TEXTS IN ENGLISH

After 47 years of service at the monastery, the Lord allowed Father Gabriel of Lepavina to suffer greatly.  On Vidovdan [St. Vitus’ Day, June 28] in 2006 father was serving Divine Liturgy, and when he needed to come out from the altar with the holy chalice in his hands to give Holy Communion to the faithful, his voice suddenly stopped..

..Mild unconsciousness, weakness of the entire body and lack of strength… Suffering started… But, it is important to Father Gabriel that people accept the Holy Mystery of Communion.  With his last throbs of life, he prayed to the Lord to give him the strength to deliver Holy Communion to the people, who with God’s help he served all of his life, and to endure until the end of Divine Liturgy.

After Holy Communion, father recovered a little and simply forgot about his weakness.  However, in the night between Wednesday and Thursday, a complete congestion of the main blood vessel occurred in his leg, and his leg became as cold as ice.  Dr. Vesna Belak-Dosenovic from Sokolovac and Dr. Ljiljana Dosen from Bjelovar warned father that urgent surgical intervention on his leg was necessary; however, father started to suffer from the thought of how to leave the monastery and brotherhood, who will serve Divine Liturgy, how is it that he must go to the hospital so urgently?  So he postponed his departure to the hospital until Saturday, which jeopardized not only the possibility of his leg healing, but Father Gabriel’s life was in jeopardy.  He lost the life from his leg.

Application

When Father Gabriel called me by phone on Saturday morning, I was so excited to hear from him that I barely understood that father needed urgent medical care.  All that followed was per the prayers of the Holy Theotokos of Lepavina.  The most difficult thing to do was to talk Father Gabriel into urgently leaving for Belgrade.  He didn’t want to accept the seriousness of his health condition, and, when I started to beg him to leave at once, he raised his voice saying:

- “What is with you, sister, how can I leave before Divine Liturgy?  Who will do God’s service?”

- “Divine Liturgy will be served, Father, but you must make your trip right away, your leg must not wait for another second.  It can be late, Father, that’s what Dr. Lazar Davidovic said!  Nurse Svetlana Milakovic and I are urgently going to meet with him at the clinic, where he asked us to inform him about the patient’s condition.”

Discharge Paper

But, when the Lord gives suffering to someone, he gives him strength to endure it as well.  Nurse Svetlana and I told Dr. Lazar Davidovic all that we knew about father’s illness, and we knew almost all the details of his condition, as father that Saturday morning, by a miracle of God, as he knew how necessary that information would be for the doctor, told us in detail about the symptoms of his illness, so that Dr. Davidovic, head of the Cardiovascular Clinic in Belgrade, before father’s arrival and aware of father’s condition, already prepared an operating room and a team of top experts led by Dr. Nenad Jakovljevic and all that is needed for such a serious and urgent intervention.  Father Gabriel had one surgery during the night already.  The surgery was very difficult and complicated.  It lasted for a long time, and only by God’s hand through Dr. Jakovljevic was able to miraculously save father’s leg, which had been without its blood supply for three full days.

However, it was later discovered that the other leg had narrowing and congestion in the blood vessels, so per the doctor’s stern warning, Father Gabriel decided to do as much as he could to assist in his own healing.

“Father, how did your further recovery go?” I asked father, when I saw his images on the site.

“Dr. Lazar Davidovic recommended a stay at Gamzigrad’s health resort, where Dr. Dragica Rondovic continued with my recovery treatment.  As I have still been weak and movements have been painful, I received a lot of help from the head nurse Nada and the ward’s nurse Gordana, so that when I went to the health resort again after six months, we had already became like one family.

“Naturally, I felt much better, but at the monastery I still went out only to serve Liturgy and would retreat to my cell.  My leg has reacted strongly to cold or long standing with swelling.

“And pilgrims were still coming and wanted to talk to me and to share their suffering and spiritual sorrows.  It was toughest when I really couldn’t get out from my cell to read a prayer to them.  However, no one left without a prayer.

