On Saturday of the fifth week of Great Lent, the Holy Church celebrates. Otherwise, this holiday is called Saturday Akathist, compiled in gratitude for miraculous deliverance from troubles through the intercession of the Mother of God. About a small fraction modern miracles Our Lady - these stories.
— In 2016, after leaving the service for the reserve, I took a trip to a sanatorium in Sochi. I went out, I remember, to the coast. It was a clear sunny day. The sea is calm: not a single wave. Exactly at noon I saw a school of dolphins swimming to the shore, and began to count: 12. I sat in a sun lounger and watched them. When I suddenly realized that they were pushing some object to the shore edge of the water... When the dolphins disappeared, suddenly the only wave that I noticed that day came and threw this bundle onto the sand. I paid attention to him, but soon I was distracted by business and left the beach for a while. I come back, and this sea offering still lies in the same place... I got it e-book and tried to get into reading, but an inner voice kept repeating:
- Open the bag. Open the bag.
I obeyed. Came up. The bag was covered in mud. I removed these algae. He began to untie the twine. The contents turned out to be tied up with a man's sweater, fastened with stationery needles with plastic tips. I unfold the sweater, and there is an icon! Mother of God.
I called my mother and sent home a picture of the find via WhatsApp.
Mom said:
- It was sent to you - take it.
Although someone immediately came up and offered to take the shrine to the temple. But I still listened to my mother. Schema-Archimandrite Iliy (Nozdrin) later confirmed this decision to me when I brought him the icon to Peredelkino. Archpriest Valerian Krechetov was still with him at that time. I wanted to give the icon to them, but Father Eli said:
- Let her stay with you for now.
This icon is miraculous. How many times has it happened that colleagues who had some serious problems in life came to my home, and I told them:
- Believe, pray! Just ask the Mother of God in your own words!
And each time, absolutely miraculously, everything in the lives of these people was resolved.
My life has completely changed. Somehow everything started to work out correctly. Someone wrote something on the Internet about this incident, but there are a lot of lies there. For some reason they wrote that I was there with my wife, but I just got married a year ago! I feel help and protection Holy Mother of God.
How the Mother of God intervened when the doctors refused
— I remember how in the 1970s the monks of the Lavra were prevented from holding separate unctions. They say that one general unction on Great Wednesday is enough for believers. And soon a very young girl living next door to the Lavra fell ill. She worked as an accountant at a children's clinic. They built something in the courtyard of the institution, dug holes, and through carelessness she fell and hurt herself. She had some kind of hard lump, she thought it would go away, but as it seemed to the doctors, they diagnosed cancer, and already with metastases... She was lying alone in the ward of the Botkin hospital, and she burst into tears:
- For what, Lord?..
The Mother of God said: “Lydia, why are you grumbling? No one left you"
And I saw the Most Holy Theotokos right in the chamber:
- Lydia, why are you complaining? Nobody left you.
The doctors abandoned her and sent her home as hopeless. Her mother was a believer, and she immediately turned to the Lavra monks with a request to give unction and communion.
The girl was brought to the Lavra, and we locked ourselves in the Mikheevsky Church, without turning on the lights, and offered unction to her by candlelight. Then she took communion three times and returned to work healthy.
- How did you heal? - her colleagues ask.
“The Lord healed, Holy Communion,” she answered.
You just have to believe, pray, the Mother of God will hear, the Lord will not leave.
The Most Holy Theotokos helps not only semi-legendary people from ancient legends, but also you and me - you just need to ask. Stories of the Mother of God's help in different life situations the priests of our diocese are sharing.
A Lesson in Moderation in Prayer
Archpriest Leonid Dotsenko, dean of the Dobropolsky district:
The Mother of God helps, but sometimes it turns out that we are not ready to accept Her help. We ask: “Mother of God, give this, that, the third, the tenth!” She gives, and when we receive, we understand that we don’t need it at all.
I’ll tell you about a lesson I recently received from the Most Holy Theotokos. The priests of our deanery and I asked about one important matter. The Mother of God heard us, we received help, but we continued to ask further: the more good, the better. In the end, they gave us more, but it became clear: it would be better if we stopped in time.
We need to ask that it be not the way we want, but the way the Lord and the Mother of God want it. They know better how to help us. It is also important not to overdo it. You see what has happened - everything, you need to stop, otherwise it will be too much. Remember the cartoon "Golden Antelope"? The magic antelope asked the king: “Are you sure that you need a lot of gold and you will never say “enough”?” You need to be able to tell yourself “enough is enough” in time. You asked for a little - stop. If not fulfilled - wait. Sometimes it turns out that we don’t need what we are asking for at all. The desired can come true in such a way that a person will not be happy.
