The Catalog of Good Deeds: Modern Day Miracles

Showing posts with label Modern Day Miracles. Show all posts

Just as he did during his life, out of his great kindness St. Spyridon continues to help people who pray to him. Here is a story sent to the editors of Eskom-Vera from Olga of the town of Syktyvkara.

It happened 7 years ago. Before then, my husband and I lived with our three children in a crowded two-room apartment. When a fourth little one appeared to the world, it became clear that six people could not live there and we had to look for a larger place. The matter could not be put off, time was running out, and we still couldn’t find a suitable apartment. Then Olga began ordering molebens to St. Spyridon in the local church, remembering that he helps with finding living space. She ordered one moleben, but nothing changed, and then a second, with the same result. Then suddenly a friend, a very good man, out of nowhere gave Olga a small icon of St. Spyridon of Tremithus, for the children. “I heard that St. Spyridon helps children,” he said. It was as if the saint wanted to send a mysterious message through this friend, to say, “Don’t despond, it’s in the works, although you don’t see it yet.” Soon we found an apartment—four rooms, a large kitchen, and an entrance room just as large! And it was not expensive because it was on the first floor, but that also turned out to be a good thing: our four little foot-stompers could now stomp around as much as they like without disturbing the neighbors. From the apartment windows the church where Olga ordered the molebens to St. Spyridon could be seen. And what is even more amazing is that twenty years ago this apartment was a “children’s room”; it is where the kids from the surrounding yards would come to pass the rainy summer days playing checkers and table tennis… This is the “children’s room” that the kind God-pleasing, children-loving St. Spyridon spotted for Olga’s family. They moved right before the New Year. There’s no need to say how joyful they all were. And St. Spyridon looks at them from the icon as if to say, “Never despair, but be joyful, for the Lord is near!”

By Elena Grigoryan

Source: http://www.orthochristian.com/50595.html

On the eve of the feast of holy Hieromartyr Hilarion, Archbishop of Verea, the editors of Pravoslavie.ru received a simple and artless letter, which we reproduce here in English translation. The original was published on Pravoslavie.ru in the Russian, with no essential changes.

Bless!

I, Elena Egorova, in Baptism Maria, want to tell the world and you, honorable fathers, about the miraculous help of our father Hilarion (Troitsky)—the wonderworker.

The First Miracle

In 2005 I was sent by the church to work not for money, but for the glory of God. I served in a hospice near St. Petersburg and spent the nights in a women’s skete outside of town. The skete had wood heating, but the sisters had no firewood for the winter. The fathers blessed me to find a load of firewood “for the sake of Christ”. I went to Fr. Hilarion’s grave and said, “Father, there’s no firewood, and no money. Help!”

I left the monastery gates and waved down car going my way, because I didn’t have a penny for the bus. Then a car stopped, with a woman driver. She asked me why I was hailing a car, and did I need any help. I told her that I had no money, that I needed to buy firewood, but I didn’t know where I would find the money. She gave me four thousand rubles, and even drove me to the skete.

The Second Miracle

I buried my entire family, five people, over the course of three years and was left all alone.

When I left Tiumen [Siberia] for St. Petersburg to see my spiritual father, he had fallen and broken both his legs. He was walking to church on Christmas, slipped, his legs flew in between the steps, and he fell down headfirst.

I arrived, but no one met me. Then I went to the deacon; he was old, and his wife, too. It was a burden on them to have me as a hanger-on. I had to look for a job with a place to live.

I went again to the cemetery where Fr. Hilarion’s grave was, and cried: “No money, nowhere to live, no work, and no registration.”

I prayed, and wept a while, then left the cemetery and saw a woman walking toward me who said, “What are you looking for here?”

I answered that I was looking for work with a place to live. Then she drove me to the Kirov factory and registered me in the dormitory. At least on that day she herself had come from the night shift. And the dormitory was located right outside the walls of that cemetery, where Fr. Hilarion lay at rest.

