Two miracles of Saint Porphyrios in Greece

Miraculous help from St. Ambrose in our days

Stories from the editor’s mail at Pravoslavie.ru

    

“It all started with my throat and a runny nose.”
Igor K.

I got sick with a bad cold. As usual, it all started with my throat and a runny nose. Then the virus began to descend to the bronchi and chest, causing a wet cough. Usually in such a situation a week or two of bed rest is prescribed. It turned out that I had oil on hand, blessed on the relics of Fr. Ambrose. It was a gift from a brother, a novice of Kazan Monastery, after his pilgrimage to Optina.
I read the evening prayer rule and prayed to Fr. Ambrose and rubbed the oil on my sore throat and chest.
In the morning I didn’t feel even the slightest discomfort!
Glory to God for his saints! Venerable Fr. Ambrose, pray to God for us!

* * *

“My coworkers hated me.”
P. B. Anna

A few years ago, in January 2007, I was hit by a series of troubles at work. At that time I worked on a pretty young team: the oldest person in our department was 37, the rest (only women) weren’t even 30.
One of these girls concocted some gossip about me which everyone believed. They accused me behind my back of some terrible sins—tattling, slandering—as if I go to the boss and report who does what, or rather as if I tell him that everyone is lazy. I never got all the details of the gossip, but all my coworkers together agreed to hate me.
I can feel this old offense even now, after so many years! I couldn’t understand what caused this silent, icy contempt, but when I found out, I was in shock! I tried to explain something and prove that I was innocent, but they wouldn’t even listen to me. They just ignored me—a boycott. I would cry at home in the morning, not wanting to go to work. I had only one desire—to quit! But I couldn’t quit, for material reasons.
And so, in complete desperation, I went to church for solace. It was the church of the Ascension on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, not far from my work at that time. I went inside. There was no service. I prayed, lit some candles and went to the look at the books being sold. I bought one of them. It was a paperback of St. Ambrose of Optina: Life, The Science of Salvation, A Spiritual Alphabet. I should say that at that point I didn’t know much about Batiushka Ambrose. I don’t know why I bought the book.
But when I began to read it, I saw every word from several of Elder Ambrose’s sayings as if they were addressed to me and my situation. I can’t even describe how light and good I began to feel. Little by little I calmed down. Every day I would read this book, mentally addressing Fr. Ambrose. And what happened? Gradually this situation, that had me so depressed, faded away, and my coworkers even apologized!
But even before that I already didn’t care—I had such peace of soul!

* * *

“Let’s go to Optina to pray. They’re waiting for us.”
Natalia Kiselyova, Moscow

Two weeks…! For two whole weeks I kept hearing around me the word “Optina” from friends and relatives. I should say that I really have a lot of Orthodox friends who love to visit Optina Pustyn. The last straw was when my friend called me at night and asked: “And what happened with Optina?” Half asleep, I didn’t understand, “what happened with Optina,” and asked: “And what could happen?”
The next day I was given a book, again about Optina.
I was in that beautiful place once. It was a wonderful, unforgettable trip! I’ll keep the memory of it in my heart and mind, it seems to me, forever. In Optina Pustyn I felt like time stops, and you feel eternity. But that’s a separate, lengthy story.
And now all around me I was hearing about Optina almost every day, and it seemed to me not unintentionally.
In our church we have an icon and shrine with relics of the venerable elders, and not long ago our church was a podvoriye of Optina Pustyn. I went up to the icon of Venerable Ambrose and the Optina elders and started prayerfully beseeching: “Why is everyone talking about Optina all around me? Maybe I’m supposed to go there? If so, then please direct this trip for me yourselves!”
That evening the phone rang in my apartment. “My dear Natalia”—it was a good friend, a friend of the family—“Some organization has ordered several cars for us tomorrow, and booked some space in Optina Pustyn. I’ll wait for you in the morning; we’ll go to Optina for prayer and some time in piety. They’re waiting for us.”
I couldn’t utter even a word for a few minutes from surprise.
They heard me! With what speed they fulfilled my petition! Truly, that which we ask for can come true! And we should be ready in full armor to receive it.
How quickly St. Ambrose and the Optina elders extraordinarily and surprisingly fulfilled and directed my prayerful petition!
Pray to God for us, St. Ambrose and all the Optina elders!

