Orthodox miracles. Miracles and signs: are they all from God, and how not to be mistaken What miracles happened to people thanks to God

Olga was born into a large peasant family in the village of Ilyintsy, 30 kilometers west of Chernobyl. During the offensive of the Nazi troops in 1941, she was left alone with her blind mother. The headman put by the Germans covered her and said that she was alone with her mother, whom she had to look after. Out of pity for them, the Germans did not take her to Germany. But in fact, Olga had three more brothers and two sisters, who all fought. One sister was a pilot and one was a nurse.

In 1943, the Germans retreated, this time their attitude towards the local residents turned out to be more cruel. The Nazis scoured the courtyards in search of hiding people. Olga in fear ran into a small closet with firewood near the house, pressed herself against the wall, crossed her shaking arms on her chest and prayed with all her heart: “Lord, if you exist, please save me. All my life I will believe in You. " The door opened, a fascist with a machine gun appeared in the doorway. Looking at Olga, or rather through her, he turned without a single emotion and closed the door. Many in that village were shot or burned, all the rest were taken to Germany. Only two survived from the whole village - Olga and another boy who went to the partisans. Olga soon left the Komsomol and became a deeply religious person for the rest of her life.

Many years passed, Olga's son Sergei transported her to Blagoveshchensk-on-Amur, but throughout all these years Olga was constantly retelling her story and still could not fully understand with her mind why that fascist, looking at her, immediately turned back.

So what is it, and how should we treat it? Is God's caring hand participating in our lives, or are we just seeing a cold set of circumstances? Do we need to talk about anything supernatural at all, when modern man is looking, first of all, for a rational, rational foundation?

Let's try to be impartial. If the miracle is removed from the Gospel, then nothing will remain of the Gospel. A miracle is itself from the Virgin, a miracle fills the life of the Savior and manifests itself many times in the deeds He performed on earth. Walking on water, healing in one word of the hopelessly sick, resurrection of the dead, including shining with Divine light on Mount Tabor, Resurrection on the third day after death, Ascension and sending of the Holy Spirit to people - all these are milestones in the history of the salvation of people by Jesus Christ, and these milestones filled with Divine Miracle

A miracle, in principle, cannot be explained by science, no matter how its instruments are improved.

The fact is that where God acts, there is always some kind of miracle. A miracle is something that cannot be explained scientifically. And not only from the point of view of modern science, but in general can never be explained from the standpoint of science. Because science, no matter how much the microscopes and telescopes are improved, there is always an earthly look, turned to the earthly and explaining everything from the position of the earthly, and the miracle given by God is a merciful gift sent down from above, from a world that exceeds our material created world, and therefore the miracle is not subject to earthly explanations.

Atheists rush to deny miracles. "Since there is no God," they reason, "then there can be no miracles either." And people who are used to relying only on themselves believe that God cannot interfere in our lives. So, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, the greatest writer with an extremely tragic worldview, composed, from which he eliminated everything miraculous, explained the miracles of Christ only as ordinary natural situations. For example, he explained the healing of a patient who had been lying at the Sheep's Pool for 38 years (see: John 5: 1-9), he explained that he was a weak man who, like others, superstitiously believed in the annual descent of an angel into the water, but did not was in time to be the first to rush into the bath. Here is how Leo Tolstoy himself writes: “The patient is waiting for 20 years for a miracle, and Jesus says to him: do not expect anything, what is in you will be. Wake up There is the strength to get up and go and go. He tried it, got up and went. This whole passage, taken as a miracle, is an indication that there can be no miracles and that the person who is waiting for miracles is sick, that the greatest miracle is life itself. The event itself is quite simple, it repeats itself incessantly among us. I know a lady who for 20 years lay and got up only when she was given an injection of morphine; 20 years later, the doctor who gave her the injection, admitted that he was injecting with water, and, having learned this, the lady took her bed and went "( Tolstoy L. Combining and translating the four Gospels). But if everything were so simple and everyone would rise, as soon as they wanted, then medicine would soon disappear. How many people are in hospitals who would like to get up just as quickly, do without surgeries and expensive medical equipment, but the disease is often stronger than a person, it is naive to rely only on your own strength.

At one time the philosopher Hegel also attempted a "natural" reading of the Gospel: in his book "The Life of Jesus" he portrayed Christ simply as a great teacher, but eliminated everything miraculous as something invalid. As a result, with the elimination of miracles, the presence of God in people's lives is eliminated: God does not work, for Him it is impossible, He is somewhere out there, outside the Universe, and maybe He does not exist at all. The Orthodox faith says: the Lord God is next to us, He sees and hears, He acts and helps when there is nowhere to wait for help.

This is what happened to people close to me. They, while still students of the Moscow Theological Academy, went to the Arkhangelsk region. It was a missionary expedition, the participants of which talked with local residents about the faith, answered questions, baptized those who had not yet been baptized, performed prayer services (there were priests among the participants). The plans of the expedition included a visit to the site of the ancient monastery of St. Cyril of Chelmogorsk.

There was a large lake on the way to the ancient monastery. On this side of the lake there was a village, in whose church the Liturgy had not been served for 70 years. And so the priests, after so many years of desolation of the temple, performed a divine service, and then everyone decided to cross to the monastery. The day was sunny, the sky was clear, but the locals foreshadowed a storm by some signs they only knew. Yet our missionaries decided to go ahead by hiring four motor boats with drivers. At first everything was calm.

Alas, the observations of local residents turned out to be prophetic. It started raining, first fine, then more, the sky in a matter of minutes was covered with a gray cover. Then waves rose and began to overwhelm the boats. They were scattered from each other in different directions, we had to bail out the water, and one of the expedition members, close to the author of these lines, thought that, apparently, he would have to be left without all the equipment, camera, shoes and swim on his own. They fought the elements as best they could. And then everyone saw the most terrible thing: in front of the boats a dark blue cloud was approaching, lightning flashed, a downpour approached like a gloomy wall, and the wind drove a powerful wave of waves directly onto the boats.

The people on the shore watched the unfolding tragedy. And suddenly ... all four boats disappeared at the same time

More than once fishermen died here from waves and thunderstorms. The prevailing natural conditions did not spare those who lingered on the lake. And we must imagine the chagrin of local residents who saw the bold, seemingly thoughtless step of our missionaries. Now, seeing this dark wall of downpour blazing with flashes of fire, everyone on the boats prayed, even the unbelieving drivers. The wall was getting closer and closer, now it will overwhelm the boats. It was at this moment that the incredible happened. People on the shore watched the unfolding tragedy, saw four points against the background of a dark cloud - boats. And suddenly all four boats disappeared from sight at the same time. By the way, this dark cloud reached the shore, the hurricane damaged trees and buildings. And what about our missionaries? They themselves did not understand what had happened: they had just prayed with all their hearts and saw a dark blue wall with lightning in front of them, when suddenly it was behind them! One recalled: as if she stepped over us, completely overwhelming and without causing the slightest harm. So the Lord God, to whom people prayed with all their hearts, miraculously delivered from the unfolding natural element. On the site of the remains of the monastery, the missionaries consecrated a cross, and when they sailed back, the water was smooth as a mirror.

So what is a miracle?

God does not violate His own regulations. Therefore, a miracle does not violate the laws of nature - it exceeds them

Sometimes you can hear that a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature. But the laws of nature themselves - so precise and purposeful - are also a miracle of God. And if someone told me that the laws of nature appeared by themselves, out of chaos and emptiness, then I would never have believed. From chaos comes chaos, and clear laws come from the Legislator. The laws of nature are established by God (and therefore they are also a miracle), and God does not violate His own regulations. Therefore, a miracle does not violate the laws of nature, but it, let's say, exceeds them.

A miracle is a special act of God that goes beyond the daily course of events. This is an act of God that exceeds the created limitation of the world. Let's make a comparison. If you take a piece of clay and leave it to the natural course of natural processes, then nothing special will happen, this clay will only dry out and crack. And if you give clay to a talented craftsman, he will be able to sculpt a vessel, vase, decorative object, that is, he will do with clay what would not have happened to it in the natural course of things. But the talented master did not violate the laws of nature, he only actively influenced the material of his work. Likewise, a miracle is an active influence of God on our created world, changing it in the way God pleases.

Here's another example. An airplane consists of elements that are all in the nature around us, but an airplane from nature will never appear by itself, this requires the intervention of reason, creative action. In this way, God, Who is All-Powerful, Wise, can influence all of us and the world around us, He created this world and can restore health, save in a hopeless situation, pacify the unfolding cataclysms, just as a reasonable master transforms drying clay.

In addition to the laws of our visible world, there are also laws of the spiritual world, which exceeds our limited world. It's like two geometries: Euclidean and Lobachevsky. In Euclidean geometry, if a line and a point lie in the same plane, then only one straight line can be drawn through this point, which does not intersect with the first line. And in Lobachevsky's geometry, at least two straight lines can be drawn through this point, which do not intersect with the first straight line. Lobachevsky's geometry operates with hyperbolic space, and this is in demand in cosmology. Thus, a more perfect science relies on laws that are not understood at the lowest level. A miracle of God is a manifestation of the laws of the higher world, we call it supernatural, it exceeds our limitations, and the Lord, by His grace, sometimes manifests the laws of this world here.

One very close person to me, Elena Aleksandrovna Smirnova (she is a literary editor and was preparing one of my books for publication), told the following story - I would like to quote it verbatim:

“This is what a miracle happened in our family. My mom has been sick with Parkinson's for several years. This disease shook her to such an extent that she even jumped up on the bed from the shaking. She was already a bedridden patient, and I took care of her. Before that, when I took her to the temple, literally everyone got up in the metro when my mother, shaking all over, entered the car. It was Christmas 1996, and my mother had a heart attack. They called the doctors who diagnosed a heart attack and a microstroke, they said that she had at most two or three days left to live, and so that we would prepare for this. I told my mother that an urgent need to call a priest so that she would confess in her entire life from the age of seven. Although she had gone to Confession and Communion before that, every person can forget something. And she could forget something, because of what this disease was allowed.

As we know, priests are always very busy on the days of the Nativity Lent, on the days of Christmas itself and the following days. But still, when the Christmas service was over, I called my father. This was Father Vladimir Sakharov, then he was still serving in the Church of St. Nicholas in Pyzhi. Father was warned that my mother was dying and that we called him to help the dying woman. Despite being busy, he came and grabbed my mother. Mom confessed to him for a long time before the Unction, I was sitting in another room and heard her crying. It seemed to me that almost two hours had passed since she was confessing: she spoke for a long time and emotionally. Then the priest came out and said that my mother had confessed very cleanly, that every person would have to confess like this before death. After Confession and Unction, he gave her the Holy Communion, and together we went to the evening service, and after the Holy Communion my mother fell fast asleep. The service was dedicated to the Cathedral of the Mother of God - this is the first service after Christmas, and my father and I prayed hard there. There were few people in the temple.

I could not break away from sleep, I just heard my dying mother get up and go to open the door

I came home, my mother was still asleep, I kept going up to her, I was afraid that she would die without me, and so I did not sleep all night. In the morning I suddenly fell asleep, then the doorbell began to wake me up, but I could not understand what was the matter, I sat in an armchair and could not tear myself away from sleep, I only heard that my mother was getting up and going to open the door, but the fact is that she did not get up for a long time, I looked after her when she was lying down. Then I heard someone screaming and then finally woke up and rushed to the door. I saw that there was a doctor at the door, a district police officer who was shouting: "Pelagia Ionovna, what's the matter with you?" And her mother says to her: “How what? What should happen to me? " "So you're not shaking!" - the doctor says with surprise. And my mother answers her - she was so witty: “I'm not afraid of you. Why should I tremble when I see you? " And then it dawned on us that mom was standing completely straight, her hands, lips, chin were not trembling, she was not shaking, that is, a completely healthy person was standing in front of us. We were terribly amazed, the doctor began to ask what had happened. The fact is that she received a call from the ambulance, said that today my mother should die, and now she came. We realized that a miracle of God had taken place, that the Mother of God had mercy and begged Her Son for the salvation and healing of my mother. Mom then lived until 2011, Parkinson's disease was completely gone, and it is known that this disease is incurable, you can read about it in any encyclopedia, it rattles a person to death, a cure has not yet been found for it. However, Unction, ardent, sincere Confession, Communion and prayers of loved ones saved a person from this deadly disease.

Many times later she was summoned to consultations of various doctors, professors, and each time my mother spoke at these consultations as a confessor of Christ, each time she began her story: “My daughter called the priest ...” Everyone was terribly amazed, listening to this story, but at first no one I didn't believe, they tried to find out what medicines they were treating, thought that a cure had finally been found, but it turned out that for the last year she was given only very strong vitamins, that is, they practically abandoned her, and only the Lord God healed my mother. When they unleashed her, they thought that she would die, although the prayers were about healing, but the Lord heard such a prayer. After that, my mother planted a whole garden around our house, she herself brought bushes, trees, flowers, and now this garden serves as a reminder of her for all residents of our house and for neighboring houses, but in fact this garden serves as a reminder of the miracle of God and maybe about the Garden of Eden, to which we aspire. "

For a person, the visible, tangible is of great importance. After all, we are not only a soul, we live in a body, we are in the sensible world, and a miracle is an act of God that becomes obvious and visible in the material world as evidence of God's presence.

Every miracle is the special mercy of God, which confirms that God really cares about us and does not forget about us in our suffering. The miracle shows that the Lord God is not indifferent to us, He loves us, and He is also so close to us that it is very naive and strange not to turn to Him in suffering and troubles. Well, we entrust the fulfillment of the request to the hands of God, because Heavenly Father knows better than we do what is really useful for us.

And even that which cannot be, may one day also be!

Am I tuned in, my friend, for a Miracle? -

It surrounds everywhere!

Do not separate it, do not measure it -

You just need to believe in it!

Let the inflorescence of miracles descend from heaven to you ...)

Miracles are daily activities that you do with awareness.

Tit Nat Khan

Most of the magic in the world seems to be non-existent because we are too blind or too busy to see it. Blindness and disbelief are the two enemies of magic. Seeing and believing - for those who are capable of this, many gates open if they want to.

Andre Norton

They say that there are no miracles left in the world, that there is not a single unicorn, not a single dragon, and the dryads with the elves have sunk into the distant past. Sometimes I myself believe in the disappearance of all this. But then I remember my childhood, as now, and everything again seems to be two-sided, like a magician's hat - a reality and a fairy tale. Just being kicked makes us believe that life has one layer.

Elchin Safarli

“You know, Joel, the magic leaves.

- What we are going to do?

- Enjoy the moment.

A man creates miracles with his own hands.

Do not expect a miracle - do something wonderful for yourself!

Don't scare away the miracle. It is already near ...

A fairy tale is a fairy tale, and if you decide not to pay attention to it, it will step aside, and life will again become as simple as a tram ...

Miracles love to be made clear

How strong ... and how long ...

We are ready to wait for them!

Therefore ... do not happen right away ...

There is a lot of magic in the world. It's just that most people never use it. They don't know how to do it, ”the boy shook his head, regretting the short-sightedness of humanity. - And I, in my opinion, on the verge of opening. I guess the main thing here is to repeat, repeat, repeat what you want to happen, and believe yourself. Then the magic will work, and everything will work out as it should.

Frances Eliza Burnett "The Secret Garden"

Just believe in magic. It's nearby)

Do miracles happen?

Happen. But only with those who believe in them.

And with those who do not believe?

And with those who do not believe, events happen that cannot be rationalized.

Magic, like a balloon on a string, flies like a butterfly next to us, looks into our eyes, like a kitten, and asks: Well, smile at me, please!

A MIRACLE COMES AT THAT TIME

WHEN YOU ARE READY TO TRUST LIFE

Magic happens only when it should happen, minute by minute. And it happens all the time.

Do you want to see miracles? Make them!

Whenever you trust words

And the truth, which is known by the heart,

Yes to the heart that will ignite from the truth,

There would be no limit to miracles.

Do good deeds while waiting for a miracle.

Then the miracle will not come to you empty-handed.

There are two ways to live life: the first is as if miracles do not exist, the second is as if there are only miracles around. Albert Einstein

Do not expect a miracle, do yourselves. And run, run from the pessimists, skeptics, whiners, push them away. They destroy expectation and faith in the miracles of life.

Here it is - a miracle. In every breath.

Mixed with the evening scent of freshness and cut grass, with the scent of roses.

It is in every leisurely movement of smiling old men. In the gentle singing of birds hidden in the foliage of trees. You remember every moment with special acuteness, because this is the moment of your happiness, your victory.

There she is - faith. It seems to you that the entire globe is spinning only by your faith in what is about to happen. This is a moment of divine power. When you don't think about falling. He's gone. Because there is only this moment of taking off into heaven. Geordie wanted to hug the whole world. She felt the whole world in her heart. He was there.

Geordie Rivers. The era of dandelions

In fact, life is full of fantastic and completely incredible coincidences, but usually we manage to miss them all, not even realizing that they are encountered at every step.

Erlend Lou

One girl knew how to Magic ... The most real. She finished painting the rainbow. As he sees in the sky the one that does not touch the ground, immediately runs after brushes and paints. How else? After all, everyone has long known that the seven-colored tails of the rainbow connect the hearts of those who are destined to meet and love each other ... So it’s worthless when the rainbow is not an arc, but just hangs in the sky without touching the ground.

Such magic. What do you know how?

Miracles happen!) The main thing is to know how to happen))

Sometimes miracles come to see people ...

Stop looking for miracles anywhere ... Go to the mirror and smile at it !!! You are the greatest miracle in the entire universe ...

A fairy tale is the most effective remedy for blues after freshly brewed coffee and whipped cream with cherry liqueur.

Magic is belief in yourself. And when you succeed, then everything else succeeds.

You are already an adult, I know.

But never stop believing, okay?

Close your eyes and you will feel it around you.

Children need a fairy tale

To become fearless

Adults also need it - just like that,

just...

The main thing for me is not to stop being surprised. Before going to bed, I certainly give myself a command to discover something amazing early in the morning. Ray Bradbury

Man is the king of nature. But not because he can cut down the forest, but because he can grow it in the desert. A person can perform a miracle if only he wants to.

There should always be a place in life for a fairy tale ...

Maybe there are no miracles at all, but a piece of something magical clearly exists in this world.

I understood one simple Truth - Miracles must be done with your own hands! If a person's Soul longs for a Miracle - make him this Miracle !!!

"SCARLET SAILS". Captain Gray.

Sitting on the edge of a cloud

An angel is eating a cookie

And where crumbs touch the ground

Miracles happen there ...

I came to the conclusion that magic is what pushes, lifts and generally makes things out of nothing ... So, magic is just everywhere - around us, and in all other places too.

Miracles are happening everywhere, you just need to have a sensitive heart, a sensitive eye.

- and you will see that matter and spirit dance together everywhere.

Osho "Beyond Enlightenment"

Bus, trolleybus or taxi.

The man is going home.

After work.

An ordinary coat, briefcase or bag.

Thoughts in my head.

Sad, viscous, deaf.

And almost nothing pleases ...

But you know what?

This is not at all about that.

The point is that this person is actually a wizard.

The most real.

And he can work the most real miracles.

And at home he has a magic cloak with twinkling stars gathering dust.

Only now he completely forgot about it.

Actually, he forgot about everything.

Forgot who he is.

Forgot about my magic power.

Forgot how to work miracles ...

Do you know who this person is?

Every day is an adventure that is often hidden behind the routine. Miracles always happen, they are all around us, you just need to be able to look.

Magic grows out of deep inner silence ...

Faith works miracles. By the principle of reciprocity.

We seem to have learned everything in the world.

Have managed to change your mind about everything

But still, like little children.

We believe in the impossible and wait ...

Don't put in so much effort, the best things happen unexpectedly.

Gabriel García Márquez

There is a place on earth where nothing is impossible and everything becomes reality. You just have to believe it.

It is strange that we do not notice the miracles taking place around us. The world has accumulated huge reserves of unperceived wonders ...

If you believe in what you can't see

then for me it's better to believe in miracles than in bacteria.

The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen!

The world can be magical. If you want to...

I want to meet summer sunrises on your rooftops, in so much magic ...

If you really dream, then do not deny yourself anything, right?

Meanwhile, life is full of miracles, and the most important magic is that we can create them ourselves! Moreover, it's not so difficult;)

Some people can live their entire lives without noticing the small miracles that happen to us every day - these blessings that God sends us from heaven in order to make us smile, laugh or move to the core, to gently draw us closer to to your side. Donna Vanleer - Christmas Shoes

Do you know what the problem is with this world? Everyone wants a magical solution to their problems, and everyone refuses to believe in magic.

Man is looking for miracles.

If only he could see

how wonderful the human heart ...

It is easier to repeat a miracle than to explain it.

Frances Eliza Burnett. Mysterious garden.

Miracles always happen in spite of everything.

The more contrary, the more wonderful the miracle.

In the wizarding world, anything is possible:

Fly like a bird, chat with an elf,

And to fly to the moon is not so difficult.

After all, it is not shameful for us to dream in a dream!

In the duel between reality and fantasy, power is not always on the side of reality.

John Steinbeck

And no matter how much they tell me that this is impossible, I will believe that somewhere there is still my wonderland ...

