A Story of Agapit Pechersky by Anastasia Novykh (reading strategies book .txt) 📕

render to people? Healing?” inquired Volodya.
“Yes, besides his other merits, Agapit was a good practitioner of medicine. His heartfelt, caring attitude towards his patients produced unprecedented fame and respect among people, quite afar from Kiev too, although Agapit practically never quit the monastery territory. He became the most renowned physician of the 11th century. People called him ‘the Healer from God’. He cured such grave diseases, which nobody of then famous physicians agreed to treat. For instance, take such historically known fact, when Agapit cured dying Chernigov prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh. A physician surnamed the Armenian, who was considered the best physician of that time among noble people, could not help the prince in any way. While for Agapit it was enough to put Vladimir Monomakh on his legs in a few short days by passing a ‘miracle potion’ prepared with a prayer via the prince’s messenger. Later on the prince came to Pechersk monastery in order to return kindness to Agapit and brought many expensive gifts and much gold with him. But Agapit refused everything both from the prince himself as well as from the boyar he sent afterwards on his behalf. It was because Agapit cured both common people and noble ones with equal diligence and without return. That is why they called him Agapit the Unmercenary Healer. Naturally it caused conventional human envy, neighboring with malice, among such physicians as the Armenian. However, as to the Armenian personally, he ultimately realized, Who Agapit actually was. And it was owing to this that he became a monk of Pechersk monastery afterwards.”
“You don't say! He didn’t even take money for treatment?!” Kostya was surprised again. “But how did Agapit live?”
“Modestly. In spiritual exploit.” And smiling Sensei added: “His cell caused pity even among thieves. For the single whatsoever precious object there was Agapit himself, his experience, and his knowledge.”
“But what did he live on? What did he eat? Thin air?”
Sensei laughed.
“No. He did not eat himself for sure.”
“It’s not long to... you know, kick up one's heels.”
“Well, sooner or later each of us will kick up his heels,” either jokingly or seriously said Sensei. “But the point is not in that.”
“Ahem, I see that... But he did not steal that money, he earned it honestly. Besides, people brought it to him on their own will. Why didn’t he take it?”
“You see, the point is that Agapit taught the monks the true service to God. He said that ‘gold’ and ‘monk’ are incompatible entities. No man can serve two masters at once: he serves either God or earthly reaches, that is, a devil. No third option given. A monk truly expects a reward only from God in that world, not here from people. Gold indeed is litter for soul and temptation for thoughts. It is filth, which many thirst for, but which in truth is a shadowy delusion. The true value for a monk is in sincere prayer for his soul. It is not satiety of a belly and health of a body that one needs to be concerned about. For whatever food you eat, sooner or later you will be hungry. And whatever health you’ve got, sooner or later your flesh will die. While the soul is eternal. And only it is worthy of a true concern. As Agapit used to say, a monk prays for all people at his heartfelt will, but the whole point of monkhood is to serve God and by a prayer to obtain salvation of your own soul from Him.”
Sensei stopped, and there reigned silence. But soon it was interrupted by Victor’s thoughtful voice: “Not anyone is able to do that...”
But then his reasoning was interrupted by Kostya’s ‘inferences’: “So, Agapit was, in modern language, a folk healer?”
Sensei answered to that with ironical smile: “Well, if we take modern language, then Agapit was an academician, rather. As I’ve mentioned earlier, he mastered not only medicine, but also other disciplines. He knew several languages and easily read original treatises of antique Roman authors. He translated books into the Slavonic language. For the ‘library’ of Yaroslav the Wise he translated not only books from the East, but also ancient Egyptian manuscripts.
“Later on Agapit also helped... or, rather, consulted Svyatoslav, who was compiling ‘The Collection of the year 1073,’ where beside encyclopaedic articles there was medical data described in detail. Particularly, methods of illnesses recognition, various recommendations on preparation and usage of medicinal plants, as well as knowledge on human physiology and anatomy. This book was used as a learning textbook for a good while afterwards.
“Agapit, of course, trained monks to culture and thirst for knowledge as well. He imparted medical knowledge to some of them, while helped the others in coping with books in their free time. In passing, it was subsequently legitimated by a cloistral rule, and book-reading in spare time became obligatory for monks. It was on his initiative that a book-collection of Kiev Pechersk Monastery was created.”
“Book-collection?” Ruslan repeated the word, which sounded so antique.
“Yes. A library, the way we say.”
“A-ah...”
“So, Agapit helped some of the talented monks to master medical treatment,” Sensei continued his narration. “The learning was based on special prayers, uttered in a particular state of consciousness, as a rule over food or liquid. Owing to which, for instance, that liquid was filled with force, and used as a remedy afterwards, given to the sick for intake or for external use. Simply speaking, Agapit’ disciples learnt not only the ways of altering physical characteristics of liquids, but also their molecule structure, overlaying the necessary information. Naturally, they were not aware to such a nicety of the process, which took place in molecule microcosm of liquid structures, as well as of how it exactly influenced the macroobject. But they did not really need to know all that. The monks simply used general postulates of the knowledge, given to them by Agapit, – the same way, for example, as we use electricity nowadays. The electric power is exploited by people every day; however, thus far nobody really knows what it is in fact.
