May a miracle happen in Orthodoxy. What is a miracle? Miracles of God

Blessed Augustine remarked: while reading the Gospel, we recognize as an unconditional miracle the multiplication of bread, but no less a miracle - the very growth of bread. After all, both the first and the second are from God, and equally. And in general, everything in life is arranged by God - bread, earth, and water ... In this sense, the word "miracle" simply describes the presence of God in a person's life.

It turns out that "miracle" in the narrowly customary sense - as an inexplicable violation of the order of things - is this a word from the lexicon of atheists? After all, there is nothing inexplicable in the fact that God at His discretion controls the "order of things".

And this means that the next logical step: “miracle” does not exist at all, because the presence of God in our life is the most normal thing that a person is prepared for from the creation of the world? But with what words can we speak of the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ?

This is the subject of our conversation with Archpriest Pavel Velikanov, candidate of theology, rector of the Pyatnitsky Compound of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad.

Sign of weakness

- Father Paul, is it generally appropriate to speak of Christ's resurrection as a miracle?

And from what point of view are we looking? From the point of view of a person who is used to the fact that all people die and this is normal? Or from the point of view of God, who did not create us to die?

The church is not a factory of miracles. And the central event of a person's church life - the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which would fit the formal criteria of a miracle: there was bread and wine, but the Flesh and Blood of Christ became - we nevertheless do not call it a miracle. And why? Firstly, this is something that happens according to the schedule, which means that it completely and completely depends on the will of those people who participate in the performance of the "miracle". And secondly - and this is the main thing - in a visible way absolutely nothing happens during the Eucharist. Everything remains the same: bread and wine taste, smell and color remain bread and wine. And at the same time, we feel that the most significant and greatest event in the life of any person is taking place according to a schedule and without any special external signs. The question arises: why is everything like this?

After all, how great it would be if at the moment preceding the transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts, the temple would begin to shake with a small tremor, some flashes and lightnings would appear, strange voices would begin to sound, everyone would be attacked by sacred trembling and everyone would understand that something is happening that requires a special attitude towards itself. How effective it would be! But nothing like that happens.

And not only among ordinary priests, but also among the saints. There are only a few known cases when the celebration of the Eucharist by the saints was accompanied by some kind of obvious miraculous testimonies (for example, when Saint Sergius of Radonezh took communion, those who concelebrated with him saw the heavenly fire descending into the chalice), but otherwise it is a completely ordinary story.

It seems to me that such "ordinaryness" has a very deep and very simple meaning: for God, the life we \u200b\u200blive - so lopsided, filled with human untruth, sins, passions, and so on - is of great value. Perhaps much more than for ourselves. And only in situations where it is impossible to do otherwise, the Lord allows a miracle as an emergency, abnormal intervention in this life.

And if you look at the resurrection of Christ from this point of view, then it is no miracle. This is what was in the Divine plan from the very beginning. Archpriest Avvakum writes about the eternal counsel of the Holy Trinity, where God the Son asks God the Father whether it is worth creating this world if you have to die for it. Father Pavel Florensky writes that the whole world was created by the Cross, that the Cross is the principle of the existence of all things. But here we must clearly understand that not just the Cross lies at the basis of the world, but the Cross for the sake of resurrection. And if from our point of view, as fallen people, the Resurrection of Christ is a miracle as something abnormal, then from the point of view of God, the Resurrection is the only normal, the only right thing that was prepared for man. This is the path God has planned for each of us.

- Do you think a person has the right to a miracle?

Of course, a person has the right. But this is not a sign of his strength and capabilities. This is a sign of his weakness and infirmity. If he demands a miracle, then he has serious problems - not in the material plane, but in his relationship with God. If without this miracle a person is stuck in a dead end and cannot go anywhere further, then there is a problem of an inner search for his place in God's world.
Remember the gospel story about the father who brought his possessed son to Christ?

