shaking the vessel vigorously and for a long time. This phase of preparation of a homeopathic remedy is called potentiation, or - dynamization.
3. To determine constitutional type drugs - it needs to be tested on a group of healthy people.
In fairness, it should be noted that the principle of similarity, as well as its combination with the principle of the opposite, has been known in medicine since the time of Hippocrates. The famous medieval doctor Paracelsus (under this pseudonym Theophrastus von Hohenheim treated Europeans), reflecting on the fact that rheumatism often flares up from hypothermia of the legs in icy water - also, according to the principle of similarity, once took a different look... at an ordinary willow.
Doesn't she look like a person standing in water? Both in winter and in summer, her feet-roots are in the icy moisture. And - no rheumatism. Therefore, this tree has some protective properties against the miasm (that is, the so-called “contagious beginning”) of rheumatism? aspirin. Based on the generic name of willow (Salix), these powerful anti-inflammatory (later synthesized) substances were named salicylates, and have served and continue to serve the health of humanity very well.
Since ancient times, in the selection of medicines, people have in one way or another relied on the principle of similarity, which was primarily taken as the basis for the homeopathic method of treatment. However, in general, homeopathy as a science owes its very origins and the initial stage of its development to the German physician of the 18th century, Samuel Hahnemann.
Having first formulated the basic principles of homeopathy, he also:
Compiled directory medicines (Materia Medica)
- gave the concept homeopathic constitution;
- created miasma theory.
But the main thing is that Samuel Hahnemann achieved real success in medical practice with this new method, contributing to the development and establishment of the authority of homeopathy throughout the world.
The breadth of his medical views is also indicated by the titles of the books he wrote - “The Organon of Medical Art” (six editions), “Pure Medicine”, “Chronic Diseases”, “On Heleborism of the Ancients”, “Experimental Medicine”, “Aesculapius on the Scales” and many other.
The founder of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, lived a long life. He died in Paris on July 2, 1843 at the age of 88.
However, his life’s work did not stop: since then, dozens of brilliant names have been given to the world by each new generation of researchers and homeopathic doctors. Among them is the Russian landowner S.N. Korsakov, a talented fan of homeopathy, who, even without formal medical education, managed to develop the preparation of hundreds of dilutions of drugs, and this method still bears his name.
An epochal contribution to the development of homeopathy was the system of repertorization developed by scientists J.T. Kent and K. Goering. They compiled complete multi-volume reference books of symptoms and corresponding drugs - the so-called repertories.
With their help, a table is compiled of the symptoms and the corresponding homeopathic remedies. Based on this table, their healing complex is selected for each specific patient.
In addition, Hering formulated the law of the reverse development of the disease, which allows timely, based on changes in the clinical picture during the treatment process, to judge whether it was chosen correctly, and, if necessary, to make the necessary adjustments to the treatment program in a timely manner.
Development of homeopathy in Russia. Chronology
1821-1823 The first evidence of the penetration of homeopathy into Russia. A new treatment method came to St. Petersburg from Europe, most likely through Poland and the Baltic states.
Professor Bizhel - this name is closely associated with the founding of homeopathic practice in St. Petersburg. He is a member of the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy, family doctor of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. He is also the author of a multi-volume translation into Russian of Hahnemann’s treatises (“Pure Medicine” presented as “Consideration of the therapeutic method” called Homeopathy).
1831 Cholera epidemic in Russia. As in Europe, this disaster suddenly becomes an incentive for the wider introduction of homeopathy - the new method gives encouraging results! For example, in a registered group of 1273 cases of cholera treated with homeopathic remedies, 108 people died, which is less than 8%. The vast majority survived, overcoming the disease.
Homeopathy is gaining many active supporters in non-medical circles - Admiral N.S. is becoming such an enthusiast. Mordvinov, who collected the above and other statistical materials on the fight of homeopathy against the epidemic.
1833 On September 26, the State Council adopted a Resolution on allowing the practice of homeopathic doctors and on the opening of homeopathic pharmacies. (Largely thanks to Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich himself, his favor towards the new method of treatment, which gave such success in the outbreak areas, saving hundreds and hundreds of lives.)
1834 The first homeopathic pharmacy in Russia was opened in St. Petersburg. Its owner is Fedor Karlovich Bakhman.
1835 The first translation into Russian of Samuel Hahnemann’s book “The Organon of the Medical Art, or the Basic Theory of the Method of Homeopathic Treatment...” is published.
Next - following the above events - is the opening of special homeopathic departments in St. Petersburg hospitals for workers. Doctors L. German and V.I. put a lot of work into this. Dahl - widely known as the author of the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language"
1861 The Journal of Homeopathic Treatment is published. Founder - doctor V.V. Dericker.
1867 In Russia, a translation into Russian of Dr. Wilmar Schwabe’s monograph “Guide to the preparation of homeopathic medicines” was published, which is still used as an unofficial homeopathic pharmacopoeia.
1868 The “Society of Homeopathic Doctors” was created, also closely associated with the name of doctor V.V. Dericker. There is a sharp increase in the publication of literature on homeopathy.
1870 Nevsky Prospekt, 82. At this address in St. Petersburg a homeopathic clinic has been opened for visitors. The idea was implemented with funds from the “Society of Homeopathic Doctors” (Now this is the St. Petersburg City Homeopathic Clinic No. 82, located on Prazhskaya Street, 12).
Next came the years of regrouping of the single homeopathic community, which after the death of V.V. Deriker was divided into two parts: the “Society of Homeopathic Doctors” and the “Society of Followers of Homeopathy,” which united non-medics. Bo the head of the “Society of Homeopathic Physicians” - B.B. Goering, editor of the Journal of the St. Petersburg Society of Homeopathic Physicians.
1888 At the head of the named “Society” is L.E. Brazol, to whom the subsequent development of homeopathy in Russia owes much. His lectures on homeopathy, the monthly magazine “Homeopathic Bulletin”, and the practical activities of a homeopathic doctor attracted many, many, convincingly promoting a new method of treatment.
1913 I Russian Congress of Homeopaths. By this time, the Society of Homeopathic Physicians had already joined the International Community.
After 1917... The negative attitude of the Ministry of Health towards homeopathy greatly complicates the further development of the homeopathic method in Russia. Among other repressive measures was the dissolution of the Society of Homeopathic Physicians.
But - scientific the thought does not sleep. There is an “underground” exchange of typewritten “samizdat”. Thus, the works of Z.I. were “published”. Golovach, V.M. Person, T.N. Granikova.