BELIEVE IN MAGIC!

Well, if you don't believe in magic, then it won't touch you. If you do not believe that the world has its own heart, then you will not hear how it beats.

Be surprised, and the world will surely pleasantly surprise you again.

I still admire the view of the clouds and the sunset. I always make a wish when I see a rainbow or a shooting star. I saw a meteor shower. The world is full of wonders.

It is difficult for a person in this life to do without secrets and old legends, without those fairy tales that the planets whisper to each other at night.

Howard Lovecraft

You sit with folded hands on your belly and wait for a miracle. And still there is no miracle. But there is a belly.

Whichever path you choose, new adventures are always waiting for you!

There is magic, which is taught from the book, with difficulty memorizing spell after spell. And there is another that comes from the depths of the heart, from the depths of a loving heart.

Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell about the existence of dragons, but because they tell us that dragons can be defeated.

People are interesting creatures. In a world full of wonders, they managed to come up with boredom.

The magician is not the one who turns lead into gold, or causes a storm ... The magician is the one who can see the souls hidden in the body and make them blossom! ..

Miracles happen in life! They just don't happen by magic. People make them themselves, for example, for those they love.

I came to the conclusion that magic is what pushes, lifts and generally makes things out of nothing. Leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers, foxes, squirrels and even people are made of magic. So, magic is just everywhere - around us, and in all other places too.

Magic is the real world, whose boundaries the child's imagination can make endless.

We shout that miracles do not happen, without even trying to find them.

There are shy miracles. They rub against the sleeve, attach themselves to the eyelashes. They wait for you to notice them, and then they melt.

Miracles are not necessarily such great events, and they can happen in the most unexpected places. They can be in the sky, or on the battlefield, or in the kitchen in the middle of the night. For a miracle to happen, you don't even have to believe in miracles, but when a miracle happens, you will definitely know about it, because then something completely ordinary, which seemed completely insignificant, suddenly becomes very, very important. This is why miracles are best for the simplest things, the simpler the better; the less likely a miracle is, the more wonderful it is.

Miracles are not necessarily grand; miracles can happen in the most unexpected places; the most amazing miracles happen in the most mundane setting.

Miracles happen every moment. Nothing else happens.

Not everyone is able to see what the stars are doing in anticipation of summer. Therefore, sit by the window, breathe as quietly as possible ... and you will see ... And let this be your big and amazing secret ...

Sometimes miracles are so tiny that people just don't notice them.

Do not forget that miracles do not belong to you, but you belong to them. Even when it comes to miracles that you do yourself. Max Fry

Miracles are happening around us. We need to open our eyes to see them.

The wizarding world is a world filled with something very close. This is a world where you can escape from problems, where you are always welcome. To love magic is to be able to enjoy everything, both little things and important things, like a child. This is when you grew up, and there was still a small child in your soul who loves miracles and fairy tales. A true lover of magic is the kindest and friendliest creature on the planet.

It is the desire to believe that life is a miracle that allows miracles to happen.

We become blind to what we see every day. But every day is different, and every day is a miracle. The only question is to pay attention to this miracle. Paulo Coelho

A fairy tale is the most effective remedy for blues after freshly brewed coffee and whipped cream with cherry liqueur. V. Kovaleva, All About Fairies

As long as you try to control Life, there will be no miracle in it. It just can't be. A miracle comes only at the moment when you are ready to trust Life. And it comes by itself, without notice, without warning, without guarantees.

The modern reader wants magic to be done according to the laws of physics. They want magic to work logically, they need cause and effect, they need the principle of conservation of matter and energy ... They don't want magic to be done as if by magic ... Lois McMaster Bujold. Answers

Only those who are able to believe in magic will receive unlimited power over reality ...

Real wisdom is the experience of a miracle. This feeling of miracle is everywhere, wherever you go, in everything, wherever your gaze falls: in the eyes of a child, in the beauty of a flower, in the flight of a bird. Deepak Chopra

My heart, never lose hope
miracles live in the invisible.

Rumi

Imagination is what makes the magician great, for thanks to it he can go beyond tradition and beyond the structure of what exists today, into a higher area of \u200b\u200bcreation of the very fabric of magic. Terry Goodkind

Magic is dissolved in the air, in the space around us. True, there is very little of it, the smallest grains, so an ordinary person does not notice these grains.

As long as I believe that fairy tales are real, magic will not leave me.

Clive Staples Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Only those who are capable of believing in magic will receive unlimited power over reality.

Maybe in order to experience a miracle, one must believe in miracles? Dan Brown

People who love magic are absolutely pure.

I came to the conclusion that magic is what pushes, lifts and generally makes things out of nothing. Leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers, foxes, squirrels and even people are made of magic. So, magic is just everywhere - around us, and in all other places too. Francis Burnett. Mysterious garden

Miracles cannot be proven.

... miracles cannot be explained, they spoil from this ... Max Fry

Miracles don't really break the laws of nature.

K.S. Lewis talked about it and it's an incredible revelation.

If we think miracles are commonplace, we will expect them.

And waiting for a miracle is the surest way to get it.

“Orthodox Miracles in the 20th Century” are collections of testimonies of miracles that happened to saints and sinners, to believers and atheists. An Orthodox assessment is given to false miracles. For comparison and confirmation, one or two miracles from the nineteenth century are given.

Book three, 1993

"Orthodox Miracles in the 20th Century" are collections of testimonies of miracles that happened to saints and sinners, to believers and atheists. An Orthodox assessment is given to false miracles. For comparison and confirmation, one or two miracles from the nineteenth century are given. Scientific explanations are given that confirm the Bible (although the Bible does not need confirmation, just as believers do not need external evidence of their faith). The miracles in this book are amazing, incomprehensible, they assert in faith: only Everything is possible for God.

Ksenia Petersburgskaya rescues soldiers in Prague

Lyudmila Pavlovna Shpakovskaya wrote to the editorial board of the "Interlocutor of Orthodox Christians" (No. 2, 1992) an amazing letter about Blessed Xenia of Petersburg:

When I was a five-year-old child (the chapel was still closed then), my mother often took me to the Smolensk cemetery and told me about Xenia. On the day of her memory, January 24 (February 6, new style), in the 50s we walked around the chapel with a lit candle and prayed. To my shame, in later life I showed negligence or carelessness, almost never been there. And when, already an adult, she finally arrived at the Smolenskoe cemetery the summer before last, then, apparently, an extraordinary meeting took place for edification. An unfamiliar woman asked me to explain how and what should be done in thanksgiving to Xenia. Here's what she said:

“My brother lives in Belarus. The other day there on the central program showed the program "600 seconds", and in it there was a story about Blessed Xenia. My brother saw this program and was terribly happy that he could finally thank the one that saved him during the war. He was a very young soldier, liberated Prague; fired back together with a seasoned warrior in the basement of one of the houses. And suddenly, out of nowhere, a woman in a headscarf appeared near them and said in Russian that they had to leave immediately (indicated where), because a shell would fall here and they would die. Both soldiers were taken aback and asked in surprise: "Who are you?"

I am Blessed Xenia, I came to save you, - was the answer.

After these words, she disappeared. The soldiers escaped, but for a very long time the young warrior did not know who Ksenia was, he was looking for her, and after forty-five years - such a miracle! After the transfer, he urgently called his own sister to our city, so that she immediately went to the chapel - to thank. Of course, a prayer service was served and everything was done as it should in this case ... "

Let us add that the soldier could not find Blessed Xenia because she was not canonized for a very long time (she was canonized in Russia in 1988), and she died in the 19th century, many decades before the Second World War.

Bathysphere rescue

(These two stories were told by the customs officer Vasily E., a resident of the town of B. near Moscow).

The demon attacked the sailor and he fell on the locker

When, I was drafted into the army, my mother told me:

Vasya, when you feel bad there, remember the Lord ...

Come on, - I muttered.

I was an unbeliever. And now I believe, a little, but I believe - I know, God helps.

I got to the Morflot, but some were on the shore. Once, I was lying on the upper bunk (bed) and suddenly - the demon began to choke me ...

Have you seen the demon? - we ask Vasily.

No. It is almost invisible, but you can feel it when it is. It was not yet dark, I was not asleep, but only wanted to doze off, when the demon grabbed me by the throat. I've never had this before. I didn't know what to do. Gasping already, I remembered the words of my mother: "Remember the Lord." And I screamed inside myself:

Lord have mercy!

And then the demon flew away from me. No, I didn’t see it, but at the same time I did see it somehow: a dark ball, like smoke, but alive.

Then I came to my senses and was about to doze again, when suddenly for the second time he grabbed me by the throat. No, not in imagination, but literally, grabbed by the throat, very painful. Then I did not wait, I immediately prayed to God:

Lord have mercy! Help!

And the devil immediately flew away. It became easy in an instant.

But then, you will not believe, there was a crash - my partner Kolya fell on the locker. A locker is a box for laundry and other things, like a chest, only narrow, narrower than a bunk. So Nikolai fell from the lower bunk onto the locker under the bunk and continues to sleep with his arms folded on his chest! According to the laws of physics, this is impossible: he had to fall into the span between the bunks, and he fell diagonally onto the locker, which is already a bunk. Do you understand? And he sleeps. I go down to him, wake him up:

Kohl, how did you get here? How did you fall?

He woke up and does not understand anything, how he got to the locker with a bunk, and even did not wake up.

This is the first story when God drove the demon away from me, and the demon attacked my neighbor. The second story is worse.

Bathysphere rescue

Our unit was on the shore, we were testing the bathysphere. A bathysphere is a kind of metal ball, hollow, large, with a hatch, an opening that is battened down with a lid: 24 nuts are screwed in (or so, I don't remember) and the bathysphere is lowered deep into the water. Moreover, without communication with the shore: no telephone and no air supply.

So, we once had a drink with a friend and climbed to sleep in the bathysphere. Nobody knew that.

They closed us with a lid, screwed all the nuts and lowered us to the depth.

And we are there. There is less and less air - and we woke up. There is water all around, complete darkness, and we are half asleep, half drunk, half dead. That's when I realized that only God can save me from here. Yes, and I prayed again:

Lord, forgive me, help, save me from here!

Meanwhile, on the shore, the commander of our military unit was sitting in his office. He clearly heard a voice (of an angel or God, I don't know): - Raise it out of the water - there are people!

He picked up the phone and gave the order to raise the winch, that is, the bathysphere.

They lifted, unscrewed 24 nuts, opened the lid - and we were there. We get out.

Are you guys alive?

Alive, - we say, but we ourselves breathe, breathe, squint, half drunk, half asleep, but happy: - God saved!

The cross is stronger than the revolver

Blessed Nicholas predicts the overthrow of the Tsar and the dispersal of the Lavra in 10 years. Angels partake him

Zosima (later - Zacharias) had a friend in the Sergius Lavra - Blessed Nicholas. He was a wonderful person. His surname is Ivanson, Nikolai Alexandrovich. His father's name was Oscar. He changed his name, converted to Orthodoxy. His mother's name is Natalia. Blessed Nicholas was a military man by his rank. But he was not healthy for long. He bore a heavy cross of illness: he fell ill, he did not get out of bed for 40 years. At first he lay in a private apartment, and later he was transferred to the monastery almshouse. His relatives died and there was no one to take care of him - he was a stranger to everyone. He bravely endured and prayed.

For his extraordinary patience and humility, the Lord endowed him with clairvoyance. Father Zosima began to visit him often, and the blessed one loved him very much.

Nicholas, 10 years before the revolution, predicted that there would be no tsar and that the Sergius Lavra would be closed and all the monks would be dispersed and they would live in private apartments.

He told Father Zosima the place of his future residence: “You will live in Moscow and they will give you the ruined courtyard of the monastery. You will live with your spiritual children. And in Moscow they will make you an archimandrite. I tell you, get ready out of the laurel. "

No one believed him at that time, his words seemed strange and ridiculous to everyone.

Once Nikolai healed Mary, the sister of Zosima's father, who was sick with blindness. For ten years the old woman has not seen God's light. The blessed one blessed to anoint her eyes from the lamp that burned in front of the icon, and the servant of God Mary received his sight and lived for another 10 years seeing.

Once a young man came to Nicholas, and father Zosima was sitting with his friend. The blessed one snatched his hat from him and said: "I won't give it up, not yours - yours is lying behind the carriage." When he left the blessed one, Father Zosima asked to reveal to him what he had done with his hat. “Here's what,” said the young man. - When I got out of the car, I saw a drunk lying around, and there was a new hat near him, and I took it for myself, and threw my old one behind the car, so the blessed one denounced me, apparently everything is open to him.

Truly, this was a wondrous servant of God.

For several years in a row, angels communed him, coming in the form of monks led by an abbot who confessed him. The monks sang wonderfully ... They came to him at night. The blessed one did not know that this was a heavenly favor to him, mistaking them for monks and thinking: “This is how well the abbot and the brethren are treating me. During the day they have no time, so at night on holy days they comfort me long-suffering. "

Father Zosima did not know about this, and when he learned from the brethren that there was a gravely ill Nikolai in the monastery almshouse and that no one had communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ for more than 30 years, he went to him to commune and confess it. Blessed Nikolai thanked him and said to him: “I am so happy! On all major holidays, the abbot and the brethren receive communion with me, ”and told him everything.

Father Zosima put the blessed words into his heart, but did not say anything to him and only after his death told about the wondrous miracle manifested to the long-suffering soul, which with great patience bore its cross.

The silver cross melted in your mouth

Once Elder Zechariah took in his mouth a rather large silver cross and prayerfully cried out to the Creator: "Lord, Lord, enter me in your cross, let this cross melt in my mouth and I will swallow it and let the cross live in me ..." And the cross melted and the elder swallowed it, like living water, holy, blessed.

The cross is stronger than the revolver

All the brethren from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra were evicted and Zosima was left alone (in the schema of Zacharias).

Several people from the administration came and began to demand that the elder immediately leave his cell. "Get out of the laurel." “No, now I will not go,” said the elder. “We will push you out. What it is!" - shouted angrily at the old man.

The elder took the cross and circled his room with it, or rather, he surrounded it, and said: "Try it, dare to cross this line, which I circled this cell, try it and immediately you will fall dead."

"Who is this old man?" the newcomers began to speak confusedly. The power of the elder's word was so great that none of them dared to cross the line beyond which Father Zosima had not ordered them to enter. It was even strange - young, healthy, armed men felt fear and said: "Let's leave this old man, he will leave himself." They stood and parted.

(…) Finally, his time has come, and Father Zosima was the last to leave the Trinity Lavra of the Monk and God-bearing Father of our Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh.

(From the book: "Elder Zechariah. Feats and Miracles", publishing house "Trim", Moscow, 1993)

"Signal from the Other World"

I didn't believe in miracles before. Now I believe, - said Mikhail.

Mikhail came from the far North. And before he lived in Moscow on the Arbat. He was baptized recently and got married, then left with his wife Nina to the North, where she has her own home. He worked there as a teacher.

And now I've come to baptize my children, - said Mikhail.

Although the children are not his, but Nina's, from his first marriage, he considers them his own.

He told why he came to baptize children:

Imagine: North. The house is covered with snow, wilderness. We sleep, me, my wife, children, and a dog. Suddenly at night there is a knock, as if someone is standing outside the door and knocking. The first to wake up, as the most sensitive, dog. Then the wife wakes up. But I’m deaf, hard of hearing - I wake up last. I'm going to open it.

No one is behind the door! Only snow, clean, flat, and no tracks near the door or around the house. And so it was repeated several times, not one night. How can one not believe? Yes, and a little scary. There is no church or anything around for hundreds of kilometers. We use the holy water brought from Moscow sparingly. You have so many shrines here, and we are there on a starvation diet.

Is this knock from God? - we ask him.

From God or not, I don't know. But if God allowed such a thing, then it is necessary to think ... and to be baptized, until he allowed something worse. This is a signal from the other world ...

Miracles performed by the Lord through the prayers of Elder Simeon from the Pskov-Caves Monastery

Healing from corruption

(The story of Alexandra Prokhorova, living in L-de (now St. Petersburg)

Until 1956, by God's permission, I suffered from a disease of the nervous system, which did not respond to medical and medical treatment (according to the popular saying, there was damage in me). But by the grace of God, the Mother of God turned her gaze to my sufferings and pointed out the monastery where the old man the doctor lived (through a photo of the elder Simeon). I didn't go to church at all and was not interested in anything spiritual. Having learned from a woman who showed me a photograph of Father Simeon his address, I quickly agreed to go to him in Pechory, not considering him a spiritual doctor, but considering him an ordinary doctor helping patients. I had no idea either about faith, or about worship, or about fasting and sacred ordinances, I had no religious feelings. Everything was completely closed and incomprehensible and uninteresting to me. Arriving at the monastery at the end of the service, I immediately went to the elder, as to an ordinary doctor, and began to tell him that I was corrupted. Father gave me a kiss to kiss the cross and said: "How do you know that this is damage!" Then I began to vomit and I felt sick, and inside me someone was screaming, and then I don't remember what happened to me. I vomited, and the people who were with the priest began to look after me, took out pots with vomit, which was like greenery. Afterwards it became easier for me, and when I received the Holy Mysteries in the morning, I felt brighter and more joyful. I would not have entered the church without the prayer of Father Simeon, the resistance was torturing me. At home, before leaving for Pechory, he gave me a rope to hang myself. But the Mother of God did not allow me to commit suicide, but sent me kind people who directed me to the elder. I lived in the monastery for about a month, and how joyful it was for me and my friends, who looked after me during my illness, in whose sight I was healed. Since then, I have constantly visited the monastery and thank the Mother of God and the Lord Jesus Christ for the love of our father Simeon.

Another healing from corruption

(Story by Anastasia Cherekh)

Anastasia and her husband Gabriel lived in peace and harmony for many years. But now, for some unknown reason, she hated her husband, so much so that she was going to divorce him. Gabriel was very upset with his wife's hatred and tried to commit suicide. Their life together became unbearable, and she left home. Someone told her about Elder Simeon, and she came to him for advice.

Immediately upon her arrival, Alexandra's mother gave her tea. Anastasia told her that she had come for a week, but for whatever reason, she did not. Suddenly, Father Simeon came out of his cell and began to call Anastasia to confession. But Alexander's mother began to prove to Father Simeon that Anastasia had just arrived and had not yet been prepared for confession. “And she still has time,” she added. But the priest insisted on his own and began to confess. She came out from the priest bright and joyful. On the second day, she received the Holy Mysteries and left. Everything that Father Simeon said to her came true. She came home as a loving wife. She told her husband, according to the priest, that evil people had caused damage to the ears and that these ears were lying somewhere in the barn. They went to look for them together and found mixed ears in her apron. Then they went to their house to burn them, as the priest ordered. At that time, with a shout, a neighbor ran into their house and began to shout, holding her head: "Don't burn, don't burn!" Then her husband threatened her that he would also put her in the oven, and the neighbor ran away. It turned out that she was a witch and out of envy of their peaceful life brought such discord that her husband would have strangled himself if Anastasia had not returned to him so soon. That is why the priest demanded her immediate repentance and return home to her husband.

Healing from demonic possession

(The story of Antonina, 65 years old, living in Pechora)

In 1959, my friend Nina came to Pechora from Tula and stayed with me. She was possessed by a demon and could not enter the cell to Father Simeon for a blessing and kept shouting: "Oh, Senka is coming, I'm afraid of him!" With the blessing of Fr. Simeon, Fr. Afinogen scolded her. She was so violent that during prayer they tied her over her.

While still ill, Nina saw her mother Alexandra walking to the church and ran around, shouting: "Senka is coming!" Alexander's mother reassured her, saying that the father was sick and would not come to church. Nina began to rush about the temple, looking for a place to hide and from there shout even more: "Oh, Senka is coming!" And, indeed, quite unexpectedly, the priest came to the midnight office. It's amazing how the demon possessed felt the appearance of Father Simeon. Nina left Pechora quite healthy. And until now (1965) he comes to Pechory to pray.

Communion from the hands of angels

Father Simeon became weak in body. And for three days Alexander's mother could not read out the rule for communion to the priest in the morning, since he had previously blessed her to bake prosphora. She entered the priest's cell and complained that the priest had not received the Holy Mysteries that day. To this, the priest humbly replied: "Yes, he did not join." At one o'clock in the morning she freed herself and asked the priest's blessing to rest; he blessed.

At three o'clock in the morning, she again went to him, to find out how he was feeling, and saw: Father is as bright as the sun! He said: "I have already joined." Alexander's mother was surprised, since no one came to the priest at that time. Seeing her surprise, the priest says to her: "He joined himself, and they miraculously brought the Thicket."

After that night, Fr. Seraphim came every time at two o'clock in the morning and introduced Fr. Simeon.

Prophetic Call to Your Burial (Removal of Penance)

Before his death, Father Simeon said: "Now I have distributed everything, now it only remains to remove the penance from those on whom I have entrusted." The next day, everyone appeared about whom he spoke. One spiritual son from L-yes, Alexander's mother asks how he came to the priest ?! He replies: “I don’t know how I got here, and I don’t know how I’ll get out of here.” Removing the penance from everyone, the priest said: "Well, now I will calmly leave."

