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
November 14, 2018
Pictures: romfea.gr
Source: http://orthochristian.com/117238.html
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