Miracles through the prayers of Saint Nicholas. Thanks to my mother's faith

Crosswise This story took place at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. It was told to me by a Moscow priest. It happened with […]

Crosswise

This story took place at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. It was told to me by a Moscow priest. It happened to one of his close relatives. She lived in Moscow. Her husband was at the front, and she was left alone with small children. They lived very poorly. Then there was a famine in Moscow. I had to live in difficult conditions for a very long time. The mother did not know what to do with the children, she could not calmly look at their suffering. At some point, she began to come into a state of complete despair and was going to take her own life. She had an old icon of St. Nicholas, although she did not especially revere him, she never prayed. She did not go to church. The icon may have been inherited from her mother.

And so she went up to this icon and began to reproach Saint Nicholas, shouting: “How can you look at all these sufferings, at how I suffer, struggle alone? You see my children are dying of hunger? And you do absolutely nothing to help me!” In desperation, the woman ran out onto the landing, perhaps already heading for the nearest river, or about to do something else with herself. And suddenly she stumbled, fell, and saw two ten-ruble bills in front of her, folded crosswise. The woman was shocked, began to look: maybe someone dropped it, if there was anyone nearby, but she sees: there is no one. And she understood that the Lord had mercy on her, and St. Nicholas sent her this money.

This made such a strong impression on her that it became the beginning of her conversion to God, to the Church. Of course, she left all bad thoughts, returned home to her icon, began to pray, cry, give thanks. With the money sent to her, she bought groceries. But most importantly, she gained faith that the Lord is near, that He does not leave a person, and that in such difficult moments when a person needs help, the Lord will definitely give it.

Then she began to go to the temple. All her children became church Orthodox people and one son even became a priest.

Saint Nicholas visited his temple

In the spring of 1976, the day after the feast of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, nun Olimpiada (now deceased) said that at the festive Divine Liturgy in the St. Nicholas Church in the city of Kursk, several parishioners who were praying were honored to see something quite unusual.

Two priests served in the altar, Archpriests Anatoly Filin and Lev Lebedev (also now deceased - he died a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad).

After the service, one of them was asked a question:

– And where is the third priest who served with you?

- Which? Yes, there was no one except the two of us!

Meanwhile, several eyewitnesses through the disclosed Royal Doors, to the right of them, they saw a gray-haired old man standing in the altar in the bishop's place, who fervently prayed and bowed. His clothes were much brighter, richer than the vestments of other priests, his robe seemed to be on fire. It is known for certain: there is not and was not in the sacristy of the St. Nicholas Church such exquisite vestments. So those who saw the elder thought: the capital's priest came to visit. Meanwhile, Bishop Chrysostomos of Kursk was away on that patronal day. And in the rest everything was as always. Only the day before, the father rector neglected the instructions of the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, took and placed on the lectern, for worship, the miraculous image of the Saint in white robes. But the miraculous priest did not come out of the altar to worship the shrine.

Having learned about the mysterious visitor, the priests began to check whether their reflection was reflected in the glass of the icons, they became different, this way and that, but they did not see anything similar.

Girls, this is amazing! - then remarked, turning to the choristers, one of the archpriests who served that Liturgy.

- How handsome he was, how earnestly he was baptized, but he laid bows, everything in the High Place. We thought it was Bishop Pimen of Saratov,” the singers answered.

And only with time people realized that the third priest that day in the St. Nicholas Church was ... Saint and Wonderworker Nicholas!

Evgenius Muravlev

living miracle

40 years have passed since then, and this miracle is still before my eyes, like a living thing. I will never forget him until my death. It was a hot May morning. The bazaar is busy. There was a long queue along the mall. We approach with Dunya Alekseeva, and there they sell icons on photographic paper for 10 rubles. Everyone wants to buy the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, but they do not dare. This icon costs 15 rubles. Women bargain, dress up, ask the saleswoman to give in and sell her for 10 rubles. The saleswoman disagrees. “No,” he says, “I only have Nikolai Ugodnichek.” My neighbor and I also really wanted to buy this icon, and they even saved money at the ready, but it was a shame to take it without a queue. After all, many wanted to buy it. We got up with a neighbor Evdokia at the very end of the line. We are waiting in excitement: what if it doesn’t get it! The weather was hot, so quiet, not the slightest breeze. We wipe sweat from the face. Nobody takes an icon for 15 rubles. Slowly they argue, beg the saleswoman, wait: maybe she will give in. But the merchant is relentless. And suddenly, in the midst of such a sultry complete silence, this same icon rose into the air, flew away like a moth or an autumn leaf, and clung directly to my heart. And with great joy I pressed her with my left hand to my chest. They all gasped in one breath:

– How is it so?! And there was no wind!

- This is a miracle! The saleswoman said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“And why not stick to me or to someone else?” Evdokia complained with annoyance. I put money on the counter and ran home. Dunyasha followed me, almost crying. For a long time Dunya and I remembered this miracle. They told friends. Now she, the deceased, is no longer among the living. But let her hear with a dead ear: I speak the truth. Maybe someone else remembers the witnesses of this miracle.

V.Starostina, Tatarstan

Intercession of the Saint

Our family keeps an ancient icon of St. Nicholas, the Pleasant of God, who was especially revered by my great-grandmother Darya Pavlovna. And why? - This is the story of a family.

Once my great-grandmother, then still a young woman, went to an early service in Iversky Vyksa convent. She lived 15 kilometers from the monastery in the village of Veletma, and the road went through the forest. Somewhere halfway, a dirty, shaggy man unexpectedly jumped out of the forest and blocked Darya's path. What was a lonely defenseless woman to do? She began to pray fervently: “Father Nicholas, help me!” And then a small gray-haired old man with a stick in his hand came out of the forest. He waved his stick in the direction of the villain, and said to his great-grandmother: “Do not be afraid of anything, a servant of God.” The peasant looked at the old man, recoiled, then said, turning to Daria: “Well, woman, pray to God and your patron saint, otherwise ...”, and he disappeared into the forest. And the old man also disappeared, just as he was not there ... In such a miraculous way, the mercy of the Pleasant of God Nicholas appeared visibly. Talking about the miracle that happened to her, great-grandmother always cried and prayed fervently before the icon of the Saint.