... One of the people said in response: Teacher! I brought to You my son, possessed by a dumb spirit: wherever he seizes him, he throws him to the ground, and he emits foam, and grinds his teeth, and becomes numb. I told Thy disciples to drive him out, and they could not. Answering him, Jesus said: oh, unfaithful generation! how long will I be with you? how long will I endure you? Bring him to Me. And they brought him to Him. As soon as the demoniac saw Him, the spirit shook him; he fell to the ground and rolled around, emitting foam. And Jesus asked his father: How long ago was this done to him? He said: from childhood; and many times the spirit threw him into fire and water to destroy him; but if you can, have pity on us and help us. Jesus said to him: if you can believe anything, everything is possible to the believer. And immediately the boy's father cried out with tears: I believe, Lord! help my unbelief. Jesus, seeing that the people were running, rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him: Dumb and deaf spirit! I command you, get out of it and do not enter into it again. And, having cried out and strongly shook him, he went out; and he became as dead, so that many said that he was dead. But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him; and he got up ... (Mark 9: 17-27).

If my father had no problems with faith, he would not have to shout: "I believe, Lord, help my unbelief!" We see that it is fundamentally important for the father that an acute life crisis gives a chance to break through the shell of his own disbelief. Otherwise, his whole life turns into sheer torment. The son suffers - and the father does not see any sense in this suffering. And when it is pointless, then it is painful.

Remember Turgenev's story "Living Power" - about a woman who has been lying motionless for many years and still does not die. The landowner offers to transport her from the farm to the hospital, where she will be helped. At first she hesitates, and then finally decides: no, don't. In this weak state, she gains real, for her most tangible spiritual benefit. She needs this weakness. She is perhaps the most unfortunate of all people on earth, but she does not pray to God for a miracle of healing, although, it would seem, God Himself ordered, forgive the pun. Why?
Is she crazy, or what? Not at all. She's strong. And her strength lies in the fact that she does not want to interfere with the will of God with her will, she does not want to oppose her desire to the plan that God has about herself. She simply, with humility, with faith, with devotion, entrusts herself into the hands of God - and let Him mold from her what He wants, and not what she wants, no matter how painful and hard it may be for her.

In short, we, of course, have the right to a miracle. But we must not ask God for a miracle. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) has a work "On the Miracles of Christ." The accents are very correctly placed in it: the meaning of a miracle is not in the very fact of the miracle, but in nudging those who could not have believed in Him to God. Therefore, in the days of the first Christians, miracles were needed not by believers, but by unbelievers. A miracle is a step that must be crossed in order to climb higher.

At the same time, a miracle is never one hundred percent irrefutable. Even in the most obvious and "inexplicable" miracle, the Lord still leaves a person with an opportunity - a loophole - to preserve his unbelief. I have the right to decide: yes, what I see is a violation of the laws of nature, but I can assume that in a hundred or two hundred years, scientists will explain this. The Lord gives us such an opportunity, and in this His great mercy and love is manifested. He does not rape a person and does not drag him into the Kingdom of Heaven by force. Therefore, a miracle is just an excuse to voluntarily and freely turn to God. But precisely voluntarily and freely. The Lord can surround us with miracles and circumstances that will catch, inspire, excite, but to see God behind all this and take a step towards him - it depends only on us. Saint Clement of Alexandria calls God the greatest teacher. We can add that He is also the most delicate teacher. He does not work a miracle to propel a person to the wall and say, “See? And now he quickly believed in God! " No, the dictatorship of a miracle does not exist.

Going to God without reacting to miracles or not attaching importance to them is probably a rather high spiritual level, to which one still needs to grow ...

In my opinion, this is the only normal spiritual level on which the relationship between man and God can be.

