A Foolproof Anti-Cancer Diet... With Just One or Two Drawbacks
If you want to avoid cancer, live like a monk. That is the inescapable conclusion from research into one of the world’s most renowned monastic communities.
The austere regime of the 1,500 monks on Mount Athos, in northern Greece, begins with an hour’s pre-dawn prayers and is designed to protect their souls.
Their low-stress existence and simple diet (no meat, occasional fish, home-grown vegetables and fruit) may, however, also protect them from more worldly troubles.
The monks, who inhabit a peninsula from which women are banned, enjoy astonishingly low rates of cancer.
Since 1994, the monks have been regularly tested, and only 11 have developed prostate cancer, a rate less than one quarter of the international average. In one study, their rate of lung and bladder cancer was found to be zero.
Haris Aidonopoulos, a urologist at the University of Thessaloniki, said that the monks’ diet, which calls on them to avoid olive oil, dairy products and wine on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, helped to explain the statistics. “What seems to be the key is a diet that alternates between olive oil and nonolive oil days, and plenty of plant proteins,” he said. “It’s not only what we call the Mediterranean diet, but also eating the old-fashioned way. Small simple meals at regular intervals are very important.”
Meals on the peninsula, which the Prince of Wales has visited regularly and which can only be reached by boat, are ascetic and repetitive affairs that have changed little over the centuries, although there are variations between the 20 monasteries.
The monks sit in silence while, from a pulpit, passages from the Bible are read in Greek. They eat at speed – as soon as the Bible passage is over, the meal is officially completed.
The staples are fruit and vegetables, pasta, rice and soya dishes, and bread and olives. They grow much of what they eat themselves. Agioritiko red wine is made locally from mountain grapes. Dairy products are rare – female animals are banned from the autonomous semi-state.
Life on Athos has changed little over the past 1,043 years. Breakfast is hard bread and tea. Much of the day is taken up with chores – cleaning, cooking, tending to crops – followed by a supper, typically of lentils, fruit and salad, and evening prayers.
Some of the seaside monasteries specialise in catching octopus, a delicacy that is softened up by bashing on the rock. Fish also feeds the Athos cats, protected by the monks for their mouse-catching prowess. Of all domestic animals, only cats are exempt from the ban on females. Some of the monks live in hillside huts or cliff-side caves perched above the sea as satellites of the main establishments, perhaps the closest that modern Christianity gets to medieval hermits. They depend for their sustenance on handouts of bread and olives.
On holidays and feast days such as Christmas and Easter, when other Greeks are feasting on roast meat, the monks prefer fish, their only culinary luxury. Father Moses of the Koutloumousi monastery, one of the 20 organised cloisters scattered over the Athos peninsula, said: “We never eat meat. We produce most of the vegetables and fruit we consume. And we never forget that all year round, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we don’t use olive oil on our food.”
The olive-oil routine, which also applies to wine and dairy products, appears to have no religious significance, but is a way of eking out their supplies.
All the monks stick to the rigorous fasting periods of the Orthodox Church, in which a strict vegan diet is prescribed for weeks at a stretch.
Michalis Hourdakis, a dietician associated with Athens University, said: “This limited consumption of calories has been found to lengthen life. Meat has been associated with intestinal cancer, while fruit and vegetables help ward off prostate cancer.”
The lack of air pollution on Mount Athos as well as the monks’ hard work in the fields also played their part, the researchers said. There was no mention, however, of whether the absence of women had any effect on the monks’ renowned spiritual calm.