“For instance, monk Damian, who had received training from Agapit, could treat people well, especially children, by anointing oil.”
“By what?” asked Slavik, who seemed to have not caught what Sensei said.
“By anointing oil.”
“What is it?”
“It’s olive lamp-oil. Christians even have an entire ceremony, the so-called Anointing of the Sick – a sacrament administered by seven priests, or if there is no such possibility – by one priest, over a sick person. Otherwise it is also called the Unction of the Sick. The essence of it again is in reciting of certain prayers over the sick and anointing this person with consecrated oil. And that is done seven times.”
“Why exactly seven priests and seven times?” asked Andrew.
“That is accounted for by spiritual force, the forces of the seven Archangels, who are mediators between God and peoples. Simply speaking, of the seven Bodhisattvas... As for using anointing oil in such a way, actually it is a very ancient way of treating the sick. So far it is based on the knowledge I’ve mentioned to you – man’s capabilities of influencing environment through liquid. That is why you can find similar rites in various religions and ritual ceremonies of the peoples of the world.”
“Eh,” sighed Nikolai Andreevich. “People are gradually losing gist, leaving only its exterior form.”
“Unfortunately,” uttered Sensei. “There were times when people knew what they were doing. Now they only imitate exterior form of that knowledge. Take one of the seven sacraments of Christianity, the Baptism, which signifies communion of a man with this religion. Nowadays it is a solemn, decompound ceremony, the major action of which is the triple submerging of a person in consecrated water, reciting prayers, anointing with oil and chrism. However, even those, who administer this rite, don’t know what an great power stands behind this whole exterior action. Even the believers in fact underestimate and are not fully aware of the true effect of this water.” And after a short silence he added: “The rite of ablution of the newborn, by the way, appeared in Christianity not right away, but much later, along with the development and improvement of Christian ceremonies.
“The origins of Baptism throw an accent back onto pre-Christian cults. Such water rites were conducted in many religions of the ancient world, which in turn were based on popular believes of their ancestors about the ‘cleansing’ power of water. But the purport of the Baptism practice, which was given to people initially, lies deeper, beyond the bounds of water element, which people see in exterior.”
“Interesting! What is its purport, I wonder?” asked Nikolai Andreevich quickly, intrigued with the topic of conversation as much as we were.
“The purport of genuine Baptism practice is immersion of a man in the depths of his own consciousness down to the soul. The word ‘baptism’ in Greek sounds like ‘vaptisis,’ which means ‘immersion’. Do you remember, I’ve mentioned to you this morning immersion practice of yogis called ‘Pranayama’? To a modern view these two may seem absolutely different practices, between which people drew a chasm by their ambitions. But the fact is that Baptism and Pranayama as well as a number of other practices and rites, relating to water, are but a distant echo of the true knowledge and practices that had been adopted by people themselves to vast masses. Primordial knowledge was based on practices that altered person’s state of consciousness and led him onto a certain frequency, which enabled him to grow spiritually and come to God as a mature being. In other words, per se, owing to these practices this person got to know the true reality. He knew what he was doing and where he was going.
“Long time ago the practice of ‘immersion’ was given to people and was intended for those, who already achieved a certain level of spiritual development. Owing to this practice man entered into an altered state of consciousness and acquired ability to immerse in his most secret depths, where he was able to unite with God. Naturally, there was no place for any Animal nature, since it was all about the essence of the Soul. And this practice indeed gave secrets of knowledge, the very knowledge that cannot be put into words, for it was obtained from a particle of God – the omniscient Soul.”
“Yes, we’ve lost much valuable in time,” Nikolai Andreevich remarked sadly. “Often we do not understand at all what we do and why we do it. We attribute everything to traditions, soothing ourselves that this is the way it’s been done from old, that we are paying homage to our ancestors, allegedly.”
Sensei smiled ironically and uttered: “Well, when you get down to it, it is better than nothing at all and complete oblivion. Because sooner or later there will be those who shall get at the roots of things.”
“I did not pay attention to such matters previously,” Nikolai Andreevich said. “But now as you were speaking about Baptism, I recalled a conversation with one of my long-time former patients. He is a believer, a devotee so-to-say, taking every word of Church literally. Anyway, during one of our talks he related the ideology of the Office of Christian Baptism. I am christened myself, though in childhood. But that was the first time I heard such a thing. According to this ideology, only the one, who received baptism, and no one else, is cleansed from the original sin, connected with the very fact of human birth. That it is only after baptism, that man becomes a member of the church and communes to its blessings, which is Everlasting life. Before baptism, man allegedly bears a diabolical seal, that is, he is not detached from satanic nature. And after administration of such sacrament, Satan