* * *

“Fr. Ambrose has returned.”
Ekaterina, Moscow

Fr. Ambrose helped me this summer, but I stupidly and proudly didn’t accept this help (I didn’t realize it was from him, I wasn’t expecting it so quickly, and I had no brains, I must confess), and I’m still repenting for it.
At that time I had just lost my job, and they fired me quite awfully and unfairly at that, after I had already passed my probation period and literally the day before we had talked about raising my pay. Fortunately, I had my spiritual father’s blessing to settle into work at a particular place, but I was stalling—I considered myself “intellectually unprepared.”
Then the July Church feasts began one after another, including the day of St. Ambrose of Optina. I was at church and asked his help with work, given that I had a blessing to do something I wasn’t ready for.
Suddenly that evening I saw in my email a letter from my academic advisor, then I missed a call from him on the phone. He wore himself out looking for me, although he doesn’t usually call or write me—I contact him first. It turns out that the company where his friend works suddenly needed a journalist-redactor for their site. I looked into the job with skepticism—it seemed to me they were offering very little money while demanding a lot of work. And there was a probation period of two months with all kinds of tasks and demands for the potential employee. Besides all that there was something I didn’t know.
I wrinkled my nose and said it’s some kind of “scam.” Although later I realized I should have snatched that job up to have something to hold me over at least for the two months of the probation period. My academic advisor laughed: “Well, as you know. It’s only a question, apparently, of being afraid to cope.” I really was afraid that they would fire me again after the probation period. I was afraid I couldn’t endure another such humiliation.
I had only just turned it down (the time was already late), when suddenly I remembered that in the morning I had been at the service and prayed before the icon of St. Ambrose, kissed his relics and besought him during the service, telling him about my problems. And what? The next day the icon of Fr. Ambrose in the church disappeared somewhere! Maybe they took it for restoration or to another church for a while…
All these months (I wasn’t able to find work after this for a long time—a whole four months, and I missed out on the blessing also, having dragged this out), no matter how much I begged and prayed and went to monasteries, no matter how many feast day services I stood through—nothing worked! And all these months I realized that that work, had I not turned it down, would have kept me afloat for a couple of months, and I wouldn’t have lost so much money and wouldn’t have crawled into debt and other difficult circumstances.
Whenever I went to church all these months I always went to the reliquary with a piece of the relics of Fr. Ambrose (we had a big reliquary with numerous small relics from various saints, including the Optina elders), asking forgiveness and looking with sadness at the corner where his icon used to be. Of course, Fr. Ambrose already knew a few months ago what would happen to me in the near future and how I would behave. He helped me, and I should have accepted this lesson-examination, if that’s how it turned out!
In the end, only recently I found work. Rather, the Lord send it to me, completely unexpectedly. Moreover, it happened that I agreed with the employer about work on a Friday, and on the next Sunday, as usual, I went to the Resurrection service and suddenly, at the end of the service, I saw an altar server carrying the icon of Venerable Ambrose, and he placed it on some wooden stand (I don’t know what it’s properly called) that had been empty this whole time.
I saw that Fr. Ambrose had returned! I rushed to him at full speed to beg forgiveness. I should say that during these months, when his icon was gone, I grew somehow especially close to batiushka through my guilty feelings and worries… He became a saint very close to me, and this icon which I waited for for so long, became very dear to me. I have no doubts about his speedy-speedy-speedy help! Fr. Ambrose, pray to God for us!

* * *

“I found my way in life and to my wife—a true friend.”
Alexei Grishkin

By the prayerful help of Fr. Ambrose and all the Optina elders I found my way in life and to my wife—a true friend.”
And why is that such a big deal? I can call that period in my life, of a relatively young age, nothing other than “emptiness.” Like in the old song: “Loneliness is dearer than emptiness when you live and think about death.” All my peers lived happy lives, dated, broke up, drank, and went for walks without thinking too much about it.
I don’t know what was the beginning of my Church life; now it’s hard to recall. As in war, all the powers of hell take up arms against the weak man who has begun his salvation, using any means proven by military experience and refined from the time of the first fallen forefather.
At some period of life there relentlessly arose in me the conviction to choose the monastic path for my salvation. Having been in one monastery for a couple of months, I understood that there I would more quickly perish. The state of modern monasticism, with few exceptions, is known to all. I had to return to the world. But, it turned out to be a dead end.
By chance (or not?), having opened a book of Venerable Ambrose’s life, I stumbled upon the words which he said to the Troekurovskoe hermit Hilarion: “Go to Optina. You’re needed there.” Everything suddenly became clear for me—where I needed to go to understand how to live. In Optina I saw the exception, the little flock which walks towards salvation, and inflames others to go as well.
At first I was inflamed, but monasticism is not for most people. Again doubts. Batiushka Iliy resolved them by blessing me to live in the monastery for a year. Just to live, not to think about anything, for a year. It was the hardest year of my life. When you are just one-on-one with yourself—it’s scary. You don’t know who will win. Every day I went to the relics of St. Ambrose and besought, pleaded, and cried. Really, it was hard.
Through the prayers of the elders the Lord taught me which path to choose: a girl came to Optina, who I now call my wife and the mother of our two beautiful daughters.
In conclusion I want to say that the Lord is nearer to us than it seems, and through people and situations He always guides us through life by the prayers of our venerable and God-bearing father Ambrose, elder of Optina, and of all the saints—of course, for those who follow Christ.

* * *

“Deliverance came in three days.”
Valentina K. Serov

Having despaired of escaping the man who had been torturing me for three years, I was able to do so only after I read a prayer to Venerable Ambrose of Optina which I found one time in his correspondence with his spiritual children. Deliverance came in three days. These whole three days we walked as around a circle and never once collided. Only the prayer of the great elder saved me from death.
By his prayers after three years I stood at his holy relics with tears of gratitude. And now I go up on the kliros to ask his blessing. I think, not without the help of the saint, I was blessed to work for a few years at making prosphora and in the trapeza.
May the Lord save us all by the prayers of the holy Venerable Ambrose of Optina!

* * *

“My friend had a completely ruined oven.”
Natalia V.

I just learned about this little miracle a few hours ago. I don’t know if Batiushka Ambrose helped by himself—probably all the Optina elders helped.
Two days ago I was at my friend’s, who was getting ready to move to a house with a completely ruined oven. My friend has very tight finances. We hung up flyers with requests for help everywhere, not counting on it too much. After leaving her, I stopped by the church in those parts and saw there a small icon with particles of the relics of the Optina elders. I didn’t read which ones exactly. I asked the elders to help her.
I called then and found out that the next day—that is, yesterday—a woman called and offered her some help. She said: “Measure the oven—I’ll buy you everything you need.” The poor thing until then didn’t trust in such happiness.
May God grant that everything would turn out well for this poor woman. Pray to God for us Fr. Ambrose and all the Optina elders!

* * *

“I smoked a lot.”
Ekaterina N.

At the beginning of my Church life I wound up in Optina. Before my arrival at the monastery I had a serious nicotine addiction.
I communed at the monastery and didn’t smoke all day—quite a long time for me then. I prayed to Venerable Ambrose to help me quit smoking. Within a few weeks I had quit completely. I haven’t smoked for two years now. I believe the prayers of the saint helped me.

* * *

“My husband smoked for many years.”
Elena S.