Cover during the war
Archpriest Nikolai Markovsky, rector of the Intercession Church in the village. Zaitsevo:
For us, residents of the village of Zaitsevo, parishioners of the Intercession Church, the most important miracle is that today our temple stands intact and unharmed. It holds regular services and operates Sunday School, the parish lives fully Christian life. Seeing houses literally a few meters from our church that were burned by shells, I understand that this is a real miracle and a sign of the patronage of the Mother of God.
Mari, who might not have been born
Archpriest Anatoly Kostenko, rector of the Assumption Church in the village. Svyatohorivka:
Recently people from Kurakhovo came to us. A woman comes up to me and asks: “Father, do you remember us?” - “Well, someone, but I remember you!” - I answer. Six years ago this woman came to our temple - she came with her husband to the springs. The fact is that in our village there are two sources: one is consecrated in honor of the icon of the Mother of God " Life-Giving Source", the second - the healer Panteleimon. These people did not have children because their wife had a cyst. I said: “Pray to the Mother of God, the healer Panteleimon, St. Nicholas the Pleasant, take communion, receive unction. You have to work hard, and not just ask.”
Time passes, they were not seen for a long time. One day during the service I saw her come in and hold a child in her arms raised high - she showed it to me. The service is going on, and she says: “Father, here is your Mariyka!” Then the choir bursts out!.. I laughed and said: “The whole church was praying for you, so don’t turn on me!”
Then this woman told how it all happened. They did everything as required. After a while she came to the doctor, and he said: “There is no cyst, you don’t need anything, no operations. How were you treated?” She replies: “I was swimming.” The doctor says: “We are all swimming! Come on, tell me more specifically!” “I swam in the spring,” he says. Her cyst went away and she gave birth without any operations. This is a great blessing to the Mother of God. Recently this woman came to us and said that her daughter is already going to school this year.
The second miracle is associated with the construction of the temple. We began to build a church in honor of the Three-Handed Icon of the Mother of God in the village of Verovka, five kilometers from our village. They found ten people who will move other people. Of course, they began to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos. As a result, we did so much in a month and a half that it’s hard to believe. This can only be called a miracle. There was no money at all. We laid the foundation ourselves in three cleanup days, it was cheap. They promised wood - 30 cubic meters. We thought we would have to wait a long time. They call: we will deliver it in a week, wait. Let me run around and look for money. People were found, money was found. Two people arrived from Transcarpathia. We unloaded the timber on August 13th, and we put them on the return train on the 25th. During this time they built the walls, the altar and covered the roof. In fact, in ten days the log temple grew. I asked: “Guys, do you need help?” - “The Mother of God will help!” - they answered. They worked from morning to evening, and the temple rose. Of course, we still need to build the dome, there is a lot of work, but the help of the Mother of God is simply greatest. It’s simply impossible to do so much from scratch in a month and a half.
The third story is about our parishioner. We have a pensioner. One day he came and donated five thousand hryvnia to the temple, and then the same amount. For ordinary person this is a large amount. After a while he comes up to me and says: “Father, they’ll probably kick me out of work!” They started personnel changes there, he is a pensioner, it turned out that he would be fired. I say: “Here is the Mother of God, here is Nikolai the Pleasant. Go and pray! He prayed. Time passes, and what happened? He was not fired, but transferred to another position: he became deputy director, he works, and it has also become more convenient to get there. After that, he bought a large candlestick and brought it to the temple as a gift to the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Pleasant.
We have a lot of such cases, we don’t even record them. Those who don’t have children or whose children stutter come to our sources. Healings happened more than once. The Mother of God takes pity on us, sinners and unsettled ones. She cries and asks for us before the Lord. Let us pray to Her and thank her for her help!
The story of the temple and two icons
An ancient building donated to the community
Archpriest Georgy Klapchuk, rector of the Makarievsky Church of Toretsk:
My priestly service is closely connected with the Mother of God, because the first church in which I served was consecrated in honor of Tikhvin icon Mother of God. It is located in the village of Druzhba, not far from Toretsk. The temple is atypical - an adapted building of the former state farm canteen. What is surprising is that it was built in the shape of a cross; moreover, when the building was adapted to serve as a temple, the altar ended up in right place, on east side. We could not find any information about why this happened. I believe that this is the providence of the Mother of God.