"Don't cry, you will come last ..."

It is remarkable that many of the priest's spiritual children, being several hundred kilometers from Pechora, on the day and hour of his death, felt that the priest was no longer on earth.

One of his spiritual daughter was with him at Christmas in 1960. He told her that he would soon die, they would not see each other again. She cried that she would not know when he would die and she would not have to be at his burial. To this he replied to her: "Don't cry, you will come last ...". And so it happened: she really miraculously managed to be buried. When I found out about the death of my father, I immediately went to the station to go to Pechory - this was already the third day, it was impossible to postpone the trip. At the station at the box office, the cashier told her that she had sold her the last ticket, and added that in the last two days a lot of people have been going to bury some old man, and that everyone is showing telegrams, or with tears explaining the reason for the grief and urgent departure to Pechory.

Forgot to take my crutches and was healed

Once, says Nun Alexandra, I invited a certain visitor Nikolai to drink tea - he had just arrived from the monastery mowing, where he was mowing with the monastery workers.

During tea, he grabbed his head with his hands and cried out: “What is wrong with me? How did it happen that I became different? " I asked him to tell me what happened to him. And he said:

“My legs hurt badly, I could not walk. At the hospital, the doctors suggested that I take my legs off. I agreed to the operation, but at the same time I met ... one person who told me that in Pechory there is a doctor who heals everyone without surgery. He gave me the Pechersk address and I went to this doctor. I got to Elder Simeon and told him about my misfortune. The elder talked to me, then said: "Tomorrow, partake of the Holy Mysteries." Leaving my father, I forgot to take my crutches and did not notice that I was healthy. The next day I joined and the young deacon invited me to mow with the brethren, I agreed with pleasure, and I repeat that I forgot that my legs hurt, I didn't even go to the priest, but quickly left for the meadow. There I devoted myself entirely to work, forgot that I was sick, forgot that I had come to be treated. I even forgot that I had brought a present to the doctor. "

I told him to go to the priest and take the present. He went to the elder and began to ask him to give him instructions on how to live. Father blessed him to marry, although he was about forty years old. Then he indicated on what holidays to come to the monastery, and how to live in order to be saved. Nikolai did just that. He got married and had a son. When he comes to the monastery, he always asks to pray for his son. He always remembers the mercy of God with gratitude.

Rescue from a train crash

A certain Mary came to the monastery for a few days on the occasion of a vacation. In order not to delay the working day, she had to leave on a certain day in order to get to work on time. She came to the priest to bless her to leave in the evening. Father said:

You will go tomorrow.

She began to persuade him, said that tomorrow she should already be at work. And the priest again said: - Well, well, tomorrow you will go.

Then Maria went to mother Alexandra and began to ask her to persuade the priest to bless her on leaving. Together they began to persuade the priest, but he calmly replied:

You will go tomorrow.

Maria obeyed, stayed until tomorrow.

A few days later she sent a letter in which she said that the train had been wrecked - with the one with which she had no blessing to leave, despite all the persuasions and requests.

Instead of a name day, I ended up in the hospital

Love on her name day from Pskov to Pechory came to the monastery to pray. And in the evening it was necessary to arrive in Pskov, where guests invited to the name day would be waiting for her. After the service, she went to see the priest for the blessing to go home. Father Simeon did not bless her to go that day. She told him that guests were waiting for her, invited to the name day in the evening.

But the father did not give a blessing to leave. Then she went to mother Alexandra to ask her to persuade the priest. They came together and especially began to prove and ask: "After all, guests are waiting there, and suddenly I won't come ...". The elder involuntarily let her go for the name day. - Alexander's mother went out to see Lyuba on the bus, but it was impossible to get on it because of the crowd. A passing truck turned up.

Alexander's mother left, pleased that she had persuaded the priest and saw Lyuba, who would have time to go home for the name day.

But on the way with the car there was an accident - and all the passengers were thrown out of the car and injured. Lyuba also got to the hospital. This is what disobedience means. Instead of a birthday table set, she saw a hospital operating table covered with a sheet. So then she wrote about this to her mother Alexandra.

The old man's perspicacity ("The doctor will not remove teeth")

This case is described by S.P .:

In 1958, I arrived at the monastery for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. On the way, my teeth ached terribly under the crowns. I went to the doctor without my father's blessing. The doctor said that an urgent need to remove the teeth under the crowns and together with them and the bridge. I was afraid to do this in Pechory and decided to urgently leave for L-grad. I went to Father Simeon to tell about my misfortune. He greeted me with the words: “Well, tell me what hurts you? Open your mouth! " He ran his finger over my teeth and said: "Go to the doctor, he will not remove teeth and you will be healthy." I went, and luckily there was another doctor who offered me a small operation, I agreed. The doctor cut my gums, released pus, and in a few hours I was already healthy.

Toothache Healing

(Catherine's story)

With one friend, I went to Pechory on vacation. On the way, my teeth hurt badly. The denture pressed on the gum, causing bleeding and unbearable pain. Immediately upon arrival in Pechory, we went to see Father Simeon; I was for the first time. He greeted me with the words: "Show me your mouth," and began to touch my teeth with his finger. I had no idea why he did it. And my friend began to reproach me: "You probably talk a lot in vain, so my father looked at your unclean mouth." I suffered a lot from her words and forgot about my teeth. It turned out that with his touch my father removed my toothache, and I became completely healthy.

Healing headaches

(Catherine's story)

In 1951, I came from Murmansk to the monastery in Pechory. I had severe headaches from which I had no rest. I was afraid to go to Father Simeon and kept thinking: how he would meet me, such a sinner. It turned out that he greeted me joyfully and just talked to me, blessed me. I confessed to him and received the Holy Mysteries, and my heart felt light. Since then, my head stopped hurting, and for 13 years now I have lived and have not felt any pain.

Another healing from demonic possession

In 1953 I witnessed a healing. Several people were waiting in the hall. At this time, an unknown woman of about 50 came and immediately went to the cell of Father Simeon. When she opened the door to him, she immediately fell, and the priest shouted from the cell, stamping his foot: "Get out, get out now!" The door closed. After a while, this woman left the cell, and she kept praying and thanking the priest for his prayers and healing from the demon. She sat down next to me and related the following incident. Her relative damaged her and she, on the advice of one of the father's spiritual daughter, went to Pechory to see him. Father Simeon accepted her and healed her, but warned her not to communicate with that relative, but to avoid her. But two years later, this wicked woman sent her daughter to her and again instilled a demon in her, and now she again came to the priest. “For me,” she says, “it was very difficult to cross the threshold of my father’s cell, all my limbs were shackled, I could not cross myself, that is why I fell unconscious, and besides, I started vomiting. Father, with the words: "Get out!" immediately drove the demon out of me and I was able to get up. And again the priest strictly warned me to avoid my evil distant relative. " In continuation of this story, the woman was baptized all the time and thanked God and the priest for his prayers and secondary healing.

"There were Simeons, there are Simeons, and there will be Simeons"

(The Pilgrim's Tale)

When I was still a girl, my mother told me about Father John of Kronstadt and about the miracles from him. He often visited our house, and my mother greatly respected him. Mom died when I was already an adult. Not long before that, she told me about the prediction of Father John of Kronstadt that many churches will be closed recently, as well as monasteries, but the Pechersk Monastery will not be closed, and that the last great elder, Hieroschemamonk Simeon, will be there. I was a Christian not particularly zealous and, in the bustle of life, I consigned everything to oblivion. But once I was in Pskov and accidentally heard about the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, and about Father Simeon. Then I remembered my mother's words about the monastery, and I packed up and went to the monastery. I went to Father Simeon for a blessing and told him everything that she had heard from my mother about him. Then the priest said sternly: "There were Simeons, there are Simeons, and there will be Simeons." That's how the priest resigned himself.

The fortune teller won't help

A certain Sergius had contact with a fortune-teller, here is his confession:

For many years my wife was ill. I had a friend who wondered, and I went to her for advice. At the insistence of my daughter and wife, I went to Pechory to see Father Simeon. Batiushka met me and immediately said: "You are really tired of wandering in other people's homes, it's time to take up your mind." I confessed, received the Holy Mysteries, and went to Ld renewed. A few years later I was drawn to the fortuneteller again, but she met me and said: “Now I am powerless to do anything to you, why did you go to Simeon? After his prayers, we no longer know anything about the future of man. "

Healing eyes

Pavlova Evdokia Georgievna, 62 years old, says:

I had eye pain for 15 years, I was treated by many doctors, I was registered for many years, nothing helped me. The pains were so severe that they had to put heating pads over the eyes. In 1958, eyes began to be covered with thorns. And on December 12, on the advice of a believer, I went to Pechory to see Elder Simeon. Having crossed the threshold of my father's cell, I burst into tears and from tears could not say anything. Father said: "Why are you crying so bitterly?" and ran his hand over my eyes and over my face. For a long time I could not say a word. Finally I said that my eyes hurt for 15 years. He once again ran over my eyes and said: "Look how clean your eyes are, and they don't hurt at all."

From that time on, I had no idea that I was seriously ill. But the doctors considered my illness incurable.

I came home completely healthy, I did not go to the doctors. And they themselves came to see me in my eyes. Doctors marveled and asked: who was I treating with? I said that the elder healed me. The doctors thought that he was giving me a lotion, and when they found out that he only ran his hand over his face, they fell silent. 7 years have passed since then, and I forgot that my eyes hurt and there was a thorn in them.

Healing from cancer

Zvonkova Evdokia, 55 years old, says:

I suffered from a female disease for 30 years. I had surgery several times. Finally, I was told that I had cancer.

Then the Lord sent me a friend who took me to Pechory to see Father Simeon. By the same time, my arm started to hurt. When I came to the priest, he ran his hand over my back and said: "Nothing hurts you, you will be healthy, only your hand will hurt, and if your hand does not hurt, then you will forget that you have to pray earnestly." Since then I have been healthy.

Healing from foot disease

The story of Nikolai Nikolaevich, 49 years old, from the city of Petrograd:

For 15 years I suffered from pain in my legs. The pains were so unbearable that the anesthesia did not help. I was lying for many years.

And my friends advised me to go to Pechory to see the professor - because they knew that I would not go to the priest.

When I arrived and entered the cell, I immediately forgot that I was sick! Father told me to come to confession and commune. That's exactly what I did.

I stayed in the monastery for five days and returned completely healthy.

Healing from stomach ulcers

Ivanova, 55 years old, from the city of L-yes, testifies:

In 1955, having arrived in Pechora by train, I went to the monastery, received the Holy Mysteries, and the next day I was going to go to Ld. But the Lord was not pleased. At night I fell ill, they took me to the clinic, where they did the procedures. But nothing helped, the pain kept growing.

In the morning I was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where I underwent an operation that lasted three hours. I was completely dying, part of my intestines was removed.

On the morning of the second day, an acquaintance came to me - the spiritual daughter of Father Simeon, brought a prosphora and said that the priest had asked me to be calm and that I would soon recover and go home. The medical staff - doctors, nurses, - knowing my illness, considered my condition hopeless. But I believed my father. Indeed, on the 14th day I left for Ld. And now after that I live for 10 years and, thank God, I am completely healthy.

Healing from paralysis

S.P., 54 years old, from the city of Petrograd, writes:

I have been suffering from metabolic disorders for 15 years, so at times neither my hands nor my legs worked at all. Finally, in 1953, my arms and legs became paralyzed. I was in different hospitals, but had no help. In 1954, my acquaintances and I went to Pechory to see Father Simeon; he already prayed in absentia for my health. At the first meeting, the priest said:

Do not lament that there is no one to look after you and there is no money. Soon there will be money and a person to take care of, and you will also work yourself.

I believed everything, but I doubted that I would work.

I came out of my father quite strengthened. I lived in Pechory all summer and after the Dormition of the Mother of God I left for Ld. All my relatives were surprised to see me on my feet and healthy. On February 16, 1955, on Father's Angel Day, I was already working. In 1956 I received an old-age pension and to this day I live in Pechory and already serve myself.

Serendipity and wonderful farsightedness

An elderly man named Simeon came to visit Father Simeon from the city of Oryol. He told the story of his friend, Elder Vasily Ivanovich. Vasily was from the Pskov region and came to live in the city of Oryol when he was still young. He served as a novice under the Orlov Vladyka for over 30 years, and he performed all obedience with zeal. All the people of that land loved both the ruler and his novice.

But at the beginning of the 30s, Vladyka was exiled and Vasily Ivanovich with him. When V.I. served his term, he became old and feeble, but his relatives did not want to take him on as a dependent.

Simeon and his Oryol friends decided to take Vasily Ivanovich to Oryol and together feed and care for him.

Old man Simeon told Father Simeon about all this and began to ask him for his blessing to carry out his decision. Father blessed him, but said: "But when you pass the city of Pskov, get out of the carriage and see the city."

So Simeon did. Stop in Pskov 15 minutes. He went out in Pskov, looked and did not believe his eyes: the guards were leading a group of those arrested, and among them was Vasily Ivanovich, whom he was following.

Simeon immediately ran up to them and told the guard that he wanted to take V.I. as a dependent. For registration it was necessary to go to the police. While Simeon was making out, the trace of V.I. vanished. Then Simeon returned to Pechory to the priest, saying: "I found and lost." But the priest calmed him down and said: "Go to Pskov, he is there with his sister."

And so it turned out. Simeon immediately took V.I. and took him to Oryol, where they live to this day.

("Russian pilgrim", No. 6)

Prophetic dream to the father of the future patriarch

In a circle of close people, Patriarch Tikhon said:

“When I was still a very young boy, at that time my parent (John), the priest of the City of Toroptsy, Pskov diocese, was exposed to the weaknesses of hard drinking for 4-5 days, and then came to his senses ... Once, after a hard drinking, my parent took all three of us to the hayloft ... Soon we all fell asleep, and father fell asleep too. And so he sees: in a subtle dream his mother appeared to him, and our grandmother, already deceased, and said: “My son, dear and dear, what are you doing, why do you succumb to such a terrible pernicious passion - wine drinking, remember, because you are - priest, you are the builder of the mysteries of God, in the fulfillment of which heavenly powers stand in fear, you have been given the power to decide and bind souls before you who repent of the almighty God, and you forget all this and by your act anger the Lord. " Then she asked him to correct himself, and then, turning to the children and pointing to the elder, she said that he would be short-lived (and, indeed, he died at the end of the seminary); pointing to the middle one, she said that he would be pathetic (he soon died in America, without finishing anything), and, pointing at me, my grandmother said to my father: "And this one will be great for you." From that day on, my father completely abandoned his vice and did not return to it until his death. "

(Moscow magazine, No. 4.1992, p. 60).

Wonderful rainbow

In 1991, the second uncovering of the relics of the Monk Seraphim took place. He pursued asceticism in Sarov in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In the neighboring Diveyevo, virgins asceticised in the monastery, Seraphim took care of them, in a fatherly way, taking care of their spiritual and material order. And now, many decades later, the relics of the Monk Elder Seraphim were returning to Diveyevo. The return of the holy relics and the redevelopment of the Diveyevo Cathedral were accompanied by signs of God from heaven: the play of the rainbow and the play of the sun. For the first time, a rainbow became a sign of peace when Noah left the ark after the flood. And the sun plays on Orthodox Easter in the morning. And here, in Diveyevo, the sun played in the evening, on the eve of the arrival of the relics, during the all-night vigil, at about 6 pm. The sun was not blinding, one could look at it without blinking, the disk of the sun was in motion all the time, moving left and right. It was amazing - this is how the sun played here on Easter, on the celebration of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and all these days when the celebration of the uncovering of relics was taking place.

And when the last, fifth in a row, cross was installed at the Trinity Cathedral, a rainbow began to play. The faithful gathered below the wall of the cathedral and accompanied the work of the climbers with prayer singing. About fifty people, without any government, sang the troparion to the Cross, the Symbol of Faith in harmony. Suddenly someone exclaimed:

Look, the rainbow!

A seven-colored rainbow really shone in the sky, stretching towards the temple. The rainbow sometimes thinned, then grew, not disappearing for a moment. People knelt down, many cried with joy. And while they strengthened the cross on the dome, and sang prayerfully from the ground, a rainbow played in the sky. Locals said that whenever a cross was erected on the dome of the temple, a rainbow appeared in the sky. She also appeared on another day, when several people gathered to read the Akathist to the Monk Seraphim before sunset.

(Based on materials from "Russian Bulletin", No. 19, 1991; "Venerable Seraphim of Sarov and his councils", 1993, pp. 169-170).

A prophetic vision of the 1917 revolution

In 1917, before the February revolution, the priest of the Martha-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow, Father Mitrofan (Serebrovsky), had a vision in a dream: three pictures replacing each other.

First: there is a beautiful temple, and suddenly flames appear - and now the whole temple is on fire, a majestic and terrible sight.

Second: The Monk Seraphim of Sarov is kneeling on a stone with his hands raised in prayer.

AND third: the image of the royal family in a black frame, from the edges of which shoots begin to grow, which then cover the entire image with white lilies.

Father Mitrofan told about the vision of the abbess of the monastery to Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna. She said she could explain this dream. The first picture means that for our sins, lawlessness and impoverishment of love, the church and the country will be plunged into grave calamities: temples and monasteries will be destroyed, a terrible fratricidal war will begin. But Russia and the Church will not perish. Through the prayers of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, the great saint of the Russian Church, and other saints and righteous men of our homeland, Russia will be pardoned. The third picture means that there will be a revolution in Russia and the royal family will perish in atonement for their guilt before the people and those iniquities that were happening at court (Rasputin and much more).

It all came true. At the same time, the restoration of the patriarchate in Russia took place - the prophecy of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov came true.

(Moscow Society, No. 1, 1992).

On the roof of the car

(Story by Maria Ar.)

The famine was then in Moscow. They gave out per person an eighth of bread with chaff. There was nothing: no potatoes, no cereals, no cabbage, and they began to forget about meat.

Alexandra, Ekaterina and I came to our spiritual father Michael to ask for a trip to buy bread. Many leave with their belongings and bring bread, why shouldn't we go too.

Father Mikhail listened to us, shook his head disapprovingly, went up to the icon and prayed for a long time. Then he turned to us and said: “I hand you over to the Intercessor of our Mother of God. Take each one after the image of Vladimirskaya and pray to Her. She and Saint George will help you. It's hard, oh, how hard it will be. I will pray for you here too. " And no matter how he said for us:

Mother of God and saint of God George, help them, save them and keep them from danger, fear and outrage.

And so we drove off. All the way we remembered why our father called Saint George?

Relatives did not let us go for a long time, but we went. From Moscow we drove in heating cars, where on footboards, in vestibules. September was running out.

We exchanged a pood of two flour and a pood of millet. We drag, we suffer, but we are very happy.

Stuck far from Moscow. Everywhere barrage detachments take away bread. At stations, trains are not put on. Only military echelons are going.

We sat at the station for three days, ate onions and chewed dry millet. I still taste it on my lips. A large train of boxcars arrived at night. There was talk that it was a military man and was heading towards Moscow. In the morning, the doors opened, the soldiers poured out of the cars and went to change apples, pickles, baked turnips, and onions from the peasants. We are afraid to ask for a ride. The women say that it is dangerous to get into the carriages of the soldiers. They tell horror.

Cholera broke out somewhere. Scary and hopeless. That's when they remembered the words of Father Mikhail. The soldiers are sitting on the floor, on bunks, smoking, laughing, spitting seeds, shouting: “Women, come to us! Let's ride! Let's go soon! " We fear. Several women decide to go. The soldiers jokingly drag them into the carriages.

Several women, including us, young people, decide to climb onto the roof of the car - there is no other way to go. With difficulty we climb the ladder, we drag in the bags. The sun is baking. We spread out in the middle of the ribbed roof.

We pray. On the rooftops, almost everything is filled, mostly by women alone. The locomotive smokes intolerably, fires with wood. Finally, the train moves forward and picks up speed.

The station floats by, filled with a noisy crowd of people, some try to jump on the buffers, footboards, break down, fall and again try to leave, but few succeed.

The train went out into the steppe, deaf, deserted. Black smoke of a steam locomotive. Sparks burn hands, face, clothes, bags. We brush off sparks as if from flies, extinguish on each other, dust ourselves off.

Sasha quietly asks that all three of us lay our heads to each other. We shift carefully, and Sasha reads to us from memory the Akathist of the Vladimir Mother of God. Reads it several times.

It's hot, stuffy, it's hard to extinguish sparks and cling to the roof ridge. The bags slide to the side, they have to be constantly corrected.

Let's go, let's go. Suddenly the train suddenly stops. People jump off the train, run along the train, discuss something. The train is at a standstill. We are lying. The sun sinks over the horizon. Sparks don't fly anymore. Thirsty. The doors of the carriages open, the soldiers jump out, go to the rare roadside bushes, swear without malice, laugh. We look at them from above.

Suddenly one of the soldiers exclaims: "Brothers, how many women are on the roofs!" And instantly there is a change in mood. "Guys! Let’s go to the women! ”

The cars are empty, everything is poured onto the embankment. Many climb onto roofs. Noise, laughter, screams, screeching.