The Third Miracle

In 2011, my school friends’ baby got sick and had one foot in grave. She called me, crying into the telephone, “What should I do?” I went to the cemetery, to Fr. Hilarion, turned on the phone, called her, and said, “Pray to Fr. Hilarion, he’ll help!” I had not even turned off the phone when another doctor arrived. He looked at the little one, gave him an injection, and the boy immediately came back to life—the diagnosis had been incorrect. We then discussed it and decided to buy a candle stand and bench for St. Hilarion’s grave.

The Fourth Miracle

In 2011, while I was working in the Kirov factory, I earned as an apprentice 336 rubles a month, and a subway token cost fifteen rubles. How was I supposed to live? I went to Batiushka Hilarion and told him all about it… Then I looked, and saw a young man walking toward me, about thirty years old. I said to him, “Brother dear, pray for me, I don’t even have enough money to place a candle. I worked all month and didn’t receive any pay.” He gave me a thousand rubles. Then another passed by, and gave some more. In this way did Fr. Hilarion give me six thousand rubles on his grave, although I was asking for prayers, not money.

The Fifth Miracle

In 2011, three months after my arrival in St. Petersburg, I went to the cemetery to pray to Batiushka Hilarion and met there a sister from the church store. She introduced me to Fr. Methodius, who is now in Vyritsy, and he blessed me to work as a sitter for a grandma who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and to live with her. That is how I lived, ready for anything, for two years before the grandma’s death. Now I am a novice in Rome, Italy.

I ask you as far as possible to retain the essence of this letter, as the language is not literary—I am a cook, and not a writer… I described it all as best I could…

I always give alms, and often receive Communion. If I do not do this, then all my prayers for help just lie on the desk of the Lord God’s “secretary” for a very long time. Well, everyone asks, “Why does God give things to some but not to others? I have noticed that to those who go to confession, receive Communion, eagerly buy food for the bums, God gives, you could say, before they even ask. But the misers, those who can’t stand through the services (or sit if they haven’t the strength), might ask for years and get nothing but a big zero.

I have worked in the hospice, and in drug rehabilitation, and I have seen miracles of recovery. As a rule, they all began after confession and Communion…

A deep bow to you all, and may God save you!

Prayerfully yours, Novice Maria Egorova

Source: http://www.orthochristian.com/76164.html#sdfootnote1sym

The first to be healed was my wife (at that time she was not yet my wife). It happened thus: Gallia Alexandrovna, with her mother, Vera Dionysiyevna, came to live in our DP camp, Purshen, near Mulldorf (80 km from Munich) in the spring of 1949. She was a healthy, young, energetic woman, but in the middle of the summer she fell ill, severe pains began and she had to enter the DP hospital. There the causes of her sickness could not be discovered and so she was treated by guesswork; basically she was given pain killers. The sickness, however, continued to develop, the pains kept growing more severe, and her body quickly weakened.

Within a month and a half, upon our demand, she was transferred to a German hospital in the small city of Mulldorf, not far from the camp hospital. The doctors there could not establish the cause of her sickness either; according to all the symptoms, the cause was gallstones, but repeated X-ray tests did not confirm this.

September ended and G.A. had become a skin-covered skeleton (exactly as in Turgenev's Living Relics). At the beginning of October she could not even sit up, let alone walk; the nurses (Catholic nuns) had to feed her with a spoon. During the last weeks her temperature was very high. It was impossible to perform an operation because of the complete weakening of her body and her high temperature. The German doctors (perhaps to "wash their hands") decided to send her to the DP hospital in Munich. We knew that she would not be able to endure the trip, and it was doubtful that she would make it there alive.

At that time, the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos was approaching our camp's patronal feast. A visitation by the miraculous Hodigitria icon (icon of Kursk) was expected, accompanied by the First Hierarch Metropolitan Anastassy, Fr. George Grabbe and a protodeacon. I was a member of the parish council and was entrusted with the duty of meeting the icon, Vladyka and the clergy upon their arrival in the city of Mulldorf (they were traveling by automobile), and accompanying them to the guest house, previously prepared.