Salad days: Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday
Breakfast: Hard bread, tea
Lunch: Pasta or rice,vegetables, olive oil
Dinner: Lentils, fruit and salad, olive oil. Red wine
Monday, Wednesday and Friday: no olive oil
Holidays and feast days: Fish and seafood
http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2013/06/avoid-cancer-live-like-monk.html
To Have a Child
St. Anna, Mother of the Theotokos
St. Elizabeth, Mother of the Forerunner
St. Sabbas the Sanctified of Palestine
St. Irene Chrysovolantou
For Safe Childbirth
St. Eleftherios
For the Care & Protection of Infants
St. Stylianos
For Young People
Holy Great Martyr Demetrios the Wonderworker
Delivery from Sudden Death
St. Barbara the Great Martyr
Against Drinking
Holy Martyr Boniface & the Righteous Aglais
For Travelers
St. Nicholas: in general, & specifically for sea travel
St. John the Russian: for transport, auto, busses
St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople: for safety at sea
For Cobblers
St. Eustathius the Cobbler of Georgia
For Physicians
St. Panteleimon
The Holy Unmercenaries, Saints Cosmas & Damian
For the Kitchen, Home
St. Euphrosynos the Cook
St. Sergius of Radonezh: for baking
Sts. Spyridon & Nikodim of Kievo-Pechersk: Prosphora making
For Trading
St. Paraskeva
For Headaches
Holy New Martyr Demas of Smyrna
For Eyes
St. Paraskeva
For Ears
St. Spyridon the Wonderworker
For Teeth
St. Antipas of Pergamum
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Holy Great Martyr Artemius
St. Artemius of Verkola
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St. Blaise of Sebastia
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St. Xenia of St. Petersburg
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Theologian
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St. John of Kronstadt
St. Justin the Philosopher
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St. Romanos the Melodist
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St. Luke the Apostle and Evangelist
St. John of Damascus
For Patient Endurance of Affliction
St. Job the Much-Suffering
Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebastia: especially in freezing cold weather
Holy Forty-Two Martyrs of Amorion
For Protection Against Thieves
St. Gregory the Wonderworker of Kievo-Pechersk
For Stone-workers
Holy Martyrs Florus & Laurus
For Soldiers
Holy Archangel Michael
St. George the Great Martyr
St. Barbara the Great Martyr
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St. Ephraim the Syrian
St. Alexis the Man of God
St. Seraphim of Sarov
For a Good End to One's Life
Holy Archangel Michael
St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople
For Captives and Court Cases
St. Onouphrios the Great
St. Peter of Athos
St. George the Great Martyr
For Help in Distress, Poverty, Etc.
St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
St. John the Almsgiver of Alexandria
St. John of Kronstadt
For Finding Things
St. Phanourios the Great Martyr
St. Menas the Great Martyr of Egypt
For Meeting a Difficult Situation, an Interview, Etc.
St. David the Prophet, Psalmist & King
The Holy Unmercenaries & Healers
SS. Cosmas & Damian of Rome
SS. Panteleimon & Hermolaus
St. Julian the Martyr
St. John of Kronstadt
St. Nectarios of Aegina
Holy Archangel Raphael
For Animals & Livestock
St. George: cattle & herds
St. Parthenius of Radovysdius: cattle
SS. Spevsippus, Elesippus & Melevsippus: horses
St. Tryphon: geese
For Protection of Crops from Pests
St. Michael of Synnada
For the Protection of Gardens Against Pests
Holy Great Martyr Tryphon: also for hunters and Patron of Moscow
Against Demons & Witchcraft
SS. Cyprian & Justina
St. Theodore Sykeote
St. Mitrophan of Voronezh
For Chastity & Help in Carnal Warfare
St. John the Forerunner
St. Demetrios the Great Martyr
St. John the Much-Suffering
Holy Martyr Theodore the Byzantine
Holy Martyr Ignatios of Athos
St. Mary of Egypt
St. Joseph the All-Comely
St. Susanna [Old Testament]
For Mental Disorders
St. Naum of Ochrid
St. Anastasia
St. Gerasimos of Cephalonia: the possessed
Against Plague
St. Haralambos
St. Marina the Great Martyr
For Help Against Quick-Temper & Despondency
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
For Workers in Hospitals
Holy Unmercenaries Saints Cosmas & Damian
St. Dositheus, Disciple of Abba Dorotheus
For Guilelessness & Simplicity
Holy Apostle Nathaniel & St. Paul the Simple
There was once a man who had three sons. One day, the first son came to his father and said, “Dad, everyone knows you’re rich, and I’d frankly like some money. So what work do you need done around here that will earn me a bit of cash?”
The father replied, “Well son, there are a few things that need to be done…”and so the son set off to complete those tasks.
The second son came to his father and said, “Dad, everyone around here knows that you are influential and powerful. But they also know that when you get mad, things can get really scary. What work can I do to make sure you never get mad at me?”
The father replied to his fearful son, “Well son, there are a few things that need to be done…” and so the son set off to complete those tasks.
The third son came to his father and said, “Daddy, I love you. I love you so much that I want to do something that will bring joy to your heart. What can I do that will please my loving father?”
The father smiled and said, “Son, your heart already brings me joy.” And after a long hug, he said, “There are a few things that need to be done…” and so the son set off to complete those tasks with the loving glow of his father’s embrace still warm against his chest.
Those are the three children of God I have observed.
