God does not cause pain nor does He want people to suffer. Also pain is not the punishment by which God punishes man for his sin. Saint Maximus the Confessor emphasizes that God made the body, but not the disease. "The inner change of nature towards passion, decay and death was not accepted by man from God". The autonomy of man from God, that is, sin, is the beginning of decay, suffering and death. In the state of primordial justice, in the pre-fall era, there is neither decay, nor pain, nor death, but life and an abundance of life, and towards this reality God comes with His incarnation to heal and lead man There is no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but eternal life".

This very interesting book by Jean-Claude Larchet deals with the problem of pain, its origin, its consequences and its meaning in human life. The distinguished French Orthodox Pathologist with an amazing energy penetrates the whole problem of pain, on every side of it, in all its depth, as if he does not want to leave a corner of it unexplored, in his attempt to answer the question "why does pain exist in our life?", to search for its meaning and to show when the association of suffering with human life begins.