Traditional healers and their “prayers"

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleНародные целители и их «молитвы»
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category Orthodox theological tradition and practice > Cult and spirituality - Natural and the supernatural > Pseudoscience
6. Publication date 05-07-2018
7. lemma work Духанин, Валерий [Author]. Народные целители и их «молитвы»
8. lemma manifestations Православие.Ru
9. Keywords pseudo-medicine - Russian Orthodox Church - prayer
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Духанин, Валерий (2011). Народные целители и их «молитвы». <em>Православие.Ru.</em> Retrieved from: <a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/47988.html">http://www.pravoslavie.ru/47988.html</a> </p>
12. Lemma body

    1. The article argues that people are usually afraid of witches and sorcerers but there is a group of so-called “traditional healers” who use Christian symbols in their practice but who actually serve the devil and only want money from their patients. These healers claim that they cure with prayers, however according to the Christian doctrine this is not possible. When praying, people address God and the saints asking them for help but simply reading a prayer cannot help cure illnesses. Healers, however, claim that only their special prayer can help directly: that the ritual itself automatically brings healing.

       The Russian Orthodox Church has a ritual of anointing and this ritual is also a prayer, a call for help and surrender of a person to God’s will. The sin is when people surrender to the will of these healers. There are cases when healers do help people. Sometimes God can send recovery to those who come to healers, but still patients asking help from healers and not from God are committing a sinful act. 

       The root of the problem, according to the author, is in people’s ignorance about what is important and what is secondary. For example, people come to Church to light candles for good health, advancement in their careers and family life. They forget to pray for the salvation of their souls, which is in fact the most important thing. They also make a mistake when they think that recovering from a disease pleases God while death from a disease does not: God has his own plan for us.

       Healers always keep a distance from the Church but use its numerous attributes. Their sin is pride, they become surrounded by fallen angels and their prayer is not heard by God. The author concludes by stating that ill people do not seek healers for prayer, they can pray to God directly.