1923 Re-establishment of the “Society of Homeopathic Physicians”, which lasted until 1935.
1935 Merger of the Moscow and Leningrad “Societies” - into the “Society of Homeotates of the RSFSR”.
1936 As in 1927, an educational series on homeopathy is being read. Under the leadership of V.M. Person is conducting scientific research both within the country and in collaboration with the International Homeopathic League. N. Gabrilovich becomes its vice-president.
1941-1945. Homeopathic doctors fight for the life and health of the wounded at the front, in hospitals, on the front line. One homeopathic pharmacy has again opened in Leningrad.
1958 The Moscow Scientific and Medical Society of Homeopaths is being re-established. Its chairman is V.I. Fisherman. The society runs courses for doctors, where the most famous domestic homeopaths taught: N.M. Vavilova, A.F. Alexandrov, K.V. Grachev, V.I. Varshavsky, S.A. Mukhin, M.F. Feldman, G.M. Lipnitsky.
1968 d. Resumption of persecution of homeopathy. The well-known order of the USSR Ministry of Health No. 610 “On strengthening control over the work and regulation of the further activities of homeopathic doctors and the use of homeopathic medicines in medical practice” is issued. It bans many of the best homeopathic remedies - even the tried-and-true one, aconite. There are about 50 items in total that are forbidden. The “Society of Homeopathic Doctors” was asked to dissolve itself.
Until the end of the 80s- a strange semi-legal situation for almost 15 years. In Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv, homeopathic clinics are still open, and in other cities, single homeopathic doctors still practice.
From the end 80s to this day. The new century has brought new interest in gentle treatment methods. And homeopathy, apparently, will have its say here.
On the attitude of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church to homeopathy
In 1891, L. M. Chichagov, later Metropolitan Seraphim of Leningrad and Gdov, said: “Exactly 100 years ago, a new treatment system called homeopathy arose, but, despite this period, neither representatives of the medical sciences nor the intelligentsia have yet become familiar with with her enough to have a true and clear understanding of what homeopathy is. People of science, even out of prejudice, do not read a single book about homeopathy, but they attack it with suspicious fury. Society is accustomed to understanding the word “homeopathy” as an immeasurably small dose of medicine offered in the form of a grain of sugar, but no one talks about Hahnemann’s system as a new method of treatment, as a science based on a well-known principle, on a law” [L.l] . Another 100 years have passed since then, but these words have not lost their meaning. It is known that Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) of Leningrad and Gdov, canonized, before his priesthood, successfully practiced medicine for over ten years and developed an original healing system. He argued “that apart from the homeopathic law of similars there is no other guiding principle of the action of medicines. Some systems, such as allopathy, apply it unconsciously, instinctively, not wanting to delve into the reason for their actions and explaining everything only by experience, but, positively, this is stubbornness with a preconceived goal.” Chichagov's medical activities were accompanied by fierce criticism, slander, and persecution, which the founder of homeopathy experienced [L.2].
In light of the above facts, it is interesting to know whether there was a singular interest in homeopathy in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, and if not, what were the opinions of Russian saints about this direction of medicine?
In the 19th century, homeopathy flourished in Russia; it was considered one of the most rational methods of therapy. For example, the entire Optina brethren was treated with homeopathic methods [L.3].
In the 80s of the 19th century, the Holy Synod proposed a program for teaching the basics of medicine in theological seminaries, including the study of the basics of homeopathy. At the end of the century, about a thousand clergy were subscribers to the magazine “Homeopathic Doctor” and more than a thousand priests used homeopathic medicines from three homeopathic pharmacies in St. Petersburg [L.4].
From the biography of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and his creations, it is known that he was fluent in this method, and received patients in the Nikolo-Babaevsky monastery for three years [L.5].
Saint Theophan the Recluse carefully studied medicine and was fluent in the homeopathic method. He also recommended homeopathy to those who turned to him for advice. This is what he writes in one of his letters: “What homeopathy is! Where allopathy had no success over a period of five weeks, it had a noticeable effect in half a day. A monument to her needs to be erected!” [L.6].
Schema-Archimandrite Gabriel (Zyryanov) from the Spaso-Eleazar Hermitage also resorted to homeopathic medicines, giving drops and grains to the sick, and cured many of serious and difficult diseases. He himself loved homeopathy and was treated with it. His spiritual children were Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna and His Eminence Innocent [L.7].
Elder Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (Vyritsky), who was the confessor of Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) and many brilliant scientists of Russia such as I. P. Pavlov, M. I. Gramenitsky (one of the founders of the modern pharmacological school), V. A. Fon (physicist ), L.A. Orbeli (biologist, follower of I.P. Pavlov), blessed him to be treated by homeopaths, among whom were many of his spiritual children. One of them is the well-known homeopathic professor S.S. Favorsky throughout Russia [L.8].
Experiments started already in the 20th century by Academician N.P. Kravkov, confirmed many of the positions expressed by the founder of homeopathy. Kravkov managed to capture biological reactions when a cell was exposed to a solution of a substance with a concentration of 10 -12 and 10 -32 degrees. He also found a two-phase action of poisons, which in large concentrations narrowed blood vessels, and in small doses expanded them [L.6].
In his work “Medical Conversations,” Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov) included the words of Claude Bernard: “If there are facts that contradict a theory, then you need to refute the theory and accept the facts.”
However, it should be noted that at present both in medicine and in the Orthodox community there is a wary attitude towards the homeopathic method. The reason for this is insufficient knowledge of the mechanisms of action of homeopathic medicines, as well as the use of homeopathy by “healers”, psychics and occultists. Additionally, there is a view of homeopathy as; suggestive (i.e. suggestive) method of influence using the effect placebo.
Here it is appropriate to recall the words of St. Theophan the Recluse, who wrote: “You consider magnetism to be a matter of evil spirits. Believing that magnetism is involved in homeopathy, this is also included in the same category. It's not fair. Magnetism is not involved in the preparation of homeopathic medicines. Here everything is done openly and simply, and everyone can see how everything happens. No hidden force should be assumed here. You may or may not be treated with homeopathy, but no one should think about it that way” [L.9].
Confessors and elders of our time, such as Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov, Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov) and others, bless doctors and patients for the use of homeopathy. Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) in his “Sermon on Small Deeds” says: “Life itself gives amazing similarities and images of the importance of small deeds. And in medicine, which itself deals with a small and strictly limited amount of drugs, there is also a whole area - homeopathic science, which recognizes only very small medicinal quantities on the basis that our body itself produces extremely small quantities of substances valuable to it, being content with them to maintain and flourish your life..." [L.2].