One journalist told me an absolutely amazing story. She wrote a report about bringing the Belt of the Mother of God to Moscow, stood in a queue for many hours and had the opportunity to observe what was happening to people: how their motivation and feelings changed as they stood in this line. And it turns out - an amazing thing! - after three to four hours of standing, some kind of qualitative change occurs in people. Initially, they came with quite everyday "inquiries", and almost every second, which is curious, was going to ask for the successful study of children. Other “requests” included health and family well-being. But after three or four hours, their concentration on personal egoistic "requests" to God gave way to something new. People began to feel themselves not as a scattered collection of alienated personalities, but as a single whole organism. The line was gaining internal integrity.

I listened to this journalist and thought that this is exactly what we sorely lack in parish life. Indeed, for people in line, this, metaphorically speaking, was the liturgy - a common cause. After three or four hours of standing, they transformed into a completely new community. And when they approached the Belt, they felt happiness and joy not because they received answers to their requests, but because some new state was born inside them, and everything secondary was eliminated by itself. This new thing came to the fore and became something for which it was generally worth coming and standing in line.

Some deep truth is hidden for me here. God does not forbid us to pray and ask Him for something, to build our own idea of \u200b\u200bwhat we need now. But in the end, all this is for the sake of coming to Him. Our requests must begin with Him and end with Him.

Cake and freedom

- You are strict about miracles, but for sure they happened to you. How did you perceive them?

I received miracles as a gift that I did not ask for. When I was still a very young teacher, everything was financially difficult. My mother and I settled in a newly built house, which had no heating or amenities. And then there was an opportunity to conduct gas. It turned out that in order to do this, I had to pay two thousand dollars to a neighbor just to have him agree. There was no place to get such money. The situation is dead-end. At the same time, I was invited as part of a small delegation on a business trip to one of the Local Orthodox Churches. And just as we were leaving, I was unexpectedly handed an envelope - just as a gesture of goodwill on the part of the owners. I didn't even think that they would pay anything for the trip. I open the envelope in the hotel room - and there are exactly two thousand dollars ...

It is difficult for me to convey what I felt at that moment ... It seems that I very accurately understood the feelings of the Apostle Peter, when he was fishing all night, he did not catch anything, and the next morning Christ ordered to throw the nets again - and the fishermen caught so many fish that two boats became drown under her weight. And as the gospel narrates, Peter cried out: Get out of me, Lord! because I am a sinful person. Because terror seized him and everyone who was with him, from this fishing trip, they caught ... (Luke 5: 8-9)... The same horror attacked me! From disbelief. From the fact that you lived up to this moment and did not notice that you exist in the space of God's constant mercy, and that is why such obvious and "miraculous" manifestations of it plunge you into shock. How could you not think before and not believe that the Lord is so close that for Him our everyday difficulties are of paramount importance - no less than for ourselves.

Another miracle is associated with my now deceased wife, who for four years struggled with a serious cancer. The tumor stably doubled in a month, but at some point the growth suddenly stopped. No one could understand why. The doctor told us, “I don't know what you were doing, but please continue to do the same. Because it is a clear miracle. " And for two or three months the tumor did not grow. And then it began to increase again. What was it? From a medical point of view, no one could explain. But for me it became a direct evidence of God's presence in our lives. The Lord showed that He is here and He is the master of the situation. If He needs it, if He considers it necessary and right, He can stop the growth of the tumor. If He does not do this, it means that there is His will for that - and it is impossible to climb across. I took it that way. Who am I to go against God?

We prayed, of course. As one bishop told me, "half of the Russian Orthodox Church is praying for your mother." And I have no doubt that thanks to these prayers alone, she died not a month after the diagnosis, but four years later. But praying is not the same as saying: "Lord, let it be either my way or not!" Or squeeze your whole life into this prayer: they say, Lord, if it is not as I ask, I will not leave the place in spite of you and will die in this feat. That I am smarter than God?
Prayer for your neighbor is a true manifestation of love. And here a very subtle moment arises. What does love for a person mean? If I love, what do I - first of all - wish him? Salvation. And what if this disease, according to God's plan, is the only correct way for a person to be saved. And what - should I get up and say: "No, Lord, wait, I need a wife"?