Stepan Fomenkov, Nizhny Novgorod Region

Don't let me die

This happened in October 1943 while crossing the Dnieper. Zinovy ​​\u200b\u200bNemtyrev performed another combat mission. Accustomed from childhood to obedience, he readily carried out any order of command. And the leadership relied on him, knowing that Nemtyrev would find a way out of any, even the most difficult situations. But this case is truly wonderful! Zinoviy Ivanovich confidently drove the car along the pontoon bridge across the Dnieper.

Suddenly, enemy anti-aircraft guns opened fire, and one of the shells hit the bridge. Zinovy ​​Ivanovich's car began to sink. "Nikola, help me, don't let me die!" - slipped out of the mouth short prayer. Miraculously managed to get out of the cab. But the coast is far away. Do not swim Zinovia to the shore! Suddenly he felt on his left, under his arm, a big fish. He pulled her close to him and, supported by her, safely reached the shore. And despite the cold autumn weather, I did not catch a cold.

... Zinoviy Ivanovich even now often recalls that amazing incident. And every time, tears well up in my eyes.

"Destroyer of ungodly teachings"

Hieromonk Sergius (Rybko), rector of the Moscow Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at the Lazarevsky cemetery, reported the following incident: in the early 1990s he was a resident of Optina Hermitage. One of the pilgrims told him about how she came to faith. She was an active member of the Communist Party and was engaged in anti-religious propaganda. And so her grandfather Stefan began to appear in her dream, ex-priest. He told his granddaughter some of the circumstances of his and her life, which she could not even suspect. In particular, he revealed to her that her mother was not at all the woman whom she considers to be such, which was later confirmed. And in one of her dreams, she saw the martyrdom of her grandfather, how he was beaten, mocked and thrown alive into the well, where he died in great agony, and the mother’s family and children were forced to stand at the well for a whole day, looking at his torment.

After these dreams, the atheistic views of the priest's granddaughter wavered, but not completely. And then the following happened. This woman had a daughter who was expecting a child at that time. At the seventh month of pregnancy, she went into conservation, the child was very weak, and the doctors warned them to prepare for his loss.

Having heard the final verdict of the doctors, the woman came home and immediately fell to her knees. They didn’t have icons in their house, because she herself took them off when she was an unbeliever. Only she remained, a small dusty icon of St. Nicholas, covered in cobwebs, hanging right under the ceiling, to which the hands simply did not reach. And it was to this saint that she began to fervently pray. After some time, she saw a luminous star appear above her right shoulder and, approaching the icon, entered it. Then the woman realized that her prayer had been answered.

Soon the daughter safely gave birth to a child, and when she was discharged from the hospital, they all went home together. The baby was in her grandmother's arms. He was carried into the room, swaddled, and his eyes fell on the icon of St. Nicholas. The child, weak, tiny, born underdeveloped, joyfully smiled at the saint and pulled his arms towards him. “It was a completely meaningful gesture. Then I immediately understood everything, threw away my party card and was baptized right there, ”this servant of God finished her story.

So great saint denounced the ungodly communist doctrine, led to faith and reconciled with God the granddaughter of the holy martyr. May the Lord rest his soul and with his holy prayers have mercy on us. Amen.

The church was no longer touched

Not far from our village is the village of Nikolskoye, in which there is a temple in the name of St. Nicholas. It still stands today, large, beautiful and fertile, although it was built a long time ago.

The old people say that at the time when the churches were destroyed, some man wanted to remove the cross from the temple. He went upstairs to the very dome and sees some old man standing at the dome and says to him: “Why are you here?” The man guessed that it was St. Nicholas, got scared and quickly climbed down. The church was no longer touched.

Tanya Avdeeva,
With. Bobyakovo, Voronezh region

Nikola

It so happened that from the Pacific Ocean, where I served on a cruiser, I had to cross the whole of Mother Russia to the Black Sea at the invitation of my friend. But, having arrived in Odessa, I was saddened to learn that a friend had gone on a voyage abroad. It was impossible to blame him for this - he did not depend on his own decisions.

But I myself am to blame for the way I managed my time and my money. Youth and recklessness are bad advisers, and I was soon left without a livelihood, having squandered my naval money. And I decided to go to the Donbass to work (at that time there was a brisk recruitment for the mines in Odessa).

So, without planning it at all before, I ended up in the Donbass at one of the old unproductive mines. Sometimes I got so tired that when I came to the hostel, I fell down dead on my bed, right in my clothes. New friends tried not to make noise while I slept. Soon I got involved in the work, the calluses on my hardened hands had to be cut off with a knife, but I liked that I did not lose heart and did not run away, like some.

And everything would be fine, but trouble happened. That day I did not want to go down into the cage in the mine! The soul seemed to smell trouble. When we were walking along the drift to the face, suddenly from above - a crack, a roar, a blow to the left shoulder and arm, a wild pain in the leg, and at the end - a blow to the head and flying to nowhere. Darkness.

I woke up covered in rock and mud. It was difficult to breathe. collapse. As we were taught, I began to move a little, to look for free space around me. Left hand was motionless, moved his right fingers - they work! And I began to free myself stone by stone from the captivity of the earth, often losing consciousness from pain.

But I did not want to die buried alive and believed that I was partly littered. And my desperate struggle ended in victory - I freed myself from the rubble. There was total darkness all around. And silence. I called out to my comrades, but no one answered me. Feeling myself, I found several wounds on my left arm, blood oozing from them. The leg hurt unbearably, but there was no blood, I decided that it was a closed fracture. Having torn off the vest, I somehow bandaged my hand. He began to scream again, but only an echo underworld answered me mockingly.

I fell into a heavy sleep, but suddenly I distinctly heard laughter and squealing. I crawled along the drift, dragging my bad leg. The noise and barking intensified, then moved away. I rested, trying to find at least some water dripping from above. And suddenly, very close by, I heard a malicious giggle, a loud grunt and a fervent hoot. And I got baptized! It's me, a naval Komsomol member!