“Lord! - the thought rushes, - what to do? " Soldiers appear on the rooftops, at first a little, but then more and more. Shouts are heard from the neighboring rooftops, someone begs, begs, cries. "Ohalnik! What are you doing? I'm good for you as a mother! " - “Soldiers! Do not damage the bread, at home the children are little, little, less hungry. " - "Bread is yours, aunt, we will not harm, the authorities feed us." Boots knock on iron, hollow, scary. Some of the women are crying wildly, praying, someone is fighting, jumping off the roof, breaking. Several soldiers appear on our roof. I pray, addressing the Mother of God. Katya, clinging to me, cries and, sobbing, prays out loud. Sasha looks sternly - I know she won't give up, won't back down. I remember the words of Father Michael about Saint George, and I start asking him too.

Walking around other women, a soldier approaches us, a high-cheekbone face, a smooth shaved head, thoughtless slanting eyes. He grabs my hand and says conciliatingly: "Lie down girl, I won't hurt you!" I push him away, start to retreat and, looking into his face, I am baptized several times. Grinning without malice, he steps forward with his arms outstretched. They swarm on rooftops, fight, beg, give up. Any struggle, of course, is pointless, there are many soldiers, and they have absolutely no idea what they are doing. It seems to them that what is happening is fun. Resistance makes them laugh and inflames them even more.

Slanting goes, I retreat. Katya shouts: "The roof ends." Nowhere to retreat. A sailor in a vest, tall, with an embittered face, on which, sparkling, sparkling, big eyes, rises from below.

The sailor grabs me by the shoulders, pushes me aside and says in a strong, but trembling voice with anger: "Calm down, now we'll figure it out, but you can always jump off the roof." He walks to the slanting man, hits him in the chest and says: "Well ... get out of here!" - after which the slanting immediately jumps into the gap between the cars. A sailor walks along the roof, approaches a lying soldier, lifts him by the collar and shouts: "What are you doing, contradiction, you dishonor the workers 'and peasants' government and the army!"

The soldier swears desperately, tries to hit the sailor, but he pulls out a revolver and shoots him in the face. Falling, the soldier slides off the roof and flies onto the embankment.

The rally begins. Only women and several male bagmen remain on the rooftops. The rally lasted fifteen minutes, but the locomotive started beeping, the soldiers climbed into the carriages, hastily burying the shot. The sailor, coming up to us, said: "Come on, girls, into the carriage, you will get there more calmly."

They treated us very well in the carriage, fed and watered us. The sailor, his name was Georgy Nikolaevich Tulikov, was the regiment commissar. Sasha told him, an unfamiliar person, about us, about faith, about the university, about how we hoped for the help of the Mother of God and St. George, being on the roof. George listened to us thoughtfully, never once condemning, without expressing mockery.

Two or three times the train was met by barrage detachments, trying to remove the women sitting on the roof and enter the carriages, but, being met by the train's armed guards, they left with abuse and threats. They took us to Podolsk, the echelon did not go further. Georgy and his companions put us on a commuter train, and we reached Moscow safely.

Saying goodbye, we thanked George and those of the military who rode in the car. At parting George said: "Maybe we will meet, life is intertwined."

And Sasha, our quiet Sasha, who always radiated moderation and calmness, approached George, put her hands on his shoulders and said: “May God save you for good deeds and always be kind and sympathetic. Farewell!". And bowed low to the belt.

The joy of our relatives about our return was immeasurable, and we, having only had time to wash, hurried to Father Michael.

Father was already waiting for us. After listening to us, he said:

Thank you, Lord, for your great mercy. Don't forget the sailor George. Pray for him, some of you still have to meet him, then be sure to help him.

More than twenty years passed, the war was in 1943. Fr Mikhail died in exile in 1934, and our prayer book Sasha died there with him in voluntary exile. Katya had been married for a long time, my connection with her was breaking. In 1943, I worked as a surgeon in a military hospital for 18-20 hours a day, did not come home for weeks, I went to church from time to time.

The hospital was an officer's, many wounded were brought. They brought one colonel unconscious. The wound is serious, neglected. They operated on at night for more than four hours, and received blood transfusions several times. After the operation, as I was in the operating clothes, I collapsed exhausted and fell asleep.

She slept for four hours and immediately rushed to the patient. Life slowly returned to him, there was a lot of trouble with him, but they did. Every day I came to him three times, I really wanted to save him.

Came on the twentieth day after the operation. He lies weak, pale, transparent, only his eyes barely glow. He looked at me and suddenly said quietly: “Mashenka! How long have you come to me, but you won't know everything! "

I was indignant, sharply told him that I was a military doctor, not Mashenka. After all, she came with a whole group of doctors. And he:

Eh, Mashenka, and I remember you, Katya and Sasha all my life! - it was here that the past captured me. She screamed:

George! - I rushed to him, hug. Out of delicacy, the doctors and nurses began to leave the ward, and I, like a girl, grabbed him by the head and wept.

I looked, and on his bed there was a sign hanging, like everyone else, and on it: "Georgy Nikolaevich Tulikov." Why didn't I notice it before?

George's eyes brightened even more. He said: "Go with a detour, then you will come in."

For two months I came to him after rounds and shifts. But his first question was: Am I still a believer?

Sasha's stories then in the carriage left some kind of imprint in his soul, which did not wear off, but made him treat faith, religion and people with caution, attention and benevolence. In 1939, being with the rank of colonel, he was sent to the camp. “There,” said George, “I saw good and bad people, but of the many I met, I remember for my whole life a young man of about twenty-three who carried so much kindness and warmth to people that everyone loved him, even the camp criminals. So he introduced me to God, he introduced me. At the beginning of the forty-first year, Gleb (that was his name) died in the camp. And I was released in August and sent to the front with the rank of captain, now I have again risen to the rank of colonel. Before being wounded, I commanded a division, I will recover and go back to the front. The academy of the general staff, civil, Khalkhin-Gol, Spain, the Finnish war, and now the patriotic war behind them. "

Georgy and I parted as great friends. They corresponded throughout the war. And in 1948 he moved with his family to Moscow, they began to meet often. He retired in a big rank, lives almost all the time near Moscow, raising his grandchildren. We meet just as often, but we also meet in the Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Thy ways are inscrutable, Lord!

(From the book: Father Arseny, Moscow, 1993, Brotherhood in the name of the All-Merciful Savior)

Deadly caverns

(From the stories of Arsenia's mother)

Now she is a small, hunched-over old woman in a black velvet skoufake and a long monk's robe. She is eighty-four years old, but she still moves briskly, leaning on a stick, and does not miss a single church service. Her mother's name is Lyudmila.

Many years ago she was a tall, slender novice, but everyone around her looked at her with pity: caverns covered her lungs, and she lived out her last days, so said the famous Tallinn doctor, to whom Mother Abbess took her.

The young novice patiently waited for her death.

Once on a clear spring day, Father John of Kronstadt came to the monastery. Joy gripped the nuns. Finding an opportune moment, the abbess, holding the arm, brought the patient to him.

Bless our hospital, dear father, - she asked.

Father John looked at the girl attentively and shook his head in sorrow:

Oh, how sick, how sick!

And, not taking his gaze from the patient, he touched her chest and made such a gesture, as if he were gathering together some kind of loose tissue. He collected it, squeezed it tightly with his fingers and even turned them to the side to make it stronger. Then he touched another place on his chest and, shaking his head, repeated the same gesture, then moved his hand further, and in this way, sighing contritely and praying, he seemed to tighten the wounds invisible to those around him. Then he blessed the patient and said very simply:

Well, thank God: you will live and live a long time, it is true, you will get sick, but that's okay.

No one attached particular importance to the strange actions of the great father, but everyone noticed that after his departure the patient began to recover.

A year after this incident, Mother Abbess went to Tallinn and took the recovering girl with her to show her to the doctor who predicted her imminent death for examination.

The old doctor was very surprised to see his patient recovered. After carefully examining her, he asked for permission to take an X-ray of the lungs and, examining it, shook his head.

I don’t understand anything! Your lungs were riddled with holes, but some powerful hand repaired them, tightening the deadly cavities and covering them with scars. You should have died long ago, but you are alive and you will live. Dear child, a great miracle has been performed on you!

(Collection "Non-Invented Stories")

Orthodox Christians have no stigmata

Stigmata are special wounds or marks on the body that arise miraculously (we do not consider fake stigmata). Catholics usually develop stigmata in places where there were nail and spear wounds in the body of Christ, and they are considered a sign of holiness, marked by God. The Orthodox have no stigmata (as signs of holiness), no stigmatized saints. According to the teaching of the Church, for salvation, only natural diseases and sorrows, endured with patience, are enough.

There are cases when simulators developed the diseases that they simulated, and exactly in those places where they pretended to indicate.

A cold five-kopeck coin was placed on the hand of the hypnotized person and told that it was red-hot. In that place, a blister jumped up, as if from a burn.

In addition to these, arbitrary, there are involuntary stigmata. Here are three stories.

Evgeny M-v, a resident of the city of B., said that before the wedding he had a foot on his chest - a distinct trace of a human foot, reddish in color.

What is it? he asked. - Is this a sign that I will be under the wife's heel?

The image of the foot on the chest disappeared after a few days. Moreover, it should be noted that he was not Orthodox then, did not go to church, did not read spiritual books, knew nothing about stigmata.

Second story. The woman was a witch. She was angry, lived alone, did not talk about her neighbors, she talked and whispered - she conjured. She admitted that she could not wash in the bath: if she saw a sore on one of the washing women, the sore immediately appeared in her, in the same place. Chiriy, lichen or something else, as soon as she sees them, everything immediately passes to her.

It is clear that both unbelievers and sorcerers can have stigmata.

And here is the third case, an exceptional one. It was told by Matushka N., the wife of the Moscow priest V.

I never believed in stigmata (and I do not). I am Orthodox, and we cannot have stigmata. But one morning I saw a cross on my hand, on the inside, above the wrist. The cross was straight, reddish, with sharp edges. Not knowing what it was, I was surprised and ... went to the doctor.

I show my hand to the doctor and ask: what is it?

The doctor looked with bewilderment and said:

You probably did it yourself.

What for? I don't need a sick leave ...

But he remained unconvinced.

Conclusion: stigmata are not a sign of holiness or being marked by God - after all, God marks rogue, says the proverb. And if God punished someone with a disease, this does not mean that that person is holy. Obviously, it is only the self-deception of Roman Catholics that allows them to consider these wounds a sign of holiness.

Myrrh-streaming icon in Canada

In 1982, in Montreal, near a particle of the relics of the New Martyr Elizabeth (Feodorovna), the Iveron Icon, a copy of the famous Athos icon of the Mother of God, began to stream myrrh. It happened in Canada, in the home of the Orthodox Spaniard Jose Muñoz. Here is his story, with some abbreviations.

Once, during a pilgrimage to Athos, we went to a skete where several Greek icon painters worked. I asked them to sell me a wonderful letter, an icon - a copy of the Iberian wonderworking one. The hegumen said: “You cannot take money for such a shrine. Take the icon, it must be with you. "

We returned to Canada. On November 3, 1982, I placed the icon next to the relics from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra and New Martyr Elizabeth, which I received from the late Archbishop Leonty of Chile. All the time a lamp was glowing in front of her, and every day before going to sleep I read akathists before her.

On November 24 at 3 am I woke up with a strong scent of roses. The whole room was filled with it. Looking around, I saw that the icon was covered with fragrant oil.

Soon the myrrh-streaming icon began to be carried around the parishes of the Orthodox Church and the parishioners were anointed with this peace.

The same oil was brought by the grace of God to Russia.

Miracles in Optina Pustyn (1988; 1989)

On November 11, 1988, at five o'clock in the evening, in the Vvedensky Cathedral of Optina Hermitage, a miraculous manifestation of the blessed dew took place on the Kazan icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and the outflow of fragrant peace from the image of St. Ambrose.

Witnesses to the miracle saw the moisture that appeared in the image of the Virgin Mary, transparent as a tear. At first there was a kind of perspiration, and then drops appeared, gradually increasing. They were collected, the icon was wiped dry, and they appeared again in the same place or next to them on the orange-red robe of the Divine Infant, under His blessing hand. The brethren saw this, the pilgrims who worked in the monastery saw it. The dew was carefully removed from the icon, and immediately, before the start of the service, the akathist was read by the Father Superior Archimandrite Evlogiy, after which the dew reappeared. The All-night Vigil, combined with the service to the miraculous image, ended at 22:30, and at 23:00 it became known that the icon of St. Ambrose began to ooze myrrh.

This image of St. Ambrose was painted for Optina by a student at a Moscow seminary with the participation of Abbot Zinon. The icon was constantly in the Vvedensky Cathedral next to the relics of St. Ambrose.

Here is how a witness - novice Optina describes this event:

“First, a kind of perspiration appeared on the icon - the smallest droplets of moisture (in the area corresponding to the saint's heart). Soon a well-defined, oily, fragrant spot became clearly visible. Then drops, like brilliant beads, began to appear in other places - on the saint's mantle and on a scroll in his hand, on which it is written: "It is fitting to seek to grow in humility."

The droplets here and there lit up, increasing before our eyes, turning into full-weight drops, and then some of them decreased and disappeared.

The outflow of the world was accompanied by a fragrance. It acted as if in waves, then immediately capturing everyone, then disappearing to barely perceptible. Among earthly smells, he cannot find a similar one. If you try to name the impression it makes, it’s like a fragrant, concentrated freshness.

The miracle that was happening was simple and scary at the same time. At that time, the church was cleaned as usual, and people did not seem to notice the icon and the monks standing around it in amazement during their cares. What was happening before our eyes was striking in its simplicity. We, far from exalted, talked calmly, exchanged impressions. Everyone felt the presence of the Monk Ambrose, whose gaze acquired wondrous depth and clarity. The canon was read to the monk, we sang exaltation ...

Gradually, the outflow of peace moved to the area of \u200b\u200bthe open scroll, and several large drops appeared in the words "grow in humility."

The flow of myrrh stopped at night. "

Another witness of the miracle told the following: “That night I went to the temple at about two o'clock. There was no one in it, only a sleeping watchman tired of impressions and a novice who read the psalter near the myrrh-streaming icon. He finished reading, myrrh was carefully collected, and everyone left. I was left alone before the miraculous image. It was scary and joyful. I read the kathisma and went up to the icon. But there was nothing on it, except for a barely visible trace. I was upset that, perhaps, I would not see the miracle, but suddenly a shining dot of peace appeared on the icon, which turned into a drop before my eyes. Through the prayers of the Monk Ambrose, the Lord consoled me by contemplating a miracle. "

In the following days, the icon of the monk began to stream myrrh more than once. Thus, myrrh appeared on the icon on the day of the namesake of the late Patriarch Pimen. There were other cases, one of which deserves special attention, because then the miraculous outflow of the world was captured on film. The eyewitness Hierodeacon Sergius told about this.

On September 17, 1989, after the liturgy, the filming of the program for the film festival in Amsterdam was being prepared. When asked by Father Sergius about his faith in God, the cameraman answered negatively. It was not clear how to build a story about the monastery for an unbeliever, and Fr.Sergius went to venerate the relics of the monk, so that he would manage everything himself, and instruct him what to do and say. After everything had been prepared for filming, Father Sergius took the cameraman to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and told him the events we have already described related to this image. Then they passed to another side-chapel to the icon of the monk, and Fr.Sergius froze in amazement: two spots with streaks of peace were clearly visible on the icon. There was no one in the temple, except for the novices at the candle box at the other end of the cathedral. Father Sergiy, in his own words, could not hide his surprise, which the camera impassively recorded. The operator remarked to him: "I see that something is happening to you." Father Sergiy, in his own words, could not hide his surprise, which the camera impassively recorded. The operator remarked to him: "I see that something is happening to you." Father Sergius pointed out the reason. After that, a novice was called, and when a second witness appeared at the icon, the shooting began. Sensing the divine scent, the operator exclaimed: "It's a pity that you can't remove the smell!"

The film was shown at the Amsterdam Film Festival and was a great success. Thus, the monk, having a "sick heart for all those flowing to him with faith," again went out to preach to people, and testimony about him spread beyond the distant ones.

In the modern world, shackled by atheism that has invaded the flesh and blood of people, miracles similar to those of Optina fill the soul of a Christian with a fervent hope for the intercession of the Lady of Heaven and the saints.

The origin of these phenomena, emanating from the Kingdom of Heaven into our sinful world, is majestic and intimate. How should we, Orthodox people, treat such signs?

Here is what we find about signs in the creations of Isaac the Syrian (Word thirty-six): “The Lord does not at all times, when He is close to His saints, to help them, unnecessarily, clearly shows His power in any deed and sensual sign ... and does this, providing for the saints and wanting to show them that even for an hour he does not stop his secret care for them, but in every deed he gives them, to the best of their ability, to show their exploit and work in prayer. If the matter requires discovery (the explicit help of God), then for the sake of need it does it; and His ways are the wisest, sufficient in poverty and need, and not any accidental. Whoever dares to do this unnecessarily or prays to God and desires miracles and powers in his hands, he is tempted in his mind by a scoffer and a demon and turns out to be boastful and weak in his conscience.

In the Russian chronicle texts there are many testimonies of myrrh streaming, from which we see that miracles and signs were widespread at that time.

“For us, miracles are a heavenly sign to rebirth,” the abbot explains these events, “it is given to us for repentance and strengthening prayer.”

According to the father of the rector, the Queen of Heaven, who manifested her lamentation for peace in the gracious dew, calls on the brethren and all Orthodox to repentance.

To his holy icon. The brothers must put the constant memory of this miracle, as well as of the gracious help of the myrrh-streaming image of St. Ambrose, as the foundation of their spiritual life. This is indicated by the date - the day of the return of the monastery, for exactly one year after the decision to return the Optina Hermitage to the Russian Orthodox Church, the first miracle of myrrh-streaming took place here.

(“Zealous Intercessor.” Hieroskhimonakh Philadelph (Bogolyubov), M., Russian Spiritual Center, 1992).

Serendipity of Father Alexy († 1928), Elder of the Zosimov Hermitage

Here are some cases recorded by his spiritual son I. N. Chetverukhin.

My friend from the Theological Academy, N.I.P., was once in 1908 with my father for confession. Saying goodbye to him, the priest suddenly said about his sister: "Oh, your poor, poor sister!" N.I.P. did not understand Father's words, but when he arrived home, he found a notice from his mother that his sister had gone mad.

A similar incident occurred in 1915 with a teacher who visited Father Alexy every week. Once the priest met her with the words:

Why did you come today? What for? I didn't expect you today. Are your brothers all alive?

Everyone, father, is alive, ”she answered, perplexed about such a meeting.

Upon arrival in Moscow, she found a telegram about the death of her brother-junker.

One acquaintance told how once during the German war she visited a priest who had just had a young woman who missed her husband, who was at the front. Father Alexy said nothing to her, but to our friend he let slip: "Here I just had Olya, she misses her husband, but her husband was killed." How could the priest know, the Lord knows him, but two weeks later Olya was sent a notice of her husband's death.

(Moscow Journal, No. 4, 1992, p. 7)

Prophet Jonah was in the belly of a whale

The fact that the prophet Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights is described in the Bible. The prophet Jonah lived in the eighth century BC - that is, two thousand eight hundred years ago. And now, in the twentieth century, honest scientists have presented evidence that the event with the prophet Jonah is true. But not so long ago, pseudoscientists claimed that the whale could not swallow Jonah, and this lie has been claimed for almost two hundred years. But now, by God's providence, some discoveries and events of the 20th century have changed the opinion of even notorious atheists. Here is evidence of the truthfulness of the Bible based on the article from the book: The Law of God, compiled by Archpriest Seraphim, printing house of St. Job of Pochaev, 1967, pp. 231-233.

Superficial and unbelieving critics believe that there are many obstacles to admitting that Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale and that the prophet was in the belly of a whale for three days and three nights, and then was ejected onto dry land.

Of course, no one who believes in Christ can doubt what happened to the prophet Jonah, for Christ Himself put a seal on this subject when He said: “for as Jonah was in the belly of a whale for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights ”(). Here Christ refutes - at least as far as His disciples were concerned - the idea that the book of the prophet Jonah is an allegory (allegory), as critics like to suggest. For if it is said only in an allegorical sense that Jonah was in the belly of a whale, then the conclusion follows that the stay of Christ in the heart of the earth, for three days and three nights, also has the meaning of only an allegory. Here again we have an example of how the denial of the Old Testament paves the way for the denial of Christ Himself and His words.

To deny the story of the prophet Jonah is tantamount to denying all of the Holy Scriptures, which means giving up faith. Are those numerous defeats, the so-called "scientific objections" against the Holy Bible still not enough for man? How many times have the "wise men of this world" refuted and ridiculed the Holy Bible against them? After all, a simple acquaintance with the text of the original and some scientific knowledge give us in many ways the answer.

It is known that the original of the Holy Bible (Old Testament) was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek.

But in the Hebrew language (as the Old Testament was written and, in particular, the book of the prophet Jonah), the whale is called "tannin." In the Bible, in the Old Testament, the sea creature that swallowed Jonah is called not by the word “tannin”, but by the word “dag”, and the word “dag” means “big fish” or “monster of the depths”.