Besides humility, there is also boldness in spiritual life. There is a well-known Gospel maxim: "Knock and it will be opened for you." How do you understand it?

Knock and they will really open the door to you. But you can see outside the door completely different from what you expected. God is not an errand boy rushing to carry out your errands. Yes, He will open the door at which you knock - as a sign that they hear you, communicate with you, react to you, you have a relationship with God.

This is a very subtle point. Because, on the one hand, there is what I said. But on the other hand, God is interested in watching what a person asks. Like any father, it is very interesting to watch their children. For example, it is interesting for me to watch how the priorities and preferences of my children change, how internal growth proceeds. And a reasonable parent is unlikely to impose his opinion on a child: "You must become a good lawyer!" In the same way, God is interested in what a person will choose.

And here a collision already arises: how is human freedom and Divine providence combined? At one end is the idea of \u200b\u200bman's free will, and at the other is the fact that, according to the apostle Paul, we captivate every thought into obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10: 5). On the one hand, God has a plan for each of us. On the other hand, if we ourselves do not choose anything, if we do not need anything, if we have formed a persistent chronic indifference to everything that is happening, then we simply do not exist.

We become human as we choose our preferences, as we make this daily and even every second choice. Turn to good or evil from any situation. Until the last dying moment, a person makes a choice. Take away from us the opportunity to choose - and we will not have a permanent trainer for the soul, for the heart, for the brain, for the will.

And at the same time, no matter how you choose, no matter how you change your path, the Lord still knows better than you what you need and which way, in what role, in what status you need to go. Moreover, even if you choose the wrong path, God will still make sure that in the end this path turns out to be exactly the way the Lord considers it necessary to lead you.

And after all this, how will the language turn to ask for a miracle?

- What's so wrong with that?

You live with God and feel that the Lord is here, at your fingertips, in every little thing, in every second, everything is saturated with Him, and everything that happens to you constantly testifies to His care, His love, His care ... Isn't that enough and we need some more miracle?

Imagine a family where a child suffers from a serious illness of the digestive system, and the parents spend their entire lives feeding the child exactly the foods that will allow him to live and recover. The child understands this, but suddenly says: “I want a cake. I want to death! Do whatever you want - but give me a cake. " Parents, of course, can give him this cake and at the same time foresee that the child will become much worse and will have to invest even more effort, time and money to neutralize this result of the fulfillment of a person's free will.

But how foolish you have to be to demand a cake from your parents in such a situation! You need to live in your absolutely impenetrable world, not to see the care of your parents, not to see your own illness and to believe that your whole life revolves around you alone. Perhaps I am deeply mistaken, but the requirements for a miracle from God seem to me to be something similar.

The Monk Isaac the Syrian has such a thought that only because of the weakness of the human mind, God commanded us to ask Him for our daily bread, and to those who are "perfect in knowledge and sound in soul," Christ says: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you ... (Matt 6:33)... This thought just turned me over in its time. Indeed, what is the point of asking God for anything, when we already live in the space of God's constant care.

So what - you don't need to ask God for anything? And if the situation is difficult? You yourself said that you prayed for your wife's recovery ...

Of course he prayed! But here I always remember the thought of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, which I met in one of his sermons: they say, I have such an agreement with God - I do not ask for anything for myself, but I ask for others. Of course, the Lord wants us to pray and ask for loved ones, because this is a manifestation of our love.

But there is another interesting point here.

Prayer cannot be understood only as a request. Requesting God is just a certain kind of prayer and far from being the most perfect one. The meaning of prayer is in the communication of a person with God. It may seem that the holy fathers and devotees of piety did not pray at all: they did not get up for prayer, they did not ask God for this or that. It's just that their whole life - every second - and so it was walking before God.

