www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Terminology w/r/t saints

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Can someone enlighten me as to what the term "unmercenary" means when applied to a saint? I honestly don't know and rather than guess, I figured I'd ask!

Annie go git yer gun,

As far as i know 'unmercenary' refers to a saint who was a physician or doctor.

Toodles.
Dr. Bob

A physician who was NOT paid for their services. The first unmercenary saints were women, Zenaida and Philonella.

J Thur,

Thanks for your enlightening clarification.

Toodles.
Dr. Bob

Dear Friends,

Yes, the unmercenaries were Christian healers in the first instance who received no money for their services.

There were many such Jewish healers in the times of St Elias.

They practiced the "laying on of hands" and other spiritual healing, in addition to herbal remedies with which they were most familiar.

They refused money because, as in the case of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, the great bulk of their healings were spiritual through prayer, fasting and the laying on of hands.

"Freely you have received, freely give . . ."

A practice that still persists among modern physicians is the placement of a Greek Cross at the top of a prescription for medicine.

This was an ancient Christian prayer for the healing of the person and if the medicine wouldn't help, then it asked God to intervene.

I had a wonderful Jewish doctor who would habitually do this. When I asked him about it, he said he didn't know, but that it was an ancient medical practice.

It is interesting to note that one of the medicines prescribed by the unmercenary healers was constant prayer while lying in bed.

Alex

Sounds a bit 'CHARISMATIC' eh?


Hugs and kisses,
Dr. Bob

Dear Dr. Bob,

May I ask what you are a doctor in? I am one in sociology . . .

I personally witnessed a similar miracle.

A very holy person visited the home of a neighbour and friends of his brought their baby boy.

The man prayed over the child and then imposed his hands on him.

The child immediately began to cry, "Thank you, Lord Jesus! Thank you, Lord Jesus!"

At this point, everyone started to cry.

When I asked what happened (am I clueless or what?), they told me the child, by then seven years old, had not spoken a word yet in his short life.

When I spoke with this person, who prayed the Jesus Prayer and the Horologion for three hours from four o'clock till seven each morning, and at other times, he looked at me and told me what I was thinking.

He gave me good spiritual advice that I still struggle to follow.

A charismatic? Whatever you like . . .

Alex

My fellow Doctor,

A light joke my friend! A sense of humor is a good thing. Sometimes amid all our seriousness we need to be a little comical.

Have you heard of St. Duffer? A great guy if I say so myself. You should head over to his website sometime!

As far as my doctoral credentials go, I possess a PhD in astrophysics. Certainly not as exciting as sociology!

I am rather new to the Eastern faith, and stumbled upon this board by accident.
My experience at the local OCA church has been..lets say...not very welcoming.

Toodles,
Dr. Bob
To infinity and beyond...

Thanks for your responses - b/t/w I posted the original question but had to change my screen name. (I tried to update my e-mail and made a boo boo typing it in. Sigh.)

Dear Dr. Bob,

Sorry about the OCA! But I guess there are parishes and then there are parishes.

I went in to one OCA parish in Florida where so many of our posters live. (I guess the warm weather makes the fingers more nimble and they can post more!).

They were so friendly toward me that they put me to work immediately moving chairs around for the after-liturgy coffee hour!

And I couldn't say no, the Presbytera asked me and I am used to taking orders from women . . .

Her husband then took a closer look at me and said, "You aren't a parishioner here, are you?"

We talked and talked. He had so many things to say, you couldn't shut him up. Don't you just hate it when people are like that . . .?

He then invited me to stay and told me that he would receive me into the Church whenever I'm ready.

I told him I've been ready for some time . . .

If you wish to be Orthodox, and can't be talked out of it (kidding, kidding) then you might wish to speak to some of our Orthodox posters here about a more Ph.D.-friendly parish . . .

The Orthodox posters are wonderful people, but some of them are a little sensitive about things.

And so am I which is why we love each other.

Welcome to God, Dr. Bob, and His Holy Church.

As St Augustine said after finally coming to God, "Late have I loved Thee, Lord, late have I loved Thee!"

You are in excellent company!!

I greet you and salute you in Christ and His Love!

Alex

Dr. Bob,

Welcome! I, too, have a doctorate although I never use the letters outside of a religious context since it gets very confusing -- it's a Doctor of Sacred Theology -- but the Latin terminology is used, so it comes out "S.T.D."

Edward, deacon and sinner

Bless me a sinner, Rev. Fr. Dcn. Dr. Edward,

For me, "doctor" which means "teacher" indicates a special call to offer oneself to the service of humanity within the academic context in which we work.

Ours should never be a claim to pride, but to self-sacrifice and service.

(Although I do use the "Dr." title when I make restaurant reservations.)

Can you forgive me this sin over the internet, Father Deacon?

Alex

Bless Fr. Deacon Ed, STD!

It is so wonderful that we have such a community of individuals with such vast talents and skills! Was it a difficult process to obtain your STD?

I have heard that such a degree can only be aquired at certain ecclesiastical institutions. Perhaps you can elaborate more on the process.

Although I can certainly understand why you might not want to put those letters after your name, especially to the individual not familliar with it!

Dr. Alex, I always enjoy reading your insightful posts, you have been most helpful in your fantastically written and well thought out responses!

Doctors indeed are called to a great and wonderful service, and most importantly to share all they have been given by God with others!

Of course, I enjoy calling myself Dr. Bob because it's the epitomy of geek.

Toodles,
Dr. Bob


PS I really need to start proofreading before i post!

[ 01-30-2002: Message edited by: Dr. Bob ]

Dear Dr. Bob,

Please don't proofread - it's more fun when we don't!

You are too kind. You are not only a zealous convert, but a traditional one at that!

We need people like you in the Church, in society, in Washington . . .

And you like the Old Calendar. You've made OrthodoxyorDeath, myself and others very happy indeed.

Psalm 8, with the reference to the stars, must be one of your favourite scriptural texts.

Do you see the imprint of the Hand of God in the galaxies?

Would you care to share your feelings on this?

Alex

My friend Dr. Alex,

The handprint of God is so evident in the universe, it's hard to believe that anyone could be atheist by witnessing what occurs in space!

There is in no way an explanation for the beginning of all things using the atheist point of view. Modern scientists start going into the realm of quantum mechanics to explain such things. The one thing they cannot prove is how mass all came to be created. So if that mass wasn't created, then it has always been. Now since mass is made up of various elements, already we have questions. Where did the elements come from, and who put them together in that mass? As you can see, one can speculate until he is blue in the face.

That's why faith is so important. Faith gives us promise and hope in the unseen. Faith explains that which our mortal mind cannot even begin to touch upon or comprehend. And best of all, God gave all these wonderful gifts to us, to further honor him!


Toodles,
Dr. Bob