The Catalog of Good Deeds: Modern Day Miracles

Showing posts with label Modern Day Miracles. Show all posts

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18).

A Visit to a Psychic

“Can I help you?” my acquaintance, who was a psychic, offered, “I won’t cost you anything. I’ve healed so many people already! I can perform surgical operations at a distance.”

I was intrigued, so I agreed. She began moving her hands around my body and then said:

“I can’t. You wear a metal object which causes an interference. Please take it off.”

“I have a wristwatch, a safety pin, and a cross on.”

“You can leave the wristwatch and the safety pin on but please take the cross off, it interferes with the scan, I can’t see your internal organs…”

I refused to take the cross off because I thought it was an illogical demand: a metal is a metal, why is one kind worse that the other?

It took me a while to learn why the cross “causes an interference.” A year after the experiment, I read the following words in an article by Hegumen Ephraim titled Corrupted by the Opium of Faithlessness:

“The contemporary youth who have no faith and often lack the grace of the Holy Baptism, are brainwashed to become a submissive crowd, manipulated by several powerful sorcerers or psychics. <…> The psychics conduct the brainwashing, i.e., induce demon possession, using secret spells, enchanted objects, and special hand movements. <…> The cross is an obstacle for their sorcery. It makes it hard for them to do anything bad because it attracts God’s grace to the human and doesn’t allow demonic powers to penetrate the human body. That is why psychics always request to take off the cross.”

Recorded by the author

Strange Wine

“I’ve experienced something that I wouldn’t have believed if someone else had told me about it,” one of our parishioners told me.

You know, I visit an old lady from time to time. She is my classmates’ mother. Both her sons (who were twins) died of hunger several years ago. They hadn’t been married, so their mother was left completely alone. She bequeathed her three-room apartment to her neighbors in exchange for food and care. Of course, they don’t work too hard but they give her some food sometimes. And naturally, they are looking forward to her death.

They dislike the fact that I visit the old lady. They know that she’s not alone. I told my spiritual father about this situation, and he recommended, “Be careful or else they will kill you, too.” He never gives unreasonable advice, so I was very surprised, although I didn’t take his warning to heart.

So, I came to that old lady’s place on a church holiday. She picked a bottle of wine from her cupboard and said, “Let’s remember my boys!” Well, I never refuse to drink wine. “Okay,” I replied. Something about that bottle just didn’t feel right to me. I made the sign of the cross on it. Imagine: the wine changed its color in front of our very eyes! It turned muddy red."

“‘Where did you get that bottle?’” I inquired.

“My neighbors gave it to me long time ago. I haven’t had the chance to open it yet,” she responded.

We didn’t find out what kind of wine it was but we decided not to drink it. Better safe than sorry.

I related this story to my spiritual father later. He sees occasions like these as normal. “It’s great that you made the sign of the cross on that bottle,” he said.

Recorded by the author

The Ceiling

This story happened before my own eyes. My friend asked me to be his son’s godfather. I agreed wholeheartedly. Beka was 10 months old. He was a happy and calm baby. His father used to say, “He doesn’t seem to feel cold or pain. He’s going to become a true warrior!”

We had a festive meal after the baptism, and the mother lulled Beka to sleep. Some time later, his mother said, “I took off his christcross when changing his clothes but I forgot to put it on again!” I rose to my feet and suggested that I put the cross on the baby, given that I was his godfather.

I went to the baby’s bedroom. He was fast asleep. I put the cross on his neck very carefully but Beka woke up and started crying. His mother ran into the bedroom and tried to calm him down. She was doing all she could to soothe him but she couldn’t. The baby was screaming loudly. The frightened father entered the room and took the boy into his lap. The baby didn’t want to stop crying.

He decided to take the child to the dining room. The baby stopped crying and smiled.

“Can you guess what he wants?” the mother was astonished.

The toastmaster joked, “He wants to feast with us!”

Hardly did he finish his joke that we heard a noise that shattered the whole house. A cloud of dust filled the bedroom. We looked inside, and it turned out that the ceiling above Beka’s bed fell down. Huge pieces of plaster lay on his bed and around it. The grace of the cross that we had put on his neck caused the baby to cry and thus saved him.

Eldar Maisuradze

Published in Kviris Palitra Newspaper on May 14, 2007

Prepared by Maria Saradzhishvili

Translated by the Catalog of Good Deeds

The Most Holy Theotokos helps not only half-legendary people from ancient times but also us: we just have to ask. Priests of our Diocese share their stories of the Mother of God’s help in various life circumstances.