They did not for a moment let God out of their hearts and their consciousness - this was their prayer, natural, like breathing. In the same way that loving spouses do not need to constantly confess their love to each other. They just live together - and their actions, their unexpressed thoughts and words, the whole rhythm of their lives reflect their love.

Therefore, prayer - I repeat - is not a request. Prayer is ideally the sacrifice of oneself to God. There is a recluse monk - it would seem, what is the use of him for the world? It is generally accepted that one should ask him to pray for us, because he is, they say, closer to God and he has more “leverage”. It may be so, but the meaning of his seclusion is quite different. He pleases God by being constantly in a state of, figuratively speaking, maximum "synchronization" with Him, and renders an invaluable service to all people in general by the fact that in our earthly world - in this kingdom of chaos and sin, where everything goes completely wrong , as God wants, and goes not because He intended it so, but because we are with us, such ugly creatures, nothing can be done, although it is impossible to destroy us, because we are not completely hopeless, - in a word, in In this kingdom of disorder, an island is suddenly formed, where everything goes as the Lord intended for man. The prayer of a recluse monk is a kind of representation, a real diplomatic mission before God.

It is also interesting to appreciate the intensity of this prayer. Among the people with whom I had occasion to communicate and who for me in one way or another personify holiness, I have never met such that in some difficult situation they, trying to beg for something from God, change the rhythm of their life - rudely speaking, they decided: "Now we need to add so many bows to the ground per day and increase the prayer rule so much, and then everything will be fine." There was no such thing ... And I can not blame these people for indifference or coldness. Also, I can't say that they lack willpower or download does not allow. And in this, it seems to me, there is some very serious, deep truth. When a person already lives in a certain approach to the ideal, when he serves and prays every day and could no longer physically be able to - this is trust in God. Living as commanded on a daily basis is far more important than provoking God to "miraculously" invade our lives.

Everything is good!

If we feel that God is manifested in everything, in every movement of life, is there a danger of falling into such “blissful tranquility” - everything is already good, the Lord is near. Where, then, is the place for inner tension, for working on yourself?

When a person calms down, that is wonderful. I do not see anything abnormal and contradictory in the fact that a person calms down. To be at peace with oneself is the only correct state. The ability to achieve inner peace, inner silence - what in the Orthodox tradition is called "hesychia" - this is what distinguishes the believer from the unbeliever. This is the basic confidence that everything is in order. You can be twisted from passion, from anger, from lust - but it remains on the surface. And in the soul there is a depth where you can look at any moment and be sure that the world is harmonious. Because the depth is God, this is the Church, this is Christ, who has already saved you. And all this is not subject to earthly cataclysms. It's bigger than them.

But you asked about whether a person who feels the real presence of God here and now turns into an inactive, powerless, powerless "pofigist". No, nothing like that. On the contrary, only when a person understands the ultimate significance of every moment of his life and all that material in which he lives, only then can he begin to relate to life correctly. That is, to realize that there will be no other world and another life. We will not have a second interview of the same kind. If so, then something completely different. The moment that you are experiencing here and now, with all its possibilities of making a choice, will never be repeated. This means that this is the most important and most significant moment in your life, because "there is only a moment between the past and the future, it is he who is called life." From this understanding of the uniqueness of every moment, every person, every object, comes the ultimate tension of life. Not relaxation, not calmness, but an extremely tense life.

Imagine a liner flying. The passengers are relaxed - they are doing well. But the pilot and navigator feel completely differently. They have one wrong move - and that's it, hundreds of deaths. And a person who does not feel the value of every moment reminds a passenger - “we fly, eat, read a book, everything is fine”. And the one who constantly feels himself on the crest of the contact between human life and God's mercy is like a pilot: he cannot lean back in his chair and doze off. Because every second he is responsible.

Such inner tension is an inevitable consequence of the reality of God's presence in the world. A person understands that he needs to "twitch" precisely because everything is normal. After all, if you don't strain at the current moment, nothing will be normal the next.