But a miracle - the vile sounds stopped! And I crawled in the opposite direction. But where? This old mine has a lot of workings. This means that I will have to wander through them for a long time and, perhaps, stay in this dungeon forever. I fell into a deep sleep. I dreamed of childhood and my mother, standing in the left wing of the Intercession Cathedral in front of the icon of St. Nicholas. She gave me a candle and whispered: "This is your heavenly patron Nicholas the Wonderworker. Light a candle for him. If you pray to him, he will always come to the rescue, save you from any trouble. Always remember this. Is always".

I crossed myself and whispered: “Nikola the Wonderworker, save me!” - and woke up. I woke up suddenly, as if someone had touched me. A calm male voice said: “Get up, young man, and follow me.” I thought of a broken leg, but the same voice firmly insisted, "Follow me!" And I got up! But still, being afraid to step on my sore leg, I went holding on to the wet wall of the drift.

I no longer heard the voice, but it was as if I saw in the darkness the one who attracted me like a magnet. From time to time I stopped to rest, and the one in front of me also stopped and waited. At the next stop, a light flashed, and I recognized it! It was Nikola from the icon of the Intercession Cathedral in Barnaul!

“Well, that’s all,” he said, “soon they will come to you from there.” I looked in the direction he was pointing, and when I turned around, there was no one beside me. I again fell into an unconscious state, from which the rescuers brought me out, who decided to check the old adits. To all questions about my salvation, I answered only: "Nikola, Nikola." From that time on, I was nicknamed Nikola the Siberian.

Nine days I got out after the collapse, wandering through the adits, and then eleven people died.

After being discharged from the hospital, my friends with honors accompanied me to my homeland - my native, blooming Altai. My gray-haired mother met me with happy tears. After my detailed story, my mother told me: “On the day you got into trouble, I went to the garden to water the beds. Everything was fine, I was quite healthy, but suddenly it went dark in my eyes, I felt so bad that I could hardly get home. I drank corvalol, lay down on the bed and dozed off. I dreamed of you, shrouded in a black cloud, in which lightning flashed from time to time. I was very sick, and also this dream. I dreamed about him for several days. Only now I understand that the black cloud is the darkness of the mine, and the light is St. Nicholas, your savior, glory to him and to the Lord Jesus Christ, without whose will not a single hair will fall from a person’s head!
The next day we went to the Intercession Cathedral to pray for my miraculous salvation, to thank the Lord and Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Nikolay Blinov,
Novoaltaysk, Lampada

“God definitely exists!”

Hello!

This is what happened during WWII. Recorded from the words of Ivan Dmitrievich.

It happened a long time ago, during the Great Patriotic War. The Germans occupied the railway station, but did not enter the nearby village. They controlled her, of course, but for the most part, all the forces were at the station to protect her. Vanka already at the age of 14 worked with the partisans and was engaged in laying explosives under the trains of German trains. He often visited the station and the Germans did not even suspect that this kid was the bomber they had been looking for for so long. Vanka helped unload the wagons, and for this he was given bread biscuits.

And then one day, after another assignment, Vanka was returning to the village and accidentally came across a dilapidated church. Digging through the rubble, he accidentally found, as he thought, a beautiful picture in a golden frame. From it, an elderly man of advanced age with clear eyes and a stern look looked at him. "Handsomely!" Vanka thought, and brushing the dust off it, he stuffed it into his bosom. Finding nothing else suitable, he headed for the exit and immediately saw a German patrol. Vanka, in general, always reacted calmly to the appearance of a patrol, but at that moment he got frightened for some reason and, without realizing it, rushed to run. Two German soldiers rushed after him, shouting after him: - Sofort bleibe stehen!, which meant stop immediately! But Vanka rushed at full speed to the forest, not looking back. And suddenly Potap appeared before the very border of the forest. He was a village peasant, and besides, a silent man, and then Vanka saw him in the uniform of a policeman.

- Stop, you bastard! Potap shouted and raised his rifle.

- Uncle Potap, it's me Vanka! he shouted back.

"So you're the one planting explosives under the trains?" Potap asked without lowering his weapon.

- So you are a traitor, Uncle Potap? Did the partisans talk about you? - Vanka shouted with surprise and annoyance in his voice.

Potap pulled the trigger and fired a shot. The bullet hit him in the chest. The blow was so strong that Vanka flew three meters back and collapsed flat on the ground. The soldiers immediately ran up. One of them approached the body lying on its back and pushed it with its foot. It did not move, but blood flowed from its mouth. The soldier bent down and pulled two pieces of Fickford cord out of Vanya's hand and showed them to the second. The second shook his head and waved his hand to Potap to come over.

- Gut schiest Du! You shoot good, - praised the German soldier Potap, - you will get an additional can of stew! Very karasho!

They put away their weapons and went back to the station to report that the bomber
destroyed.

Vanka woke up from the fact that his face was licked by a dog, whom he sheltered, finding him on the street half-starved and sick. Vanka opened his eyes and looked at the dog. He whimpered slightly and twisted his tail with joy for his master. Vanka tried to get up, but a sharp pain in his chest made him scream, and he lay down on his back again. Gathering strength, he turned on his side and with difficulty overcoming the pain, he managed to sit up. "How so?" - thought Vanka - "I'm not dead!"

He put his hand into his bosom and pulled out the icon. Looking at her, he couldn't believe what he saw!

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker held a bullet in his hand, which he raised in a blessing gesture.

Vanka once again examined the icon. But it was written on a wooden board that was more than a dozen years old. It was only now that Vanka understood what had happened. He, like all Soviet children, did not know how to pray, and did not know how to do it. He only remembered how his grandmother used to do it on the sly. He made his way to the forest, leaned the icon against a tree and, leaning to the ground, ignoring the pain in his chest, shedding tears, lamented: “Thank you, grandfather! Thanks for saving me!"

Finally calming down, he lay down on the grass and, looking with wide eyes at the sky, across which white clouds floated, he thought: “God definitely exists! Grandma kept talking about it all the time, but I didn't believe it. And now he saved me."