In conclusion, we present a statement that, it seems to us, accurately reflects both the essence of homeopathy and the attitude of Russian saints towards it. So, on October 17, 1892, at the opening and consecration of a homeopathic pharmacy in St. Petersburg, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt said: “Your method is the most reasonable and correct. Divine wisdom itself has not found a surer means of healing humanity, which suffers from sin and countless diseases, than the healing of like with like. Before the cross, death and Resurrection, Christ established for all centuries for the most effective healing of sinful humanity the greatest Sacrament of the Cross of His Body and Blood, united with the Divine. This means that in the God-Man Himself we have an example of healing like with like. May the God-man Himself and the Almighty Creator and Doctor of sick humanity always be your all-powerful assistant in your generally beneficial actions!” [L.2].
Basic principles of homeopathy
So, let's try to highlight the main thing from the previous one.
What is homeopathy? From the point of view of the mechanism of action, homeopathy is a form of medicinal regulatory therapy that mobilizes and normalizes the protective forces of the body itself (G. Köhler), as if “forgotten” - due to illness - about these own reserves of self-healing. What is the basis for such awakening and further regulation of the protective forces of the human body? The basic principles of the homeopathic method of treatment were formulated by the German physician of the 18th-19th centuries, Samuel Hahnemann, who back in 1796, in the medical work “An Experience of a New Principle of Finding the Healing Properties of Medicinal Substances,” published his conclusions on the first, fundamental principle - the principle of similarity. And then, over the course of decades, developing and clarifying his theses put forward based on the results of subsequent experiments and medical practice - in the book “Organon of the Medical Art” (in its sixth edition!) - he finally outlined the four basic provisions of the new homeopathic method of treatment he founded:
1. Like is cured by like (principle of similarity).
2. Potentization of substances is necessary to obtain homeopathic medicines.
3. Testing of drugs - on healthy people.
4. Taking into account the individual picture of the disease.
Let's look at them in a little more detail.
Principle of similarity
“To treat correctly, safely, quickly and reliably, select in each specific case only such a medicine that can cause a condition similar to the suffering (homoion pathos) that is to be healed” - this is how Hahnemann himself formulates this principle.
Thus, the essence of the principle of similarity is that the symptoms that we see in a sick person are similar to those painful manifestations that the sought-after homeopathic medicine will cause in a healthy person who has a suitable constitutional type.
Believing that a homeopathic medicine, when it enters the body, causes a so-called “medicinal disease”, which should displace the “natural disease,” Hahnemann emphasized in his treatises that this is only possible when the “medicinal disease” is strong enough. And - the more similarity there is in the symptoms of “medicinal” and “natural” diseases - the stronger the healing effect of such a medicine will be.
Potentiation of substances
In turn, the strength of the “medicinal disease” necessary for successful healing depends not only on the degree of similarity of symptoms, but also on the activity of the drug, which can be increased through potentiation(or dynamization). The said principle lies in the mandatory implementation of this process during the preparation of the medicine.
How does potentiation occur?
It turns out that the future drug acquires the above-mentioned activity when multiple breeding its original substance (selected according to the symptoms) - if dilution is carried out simultaneously with prolonged and vigorous shaking container in which the substance is diluted.
If we are talking about an insoluble substance, from which a homeopathic medicine was obtained by grinding the starting material with sugar, then potentiation in this case occurred when prolonged rubbing each of the subsequent dilutions.
However, what does it mean “with prolonged rubbing”? In Hahnemann's writings it was noted that potentiation of dilution alone requires rubbing for at least... three hours!
Testing drugs on healthy people
Testing on his own body the reaction of a healthy person to the effects of cinchona peel - a reaction described in a foreign treatise, and so similar to the symptoms of malaria, which was cured with the same quinine - Hahnemann logically came, in fact, to the substantiation of a new homeopathic method of treatment. Therefore, the principle of homeopathy named here was formulated by him one of the first.
Later, the development of theses of this particular principle led to the emergence of the concept of homeopathic constitutional type drug, which turned out to be very important for accurate drug selection.
As it turned out, the characteristic symptoms of the “drug disease” did not occur in all participants in the trials of this drug (and the volunteers for the trials were specially selected from both sexes, different personalities, ages, and different appearances). It turned out that the “medicinal disease” clearly manifested itself only in some people who were somewhat similar to each other: in external and mental characteristics, in the anamnesis of the previous years of life. Based on these features, a description of the constitutional characteristics of people who were especially sensitive to the drug being tested was created.
It should be noted that the clinical picture of a “drug disease” in healthy people is often called fine toxicological,(i.e. in a slight and not always complete manifestation) - in contrast to the term gross toxicological- this is what experts call the characteristics of the substance in which they are presented All manifestations of obvious poisoning by its toxic substance. (This kind of data is obtained, of course, not from tests on healthy people, but from publications and scientific reports of specialists in emergency medical care, resuscitation, treatment of occupational diseases, etc.)
The principle of taking into account the individual picture of the disease
Its essence is that even in the same constitutional type of people, the disease can have different modalities symptoms. And this, in turn, - it would seem, with the same diagnosis! - sometimes requires the prescription of completely different medications. It is clear that this principle partly echoes the above principle of similarity.
Finally, summarizing what has been said, one can also imagine that “homeopathy is a field of medicine that studies the effect of dynamized substances on the body of a healthy person, and uses such substances to treat patients, based on the principle of similarity” [L.10].
Preparation of homeopathic medicines
Structure of starting materials
(Homeopathic Materia Medica).
Let's start with the fact that the persistently prevailing opinion about homeopathy - as a treatment with herbs - is not entirely true.
The entire homeopathic Materia Medica consists of only 70-75% of remedies vegetable origin.
Approximately 20% of homeopathic medicines are prepared from minerals, acids, alkalis and other chemicals. And only 5% comes from products animal, organic origin.
The main difference from herbal medicine
There is a decisive difference between homeopathic medicines and herbal medicine - the medical science of treatment with medicinal herbs, with which homeopathy is most often confused. What is their difference?
The fact is that in herbal medicine they mainly use aqueous and alcoholic herbal extracts, where present biologically active substances of plants, under the influence of which healing transformation accumulates. But in homeopathy - on the contrary: such - at the chemical level - the presence of bioactive substances in the basis of the medicine, practically, No. Or - their presence is extremely small. Why? Yes, because all homeopathic pharmacology is built, in fact, on multiple times - from 10 to 100,000 or more times! - dilutions source raw materials, when only a certain “trace” of the primary medicinal material remains in the carrier base (alcohol, water, sugar) of the finished homeopathic preparation.