“And then one day after Divine Liturgy I was approached by Dr. Tamara Popovic and she asked to talk to me.  She simply cried for me to urgently come to the health resort at Mljecanica, saying that I most urgently needed treatment and physical therapy, that my condition was pretty poor, that she was watching me several times already when she came from the Bosnian Republic of Srpska to Lepavina, and that she sees how my condition is worsening more and more.  Since even I felt that it was like that, I asked for a blessing from Metropolitan John and made the trip to “Health Resort Vitezda,” as I would later name it.  There simply began one new chapter in my recovery.  Somehow with my entrance to the health resort itself and first meeting with Dr. Stefanovski* on a table in the consulting room I saw an icon of St. Petka, my Slava.  I felt as though St. Petka waited for me and somehow I felt relief in my heart.  Alas, it is hard to leave the monastery and brotherhood to themselves.

“I didn’t leave the monastery even in the hardest times of war.  I was praying to the Lord and the Holy Theotokos and doing my service as if nothing was taking place.  Dr. Stefanovski welcomed me with a smile and said only:  - “Aha, finally that day came, so our Father Gabriel has arrived.” I recognized in the doctor one clean, warm Orthodox soul, as with all of the staff of the health resort Mljecanica.  And then a miracle took place.  As my physical therapist they assigned brother Dragomir, a senior therapist at the health resort Mljecanica, who has simply angelic hands.  He was revitalizing my body with such love and I quickly felt ease in moving my legs and all of my body, as I was doing all of the exercises that they asked from me with discipline.

“I wanted to tell my spiritual children, who I had even from the time when I had the responsibility of a guest host at Hilandar, and as spiritual father of clergy from four dioceses, and now to my spiritual children from all parts of the world and many countries, who pray for me and for whom I am praying, that my current health condition, thanks to the dear Lord and Holy Theotokos, is very good, thanks not only to the quality and expert management of my post-surgical recovery by the experts who I mentioned, but also my persistence, discipline and ultimate obedience in the role of patient.  I saw how irresponsibly many people relate to their own health.  I compared the obedience of a patient to their doctor to the obedience of a believer who suffers to his spiritual father.  No spiritual father can help a man in trouble if he doesn’t obey without protest.  It is the same with a physician.  The advice of physicians and all medical staff should be impeccably obeyed and followed, and you should continue maintaining your health with exercises which are recommended by the physician.  You will see here my Discharge Paper after surgery and the newest image of the blood vessels in my legs from May 2008.  This is the result of discipline and obedience.”

- “Father, you were really very sick, and now it is visible that you are strong, healthy, revitalized?  What path did you follow?”

- “I never went anywhere without the blessing of my Metropolitan John and I felt how that blessing follows me each step I make.  I pray continuously to the Lord and the Holy Theotokos of Lepavina and I feel how the Holy Theotokos gives back mercy in response to my prayers.  I tell you that, my spiritual children, to know that none of your prayers will be unanswered if you worthily lift it up.  I was, now I know, brought to Lepavina from Holy Mount Athos by the Empress of Heaven of Lepavina herself.  For 24 years, the monastery was completely vacant, prayers were silenced, and those ghostly abandoned walls were only guarded by the miraculous icon of the Holy Theotokos of Lepavina.

And I tried to build into those ruins the spirit of Holy Mount [Athos] and Hilandar and I didn’t languish even in the hardest times of war.  Per my duty I was continuously like a soldier at guard service, a guard of this miracle-working icon of the Holy Theotokos, and I continuously lifted up my prayers to her.  When I arrived at the monastery and saw the devastation, I knelt in front of the lonely icon of the Holy Theotokos, and it seemed that I saw sorrow in Her eyes and a thought from the Gospel came to me: how an immobile patient at the health resort Vitezda waited for 28 years for someone to help him get down into the water, when the angel of God makes waves in it.  But, for 28 years no one came… Where are you Christians?  The Holy Theotokos is waiting with plenty of gifts… And us?  Where are we?

And now… My heart is full!  With God’s help I succeeded to carry over a cutting from Holy Mount [Athos] and Hilandar to Lepavina.  I have the dearest feeling when I see how many pilgrims rush to kneel before the Holy Theotokos, and how many miracles and healings are taking place, how many happy faces are in our holy place of worship.  And the brotherhood has been slowly increasing.