Here is my story. My husband smoked for many years. It, unfortunately, is a tradition in his family. He wasn’t intending to quit, because he assumed he wasn’t able. When I would try to speak with him about it, he got irritated. Then I asked our teenage son to pray to Venerable Ambrose for his father to deliver him from such a destructive passion.
A little while later my husband got skin cancer, and after the operation decided himself to quit smoking. He escaped from the passion of smoking only by the prayers of the saint. Glory to God for all things!

Translated by Jesse Dominick 

Pravoslavie.ru

Orthodox Miracle - Snakes in the church

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http://kanalia.eu/player/player.php?channel=61

A MIRACLE OF THE HOLY CROSS IN CONGO, AFRICA

            –BY METROPOLITAN IGNATIOS OF CENTRAL AFRICA

                       

Amazing things are happening in Congo, said Father Basil Muamba to a large audience in the lecture hall of Kananga Mission. They are authentic and leave one speechless!

Fr. Basil recounted:”In 1996 I made a missionary trip to Dimbelenge, accompanied by a boy who was a chanter in the Center of the Mission of Kananga, and another boy who came with us on the road.When we arrived we met the old faithful who I had baptized last year and some were waiting to be baptized now. They gave us a house to spend our days while we were living near them.Among those awaiting baptism, there was a man who in a magical way was able to bring down lightning, and he had already killed many people.The traditional chief of the village had punished him by forbidding him to drink from the local river Mukamba.I baptized all of those who waited for baptism and among them was the magician.In the evening I kneaded and left the prosphoron (offering bread) for the Divine Liturgy the next day. All three of us then went to sleep.At around 4 o’clock in the morning a strong wind began to blow, which made the entire house shake. I jumped from the bed and heard the two children who escorted me crying and shouting:‘Father, we are dying, come and rescue us!’I heard the kids, but I could not move to get to the children’s room. I realized I was alive because I could feel my head. But my entire body was paralyzed.I had with me a Cross that the late Fr. Chariton gave me once in Tsikamva. In the evening I had placed it on the table. I thought of getting it and praying. But I could not reach out my hand.The children continued to cry louder. With difficulty I brought my hand on my leg, I did the sign of the cross, and realized that I could now move.I sat on the bed with my legs hanging, but the wind was throwing me from one wall to another room. With difficulty, knocking back and forth, I got out of the room and went to the porch where I saw my bike thrown upside down on the edge of the porch, and immediately went to the children’s room.

I went inside, grabbed them by the hand, their clothes were torn leaving them almost naked, and they vomited and had diarrhea. It was about 6 o’clock in the morning.

In the courtyard of the house was a night guardian who resides with his entire family in a house on the same plot. He had heard what was happening in our house, but could not approach us to help. I took the kids outside and told them to stay on the porch and I reentered the house.

I started to call the name of the security guard. At one point, he arrived. ‘You do not understand anything that was happening?’ I asked. ‘Do you perhaps understand what happened all morning?’

‘I heard everything’, he told me, ‘but I did not have the strength to come near to you.’

I begged him to go and call some of my relatives, who lived in the area, as well as the faithful. In the morning I had to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Many of the faithful came and told me:

‘All that happened in the night happened because you baptized yesterday the leader of the thunderers magicians who was able to throw lightning. His friends (other magicians) thought: We will agitate and put through a trial now the one who baptized our leader.’

I stepped out for a moment from the space in which I was about to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Some of the faithful and a few unbaptized villagers said to me: ‘Father, they wanted to kill you (like they did the others), but they were unable to. We also believe that your God is mighty, true. We ask you, therefore, to baptize all of us.’

I baptized them and the leader of the ‘thunderers’ was strengthened even more, that our God is the true God.I finished the trip and returned to Kananga.

When I was to make my next trip, the Bishop gave me a Cross, saying: ‘When you arrive, throw this Cross in the river of the area, and you will tell the faithful to swim, find and return to you the Cross.’I threw the Cross. Many of the faithful fell into the river to find it. The one who found it and returned it to me was the leader of the ‘thunderers’ who had come to celebrate at the Center of the Mission.

I presented to the Bishop the faithful one who retrieved the Cross and the Bishop gave him a gift. He had the habit of walking barefoot, but now began to wear shoes. He also began drinking water from the river that was forbidden to him.”

http://ex2x2lettersfromgreece.wordpress.com/

The mule without an owner…!

N. Dramudianos told us a wonderful experience he lived during the war in 1940:
“Our team was ordered to conquer a height and use as a bridgehead. We built barricades over the rocks and after everything was finished, it started snowing. And it snowed continuously for two days and two nights, that in many places the snow reached up to two meters. We became isolated and each one of us had food stock in his haversack for only a day. Because of the cold and hunger, we didn’t care for “tomorrow” so we were left completely without food.
From there on, our “martyrdom” began. We quenched our thirst with snow, but the hunger started to reap us. We spent five days and five nights like this and became like some skeletons. However, we kept our morale high, but the human nature has its limits. Some of us died. The rest of us expected the same “end”, for our “Faith and our Motherland”.

  Then a saving thought of our commander worked the wonder. He took a paper icon of the Theotokos, he was hiding under his vest, and placed it on a mound, called all of us to him and said:
- My brave men, in this critical situation, only a miracle can save us. Let us all kneel and beseech the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of God to help us! We all fell on our knees, lifted up our hands and prayed to her fervently!

  We barely stood up, when we heard some bells. We were cut by surprise so we took our guns resuming the shooting position. It’s been a matter a minutes, when suddenly we saw a giant mule approaching us. We flinched; a stray animal to pass over the mountain on a snow reaching over one meter?! This was very uncommon.
Then we realized that the Holy Mother of God had directed him to us. We thanked the mule, as we all started to sing softly but heartily: ‘Our Protector Lady” and other songs dedicated to her. The mule was caring with him a whole intendance of food: bread, cheese, canned food, brandy and much more.
Great and unbelievable pains I suffered during the war, but this certainly will remain unforgettable to me, for it had no logical explanation. So I owned it to the Mother of God.”