Vanka got up, thrust the icon into his bosom, and immediately caught himself thinking that there was no pain in his chest. He touched himself and indeed - his chest no longer hurt. "Miracles!" - thought Vanka and went into the forest to the partisans.

Vanka went through the whole war without leaving the icon anywhere for a minute. Throughout the war, he did not even get a scratch, although he sometimes participated in the most fierce battles and alterations. Now Ivan Dmitrievich has the icon in the red corner, and Nikolai the Wonderworker is still holding the bullet fired by Potap's treacherous hand. Many experts looked at this miracle, but no one could give any explanation for this.

Sincerely,
Nikolai Anisimov

Salvation of a Muslim

In the mid-80s, a Russian person happened to be in an Orthodox church in Tashkent. And there he saw a Muslim who, with great reverence, bowing incessantly, lit candles in front of the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. There, near the icon, they began a conversation, and the Muslim told about the miracle that St. Nicholas had done to him.

On a winter night, he was walking through the steppe to a distant village and suddenly heard a wolf howl very close. A few minutes later he was surrounded by a pack of wolves. In horror and despair, the Muslim shouted: “Russian God and Nikola, help!” Suddenly a strong wind blew, a blizzard rose. She ran into a pack of wolves and, spinning it in a whirlwind, took it to the steppe.

When the wind died down, the Muslim saw a gray-haired old man beside him, who told him: “Look for me in the Russian church,” and immediately disappeared. Coming in Orthodox church, a Muslim with amazement and great joy recognized in the image of St. Nicholas the same “grandfather” who appeared to him at night in the steppe.

Nun Pelagia

Exit from hell

The incident that I want to tell about was told to me by my mother, and to her by an acquaintance with whom they go to church together. He testifies that St. Nicholas helps everyone, even people who are far from God.

This incident happened in Belarus, at the very beginning of the war. The woman's husband was an officer. They lived on the territory of the Brest Fortress. When the battles for the fortress began, a woman with a newborn baby in her arms miraculously managed to escape from the war-torn fortress walls.

When she came to her senses, she saw that she was in the forest, in an unfamiliar place, and she did not know where to go next. She fell into despair. On hands crying baby, and around the trees, and no hope of finding a way. But suddenly an old man with a stick appeared from somewhere and pointed out to her: “Go this way, you will be saved there.” And suddenly disappeared. The woman leaned in the direction indicated by the old man, and after a while went out to the farm. There she was met by elderly peasants, a husband and wife.

Throughout the war, together with the child, she lived on this farm. The Germans were not here. After the war, the woman went to church and there she saw the icon of the "old man". It was Saint Nicholas. “Since then, I always go to church and never forget to pray to the saint,” this woman says.

Elena Chistikina

Didn't allow abuse

One woman told an incident that happened in their family when she was barely six years old.

Her mother was very religious, and her father, on the contrary, being a communist, was hostile to the Church. Mom had to keep secret from her father somewhere in the closet, among things, the icon of St. Nicholas, the mother's blessing.

One day she came home from work and started lighting the stove. There was already firewood in it, it was only necessary to kindle it. But she couldn't do it. No matter how hard you fight, the firewood does not burn, and that's it!

Then she began to pull them out and, together with the logs, took out the icon of the saint from the oven, which the husband found in the closet and decided to destroy with the hands of his wife.

Reprinted from the folk newspaper to the glory
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker "Rule of Faith"

"Who is praying for you?"

When I was little, a sea captain used to visit his parents in our village. His story stuck with me for the rest of my life.

“Our ship,” he said, “as usual, went to sea to fish. It was quiet, calm. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a strong wind came up, a storm arose. The sails were torn off, the ship became uncontrollable and tilted to one side, the connection was cut off. Huge waves tossed the ship around like a matchbox. There was nowhere to wait for help, and everyone felt imminent death.

I ran upstairs and with my hands raised, crying loudly, began to pray, asking Nicholas the Wonderworker for help. How much time passed, I do not know, but the storm began to subside. “Guys,” I shout to the sailors, “pull the sails!” They answer detachedly: “It’s already useless: the bottom has been broken, the water is flooding the ship.” I began to insist. The three of us set the sails in a matter of minutes, although ten of us usually couldn't handle them. The storm subsided. When they went down, they saw that a large fish had plugged the hole.

The sailors surrounded me with weeping and asked: “Captain, tell us who is praying to God for you?” Then it was pursued. I answer them: “My grandmother and my mother are praying for me, and this is who saved us,” and I took out my wallet from my pocket, where there was a small icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The management rewarded me with an extraordinary vacation, and the sailors asked me to buy icons of St. Nicholas for them and serve a thanksgiving service in the church. Everyone who was on the ship gave a deep bow to the earth to my grandmother and mother for their prayer.”

L. N. Goncharova,
Volgograd region
Reprinted from the folk newspaper to the glory
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker "Rule of Faith"

Autumn evening

It happened in 1978, when I was nineteen years old. One evening I was staying with a friend. When I got to my area, it was already eleven o'clock in the evening. The surroundings are dark and deserted. Due to the frivolity inherent in youth, I was not afraid of anything, believing that nothing bad could ever happen to me. And she did not attach any importance to the fact that the door of one of the front doors was ajar and a man was looking out from there.

When I passed the door, he followed. Feeling something was wrong, I wanted to run, but I didn’t have time: a strong hand was already holding me. The man who caught up with me began to drag me into the front door. I resisted, but in vain. Begged: "Let go!" He replied: "I will kill you now." Around - not a soul. Help is nowhere to be found. Then I raised my eyes to the sky and silently, with my heart, prayed: “Lord, Nicholas the Wonderworker! Step up, help!"

And a miracle happened. The fingers that held my hand tight loosened. I felt that I was free. The man who had just viciously threatened did not say another word. And he didn't try to follow me. He stood still, as if petrified. I got home safely.