There was nothing in this building, it was dilapidated, part of the roof was leaking. We covered it with slate and arranged it. For many years I had a dream: to have a dome in the church that leads a person’s gaze upward, to have windows in it - I saw one in the St. Nicholas Church of the Svyatogorsk Lavra. I dreamed of dreaming, but I understood that in reality this was impossible: the village was very small, there were few people, there were no teachers.
Ten years passed, and finally a person appeared who agreed to help us restore the temple. This was Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov, who at one time was the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and at that time the chairman of the Federation Council. He was a native of the village, we turned to him for help, and he did not refuse.
As a result, we drilled a good well, a spring appeared on the territory of the temple, consecrated in honor of the Mother of God, wonderful bells were purchased, and a wooden bell tower was built, which Nikolai Ivanovich himself designed. And the temple is crowned with a dome - the kind I dreamed of. I believe that it was the Mother of God who showed Her mercy and performed such a miracle: a beautiful church now stands in the village.
The amazing help of the Mother of God to our church did not end there. One parishioner’s son worked at the Bogoroditse-Rozhdestvensky Stauropegic convent in Moscow. He asked Abbess Victorina (Perminova) to paint an icon of the Mother of God “Tikhvinskaya” for our church, and she gave her blessing for that. The icon appeared even before the reconstruction of the temple - large and very beautiful. I still have a certificate stating that the monastery is donating this image to our temple.
I can’t help but remember another interesting incident. My wife's father was also a priest. He gave her an ancient image of the Mother of God. It depicts the appearance of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas to St. George the Sexton.
The “Conversational” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos received its name because it depicts the Most Pure Mother and St. Nicholas of Myra, who are talking with the sexton George. This event occurred shortly after the appearance of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God - in 1383, when the Most Holy Theotokos ordered sexton George to say that over the temple in Her honor, consecrated in Tikhvin, they should erect not an iron one, but wooden cross. - Approx. ed.
This icon is still kept in our family. Father Valery gave it to my wife even before we met. It is providential that I am George, and they ordained me in the temple in honor of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. This is a miracle for our family.
The miracles of the Most Holy Theotokos today never cease to amaze and delight Christians, and her help comes to all Christians who pray near Her icons.
Help of the Mother of God
A simple girl, Maria, was one of the first women on the planet who gave her heart to God from childhood. Remaining a virgin, she was constantly in prayer, devoting her life to Jesus, the Savior of all people.
A world in which fornication, civil marriages, same-sex relationships have become the norm and are even protected by law will never understand the sacrificial feat of the practically little girl Mary, because she was only 14 years old at the time of her marriage. Not everyone can accommodate this (Matthew 19:1)
Blessed Virgin Mary
Having become the earthly Mother of Jesus, after His Ascension, the Virgin Mary continued to serve the love of Her Son, showing the followers of the King of Kings an example of such character qualities:
- humility;
- self-control;
- responsiveness;
- sacrifice;
- patience;
- unshakable faith.
Help Mother of God was given to both the surviving apostles and ordinary people, who lived in a difficult time of Christian persecution. According to eyewitnesses, the miracles of the Most Holy Theotokos continue today, just as they have for 2000 years.
Icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Feasts of the Virgin Mary associated with her miracles
The celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God (October 14) is one of the great venerations of the Mother of God, which is celebrated by Christians of many denominations. The Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God, which was located in the temple of the same name, was the protector of the people of that region for several centuries.
626 - Constantinople was besieged by Avars, people in deep sadness constantly prayed and performed religious processions around the temple led by Patriarch Sergius and Constantine the Third, carrying an icon of the Virgin Mary.
Blachernae Icon of the Mother of God
During one of these campaigns, the residents were surprised by the sudden flight of the Avars. It turned out that the leaders and ordinary warriors saw the image of a woman dressed in precious jewelry, standing on the city walls.
- 718 - The Mother of God saves the city from the siege of the Arabs.
- 864 The Russes besieged the city from the sea, Emperor Michael the Third, by whose order the Robe of the Mother of God was lowered into the sea with prayers and chants, watched as a sudden storm arose, causing a storm that scattered the enemy fleet like matchboxes.
- 910 - Saracens (Muslims) besieged Constantinople. Services in the temple were conducted around the clock, and, as St. Andrew, at 4 o’clock in the morning all the people present in the temple saw the Mother of God, accompanied by John the Baptist and John the Theologian.
