Ministry of St.Elisabeth Convent: Children with special needs make icons of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco
Children from the boarding school for children with special needs and the convent’s
studio “Anyolak” prepared an exhibition of drawings “A gift to St. John”
devoted to the feast day of St. John of Shanghai San Francisco.
How beautiful and simple they are!
By Nun
Elena (Strashinova)
July,
2017
St.
Elisabeth Convent
8 Miracles of the Kazan Icon of The Mother Of God
About the Icon
The
Appearance of the Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God in the City of Kazan: On
1 October 1552, on the feast day of the Pokrov-Protection of the Most Holy
Mother of God, at night, tsar Ivan IV in heading the Russian forces made ready
for a decisive assault against the Tatar city of Kazan, and suddenly he heard
the peeling of the Moscow bells. The tsar realized that this was a sign of the
mercy of God: that through the prayers of the mighty commander-in-chief, the
Lord deigned that the Kazan people should be converted to Him.
The
surrender of Kazan on the feast of the Pokrov-Protection of the Most Holy
Mother of God completed a course of events, initiated way back centuries
earlier in the year 1164 by holy Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky (+ 1174, Comm. 4
July), against the Moslem Volga Bulgars. With the taking of Kazan, the Volga –
the chief waterway route of the land, became finally a Russian river. And from
Tatar servitude were liberated 60,000 Russian people. The enlightenment of the
Tatars with the light of the Gospel truth was started. There were the first
martyrs – Saints Peter and Stephen (Comm. 24 March). The newly established
Kazan diocese entered into the complexion of the Russian Church and was soon
illustrious in its own archbishops: Sainted Gurii (+ 1563, Comm. 5 December)
and Sainted German (+ 1567, Comm. 6 November).
But the
advance of Orthodoxy was especially enabled amongst the Volga Mahometans by the
appearance, on 8 July 1579, of the wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God in
the city of Kazan. Preaching the Gospel had been a difficult matter in this
conquered kingdom amongst the incorrigible pagans. The Most Holy Mother of God,
Mediatrix of preachers of the Word of God, Who even during Her earthly life
shared in the evangelic work of the holy Apostles, – in looking down upon the
efforts of the Russian missionaries, She did not hesitate to send them Heavenly
help, manifest through Her wonderworking Icon.
On 28
June 1579 there occurred a terrible fire which had started around the church of
Sainted Nikolai of Tula. This fire destroyed part of the city and turned to
ashes half of the Kazan Kremlin. The city, however, began to quickly rise up
from its ruins. Together with others who had been burned out, and not far from
where the fire had started, – was built the house of the musketeer Daniil
Onuchin. The Mother of God appeared in a dream to his nine year old daughter
Matrona and commanded her to find Her icon, hidden in the ground by secret
confessors of Orthodoxy way back still in the time of Moslem rule. But to the
words of a mere girl they paid no attention. Thrice the Mother of God appeared
and pointed out the spot, where the wonderworking icon had been concealed.
Finally, Matrona with her mother began to dig in the indicated place and they
found the sacred icon. To this place of the miraculous discovery there came
archbishop Jeremii at the head of his clergy and transported the holy image
into a church of Saint Nicholas situated nearby. From there, after a moleben,
amidst a church procession they transferred it to the Annunciation cathedral –
the first Orthodox temple in the city of Kazan, erected by tsar Ivan the
Terrible. During the time of the procession, there occurred the healing of two
blind men – Iosif and Nikita.
A copy of
the Icon, which had appeared at Kazan, together with an account of the
circumstances of its discovery and descriptions of the miracles was dispatched
in 1579 to Moscow. Tsar Ivan the Terrible gave orders to build at the place of
its appearance a temple in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, to
install therein the holy icon, and to found there also a women's monastery.
Matrona and her mother, instrumental in finding the sacred icon, accepted
monastic tonsure at this monastery.
At the
Nikol'sk (Nicholas) church, where the first moleben had been made before the
Kazan Icon, was serving at this time as priest the future Sainted Ermogen,
Patriarch of Moscow (+ 1612, Comm. 17 February). Fifteen years later, in 1594,
now as Metropolitan of Kazan, he compiled a report of the holy events to which
he had been an eyewitness and participant: "Account and Miracles of the
Most Pure Mother of God from Her Venerable and Gloriously Manifest Image at
Kazan". In this account are descriptions with great factual precision
regarding many an instance of healing, from the wonderworking Icon through the
prayers of believers. Here are just few of the miracles of the Kazan Icon:
Protection from invasion
When
Russia was occupied by the Poles, one of the imprisoned Russian soldiers
managed to send a letter in secret to Novgorod. In that letter he asked to
write to metropolitan Efrem, that he should write and send a charter to the
boyars and the Cossack cohorts, ordering them to stand up bravely for their
faith and help those people who was in need.
The
people of Novgorod responded to that appeal. Duke Dmitry Michailovich Pozharsky
became the leader of the militia. The Cossack warriors who joined militia took
the copy of the wonder-working icon of the Mother of God of Kazan. That was the
moment when The Mother of God took them under Her protection.