What does “dilute the drug” mean, and what are they?
Index degree of attenuation concentration of the starting substance (as it is diluted stepwise) - called dilution of the drug, or - potency of the drug. This- key concepts in the science of homeopathic medicines and their preparation, which simultaneously with the dilution of the drug, it also involves its potentiation (dynamization) - that is, vigorous and prolonged shaking of the vessel in which it is diluted, or - prolonged grinding of the powdered dilution in a mortar. After such a procedure, the healing power of the drug increases significantly. This is why “dilute of a drug” means the same thing as “potency of a drug”.
There are dilutions decimal(indicated by the letter D with a number corresponding to the number of times the drug has been diluted tenfold: for example, D3), and - hundredths(indicated by the letter C, with a number corresponding to the number of times this drug has been diluted a hundredfold: for example, C30).
The entire variety of dilutions of homeopathic medicines is divided into groups:
Low dilutions (D3-C3);
- medium dilutions (C6-C12);
- high dilutions (C30-C100);
- ultra-high dilutions (above C100).
Decimal dilutions. The preparation of homeopathic medicines from plants (according to the “Manual” by Wilmar Schwabe) begins with their collection, as a rule, at the time of flowering. Moreover, in contrast to the rules of herbal medicine, plants for future homeopathic medicines are most often harvested whole, with roots and flowers. Next, it is crushed - all in one container - and filled with a small amount (1:1 or 1:2) of 96% ethyl alcohol. And leave it for 1-2 weeks.
This infusion of crushed plants in strong alcohol is called maceration. During the process of maceration, plant cell membranes “burn out” and biologically active substances are released into the tincture.
After filtering the entire volume, a 50% or 33% tincture was obtained, which was then diluted with the corresponding amount of 45% alcohol.
The tincture obtained in this way is called fita, or - tincture.(In the recipe it is indicated by the sign T or?). Its concentration corresponds first decimal breeding
How can one obtain a higher dilution of medicine from phyta? The logic of the actions required for this is clear: for the next decimal dilution, measure out 1 ml of phyta, place it in a clean test tube, and add 9 ml of diluent (alcohol or water). Thus, a total of 10 ml of solution is obtained, but with a concentration already 10 times weaker. The dilution vessel immediately begins vigorously shake, no less than for a few minutes. For in this way, according to Hahnemann, set out in his treatises, the “healing power” of a substance, due to potentization, passes into a diluent and is strengthened, and the toxic properties of the substance, on the contrary, are weakened...
So, when the dilution vessel has already been shaken sufficiently, the medicine obtained in it corresponds second decimal breeding, which is indicated either by the number 2 with a cross (2x), or - as already explained - by the Latin letter D before the number 2 (D2). The dilution sign of the drug is placed after its Latin name: for example, Calendula D2, or Arnica 2x.
All subsequent decimal dilutions - third, fourth, fifth, etc. - are obtained in a similar way. However, 1 ml of dilution solution is no longer taken from the vessel with fita, but from the test tube of the last dilution just obtained. So, for example, we took 1 ml of a solution of the fifth decimal dilution. Placed in a clean test tube. Added 9 ml of diluent. Shake. We obtained the sixth decimal dilution (D6 or 6x). 1 ml is taken from it for the seventh decimal dilution. And so on until they reach the required decimal dilution prescribed in the recipe.
Hundredth dilutions. They are obtained in the same sequence as decimal dilutions - however, to 1 ml of phytes, not 9 ml of diluent is added, but 99 ml. In this way, only 100 ml of solution is obtained, which is why it is called then, after prolonged shaking - first hundredth dilution, and is indicated in the recipe by a number without cross, or - 1СН.
For second hundredth dilutions from the resulting 1CH solution are transferred 1 ml to the next, clean test tube and 99 ml of diluent is added to it in the same way. After proper shaking, it - the second hundredth dilution of the drug substance. And this is done as many times as the number of hundredth dilutions prescribed by the recipe for the future medicine. In this case, each successive dilution is also carefully potentiated, then transferring 1 ml of the solution into a new test tube - from the previous one.
The described method of preparing medicines was first tested by Hahnemann, which is why dilutions are sometimes called “hundredths of Hahnemann.” It is the first letter of his last name - “H”, that we sometimes see on drugs from Europe next to the Latin letter “C”, placed after the number indicating the number of hundredth dilutions.
In Russia, such solutions are designated either by one number or by the letter C with a number. For example, Aconite 3 or Aconitum C3 (that is, the third hundredth dilution of aconite).
Another method of preparing centesimal dilutions was developed by the Russian fan of homeopathy S.N. Korsakov, and all over the world this method is still called after him. It is attractive by its simplicity: pour fita (1 part) into a glass, then 99 parts of diluent, and shake vigorously. Next, immediately knocking it over, empty the glass. But - a certain amount of former content remains on its walls. Korsakov calculated that this amount is approximately 1/100 of the original volume.
Therefore, to obtain the next hundredth dilution, you simply need to add 99 parts of the diluent to the glass and potentiate. Thus repeating this simple sequence the required number of times, and finally achieving the required dilution of the drug.
What are triturations? When a ready-made, concentrated solution - fita - is taken as the starting medicinal material, it is clear that in order to obtain a drug of a certain dilution, it is subjected to stepwise dilution with a solvent (alcohol, water). And if in the role of source material - insoluble substance? For example - metal?..
In this case, homeopathic pharmacology uses rubbing, or rubbing, which are called triturations, and in the medicinal prescription are designated by two Latin letters - tr.
The starting substance is poured into a mortar, the calculated amount of sugar or lactose powder is added to it, and this mixture is ground with a pestle for a long, long time: almost “to dust” - to a very fine powder consistency. Only now can subsequent dilutions be obtained from it. To do this, by analogy with the tinctures mentioned above, transfer 1 part of the powder from the previous trituration into a clean mortar, and add 9 parts of caxapa to it - when preparing decimal dilution, or - 99 parts, if required hundredth breeding.
Moreover, at each stage of such “dry” dilution, again and again it is necessary to rub as long as at the beginning. In this case, it is this procedure (like shaking the vessel with tincture) that is dynamization for powdered preparation.