From the Book: “The apparitions and miracles of the Virgin”, Holy Monastery of Parakletos

Miracles, Truth of Orthodoxy and Ecumenism...

AT the beginning of the twentieth century, it so happened that in a Greek Orthodox monastery on an island in the Cyclades the Orthodox Metropolitan of the island was present together with the Roman Catholic bishop of that region. While they were sitting on a balcony in the monastery, they saw one of the brothers carrying a sack of manure on his shoulders for the monastery garden. When the Catholic bishop learned that the one carrying the sack was a Hieromonk of the monastery, he expressed his disgust and perplexity as to how it was possible, after such filthy work, for this Hieromonk to celebrate the Divine Mysteries. Although the Orthodox Hierarch assured him that this work did not cause the Hieromonk any defilement of soul or body, the Latin prelate persisted in his objections. The Orthodox Hierarch then asked the Latin prelate if he would be willing to test which man was well-pleasing in the sight of God: the Orthodox Hieromonk who engaged in arduous and grimy toil or the well-dressed Papist bishop. The latter agreed to this, and the Hierarch proposed that he summon the Hieromonk and, after he had washed himself well, that he celebrate the Small Blessing of the Waters. 

The Latin bishop would then also perform a Blessing of the Waters, and the water blessed by each man would be kept in sealed containers. After the passage of a year, they would be unsealed, so that it might be evident  which quantity of water was blessed and therefore acceptable before  God. And indeed, after the respective Blessings of the Waters had been performed, the flasks were placed, well-sealed, in a special box. After  a year had elapsed, in the presence of the Orthodox Metropolitan, the  Abbot and the Brothers of the monastery, and also of the Roman Catholic bishop and his retinue, the flasks were unsealed and opened, and all beheld quite clearly that the water blessed by the Orthodox Hieromonk performed, the flasks were placed, well-sealed, in a special box. After a year had elapsed, in the presence of the Orthodox Metropolitan, the Abbot and the Brothers of the monastery, and also of the Roman Cathowas very limpid and fragrant, whereas that blessed by the Latin bishop was turbid, murky, and smelled like stagnant water!

 In another instance, a Priest explained, inter alia, to a young man who had gone to venerate the Relics of St. Gerasimos on Kephallenia and had seen awesome miracles wrought through demoniacs, which revealed the hidden sins of other pilgrims, that demoniacs cannot reveal anything to one who has repented of his sins and confessed them sincerely. In that case, they are “blocked.” However, in one case—the Priest continued—he had got to know two Italian Roman Catholics who admitted that a demoniac on Zakynthos revealed to them all that they had confessed to their own Catholic priest. And this was because they were in essence unconfessed. The demoniac was a Greek and did not know Italian, and yet he revealed to the Italians in flawless Italian sins which they had supposedly confessed In our estimation, these true testimonies corroborate the ageold view of the Orthodox that the Latins have fallen away from the Grace of God and that they are not, and do not constitute, the Church of God.

 When, for example, in the twelfth century Patriarch Mark of Alexandria asked the eminent canonist Theodore Balsamon, the Patriarch of Antioch, whether an Orthodox clergyman could “without peril impart the Divine Gifts to them,” that is, to heretics, Balsamon responded in the negative. With specific regard to the Latins who, as prisoners of the Saracens, presented themselves in Orthodox Churches asking to commune, Balsamon affirmed that the Western Church had been in schism for many years from spiritual communion with the assembly of the four remaining Orthodox Patriarchs. Rome “was separated from the Catholic Church with respect to customs and dogmas and was estranged from the Orthodox,” and for this reason the Pope had been struck off the Diptychs, such that “the race of Latins ought not be sanctified at the hands of Priests through the Divine and Immaculate Mysteries, unless they agreed beforehand to abjure Latin doctrines and customs, they have been instructed in accordance with the Canons, and they have been assimilated to the Orthodox. 

The Holy Archpriest John of Kronstadt in Russia wrote the following at the beginning of the twentieth century, expressing the Orthodox spiritual assessment of Papism:

The communion of the Western Church with the Heavenly Church is meagre and lukewarm, and is devoid of life. The Orthodox Church is quite different: here, the communion is living, wise, full, sincere, and reverent. There, the Pope is everything, everyone honours him and not the Saints. The Saints of the East and the West are devalued; they are hidden, they have fallen into oblivion; never are their Relics ever displayed to the faithful, but far more often for tourists.... There, the Pope determines the fate of the earthly and the heavenly Church and arbitrarily administers the ‘surplus’ of the works and graces of the Saints, sending people to Purgatory and freeing them therefrom by his own decision, and issuing indulgences. Laughable as these things are, they really would be laughable if they were not so harmful and distressing. And how is it that the Popes themselves, the cardinals, and others do not see this?... The faith of Catholics is superficial. There, everything is for sale and everything can be bought; there, the Pope possesses all authority and the salvation of Catholics is in his hands. This is why Catholics today do not have real, recognizable Saints; they have only ‘contrived’ saints, those whom the arbitrariness of the Pope has made saints, whereas the Orthodox Church is like the Garden of Eden, filled with Saints. 

In view of these considerations, one might ask what it was that impelled the Orthodox ecumenists to enter into contact with heterodoxy, not in order to lead it to repentance and conversion, but in order to confer on it distinctions and merits which it does not have, which do not belong to it, and which it could not even conceive or desire! We know that the ecumenists have a ready answer: They are impelled by love, for the union of Christians. However, if love is separated from Truth then we are face to face with an error and a distortion which have spread to a perilous degree among both the leaders and the largely indifferent flock of the lukewarm faithful who constitute the overwhelming majority of so called Christians today.

May we be numbered with the faithful and wise servants of God  in the Kingdom of the Light of Divine Love, if nothing else for the sake  of our patient endurance and our good intention for the welfare of the  Church!