On the eve of the feast I left the camp for town early, intending to make one more check on the readiness of the suite in the guest house, and to visit the patient. By 10 a.m., having completed my business, I came to G.A. I told her of the preparations for the feast, of how the wonder-working icon and Vladyka Anastassy were coming, and how I would go at two in the afternoon to the agreed place and meet them there. Because of her weakness she could barely speak. She lay there with her eyes closed. At times I even thought that she did not hear everything that I was saying. Then suddenly she opened her eyes, somehow looked at me very attentively, and we said at the same time, "What if the icon could be brought here!" (to the hospital). I said, naturally, that I would ask Vladyka about this, but I myself deeply doubted the possibility, for shortly after their arrival the icon and clergy were to depart for the camp. There was time for only a brief rest after the long trip.

At twelve o'clock I left the hospital. I had still two hours until the arrival of the icon, but somehow I automatically went quietly to the meeting-place. Suddenly, when I had not even gone three blocks, someone called me, and I saw Father George who was waving to me from the automobile. I ran to them, received a blessing, and shortly we were already in the guest-house. Two feelings crowded inside of me: first, how good it was that I had come early and met the visitors on time, and secondly, that they had arrived two hours earlier than scheduled, meaning that there was hope of serving a moleben at the sick woman's bedside

As soon as the guests were accommodated in the guest-house, I expressed my request to Fr. George, and he passed it on to Vladyka. Vladyka immediately gave a blessing to Fr. George and the protodeacon, and we at once drove to the hospital.

At first G.A. greeted the icon with only a joyful, clear gaze. The moleben began and the sick woman crossed herself several times. Then again. When Fr. George blessed her with the icon, she raised herself from the bed without any help, and on her knees venerated the icon, and this at a time when, for ten days already, she had not only been unable to lift her head from her pillow, but also the nurses had been wiping perspiration from her face — she had been so weak.

After the moleben Fr. George encouraged her with a good word, and having said good-bye, we left. The next day, the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, after the liturgy and festal dinner, I went to the hospital. The nurses told me that the sick woman had slept well the whole night, her temperature was normal, and that she felt much better. When I entered the room I was amazed by the significant change in G.A.'s condition. She looked decidedly better than she did the day before, and conversed with me freely. Due to the late hour I stayed for a very short time and went home. The next day, Saturday, the hospital's main doctor, Dr. Loucks, confirmed the significant improvement in the patient's condition and, having canceled her transfer to Munich, scheduled an operation for the following Monday.

During the operation it was discovered that the gallbladder was so filled with stones that it was beginning to rupture. In view of this condition the journey to Munich might well have ended fatally.

In this whole story it is especially miraculous that: 1) the crisis came just when the icon was scheduled to arrive at our camp; 2) in spite of the previously established time of arrival, Vladyka Anastassy arrived with the icon two hours early, which gave us an opportunity to visit the patient; 3) without any particular reason I went to the meeting-place two hours earlier than scheduled and, fortunately, met the visitors; 4) G.A.'s sick body, without any physical reasons, battled the fever and strengthened significantly at first so much that, although she had already lain immobile for a long time, she was able to rise up on her knees and venerate the icon, and then, within three days, she gained so much strength that she was able to endure a long and difficult operation. But at the time of the visit of the icon the stones were still present. She ate nothing after the moleben, and, as a result of complete weakening, she had no internal "reserves." Of course, only the inexplicable power of God, through the intercession of the Holy Virgin, could have restored the sick woman's strength. 5) The experienced doctor believed in the reality of such an improvement and decided to perform the operation — of course, only by inspiration from above. All this, by the mercy of God and the miraculous help of our Sovereign Lady through her holy icon, led to a fortunate ending — the complete recovery of the sick woman. After the operation she recovered quickly; soon, she checked out of the hospital. In December, together with her mother, she left for Munich for the emigration committee, and in March of the next year, 1950, departed for the U.S.