Some people from Kurakhovo came to our parish recently. A woman came to me and asked, “Father, do you remember us?” “Well, of course, I do,” I replied. That woman and her husband had visited our church six years ago to bathe in the springs. There are two springs in our village, one consecrated in honor of the Life-Giving Spring icon of the Mother of God and the other in honor of St Panteleimon the Holy Healer. The man and his wife didn’t have children because the wife had a cyst. I said, “Pray to the Mother of God, St. Panteleimon and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, take communion and unction. You’ve got to work hard and not just talk.”

They went home and I didn’t hear of them for a long time. The other day, there was a service in our church, and the woman entered the nave with a baby in her outstretched arms, and showed it to me. The service was on and she said, “Father, here is your Maryika!” The choir burst out laughing! I laughed, too, and said, “Our whole parish was praying for you, so don’t make me responsible!”

Later, that woman told me how it happened. They did everything they were required to. Then she went to a doctor, and the doctor told her that there wasn’t a cyst in her body any longer, so she didn’t need any surgeries. The doctor asked, “What did you use to treat this condition?” The woman answered, “I bathed.” The doctor was exasperated, “We all bathe! Could you provide any details?” “I bathed in a holy spring,” the woman responded. She was healed of her cyst and managed to give birth to a baby without any surgical intervention. It was a great gift from the Mother of God. That woman has come to us again recently and informed us that her daughter is going to school this year.

There is another miracle that I can recall. It is related to the construction of a church in Verovka, a village 3 miles from ours. We found ten people who would motivate others and of course, we also began praying to the Most Holy Theotokos. As a result, we have managed to build so much in these three months, it’s hard to believe. You can only label it as a miracle. We didn’t have any money. We laid the foundation in just three Saturdays, so it didn’t cost us a lot. We were promised thirty cubic meters of timber. We thought that we would have to wait for that timber for a long time but they called us and said, “We’ll bring the timber in a week, get ready.” I started looking for money to pay for the timber, and I found it. I also found the builders to build the church from that timber. Two men from Transcarpathia came to us, unloaded the timber on August 13, erected the walls, the sanctuary, and covered the roof, and left us on August 25. The wooden church was constructed literally in a dozen of days. Whenever I asked them, “Guys, need help?” they would reply with “Mother of God will help us!” They worked from dawn till dusk, and the church was built. Of course, we still have to make the dome—there’s still a lot of work to be done—but the help of the Mother of God is truly amazing. It is impossible to make so much from scratch in just a month and a half.

My third story is about our elderly parishioner. One day he came to the church and donated five thousand hryvnia, and then the same amount again. It is a lump sum for a regular person. Later, he told me, “Father, I’m likely going to be laid off.” It turned out that his company was about to implement budget cuts, and since he already exceeded retirement age, it was almost guaranteed that they were going to make him redundant. I said, “Here is the Mother of God and here is St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Pray to them!” And so he did. After a while, it turned out that not only wasn’t he fired but he was in fact appointed to a higher position and became deputy director of that company. He did not lose his job and even managed to land better conditions. Grateful to the Mother of God and St. Nicholas, the man bought a big candle holder and donated it to our church.

There are lots and lots of stories like these, we don’t even write them down. People who can’t have kids or whose kids stutter come to our holy springs and get healed. The Mother of God sympathizes with us poor and wretched sinners. She intercedes before God on our behalf. Let us pray to her and be thankful for her help!

By Fr. Anatoly Kostenko

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: http://gorlovka-eparhia.com.ua/kak-mater-bozhiya-pomogaet-nashim-sovremennikam/

This story was told to me in 1987 by Hieromonk Theophylact from Pskov Caves Monastery, previously known as Konstantin Nikolayevich Belyanin who had been a military doctor in Kazan. He became a monk after his son Konstantin died. He was collecting stories about miracles and saints’ apparitions. He published a samizdat book titled It Happened In Our Time under the pseudonym Nitsok (anagram to Konstantin Nikolayevic). There might be a copy of this book in the library of Pskov Caves Monastery even now. This is what he told me about the power of the Life-Giving Cross and the sign of the cross.

There was a Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1971, during which the bishops elected Patriarch Poemen. Students of Moscow Theological Seminary and Academy helped with maintenance and hospitality. A seminarian named K. shared the room with another seminarian who was a photographer appointed to take pictures of the Council sessions and guests. He always developed the photos after taking them, and he had two bottles under his bed: one with developer and the other with pure water.