† Bishop Klemes of Gardikion

MIRACLE THROUGH INTERCESSIONS OF FR. ANDRES (in Guatemala)

 by Father John Chakos            

Mother shares miracle of her daughter walking     

On March 10, 2014, at the outset of our afternoon pastoral visit to the Ascension Parish of Pebilpan in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, I was approached by one of the catechists, who described a recent healing of a three year-old child attributed to the intercessions of the late Fr. Andres Giron (2/16/14). It should be noted that during our travels to a number of villages in this region, many others have testified that since his passing, Fr. Andres has appeared in their dreams, always wearing his customary white cassock. Towards the end of our visit we gathered in the sanctuary with our seven member mission team from Hellenic College/Holy Cross Seminary and the forty or so parishioners of the community. 

I was introduced to a young mother, her three year-old daughter and the child’s grandmother. They were all part of the mother’s dream in which Fr. Andres appeared. As she spoke, I translated her dream into English. (A youtube video of the interview will follow soon). The mother began by saying that her daughter did not have the strength to walk for most of her three years of life. One night as the mother slept, Fr. Andres appeared to her in the aunt’s house, sitting in a chair, and he said to her: “Love one another and forgive one another. If you do this, I will give you help and support.” After saying this, he disappeared in the dream. In his place the child’s grandmother appeared, saying: “Ask Fr. Andres to help your daughter.” In the dream the distraught mother began to pray to Fr. Andres to help her daughter. At that moment, they said to the little girl, “come, come,” and she began walking. 

The next day, the mother went to the church with a photo of Fr. Andres in her hand. She was very sad because of her daughter’s infirmity. So she started praying to Fr. Andres in church, saying, “help my daughter because you are close to God.” Returning home around two in the afternoon, she saw that her daughter was walking. As an expression of thanksgiving as is the custom, she passed out avocados to everyone that same day. After hearing the woman’s testimony, we remained in the church singing songs of praise to God. The people of Pebilpan did not want us to go. We left their community that day with the distinct feeling that although their beloved leader was no longer physically in their midst, he was still very much with them in spirit.

http://www.thewordfromguatemala.com/2014/03/20/miracle-reported-through-intercessions-of-fr-andres/

MIRACLES OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

The Protection of the Mother of God.

When Christians are in need of quick and sure help, they have recourse to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, who has saved people in Orthodox countries so many times that an entire history book could be compiled to describe them all. Many times the Theotokos has saved the Orthodox from attacks also by people from the Moslem East; not because she could ever be against anyone--for Moslems all also people created by God--but because Orthodox Christians have a special love for her, as for their own Mother, and she does not neglect her own.

In these terrible times, we must not forget to pray to the Theotokos with tears for the people of Syria, just as Orthodox Christians before us prayed in times of danger.

One example of this was celebrated last Sunday (September 1)--the Vladimir icon of the Mother of God, before whom medieval Russians prayed in the face of sure annihilation.

The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.

In 1395, Tamerlane with his Tartar horde approached Moscow. The Grand Duke of Moscow, Vasiliy Dmitrievich, requested that the Vladimir icon be carried from the city of Vladimir to Moscow. As the icon was processed from Vladimir to Moscow, people stood on their knees, begging, “O Mother of God, save the Russian Land!” The city of Moscow waited solemnly for the Vladimir icon, and when it arrived, everyone came out to meet it, praying fervently for salvation.

During the very hour that the people were meeting the Vladimir icon, Tamerlane lay sleeping in his tent. He saw a vision of saintly hierarchs with golden staffs descending from a high mountain, and a radiant Lady in the air above them, surrounded by angels and dazzling rays of light. Tamerlane woke up in fear. His soothsayers warned him that the Woman whom he had seen in the vision was the Protectress of the Orthodox, the Mother of the Christian God, and that her power is invincible. Tamerlane was so shaken by the vision that he swiftly departed, swooping down upon the steppe-cities of the Golden Horde, who had caused the Russians no little trouble. Tamerlane crippled them, effectively curing Russia of their threat.

Later, in 1521, the khan of Kazan, Mehmad-Girey, advanced toward Moscow with Kazan and Nogay Tartars. Metropolitan Varlaam prayed with the people before the Vladimir Icon. Grand Duke Vasiliy Ivanovich barely managed to gather enough soldiers to meet the Tartars at the kingdom’s border, near the Oka River. He was slowly retreating to Moscow, trying hard to hold ranks.

On the night of the siege, a nun in a Moscow convent had a vision, which she related to the people, warning them that they must pray hard to the Mother of God to avert disaster. All the citizens of Moscow gathered in the church for a heartfelt prayer. The Tartars again saw a vision of “a huge regiment in shining armor,” and ran away from the walls of the city.

Other icons of the Mother of God that are celebrated in Russia are the Kazan icon, before which Russian forces prayed when they took Kazan from the Moslem Tatars; the Smolensk icon, which saved the western lands from an attack by the Poles, and the Albazin icon, which protected Russia’s eastern borders from the Chinese.

Russians also celebrate an event that occurred in Constantinople, when the Byzantine capital was saved from... the Russians!

In October, 910 Constantinople, was under siege by the pre-Christian, barbarian Russians. The situation was desperate. The citizens gathered in the Blachernae church and prayed to the Holy Mother of God. After the Virgin's robe, brought to Byzantine from Palestine, was cast into the sea, a storm rose up, driving the pagan ships away.

The Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.

Another miraculous icon in the Iveron Mother of God, also known as the Portaitissa, or “Gate-keeper”. This icon was preserved by a pious widow during the iconoclasm period, and made its way miraculously to a Georgian monastery on Mt. Athos. The monks placed it in the church, but it also miraculously replaced itself above the monastery gate. This happened again several times, until the Virgin appeared to the monk Gabriel in a dream, and said, “Announce to the brothers that from this day they should not carry me away. For what I desire is not to be protected by you; rather I will overshadow you, both in this life and in the age to come. As long as you see my icon in the monastery, the grace and mercy of my Son shall never be lacking!”

