The Mission of the Health-Care Worker in a Culture Hostile to Health

  1. Lemma
  2. The Mission of the Health-Care Worker in a Culture Hostile to Health
  3. English
  4. Delli, Eudoxie
  5. Ethics - Scientific theories and disciplines > Medicine - Orthodox Anthropology - Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Premodern _modern_ postmodern - Key thinkers
  6. 14-5-2017
  7. Τhermos, (Protopresbyter) Vasileios [Author]. The Mission of the Health-Care Worker in a Culture Hostile to Health
  8. Caregivers as Confessors & Healers. Proceedings from the Annual National Conference of the Orthdodx Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion. Nov. 5-7, 2015. Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. - Wichita, Kansas: Eight Day Institute, 2016.
  9. Western culture - anthropogenic illnesses - materialism - Capitalism - truth - love - Christian faith - Saint Basil the Great - Maximus the Confessor - John Chrysostom
    1. <p>Thermos (Protopresbyter) V. (2016). The Mission of the Health-Care Worker in a Culture Hostile to Health. In S. Muse & J. Brug & H. Woroncow (Eds.), <em>Caregivers as Confessors & Healers. Proceedings from the Annual National Conference of The Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine, Psychology and Religion. Nov. 5-7, 2015 </em>(pp. 248-262). Kansas, Wichita:Eight Day Institute.</p>

    1. In the present article Father Vasileios Thermos indicates that the incredibly rapid developments in the fields of medicine and biotechnology have resulted in a peak epidemic of anthropogenic illnesses. According to him, the worst enemy of health today seems to be human culture, especially Western culture. Unhealthy human decisions and lifestyle include :

      (1) nutritional toxicity linked to the so-called society of abundance;

      (2) harmful habits (such as the lack of physical exercise, smoking, alcohol, illicit drug abuse, irresponsible sexual life and driving);

      (3) pollution from technology (related to chemical agents and environmental damage);

      (4) doctor-induced and medication-induced diseases;

      (5) stress, burnout syndrome and depression (associated with unnatural speed, excessive job demands and a polymorphous insecurity);

      (6) accidents, war and suicides; and

      (7) spectacle society (supported through internet and video games).

      The author also emphasizes the persistent increase of mental disorders in the West – especially those considered more psychosocial than biological in character (phobias, delinquency, eating disorders and sexual perversions) - and associates them with "wild" capitalism in the context of postmodernity, which prevent people from meeting fundamental human needs such as security, community participation, feelings of competence and personal autonomy.

      Presented through relevant contemporary documentation (statistical tables) and bibliography, this morbid condition is revisited by Fr Vasileios in the light of patristic tradition common in East and West. Christian faith offers spiritual guidelines which can promote health and reduce the risk of anthropogenic diseases by resisting materialism in its divergent forms and by promoting a meaningful way of living in togetherness.

      The author mentions on these issues St. Basil the Great’s definition according to which health is the stability/proper function/well-being of our natural energies,  John Chrysostom’s approach to pathology as a result of human choices and Maximus the Confessor’s spiritual principle of love and solidarity, emphasizing that society is not a mere sum of individualities and that the diminishing of inequalities could be beneficial for the entire society.

      In the last part of his article, Fr Vasileios cites an American clinical professor of family and community medicine Rachel Naomi Remen who states that teaching the practice of medicine involves more than teaching in science and, perhaps the answer to the contemporary crisis of medicine lies in learning to cultivate the meaning of health-care work.

      Father Thermos ends by suggesting a theological perspective, composed of two aspects, for the health-care workers acting in a culture hostile to health:

      1. Help people learn the truth of the body, developing an ascetical task related to a political stance with financial consequences.

      2. Help people love the societal body.

      As he states, truth and love are our vocations as Christians, the pillars of our psychic constitution. From his standpoint, the mission of Orthodox health-care workers is considered precisely as a revelation of divine truth and love in the particular field of Health.