The Holy Church has been testifying to this for over 1500 years, calling this creature, who swallowed Jonah, "an aquatic beast." So, for example, in the irmos of the 6th canon of the Friday canon at Matins, the 8th voice, it says (in Slavonic): "" The Water Beast "in the womb, Jonah's hands spread crosswise, the salutary passion of the prototype of Java."

In the 6th canon of the morning canon, on Tuesday, the 5th voice, it is said: "Like the prophet you delivered from the beast, O Lord, and raise me up from the depths of unfeeling passions, I pray."

Likewise, in the irmos of the cross-Sunday canon at Matins, voice 6, song 6: the creature that swallowed Jonah is called not only a whale, but a beast.

And in the irmos of the 6th canon of the Tuesday canon at Matins, voice 2, it is said: "but like Jonah from the beast, and raise me from the passions, and save me."

And on Wednesday at Matins, in the irmos of the 6th ode, the voice of the 3 rd canon of the Theotokos, it is said: "Save the Savior, as you have saved from the beast of the prophet."

And in the Sunday canon at Matins, in the irmos of the 6th canto, voice 7, it says: “Floating in the rumor of everyday cares, sins are drowned with the ship, and we are swept away by the strangled beast, like Jonah, Christ, cry out: from the deadly depths build me ".

You can cite many more texts from Irmology (collection of Irmos), which speaks of the aquatic beast.

And now about the whales. Various breeds of whales are known in science. For example, there is a genus of whales with 44 teeth in the lower jaw and reaching 60–65 feet in length (18–20 meters). But they have a very small throat. This is probably the reason for arguing that Jonah could not be swallowed by the whale.

There is another type of whale, the so-called "bottle-nosed" or "with a beak." It is a small whale, up to 30 feet in length (9 meters). Although small, it has a rather large throat and could well swallow a human. But the prophet could not be swallowed up by him, because he chews food and has teeth. That is, he would rather chew Jonah than vomit out of himself.

There are whales that do not have teeth, but are equipped with a whalebone. Among this type of whale there are whales called "Fin-Bak". These whales come in up to 88 feet (26 meters and 40 cm) in length. The stomach of such a whale has from 4 to 6 chambers or compartments, and, in any of them, a small group of people could easily fit. This type of whale breathes air and has a spare air chamber in its head, which is an expansion of the nasal cavities. Before swallowing an oversized object, the Fin-Buck whale pushes it into this chamber. In the event that an object is too large in the head of this whale, then it swims to the nearest land, lies down in shallow waters and throws away its burden.

Scientist Dr. Ranson Harvey testifies that a friend of his, weighing 200 pounds (about 80 kilograms), crawled from the mouth of a dead whale into this air chamber. The same scientist points out that a dog that fell overboard a whaling vessel was found alive in the whale's head 6 days later. From what has been said, it is clear that Jonah could have stayed in the "belly", that is, in the air chamber of such a whale, for 3 days and 3 nights and remained alive. So from scientific evidence and from direct experience, we can see that Jonah could have been devoured by a whale.

But the biblical word "dag" refers to "big fish." From this we can conclude that Jonah could indeed have been swallowed up by a sea creature - a big fish. In this case, you should point to a fish called "whale shark" or "bone shark".

The whale shark got its name from the fact that it has no teeth. The shark whale reaches 70 feet (21 meters) in length and filters food through large plates (whiskers) in its mouth. This shark has ample stomach to accommodate a human.

And the fact that Jonah stayed in the womb of a large sea creature for three days and three nights and remained alive can be said in the words of Scripture: "with God everything is possible." Then it is not useless to recall the message in the Literary Digest that a sailor was devoured by a shark whale. After 48 hours (i.e. after two days) the shark was killed.

When they opened the shark whale, what was the surprise of all those present when they found the sailor, swallowed by this beast, alive, but only in an unconscious state. Moreover, the sailor had no consequences of his stay in the belly of a shark whale, except for hair loss and several blisters on the skin. Then the sailor told, coming to his senses, that only fear did not give him rest when he was in the belly of the whale. As soon as he regained consciousness and realized where he was, he immediately lost consciousness again.

Recently, writes the father of I.S., Japanese fishermen killed a great white shark in the Hawaiian Islands. A complete human skeleton was found in her stomach. It turned out that it was a soldier on the list of deserters in clothes of the North-Am. army.

So, we see that Jonah could be swallowed by a big fish even without violating the natural laws of nature. All "absurdities" and "contradictions" disappear. The word of God is true and invariable; it can never be in conflict with true science.

But nevertheless, for us, believers, it is quite obvious that in the event with the prophet Jonah, the power of God unconditionally acted. For the Lord, as the Creator of the very laws of nature, has a free will to govern them, if He needs it, according to His providence.

Miracles through the prayers of St. Seraphim (Sobolev)

Mother's prediction came true

The mother of Vladyka Seraphim (Sobolev), in terrible suffering, could not be relieved of the burden, and by the decision of the doctors it was necessary to start an operation - to extract the baby in parts, to save the life of the parent. Having regained consciousness and having learned about the doctors' decision, she with an oath forbade her husband: not to allow the killing of her baby. After a night spent in terrible agony, at the first sound of the church bell on December 1, 1881 at 5 o'clock in the morning, the baby was born by itself without any outside help. Then the mother asked: "Show me my brainchild, from which I almost died," and when the child was brought up, she said: "Oh, what a serious mukhtar was born."

After that, his family sometimes called him “mukhtar”. It was only many years later that he learned from the book that in Arabic the word “mukhtar” means “bishop”. Nicholas (as he was called at baptism) became Bishop Seraphim in 1920 on October 1, on the feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos. So the prediction of the mother came true, 39 years later.

A book was published in Greece in 1991, which contains 27 brief descriptions of the miracles of St. Seraphim, created by the Lord through his prayer during the life of the saint and after his death. Here are two of the posthumous miracles.

Rescue of the collector

(Official E.K. tells)

When my close relative, deeply religious, told about the miraculous deliverance of a young soldier from death by St. Seraphim, listening to her, I did not imagine that in the same 1952 I would get into terrible trouble and also receive wonderful help from Archbishop Seraphim. This is what happened to me.

In mid-July 1952, I was ill. Suddenly I receive a message from the Insurance Institute (the events are taking place in Bulgaria), where I worked as a collector, to report about an audit that was done in my absence. I immediately went to my institution. The auditor told me that the audit had already been completed and I was accused of misusing the amount of 4.800.000 BGN (leva). All that remained was to write the act and I subscribe to it. After all this, I felt bad. The auditor coolly offered to have lunch and then sign the revision act, which he himself would draw up after lunch.

I walked out, staggering, powerless and crushed. In despair, she went to the city center with the intention of throwing herself under the tram. Suddenly, at this fateful moment, I clearly recalled the miracle of Vladyka Seraphim with the young man. There was a hope in me that he would help me.

I hurried to the Russian Church, asked to let me into the crypt (underground chapel) and there I prayed for a long time, with tears, asking Vladyka Seraphim to reveal my innocence. By three o'clock in the afternoon, I went to college with fear. However, the auditor for some reason did not appear either on that day or on the next. Then I found out that during lunch he became very ill and he was taken to the hospital, where he died suddenly!

A new auditor was sent to replace him. He did not want to sign someone else's revision act and wanted to check everything himself over again. After a thorough check, he discovered that a deliberate falsification had been made. It turned out that the documents of the other two collectors who had misused the amount of 4.800.000 BGN were altered and transferred to me. It so happened that soon death suddenly mowed them down! Subsequently, I learned that the first inspector had brought many collectors to prison and most of them suffered innocently.

E.K. ends his story with the words: "Glory to God and His pleaser Archbishop Seraphim, through whose prayers the Lord, with His Divine truth, conquered human untruth!"

Prophetic dream to a woman, a taxi driver

A woman, a taxi driver (Bulgaria), said that she had no children for many years. One day she dreamed that a baby was lying in her car and was crying. She wondered where this child came from. Suddenly he hears in a dream the answer: "From the street of the Tsar Liberator No. 3."

In the morning the woman went with interest to see what was at this address. She was very surprised when she realized that this is the address of the church.

Entering the church, she told her strange dream to the church ministers, who advised her to pray at the grave of Archbishop Seraphim. Soon a child was born to her and she glorified God and Vladyka Seraphim.

The miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire

Every year, before Easter, in an Orthodox church in Jerusalem.

In the first collection, "Orthodox Miracles in the 20th Century," we already wrote about the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire, we mentioned this in the second collection. And now, in the third book, there is new evidence.

This miracle, unique in its grandeur in the history of Christendom, occurs every year. Let us remind you that the miracle of the convergence of the fire takes place in an Orthodox church, on Orthodox Easter, celebrated in the old Orthodox style, when the Orthodox patriarch performs the service. The attempt of the Catholic bishop to accept the blessed fire ended in failure, more precisely, in the punishment of the Lord: the sacred fire did not descend inside the temple, but lightning struck a tree near the temple, scorching the tree and splitting it. No other non-Orthodox dared to illegally receive the sacred fire.

This miracle takes place in the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord, in Jerusalem. The fire comes down by itself, from God, - not ignited by any person, nor matches, nor lighters, nor other human inventions. For this purpose, the patriarch is specially checked before entering, and carefully, by the Gentiles.

The fire that descends is called grace-filled, because it carries with it grace from God - grace that sanctifies a person, frees from sins, heals diseases, gives talents and spiritual gifts. The Greeks call this fire holy light: Agios-photos. The first moments this fire does not scorch, does not burn, then it becomes ordinary, elemental.

Different eyewitnesses who lived in different centuries describe the descent of the sacred fire in a very similar way, with minor differences that only complement each other. For if their descriptions were identical, the suspicion would arise that one is copying from the other.

The Bible says: “Every verb will become in the mouth of two or three witnesses,” that is, two or three witnesses are needed for reliability.

So we, for comparison and perfect reliability, give descriptions of two eyewitnesses of the descent of the fire, one who lived in the 19th century, the other in the 20th century.

In 1859, Mrs. Varvara (B. d. S.-I.) was present at the descent of the Holy Fire and described this miracle in a letter to her spiritual father, Abbot Anthony.

On Great Saturday in the Feodorovsky Monastery early in the morning, all the nuns and pilgrims tied small colorful candles in bunches so that each bunch consisted of 33 candles - in memory of the number of years of Christ.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, after the Liturgy, our Orthodox Christians put out the lamps on the Holy Sepulcher, and all the candles in the church. (The Holy Sepulcher is the burial place of the Lord Jesus Christ, the former crypt, and now the chapel).

In the whole city, and even in the circumference, not a spark of fire remained. Only in the homes of Catholics, Jews and Protestants the fire did not go out. Even the Turks follow the Orthodox and come to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on this day. I saw how their children held bundles of candles in their hands and spoke to them through an interpreter. There were also adults with children.

At 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the doors of the temple are open, and the cathedral is full of people. All without exception, old and young, go to the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord. We made our way through the crowd of people with difficulty. All five tiers of choirs were filled with pilgrims, and even on the walls, wherever one could somehow hold on, there were Arabs everywhere. One drew special attention to himself: he sat on the handle of a large candelabrum in front of the icon and put his daughter, about seven years old, on his lap. Bedouins with shaved heads, women with money strung on their heads and on their noses and covered with white veils, with children of different ages, ran into the temple from the mountains. Everyone was bustling and busy, impatiently awaiting the blessed fire. Turkish soldiers stood between the pilgrims and calmed the agitated Arabs with rifles.

Catholic monks and Jesuits looked at all this with curiosity, among them was our Russian prince Gagarin, who moved 18 years ago to the Latin Church.

The Royal Doors were open, and the highest clergy of all Christian denominations could be seen there. (The Resurrection Cathedral is the only place on earth where representatives of all religions are present together - as an exception to the rule, which nevertheless confirms the rule: you cannot pray with heretics).

It was the first time for the Patriarch of Jerusalem to be present here - in previous years he lived in Constantinople. However, the altar was commanded by its viceroy, Metropolitan Peter Melety, and he himself received the blessed fire. Since Sunday (Vai week), the Metropolitan did not eat anything except prosphora, and did not even allow himself to drink water; this made him paler than usual, however, he spoke calmly with the clerk.

Each had a bunch of candles in his hands, while others, standing in the choir, lowered several such bunches on wires and these bunches hung along the walls to receive heavenly fire. All lamps are filled with oil, there are new candles in the chandeliers: the wicks are not burnt anywhere. The Gentiles with distrust carefully wipe all the corners in the Kuvukliya (Kuvuklia is the place of the Holy Sepulcher, where the body of Christ lay), and they themselves put cotton wool on the marble board of the Holy Sepulcher.

The solemn moment is approaching, everyone's heart beats involuntarily. Everyone is focused on the thought of the supernatural, but some have doubts, others, pious, pray with hope for the mercy of God, while others, who have come out of curiosity, indifferently wait for what will happen.

Here a ray of sun flashed through the hole above the Kuvuklia. The weather is clear and hot. A cloud suddenly appeared and obscured the sun. I was scared that there would be no more grace-filled fire and that the people would tear the Metropolitan to pieces of vexation. Doubt darkened my heart, I began to reproach myself, why did I stay, why did I expect an unrealizable phenomenon? Thinking like that, I became more and more worried. Suddenly everything went dark in the church. I felt sad to tears; I prayed fervently ... The Arabs started shouting, singing, hitting their chest, praying aloud, raising their hands to heaven; the kawas and Turkish soldiers began to appease them. The picture was terrible, there was general anxiety!

Meanwhile, the altar began to dress the Metropolitan - not without the participation of the Gentiles in this. The clear helps him to put on a silver surplice, belts it with a silver cord, puts on shoes; all this is done in the presence of the clergy of Armenian, Roman and Protestant. Having clothed him, they lead him arm in arm with a naked head between two walls of soldiers in front of smart kawas to the door of the Cuvuklia and lock the door behind him. (The cuvuklia is empty, it is being searched beforehand).

And here he is alone at the tomb of the Lord. Silence again. A cloud of dew descends on the people. I also got it on my white cambric dress.

In anticipation of fire from the sky, everything falls silent, but not for long. Again anxiety, shouting, rushing, praying; those who are worried are relieved again. Our mission was in the pulpit above the royal gates: I could see the reverent expectation of the Right Reverend Cyril. I also looked at Prince Gagarin, who was standing in the crowd. His face expressed sadness, he gazed intently at the Kuvuklia.

In the front room on both sides of the Kuvuklia there are round holes in the walls, through which the abbots and abbots of the surrounding monasteries serve candles to the Most Reverend Governor (Metropolitan).

Suddenly a bunch of lighted candles appears from the side hole ... In an instant, Archimandrite Seraphim hands the candles to the people. At the top of the Kuvuklia everything is lit: lamps, chandeliers. Everyone is shouting, rejoicing, crossing themselves, crying with joy, hundreds, thousands of candles transmit light to one another ... Arabs scorch their beards, Arabs bring fire to their naked neck. In the crowds, fire penetrates the crowds; but there was no case of a fire. General delight cannot be described: it is an inconceivable miracle. After the sun - immediately a cloud, then dew - and fire. Dew falls on the cotton wool that lies on the Holy Sepulcher, and the wet cotton suddenly lights up with a blue flame. The governor touches cotton wool with unburned candles - and the candles are lit with a dull bluish flame. The viceroy hands over the candles lit in this way to the persons standing at the openings. It is remarkable that at the beginning from so many candles in the church there is a half-light; faces are not visible; the whole crowd is in some kind of blue mist. But then everything lights up and the fire burns brightly. Having passed the fire to everyone, the governor leaves the Kuvuklia with two huge bunches of lighted candles, as with torches.

The Arabs wanted, as usual, to carry him in their arms, but Vladyka avoided them and himself, as in a fog, walked with swift steps from the Kuvuklia to the altar of the Resurrection Church. Each tried to light his own candle from his candles. I was in the way of his procession and also lit it. It seemed transparent; he was all in white; inspiration burned in his eyes: the people saw in him a messenger of heaven. Everyone was crying with joy. But, behold, an indistinct rumble passed among the people.

Inadvertently, I glanced at Prince Gagarin - his tears are flowing like a hail and his face shines with joy. Yesterday he extolled the advantages of the Roman profession, and today, amazed by the action of heavenly grace, bestowed only on Orthodoxy, sheds tears. Is this not the late fruit of repentance? ...

The viceroy was accepted into his arms by the patriarch. And the Bedouins, in wild delight, gather in a circle and dance in the middle of the church, overjoyed they stand on each other's shoulders, sing and pray until the exhausted ones fall. Nobody stops them.

Mass followed, after which everyone ran to light the lamps: some - home, some - to Elijah the prophet, to the Cross Monastery, some to Bethlehem, some to Gethsemane. Lights on the streets during the day, in the sunlight - an extraordinary sight!

His Eminence, the governor Peter Meletius said that it has been 30 years since God grants him the opportunity to receive heavenly fire:

Now grace has already descended on the Lord's tomb, when I ascended into the Kuvukliya: it is evident that you all prayed fervently, and God heard your prayers. And sometimes, I pray for a long time with tears, and the fire of God did not descend from heaven until two o'clock in the afternoon. And this time I already saw him, as soon as they locked the door behind me! Has the graceful dew fallen on you?

I replied that even now traces of dew are still visible on my dress, like wax spots. “They will remain forever,” said the lord. This is so: I have washed the dress 12 times, but the stains are still the same.

I asked what Vladyka felt when he left the Kuvuklia, and why did he walk so soon? "I was like a blind man, I didn't see anything," he answered, "and if they hadn't supported me, I would have fallen!" This was noticeable: his eyes did not seem to be looking, although they were open.

This is a summary of the letter of Mrs. Varvara B. de S.-I.

In this description, one should especially pay attention to the fact that there is not one miracle, but two: in addition to the blessed fire, the blessed dew descends from the blessed cloud. This is confirmed by another eyewitness, the monk Parthenius from Mount Athos. He says: after the patriarch leaves the tomb of the Lord, “the people rush into the tomb of the Lord to kiss; and I (Monk Parthenius) was honored to venerate. The whole of Christ's coffin was wet, allegedly soaked in rain; but I could not find out why it was. In the middle of the Lord's tomb stood that great lamp, which itself lit up, and burned with great light. " (M., 1855, monk Parthenius).

And here is what an eyewitness says about the Holy Fire that descended in 1982.

The time is 10 o'clock, four hours are left before the Holy Fire.

We have already sealed the doors of Cuvuklia, put a seal of wax. Now the Arabs are making a religious procession.

Noise, screams, music. Arabs turn to God very violently, with a southern temperament.

Patriarch Diodorus passes by us. In a few minutes, the patriarch will enter the Holy Sepulcher wearing one tunic. A Coptic and an Armenian are standing at the door of the Tomb. They will stand as witnesses to the reception of the blessed fire.

On this day, every Orthodox Christian, every believer tries to come to the Church of the Resurrection. Pilgrims come from different countries.

The patriarch has already entered Kuvuklia, now he will pray for the sending down of the blessed fire.

… The blessed fire came down this year unusually quickly.

Screams, noise, crying.

Everyone lights candles with a blessed fire, stretches out the candles, hundreds of hands are visible, and the whole church is kind of lit up, there are lights all around, huge bunches of candles, in each hand 2-3 bunches. The entire temple lights up.

Leaving the temple, we see: all the streets of Jerusalem are crowded with people, all are blessed with fire.

Here are the stories of some of the sisters after the descent of the fire.

I saw fire both around the Kuvuklia and around the dome of the temple, in the form of triangular lightning.

Experiencing joy, some of the sisters cried, even wept beside me when the blessed fire came down.

And next to me were the Russians from Belgium. "Hooray!" - shouted.

Some have joy, some have tears. In general, there is no such mood as in our church in Russia.

What a merciful Lord: after all, they swear nearby, and the police separate someone, anything can happen ... but grace descends, everyone can see it equally.

The sisters say that grace is still manifested after the first descent, after the fire.

I see that lightning is sparkling again over the Kuvuklia, around the Cuvuklia in such zigzags, then it will sparkle, then on the very dome of the Kuvuklia ... Suddenly a ball appeared (like a ball of lightning). At some point, it suddenly disintegrated, flashing in a zigzag. Immediately we all jumped up: grace! What a miracle.

We are all waiting. Suddenly everyone began to whistle, I look, right at the image of the Risen One, the blue ball descended. And the patriarch leaves, has already received the blessed fire.

We come to Calvary, suddenly the whole temple will shine again, and again grace on Calvary!

When I first came here, they told me: grace heals. My hands ached so much with rheumatism, they were all twisted. "Lord," I think, "I will put my hands on the Light, right on grace." And grace is warm and does not bake. I apply and feel, the Lord gave me consolation - for joy I do not remember what kind of fire, hot or cold. And with such joy I walked to the Mission building, I did not feel anything, whether there was an illness or not, but there was such joy in my soul that I could not convey it. For joy I didn't know what to do, cry or scream

So, the testimonies from different centuries unambiguously agree: the blessed fire occurs every year. But the miracle is not one, but two: in addition to fire, dew from the cloud also appears. And the blessed fire accompanies the appearance of lightning, not only inside the Kuvuklia, but also outside it, outside the Church of the Resurrection and in other sacred places in Jerusalem, consecrated by the stay of the Lord Jesus Christ.