Let us note that even from insoluble powder, homeopaths have learned to obtain drip form of medicine. For this purpose - as a rule, after the third decimal trituration - the powder obtained for the preparation of further dilutions can be dynamized already in the solvent. And then make dilutions in the same way as with the tincture. However, the doctor prescribes mineral medicines of the first, second and third decimal dilutions mainly only in the form of trituration.
It remains only to add that drugs from organic substances - such as, say, apis (the starting material is dried bees), or sepeya (the starting material is dried cuttlefish ink) - are prepared by any of the above methods: it depends only on how sufficient their initial solubility in alcohol is. If it is not possible to obtain full-fledged fit from such substances, then trituration is first applied, and so on.
Dosage forms of homeopathic medicines
All homeopathic remedies are divided into two groups of drugs according to the method of use: for internal and external use.
For internal reception:
Drops on alcohol and water bases (most commonly used);
- powders;
- granules;
- tablets (used less frequently);
- ampoules for injections (still very rare, like new products in recent years).
How medicines are prepared in drops And powders- has already been said above.
Pills pressed from a sugar mass that is soaked in a liquid preparation of the required dilution. Sometimes special types of wax are used to prepare tablets.
Granules can be prepared in two ways. Or - from ready-made small sugar pills, which are then simply saturated with a tincture of the drug of the required dilution. Or, which most manufacturers of homeopathic medicines prefer - the same as tablets: from a whole mass, already saturated with the corresponding medicinal tincture.
Ampoules for injections- only in recent years have a few homeopathic names appeared. These are complex treatment drugs “Mukosa-compositum”, “Gepar-compositum”, “Traumel” and others.
For external use:
Ointments;
- oils;
- opodeldoks;
- pure fita, or its dilutions;
- sprays.
Ointments prepared on the basis of petroleum jelly or lanolin, to which the specified dilution of the drug is added.
Homeopathic oils prepared on the basis of peach, sunflower, or other vegetable oil, to which the necessary dilution of the homeopathic drug is also added.
Oils and ointments can most often be bought in ready-made form in pharmacies. Especially such popular formulations of complex ointments as “Apis-Belladonna” (anti-inflammatory, anti-edematous and anti-allergic action); Fleming's ointment (for varicose veins, for severe pain, to reduce skin itching), Calendula ointment (wound-healing, anti-inflammatory).
Opodeldok - This is an emulsion-based medicinal substance. Today they are used quite rarely.
Fita(for example, calendula) is prepared using the infusion method described above and corresponds to the first decimal dilution. Pure fita and its further dilutions are used in the form of rubbing, baths, bandages, drops for the nose, eyes, or ears.
Homeopathic sprays- (like homeopathic ampoules for injection) are just beginning to get used to the field of homeopathic pharmaceuticals. Like, for example, Euphorbium-Compositorium nasal spray (nazentropfen). Time will tell how justified and necessary such developments are.
II. MODERN SCIENTIFIC DATA
ABOUT HOMEOPATHIC FACTOR
The lack of a generally accepted explanation of the mechanisms of homeopathic action remains one of the main problems hindering the recognition of homeopathy. Nevertheless, successes in the study of the homeopathic phenomenon are obvious and are largely associated with the orientation of modern research towards the universal laws of nature.
Today, the medical literature provides a lot of information about the very high sensitivity of biological objects to low-intensity influences, including homeopathic influences. Thus, an energy of only 10 -24 W creates an impulse from the hair auditory receptors, and the hearing threshold is determined by a membrane deflection of only 10 -10 m, which approximately corresponds to the diameter of a hydrogen atom. Olfactory cells respond to single molecules of an odorous substance, and visual receptors respond to individual quanta of light.
Diluted 125 thousand times! Garlic juice inhibits the growth of staphylococci, streptococci, and vibrios.
Experiments launched at the beginning of the 20th century by N. Kravkov and successfully continued in recent years by many researchers have shown that biological objects are capable of responding to the presence of various substances in concentrations less than 10 -12 M. However, the effect of small doses often observed in research toxic substances is usually regarded as an artifact because it does not correspond to the idea: “The stronger the stimulus, the greater the effect.”
The general biological problem of the response of living organisms of different levels of evolutionary development to ultra-low impacts of environmental factors and to the influence of ultra-low doses of biologically active substances interests today representatives of different fields of knowledge.
Adequate assessment of the effectiveness of ultra-low doses of biologically active substances used in homeopathy largely depends on taking into account the results of research in new scientific disciplines, designated by the terms hormesis, ultra high dilution (ultra-high dilutions), ultra low doses (ultra-low doses), etc.
Currently, the study of the fundamental principles of homeopathy is based on generally accepted methods of other natural science disciplines. The results of numerous studies became the basis for the recognition of homeopathy as an official science and stimulated the active use of this method not only for the treatment of various diseases, but also for protection against all kinds of exotoxins. Many studies have revealed significant differences between homeopathic therapy and the effect of placebo, indicating in favor of homeopathy.
Back in 1924, the outstanding French researcher J. Lakhovsky experimentally showed that every living cell is a transmitter and receiver of information. In our time, these ideas have been developed by a number of original experiments by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences V.P. Kaznacheev and his collaborators.
Research in the field of ultra-low doses, the development of physical chemistry, advances in physiology and pharmacology, the discovery of the role of enzymes and trace elements existing in biological objects in doses similar to ultra-high dilutions, discoveries in immunology and genetics have made it possible to identify many aspects of the mechanisms of action of ultra-low doses of biologically active substances on the body .
It has been established that the most effective carrier of information in the body are electromagnetic waves of extremely low frequencies (according to J.J. Noval et al.) [L.11]. Most researchers come to the conclusion about the information-wave effect of ultra-high dilutions of active substances on living cells. The basis for such conclusions was laid by the fundamental works of R. Becker, I. Cohen and other scientists. This is also confirmed by S. Bomoroni, J. Beneveniste and others, who discovered a change in the activity of homeopathic medicines under the influence of factors affecting electromagnetic waves (ultrasound irradiation, electromagnetic vibrations, high temperature, etc.).
It is believed that during the influence of ultra-low doses of biologically active substances on the body, the structural-informational property of water plays a major role - the ability to perceive, remember and transmit information.
The body has mechanisms for isolating the necessary information from a huge number of electromagnetic waves that are constantly present in the blood and have different oscillatory characteristics.