Some obey for heaven and eternal pleasures, some obey for fear of judgement and hell fire, and some obey purely for the smile on their Father’s face.
A brother came to see Abba Macarius the Egyptian and said to him, ‘Abba, give me a word, that I might be saved.’ So the old man said to him, Go to the cemetery and abuse the dead.’
The brother went there, abused them and threw stones at them; then he returned and told the old man about it. The latter said to him, ‘Didn’t they say anything to you?’
He replied, ‘No.’
The old man said, ‘Go back tomorrow and praise them.’ So the brother went away and praised them, calling them apostles, saints, and righteous men. He returned to the old man and said to him, ‘I have complimented them.’
And the old man said to him, ‘Did they not answer you.’ The brother shook his head no. Then Abba Macarius said to him, ‘You know how you insulted them and they did not reply, and how you praised them and they did not speak; so you too if you wish to be saved must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead, take no account of either the scorn of men or their praises, and you can be saved.’
Abba Macarius lived during the fourth century. Many of his lessons have inspired me to not focus on people pleasing, which has been a struggle for me in the past. While an encouraging word can motivate me to continue in the work of God, I think it is easy to base what I do on the amount of encouragement that I receive. That encouragement has even subconsciously caused me to get involved with unnecessary activities because I was feeding off of the positive feelings from others.
Abba Macarius
A second example of a new phenomenon, which at first sight one doesn’t know what to make of, is the now very common phenomenon of UFOs, flying saucers.
There is a particular Protestant evangelist, the above-mentioned Carl McIntire, who is extremely strict and righteous and very Bible-believing. He has a radio program, the Twentieth-Century Reformation, and a newspaper. He is absolutely upright—you have to separate from all people who are in apostasy—and his ideas are very nice. He’s anti-communist. He calls Billy Graham an apostate, together with everyone who deviates from the strict line of what he thinks is right. From this point of view he’s very strict, and yet you see the strangest things i his philosophy. For example, he’s building himself the Temple of Jerusalem, in Florida. He has a model of the Temple, and he wants to build it so as to make it compete with Disneyworld. People will come and pay to see the great Temple which is soon going to be built for Christ to come to earth. This is supposed to provide a good opportunity to witness Christianity.
He goes in for the flying saucers, also. In every issue of his newspaper there’s a little column called “UFO Column,” and there they talk, to one’s great astonishment, about all the wonderful, positive things which these flying saucers are doing. The give conferences and make movies about them.
Just recently there have been several Protestant books about UFOs, showing quite clearly that they’re demons. The person who writes the column in this newspaper got upset about this, and said that some people say that these beings are demons, but we can prove they aren’t. He says that maybe a couple of them are demons, but most of them aren’t. He cites a recent case in which some family in the Midwest saw a flying saucer. The flying saucer came down, landed, and the family saw inside little men—they’re usually four and half feet tall or so—and they sang “Hallelujah.” They stopped and looked and then they flew away; I guess they didn’t talk to them any more. And that set the family to thinking; they began to think “Hallelujah”; they began to think about Christianity; they looked in their Bibles, and they finally ended up going to a Fundamentalist church and being converted to Christianity. Therefore, he says, these beings must be some kind of people who are helping God’s plan to make the world Christian because they said “Hallelujah.”
Of course, if you read Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, you will know about all the deceptions which the demons perpetrate: the demons “pray” for you, the demons make miracles, they produce the most wonderful phenomena, they bring people to church, they do anything you want, as long as they keep you in this deception. And when the time comes, they will suddenly pull their tricks on you. So these people, who have been converted to some kind of Christianity by these so-called outer-space beings, are waiting for the next time they will come; and the next time their message may have to do with Christ coming to earth again soon, or something of the sort. It’s obvious that this is all the work of demons. That is, where it’s real. Sometimes it’s just imagination, but when it’s real this kind of thing obviously comes form demons.
This is very elementary. If you read any text of the early Fathers, any of the early Lives of Saints or the Lausiac History, you find many cases where beings suddenly appear. Nowadays they appear in spaceships because that’s how the demons have adapted themselves to the people of the times; but if you understand how spiritual deception works and what kind of wiles the devil has, then you have no problems in understanding what’s going on with these flying saucers. And yet this person who writes the UFO column is an absolutely strict Fundamentalist Christian. He is looking, actually for new revelations to come from beings from outer space.
Fr. Seraphim Rose
http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2013/08/christian-interest-in-ufos-fr-seraphim.html