(Based on the materials of the book: Holy Fire over the Holy Sepulcher. The author is Archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Naum. Publishing house "Peresvet", Moscow, 1991)

Reverend Seraphim Healed Me

In the summer I was visiting. Heat, stuffiness. I leaned against the ice radiator - a pleasant coolness spread over my body. But after a while the left side, which I pressed against the battery, became ill. Sometimes I didn't know where to go from the acute pain. He was treated, applied wool, fur, leather to his side, stroked with a warm iron, applied his palm, in general, did everything, but nothing helped. Minute consolations were replaced by aching pains.

Several years have passed. I was visiting another house. We read in turn the Akathist to the Monk Seraphim of Sarov. God's grace surrounded us, we felt the presence of God: our heart burned with joy and bliss. I felt the presence of the Monk Seraphim behind my back. I saw him, but not with my eyes, not with the back of my head, but with my whole body, as if the whole body was a single eye. In my mind I turned to the reverend:

Father Seraphim, just touch your finger to my left side, right here - and I believe he will be healed! Just touch, father!

And suddenly, he approached me and - I feel, I see how the Monk Seraphim thrust his finger into my right side in the lumbar region and, without removing his finger, held it inside from the right side to the left. At that moment I felt: I am healed! It was amazing: I expected that he would touch the left side, but he started from the right side, and did not touch, but thrust his finger into the body, like into water. Thank God! - mentally, with fear, I thanked, without interrupting the reading of the akathist. - Thank you, Father Seraphime!

About fifteen years have passed since the healing, and I remember everything as if it were yesterday.

(Vladimir)

Perhaps the birds and beasts of the Lord will beg?

Gathered to hunt. We drank. One of the hunters fell asleep after drinking and died in his sleep.

What should relatives do? The Bible says: drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. Does that mean that you can't have funeral service for him in church? But he did not die of drunkenness (although he was drunk).

In general, they sang a service in the church, ordered to commemorate for forty days. But they feel that they have done little.

The relatives thought and decided: to collect money and send it to the monks on Athos - this is a mountain where only monks live. Let them pray to God.

They collected a hundred rubles and sent them away. It takes about a year. A letter comes from Mount Athos: monks write that they prayed, but they cannot pray to the Lord.

Relatives conferred: what to do? Probably not enough money was sent. With difficulty they collected another hundred rubles and sent them to the monks: pray.

Another six months or a year pass, and a letter from the monastic brethren comes from Athos, along with a letter of two hundred rubles of money. The letter says: take back your two hundred rubles. We prayed to the Lord for your deceased, but, apparently, our prayers are not pleasing to the Lord - He does not accept them. Or maybe your deceased was a great sinner?

And you better do this: buy with this money, two hundred rubles, grain for the birds, all kinds of food for the forest animals and scatter it in the forest - maybe the birds and animals will beg the Lord.

(Collection "Non-Invented Stories"; V. G.)

Notes

Elder Zechariah (1850–1936) - Schema-archimandrite of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He was buried in Moscow at the German cemetery.

Elder Simeon died in 1960. In the novices, his name was Vasily. Most of the information about him was preserved in the records of Alexandra's mother.

Spoilage is a disease that someone has inflicted on a person or on livestock. Some of the Orthodox do not recognize corruption, believing that it is just a disease allowed by God as punishment or admonition. Corruption is just a common name for a disease that a sorcerer or witch induces under the influence of a demon. Corruption does not affect the saints.

Cavern (lat. Caverna) is a cavity that occurs in an organ when its tissues are destroyed (mainly in the lungs with tuberculosis).

In recent years, many foreign preachers have visited Russia, ostensibly to evangelize it, but in fact to fight against the Orthodox Church. Several times, in particular, on Russian television, a Catholic stigmatist was shown preaching his heterodox. In the spring of 1992, many Muscovites attended his performances, held at one of the large sports arenas in the capital. With this in mind, we decided to post stories about the falsity of stigmata in general.

Time after time we read both in the Gospel and in the Old Testament about miracles and, truly, we can see them throughout the centuries in life: miracles of healing, miracles of renewal of human life by the power of God. And sometimes people - all of us - ask ourselves the question: what is a miracle? Does it mean that at the moment it is raped by its own creation, violates its laws, breaks something, which He Himself has brought to life? No: if so, it would be a magical action, it would mean that God broke the disobedient, subdued by force that which is weak in comparison with Him, Who is strong.

A miracle is something completely different; a miracle is the moment when harmony is restored, broken by human sin. It can be a flash for a moment, it can be the beginning of a whole new life: a life of harmony between God and man, harmony of the created world with its Creator. In a miracle, what should always be is restored; a miracle does not mean something unheard of, unnatural, contrary to the nature of things, but on the contrary, such a moment when God enters into His creation and is accepted by it. And when He is accepted, He can act freely in His creation, sovereign.

Miracles and signs have long been revered as signs of the Divine presence in the world and the grace-filled love of God for us. In religious and secular literature, art, history, stories about this are preserved from ancient times to the present day. In modern life, there is also a place for a miracle, especially if it is well prepared by the human, with hope, love and the desire to discern the Providence of God through the veil of worries and worries of the vain world.

The modern world, in the words of the Apostle "lying in evil", is ambiguous about this concept. For some, a miracle is something unreal, distant, which cannot be reached. For others, it is commonplace, everyday reality. For others, a miracle is a lie, deception, profanity. But there is a category of people for whom a miracle is a gift from God, a fruit of faith, a mighty finger pointing to the right path in life. These people are Orthodox Christians. And in fact, how many miracles the Lord shows to us who believe in Him. Oddly enough, miracles that we hear about can simultaneously cause completely contradictory feelings that do not mix, but incomprehensibly complement each other.

The great miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire on the Holy Sepulcher on Holy Saturday on the eve of Orthodox Easter ... It simultaneously gives rise to sacred awe and causes great joy in the Risen Christ. The Turin Shroud - a silent witness to the Suffering and Resurrection of the Savior, on the one hand - tells about the great mystery of death and, at the same time, confirms us in faith in Life. The myrrh-streaming ones can simultaneously be an omen of God about some trouble and, at the same time, emit currents of healing.

Many miracles defy scientific explanation, but this inexplicability strengthens many people in faith. After all, for a believer, no scientific evidence is needed for the fact that God exists. And since He is, it means that our faith is not in vain, but, on the contrary, bears abundant fruits.

How to distinguish true miracles from false ones?

True miracles are always evidence of God's love for man. Christ never performed miracles for Himself, but only for others. Thus, He refused to turn stones into bread when He was hungry in the wilderness, but He multiplied a small amount of bread to feed thousands of hungry people. He could have implored the Father and summoned legions of angels to protect Himself from enemies, but instead He healed a slave sent to detain Him (Matt. 26 : 53; Luke. 22 :50).
The disciples of Christ, and in general all holy people, begged God for miracles to help their neighbors, but they very rarely performed miracles for themselves.
IN false pride always works in miracles. People try to master the forces of material nature in order to intimidate, subdue, or destroy their own kind. At the same time, any natural phenomenon of nature seen by people for the first time can be presented as a "miracle". To savages the telephone, telegraph, radio, airplane, etc. seem to be a "miracle" only because these phenomena are incomprehensible to them.
But these miracles, of course, have nothing to do with the gospel miracles of Christ and His followers; The miracles of Christ are the essence of the manifestation of the omnipotence of God for the salvation of people from sin and death. And besides, it must be borne in mind that the miracles of the Gospel are not only "bare facts" of the mercy of Christ, but they are also teachingChrist's about the Kingdom of God. Each miracle has its own special meaning and symbolism, which are either directly revealed by the Gospel text, or implied.

Gospel miracles

Jesus Christ's preaching about the Kingdom of God was accompanied by continuous miracles and signs. The Lord healed many sick people, cast out demons, commanded the forces of nature, raised the dead.
The miracles performed by Jesus Christ were so extraordinary that they caused either bewilderment and fear, or the delight of eyewitnesses. These were mysterious, supernatural phenomena, unexplained by nothing, except for the action of the forces of Almighty God.
Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews, came to Christ and said: "You are a teacher who came from God, for such miracles as You do, no one can do unless God is with him" (Io. 3, 1-2) ...

But Christ not only had this power Himself, but also granted it to His closest disciples - the twelve and seventy Apostles.
Sending them out to preach - “He gave them power over unclean spirits in order to drive them out and heal every disease and every weakness ... and commanded them saying: “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. You have received for free, give for free. "(Matt. 10 :1-8).
The disciples, preaching the Kingdom of God, used the authority given to them by Jesus Christ, "They drove out many and anointed many sick people with oil and healed"(Mrk. 6 :13).
Returning from the sermon, they gladly said: "Lord, and demons obey us about your name ..."(Lk. 10 : 17). However, due to the weakness inherent in every human nature, the power of miracles for the Apostles was limited, For example, they could not heal a demoniac lunatic youth "Due to unbelief" and due to lack of "fasting and"(Matt. 17 : 19-21), or - Al. Peter, starting to walk on the stormy sea, began to drown, because "Doubted"and "Scared"(Matt. 14 : 30-31). But the miracles of Christ Himself were infinite. Everywhere, wherever the Lord appeared, the hostile forces that struck humanity with sin, sickness and death retreated and fled like dark shadows from the face of Fire and Light,

"And wherever He came,"- says Ap. Mark, - "Whether in villages, in villages, in cities, they put the sick in open places and asked Him to touch at least the hem of His garment, and those who touched Him were healed ..."(Mrk. 6 :56).
“Those who had plagues rushed to Him to touch Him. M unclean spirits, when they saw Him, fell before Him and shouted: You are the Son of God ... "(Mrk. 3 :10-11).

The imperious Word of Christ and incessant miracles amazed not only such sages as Nicodemus, but all people in general. Thus, in one of the synagogues in Nazareth, “many who heard, with amazement said: where did He get it? what wisdom was given to him? and how are such miracles performed by His hands? "(Mr. 6 :2).
And after taming the storm, people were surprised and said: "Who is this that both the winds and the sea obey Him?"(Matt. 8 :27).

Before the Fall, in the days of Adam and Eve, man was painless and immortal. He ruled over all the forces of nature, animals obeyed him, and the forces of the earth favored his life. There were no miracles in paradise, because. whole the world was one permanent, lasting miracle of God's love.But after the Fall, man lost his grace-filled power over the forces of nature, suffering, illness, death and the need to "fight for existence" appeared. Hence, what was “natural and normal” before the Fall has now become exceptional and miraculous (supernatural) for the fallen world. The miraculous work of Christ - the Son of God is, first of all, a manifestation of mercy, forgiveness and love of the "Second Adam" - Christ for fallen humanity. But at the same time, the miracles of Christ were a signthe power of God and evidenceHis God-Sonship,
Paradise appeared on earth in the person of the God-man - the Son of God, the One Sinless One. Absolute Light shone in the darkness, absolute A life- paralyzed disease and death, absolute Power abolished infirmity, absolute Sinlessnessdefeated sin, the absolute Truth dispelled the darkness of lies and ignorance, the absolute truthexposed lawlessness. And all this was a miracle of God's love for the world. In general, any contact of the God-man with the earthly existence of the fallen Adam was wonderful, never before, and therefore amazing. From Christ continuously flowed power, which manifested itself now in the word, now in the healing of the sick (Lk. 5 : 17; 6, 19; 8:46), then in the casting out of demons (Lk. 10 : 19), then in the command of the elements of nature. And they were all The "works" of Christ.When the Jews asked Christ: "If you are the Christ, tell us directly," He answered them: "The works that I do in the name of My Father, they testify about Me ... I and the Father are one ..." (Poe 10, 24– thirty). And again: “The works that the Father has given me to do, these very works that I have done testify of me that the Father sent me” (John 5:36).
In general, we can say that all the miracles of Christ are - the work of His redemption.As the Sun radiates life-giving rays of warmth and light, so Christ, in the days of His earthly life, did incessantly deeds of love, goodness, mercy to fallen man, which sometimes took the form miracles,surpassing our usual earthly"the laws".

Marriage at Cana of Galilee

(John 2, 1-11)
A two-hour walk from Nazareth, where the Virgin Mary lived, among the low hills of Galilee is the small town of Cana. There, in a humble family of friends of Mother Jesus, at a wedding feast, Christ performed the first miracle. He turned water into wine.

This event is described by Ap. John: On the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the Mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and His disciples were also invited to the marriage. And as there was a lack of wine, the Mother of Jesus says to Him: "They have no wine."

According to the Jewish custom, the bridegroom was greeted by girls with lamps. They entered with the groom to the wedding feast, where all the invited guests were already waiting for them. According to the Talmud, the most significant aspect of a Jewish marriage was the "Seven Blessings", of which the first was the blessing of wine. Its text is as follows: "Blessed are You, our Lord our God, King of the World, who created fruits for grape wine." The groom usually went out of his house to the house of the bride's parents, he was accompanied by friends and chaplains. Having received a blessing from the bride's parents, he returned with her to his parents' house. The bride was deeply veiled, her face was not visible. With music, singing and dancing, everyone entered the wedding feast. First, the marriage contract was signed there, and then the "Blessings" were proclaimed. Here the bride opened her face and the one who was married for the first time that day saw her. This meant that the marriage was completed, after which the feast continued.
It is possible that at the marriage in Cana of Galilee there was not enough wine just at that crucial moment when the "Blessings" were pronounced. And there was not enough wine because in connection with the arrival of Jesus for the marriage, more guests appeared than expected and the master of the feast did not foresee this. If this was the case, then it is understandable that the Mother of Jesus could feel partly responsible for the embarrassment in the family of her friends. Therefore, She turned to Her Son: "They have no wine." But He said to her: - “What is Me and You, wife? My hour has not yet come. " However, the Holy Virgin felt that the Son would not leave poor people without help and their family joy would not be darkened. And His Mother said to the ministers: "Whatever He says to you, do it."

There were also six stone water-pots, standing according to the Jewish custom of cleansing, containing two or three measures. Jesus tells them, "fill the vessels with water." And they filled them to the top, And he said to them: "Now draw up and take it to the master of the feast." And they carried it. When the steward had tasted the water that had become wine, and he did not know where this wine came from, only the servants who drew the water knew, then the steward calls the groom and says to him: every man serves good wine first, and when they get drunk, then the worst. and you have kept good wine until now. "
The miracle struck the master of the feast and the groom himself and all the guests, the disciples of Christ. “This is how Jesus started miracles in Cana of Galilee,” says the Evangelist, “and showed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him”.

The Gospel of the Miracle in Cana is usually read when the church Sacrament of Marriage is performed. After this reading, the priest invites the bride and groom to drink a common cup of blessed wine. This means the beginning of their common life and unity in the love of Christ, the beginning of creation in their family. "Small house church".

Healing the son of a courtier

(John 4, 46-54)
After the marriage in Cana of Galilee, Christ went to Judea and preached the Kingdom of God there. Returning after a while to Galilee, "Jesus again came to Cana of Galilee, where he turned water into wine." Here he was approached by a certain courtier who had come from Capernaum, whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he came to Him and asked him to come and heal his son, who was dying.
"You will not believe," the Lord said to the courtier, "unless you see signs and wonders." The whole thought of the courtier was apparently focused not on the question of faith in Christ as the Son of God, but entirely on the illness of his son and the thirst for his healing. Therefore, he pleaded with Christ: "Come before my son died."

Then the Lord said to him: "Go, your son is healthy." And here the whole depth of the courtier's trust in Christ was revealed. He believed the word of Christ and immediately went home. - I didn’t ask Christ to come to my son personally. Anxiety and fear for his son's life immediately disappeared. Complete calmness was established in my soul. Faith in I. Christ, as a powerful Physician, immediately found in the soul the ground for a deeper faith in Him as a God-Man. The servants, not understanding how this happened, hurried to find their father in order to inform him of the news of his recovery: on the road to Capernaum, they met their master returning and said: "Your son is healthy." "At what time did it feel better for him?" - asked the father. "Yesterday at seven o'clock the fever left him," was the answer. This was the very hour when Jesus said to him: "Your son is well." To this the Evangelist adds: "And he himself and all his house believed."

Healing a demoniac in Capernaum

(Lk. 4 : 31-37; Mrk. 1 :21-28)
One of the first miracles performed by Christ in Galilee, after a sermon in the synagogue of Nazareth, was the miracle of casting out a demon in Capernaum.
Arriving in Capernaum, a city of Galilee, Christ taught the people there on Saturdays in local synagogues. The audience marveled at the teaching of the Carpenter of Nazareth, "for His Word was with authority." During one of these sermons of Christ, “a man who had an unclean spirit of demons” appeared in the synagogue, who shouted in a loud voice: “Forgive, what do you care for us, Jesus of Nazareth? You came to destroy us, I know who You are, the Holy One of God. "
But Christ forbade the demonic spirit, saying: "shut up and come out of it." And immediately the spirit obeyed the imperious word of Christ, Throwing over the possessed man in the middle of the synagogue, "the demon came out of him, without damaging him in the least."

“And terror fell upon all,” says Ap. Luke, - "and reasoned among themselves: what does it mean that He commands the unclean spirits with authority and strength, and they go out?" (Lk. 4 :36).

For Christ's contemporaries it was not at all surprising that demons took possession of people and took possession of them, but the people were amazed that a Man appeared who with power commanded this unclean power, and drove it out of people. This was an act of God's mercy towards the fallen human race. “And a rumor spread about the miracle of Christ“ in all the surrounding places, ”says the Evangelist.

The resurrection of the son of the widow of Nainsk

The city of Nain lay in Galilee, on the northern slope of the foothills of the Little Hermon, in a rather deserted, rocky and uncomfortable part of the ridge. At present, there is a very poor, decayed Nain village here. The entrance to it is possible from only one side, which is open to the slope of a wild hill descending to the valley.

“When He approached the city gates,” says the Evangelist, “here they were carrying the dead, the mother's only son, and she was a widow; and many people went with her from the city. " And further, the Evangelist briefly and accurately conveys how the resurrection of the young man took place. This picture seems to be in front of us now. Two large groups of people met and mingled at the gate of Nain, probably trying to let each other pass. The mother, who was following the stretcher, was near Christ; she wept bitterly and could hardly make out well who met her. “Seeing her,” says the Evangelist, “the Lord took pity on her and said to her: do not cry. And coming up, he touched the bed; the carriers stopped; and He said: Young man! I tell you, get up! ... "
After these imperious words of Christ, the crowd, gripped by fear, crowded near the stretcher, saw how ... “the dead one got up, sat down and began to speak; and Jesus gave him, ”adds St. Luke - "his mother." Having come to their senses, all the witnesses of the miracle, realizing what had happened, came into great enthusiasm and "glorified God, saying: a great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited His people."

Taming the storm on the sea of \u200b\u200bGalilee

(Matt. 8 : 23-27; Mrk. 4 : 35-41; Luke. 8 :22-25)
Evening came, but in the vicinity of Capernaum and Bethsaida there were still crowds of people who came from everywhere to listen to the speeches of the Prophet and Healer from Nazareth of Galilee. At sunset, as always in recent times, the demon-possessed were brought to Christ and the sick with all kinds of diseases, and He healed them all. However, the night was already approaching and it was necessary to let everyone go home. Without interrupting the conversation, and answering individual questions from the disciples who questioned Him, Christ gradually descended to the seashore. But the crowd of listeners did not diminish in the least and moved after Christ.
Then, “seeing a multitude of people around Him,” says Evangelist Matthew, “Jesus told the disciples to sail to the other side” of the sea, to the country of Gadarene, which lies opposite Galilee, far from Capernaum and Bethsaida, where it would be impossible to follow the crowd gathered here.
“Then one scribe,” as Evident Matthew testifies, “came up and said to Him: Teacher! I will follow You wherever You go. " But the Lord answered him: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. "
This means that before following in the footsteps of Christ, one must be ready to give up all, even the most elementary comfort of life, even from the hearth for rest and sleep.
Then another one of His disciples came to Christ and said: “Lord! let me first go and bury my father. " But the Lord answered him: "Follow me and leave the dead to bury their dead, and you go, preach the Kingdom of God." (Lk. 9 :60).