As far as K. was concerned, he “took care of the meals,” that is, he waited on the guests during meals. There was a lot of delicious food, and the students were allowed to eat the leftovers. K. got up one morning and was getting ready to go and perform his duties. When he went out of his room, he heard his neighbor exclaim, “There’s no water in the building!” It turned out that the water supply had been cut off due to some repairs, and the seminarians had to do without water in the morning. K. was dying of thirst, having eaten a lot of spicy food the previous night. He recalled that there was pure water under his neighbor’s bed. He took the bottle, poured some liquid into a glass and crossed it — a habit that he had inherited from his pious parents. He drank it and went on to serve in the kitchen. When he returned, he found his neighbor — the photographer — agitated. He outstretched his arms and screamed so loud that it could be heard not only in the room but even in the corridor, “Who took my developer?” The developer was expensive, so K. was afraid to tell the truth.

Then he was curious what exactly the developer tasted like. In other words, what could have happened to him if he hadn’t crossed the glass? K. sneaked into the room, stuck his finger into the bottle, and licked the chemical. He later said that his tongue turned sore and burned for two days. What would have happened to him if he had drunk the full glass without crossing it first?

There were similar occasions in ancient times, too. Some residents of Bosra were envious of their bishop Julian and decided to poison him. God made their plot known to Saint Julian, so he took the poisoned cup and ordered all the citizens who took part in the conspiracy to come to him. When they came, the righteous man declared, “If you want to kill the humble Julian with poison, here I am drinking this cup in front of your eyes.” He crossed the cup three times, saying “In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” and drank the poison — and the poison didn’t harm him. The guilty citizens fell to their knees, asking him to forgive them. It happened in the 6th century. However, the story narrated by Hieromonk Theophylact happened just some forty years ago. Indeed, grace and wonders will never cease in the Church until the Second Coming of Christ!

This story teaches us two important lessons. First, the Lord “protects the little ones.” K.’s life demonstrated the truth of the words of Christ, “[I]f they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them” (Mark 16:18). Second, the Cross is verily the “Guardian of all Universe” — of our souls and bodies — and our lives, the temporary and the eternal.

By Deacon Vladimir Vasilik

April 18, 2014

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

There are plenty of testimonies concerning miracles and graceful help through prayers to the Holy Royal Martyrs. By the time the Romanovs Family was canonized in August 2000, there had been lots of accounts about miracles related to them.

Myrrh-Gushing Icon of the Emperor

I would like to share one such miracle in detail. An artist by the name of Pavel Tikhomirov painted an icon of the Emperor Nicholas early in 1997. Later, the icon served as the basis for color lithographies, one of which was owned by Oleg Belchenko, a surgeon from Moscow. He attended a service in the cathedral church of Sretensky Monastery on September 6, 1998 with this icon in a plastic bag. It started emitting fragrance, which was so strong that people were turning their heads to look at him. When he took the icon out of his bag after the service, the scent increased.

The image spent three weeks in the sanctuary, emanating fragrance continually. It started to pour myrrh late in 1999. The icon was placed in the Ascension Church in Gorokhovo Pole, then transferred to St Nicholas the Wonderworker Church in Pyzhy in February 1999, and then to other churches in Moscow. Hundreds of parishioners could witness the pouring myrrh with their own eyes. When this icon was in Holy Trinity Church in Khokhlovsky Pereulok, it healed Alexander Vytiagov, a veteran of the WWII and a retired 87-year-old colonel. He had been blind for fifteen years by that time. He met Father Alexius Uminsky, the rector of that church, and said, “I believe that this icon will heal me.” Father Alexius replied, “Let it be to you according to your faith.” He covered the man’s head with a towel soaked in the myrrh. The colonel woke up the following morning, looked around, and screamed, “I can see!” His family ran to his bed and saw that he was able to see.

The wonderworking icon traveled around many churches and monasteries. It visited more than twenty dioceses before the 2000 Synod of Bishops. The myrrh was seen pouring from that icon on numerous occasions. A number of healings was also recorded.

Miracle in Krasnodar

Here is another example. Archpriest Alexander Ignatov, the rector of the Holy Nativity of Christ Church in Krasnodar, bought an icon of the Royal Family in the icon store of St Daniel Monastery in 2000. A cleaning lady who washed the icons after a Sunday Liturgy in 2002 noticed that the glass became blurred. When they opened the kiot, they saw that the icon of the Holy Royal Martyrs was imprinted on the glass from the inside in slightest detail. Miracles like these are well known to the Orthodox. A similar miracle happened in 1993 in the Monastery in honor of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple (Kyiv) with an icon of Look at Humility Mother of God, which had an imprint on glass not made by hands. The image on glass was then put in a separate kiot and is said to work miracles.