Any dilution of a substance in solution, as F. Werner showed, is accompanied by a phase shift of the electromagnetic wave carrying information about the dissolved substance. When the xenobiotic is completely eliminated, this displacement reaches a half-phase, and the voltage of the information trace wave becomes inverse to the vibration voltage of the molecules of the substance itself. As a result of multidirectional voltage of identical electromagnetic waves, their mutual cancellation occurs, which is the physical component of the homeopathic phenomenon.
S. Hahnemann, having justified the use of drugs selected by similarity in ultra-high dilutions, indicated the presence in the body of unknown protective factors against pathological changes. However, Hahnemann's views did not correspond to the level of scientific ideas of that time about biological processes, and therefore they were simply ignored.
The search for protective factors continued, and in 1884 Ilya Mechnikov presented evidence of a phenomenon he called phagocytosis. His numerous experiments can be schematically represented as follows. From a patient who had suffered an infectious disease, he took blood into which he injected the causative agent of this disease and, under a microscope, observed the process of absorption of the introduced microorganisms into blood cells, that is, phagocytosis. He had to prove this convincing and clearly presented mechanism of the body’s defense against infections for 15 years (Fig. 1).
At that time, medicine was dominated by the humoral theory of body defense, put forward by Paul Ehrlich. His followers demonstrated the same experiment, but in this case all cellular elements were removed from the blood. It was shown that even in cell-free serum the pathogen was completely inactivated. This experiment confirmed the presence in the body of another protective factor, the basis of which are antibodies (Fig. 2).
The struggle between two ideas led to the proof of both and laid the foundation for the rapidly developing science of immunology. At the same time, the undoubted successes of immunology do not provide a clear answer to the question of what factor underlies the protective mechanism of the homeopathic phenomenon and what place it occupies in the immune system.
The cellular and humoral theories of immunity finally shaped the public horizon, and everything that went beyond its limits remained incomprehensible and unacceptable. Based on this, in the views of orthodox medicine, the homeopathic phenomenon is unnatural and, in principle, cannot exist.
However, the current state of medicine suggests that in a holistic understanding of the body’s defenses, precisely those links are missing that can be explained by the discovery of S. Hahnemann. However, the role and place of the homeopathic factor in the immune system still remains unclear.
It should be noted that, ironically, the least studied of the protective mechanisms, which is based on the homeopathic phenomenon, was presented by S. Hahnemann first, although according to the logic of events it should close the chain of historical experiments.
In 2002, on the basis of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology named after. L. Pasteur conducted research, the purpose of which was to experimentally demonstrate the so-called homeopathy factor as one of the mechanisms for implementing the body's defenses. Thus, scientists A. A. Komissarenko, L. V. Salycheva and their colleagues continued the classic experiments of Mechnikov and Erlich. The experiments were carried out according to a similar scheme, however, all antibodies were removed from the blood serum by repeated dilution (Fig. 3).
The experiment consisted of administering the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli bacillus to mice vaccinated with potentized serum, which was previously obtained from the blood of a rabbit subjected to standard immunization with the same bacillus.
In mice, after administration of potentiated immunized blood serum, in which only E. coli remained information wave trail, immunity against this pathogen was developed. Moreover, this immunity cannot be attributed to either its humoral or cellular variety, since both phagocytes and antibodies were absent in the serum.
The effect of potentiated immunized blood serum on the virulence of microorganisms was also experimentally determined. The study showed that when E. coli is exposed to potentized immunized blood serum for more than two hours, E. coli loses its virulence and becomes non-pathogenic.
This antitoxic effect creates very favorable conditions for phagocytosis, which occurs 8-10 hours after infection, without toxic damage to the phagocytes themselves.
The experiments carried out confirmed the presence of the homeopathic factor as one of the necessary mechanisms for the implementation of the body's defenses, which largely determines the function of the immune system. This mechanism of body defense cannot be attributed to either the humoral or cellular type of immunity, and in our opinion, it can be designated as information-wave immunity.
The influence of this factor on the pathogen makes it avirulent, which allows phagocytosis without the death of phagocytes from absorbed toxins. At the same time, blocking this factor deprives humoral immunity of its protective effect.
Thus, the homeopathic phenomenon and the vital processes of the body are a manifestation of the same general biological laws.
III. MAIN ISSUES CAUSED DISCUSSION BETWEEN SUPPORTERS AND OPPONENTS OF HOMEOPATHY
Until now, in the Orthodox community, the question of homeopathy from the point of view of Orthodox doctrinal truth has not arisen at all.
A precedent that stirred many minds was the articles and speeches of Greek theologians who expressed an extremely negative attitude towards homeopathy and classified it as an occult science. In the brochure of monk Arseny Vyankoft [L.12], blessed by Metropolitan Synedius of Cassandria, it is unequivocally stated that homeopathy is not a medical discipline. Homeopathy is placed on a par with acupuncture(?), meditation, yoga and bioenergetics. Only those views and statements that belong to well-known homeopathic occultists are used as arguments. But, as they say, there is a black sheep in the family, and if some surgeon engages in spiritualism, this does not mean that all surgery should be branded as pseudoscience and, as a result, acute appendicitis should not be operated on. The Catholic Church at one time stigmatized Copernicus and Galileo. And the result: “And yet she spins.” In our opinion, unfounded attempts to deny what has not yet been known are a way to discredit the Church.
As is known, at the end of the 19th century, the outstanding physiologist Sechenov was excommunicated from the Church by Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) for his innovative work “Reflexes of the Brain”. And now, on the basis of the experiments of an outstanding scientist, such medical specialties as neurology, neurosurgery, neurophysiology, and psychiatry are based.
What is not yet known or incomprehensible does not mean at all that it is wrong: most likely, here is information hidden by God from people for the time being.
Thus, in 1994, Greek theologians condemned homeopathy, and in 2001-2002 scientific data were confirmed that shed light on the action of the homeopathic factor from the point of view of nuclear physics and chemistry.
Let us now try to impartially and reasonably consider the main points on which there is a dispute between opponents and supporters of homeopathy.
Method of action of potentized drugs
It is not clear why a homeopathic medicine has medicinal properties. The main argument of homeopathic specialists is the healing of the sick. It doesn’t matter that we don’t understand or don’t know how these medications work - the main thing is that the right drug helps. Not today no chemical or physical evidence that some specific property of a parent element, such as arsenic, can be transferred in some way to a solution, powder or sugar balls. Moreover, from natural science concepts, it is impossible to explain the increase in the strength of the medicine as it is diluted, combined with shaking [L.13].