Many years have passed, but I will not forget that autumn evening when I experienced the power of the miraculous intercession of the Lord our God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Ludmila
Reprinted from the folk newspaper to the glory
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker "Rule of Faith"

"Peaceful sleep grant me"

For many years I suffered from insomnia, and for the last two or three years, I have only fallen asleep with pills.

And so I found out that big cities carry the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It will also be in Tolyatti, where I live. I have been waiting for this day with impatience and hope. When the image was brought to the temple in honor of the Kazan Icon Mother of God, was committed procession. There were a lot of people: it seemed that the whole city had gathered. The soul was light and joyful, and the heart harbored hope for healing. And thanks to God's mercy, it came.

Now I sleep soundly. And every morning I thank our Savior, His Most Pure Mother and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Servant of God Galina,
Tolyatti
Reprinted from the folk newspaper to the glory
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker "Rule of Faith"

In contact with

Everyone has probably heard about Nicholas the Wonderworker. Even people who are far from Christianity know about him, because Nikolai is the prototype of the Western Santa Claus. However, this is not what deserves the greatest attention of believers. Even during his lifetime, Nicholas was called the miracle worker for a reason; his biography contains stories about a truly miraculous salvation of people, good and generous deeds. But the most important thing is that, according to many believers, the miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker continue to occur today. Today we will talk about who Nikolai Ugodnik is, how he helped and continues to help people even after his death.

Nicholas the Wonderworker (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nicholas) was supposedly born in 270 in the city of Patara in the Roman province of Lycia. His parents were Christians, so the boy absorbed sincere faith from childhood. He spent almost all his time in prayer, studying the Holy Scriptures. Thanks to such zeal for the faith, he was first made a reader, then became a priest, and later - Bishop of Mira.

The parents of Saint Nicholas were quite prosperous; after their death, the son inherited a substantial fortune. However, he did not spend money on his own needs and enjoy the newfound wealth. Nicholas gave all his inheritance to the poor.

The beginning of the ministry of Saint Nicholas fell on the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, whose policy provided for the cruel persecution of Christians. Only in Last year the reign of the next emperor, Constantius Chlorus, freedom of religion was declared. After that, Christian communities began to grow, and the doctrine itself became more and more popular, because there was no longer any risk for its followers.

It is believed that Saint Nicholas is especially kind to sailors. To this day, they pray to him for a successful voyage and a speedy return home. This is connected with stories about how St. Nicholas saved the sailors. One of them tells about the voyage from Mira to Alexandria, where, judging by the biography, he was trained. During this journey, one of the sailors fell off the mast and crashed to death, but Nikolai managed to resurrect him. During the return to Mira, misfortune also happened, and the Wonderworker again had to save the sailor, who subsequently went with him and stayed at the church.

However, the most famous history, which marked the beginning of the tradition of Christmas and New Year's gifts, concerns the three sisters whom Nikolai saved from a terrible fate. He learned that their father did not have any means to provide a dowry for his daughters, so he decided to use their beauty to earn at least something. Then Nicholas the Saint came at night under the house in which the three beauties lived, and threw a bag of gold out the window. It so happened that the bag fell into one of the drying stockings. That is why in the West there was a tradition to put gifts in stockings or socks hung in the house. Nicholas did not want the girls and their father to know who their benefactor was, because he was modest, and besides, he did not want the girls to be humiliated by his gold. Having found a bag of gold, the father was immediately able to marry off one of his daughters. He was still interested in who left such a valuable gift, while wishing to remain anonymous, so at night he did not go to bed and began to guard under the window. The father waited until another sack thrown by Nikolai landed in the house and ran to catch up with the benefactor. He thanked the Miracle Worker, but he took his word that he would not tell anyone about who gave his daughters a dowry.

Nicholas the Wonderworker is considered the patron saint of:

• sailors;
• travelers;
• orphans.

However, in the West they believe that St. Nicholas patronizes all segments of the population, but especially children.

There are many testimonies of believers who claim that Nicholas the Wonderworker helped them at a time when, it would seem, there was nowhere to wait for help.

There is more than one story about when St. Nicholas saved people who had an accident during a trip, who had an icon with his image with them, or who read a prayer to him before starting the journey. People remained safe and sound in situations where it seemed simply impossible. You can't call such salvation from the clutches of death otherwise than a miracle.

There is also evidence that myrrh (special consecrated oil), taken from the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari, where his relics rest, is able to heal from diseases. Someone smears them with sore spots, someone drinks a little and is thus healed of ailments.

Also, judging by the stories of believers, St. Nicholas can help unmarried girls meet your soul mate. This is not surprising, because even during his lifetime, Nicholas the Wonderworker saved virgins from loneliness. The girls claim that before meeting their betrothed, they prayed to Saint Nicholas and asked him to help them find their happiness, build a strong family.

The saint also helps some in finding a decent job that brings a good income. This can also be considered quite logical, because during his lifetime, Nikolai distributed all his wealth to those who needed them much more. People also talk about the fact that prayer to Nicholas the Wonderworker helps to find what was lost, to get what a person needs most now.

It will not be superfluous for all believers to pray to St. Nicholas before setting off on a long journey. Since Nicholas is the patron saint of travelers, he protects believers on the road, helps to avoid dangerous situations and return home safe. However, you can turn to the saint with any requests. The most important thing is that at the same time the thoughts of the prayer be pure, and faith sincere and unshakable. The miracles of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker continue today, because faith is really capable of much. It is worth teaching St. Nicholas to your children, because it is believed that it is the children's requests that he fulfills in the first place.