Some say: Christianity is the correction of sins, without which joy is impossible. Others say: Christianity is a joy that requires the correction of sins. The idea is the same - the accents are different. It is clear that these are not binary oppositions, but simply two ends of the spectrum ...

The truth is there, and there, and the primary in Christianity is Christ. It is Christ-centered, not "sin-centered" or "joyous-centered." And when we talk about Christ, we are talking about something from another dimension, about something that cannot be divided into components. Because everything is in Christ.

What is the Person of Christ? It seems to me that a person experiences the deepest and most Christianly correct sensations not even when he sings "Christ is Risen," but when he stands in church during Holy Week and goes to Calvary with the Savior. What's in it? Realizing your sin? Yes, because we see the terrible price of his redemption. Feeling of joy? Yes, too. And the point is not even that we know about the coming Resurrection. It's just that in the very way of the cross, through every event and every prayer, the light of God's Providence for us - and, therefore, God's love, breaks through. The feeling of sin and the feeling of joy are strangely connected. And one cannot be discarded, while the other is recognized as dominant.

"One person close to me recently uttered a phrase that touched me to the depths of my soul: if there is forgiveness for me, it will be with huge tears. That is, he understands that, by and large, he cannot be forgiven. And at the same time he knows for sure, The objectivity and obviousness of this fact cannot but give birth to tears of repentance and deep gratitude in him, and through them - striving for God as such.
Remember the gospel episode where Christ appears to the apostles after the resurrection:

After that, Jesus again appeared to his disciples by the sea of \u200b\u200bTiberias. And he appeared in this way: Simon Peter and Thomas, called the Twin, and Nathanael of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others from His disciples were together. Simon Peter says to them: I am going to fish. They say to him: we are also going with you. They went and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. And when the morning had already come, Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus says to them: children! do you have any food? They answered him: no. He said to them: Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will catch it. They threw, and could no longer pull out the nets from the multitude of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved says to Peter: This is the Lord. But Simon Peter, hearing that it was the Lord, girded himself with a garment — for he was naked — and threw himself into the sea (John 21: 1–7).

As soon as Peter heard that the Lord was resurrected - everything, he throws the fish, which he tried with such difficulty to catch all night and strives to Christ. If the Lord is near, then Peter does not need anything else. After all, the most important thing is in Himself. And this is a state of mind that every Christian - and perhaps every person in general - wants to come to. This is the state for which the Lord created us: to love Him not for what He does, but for what He is.

Photo of Andy Kays announcement

This interview is. She has collected under the cover a whole series of conversations with famous priests about the miracle in our lives.

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.

Seeing all this, I rushed into the barn, found the image of the Savior and put it on the child. In the morning the child was absolutely HEALTHY. The doctors who treated him only shrugged off their hands. There are NO traces of tuberculosis. And then I realized that there is God, I understood the prayers of my brother.

I announced my withdrawal from the Union of Atheists and did not hide the miracle that had happened to me. Everywhere and everywhere I proclaimed the miracle that had happened to me and called for faith in God. They baptized their son, giving him the name - George. " I said goodbye to Boris and never saw him again. When she came to Moscow again in 1937, she learned that after the baptism of her son, he left for the Caucasus with his wife and child. Boris everywhere spoke openly about his delusion and salvation. A year later, being completely healthy, he died unexpectedly. The doctors did not determine the cause of death: the Bolsheviks removed him so that he would not talk too much and the people would not stir up ... "

Sainted Alexander Svirsky

It often happens to us that we make mistakes, and we know that we are doing wrong, but we continue to make them without even realizing their significance. And then they come to the rescue from above. Or in which book you find out, or someone will tell you, or you will meet the right person, but God's providence is in everything.

