www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Power of prayer - scientifically proven!

I found this interesting. Just kind of verifies that Babyshka was right all along! I wonder if it would even occur to the western academic community to even attempt such a study?

Alexandr

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=1173


17 March 2006, 14:40
The sign of the cross and Orthodox prayer are capable of killing microbes and change the optical properties of water - a study

Moscow, March 17, Interfax - Scientists have proved experimentally the miracle-working properties of the sign of the cross and prayer.

�We have ascertained that the old custom to make a sign of the cross over food and drink before a meal has a profound mystical meaning. Standing behind it is the practical use: the food is purified literally in an instant. This is a great miracle, which happens literally every day,� physicist Angelina Malakhovskaya said as cited by the Zhizn newspaper on Friday.

Malakhovskaya have studied that power of the sign of the cross with the blessing of the Church for nearly ten years now. She has carried out a great number of experiments, which have been repeatedly verified before their results were made public.

She has discovered in particular the unique bactericidal properties of water after being blessed by an Orthodox prayer and a sign of the cross. The study also revealed a new, earlier unknown property of the Word of God to transform the structure of water, increasing considerably its optical density in the short ultra-violet spectral region, the newspaper writes.

The scientists have verified the impact the Lord�s Prayer and the Orthodox sign of the cross make on pathogenic bacteria. Water samples from various reservoirs - wells, rivers, lakes - were taken for the research. All the samples had goldish taphylococcus, a colon bacillus. It turned out however, that if the Lord�s Prayer is said and a sign of the cross is made over them, the number of harmful bacteria will decrease seven, ten, hundred and even over thousand times.

The experiments were made in such a way as to exclude a possible impact of mental suggestion. The prayer was said by both believer and non-believers, but the number of pathogenic bacteria in various environments with different sets of bacteria still decreased as compared to the reference templates.

The scientists have also proved the beneficial impact that the prayer and the sign of the cross have on people. All the participants in the tests had their blood pressure stabilized and blood indexes improved. Strikingly, the indexes changed towards the healing needed: hypotensive people had their blood pressure raised, while hypertensive people had it reduced.

It was also observed that if the sign of the cross is made offhandedly, with the three fingers put together unscrupulously or placed outside the necessary points - the middle of the forehead, the center of the solar plexus and the recesses in the right and left shoulders - the positive result was much weaker or absent altogether.

Very, very interesting!

I BELIEVE!!!

tHANK FOR THIS WONDERFUL ARTICLE

I believe in the miraculous power of prayer - it got me out of the hospital in 1999.

Its quite another thing for "scientists" to claim they have "proven" the miraculous powers of prayer.

Their hypothesis should be subjected to the scientific method and published in peer reviewed journals such as Lancet or the New England Journal of Medicine.

If the hypothesis is true, than any scientist should be able to conduct the same experiment and reach the same result under laboratory conditions.

I seriously doubt the hypothesis can withstand rigorous scientific examination. It remains a matter of faith.

I believe in the miraculous power of prayer. I have no need for pseudo-scientists to claim they have proven it.

JP

Alexandr, yes it has. In seconds you could go to "Pubmed", search the bio-medical scientific literature, and find out. This literature abstracted contains the peer-reviewed control studies pulished in reputable journals described by JPP. (FWIW, I am unfamiliar with the publication Zhizn".)

Do you really mean to imply that Russian scientists are not part of the "western academic community" or just that physicist Angelina Malakhovskaya happens not to be?

The only thing that gets me about this is that the effect is weaker is you don't put your hand "just so" and make the Sign on the exactly correct body spots. Not sure I'm buying that.

Can we review again how a Catholic or Orthodox layperson can impose the Sign of the Cross on other people? What is the Latin way, and what is the Byzantine way?

Logos Teen

Magazines and newspapers seem to very plentiful with the word "Zhizn" (Life) in their titles in Russia.

ICXC
NIKA

My doctorate paper was on prayer and healing. Most of the studies are on "meditation" and how it switches the body from the sympathetic nervous system control (fight or flight) to parasympathetic control (relaxed with bowels and bladder moving.)

Most of the "research" is New Age practices being disguised in pseudo-science. the best known researchers are Candace Pert and Bruce Lipton.

For my paper I interviewed then Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis, the Chancellor from the Metropolis of Chicago Father Dimetri, a Rabbi from the St. Louis area, a dean from a Protestant Seminary, and a nun from the St. Thomas Center in St. Louis. The topic was prayer and healing. My ex-hippie psychology professor was trying to hijack the paper to include all kinds of New Age Junk.

Many studies confirm this to be true, but they are very syncretic and can't be trusted. Most posit that there are "good vibrations" that one sends out when he prays. Also that by being postitive one can keep the "good vibrations" in his body and keep free from disease.

See (if you wanna waste your money by giving the royalties to a cult) the movie What the Bleep do we Know? It is a good example of the pseudo-science that is out there. Pay attention to the woman channeling the 35,000 year old "Atlantean Warrior."

Having written all the preceeding... My son was healed by St. Josemaria Escriva. So, prayer can heal and does work miracles! If I didn't believe that I wouldn't be Catholic!

I tend to agree about the New Age stuff. A lot of Russians and Ukrainians I know are influenced by it. I am not suprised as we are inundated by the stuff. I dont think the clergy preach on the subject enough. To be honest I dont think they know too much about it either, beyond a very basic level. I advised a priest some time ago to check out the various women's magazines when at the doctor or dentist on even on the news stands as they are full of it. I was not saying dont read them but be aware that they are full of horoscopes and other N.A. articles. I noticed on a visit to a freinds house she had a pack of cards with angels on. She did not know those angels have nothing to do with what Christians understand as angels. She had never heard a sermon on the topic warning her of this deception and these cards are sold through mainstream bookshops all over the place. It is a bit sad that the sign of the cross is reduced to hitting a few pressure points to feel good. Thats the New Age for you.

ICXC
NIKA