Seventeen centuries of world history, like seventeen moments of eternity, in all times and countries, he works great miracles, without delay is a call for help to thousands of people at the same time. The precious pearls of his miracles are scattered in abundance by the generous Wonderworker on the face of the earth. On the eve of the first feast in the third millennium of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of the World of Lycia, modern eyewitnesses of his immortal glory told of what was incredibly made clear and obvious thanks to the participation of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

"Instead of you, Saint Nicholas stands"

These were the difficult years of the civil war. V.P. - then a young girl - stood in the garden near her house, and a peasant was aiming at her from a gun (then all over Russia, peasants cracked down on landlords). The girl tremblingly pressed her hands to her chest and with great faith and hope fervently repeated:
- Father, St. Nicholas, help, protect.
And what? The peasant throws his gun aside and says:
“Now go wherever you want and don’t get caught in the eye.”
The girl ran home, took something, ran to the station and left for Moscow. There, her relatives gave her a job.
Several years have passed.
One day, the doorbell rings. Neighbors open - there is a thin, ragged village peasant, shaking all over. He asks if V.P. lives here. They answer him that he is here. They invite you to enter. Follow her.
When she came out, this man fell at her feet and began to cry and ask for forgiveness. She was confused, did not know what to do, began to pick him up, saying that she did not know him.
- Matushka V.P., don't you recognize me? I'm the one who wanted to kill you. He raised his gun, took aim and just wanted to shoot - I see that St. Nicholas is standing instead of you. I couldn't shoot him.
And again he fell at her feet.
- That's how long I was sick and decided to find you. Came on foot from the village.
She took him into her room, reassured him, said that she forgave everything. I fed him and changed into clean clothes.
He said he would die in peace now.
He immediately weakened and took to his bed. She called the priest. The peasant confessed and took communion. A few days later he peacefully departed to the Lord.
How she cried over him...

"Ambulance"

Our family had a housekeeper for a long time, a pious woman. Her work was formalized by a contract, and we paid insurance premiums for it.
When the woman grew old, she went to live with her relatives. When the new law on pensions came out, the old woman came to us to take from us the documents necessary for receiving a pension.
I carefully guarded these documents, but when I began to look for them, I could not find them. I searched for three days, rummaged through all the drawers, all the cabinets - and could not find it anywhere.
When the old woman came again, I bitterly told her about my failure. The old woman was very upset, but said with humility: “Let’s pray to St. Nicholas to help us, and if you don’t find it even then, then, apparently, I need to reconcile and forget about the pension.”
In the evening, I fervently prayed to St. Nicholas, and that same evening I noticed some kind of paper bundle under the table near the wall. These were the very documents I was looking for.
It turns out that the documents fell behind the box desk and fell out of there only after we fervently prayed to St. Nicholas.
Everything went well, and the old woman began to receive a pension.
So he heard our prayer and helped in trouble, St. Nicholas, who was quick to help.

"Where are you going, girl?"

My friend, Elena, is now an old woman, retired. This is what happened to her in the days of her youth, when she, as part of a geological expedition, explored the Solovetsky Islands. It was late autumn, and the sea began to be covered with ice floes. Hoping that she would still be able to return to her base, E. went alone to one of the islands to complete the work, thinking to return by evening.
Returning in the evening, I saw that there was so much ice in the sea that it was impossible to cross by boat. At night, the wind and ice floes carried away her boat and the next day washed her up on some unfamiliar shore. E. was a believer from childhood and prayed to St. Nicholas for salvation all the time. She decided to walk along the coast, hoping to meet at least some accommodation.
An old man met her and asked:
- Where are you going, girl?
- I'm going along the coast to find a home.
- Do not go along the coast, dear, you will not find anyone here for hundreds of miles. And you see a hill over there, go, climb it and then you will see where you go next.
E. looked at the hill, and then turned to the old man, but he was no longer in front of her. E. realized that St. Nicholas himself showed her the way, and went to the hill. From it, she noticed smoke in the distance and went to him. I found a fisherman's hut there.
The fisherman was surprised at her appearance in this completely deserted place and confirmed that indeed for hundreds of kilometers along the coast she would not have found a home and, for sure, would have died from cold and hunger. This is how Saint Nicholas saved the careless but pious girl.

"Quick helper in need"

I knew one godly working-class family, consisting of a husband, wife, and seven children. They lived near Moscow. It was at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when bread was given out on cards and in very limited quantities. At the same time, monthly cards were not renewed in case of loss.
For bread in this family, the eldest of the children, Kolya, thirteen years old, went to the store. In winter, on the day of St. Nicholas, he got up early and went for bread, which was enough only for the first buyers.
He came first and waited at the door of the store. He sees - there are four guys. Noticing Kolya, they went straight to him. Like lightning, the thought flashed through my head: "Now they will take away the bread cards." And this doomed the whole family to starvation. In horror, he mentally cried out: "St. Nicholas, save me."
Suddenly an old man appeared nearby, who approached him and said: "Come with me." He takes Kolya by the hand and, in front of the stunned and numb with surprise guys, takes him to the house. He disappeared near the house.
Saint Nicholas remains the same "ambulance to those in need."

"What are you sleeping?"

Here is what a participant in the Great Patriotic War named Nikolai told one priest.
- I managed to escape from German captivity. I made my way through occupied Ukraine at night and hid somewhere during the day. Once, after wandering through the night, I fell asleep in the morning in the rye. Suddenly someone wakes me up. I see in front of me an old man in a priestly robe. The old man says:
- What are you sleeping? Now the Germans will come here.
I got scared and ask:
- Where can I run?
Priest says:
- Here you see a bush there, run quickly there.
I turned to run, but then I realized that I had not thanked my savior, turned around ... and he was already gone. I realized that Saint Nicholas himself - my saint - was my savior.
With all my might, I rushed to the bushes. In front of the bush, I see a river flowing, but not wide. I rushed into the water, climbed to the other side and hid in the bushes. I look out of the bushes - the Germans are walking along the rye with a dog. The dog leads them straight to where I slept. She circled there and led the Germans to the river. Then I slowly began to go further and further through the bushes.
The river hid my trail from the dog, and I safely escaped the chase.

"And you look at it?"