I now know that I have to be near our Holy Theotokos and that I couldn’t leave this holy place of worship anymore.  I experienced a lot of joy near Her.  It is a special joy that the Lord and the Holy Theotokos have given me many spiritual children, who are placed all over the world.  They simply spring up in a completely miraculous and invisible way.  We are spiritually tied so close together, that even that great distance doesn’t represent an obstacle.  There is not a great distance between Australia, America, China, Russia… I feel them, and they [feel] me.  They have been praying for me while I was on recovery.  I felt that.  They expect spiritual food from me and often they call by phone, over the Internet, by letters… I remember a phone call from brother Radomir Vucic a young sociologist who completed his studies at Berlin and lives in Berlin.  When he heard my voice, he started crying in such a way, for a while he couldn’t say a word.  That young man wrote such a touching letter to Dr. Stefanovski and Dr. Tamara in a gesture of gratitude for their care for me and my treatment at the health resort.

Ultrasound Finding

So, my spiritual children are taking care of me and pray to God for me, and I am continuously praying for them.  Trust has to exist between us.  I have been a clergyman for the Zagreb-Ljubljana Diocese for 20 years, also for four years I’ve been a clergyman of the Dalmatia Diocese, for two years of Pakrac and four years of the Mid-European Diocese.  To God I am grateful and to the Empress of Heaven for giving me so many spiritual children and for multiplying and spreading love among us.”

Tankosava Damjanovic philologist
May 30, 2008

father Gabriel after rehabilitation

More demanding exercises after consistent exercising with the goal to better circulation and decrease blood sugar.  Candle pose exercise [shoulder stand] with a duration of 15 seconds decreases the blood sugar level by one unit.

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God Bless!

Respected Dr. Tamara,

Here, I am sending you the link I promised so that, as a medical scientist, you would make a small and concise review of my exercises in the photos, so that my personal example would more or less explain the significance of physical exercises for the health of patients.  And a disciplined patient is a patient who ultimately regards the word of his physician, who is a specialist in his trade and knows best what the patient needs for healing, who confides to his doctor and follows all of his directions, who without the knowledge of a physician does not take some alternative medicines, as that can be only counterproductive.  Such a patient must know that for the healing of his damaged health, which already got an excellent foundation at a health institution, hospital, health resort, rehabilitation center; but that he has to maintain his health not only with help of medicines, but with his own will and continuous exercises, again per the strict direction of his physician, even if they take only 10 minutes per day.  Furthermore, a disciplined patient also must continuously keep in mind that a lot of time and money has already been spent for his healing.  It costs a lot for one surgical intervention, medicines, physician services and technical stuff, physical therapy and many other accompanying but necessary medical services.  But, if we, after all these given interventions, ourselves don’t continue to care about our own health per our physician’s advice, that money is simply thrown away, and our health neglected.  Therefore, we’ll soon again ask for the physician’s help.  And do we think, if that money which is spent for our healing and the time which the physician and physical therapists spent with us, and which we didn’t respect, might have healed some more disciplined patient, who wants to regard the word of his specialist, who simply wants to rehabilitate his damaged body, as opposed to us who obviously don’t want that?

Unfortunately, in our people one kind of primitivism is ruling, which comes from not knowing the essence of the flow of healing and the recovery period after visiting a medical institution.

So, even when a patient follows the physician’s instructions and starts to frequently perform the exercises necessary for the rehabilitation and maintenance of physical health, often with the uneducated, and even with educated people, almost 90% of population have a lack of understanding and are puzzled by, and even irritated by these exercises.

When a patient comes to a health resort, his rehabilitation mostly lasts from 15 to 21 days and there he gets certified therapy treatments from the physician who is guiding him during the rehabilitation.  Most of the time, health begins to recover very quickly, success is noticed, but, I noticed how much that success very much depends on the patient himself, meaning, how well is the patient following the advice of his physician regarding exercise, and also how much he regards his physician with respect to advice for practicing many bad habits, which can do him a lot of harm, to him personally as well as to others; and that way unavoidably slow down or even cut short success for much-needed healing.  When I was at your health resort, I saw patients who smoke.  So, not only that they poison themselves and are destroying the insides of their already sick body, but they flagrantly pollute the God-given pure, healthy nature.  We ask ourselves now, what is purpose of their healing, or better said not healing?