A probable “carrier” of information in potentized drugs may be a group of protein substances presented in potentiation media. Let's pretend that active areas are transferred and exist in media for potentiation as a display. They are perceived by the body and weakly bind to other molecules, the associates are resorbed (i.e. absorbed) and quickly distributed in the body. They only act where their structure exactly fits. The effectiveness and lack of side effects of potentized drugs are thus explained.
There are limits to the intrusion of science into the macro- and micro-world. Einstein's theory has been disputed. Quarks were not immediately discovered. There is a limit to our knowledge in physics and chemistry. In the works of J. Strube, P. Stolz, W. Mayer (2002), the preservation of information in water is related to cluster structures [L.14]. (Connection of H 2 O molecules in a group using hydrogen bridges H-OH-...). The well-known model of Nemethy and Scheraga [L.15] indicates that ice and vacuum are independent states of water. Water clusters as stable information storage facilities are unreliable. H 2 bridges are destroyed after 10 -10 °C. Ice is more stable. E. Del Giudice and G. Preparata [L.16,17] indicate that in water electromagnetic fields can induce the formation of special areas. Smith proposed for discussion a model of water, according to which a lattice structure of dodecahedrons with a pentagon at the base forms a core of coherent regions - a special compound [L.18]. These structures communicate with each other, behave like Josephson junctions, and thus can store information about vibrations. Strube reports that dynamization (shaking) produces magnetic fields that can display water structures as spin effects. Potentiating agents existing in the aquatic environment, as well as mobile peptides, can change their spatial structure under the influence of the molecules of the original substance. Thus, both groups of substances are transformed into structures similar to the original substance. Effective for the transformation is the electrical interaction of surfaces - probably supported by the spin fields of nuclear particles excited by shaking [L.19,20] and coherent regions - which is described in the works of Del Giudice and Preparata [L.16,17]. Previously developed models and hypotheses of potentiation, such as the dipole structure and structural levels in water, remain relevant with the introduction of the concept of trace protein components [L.21,22,23]. The hydrated protein substances and amino acids contained in the potentiation medium can thus, when shaken, form structures (with the help of factors such as spin effect, coherent regions) complementarily similar - as a “negative” - to the original substance (the potentiated drug substance). At the next stage (which occurs as a result of passing through many stages of potentiation), a new complement can be formed to the already existing complementary form, thus forming a “positive”. If this process continues, the next stage will again be the formation of a negative, and so on.
How does the information stored in a potentized drug realize its physiological effectiveness? This question is related to the special property of water. Amino acids and peptides can be called information carriers.
Placebo effect
Opinions of opponents of homeopathy
The placebo effect is well known to doctors, and, according to many experts, its role accounts for up to 30% of the total effect of taking any drug. Therefore, from a pharmacological point of view, even one hundred percent placebo therapy can be quite effective. However, pure pacifiers are not generally considered medicinal products and are not included in drug registries. Although any doctor has repeatedly used them in the treatment of his patients. The long-term practice of the famous doctor M. Ya. Mudrov, who treated all diseases with three types of powders - gold, silver and simple, is a clear confirmation of this. The papers of different colors, as it later turned out, contained ordinary chalk powder. But it helped, and how!
Opinion of supporters of homeopathy
Yes, this can happen with any drug if the patient trusts his doctor. A good doctor's medications will have a placebo effect in addition to their usual effect. A doctor whose meeting does not make the patient feel at least a little better is a bad doctor.
However, experiments with the effect of the homeopathic factor on mice exclude the presence of any placebo effect, since animals are not subject to any effects of suggestion and will react to chalk, no matter what the color of the wrapper it is in, the same way.
Science or pseudoscience
Opinions of opponents of homeopathy
Hahnemann is an alchemist. Therefore, the origin of homeopathy is occult, therefore, homeopathy is a pseudoscience.
Opinion of supporters of homeopathy
It must be remembered that modern chemistry owes its appearance to medieval alchemy, in which there was indeed a lot of extravagance: an attempt to obtain gold from mercury, the philosopher's stone, etc. However, a significant number of chemical reactions were studied in the laboratories of alchemists, many of whom then followed the path of natural science and pure scientific experiment and became natural scientists, while others became occult alchemists. In addition, types of medical effects found empirically or scientifically subsequently acquired a religious connotation of the beliefs of those peoples who lived in a given territory.
Europe in the 17th-19th centuries was characterized by a decline in faith and equality. The primacy of the spiritual values of Christianity in Western Europe was increasingly crowded by a passion for alchemy, poetry, and art. The so-called Renaissance began, which essentially means total secularization (i.e., a departure from churchism - to the secular, worldly) in all areas of society: art, literature, etc. During this period, there was an unhealthy return to antiquity and paganism against the backdrop of discrediting Christianity as a living faith in God. Christianity is clothed in the clothing of myth, history, legend, tradition, way of life, ritual.
Hahnemann is a child of his time, therefore, along with serious scientific discoveries, an occult element creeps into some of his works and views: an attempt, with the help of “peas,” to influence the spiritual component of the patient, not the upset psyche, but the spirit. This, of course, is the delusion of a person who does not have a solid Christian worldview. However, this does not in any way detract from the importance of Hahnemann's works and his many years of medical experience related to conventional drugs.
About treatment methods
Opinions of opponents of homeopathy
A homeopathic doctor, whether he wants it or not, sows a mystical occult look on the world and the place of illness in a person’s life, and this sin is great, even if it is involuntary. For a sick person who knows nothing about the secrets of homeopathy, there seems to be no great sin in accepting the gift of his recovery from the hands of homeopaths and through certain potentized drugs. Being deceived, of course, is unpleasant, but if the Lord allows such a recovery, then thank God.
The patient may never know that the homeopath was disingenuous when speaking about the high effectiveness of this particular potency. Therefore, for the person being treated, this sin is rather a sin of ignorance than the sin of idolatry and eating food sacrificed to idols, which cannot be said about homeopaths themselves, for they are obliged to know what they are doing.
As a healing substance, homeopathic doctors use specially prepared water, ethyl alcohol or sugar, that is, essentially “charmed” products. Homeopathy is therefore primitive magic where as a secret name invoked spirit medicine, is the Latin name of the corresponding substance. The ineffectiveness of homeopathic self-medication also becomes quite understandable, since not only to communicate with spirits, but also to simply make sacrifices to soulless idols, one must have some experience and undergo some kind of initiation-training.
Opinion of supporters of homeopathy
Orthodox doctors need to have a fairly balanced position. In the last century, Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) imposed an ecclesiastical ban on Sechenov for his work “Reflexes of the Brain.”