After a Greek uprising, when the Turks began to attack Mt. Athos, the Mother of God preserved her Holy Mountain. It has also become a tradition in monasteries all over the world to keep an icon of the Mother of God over the gates as protection.

For many centuries, Syrian Christians have been graced with the Saidnaya icon Mother of God, kept in the monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the village of Saidnaya. Countless miracles have been wrought through prayer before this icon, but we recount here one that happened as recently as the year 2004. It is a story that, if it had not been broadcast on the major TV channels in the Middle East, would certainly be hard to believe, even after reading about her intercessions throughout the Christian East. Here is an account of that miracle compiled by Archimandrite Nectarios (Serfes):

The Saidnaya icon of the Mother of God. According to tradition, this icon was painted by the Apostle Luke.

In December 2004 a Saudi Arabian man, a Moslem, appeared before several news agencies to relate the following incredible event he experienced and which changed his life (this story appeared on TV, the Internet, radio, and was circulated in newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets throughout Saudi Arbia, Syria, Palestine, and evidently in all neighboring countries.

Some years ago, this man married a Moslem woman who was very rich, but sterile. As the years passed, and despite all their efforts and significant medical expenses with many doctors, they remained childless. The man's parents suggested to him that he marry a second woman, while upholding his initial marriage (as the local laws permits up to four concurrent marriages).

Being exhausted, worried, and downhearted, he did not accept his parents' advice but rather chose to vacation with his wife in Syria. There they hired a limousine with a driver who would serve as tour guide for all their site-seeing excursions throughout Syria. As the vacation progressed, the driver noticed that the Saudi Arabian couple was experiencing bitterness, pain, and grief. Having gained familiarity with the couple, the driver cautiously asked them whey they appeared to be so unhappy--was it perhaps because he was not conducting the tour to their satisfaction?

The couple confided to the driver that the source of their unhappiness was their inability to have children. The driver who was also a Moslem, then told them that in Syria the Christians, specifically the Orthodox Christians, have a monastery named Panagia Saidnaya (Arabic word meaning Our Lady) and that many people who can't have children take refuge in Her miracle-working icon. They go to the monastery, and there they are given to eat the wick form the lamp which burns before the miraculous icon. And then the "Mary" of the Christians grants them, according to their faith, what they wish.

Becoming excited, the Saudi Arabian and his wife asked the driver to take them to the "Saidnaya" monastery of "The Lady of the Christians" and said that if we have a child, then I will come back and I will give you 20,000 U.S. dollars, and I will give the monastery 80,000. So they went to the monastery and did as they were instructed. Later they returned to their homeland and after some time, his wife was found pregnant. In a few months she gave birth to a charming baby boy. It was truly a miracle of Our Lady Theotokos.

Now, as soon as his wife gave birth, the Saudi Arabian man wanted to return to Syria to uphold the promises he had made. Upon his return he called the same driver and asked to be picked up at the Damascus airport. But the driver was cunning and wicked and he persuaded two of his friends to go to the airport with him to pick up the rich Saudi Arabian man, to take his money and kill him. So they picked up the rich man at the airport and he, as they drove, without realizing that they had planned to kill him, told the friends of the driver that he would give them also 10,000 US dollars each.

These men, still not satisfied, deviated from the route to the monastery and went to a deserted place, proceeded to slay the Saudi Arabian man, and to cut off his head and other parts (hands and legs) of his body into pieces. Blinded by passion and overcome by the horrific act that they just committed, they put the man's remains in the trunk of the car rather than just leaving him there. After taking his money, watch, and all that he had, they proceeded to find another deserted place to discard the remains.

Then, on the National highway, their car broke down and stopped in the middle of that road. The three men got out to determine why the engine had stalled. Then a passerby stopped to help them but they, afraid that their terrible act would be discovered, pretended that they did not need any help. But as the passerby motorist was leaving, he noticed blood dripping from the rear of the vehicle and he called the police to investigate, because the scene and the three men looked suspicious. The police came and saw the blood under the car and on the pavement, so they ordered that the trunk be opened.

The Saidnaya Monastery, Syria.

Well, when they opened the trunk, lo and behold, the Saudi Arabian man lifted himself out, obviously and amazingly alive and in good health, saying to them "Just now this PANAGIA finished stitching my neck, right here (showing them the area of his Adam's Apple), after first stitching up the rest of my entire body". Seeing this, the three criminals immediately lost their minds, becoming as if mad. The police handcuffed them, and as they were being taken away to an asylum for the insane, the criminals started raving that it could not be possible that the Saudi Arabian man whom they killed, beheaded, and dissected could yet be alive.

The Saudi Arabian went to a medical facility to undergo examination by doctors and medical examiners who confirmed and attested that the stitching was done very recently, thereby validating the miraculous event. The stitches were, and still are, obvious. When the Saudi Arabian came out of the car's trunk, he had the appearance, literally, of just having been refabricated (put back together) to which he continuously confessed that the PANAGIA had rejoined his body and resurrected him with the help of her Son.

Immediately after this, the Saudi Arabian called his relatives to come to Syria. They all went together to the monastery of Panagia Saidnaya and offered up prayers, praises, and glorification, and instead of the initially promised gift of $80,000 he gave $800,000 to the Theotokos.

Today, as this man relates the details of that overwhelming miracle, he starts his narration with, "When I was a Moslem this happened to me", thus indicating he is no longer a Moslem, nor is his family.

This miracle stunned with awesome surprise the entire Arabic/Moslem nation and all of the Middle East.

Let us Orthodox Christians never neglect to pray to the Mother of God for protection against all evil. And let us witness to those Christians who are not Orthodox, who do not revere and pray to God’s most holy and ever pure Mother, that she is indeed our Protectress in times of need.

http://www.pravoslavie.ru

Miraculous Athonite Icon of the Theotokos Found in Russia

A wonderworking Athonite icon of the Theotokos, with the epithet "Joy and Consolation", which was considered lost, was found in a monastery in the region of Ryazan and will be returned to Resurrection (Novodevichy) Convent in St. Petersburg, according to a report from the website of the Metropolis of Ryazan.