Although the health resort staff, who are smoking in their white coats, are also giving a bad example to patients.  I especially stress smoking, since the use of nicotine and taking it into the body, is the cause of many diseases, even the worst ones, which are cancer-related.  For the rehabilitation of an already sick body is a path toward almost certain failure, and then a patient believes that everybody is guilty for his slow recovery, only not him.  I also stress that regular nutrition following the strict orders of your physician, is necessary for any recovery and for a healthy life.

Dear Dr. Tamara,

It would be very useful if you would professionally explain the significance of these exercises for the health of man and that it is necessary even after rehabilitation at a health resort to continue with physical exercises at home, for if the exercises are not performed, the body will become like dead, it will go back to the initial condition of the disease, there will be no healing, and then such an irresponsible patient must slowly prepare himself for the “wooden coat.” Little humor is appropriate.

It is very important for me to ask this of you.  Many people know me and looking at these photos, they will get interested in those exercises, as they know the condition of my health before my surgery and before these exercises at your health resort, and the also know my present health condition, so I am afraid that they would start doing these exercises on their own thinking, “if Fr. Gabriel can do it, why couldn’t I?” It is necessary to point out that they shouldn’t start with those exercises on their own, that what is in these photos is the result of several months of exercise, my great effort and my own will to heal and that it was guided exclusively under the supervision of professional staff.

So, first, a visit to your personal physician needs to take place, get consultations with him, familiarize him with your own health condition and only then ask him about the possibility of performing these exercises.  His personal physician, who guides him, has his medical file, has a history of his diseases, and based on that will direct patient to physician specialist who is expert for that kind of decease and who will examine him based on interview and decide what next is needed.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO POINT OUT THAT THE PATIENT MUST NOT UNDERTAKE ANYTHING ON HIS OWN, NOR START TO EXERCISE WITHOUT THE DIRECTION OF HIS SPECIALIST.

http://manastir-lepavina.org/otpusna_lista/

All good from the Lord,
Father Gabriel (Vuckovic)

DRAWINGS OF EXERCISES WHICH ARE DONE FOR THE BETTERING OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH OF THE HUMAN BODY:  click here > http://www.pravoslovo.net/tri/vezbe.html

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God Bless!

Respected Dr. Tamara,

I write to you to ask you for your expert advice.  In fact, it is necessary that these statements of mine get support from a medical point of view, as I feel that medicine and/or physical therapy will benefit from my personal testimony.  My testimony is related to the necessity of doing physical exercises for maintaining general health as much as for physical, mental and spiritual recovery, even for very sick and barely mobile persons.

I feel that your valuable comments will mean a lot to patients for easier understanding of that problem, its analysis and acceptance, and that it will be of great use to patients.

Professor Dr. Mihajlo Stefanovski stated that he takes “unique” success in my personal example in the domain of physical therapy and that my strict obedience to physicians and their advice, persistent and regular exercising even after leaving from your institution, is the cause of my healing and my general condition of health.

Your expert review will be posted on our website in an appendix as an answer to my letter.  I want to use this opportunity to stress its importance, as it will be read by thousands of people.  Your expert comment will be translated to several languages, English, Russian, German, French, Greek, Italian, and others… Our website is visited monthly by readers from almost 70 countries, and as far as the number of visits go, sometimes the number of hits reach 14,000.

Fr. Gabriel

http://manastir-lepavina.org/otpusna_lista/

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Numerous studies have shown that people who maintain appropriate physical condition, using a reasonable, regulated lifestyle and the control of body mass, have additional advantages to a prolonged life, especially for ages between 50 and 70.  The death rate is three times smaller for people with better physical condition as compared to people with poor physical condition.

But, why is it that physical fitness matters for the prolonging of life?