In the beginning of 1950, when G.A. was before the emigration committee, I also was called before the same committee. At the preliminary medical checkup, spots were discovered on my lungs, and I was sent to the Gauting sanitarium for a detailed examination, and, if necessary, for treatment. I was very disappointed. I did not wish to remain in Germany, nor did I wish to take leave of G.A., as during the time of her illness we became close friends, and after her recovery we considered marriage after arriving in the U.S. G.A. often visited me in the sanitarium, which was located near Munich. Now we had switched roles, and here, not long before her departure for the U. S ., she brought me a prosphora and said that she had been in the Synodal church and asked that a moleben for my health be chanted before the miracle-working icon. During those days the final examination of my lungs began. Many X-rays and bacteriological examinations were made. As a result, the doctors came to the following conclusion: my lungs were normal and there were no obstacles to me entering the U.S.A. After an appropriate waiting period I left for the Funk armory — the emigration center in Munich — from where I departed for the U.S.A. in the month of August. Thus did our Most Holy Lady aid me.

Having met with G.A. in the U.S.A., we were married in the beginning of 1951. As at this time I was thirty-eight years old and G.A. thirty-five; we wanted very much to have children and considered that at our age it was not yet too late. On the other hand, the years were going by and we remained childless. More than three years had passed, and we had lost hope (I had even stopped paying for the "Blue Cross Maternity Plan"). In the autumn of 1954, on the feast day of our church, "The Joy of All That Sorrow." as was customary, the miracle-working icon came to us. Vladyka Anastassy and you, dear Vladyka, were with us then; at that time you recorded from my wife's words, the miracle which had occurred with her.

We did not arrange it, but, on our own (as much as our strength would allow), both of us prayed fervently before the holy image that we would be granted a child. Now the Most Holy Theotokos, having heard our prayers, granted us her favor a third time: in nine and a half months, in August of 1955, God gave us our daughter Marina. In spite of our age, all the illnesses we had undergone, and all the adversities of the terrible years past, the child was born completely healthy, and today, glory to God, is growing strong and healthy, and studies very well.

Glory to God! Glory to His Most Holy Mother — our Protectress! Glory to her honorable miracle-working icon!

By Sergei Shenuk

Source: http://www.kurskroot.com/miracles-series-of-miracles.html

A miracle occurred at the seminary in Nairobi recently, reports His Eminence Archbishop Makarios (Tillyrides) of Nairobi and All Kenya.

On November 9, the feast of the great St. Nektarios of Aegina, an icon of the saint at the Patriarchal Seminary of Archbishop Makarios III in Nairobi, where they faithfully celebrate the services every morning and evening, began to stream myrrh just before Abp. Makarios departed to serve Liturgy, as he reported to Romfea.

Great Vespers with artoklasia was celebrated in the school’s chapel dedicated to St. Macarius the Egyptian on the eve of the feast, after which Abp. Makarios gave a sermon in which he exalted St. Nektarios as a great example for Orthodox Christians, and assured the students and all those gathered that “Indeed … the saints are always with us, beside us, literally surrounding us and listening to us when we talk to them and ask them for something.”

The Kenyan hierarch’s words would be proven true in a marvelous manner the next morning, when, as Abp. Makarios was preparing to go serve Liturgy in a nearby village, an altar server came and told him, “Something’s happening in the holy church right now that we don’t understand.”

Going to the seminary’s chapel, Abp. Makarios found that the icon of St. Nektarios was streaming a fragrant myrrh from two places—from the holy Gospel and from the hand of the saint holding the Gospel.

As His Eminence writes, he crossed himself, venerated the icon, and said aloud, “Lord have mercy!” He then left to serve the Divine Liturgy in the village as scheduled.

Returning to the seminary in the early afternoon, he was informed that the myrrh continued to flow during the Divine Liturgy at the seminary, stopping only once the Liturgy ended.