The icon of the Mother of God of Joy and Consolation was the primary icon for veneration in Novodevichy Monastery, which was founded in 1849 in St. Petersburg. After the Revolution, the Monastery was closed, looted and destroyed. It was believed that the icon was transferred to Tambov, where it was destroyed by fire.

Meanwhile, in the 1990's a resident of Tambov found and donated the icon of the Panagia of Joy and Consolation to the Monastery of the Dormition (Vyshenskaya Uspensky) in the region of Ryazan. The Abbot recently decided to proceed with the restoration and found an inscription on the back which is of the same catalogue with the miraculous icons of Mount Athos. In the festal calendar of the Church it is commemorated on January 21st.

"On the eve of the birth of the 200th anniversary of Saint Theophan the Recluse on April 27, a procession from Vyshenskaya Monastery to St. Petersburg will take place with all the sacred things of the Monastery, including the relics of Saint Theophan. Together with the sacred things of Vyshenskaya Monastery there will be an official transfer to Novodevichy Monastery of the icon of the Mother of God of Joy and Consolation", said the Abbot.

With the blessing of the Metropolitan of Ryazan, before the revered icon of the Panagia is given to St. Petersburg it will be given for veneration by the faithful: March 9-16 in Ryazan and March 16-23 in Kasimov.

This icon of the Theotokos is connected with Vatopaidi Monastery. Tradition says that the name came from the Monastery because of a miraculous rescue of the son of Emperor Theodosius the Great by the Panagia. In honor of this event the icon was called "Joy", and later after the Monastery was rescued from bandits the name "Consolation" was added.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

The Child Whose Fingers Were Restored by St. Luke of Simferopol in Argos

by Evangelo Bougioti

On Friday 7 March 2014, Argos welcomed the sacred relics of Saint Luke the Physician and Bishop of Simferopol, which was hosted for veneration as a blessing to the faithful in the Cathedral of Saint Peter, on Friday 7 March 2014.

The reception took place in the courtyard of the church. The fragment of the relic was brought by His Eminence Metropolitan Nektarios of Argolidos, flanked by Priests of the city.

During the stay of the sacred relic in the sacred church there will be daily Sacred Services performed.

Along with the relic of the Saint there also came for veneration other items that belonged to Saint Luke.

A crowd of faithful from the region of Argos attended the reception, including the mayor and politicians. This was followed by the First Stasis of the Salutations to the Most Holy Theotokos by the Metropolitan of Argolidos.

During the service Metropolitan Nektarios proceeded in the laying on of hands on the Priests of the Sacred Church of Saint Peter, Fathers George Sellis (president of the Sacred Association of Clergy in Greece) and Panagiotis Kindi, towards spiritual fatherhood.

At the end of the Salutations the Metropolitan of Argolidos presented to the faithful a child from Russia whose hand was miraculously restored by Saint Luke after his fingers were cut off in an accident when he was young.

More specifically, the child was a pianist from an early age when he was ten years old, and two fingers on his right hand were cut off. Doctors said they could do nothing for the child and that he would never be able to play the piano again. His parents learned about Saint Luke and the miracles he does and immediately took the child to Simferopol.

There at his grave they pleaded to Saint Luke to make their child well and so the miracle took place. After a few days the fingers of the child were restored.

Read also: The Miracle of Saint Luke of Simferopol for the Young Pianist Nazar

Romfea.gr

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/

The miracle of St. Spyridon at the 1st Ecumenical Synod of Nicaea

Miracles constitute irrefutable testimony of the sanctity of the person who works them. What follows will show what zeal for the faith the Saint had. When Constantine the Great was the emperor of Rome, and the first Christian emperor, and Plaulinus and Julian were consuls, in 325 in Nicaea the famous synod of the Holy Fathers took place. This council aimed to depose Arius, who with impiety, called the Son of God a creature, and to proclaim that the Son was of the same essence (homoousios) as the Father.

  The first and the most well known supporters of this blasphemy were Eusebius of Nicomedia, Maris, bishop of Calcedon and Theognis, bishop of Nicaea. With the fanatic Arius at their head, these perverted creatures proclaimed the dogma that the Son of God is a creature. Those who fought in defence of the Orthodox faith, those who came into prominence by their speeches and their life were the holy Alexander, a simple priest, but a representative of blessed Patriarch Mitrofan, who was absent because of illness and the famous Athanassius, deacon of the Church of Alexandria, who would later become the ornament of the Episcopal throne. They were also strongly envied, because they did not distinguish themselves from the others by their ecclesiastic rank, but they were more powerful than them in the word of faith. Among them was equally found the Great Spyridon, whose life and the divine Grace that rested on him convinced more than the rhetorical skill, the powerful reasoning and the eloquence of the others. According to the will of the emperor, the philosophers were to assist in the council and they displayed their knowledge with arrogance. They were well educated in the art of Sophist rhetoric. One of them, a famous speaker, possessed an irresistible force of persuasion. He conversed with the bishops and supported Arius strongly. He pleaded insistently on his behalf, so that many, wishing to see which of the opposing parties would win, were urged to listen to him. There was no objection so difficult that his rhetorical ability could not remove with ease! Moreover, if his plea led him into an impasse, he would slip out like an eel by means of specious arguments and language tricks. There was therefore a competition between truth and rhetorical art.