Since that time, Orthodox Christians have honored the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God.
About other Mother of God holidays:
Apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Portugal and Her Three Mysteries
From May to October 1917, every time on the 13th, three shepherd boys from the city of Fatima in Portugal not only saw a bright light, the Holy Face, but received a message from the Blessed Virgin, known in history as the “Three Mysteries”.
One of their children, Lucia Santos, became a Catholic nun and, at the behest of the Bishop of Lori, in 1941 she wrote down notes on the first Prophecies; she wrote down the third message in 1943 with the condition of its opening 20 years later.
A commentary on the third secret was subsequently given by Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict the Sixteenth, which, along with a description of all three secrets, can be found on the Vatican website.
Secret prophecies
In the first vision, the Mother of God showed all the pictures of hell in the form of a huge fiery sea, where demons ruled. Human souls, represented by embers, screamed and moaned. Only the previous promise of the Most Pure One to take the children to Heaven gave them the strength to survive what they saw.
Fatima prophecies - the appearance of the Virgin Mary
The second secret was the prophecy about the Second World War, which might not have happened if the USSR had repented and accepted the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God.
The third message was transmitted through an Angel holding a fiery sword in his hand, from the tip of which tongues of fire erupted. The flame constantly rushed to the ground, but died out when it touched the palm of the Most Pure Mother.
The angel shouted for people to repent. Then the children saw a procession of the priesthood and a multitude led by Holy Father, who prayed for people, wept bitterly over the sick, was killed upon reaching the cross on the top of the mountain.
In 1981, Pope John Paul II was stabbed while visiting Fatima and, according to the pontiff, was saved only by the Holy Virgin. At the request of the Pope, nun Lucia gave him the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God from the Fatima Church.
Egyptian miracle of the appearance of the Blessed Mary
Volumes can be written about the testimonies of people who have seen the image of the Holy Mother over two thousand years. Many Egyptians saw this miracle. The small village of Zeytun “stuck” to the huge Cairo, the capital of Egypt, and would have remained unknown to few people in the world if not for the appearance of the Mother of God.
In this village, the Church of Our Lady of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1925, although the Arabs are Monophysites who believe only in the Divine nature of Jesus.
One of the parishioners of the temple dreamed of Saint Mary and promised to appear in a few decades. It was 1968, half past eight in the evening on April 2, two Muslims were preparing their carts for a new day, when a wondrous light illuminated the dome of the temple and they saw a woman who at first was mistaken for a sleepwalker or a suicide.
Arabs came running to the light and saw how the woman bent over the cross, began to pray, and then hovered up and down around the temple. The people cried out in one voice: “Most Pure Virgin!”, some parishioners rushed to the priest’s home. Ayat Ibrahim was the rector of the temple at that time, and he was given the grace to see the Holy Face in a golden-blue glow through open window.
Miracle in Zeitoun
Until August 1969, the Most Pure Virgin showed Her Face twice a week; there is evidence of this from more than 350 thousand people.
Everyone who saw this miracle received healing. Even photographs of this Divine gift from Heaven have been preserved.
Yugoslavia, Lvov and Egypt again
The mountain in Medugorje, Yugoslavia, became the site of a real pilgrimage in the summer of 1981, when more than 10 thousand people simultaneously saw the shining image of the Mother of God, many received healing and answers to their prayers.
Visions of the Virgin Mary in Yugoslavia
After this, the Holy Virgin was seen only by young people to whom She left messages, their main meaning - Live in peace, repent, return to God in fasting and prayers! The once communist Yugoslavia has become a Christian country.
Easter 1985 was historical event in the history of the Cathedral of the Holy Mother of God in Lviv. Metropolitan John held an Easter service, attended by thousands of people, during which suddenly one of the windows was illuminated by a bright shining light, which gradually emerged into the image of the Virgin.
Frightened and at the same time delighted, the Christians began to loudly offer prayers and hymns to the Mother of God. The same Face was visible from the outside. The news of the miracle instantly spread throughout the city, people began to flock to the temple, which the police tried to disperse.
The beautiful vision was accompanied by messages from the Virgin Mary for more than 20 days, during which time everyone present in that place received healing from illness.
The miracles and help of the Blessed Virgin today are confirmed by witnesses to the events of early September 2000, which occurred again in Egypt.