As Abp. Makarios writes, the miracle was especially touching for the younger African brethren who had never experienced such a thing, which is unthinkable in their culture.

The Kenyan archpastor writes:

They saw that what is said orally to strengthen their faith now had a tangible opening in the direction of holiness, to see the grace of the Holy Spirit literally overwhelm them and overcome logic and the mind by the wisdom, greatness, and power of the saint.

His sanctifying power was now unfolding in them, He descended from the throne of His glory from the heavenly to the earthly, and came and dwelt in them, and with the infinite height of His holiness He manifested to us all, unworthy, His unfailing mercy.

Nairobi, Kenya,
November 14, 2018

Pictures: romfea.gr

Source: http://orthochristian.com/117238.html

I met Irakli Gogoladze in Samtavro Monastery. Out of the blue this young man of about twenty-five walked up to me and said, “You know, Elder Gabriel worked a miracle for me… I heard that a collection was being made of such stories. Could you please tell me who I could send this to?” I said reverently and happily, “I’m the translator and compiler of the Russian version of the book, The Elder’s Diadem…” Without letting me finish, filled with emotion he began telling me his story. I turned on the dictaphone and… listened to him tell me about one miraculous healing by Elder Gabrial (Ugrebadze). I would like to share this story with you, dear readers.

A miracle happened in my family through Elder Gabriel.

Elder Gabriel wasn’t yet canonized when I first heard about him. Our first “encounter” was when I was, I think, in the seventh grade and visited Samtavro Monastery with my friends. Still only a child, I was amazed by everything I saw at the elder’s grave—first of all by the unbelievable amount of people who came to venerate there. Without any real awareness of what I was doing I also approached the grave, and that was when my friendship with Elder Gabriel began. Bowing at the grave, I felt enormous grace. My heart was filled with love. Feeling this inner joy I wanted to shout as loud as I could, “I LOVE YOU ALL!” Nun Parasceva gave us some oil from the lampada over the grave of Elder Gabriel and explained how to anoint ourselves with it. I felt as though I had obtained some invincible power. And that is how it was!

A few months passed by, and disaster struck our home. My father fell sick with psoriasis. We made the circuit to all the hospitals but his was such a severe form and advanced stage that none of them would even receive us. After some time, through the intercessions of our relatives, my father was received in the Tbilisi hospital for skin and venereal diseases. The treatment went very slowly. The doctors said that he would need at least four months to completely recover. One night my father had a heart attack, and they were barely able to save his life. Then I remembered the elder, on whose grave miraculous healings take place. I ran home, took the oil from the lampada over Elder Gabriel’s grave, and came to the hospital. The doctors were not allowing anyone into his room, but when I explained the situation they agreed and allowed me in secretly. I went to my father, and he was sleeping. With my little finger I anointed him with the oil three times in the form of a cross, read the “Our Father,” and asked the elder with all my heart to heal my father. Then I left without a word.

In the morning, mother and I came along with a friend to the hospital. We went to my father’s room… to be more exact, we ran with horror when we heard the nurse’s shriek: “It can’t be!” We thought, well, it’s the end! My mother fainted. I was seized with trembling that I had no strength to control. I went into the room and saw my father sitting on the bed. I was stunned. He had no more rash on his body or face; his skin was like that of a newborn babe. Soon the head doctor came into the room—the same one who had allowed me to visit my father. I will never forget the expression on his face in that moment when he saw his patient with absolutely clear skin! The doctor began to weep and cross himself, saying, “Glory to God… Glory to that elder…” Then my father stopped us and asked what elder we were talking about. I wasn’t even able to start telling him about Elder Gabriel before my father told us about the dream he had that night. It was as if a priest with a gray beard came into the room and said to him, “Eh, my brother… Well, so far you haven’t once received Communion or had confession, but you have a believing son and wife who called me here. I can’t bear to see how they cry… Here, let me heal you, and you start living a religious life. Go to church often, confess and receive Communion. Then we’ll be friends… Otherwise, I’m not your friend. Get it?” He winked to my father, made the sign of the cross over him and left…

I wept—everyone in the room was weeping! Despite the fact that my father had never seen the elder in his lifetime, his description of the “priest” fit completely with St. Gabriel.

