Sign Up My Profile
Prayers

The prayer of St Barsanuphius on going to the doctors

St Barsanuphius of Gaza, a monk of the 6th century, gives these words to say as you go to the doctors, trusting in God.

Picture: John Bridges, Christ Healing the Mother of Simon Peter’s Wife, 1839

The words of the prayer

Plain English only: no traditional English wording is given for this prayer

In the name of the Lordwe entrust ourselves to the doctors,so that through them God may give us healing.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from a Russian translation of Barsanuphius’s Greek; the Greek of this answer was not found online in a form we could use. How the wording is made.

When it is said

It is not a prayer from a service. In one of his answers Barsanuphius gives it as the words believers say when they go to the doctors.

It is short enough to say on the way to an appointment, before treatment, or as you go in for an operation.

Where it comes from

Author known

Who was Barsanuphius?

Barsanuphius was a monk of the 6th century who lived in seclusion beside a monastery in Gaza. The abbot Seridos wrote down his answers to the questions people brought and passed them on. With his fellow elder John he left 850 answers to hermits, monks, bishops and lay people.

The Questions and Answers of Barsanuphius and John, Russian translation, Azbyka

His answer to a monk

A monk troubled by weakness asked Barsanuphius whether he should use medical treatment. Barsanuphius said that those who go to doctors and those who do not both hope in God. Those who go say these words. Using treatment is no sin, and not using it is nothing to be proud of. Even with the doctors, only what pleases God’s will comes to pass.

Barsanuphius and John, Answer 505, Russian translation, Azbyka

In Russian

Во имя Господне вверяем себя врачам,

да чрез них Бог подаст нам исцеление.

From the Russian translation of the Questions and Answers of Barsanuphius and John, Answer 505 (azbyka.ru).

Close to this

All prayers

Suggest a correction

Berean Standard Bible