My grandmother told me how Saint Nicholas saved our family in military Moscow in 1943.
Left alone with three children swollen from hunger, unable to purchase food even with ration cards, she saw in the kitchen the image of St. Nicholas, darkened with time. In desperation, she turned to him: "And you look at this?"
After that, she ran out onto the stairs, deciding not to return home again. Before she had time to reach the front door, she saw two ten-ruble banknotes on the floor. They lay crosswise. This money then saved the lives of her three babies, one of whom was my mother.
"St. Nicholas, help, dear!"
Maria Petrovna believed in God, and especially in the help of St. Nicholas, after one incident.
She was going to visit her cousin in the village. She had never visited her before, but in July her daughter and son-in-law left for the Crimea, both grandchildren went on a hiking trip, and, left alone in the apartment, Maria Petrovna immediately got bored and decided: "I'll go to my village." She bought gifts and sent a telegram to be met at the Luzhki station tomorrow.
I arrived in Luzhki, looked around, but no one came out to meet. What to do here?
- Hand over, my dear, your bundles to our storage room, - the station guard advised Maria Petrovna, - and go straight along this road for eight or even ten kilometers, until you meet a birch grove, and next to it on a hillock, separately from everyone, two pines. Turn right on them and you will see a path, and behind it - a path. You will cross the path and go out onto the path again; She will lead you into the woods. You will walk a bit between the birches and straight to the village that you need, and you will come out.
- Do you have wolves? Maria Petrovna asked apprehensively.
- There is, my dear, I will not hide it, there is. Yes, while it is light, they will not be touched, but in the evening, of course, they can fool around. Well, maybe you'll get through!
Maria Petrovna went. She was a village girl, but after twenty years of living in the city she had lost the habit of walking a lot and quickly got tired.
She walked, walked, not only ten, but all fifteen kilometers, and neither two pines nor a birch grove were visible.
The sun was setting behind the forest, pulling a chill. "If only I could meet a living person," Maria Petrovna thinks. Nobody! It became terrifying: well, how will the wolf jump out? Maybe she passed two pines a long time ago, or maybe they are still far away ...
It's completely dark... What should I do? Come back? So you will reach the station only at dawn. Here's the trouble!
“St. Nicholas, look what happened to me, help me, my dear, because the wolves will bite me on the road,” Maria Petrovna pleaded and wept with fear. And there was silence all around, not a soul, only stars were looking at her from the darkening sky ... Suddenly, wheels rattled loudly somewhere on the side.
“Fathers, it’s someone coming across the gate,” Maria Petrovna realized and rushed to the knock. He runs and sees that there are two pine trees on the right - and there is a path from them. Overlooked! And here is the shit. What happiness!
And along the gati, a small buggy, harnessed to one horse, knocks with wheels. An old man is sitting in a taratayka, only his back is visible and his head is white like a dandelion, and around it is a radiance ...
- Saint Nicholas, but it's you yourself! shouted Maria Petrovna, and, without looking at the road, she rushed to catch up with the bugger, and she had already driven into the woods.
Maria Petrovna runs with all her might and only one thing shouts:
- Wait!.
And the taratay is no longer visible. Maria Petrovna jumped out of the woods - in front of her there were huts, at the extreme old people were sitting on logs, smoking. She to them:
- Did your gray-haired grandfather drive past you now?
- No, dear, no one was driving, and we've been sitting here for an hour already.
Maria Petrovna's legs buckled - she sat down on the ground and was silent, only her heart was pounding in her chest and tears were coming. She sat, asked where the sister's hut was, and quietly went to her.

Rescue of mother and baby

Along the entire village where my grandmother lived, the river Veletma flows. Now the river has become shallow and narrow, the deepest places for children are knee-deep, but before Veletma was deep, full-flowing. And the banks of the river were swampy, swampy. And it was necessary for this to happen - her three-year-old son Vanechka slid off the log into this swamp in front of his mother's eyes and immediately went to the bottom. Elizabeth rushed to him, jumped into the swamp, grabbed her son. And she doesn't know how to swim. I remembered it was too late. And they both began to sink.
She prayed to Nicholas the Wonderworker, asking for the salvation of the souls of sinners. And a miracle happened.
Like a wave, a large strong current lifted the mother and baby above the swamp and lowered them onto a dry, fallen tree that blocked the swampy place like a bridge. My uncle Vanya is still alive, he is now over seventy.
"Now I need help!"
When the St. Nicholas Church in Zelenograd was being restored, an old woman of about seventy came to the restoration work and said that she had come to help. They were surprised: "Where can I help you?" She says, "No, put me in some physical work."
They laughed, and then they look: she really started to carry something, she tries to stand on the most difficult places. They asked what prompted her to do this.
She said that the other day an old man suddenly comes into her room and says: "Listen, you asked me for help for a long time, and now I need help, I need help ..." She was surprised. Then she remembered that the door in her room was closed. By the image, she recognized Saint Nicholas and realized that it was he who came to her and called her to help. She knew that the St. Nicholas Church was being restored, and so she came ...

"Descended from the icon, as if by a ladder"

Our friend Alla's great-grandmother was a very religious person. She had many large old books, icons. However, her daughter grew up after the revolution as an unbeliever.
When she was in her fifties, she developed a perforated stomach ulcer. The condition was serious, she could die.
They underwent surgery and were soon discharged from the hospital. The doctors warned her that if she did not eat, she would die. Nevertheless, she did not eat anything: she could not and did not want to. And slowly weakened and weakened.
In the corner where her bed was, there was a holy corner. And there is an icon of St. Nicholas.
One day, she suddenly sees Saint Nicholas himself descending from the icon, as if along a ladder, but of the same small stature as he is depicted on the icon. Approaching her, he began to comfort and persuade her: "My dear, you must eat, otherwise you can die." Then he went up to the goddess and stood in his place in the icon.
On the same day she asked for food and after that she began to get better.
She lived until the age of eighty-seven and passed away as a true Christian.

"Are you not an angel of God?"