The icon of the Holy Royal Martyrs imprinted on glass in Krasnodar was sent to the Commission on Research of Miraculous Phenomena of the Moscow Patriarchate, with the blessing of Metropolitan Isidore of Krasnodar. Forensic experts from the Institute of Forensics of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, Forensic Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the laboratory of the Institute of General Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences tested this icon for a year using advanced equipment and modern methods. They confirmed the existence of the image on glass but could not explain its origin. The icon and the image on glass are made of different matter.

By Fr Job (Gumerov)

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Some time ago, in the 1990s, our parish invited a local "tree surgeon," Leo M., to cut down a couple of dead trees in the back of the church property. He came and worked with his wife, Kathleen, doing the job quickly and with kindness to the rest of the surroundings. But they strongly resisted being paid, insisting on offering their work gratis to our church. They were non-Orthodox, and we wondered about the reason for such generosity. The reason, as we learned from them later, was to be found in something that happened a few years before, just after they had been married.

Both Leo and Kathleen were serious enthusiasts of mountaineering and rock climbing, and so for their honeymoon trip they decided to go to Alaska to bag the highest peak of North America, mount Denali (aka McKinley), 20,320 feet. While living at the camp at the foot of the mountain, they thoroughly prepared their expedition: talking to guides, studying the maps, checking the equipment, and waiting for a long stretch of good weather.

When they finally started their exciting, but extremely difficult, ascent, everything went just fine for a few days. But at the end of one day, on a narrow path, they met an old, strange-looking man in a long dark robe. He was walking in the opposite direction, down the mountain. In a friendly manner he greeted them and advised them to turn around and return to the base camp as quickly as possible because the weather was changing into a severe storm. Soon, he said, it will be very dangerous around here. And, as if in answer to their unasked question of how could he know such a thing, he explained that he was local and knew the climate very well. Leaving them surprised and uneasy, he continued on his way.

Some minutes later, after Leo and Kathleen made the wise decision to turn back, and then tried to recall the appearance of the old man, they realized that they hadn’t seen a backpack or any other hiking gear with him. How could he have made it up so high in the bare, rocky mountain in sub-zero temps, without any food or protection?!

A few days later, almost at the bottom of the mountain, they were indeed caught by a severe storm. They survived it, constantly in their minds thanking the old man who had warned them of the danger. A week later, still staying at the base camp, they learned that some other climbers, who happened to be at higher elevations than they were during the storm, never came back.

Then, as if in answer to their curiosity, Leo and Kathleen noticed something at the camp cafeteria. It was a picture of their rescuer, pinned on a bulletin board between some miscellaneous ads and photos of the mountain. They recognized him at a glance. When they asked the waiter for his name, he told them, " It's an Orthodox saint who lived in Alaska. His name is St. Herman." And the photo showed the icon of St. Herman from the Orthodox church nearby.

The Saint had told them the truth. He was indeed a local guy...

"By enduring the trials of nature, the storms' cold and wind together with hunger, thou didst kindle spiritual peace, warmth and satiety, and become unaffected by the elements, truly a heavenly man and earthly angel, O wondrous Herman; so wishing to honor thee as is meet we cry out: Rejoice, conqueror of nature's hardships! Rejoice, thou who wast arrayed in the virtues! ... Rejoice, O venerable Father Herman, adornment of Alaska and joy of all America! " (From Akathist to St Herman)

Matushka Galina Tregubov and Lee Browne-Beed

Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, Claremont, NH

Source: http://orthochristian.com/43717.html

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Three Personal Stories About the Miraculous Power of the Cross

The Girl Who Could Have Not Been Born or How Mother of God Helps Our Contemporaries

Turning Developer into Water: a Personal Story about the Miraculous Power of the Cross

Miraculous Images: the Myrrh-Gushing Icons of the Royal Martyrs

“Hush, God Is Coming!”

A Personal Story about the Miraculous Help of St. Herman of Alaska

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Three Personal Stories About the Miraculous Power of the Cross

The Girl Who Could Have Not Been Born or How Mother of God Helps Our Contemporaries

Turning Developer into Water: a Personal Story about the Miraculous Power of the Cross

Miraculous Images: the Myrrh-Gushing Icons of the Royal Martyrs

“Hush, God Is Coming!”

A Personal Story about the Miraculous Help of St. Herman of Alaska

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