Orthodox Christians must have a thoughtful, reasoned, scientifically proven position. Without being able to prove with the help of facts the inconsistency of homeopathy as a science, as a medical direction, one cannot deny its right to exist. In any medical field there may be flaws and methods that do not coincide with Orthodox doctrinal truth, for example, in gynecology. But because of the advocates of in vitro fertilization, contraception and abortion, it is impossible to defame the entire specialty as anti-religious. There are ten times more non-Orthodox moments in gynecology than in homeopathy. But this does not mean that gynecology should be classified as a pseudo-medical science and the treatment of other gynecological pathologies (cysts, erosions, endometriosis, fibroadenomas, etc.) should be stopped.
Now there is evidence that the molecules of all substances, including medicinal ones, have wave properties, which can also be important when affecting affected and diseased human organs.
The unbalanced position of Orthodox doctors on controversial issues and hasty conclusions can discredit Orthodoxy.
Despite the extremely negative attitude of Greek theologians towards homeopathy, in their criticism of the method there are many correctly posed questions that make it possible to cut off doubtful points and exclude directions that contradict the Orthodox doctrinal truth. Simply put, we can, having a complete picture of the attitude towards homeopathy, outline the circle beyond which it is inappropriate for an Orthodox doctor to go.
IV. SUMMARY
Firstly, the homeopathic doctor should not practice the patient's confession, since taking anamnesis "morbi"(that is, the history of the present illness) and collecting information about the patient’s spiritual experiences and his falls into sin are different things, since the first is the prerogative of the doctor, the second of the priest. Hence, interference of homeopathy in the spiritual area is unacceptable. Attempts to correct human passions with the help of “peas” inevitably lead to the occult. Therefore, an Orthodox homeopath is a doctor who treats the human body, correcting the patient’s psyche if necessary, but not intruding into the field of correcting the spirit.
Secondly, some foreign homeopathic companies began to introduce the ideology of non-Christian philosophical systems into the ideological base of homeopathic doctors. For example, the German company Heel openly professes the anthroposophical system of Dr. Steiner and, on the basis of this, builds a concept for prescribing certain medications.
Without a Christian worldview, the company produces drugs known to homeopaths as “nosodes.” The composition of these drugs includes substances obtained from the urethra of a gonorrheal patient, syphilitic gummas, tuberculous cavities, etc. In the Orthodox Church, the ingestion of such substances, even in a therapeutic dose, is considered desecration.
A person with defiled lips (oral cavity, etc.) does not have the right to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. In order to regain this right, he must come to the church, to the priest, with a request to read a prayer over him against desecration.
Thirdly, the position of a number of homeopaths on endowing drugs with special properties and a certain “spirit” - in one case was associated with the lack of development of terminology (primitive terminology of the 16th-18th centuries), in another - with the presence of occult views and views inherent in some homeopathic alchemists .
Therefore, the scope of activity of an Orthodox homeopath can be outlined by the following boundaries: an Orthodox homeopath is a doctor with a higher medical education; trained in homeopathy; based in his practical activities and theoretical research on the Orthodox Christian worldview; who does not practice in his work drugs from the patient’s own secretions of the “nosode” type, as well as drugs that act on the spiritual area of a person’s soul and “change” the degree of sinfulness and the quality of a person’s morality; does not replace the collection of anamnesis, that is, data about life and the characteristics of the course of the disease - the patient’s confession about his sins and spiritual and religious searches and experiences.
LITERATURE
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2. Homeopathic yearbook. M.: Valang, 2003.
3. Lives of the Optina Saints / Reverend Optina Elders. Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn. 1993-1997.
4. Priest Anthony Ilyin. Is homeopathy Orthodox? // Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 02/09/2000.
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1988 - graduate of the Military Medical Academy named after. S.M.Kirova, Faculty of Training of Doctors for the Navy with a gold medal.
1993 - completed his postgraduate studies at the Department of ENT and defended his thesis in the field of otolaryngology and naval and aviation medicine “Evaluation of ear barofunction in the aspect of the physiology of military labor.”
1995 – ordained to the rank of deacon, then to the priesthood, appointed rector of the hospital Parish of St. Vmch. and the healer Panteleimon-on-the-stream.
In 1999 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, and in 2003 from the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (SPbDA).
In 2005, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Medicine and Orthodoxy: medical, social, organizational and ethical problems”, completed at the Department of Humanities and Bioethics of St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University with the scientific advice of prof. G.L. Mikirtichan, specialty code - public health and healthcare.
In 2005 - elevated to the rank of archpriest.
In 2006, he defended his dissertation in St. Petersburg on the topic “Pastoral ministry in state and church medical and medical-social institutions of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.” and was awarded the title of Candidate of Theology.
During his medical and church activities, he built 6 hospital churches and chapels, organized a community of sisters of mercy of St. mts. Tatiana, Mercy Center, Brotherhood of Sobriety, Brotherhood of Compassion and Mercy, Counseling Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Magic, the Occult, Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, 2 country rehabilitation centers, founded the Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg (1999), contributed to the founding of similar societies in 15 cities Russia.
Currently, he is a professor at the Department of Humanities and Bioethics at St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, an associate professor at the Department of ENT, St. Petersburg State Medical University named after Acad. I.P. Pavlov, rector of the Church of the Sovereign Icon of the Mother of God on Kultury Ave., member of the Executive Committee of the All-Russian Society of Orthodox Doctors, member of the Council on Biomedical Ethics of the Moscow Patriarchate, head of the medical ministry sector of the Department for Charity of the St. Petersburg Diocese, president of the Association of Communities of Sisters of Charity of St. Petersburg, editor-in-chief of the All-Russian magazine “Church and Medicine”.
Author of 1 invention, 53 rationalization proposals in the field of medicine, 69 publications in scientific, medical and church publications, of which 14 monographs and textbooks, including those related to pastoral service in a hospital.
During his service, he was awarded church and state awards: medals for the “200th Anniversary of the Ministry of Defense”, for the “300th Anniversary of the Russian Fleet”, for the “Centenary of the Russian Submarine Forces”, for the “65th Anniversary of the Victory”, “For Loyalty to the Profession”, “For Labor” in the name of life”, “For strengthening the military community”, “Veteran of the Navy”, the Order “For Service of Russia”, the Order Cross “Tithe”, the silver medal of the Holy Supreme Apostle Peter I degree, etc.
Married, has three children.
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