Then a third came up and said: "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family." But Christ said to this too: "No one having laid his hand on the plow and looking back is not trustworthy for the Kingdom of God." (Lk. 9 :62).
These last words of the Savior are, as it were, an explanation of all his previous answers; they cannot be understood otherwise than as a categorical demand of Christ to all who understood and accepted His teaching: without being tempted by any delays, even the most plausible ones, immediately - without any compromises, without looking back at your past life - to go into the service of the Kingdom of God and his truth.
All this was said by Christ, apparently, at the moment when He entered the boat, and His disciples, “having sent the people away,” also entered the boat and “took Him with them, as He was in the boat. There were other boats with Him. " (Mrk. 4 : 36). Christ said to the rowers: “Let's cross to the other side. And they went. " (Lk. 8 :22).
The sun went down, the coast was empty and darkness was approaching. At first, the boat sailed calmly along the light waves of the lake. Christ, tired of the people, fell asleep during the voyage. But now, a sharp wind blew from the east coast, which quickly intensified and, raising high waves, soon turned into a storm. "The waves hit the boat, so that it was already filled with water and they were in danger, and Christ was sleeping at the head of the stern."
Exhausted, abandoning the oars and seeing that they were unable to cope with the raging elements, wet and cold, the rowers began to wake up Christ: “Teacher! do you really have no need that we are perishing? " And waking Him up, they cried out to Him: “Mentor! Mentor! perishing ... Lord! save us; we are perishing ”... Then Christ,“ getting up, forbade the wind and said to the sea: be silent, stop. And the wind died down, and there was a great silence. "
And he said to his disciples: “Why are you so fearful? how do you have no faith? " And the disciples, "were afraid of great fear and said among themselves: Who is better than this, that both the wind and the sea obey Him?"
After the great storm, there was a great silence. This contrast struck the disciples: for them not only the passing storm and mortal danger to their lives were terrible, but the presence among them of the One who with a single word tamed this storm and eliminated the danger was also terrible. Yes, “it is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God”! (Heb. 10 :31).
The further voyage was calm and, towards morning, Jesus and His disciples "sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which lies opposite Galilee" (Lk. 8 :26).

From the book of Archpriest Lev Liperovsky "Miracles and Parables of Christ"

Miracles in human history

Lancha miracle

It was the 8th century from the birth of Christ. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was celebrated in the Church of San Legontius in the ancient Italian city of Lanciano. But in the heart of one of the priests who served the Liturgy that day, a doubt suddenly arose whether the Body and Blood of the Lord, hidden under the guise of bread and wine, were true. The chronicles did not convey to us the name of this hieromonk, but the doubt that arose in his soul became the cause of the Eucharistic miracle, revered to this day.

The priest drove away doubts from himself, but they persistently returned again and again. “Why should I believe that bread ceases to be bread and wine becomes Blood? Who will prove it? Moreover, outwardly they do not change in any way and have never changed. Perhaps these are just symbols, just a memory of the Last Supper ... "

… On the night when He was betrayed, He took bread… He blessed, broke and gave to His disciples, saying: “Receive, taste: this is my body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins”. Likewise, the cup, saying: "Drink from it all: this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins."

The priest uttered the holy words of the Eucharistic Canon with fear, but doubts continued to torment him. Yes, He, the sacrificial lamb, could, by His divine power, turn wine into blood and bread into flesh. He could do everything, having come by the will of the Heavenly Father. But He left a long time ago, leaving this sinful world and giving it His holy words and His blessing as a consolation: And, perhaps, His Flesh and Blood? But is it possible? Has not the true Sacrament of the Sacrament gone with Him into the heavenly world? Has not the Holy Eucharist become only a rite - and nothing more? The priest tried in vain to restore peace and faith in his soul. Meanwhile, transubstantiation has taken place. With words of prayer, he broke the Eucharistic Bread, and then a cry of amazement resounded in the small church. Under the fingers of the hieromonk, the refracted Bread suddenly turned into something else - he did not immediately understand what it was. And in the bowl there was no longer wine - there was a thick scarlet Liquid similar to ... Blood. The stunned priest stared at the object in his hands: it was a thin slice of Flesh, reminiscent of the muscle tissue of a human body. surrounded, struck by a miracle, unable to contain their amazement. And he confessed to them his doubts, resolved in such a miraculous way. Having finished the Holy Liturgy, he silently fell to his knees and plunged into a long prayer. What did he pray for then? Thank you for the sign given from above? Did you apologize for your lack of faith? We will never know. But one thing is truly known: since then, the miraculous Blood and Flesh have been kept in the city of Lanciano for twelve centuries, materialized during the Eucharist in the Church of San Legontius (now San Francesco). The news of the miracle then quickly spread around the nearby cities and regions, and lines of pilgrims stretched to Lanciano.

Blessed fire

The Resurrection of Christ - Easter, before which the described event occurs - is the greatest event for Christians, which is a sign of the Savior's victory over sin and death and the beginning of the existence of the world, redeemed and sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ.

For nearly two thousand years, Orthodox Christians and representatives of other Christian denominations have been meeting their greatest - the Resurrection of Christ (Easter) in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Resurrection) in Jerusalem. In this greatest shrine for Christians, there is the Tomb where Christ was buried and then resurrected; Holy Places where the Savior was judged and executed for our sins.

Each time, everyone who is inside and near the Temple on Easter witnesses the descent of the Holy Fire (Light).

The Holy Fire has appeared in the temple for several millennia. The earliest mentions of the descent of the Holy Fire on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ are found in Gregory of Nyssa, Eusebius and Sylvia of Aquitaine and date back to the 4th century. They also contain descriptions of earlier convergence. According to the testimony of the Apostles and the Holy Fathers, the uncreated Light illuminated the Holy Sepulcher soon after the Resurrection of Christ, which was seen by one of the Apostles: “Peter believed, he saw not only with sensual eyes, but also with a high Apostolic mind - the Coffin of light was filled, so that although and the night was, however, two images of the inner saw - sensually and mentally, ”we read from the church historian Gregory of Nyssa. “Peter appeared to the Sepulcher and the light in the grave was terrified in vain,” writes St. John of Damascus. Eusebius Pamphilus narrates in his "Church History" that when one day there was not enough lamp oil, Patriarch Narcissus (II century) blessed to pour water from the Siloam font into the lamps, and the fire that came down from the sky lit the lamps, which then burned throughout the entire Easter service ... Among the earliest mentions is the testimony of Muslims, Catholics. The Latin monk Bernard, (865) writes in his itinerary: “On Holy Saturday, which is the eve of Easter, it begins early and after the service is performed, Lord have mercy on it until, with the coming of the Angel, light is kindled in the lamps hanging over Coffin. "

Litany (church ceremony) of the Holy Fire begins about a day before the start of Orthodox Easter, which, as you know, is celebrated on a different day than other Christians. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, pilgrims begin to gather, wishing to see the descent of the Holy Fire with their own eyes. There are always many non-Orthodox Christians, Muslims, atheists among those present, the ceremony is watched by the Jewish police. The temple itself can accommodate up to 10 thousand people, the entire area in front of it and the enfilades of the surrounding structures are also filled with people - the number of those who wish is much greater than the capabilities of the temple, so it is not easy for pilgrims.

Before the descent, the temple begins to illuminate with bright flashes of the Blessed Light, here and there small lightning flashes. In slow motion, it is clearly visible that they come from different places of the temple - from the icon hanging over the Kuvuklia, from the dome of the Temple, from windows and from other places, and flood everything around with bright light. In addition, here and there, between the columns and the walls of the temple, quite visible lightning flashes, which often pass through standing people without any harm.

A moment later, the entire temple is surrounded by lightning and glare, which snake down its walls and columns, as if flowing down to the foot of the temple and spreading over the square among the pilgrims. At the same time, candles light up at those standing in the temple and on the square, the lamps themselves are lit on the sides of the Kuvukliya themselves (except for 13 Catholic ones), like some others within the temple. “And suddenly a drop falls on the face, and then a cry of delight and shock is heard in the crowd. Fire burns in the altar of the Catholicon! Flash and flame are like a huge flower. And Cuvuklia is still dark. Slowly - slowly, the Fire from the altar begins to descend towards us. And then a thunderous cry makes you look back at Kuvuklia. It shines, the entire wall shimmers with silver, white lightning streams down it. The fire pulsates and breathes, and from the hole in the dome of the Temple a vertical wide column of light descended from the sky onto the Coffin. The temple or some of its places are filled with unparalleled radiance, which is believed to have first appeared during the Resurrection of Christ. At the same time, the doors of the Tomb are opened and the Orthodox Patriarch comes out, who blesses the audience and distributes the Holy Fire.

The first time - 3-10 minutes, the ignited Fire has amazing properties - it does not burn at all, no matter which candle and where it will be lit. One can see how parishioners literally wash themselves with this Fire - they run it over their faces, over their hands, scoop them up in handfuls, and it does no harm, at first it does not even scorch the hair.

“I burned 20 candles in one place and burned my brace with all the candles, and neither a single hair grimaced nor scorched; and having extinguished all the candles and then lit some people, those candles were kindled, and in the third, those candles were kindled, and I didn’t burn the tronush’s wife, nor did it scorch ... ”- wrote one of the pilgrims four centuries ago.

People who are in the temple at this time are overwhelmed with an inexpressible and incomparable in its depth feeling of joy and spiritual peace. According to those who visited the square and the temple itself during the descent of the fire, the depth of feelings of the overwhelming people at that moment was fantastic - eyewitnesses left the temple as if reborn, as they themselves say, spiritually cleansed and recovered. What is especially remarkable is that even those who are uncomfortable with this God-given sign do not remain indifferent.

Best stories about Miracles

In France there is an ancient cross with the words about the Lord Jesus Christ engraved on it.

If there were no Divine Miracles, there would be no Orthodox Faith!

All over the world, at all times, MIRACLES have always happened, are still happening today - amazing and inexplicable phenomena and events from the point of view of science. There are a lot of them, thanks to these miracles, many people on earth gained faith in Almighty God and became believers. History stores a large number of reliable facts of all kinds of amazing incidents and events that actually happened on earth, and therefore people believe in God or not, but these miracles, as they happened before, they still happen in our time and help people to find real faith in God.

Therefore, no matter how unbelieving people say and assert that there is no God and cannot be, that all believers in God, people are ignorant and insane, nevertheless, let's make room for existing real facts, that is, such events that took place on really. And let us listen carefully to those people who themselves were participants and witnesses of these events ...

The Lord wants to save every person, and for this good purpose - He performs many Miracles and Signs through the saints chosen by Him. So that people through these Miracles learn about God, or at least remember Him and really think about their lives - do they live correctly? Why do they live in this world - what is the meaning of life? ..

DEATH IS NOT THE END

Several testimonies of the professor

Andrey Vladimirovich Gnezdilov, St. Petersburg psychiatrist, doctor of medical sciences, professor of the Department of Psychiatry at the St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, scientific director of the gerontology department, honorary doctor of the University of Essex (Great Britain), chairman of the Association of Oncological Psychologists of Russia:

« Death is not the end or destruction of our personality. This is just a change in the state of our consciousness after the completion of earthly existence. I have worked in an oncology clinic for 10 years, and now I have been working in a hospice for over 20 years.

During these years of communication with seriously ill and dying people, I have many times had the opportunity to make sure that human consciousness does not disappear after death. That our body is just a shell that the soul leaves at the moment of transition to another world. All this is proved by the numerous stories of people who have been in a state of such "spiritual" consciousness during clinical death. When people tell me about some of their secret, deeply shocking experiences, the vast experience of a practicing physician allows me to confidently distinguish hallucinations from real events. Not only I, but also no one else can explain such phenomena from the point of view of science - science by no means covers all knowledge about the world. But there are facts proving that besides our world there is the Other world - a world that operates according to laws unknown to us and is beyond our understanding. In this world, into which we will all fall after death, time and space have completely different manifestations. I want to tell you a few cases from my practice, which can dispel all doubts about its existence. "

I will tell you an interesting and unusual story that happened to one of my patients. I want to note that this story made a great impression on the academician, head of the Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences Natalia Petrovna Bekhtereva, when I told her it.

Once they asked me to look at a young woman named Julia. During a serious operation, Yulia experienced clinical death, and I had to determine whether the consequences of this condition remained, whether her memory, reflexes were normal, whether consciousness was fully restored, etc. She was in the recovery room, and as soon as we started talking to her, she immediately began to apologize:

- Sorry to cause so much trouble for doctors.

- What kind of trouble?

- Well, those ... during the operation ... when I was in a state of clinical death.

“But you can't know anything about it. When you were in a state of clinical death, you could not see or hear anything. Absolutely no information - neither from the side of life nor from the side of death - could come to you, because your brain was turned off and your heart stopped ...

- Yes, doctor, it's all true. But what happened to me was so real ... and I remember everything ... I would tell you about it if you promise not to send me to a psychiatric hospital.

- You think and speak perfectly intelligently. Please tell us about your experiences.

And this is what Julia told me then:

At first - after the introduction of anesthesia - she was not aware of anything, but then she felt some kind of shock, and she was suddenly thrown out of her own body by some
then in a rotational motion. With surprise, she saw herself lying on the operating table, saw the surgeons who were bent over the table, and heard someone shout: “Her heart stopped! Start up immediately! " And then Julia was terribly scared, because she realized that it was HER body and HER heart! For Julia, cardiac arrest was tantamount to the fact that she died, and as soon as she heard these terrible words, she was instantly seized with anxiety for the relatives who remained at home: her mother and little daughter. After all, she did not even warn them that she would be operated on! "How is it that I'm going to die now and won't even say goodbye to them ?!"

Her consciousness literally darted towards her house and suddenly, oddly enough, she instantly found herself in her apartment! He sees that her daughter Masha is playing with a doll, her grandmother is sitting next to her granddaughter and knitting something. There is a knock on the door and a neighbor enters the room and says: “This is for Mashenka. Your Yulenka has always been a model for her daughter, so I sewed a dress for the girl with polka dots to make her look like her mother. " Masha rejoices, throws the doll and runs to her neighbor, but on the way accidentally touches the tablecloth: an old cup, a teaspoon lying next to her, falls and breaks from the table, flies after her and falls under the stray carpet. Noise, ringing, turmoil, grandmother, clasping her hands, shouts: "Masha, how awkward you are! ". Masha is upset - she feels sorry for the old and such a beautiful cup, and the neighbor hastily consoles them with the words that the dishes are beating for happiness ... And then, completely forgetting about what happened before, the agitated Julia approaches her daughter, puts her hand on her head and says: "Mashenka, this is not the worst grief in the world." The girl turns around in surprise, but as if not seeing her, immediately turns back. Julia does not understand anything: there has never been anything like this for her daughter to turn away from her when she wants to comfort her! The daughter was brought up without a father and was very attached to her mother - she had never behaved like that before! Such behavior of hers upset and puzzled Yulia, in complete confusion she began to think: “What's going on? Why did my daughter turn away from me? "

And suddenly I remembered that when she spoke to her daughter, she did not hear her own voice! That when she reached out and stroked her daughter, she also didn't feel any touch! Her thoughts begin to get confused: "Who am I? Can't they see me? Am I already dead? " In confusion, she rushes to the mirror and does not see her reflection in it ... This last circumstance knocked her down, it seemed to her that she would simply go crazy from all this ... But suddenly, amid the chaos of all these thoughts and feelings, she remembers everything that happened to her before: "I did have an operation!" She recalls how she saw her body from the side - lying on the operating table, - she recalls the doctor's terrible words about a stopped heart ... These memories frighten Julia even more, and in her confused mind immediately flies: "By all means, I must be in the operating room now, because if I don't have time, the doctors will consider me dead!" She rushes out of the house, she thinks about what transport she could take as soon as possible in order to be in time ... and at the same moment she is back in the operating room, and the surgeon's voice reaches her: “My heart started working! We continue the operation, but quickly, so that it does not stop again! " This is followed by a blackout, and then she wakes up in the recovery room.

And I went to Julia's home, conveyed her request and asked her mother: "Tell me, at this time - from ten to twelve o'clock - did a neighbor named Lydia Stepanovna come to you?" - “Do you know her? Yes, she did. " - "Did you bring a dress with polka dots?" - "Yes, I did."... Everything came down to small details except for one thing: they did not find the spoon. Then I recalled the details of Yulia's story and said: "Look under the carpet." And indeed - the spoon was lying under the carpet ...

So what is death?

We fix the state of death when the heart stops and the brain stops working, and at the same time, the death of consciousness - in the concept in which we have always imagined it - as such, simply does not exist. The soul is freed from its shell and is clearly aware of all surrounding reality. There is already a lot of evidence for this, this is confirmed by the numerous stories of patients who were in a state of clinical death and experienced a posthumous experience in those minutes. Communication with patients teaches us a lot, and also makes us wonder and think - after all, it is simply impossible to write off such extraordinary events as coincidences and coincidences. These events dispel all doubts about the immortality of our souls.

HOLY JOASAPH BELGORODSKY

Then I studied at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. I had a lot of knowledge, but there was no real faith. I rode to the celebrations marking the unveiling of the relics of St. Joasaph reluctantly and thought about the huge crowd of people thirsting for a miracle. What miracles can there be in our time?

I came and something stirred inside: I saw such that it was impossible to remain calm. Sick, crippled people came from all over Russia - so much suffering and pain that it is difficult to watch. And one more thing: the general expectation of something wonderful was involuntarily transmitted to me, in spite of my skepticism about the future.

Finally, the Emperor arrived with his family and a celebration was scheduled. At the celebrations, I was already standing with deep excitement: I didn’t believe and still expected something. It is difficult for us now to imagine this spectacle: thousands and thousands of sick, twisted, demon-possessed, blind, cripples lay, stood on both sides of the path along which the relics of the saint were to be carried. One gnarled man attracted my particular attention: it was impossible to look at him without shuddering. All parts of the body have grown together - some kind of ball of meat and bones on the ground. I was waiting: what could happen to this person? What can help him ?!

And so they brought out the coffin with the relics of St. Joasaph. I have never seen such a thing and will hardly see it again in my life - almost all the sick, standing and lying along the road, were healed: the blind - WERE HEARING, the Deaf - began to HEAR, the Mute - began to SPEAK, scream and jump with joy, in cripples - the sick limbs straightened.

With trepidation, horror and awe I looked at everything that was happening - and did not let go of that gnarled one. When the coffin with the relics caught up with him, he spread his arms - there was a terrible crunch of bones, as if something was breaking and breaking inside him, and he began to straighten up with an effort - and RISE to his feet! What a shock it was for me! I ran up to him with tears, then grabbed a journalist by the hand, asked him to write it down ...

I returned to St. Petersburg as a different person - deeply religious!

The miracle of healing from deafness from the Iberian icon in Moscow

The newspaper "Sovremennye Izvestia" printed a letter from one person who was healed in Moscow in 1880 (newspaper No. 213 this year). One music teacher, a German, a Protestant, but who believed in nothing, lost his hearing, and at the same time his work and livelihood. Having lived everything he acquired, he decided to commit suicide - to go and drown himself. It was July 23rd of that year. “Passing the Iberian Gate,” he writes, “I saw a crowd of people gathered around the carriage in which the icon of the Mother of God was brought to the chapel. I suddenly felt an irresistible desire to approach the icon and pray together with the people and venerate the icon, although we are Protestants - we do not recognize icons.

And here I, having lived to the age of 37, for the first time sincerely crossed myself and fell on my knees in front of the image - and what happened? An undoubted, amazing Miracle happened: I, having not heard until that minute almost nothing for a year and 3 months, who was considered by doctors to be completely and hopelessly DEAF, kissed the icon, at the same moment - again RECEIVED the ability to HEAR, received to such an extent fully that not only harsh sounds, but also a quiet talk and whisper BECAME HEARED quite clearly.

And all this happened suddenly, instantly, painlessly ... Immediately, in front of the image of the Mother of God, I vowed to honestly confess to everyone what happened to me. " This man later converted to Orthodoxy.

A MIRACLE FROM A GRACE FIRE

This incident was told by a nun living in the Russian Gornensky monastery near Jerusalem. They transferred her there from the Pyukhtitsky monastery. With trepidation and delight, she set foot on the Holy Land ...

This is the first Easter in the Holy Land. For almost a day, she took a place closer to the entrance to the Holy Sepulcher so that she could see everything well.

It was noon on Holy Saturday. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, all the lights are extinguished. Tens of thousands of people are looking forward to the Miracle. Gleams of light appeared from the Cuvuklia. The happy Patriarch brought out two bunches of lighted candles from the Kuvuklia to transmit the fire to the jubilant people.

Many are looking under the dome of the temple - there it CROSSED by blue Lightning ...

And our nun does not see lightning. And the candle fire was ordinary, although she looked eagerly, trying not to miss anything. Great Saturday has passed. What feelings did the nun experience? There was also disappointment, but then the consciousness of my unworthiness to see the Miracle came ...

A year has passed. Great Saturday has come again. Now the nun has taken the most modest place in the Temple. The cuvuklia is almost invisible. She lowered her eyes and decided not to raise them: "I am not worthy to see the Miracle." Hours of waiting passed. Again a cry of glee shook the Temple. The nun did not look up.

Suddenly, as if someone made her look. Her gaze fell to the corner of the Kuvuklia, in which a special hole was made through which the burning candles from the Kuvuklia are passed to the outside. So, from this hole a light, shimmering cloud DEPARTED - and then a bunch of 33 candles in her hand LIGHTED up by itself.

Tears of joy boiled in her eyes! What gratitude was to God!

And this time she also saw lightning blue under the dome.

THE WONDERFUL HELP OF JOHN KRONSTADSKY

A resident of the Moscow region, Vladimir Vasilyevich Kotov, suffered from severe pain in his right hand. By the spring of 1992, the hand had almost stopped moving. Doctors established a presumptive diagnosis - severe arthritis of the right shoulder, but failed to provide significant assistance. Once a patient fell into the hands of a book about the holy and righteous John of Kronstadt, reading it, he marveled at the miracles and wondrous healings of the sick from their illnesses, which were described in this book, and he decided to go to Petersburg. On August 12, 1992, Vladimir Kotov confessed, received communion and served a prayer service to the holy righteous Father John of Kronstadt and anointed his hand, his entire shoulder, with consecrated oil from the lamp from the saint's tomb.