The dome of the Church of St. Mark, located in the city of Lycopolis, was illuminated every night by the Face of the Holy Virgin in the radiance of a flock of doves. The bright light flooded the nearby streets and houses, which confused the city authorities, who saw fraud in the miracle. Orthodox Church. After the city was cut off from electricity, God's light continued to illuminate everything around, giving healing to sick people and cripples.
Miracles in the modern world
In 1988, France was shocked by the miracles of the outpouring olive oil at every prayer of Basham Afache, an employee of one of the entrepreneurs in France. During preparation for the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, Basham cleaned his home church, constantly praying. Suddenly the worker heard a voice saying that he had been given grace and a gift, and at the same time oil flowed down his hands.
The Parisian Church of St. Stephen witnessed an outpouring of oil that lasted for an hour.
At the request of the abbot, the liquid was examined by scientists. In conclusion, they wrote that the oil does not have an external source, and there is no scientific or logical explanation for this.
Many Orthodox believers testify to the healings bestowed by the Mother of God through prayers near Her Holy Faces:
- a woman, after praying at the “Unquenchable Candle” icon, safely gave birth to a child;
- another parishioner, Zhenya Sidyakova, left her stick near the same icon and went home on healthy legs;
- Galya Marchenko and Nina Shchedyavin, residents of Moscow, testify to the strengthening of faith during the enlightenment of the “Goalkeeper” icon.
It is impossible in one article to list all the miracles and help provided by Saint Mary to those asking near Her icons at the present time. People thank for such miracles:
- healing;
- gaining faith;
- return of a missing person;
- getting rid of cancer;
- liberation from all types of addictions;
- creating a family;
- relief from infertility and much more.
Almost every corner globe V different time The Most Pure Virgin appeared to people.
The name of the Holy Faces of the Mother of God means the place of her appearance, Pochaevskaya, Iverskaya, Kazanskaya, Vladimirskaya, Georgianskaya, Jerusalemskaya, Ilyinsko-Chernigovskaya and many others.
The icons were named after the miracles given to the world: Bogolyubskaya, Search for the Lost, All-Tsaritsa, Worthy There are others, and each of them gave a spiritual miracle in its own way. To this day, the Bright Face of the Mother of God comes to the aid of all those who ask with a pure heart and faith in the soul.
True faith, life according to the laws of God work miracles, then in the most difficult moments of life God, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Mother of God help.
Miracle of faith - the appearance of the Virgin Mary
MIRACLES OF THE VIRGIN. APPEARANCE OF THE MOST Pure VIRGIN IN THE TITH CHURCH IN Kyiv IN 2006. In 2006, on Easter, decades after the destruction of the third Council of the Tithes in 1928, we celebrated our first holiday Divine Liturgy in the tabernacle at the Church of the Tithes. And a few days later, on Thursday of Bright Week, in our church there was an appearance of the Queen of Heaven immediately after all-night vigil feast of the Life-Giving Spring icon. When this happened, people were still in the temple. The Most Holy Theotokos entered in a long snow-white robe, with an omophorion covering her head. It was not an ethereal image, not a vision that seemed to someone. Everyone who was in the temple saw Her. She walked like a person in the flesh, the sound of Her steps could be heard. The Most Pure One approached the analogue, on which the only painted icon of the Mother of God of the Tithes that we had at that time was installed. The rest were lithographs. In a small tabernacle, this huge image immediately stood out. She walked up to the icon, stood near it, looked, even bowed her head a little towards it, as a person usually does who is carefully examining something.
On Bright Week The Royal Doors are open all week. And the Mother of God, walking around the lectern with the icon, entered Royal Doors to the altar. When She raised Her most pure hands to heaven and began to pray, people fell to the floor in a frenzy and their body and mind passed out (St. Paisius the Svyatogorets said that when the grace of God comes to a person, he is “crushed” or literally “paralyzed” and his bones made as soft as wax). What can we say about the immeasurable grace of the prayer of the Queen of Heaven Herself? Who could stand it, standing a few meters from the place where it ascended? As my spiritual children and parishioners who were at that moment in the temple - and people of different classes - told me later, of different ages, different social levels - they all experienced the same state of being lost (falling out) from reality. Although they looked at Her from different sides: some stood on the right, and others on the left. At this time, I was talking with the clergy and my friends outside after the service. We went out and stood literally ten meters from the temple on the path near the bench. Then I saw out of the corner of my eye that people were lying on the floor, clutching their heads, and I thought, God forbid, something happened. We are in a very special place and at the same time difficult. Entering the temple, we saw that people were rising from the floor, all in tears. The priests came in - and we, too, all stood and cried.
