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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