At the end of the service, he left the monastery and went to the tram stop. Vladimir Vasilyevich hung the bag over his right shoulder and laid his helpless hand neatly on it, as he usually did lately. When he walked, the bag began to fall off and he automatically adjusted it with his right hand, without feeling any pain. Stopping rooted to the spot, still not believing himself, he again began to move his aching hand. The hand turned out to be completely healthy.

One man's mother had a heartache, a stroke and was paralyzed. She could not even move, he was very worried about his mother, and as a believer he prayed a lot for her, asking God to help his mother. And the Lord heard his prayers, by chance he met one, already old, nun, the spiritual daughter of the holy righteous father John of Kronstadt, he told her about his misfortune and she consoled him. She gave him a mitten, which was once worn by the saint of God, Father John, and said that this mitten has great power and helps sick people, only you need to put it on the patient's hand. He served a water-blessing prayer service to Father John of Kronstadt, dipped a mitten in holy water and, when he came home, sprinkled his mother with this water.

Then he put a mitten on his mother's hand, and ... immediately the fingers on the sore hand began to move. The doctor, when she came to the patient, could not believe her eyes - the former paralyzed woman was sitting quietly on a chair and was healthy. Having learned the story of the patient's healing, the doctor asked for this mitten. But the matter is not in the mitten ... but in the mercy of God.

NIKOLAI UGODNIK HEALED PARALIZED

In Moscow, in the lower Cathedral of Christ the Savior, there is an amazing miraculous icon of Nikolai the Ugodnik, donated to Russia by the state of Italy. This icon is unusual, it is made of mosaics, small multi-colored stones. Approaching the icon, I doubted the power and miraculousness of this icon, as I saw that the icon did not at all look like ordinary hand-painted icons and thought to myself: “Like, where can the Italians have something good, especially holy and miraculous , they are not Orthodox, and the icon itself is somehow incomprehensible and does not look like an icon ”? A year later, the Lord dispelled all my doubts and showed that with God, all His saints, all their icons and relics have Divine miraculous power that heals all the weaknesses of people and helps the suffering in everything, all who turn to the saints of God with faith.

This is how it happened. About a year after this incident, a relative of mine related the following incident. She had an adult son who lived with his wife in a family dormitory, where they had their own room. His mother often visited him, so that day she came to visit him as usual, but her son was not at home. She decided to wait on watch for the return of her son, and got into a conversation with the woman watchman, and she told her the following story. Her mother has three children, two sons and a daughter, that is, she herself. They had a misfortune, first the father dies, and then the youngest son dies after him and the mother could not bear such a great loss, she was paralyzed, and besides that she fell into an unconscious state. They didn’t take her to the hospital, because they recognized her as hopelessly ill, and said that she would not live long. The daughter took her mother to her and took care of her for more than two years, of course, everyone in her house was very tired from such a heavy load, but the daughter continued to look after her paralyzed and deranged mother.

And just then this icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was brought from Italy, and she decided to go. When I approached the icon, I thought about many things to ask "Nikolushka", but, going up to the icon, I forgot about everything and only asked Saint Nicholas to help her mother, kissed the icon and went home.

Approaching the house, she suddenly saw her sick, paralyzed mother walking towards her, walking up to her and, well, indignant: "What are you doing, my daughter, arranged such a mess in the room, there is so much dirt, it stinks, there are some rags hanging everywhere." It turns out that the mother came to her senses, got out of bed, seeing that there was no order in the room, dressed and went to meet her daughter to scold her. And my daughter shed tears of joy for her mother and a great feeling of gratitude to "Nikolushka" and to God for the miraculous healing of her mother. For a long time, the mother could not believe that she had been lying unconscious and paralyzed for two years.

SPAS FATHER SERAFIM

This happened in the winter of 1959. My one-year-old son fell seriously ill. The diagnosis is bilateral pneumonia. Since his condition was very serious, he was admitted to the intensive care unit. I was not allowed to see him. There was a clinical death twice, but the doctors saved me. I was in despair, ran from the hospital to the Yelokhovsky Epiphany Cathedral, prayed, cried, shouted: “Lord! Save your son! " And once again I come to the hospital, and the doctor says: "There is no hope of salvation, the child will die tonight." I went to the temple, prayed, sobbed. I came home, cried, then fell asleep. I see a dream. I enter the apartment, the door of one of the rooms is ajar, and a blue light comes from there. I walk into this room and freeze. Two walls of the room are hung from floor to ceiling with icons, an icon lamp is lit near each icon, and an old man is kneeling in front of the icons with his hands raised up and praying. I stand and don't know what to do.

Then he turns to me, and I recognize him as Seraphim of Sarov. "What are you, the Servant of God?" -he asks me. I rush to him: “Father Seraphim! My child is dying! "He told me: "Let's pray."Kneels down and prays. I stand behind and pray too. Then he gets up and says: "Bring him here." I bring him a child. He looks at him for a long time, then with a brush, which is used for anointing with oil, anoints his forehead, chest, shoulders crosswise and says to me: "Don't cry, he will live."

Then I woke up and looked at my watch. It was five in the morning. I dressed quickly and went to the hospital. I come in. The nurse on duty picked up the phone and said: "She came".I stand, neither alive nor dead. The doctor comes in, looks at me and says: “They say there are no miracles, but today a miracle happened. At about five in the morning, the child stopped breathing. Whatever they did, nothing helped. I was about to leave, looked at the boy - and he took a deep breath. I couldn't believe my eyes. I listened to my lungs - almost clean, only slight wheezing. Now he will live. " My son came to life at the moment when Father Seraphim anointed him with his brush. Glory to Thee, Lord, and the great Reverend Seraphim!

IT CAN NOT BE

I work at the Moscow airport. Once at work I read in the book of Hieromonk Tryphon “ Miracles of the last time»About how Saint Seraphim of Sarov appeared to people. I thought to myself: “This simply cannot be. These are all common inventions. "

After a while I go to the plane and see, and Father Seraphim is quietly walking towards me. I couldn’t believe my eyes, although I immediately recognized him, exactly the same as on the icon. We drew level. He stopped, smiled at me kindly and said without opening his mouth: "You see, it turns out that this can be!" And he went on to himself. I was so amazed that I didn’t answer, didn’t ask him about anything, only kept my gaze until he disappeared from sight. Valentina, Moscow.

HOW TO QUIT SMOKING

I live in Italy, in Rome, I go to the Orthodox Church. In the library of this church I saw your book " Miracles of the last time", Dear father Tryphon. Low bow to you for your work. I read it with great pleasure. Here, abroad, there is not much spiritual literature, and each such book is of great value. I am writing to you about what happened to me. Maybe someone would benefit from learning about this.

Once, in one book I read a little story of a man who smoked a lot, as they say, one cigarette after another. One day, while traveling on an airplane, he was reading the Bible. There were no other books. Having reached the destination, he was surprised to find that during the four hours of the flight he had never smoked and even did not want to smoke! This story sunk into my heart, because I myself have smoked for a long time, but I consoled myself that I smoked no more than three to five cigarettes a day. Sometimes I did not smoke for several days to prove to myself that I could quit at any time. What a self-delusion for all smokers! As a result, over time, I began to smoke a pack a day. It was scary to think what would happen to me next. After all, I also suffer from bronchial asthma, and smoking for me, especially in such quantities, was just suicide.

So, after reading this story, I decided to try to quit smoking by reading the Bible. And I was absolutely sure that the Lord will help me. I read it voraciously all my free time. And at work there was one desire - to work as soon as possible for the book. 1306 pages of large format in small print were read in three months.

During these three months - I have STOPPED smoking. At first she forgot that she hadn’t smoked in the morning. Then one day the smell of smoke seemed disgusting, which was very surprising. Then I noticed that I literally force myself to smoke out of habit: I still didn't understand what was the matter. And finally, I thought: "If I don't feel like smoking, then I will not buy a new pack for tomorrow." A day later I came to my senses - I did not smoke! And only then I realized that a real miracle had happened! Thank God!

WHEN CHILDREN ARE SICK, WE MUST HOPE IN GOD'S HELP

I got married early. I had faith in God, but work, household chores, everyday vanity pushed faith into the background. I lived without turning to God with prayer, without observing fasts. It's easier to say: I COOLED to faith. It didn’t even occur to me that the Lord would hear my prayer if I turned to Him.

We lived in Sterlitamak. In January, the youngest child, a five-year-old boy, fell ill. A doctor was invited. He examined the child and said that he had acute diphtheria and prescribed treatment. They expected relief, but it did not follow. The child has become weak. He no longer recognized anyone. I could not take medicine. A terrible wheeze escaped from his chest, which could be heard throughout the apartment. Two doctors came. They looked sadly at the patient, talked with concern among themselves. It was clear that the child would not survive the night. I didn’t think about anything, mechanically I did everything necessary for the patient. The husband did not leave the bed, afraid to miss his last breath. Everything in the house was quiet, only a terrible whistling wheeze was heard.

They struck the bell for Vespers. Almost unconsciously I got dressed and said to my husband:

“I’ll go and ask him to serve a prayer service for his recovery. - Can't you see that he is dying?

- Don't go: it will end without you.

- No, - I say, - I'll go: the church is close.

I enter the church. Father Stefan is walking towards me.

“Father,” I tell him, “my son is dying of diphtheria. If you are not afraid, serve a prayer service with us.

- We are obliged to admonish the dying everywhere. Now I will come to you.

I returned home. The wheeze was still heard in all the rooms. The face was completely blue, his eyes rolled back. I touched the legs: they were very cold. My heart sank painfully. Whether I cried, I don't remember. I cried so much during those terrible days that it seems that I cried all my tears. I lit the icon and prepared what was needed.

Father Stephen came and began to serve a prayer service. I carefully took the child in my arms along with a feather bed and a pillow and carried it out into the hall. It was too hard for me to stand to hold him, and I sank into a chair.

The prayer continued. Father Stephen opened the Gospel. I got up with difficulty from the chair. And a miracle happened. My boy raised his head and listened to God's word. Father Stefan finished reading. I kissed; the boy also followed. He put his hand around my neck and so he listened to the prayer. I was afraid to breathe. Father Stephen raised the Holy Cross, overshadowed the child, gave him veneration and said: "Get well soon!"

I put the boy to bed and went to see the priest off. When Father Stefan left, I hurried to the bedroom, surprised that I did not hear the usual wheezing, heartbreaking. The boy slept quietly. Breathing was even and calm. With tenderness I knelt down, thanks to the Gracious God, and then I fell asleep on the floor myself: my strength left me.

The next morning, as soon as they hit Matins, my boy got up and in a clear, sonorous voice said:

- Mom, why am I lying? I'm tired of lying!

Is it possible to describe how joyfully my heart beat. Now they warmed the milk, and the boy drank it with pleasure. At 9 o'clock, our doctor quietly entered the hall, looked into the front corner and, not seeing a table with a cold corpse there, called me. I answered in a cheerful voice:

- I'm going now. - Is it better? The doctor asked in surprise.

“Yes,” I replied, greeting him. - The Lord showed us a miracle.

- Yes, only by a miracle could your child be healed.

A few days later, Father Stefan served a thanksgiving service with us. My boy, perfectly healthy, prayed fervently. At the end of the prayer service, Father Stephen said: - You need to describe this incident.

I sincerely wish that at least one mother who has read these lines does not fall into despair in the hour of sorrow, but that she KEEP faith in the great Grace and love of God, in the goodness of the unknown paths that are led by the Providence of God.

ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PROSCOMIDY

One very great scientist, a physician, fell seriously ill. The invited doctors, his friends, found the patient in such a condition that there was very little hope of recovery.

The professor lived only with his sister, an old woman. He was not only completely unbeliever, but he was little interested in religious issues, did not go to church, although he lived not far from the temple.

After such a medical sentence, his sister was very saddened, not knowing how to help her brother. And then I remembered that there was a church nearby, where you could go and apply for a proskomedia about a seriously ill brother.

Early in the morning, without saying a word to her brother, the sister gathered for early Mass, told the priest about her grief and asked him to take out the particle and pray for the health of her brother.

At the same time, her brother had a vision: as if the wall of his room had disappeared and the interior of the temple, the altar, had opened. He saw his sister talking to the priest about something. The priest went to the altar, took out a particle, and this particle fell with a ringing on the diskos. And at the same moment, the patient felt that some kind of Force entered his body. He immediately got out of bed, which he could not do for a long time.

At this time, my sister returned, her surprise knew no bounds.

- Where have you been? - exclaimed the former patient. - I saw everything, I saw how you spoke to the priest in church, how he took out a particle for me.

And then both with tears thanked the Lord for the miraculous healing.

The professor lived for a long time after that, never forgetting about God's mercy, which was to him, a sinner. I went to church, confessed, received communion, began to observe all the fasts.

They say that God's miracles cannot be hidden. So I decided to tell you how the Mother of God saved me from destruction. It was many years ago.

FAITH IN GOD SAVED ME

I used to live in a village, and when the work was gone, I moved to the city, bought me half of the house. After a while, new neighbors moved into the second half of the house. Then we were told that our houses would be demolished. The neighbors began to offend me. They wanted to get a bigger apartment and told me: “ Leave here for the village". They broke my windows at night. And I began to pray every morning and evening, " Alive in help”I learned, I will cross all the walls and only then I go to bed. On weekends I prayed in the temple.

Once the neighbors offended me very much. I cried, prayed, and in the afternoon lay down to rest and fell asleep. Suddenly I wake up, I look - there is no grate on the window. I thought that the neighbors had broken the bars - they intimidated me all the time, and I was very afraid of them. And then in the window I see a Woman - so beautiful, and in Her hands is a bouquet of red roses, and there is dew on the roses. So kindly She looked at me, and my soul became calm. I realized that it was the Most Holy Theotokos, that She would save me. Since then, I began to trust in the Mother of God and was no longer afraid of anything.

One day I come home from work. The neighbors had been drinking for a week already. I just managed to go home, I wanted to lie down, but something tells me: I have to go out into the hallway. Later I realized that it was the Guardian Angel who prompted me. I went out into the canopy, and there was already fire. I ran out and only had time to cross my house. And I very much asked Nicholas the Wonderworker to save my house so that I would not stay on the street. Firefighters quickly arrived and flooded everything, my house survived. And the neighbors died in the fire. Faith in God saved me.

HOW I SAVED THE LIFE OF MY SON WITH HOLY BAPTISM

When my son was three months old, he fell ill with bilateral staphylococcal bronchopneumonia. We were urgently hospitalized. He was getting worse and worse. A few days later, the head of the department transferred us to a solitary ward and said that my little one did not have long to live. My grief knew no bounds. I called my mom: "A child dies unbaptized, what to do?" Mom immediately went to the priest's church. He gave my mother Epiphany water and said what prayer should be read during Baptism. He said that in urgent cases, when a person is about to die, a layman can also perform Baptism. Mom brought me Epiphany water and prayer texts.

Father said that if there is a danger of the death of a child and there is no way to invite a priest to him, then let his mother, father, relatives, friends, neighbors baptize him. Pour, reading the prayers "Our Father", "Heavenly King", "Virgin Mary, Rejoice" - into a vessel with water a little holy water or Epiphany water, cross the child and dip three times with the words: "The servant of God is baptized(here you need to pronounce the name of the child) in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". If the child survives, the baptism will then be supplemented by the priest.

The ward had glass doors, and the sisters were scurrying along the corridor all the time. Suddenly, at three o'clock, they had a meeting. Our nurse assigned me to monitor my son's condition while she was attending the meeting. And I christened my son calmly, without hindrance. Immediately after Baptism, the child came to his senses.

After the meeting, a doctor came in and was terribly surprised: “ What happened to him? "I answered: "God helped!" A few days later we were discharged from the hospital, and soon I brought my son to church, and the priest completed Holy Baptism.

EVERYONE WILL RECEIVE BY ITS BUSINESS

One man bought a house in the village. There was a burnt chapel in this village, and this man decided to build a new one. I bought timber and boards, but, to his surprise, none of the residents of this village wanted to help him. It was spring, vegetable gardens, crops, planting - all their business up to the throat. I had to build it myself, after planting my own garden. There was so much work on construction that we had to forget about weeding and watering the plantings. By the fall, the chapel was almost ready. Guests arrived - colleagues with children. The guests had to be fed, and only then the builder remembered about his garden. He sent summer residents there - what if something has grown? The garden met them with a wall of overgrown weeds. "Impenetrable taiga",- the guests joked.

But, to everyone's surprise, along with the weeds, the plantings have grown, moreover, of huge sizes. The fruits of the plants turned out to be just as huge. People from all over the village came to see this miracle.

So the Lord rewarded this man for his Good deed. And in the village, all residents this year's harvest turned out to be useless, although they watered and weeded in their gardens ...

Everyone will receive according to their business!

WE NEVER SPEAK THE TRUTH

One woman I know, who is already middle-aged, is addicted to chatting with Golos. "Voices" conveyed to her different information about all relatives, and at the same time about other planets. Some of what they reported were lies or didn't come true. But my friend did not consider it convincing enough and continued to believe them. As time went. She began to feel bad. Apparently, doubts crept into her soul. Once she asked them directly: Why do you often lie? " We never tell the truth» - answered "Voices" and began to laugh at her. My friend became creepy. She immediately went to church, confessed and never did it again.

WHAT CAN I TELL YOU WHEN YOU CALL ON GOD?

Nun Xenia told the following about her nephew. Her nephew is a young man of 25 years old, an athlete, a bear hunter, a karate fighter, recently graduated from one of the Moscow institutes - in general, a modern young man. At one time he became interested in Eastern religions, then began to communicate with “voices from outer space”. As mother Ksenia and her sister, the young man's mother, did not dissuade him from these activities, he stood his ground. For some reason he was not baptized as a child and did not want to be baptized. Finally - it was in 1990-1991 - Golos made an appointment for him at one of the ring metro stations. At 18.00 he was supposed to get into the third car of the train. Of course, his family dissuaded him, but he went. At exactly 6 pm he got into the third carriage and immediately saw the person he needed. He understood this by some extraordinary force emanating from him, although outwardly the man looked normal.

The young man sat down opposite the stranger, and suddenly he was seized with terror. Then he said that even while hunting, alone with a bear, he had never experienced such fear. The stranger looked at him in silence. The train was already making the third circle around the loop, when the young man remembered that in danger he had to say: "Lord, have mercy," and began to repeat this prayer to himself. Finally he got up, went up to the stranger and asked him: "Why did you call me?" "And what can I tell you when you call on God?" - he answered. At this time, the train stopped, and the guy jumped out of the car. The next day he was Baptized.

THE REPENTANCE OF THE DEFEAL

“I had a close friend who got married. In the first year, her son Vladimir was born. From birth, the boy struck with an unusually meek character. In the second year, her son Boris was born, who also surprised everyone, on the contrary, with an extremely restless character. Vladimir passed all classes as the first student. After graduating from university, he entered the theological academy and was ordained a priest in 1917. Vladimir embarked on the path to which he strove and was chosen by God from birth. From the very beginning, he began to enjoy the respect and love of the parish. In 1924 he and his parents were deported to Tver without the right to leave the city. They were to be constantly under the supervision of the GPU. In 1930, Vladimir was arrested and shot.

Another brother, Boris, joined the Komsomol, and then, to the sadness of his parents, became a member of the Union of Atheists. During his lifetime, Father Vladimir tried to return him to God, but could not. In 1928, Boris became chairman of the Union of Atheists and married a Komsomol girl. In 1935, I came to Moscow for several days, where I met Boris by chance. He happily rushed to me with the words: "The Lord, through the prayers of his brother, Father Vladimir in heaven, brought me back to Himself." This is what he told me: “When we got married, the mother of my bride blessed her with the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands and said: “Just give me your word that you will not abandon His image; even if you don't need it now, just don't leave it. " He, really unnecessary to us, was taken to the barn. A year later, we had a boy. We were both happy. But the child was born sick, with spinal cord tuberculosis. We did not spare money for doctors. They said that the boy can only live to the age of six. The child is already five years old. Health is getting worse. A rumor has reached us that a famous professor of childhood diseases is in exile. The child is really bad, and I decided to go and invite the professor to us.

When I ran to the station, the train left before my eyes. What was to be done? Stay and wait, and there is a wife alone and suddenly the child will die without me? I thought it over and turned back. I come and find the following: the mother, sobbing, is kneeling by the bed, hugging the boy's already cooling legs ...

The local paramedic said these were the last minutes. I sat down at the table opposite the window and gave myself up to despair. And suddenly I see, as if in reality, that the doors of our barn are opening and my deceased brother, Father Vladimir, comes out. He holds in his hands our image of the Savior. I was stunned: I see him walking, how his long hair flutters, I hear him open the door, I hear his steps. I was as cold as marble. He enters the room, approaches me, silently, as it were, hands over the Image to me and, like a vision, disappears.

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