The presence of the Queen of Heaven was felt, Her great ineffable grace, which is difficult for a sinful person to withstand. Even if you tell someone that the Kingdom of Heaven was here yesterday, the person still will not cry. And if he feels it in his heart, then even if he remains silent or says two words, the tears themselves will flow in a stream. This is what happened to us. This greatest event, inspiring fear and awe, the likes of which the history of the Church has not seen for a long time, showed firsthand how important and dear to our Lady the canonical Orthodox Divine Service and the offering of a bloodless sacrifice at the place chosen by Her throughout the centuries. After a while, an insight struck me that explained why everything happened right now. The appearance of the Mother of God also marked the most important date in the history of Russian Orthodoxy, 2006 marked exactly 1010 years of the Tithe (10-tin) Church. The temple was built by Byzantine architects in 996. The date of the symbol, the date of exclamation and appeal to our memory was marked by the visit of the Mother of God to Her first stone cathedral. At that same moment, it became clear with utmost clarity that She Herself had brought us back here and blessed us to bring praise and glory to Her Son and our God.
Ten years of the Tithes After this very blessed visit to the Most Pure One, the Tithes icon began to work miracles. All those present saw the Mother of God enter, but no one saw her leave. And we think that She remained with us. We feel and see this - the brethren and our parishioners - by the many mercies and miracles that are performed among us. In 2016, on Easter, there was an anniversary of this event - ten years since services were resumed at this holy place and ten years since the appearance of the Mother of God. It was providentially right here: Tithe - the first Cathedral of the Most Pure Mother of God in Rus' - the mother of all Russian churches. From here Christianity began to establish itself in our land. This place is holy for all Russian people. All our founders, high priests and fathers served and prayed here, starting from Grand Duke Vladimir, who built the Church of the Tithes in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Byzantine, first metropolitan Kievsky Mikhail; St. Peter Mogila, who considered it an honor to serve here, was the rector of the Tithe Church and initiated its revival after destruction during the Mongol-Tatar invasion. All Russian emperors visited here and tied their royal ribbons around the throne. About spiritual and historical significance Many volumes and doctoral dissertations have been written by the Tithe Church. Where in the first centuries of Christianity were they ordained to the priesthood and tonsured into monasticism? Where were the bishops? Where else was there such a service under the Byzantine charter? Where did the Greeks serve? Everyone is here, we know it. Only thanks to the prayers and intercession of the Queen of Heaven, a beautiful temple has now been erected here. She herself keeps us here and takes care of us.
Return to life The most striking of the miracles that happened soon was the return to life of one servant of God. This was immediately a month after the appearance of the Mother of God. A high-ranking official came to me to negotiate the burial of his mother. A grown man, a little older than me. His mother, whose name was Maria, was in the intensive care unit of an elite hospital and no longer showed any signs of life - breathing was forcibly supported by machines. The question was when to turn them off: the doctors unanimously said that it was impossible to return the woman and gave the relatives time to agree on a place in the cemetery. One of Maria’s two sons, my friend, we are still friends, was very grieving, crying, reproaching himself that his mother died, and he did not have time to say goodbye. He so wanted to do and tell her something else, to repay his filial debt. We only had two candlesticks then. And without wanting it, I don’t know how it happened, I told him: “Take it, put two full candlesticks of candles and pray from the bottom of your heart in your own words - and mom will still live.” He stared at me: “How? She’s practically dead already.” And as if listening to my words from the outside, I repeated again: “He will live yet.” He, oddly enough, believed me and asked: “How much?” "How much do you want?" He blurted out: “Six months is enough for me to say goodbye.” “That means mom will live for another six months.” He went, put two full candlesticks of candles, we prayed and... mom came to life. All our clergy and parishioners know about this. Slave Mary of God, who was then over seventy, returned to life from the “point of no return.” The head doctor and the entire medical staff of the hospital were in shock; it was a colossal shock for everyone. The man actually died, they were preparing to pronounce death. And suddenly she stood up, frightening the nurse. Then I gave Maria unction and we talked. She herself is a teacher, she was the head teacher at a school in Bila Tserkva near Kiev. Then I came to visit them, the lively one prepared a three-course dinner and fed us. And six months later we buried her. She confessed, took communion, and got ready. Every Sunday her children come to the temple and bring a large bouquet of roses in memory of their mother. This is truly a stunning miracle, but there were many others. We wrote down a whole thick book of them. But there were so many of them that we then stopped recording them.