  Those who defended the truth with loyal arguments attacked the Sophist, but he made use of the ambiguities of language, insidious arguments and misleading tricks like weapons, and he believed that like this he would win.However, so that words would not be those that would finally win, but Christ and Truth, the victory «passed over» the learned men and «stopped» upon the simple Spyridon. As soon as the Saint, who did not know anything save «Christ, and him crucified» (1Cor.2,2), as the Apostle Paul says, saw the philosopher become heated with his sophisms, speak about Christ using offensive language and trying to denigrate the Orthodox dogmas, he drew near and asked to speak to him. Nevertheless, the pious Orthodox, who knew the simple ways of the Saint and that he was ignorant of the Greek culture, prevented him from going to oppose the Sophist. Saint Spyridon, however, did not let them stop him, because he knew that the Wisdom from on high is superior to the human and ephemeral wisdom; he approached the Sophist, then, and said to him: «In the Name of Jesus­ Christ, note my words, philosopher, and listen to what I want to tell you!». The Sophist replied to him: «Speak and I will listen to you! ». Spyridon then said: «There is only one God, Creator of heaven and earth. He created the heavenly Powers, made man from clay and created simultaneously all things visible and invisible. It was by His Word and His Spirit that heaven and earth were created, the sea flew out, the firmament stretched out, the animals were born, man was created, the most beautiful of His creatures. All the stars were created, the sun and the moon, night, day and all the rest. We know, then, that the Word is the Son of God and God Himself. We believe that, for us, He was born of the Virgin, was crucified and buried. Then he rose and raised us with Him, granting us incorruptible and immortal life. We assert that He will come a second time to judge all people and examine our own works, words and thoughts. He is of the same essence (homoousios) as the Father, equal in dignity, and reigns with Him. Don’t you agree philosopher? », he asked him.

  We must relate here the famous miracle of the tile. After these words, the Saint took a tile in his left hand and held it tight. Moreover, for a wonder!Fire rose up immediately in the air, water poured out on the earth and the argyle of the clay remained in the hands of the Saint, symbolising in this way the life giving and indivisible Trinity. Everybody was amazed. The philosopher did not seem to be the same person any more, to possess neither the same mind nor the same language, he that knew so well to oppose and to quarrel. He remained stunned, his soul was filled with surprise and his voice faded away. After some time of silence, he could not say anything else but: «I share the same view! ». Then the Saint said to him: «Then go on, if you agree with me, don’t be in disagreement by your works! Since you know who is the God who created all things, get up and go to church to confess the Orthodox Creed».

 At these words, the philosopher returned to the true faith and addressing himself to his disciples and to the other listeners, he said: «Until now, we fought in words and I won by means of my rhetorical skill. However, since a divine force which opposed me has manifested an ineffable and mystical power through the simple words of bishop Spyridon, I do not feel ashamed to admit that I have been defeated. I would joyfully advise then, myself as well as the others: if they are not so perverted so as to wish to change the Truth, to believe in Christ and to follow this saintly Venerable Father, whose human words are nothing else than the Words of God. »

  Imagine the disgrace of the Arians at those words and the joy of the Orthodox mixed with pride! The victory of the Orthodox was so brilliant and the defeat of the heretics so bitter that almost all embraced the Orthodox faith. Only six bishops remained by the side of Arius in order to become the party of the devil, the father of lies, who is from the beginning the implacable enemy of truth.

  After this manifest condemnation of the heretics, the bishops returned, filled with joy for the victory and full of admiration before the miracle, giving thanks to God for the miraculous things they had seen and for the defeat of Arius. Struck by the miracle, the emperor himself honoured the Saint greatly and saw him off, asking him to pray for him.

(Taken from “St Spyridon the Wonderworker” Monastery of Pantokrator StAthanasios Ed., Corfu, Greece)

Apolytikion in the First Tone 
O Father, God-bearer, Spyridon, you were proven a champion and
Wonder Worker of the First Ecumenical Council. You spoke to the girl in
the grave and turned the serpent to gold. And, when chanting your
prayers, most sacred One, angels ministered with you. Glory to Him who
glorified you; glory to Him who crowned you; glory to Him who, through you, works healing for all.

Kontakion in the Second Tone 
Wounded by your love for Christ, O holy One, your mind given wings by the
radiance of the Spirit, you put the practice of theory into deeds,
becoming a sacred altar, O Chosen by God, and praying for the divine
illumination of all.

http://orthodoxword.wordpress.com/

Icon of the Mother of God of Cyprus (Commemorated on February 19)

The Cyprus Icon of the Mother of God. In this icon the Mother of God is depicted sitting on a throne with the Divine Infant in Her arms. There is an angel on either side of Her.

The prototype of this holy icon manifested itself in the year 392 on the island of Cyprus at the tomb of Righteous Lazarus, the friend of Christ (October 17), and is kept there in a monastery. Renowned copies of the Cyprus Icon are at the Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral, and in the Nikolo-Golutvin church in the village of Stromyn, Moscow diocese (Commemorated on the Sunday of Orthodoxy).

During the week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the Greek Synaxarion has an account of an icon which is probably the Cyprus Icon. On the island of Cyprus a certain Arab was passing by a church dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. In order to display his hatred for Christianity, the man shot an arrow at an icon of the Mother of God which hung by the gate. The arrow struck the Virgin’s knee, from which blood began to flow. Overcome with fear, the Arab spurred his horse and rode for home, but was struck dead before he could get there. In this way, he was punished for his impiety.

Other days commemorating the Cyprus Icon are the Day of the Holy Spirit, April 20, and July 9. Some copies of the Cyprus Icon have additional names such as “Cleansing,” “Knife,” and “Hawk.”

The “Stromyn” Cyprus Icon became famous in 1841. An eighteen-year-old girl from Stromyn, a village not far from Moscow, was close to death from an illness. In a dream she saw the Cyprus Icon standing over the entrance to the church, and a voice came from the icon: “Take me into your home and have the priest serve a Molieben with the Blessing of Water, and you will be cured.”

The sick girl was brought to the church and finally located the icon after a long search. The girl obeyed the command of the Most Holy Theotokos, and after the Molieben she felt strong enough to carry the icon back to the church herself. Shortly thereafter, she was completely healed. The “Stromyn” Cyprus Icon continued to work miracles of healing, which the rector of the church reported to the holy Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow (November 19).

oca.org