The following two reasons are most evident:

First, physical conditioning and the control of body mass to a large extent lowers cardiovascular diseases (diseases of the heart and blood vessels).  That conclusion can be derived from:
a) moderately lower blood pressure
b) a decrease of cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein [LDL] in the blood together with and increase of high-density lipoprotein [HDL]

Second, and probably equally important, athletically fit persons have more bodily reserves on which they could count if a disease appears.  For example, an 80-year-old person with poor physical fitness can have a respiratory system which limits the use of oxygen to at most three times to four times.  On the other hand, athletically fit elderly persons can have two times more of these reserves.

That is especially important in maintaining life when it comes to conditions such as pneumonia which can very quickly require all disposable respiratory reserves.  Besides that, the ability for heart minute volume [HMV] increase when necessary (“heart reserve”) is often 50% greater in athletically fit elderly persons than ones who are not physically fit.

Besides the improvement of cardiovascular and respiratory capacity, physical activities (exercises) even influence the regulation of blood sugar.

Muscles use great amounts of glucose during physical work.  Usage of glucose under conditions of moderate to heavy physical work doesn’t require a great amount of insulin, as muscle filament at flexing, for unknown reasons, becomes more conductive for glucose, even if there is no insulin, because of the contraction process itself.

Naturally, as even pharmaceutical medicine can also be a poison if overdosed or taken independently from physician’s supervision, exercises and/or Kinesitherapy which is not adapted to the condition of the patient and isn’t performed under the supervision of a physical therapist can be damaging for the body.

Tamara Popovic, M.D.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Specialist
Mljecanica Institute
August 27, 2008

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God Helps, Fr. Gabriel, Bless!

I read, Father, your notice to your own spiritual children within which was a notice to Dr. Tamara, and then Dr. Tamara’s answer, and I found myself thinking how big is your heart, Father.  How much you care that everybody who reads these lines, and especially your spiritual children, sense the blessing of the mystery of obedience, a mystery for which I was thinking belonged only to monastics.

And, here, from these lines we see what disobedient patients do, where we never thought about it in this way.  Now we can draw a parallel between monastic obedience toward their Abbot, elder, bishop, toward whom monks have taken an oath, and the obedience of the law-abiding toward their physician, parent, family… Both of those suffer due to lack of obedience.

And our Fr. Gabriel, while reading these lines I simply think that, all of his life he is peacefully doing his monastic duties, so that it was not hard for him to be strictly obedient to his physician and therefore Lord rewarded him with His mercy, mighty health and great wisdom.

However, your disease, Father, serious disease, gets cured… And to the surprise of all those who know you, then the physician, and then you, you are until recently sick with a run-down body, and only two years after heavy surgery, it becomes strong, healthy, cheerful…?

It is interesting and important of course to read the expert report of Dr. Tamara about the necessity of daily physical exercises, and your testimony, Father, which in fact supports the analysis of Dr. Tamara.  Patients who so strictly follow their doctor’s advice are rare, and even more rare are the ones who, with their zeal and obedience, bring their completely ruined health to full physical condition, which influences the condition of the entire body and spirit.  And something very important, how many people, a lot younger, Father, can do these exercises with such ease?  I am fascinated with your desire to help your spiritual children this way, and all who read from your website, where personally, with your own example, you testify about the importance of the physical condition of the body, so that the spirit in it would be healthy as well.  One can not do without another.

This is visible in your photographs, which stand as an exhibit and testimonial.  However, the text of Dr. Tamara, where I expected that a doctor with such a wonderful analytical approach, at the end of the text would make a parallel between your condition before physical therapy and the condition which all of us now see in photographs, as you were both waited on and walked out from the health resort by the doctor, clearly overviews what is actually achieved with regular exercise, which, here, is worthy of life.  But, Dr. Tamara, as much as I can see, chooses to add few more valuable facts.

In one word, do not allow ourselves to be lazy about preserving our health, let’s guard our body which God gives us, so that our soul would dwell in a healthy body.

All good from the Lord!
Sister Tankosava Damjanovic
August 30, 2008

to be continued…