Joseph of Thebes says: “Three works are approved in the eyes of the Lord; the first, when a man is ill and temptations fall upon him, if he welcomes them with gratitude; secondly, when someone carries out all his works purely in the presence of God, having no regard for anything human; in the third place, when someone remains in submission to a spiritual father in complete renunciation of his own will. This last will gain a lofty crown indeed.” And then he accentuates, “As for me, I have chosen illness.”

Likewise Abba Poemen said: “If three men are in the same place and one of them lives in hesychia, and the second gives thanks to God in illness, and the third serves with a pure mind, these three are doing the same work.”

—Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Ierotheos, Orthodox Psychotherapy, The Science of the Fathers