I used to think that the dress code for an Orthodox woman does not matter much: today I went in trousers or in a mini-skirt - all the same, it doesn't matter, the main thing is to come to church as it should be, and in the world - as I want. And somehow I have a dream, I go into the temple, to my left is an icon, I go up to it, and Alexander Svirsky comes out of the icon to meet me. He says to me: "Put on simple women's clothes on your body and wear it as it should, and pray to Saint Zosima."

Subsequently, the priest explained to me the importance of the words spoken to me by the Monk Alexander. Trousers on a woman, a short skirt and other tight-fitting clothing are tempting. And now, imagine, you entered the subway wearing similar clothes, and how many men looked at you and even sinned in their thoughts - so many people you will be the cause of their sin. After all, it is said: "Do not tempt!"

Healing from blindness

When the water is blessed, a wondrous prayer is recited, in which HEALING POWER is requested for those who use this water. Consecrated objects contain spiritual properties that are not inherent in ordinary substances. The manifestation of these properties is like miracles and testifies to the connection of the human spirit with God. Therefore, any information about the facts of the manifestation of these properties is very useful to people, especially during a time of temptation and doubt in faith, that is, in the spiritual connection of a person with God. This is especially important at the present time, when there is a widespread misconception that such a connection does not exist and that this has been proven by science. However, science operates with facts, and denying facts on the sole reason that they do not fit into a given pattern is not a scientific method.

To the numerous manifestations of the special healing properties of the consecrated water, one can add another quite reliable case that took place at the end of the winter of 1960/61.

The elderly teacher-pensioner A.I. was sick with eyes. She was treated in an eye dispensary, but, despite the efforts of the doctors, she became completely blind. She was a believer. When a disaster struck, for several days in a row, with prayer, she applied a cotton wool soaked in Epiphany water to her eyes. To the surprise of the doctors, one really fine morning, she again began to see well.

It is known that in patients with glaucoma such dramatic improvements are impossible with conventional treatment, and A.I. from blindness - this is one of the manifestations of the miraculous healing properties of Holy water.

Unfortunately, not all miracles are recorded, even fewer are published, and we simply do not know about many things. The miracle about which I have told, obviously, will be known only to a narrow circle of people, but we, who have been honored by God's grace to be among them, will give thanks and glory to God.

THE POWER OF FAITH IN GOD

One woman told a story about her father Romaschenko Ivan Safonovich, born in 1907, about how at the end of 1943, on a false denunciation of a traitor who collaborated with the Nazis, he was sent to the camps for 10 years. And how many hardest trials he had to endure there. In addition, he was seriously ill with tuberculosis, which is why he was not taken to the front in 1941.

Even while there, in incredibly difficult conditions, her father continued to be a true Orthodox Christian. He prayed, tried to live according to the Commandments, and even ... keep the fasts! Although it was hard exhausting work, and there was only gruel of food, he still limited himself in food on fast days. My father kept the calendar, knew and remembered the days of the great church holidays, calculated the day of the coming of the main bright holiday of the Easter of Christ. He told his cellmates a lot of interesting things about the saints, sacred history, he knew many prayers, psalms and places of the Holy Scriptures by heart. Father especially honored the main Orthodox holidays, and first of all, Easter.

Once he refused to go to work on this bright holiday, for which he was immediately taken to the so-called "knee bag" by the order of the camp leadership, as a disobedient one. This structure really looked like a narrow bag, but made of stone. In it, a person could only stand. The guilty were left in it FOR A DAY without outer clothing and a hat. In addition, a bright lamp burned, and cold water constantly dripped onto the crown of the head. And if we consider that in the North during this period of the year the temperature is minus 30-35 degrees below zero, then the outcome for the father was known in advance - death. Moreover, from numerous experience, everyone knew that a person in this "Stone Bag" could withstand no more than a day, during which he gradually froze and died.

And now the father was locked up in this terrible deadly structure. Moreover, having learned that Easter had come, the camp authorities and guards began to celebrate it. They remembered the prisoner who was locked in the "knee bag" only at the end of the third day.