Come and see For example, an everyday miracle. One pious family, into which a child was born, wanted to change their apartment. Children were afraid to let their parents go far because they were sick and needed care. But it became difficult for them to live together. It’s difficult to change, it’s expensive to pay extra, and there are no opportunities. They came to the temple and explained their grief. We served a prayer service. “Go in peace,” I tell them, “The Mother of God will help.” They went home, hopeful, and the next day they got a call: someone had been found in their own house. perfect option, and they exchanged one of their apartments for two. The parents stayed with the children in the same house. Isn't this a miracle? To a non-believer, this story may seem like a coincidence. But this is impossible. The odds are one in four million. Another story. Small child he couldn’t hold his head, he had a terrible disease - his muscles atrophied. Young parents came with this child, we prayed at the miraculous icon. And immediately after the prayer service, the child’s head stopped shaking, his muscles became stronger - the baby was healed. We also healed a man who had suffered from purulent thrombophlebitis for fifteen years. This is a terrible thing: the man could not walk, his legs were rotting alive. He couldn’t get up, all the blood clots were clogged, his legs were black. When we were serving a prayer service, a fog as white as milk suddenly appeared from nowhere and floated through the temple. I looked at him again, but special significance didn't give it. And then, after the prayer service, before our eyes, this seriously ill man got out of the wheelchair and walked away on his own feet. He is a newcomer, sometimes even now he comes to our services, the brethren see him. After the healing, he then came and thanked the Most Holy Theotokos and us. A man spent fifteen years of his life in a wheelchair. And in fifteen minutes all the wounds on his legs healed.
Another miracle. This incident happened five years ago. A family came to us: a husband, a high-ranking official in Kyiv, and his seriously ill wife. They are rich people, their children are already adults. The man knew that we had a miraculous icon and asked: “Father, pray, my wife has the fourth stage of cancer. We were in Germany, spent a lot of money there. The doctors did everything they could, and then they told us to go home. your wife will stay at home with her grandchildren for as long as she has left - two, three weeks or a month." My wife was on tranquilizers and strong painkillers. We served a prayer service in front of the Tithe Icon. I tell them: “Ask the Mother of God, She can do anything. Fast, come to confession and communion.” They did it all. Both confessed, repented, and received Holy Communion. The woman was healed completely - and immediately. They then went to Germany to see the same doctors. When the doctors saw her, they were in great shock. The healed woman underwent a complete examination - nothing was found! No signs of illness. The doctors began to ask: “What did you take? Sorry, we thought you were already buried.” They answered: “We prayed in church.” When they heard this, they smiled with understanding, apparently they were already familiar with such exceptions to the rules. They said: “Well, then you don’t have to come to us anymore.” And this couple also often comes with gratitude and prays, and we have been friends ever since. They help us when needed. All our brethren know this man, I cannot say his name, because it is known in the city.
Another miracle of healing that happened a month and a half ago. The small child suffered from urolithiasis and was awaiting a complex operation. It’s hard to imagine, but he was found to have stones that could not be broken through by an ultrasonic crusher. On the eve of the operation he was brought to us. We served a prayer service, prayed, asked the Mother of God for help, and anointed our tummy with myrrh. After this, the child was taken to the hospital. Before the operation, a control ultrasound is required. They did an examination: and there was nothing from the previous stones, clean kidneys, not even sand. This is only a small fraction of the miracles that happen to us through the prayers of the Mother of God. There are no gates in our monastery, since we are located in an archaeological zone, next to the foundation of the ancient Cathedral of the Most Pure One, built by Grand Duke Vladimir. But our goalkeeper is the Queen of Heaven Herself, and the novices are angels of God who help us a lot. Otherwise, it is impossible to stand here for 24 hours (in ancient pre-Christian times there was a pagan temple on this site. According to the words of the Apostle: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded there (Rom. 5:20).” Pagan Satanists tried to burn our monastery and doused it with gasoline miraculous icon Queen of Heaven. They threw a Molotov cocktail at the holy image. The fire in the temple broke out so much that everything around was charred, plastic air conditioners melted and hung from the wall like a wet rag. But the icons, like the relics, remained unharmed, only the reliquary was slightly damaged at the edges. This is a great and terrible miracle. It once again shows that the Tithe Church is a symbolic place of absolute great grace. I'm not convincing anyone. Come and see.