Glory to Thee, O God! Glory to thee, father Gabriel!

By Irakli Gogoladze

Source: http://www.orthochristian.com/90191.html

My good friends, the Zlodorevs, are parishioners of St. John the Forerunner Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Lately, I’ve learned that their nine-year-old son, a cheerful, lively, and sociable boy, struggled with leukemia courageously for more than three years. He was diagnosed with that disease when he was 2. Thanks to his patience, love of his parents, help of his family, and of course, a God’s miracle, he managed to triumph over the illness.

Miraculous Help of the Iveron Icon from Hawaii

“When we were in hospital, we met a Russian nurse who advised us to contact Father Victor Potapov, the rector of the St. John the Forerunner Cathedral, and invite him to the hospital ward to baptize the boy. We had planned to perform the Sacrament of Baptism in Moscow where we have friends and family. We called Fr. Victor, and he came to the hospital. He warned us that the Sacrament wasn’t going to be as magnificent as usual. We couldn’t baptize Sasha with full immersion, so the priest simply sprinkled the holy water on the baby.

We started going to church. Of course, first we chose times when there were few people there. We asked Sasha which icon he wanted to kiss, and then carried him to that icon. Father Victor would come to our house and give Sasha communion. Sasha wasn’t allowed to drink tap water, so Father Victor consecrated boiled water for him. Sasha liked the holy water and refused to drink non-consecrated water.

We noticed many times that his blood count improved after each communion.

We would like to share a story of the miraculous help of the Hawaiian Iveron icon of the Mother of God, too. Sasha kissed it, and we all prayed in front of this icon asking for help and healing. Nectarios, the icon’s keeper, gave us a bottle of the myrrh pouring from the icon. We didn’t ask for it: he must have concluded that the boy needed the gracious help. Following the keeper’s advice, we gave Sasha one drop of the myrrh daily, and of course, we anointed him with the myrrh. It was Hawaiian Iveron icon that saved him, undoubtedly. It is his icon, so to say. When Sasha was ill with leukemia, the icon visited our church 3-4 times every year. We thought that it was normal. Later, we learned that the Iveron icon normally visited our church once a year. Isn’t it a miracle? When Sasha recovered, the icon started coming to our church once a year again, and Nectarios stopped giving us the bottles of myrrh.

When Sasha was four, we went on a pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville. The boy handled the 7-hour trip stoically.

When doctors drew out a plan of treatment for Sasha back in 2011 and said that it would be over in 2014, I was dreaming of closing my eyes and falling asleep, and then waking up in three and a half years when everything was fine already. But it wasn’t a good idea, in fact. We wouldn’t have gone through all those steps and would not remember them. Father Victor Potapov says that there are no accidents in the life of an Orthodox Christian. The path that we’ve taken wasn’t easy, of course. Naturally, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but it has made us stronger. We’ve done it. We go to church and we pray. Sasha’s illness hasn’t just made us stronger: it has also made us closer to the church and to some amazing people. It has taught us to be happy.

There are self-made posters on the walls of the cancer unit, which read “Those who don’t believe in superheroes, haven’t seen our kids” and “Cancer can’t break our faith, hope, and love.”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: https://pravoslavie.fm/articles/istoriya-leykemii-i-pomoshhi-gavayskoy-iverskoy-ikonyi/

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How St. Spyridon Miraculously Helped a Family

A Letter About the Miraculous Help of Holy Hieromartyr Hilarion

The Miracles of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign

Feast Day Miracle: Icon of St. Nektarios Streams Myrrh on His Feast Day

A Personal Story about the Miracle of Elder Gabriel (Ugrebadze)

How Iveron Icon of Theotokos from Hawaii Helped to Cure Leukemia

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