When a sentry came to take his body to bury, he was dumbfounded. Father stood - Alive and looked at him, although he was covered with ice. The sentry got scared and ran off to report to his superiors. Everyone came to see the Miracle.

When they took him out of the "Bag" and, having placed him in the infirmary, they began to ask how he could SURVIVE, because before him everyone DIED within 24 hours, he replied that all three days he did not sleep, but constantly Prayed God. At first it was terribly COLD, but by the end of the first day it became Warmer, then even warmer, and on the third day it was already HOT. He said that the heat came from somewhere INSIDE, although there was ice outside. This event had such an effect on everyone that the father was left alone. The head of the camp canceled the work on Easter, and even allowed my father not to work on other church holidays because of his great Faith.

But then the camp authorities changed. The former head of the camp was replaced by a new, downright beast, not a man. Cruel, heartless, not recognizing God. The Holy Pascha of Christ has come again. And although work was not supposed that day, but at the last moment he ordered everyone to be sent to work. My father again refused to go to work on this bright holiday. But the inmates persuaded him to go to the place of work, otherwise, they say, this beast without a soul and heart will simply torment you.

My father came to the place of work, but refused to work in the felling of the forest. Reported to the chief. He ordered to immediately POISE on him, specially trained to catch up and tear a person, dogs. The guards let the dogs down. And now, more than a dozen big dogs with vicious barking RUNNED at his father. Death was inevitable. All prisoners and guards froze, waiting for the end of the terrible bloody tragedy.

The father, having bowed and crossed himself in the four cardinal directions, began to pray. It was only later that he said that he had read mainly Psalm 90 ("Alive in help"). So, the dogs RUN in his direction, but not having reached him 2-3 meters, suddenly, as it were, RUNNED into some Invisible Barrier. They furiously jumped around their father and barked, at first evil, then more and more quietly, and, finally, began to roll in the snow, and then all the dogs fell asleep together. Everyone was just dumbfounded by this obvious Divine Miracle!

So once again everyone was SHOWED the great Faith in the God of this person, and also God's POWER was demonstrated! AND "How close the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call on Him" (Deut 4, 7). He did not allow the death of His faithful servant who loved Him.

My father returned home to his family in Mikhailovsk in December 1952, where he lived for almost 10 more years.

Refers to "On the evidence of the miraculous"

Three miracles from God testifying to the truth of the Orthodox faith

This is an illustration to the worldview article On Proofs of the Miraculous, justifying why all such proofs are false.

Nowadays we hear: "Why do you think that only the Orthodox faith is true? And Catholics say that their faith is true." For our pious ancestors, such a doubt was, of course, completely impossible. They knew well that the Orthodox faith was given by the Lord Himself to His apostles and preserved unchanged only in the holy Orthodox Church. Not human vain opinions, but the signs and wonders constantly performed by the Lord in our lives, strengthened the faith in our people. These signs are taking place today. But only the godless press, radio and television are not talking about them, reporting any news around the clock, except for these, the most important ones.

Three such important signs are:

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.

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 elder 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 entire 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 so she could not fully understand with her mind why that fascist, looking at her, immediately turned back.

So what is it, and how should we relate to 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 wonder

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 miracle. And 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 gracious 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 accustomed 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, made up, 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 bathhouse. This 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 operations 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.

On the way to the ancient monastery there was a large lake. 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 they all 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, they 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.

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 view 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 believe. From chaos comes chaos, and clear laws come from the Legislator. The laws of nature were established by God (and therefore they are also a miracle), and God does not violate His own rules. 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, then 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. Thus, God, Who is All-Powerful, Wise, can affect 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 like 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 that 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 bedridden, and I was taking 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 more than two or three days left to live and 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 during the Christmas fast, during 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 helped my mother. Mom confessed to him for a long time before 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 that 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 hadn't got 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 she was later 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 nobody 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 for 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 such 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.