When the
Poles were driven out Tsar Michail Fedorovich set two feasts in honor of the
Mother of God of Kazan. The first one is on July 8 (July 21) – the day when the
icon was found, and the second one in October 22 (November 4) – the day when
the State of Moscow cleared its territory from the enemy.
The healing of the blind infant
One day a
sad woman entered the church. She had a little child who was blind and could
see absolutely nothing. She was holding
him and praying in front of the wonder working image of the Mother of God of
Kazan and prayed that her child could see the light.
Suddenly
the child begun to touch his mother’s face with his hands. All the people who
were there saw that. Then the archbishop asked to bring the child an apple.
When the child tried to catch it, they understood that he could see now, and so
that they all started to praise the Lord and the Mother of God.
The blind monk
There was
a blind monk called Joseph in the Troetsky monastery in Kazan. When he found
out about the wonder working icon of Kazan he came to the cathedral church of
the Mother of God and had a moleben served in front of the icon. But that did
not help him, so he returned home in sad and depressed mood.
At home
he decided to rest for a while. When he nodded, he saw the image of the Mother
of God and heard the voice, which ordered him to go back, to serve a
molebenthere and to wash his face with a pall. Thus, She said, the monk would
be cured. When Joseph did so, he was able to see again.
The healing of the weak one
Isaac,
the son of widow Iulita, was suffering from paralysis almost for three years.
His body was so weak that he could not even put his legs on the floor. When he
found out about the wonder-working icon he asked his mother to pray in front of
it. He could not go with her, and that is why he was praying to the Mother of
God at home. He asked the Holy Theotokos that he could see the icon with his
own eyes.
At one
point Isaac felt a relief and with the help of the Mother of God he managed to
stand up. He took two sticks and went to the monastery to see the
wonder-working icon. When the mother saw him, she was shocked and could not
believe her eyes. When she got over it, she realized what a marvelous miracle
had happened by the will of the Mother of God. She fell on the floor in front
of the image and began to glorify the Lord and the Mother of God.
The woman with illness in her legs
The wife
of the boyar’s son Ivashka suffered from a strange disease, which no one could
cure. Her legs hurt so much that she could not even move them. When she heard
of the wonder-working icon the Mother of God of Kazan, she asked to bring her
to it.
When the
woman saw the icon she began to pray wholeheartedly, asking the Mother of God
to have mercy and cure her legs. Right in the middle of the service, she was
cured and could go home on her own without any help. She was full of joy and
glorified the Mother of God for that miracle.
The curing of amentia
In the
city of Laishev there was a man called Kozma who suffered from amentia. One day
his relatives offered him to visit the Kazan Monastery and ask the Mother of
God to cure his disease. When Kozma recovered a bit he began to pray to the
Mother of God to be healed. Thus, by God’s will and grace of the Mother of God
he was cured. He served a moleben and then recovered completely. On his way
home he was glorifying the Lord and the Mother of God with all his heart.
Casting out the evil spirit
John, who
was a priest in the St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Church, and his wife Domna
lived in the city of Sviyazhisk. There was a neighbor who once, being tempted
by devil made Domna so drunk that she got insane. She got wild and disgraced
herself and her husband. Those who saw this were frightened while some mocked
him.
At that
moment John was away from the city, but soon relatives told him what had
happened with his wife. By that moment she had given herself up to despair and
fallen ill from shame and fear. Then the evil spirit possessed her and worsened
her illness. More than 10 times a day she became mad – she behaved as a wild
animal, grinded the teeth and frothed at the mouth. Her sufferings lasted for
35 weeks.
John
prayed to God and the Mother of God for his wife’s healing all day, and asked
the Saints for help as well. He brought his wife to Kazan to the wonder-working
Icon, but Domna did not recover. Then, on February 11, 1583, Mary, the mother
superior of the convent, was told in her sleep that they should bring Domna to
the Icon when the demon was torturing her.
Next time
when the demon started to torture Domna, she was brought to the Icon of the
Mother of God and the demon was cast out and she recovered at once. Giving
thanks and praising God and the Mother of God, she returned home with her
husband.
Healing of a dying soldier
One of
hospital nurses told this story during her service in World War II. A wounded
soldier Nikifor Rudin who had got an bullet lodged into his stomach spent quite
a long time in the hospital. He was brought to the hospital in critical
condition. The temperature of his body was as high as 40°C and higher and the
soldier suffered from terrible pain where the wound was.
From day
to day Nikifor’s condition got even worse and it was decided to operate on
him. Before the operation, an all-night
vigil with the wonder-working Icon was served in the hospital and Nikifor who
believed in God asked the nurse to light a candle and pray for him heartily.
The nurse did as he asked and onthat night a real miracle happened. The pus of
Nikifor’s wounds began to exude. The temperature fell, pain calmed down, and
the soldier started to recover significantly. Soon, after a simple operation
was executed, Nikifor recovered completely.
Source:
http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/July/08-01.htm
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