There is such a parable.
The Holy Apostle Peter, when he ended his earthly life, was called to Heaven, where the Lord handed him the keys to the gates of heaven. Peter zealously carried out his service, opening the doors of heaven for the souls of those people who turned out to be worthy of heavenly bliss. But one day Peter noticed in the bright paradise people whom he did not let in. How did they get here? And in great anxiety he came to the Lord. The Lord said, “Follow me, Peter.”
They walked through the gardens of Eden and groves and saw a green lawn under the mountain Holy Virgin, which looked down from the edge of a deep cliff. In the hands of the Most Pure One was a ladder woven from the finest blue silk. And from the abyss came moans and pleas...
And so the Most Pure One lowers her cobweb ladder, and one after another, the suffering, tortured people climb up onto the lawn and disappear into gardens of paradise, flower beds and groves.
With each person saved, the Lady raises her hands and prays to God:
- My Lord and God! You see, hear and know everything. By Your ineffable mercy, forgive Me for violating the wise orders of Your bright paradise. But I lived on earth, and I myself am a mother. Can I refuse a mother who pleads for her son? And am I not the Mother of all suffering humanity?
Then God put His almighty hand on the shoulder of the Apostle Peter and said:
- Let's leave here slowly. You and I have nothing to do here.
You can often hear from non-believers: “Show us your God, then perhaps we too will believe.” But it is impossible to see God, “God is spirit” ( In. 4, 24). You're not asking for electricity, are you? We learn that electricity exists when we turn on the light. Likewise, God is recognized by His actions in the world.
Humanity has studied the material world well. We know what happens regularly, what happens occasionally, and what cannot happen in principle. Usually a person climbs a mountain on foot, he can go down to the top with a parachute, but he is not able to transport himself to the peak with the power of thought.
In the spiritual world there are different laws, everything is possible there. But the spiritual world, as it were, permeates our earthly world, the Lord acts in it, we just usually don’t feel this action. Only sometimes the laws of the spiritual world manifest themselves in the material. Then we are surprised and say that a miracle happened. So the apostles were also perplexed, whom the Lord transferred to Jerusalem from different countries where they preached the Gospel.
The Most Holy Theotokos is our Representative and Intercessor before the Lord, and the miracles performed by God at Her requests are innumerable. In all centuries, the Heavenly Intercessor saved the Russian army from imminent death, helped it achieve victory over the enemy, and responded to the needs of every person who sincerely turned to Her. This is what happened in the terrible year of 1942.
That year, Ivan Voronov was called to the front. Saying goodbye to him, his mother gave him an icon of the Mother of God, saying that She would certainly save him if her son prayed. Ivan considered himself an unbeliever, but he kept his mother’s gift. One day, with a group of soldiers, he was surrounded in the forest and was wounded. It was possible to leave only through a marshy swamp, with the risk of drowning. Remembering the icon, he secretly took it out and asked: “Mother of God, if You exist, help!” After a while, the old woman appeared: “Are you lost, sons? Come on, I’ll show you the path!” And she led her through the swamp to her people. Saying goodbye, Ivan said: “Well, mother! I don’t know how to thank you!” - “And you will serve Me for the rest of your life!” And with these words she disappeared, as if she had melted into thin air.
Ivan Voronov, Archbishop Alipius - soldier and warrior of Christ
Having walked all the way to Berlin, Ivan made a vow that if he survived this hell, he would become a monk. Subsequently, the world recognized him as the great governor Pskov-Pechersky Monastery Archimandrite Alypius.
Another miracle is very small, but my own. One evening I arrive at the dacha. The time is late, empty, already gloomy. There were always stray dogs hanging around the platform, usually good-natured ones. But then they were very excited about something and decided to attack me. A flock of 5-6 four-legged animals ran smartly, covering them in a semicircle. As soon as I started to pray: “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice...”, everyone suddenly braked at the same time. This is usually how they show it in cartoons: lumps of earth from under the paws, and the body leans back. And that’s it, they calmly trotted on about their dog business.
Miracles are amazing, but still, still... “Those who “accept” Christ accept Him not because of miracles, but out of love, accept Him and follow Him first of all with their hearts,” wrote Archpriest Alexander Schmemann. “And it is precisely this kind of acceptance that Christ Himself wants and seeks.” “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments...” If you love Me...”
