St. Paisios the Athonite

When one is mentally well, physical pain eases.

When he is not well mentally, the bad mental condition worsens his health.

Take a cancer patient who has been written off by the doctors. If he believes in God and finds himself in a happy spiritual atmosphere , he may live longer, while otherwise he may melt away from his distress and fade away in a few weeks.

Sometimes someone can be medically healthy, the tests show nothing, but if he has something that cripples him mentally , then he really isn't well. Because most diseases start from sadness. All people have some sensitive spot. Another person's grief will hit him in the stomach, another in the head.

The best medicine for an illness is spiritual joy, because it spreads divine Grace to the soul. Spiritual joy has the greatest healing power for all diseases. It is the divine salve that heals wounds, while distress irritates them. - St. Paisios the Athonite