Ekaterina, a parishioner of our church, told an incident that happened to her in 1991. She is from the city of Solnechnogorsk. One winter, she was walking along the shores of Lake Senezh and decided to take a break. I sat down on a bench to admire the lake. Grandmother was sitting on the same bench, and they started talking. We talked about life. The grandmother said that her son does not love her, the daughter-in-law offends her very much, they do not give her a "pass".
Catherine is a pious, Orthodox woman, and, naturally, the conversation turned to God's help, faith, Orthodoxy, and life according to the Law of God. Catherine said that one should turn to God and seek help and support from Him. Grandmother replied that she had never gone to church and did not know prayers. And Catherine in the morning, not knowing why herself, put the Prayer Book in her bag. She remembered this, took out the Prayer Book from her bag and gave it to her grandmother. The old woman looked at her in surprise: "Oh, and you, dear, won't you disappear now?" "What's wrong with you?" Catherine asked. "Are you not an angel of God?" - the old woman was frightened and told what happened to her a week ago.
The situation in the house was such that she felt completely superfluous and decided to commit suicide. She came to the lake and sat down on the bench before throwing herself into the hole. An old man of a very handsome appearance, gray-haired, with curly hair, with a very kind face, sat down next to her and asked: “Where are you going? life now." He was silent for a while and asked again: "Why don't you go to church, why don't you pray to God?" She replied that she had never gone to church and no one had taught her to pray. The old man asks: "Do you have any sins?" She replies: "What are my sins? I don't have any special sins." And the old man began to remind her of her sins, bad deeds, even named those that she forgot about, about which no one could know except her. All she could do was be surprised and horrified. Finally she asked: "Well, how am I going to pray if I don't know any prayers?" The old man replied: "Come here in a week, and you will have prayers. Go to church and pray." The old woman asked: "What is your name?" and he replied: "Your name is Nikolai." At that moment, she turned away for some reason, and when she turned around, there was no one around.

Petrified Girl

This story happened in a simple Soviet family in the city of Kuibyshev, now Samara, in the late 50s. Mother and daughter were going to meet New Year. Daughter Zoya invited seven of her friends and young people to a dance party. There was a Christmas fast, and the believing mother asked Zoya not to have parties, but her daughter insisted on her own. In the evening my mother went to church to pray.
The guests have gathered, but Zoya's groom named Nikolai has not yet arrived. They did not wait for him, the dancing began. Girls and young people joined in pairs, and Zoya was left alone. Out of annoyance, she took the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and said: “I will take this Nicholas and go to dance with him,” not listening to her friends, who advised her not to do such blasphemy. "If there is a God, He will punish me," she snapped.
Dances began, two laps passed, and suddenly an unimaginable noise arose in the room, a whirlwind, a dazzling light flashed.
The amusement turned to terror. Everyone ran out of the room in fear. Only Zoya remained standing with the icon of the saint, pressing it to her chest, petrified, cold as marble. No efforts of the arriving doctors could bring her to her senses. The needles broke and bent during the injection, as if meeting a stone obstacle. They wanted to take the girl to the hospital for observation, but they could not move her: her legs were, as it were, chained to the floor. But her heart was beating - Zoya lived. From that time on, she could neither drink nor eat.
When her mother returned and saw what had happened, she lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital, from where she returned a few days later: faith in the mercy of God, fervent prayers for mercy on her daughter restored her strength. She came to her senses and tearfully prayed for forgiveness and help.
The first days the house was surrounded by many people: believers, doctors, clerics, just curious people came and came from afar. But soon, by order of the authorities, the premises were closed to visitors. Two policemen were on duty in it in shifts of 8 hours. Some of the attendants, still very young (28-32 years old), turned gray with horror when Zoya screamed terribly at midnight. At night, her mother prayed beside her.
Before the feast of the Annunciation (that year it was on Saturday of the third week of Great Lent), a handsome old man came and asked to be allowed to see Zoya. But the policemen on duty refused him. He came the next day, but again, from other duty officers, he received a refusal.
The third time, on the very day of the Annunciation, the attendants let him through. The guards heard him affectionately say to Zoya: "Well, are you tired of standing?"
Some time passed, and when the police officers on duty wanted to release the old man, he was not there. Everyone is convinced that it was St. Nicholas himself.
So Zoya stood for 4 months (128 days), until Easter itself, which was April 23 that year (May 6, according to the new style). After Easter, Zoya came to life, softness and vitality appeared in her muscles. She was put to bed, but she continued to cry out and ask everyone to pray.
Everything that happened so impressed those living in the city of Kuibyshev and its environs that many people, seeing miracles, turned to faith. They hurried to the church with repentance. The unbaptized were baptized. Those who did not wear the cross began to wear it. The conversion was so great that the churches lacked crosses for those who asked.
On the third day of Easter, Zoya departed to the Lord, having gone through a difficult path - 128 days of standing before the face of the Lord in atonement for her sin. The Holy Spirit kept the life of the soul, resurrecting it from mortal sins, so that on the future eternal day of the Resurrection of all the living and the dead, it would rise in the body for eternal life. After all, the very name Zoya means "life."

Save your souls with patience

I am an unworthy, sinful person, but I had to serve seventeen years in the church of St. Nicholas, - the rector of the Church of All Saints in Kursk, Archpriest Anatoly Filin, paused and continued: - When I was 12 years old, I unexpectedly told my mother: "Mom, if you don't buy me a cross, your goat won't give milk." Mom was scared that suddenly we would really be left without milk, and on the same day she took me to the temple, it was in the city of Orel. We bought a pectoral cross, I put it on, my mother and I sat down to relax in the park and suddenly we look, an old man in gray clothes sits down with us and says:
- You are doing the right thing, Zinaida Afanasyevna, that you are starting to take your son to the temple ...
It happened for real.
Later, having served as a priest for many years, I saw in a dream my temple and the voice of the second priest in the altar: "The bishop is coming!" - I quickly put on a cassock, went out, I look: venerable archimandrites are sitting on a bench, about six people, in hoods, in crosses with decorations. I went up to them, greeted them like a priest, turned around and saw an old man in the same clothes as then, in childhood. It was Nicholas Ugodnik. He came up to me, hugged me and said:
- We are surprised at how you serve with the rector, Father Alexander.
- Oh, - I answer, - he has a tough character.
- We know that.
But we do love each other a little.
And we know this...
For me, that dream was a great comfort. Although it was difficult to serve with Father Alexander Ragozinsky, we fell in love with each other even more, with the prayers of Nikolai Ugodnik, all the clergy protected the rector's father's old age. And now I often recall with gratitude all that Father Alexander wisely advised me.
I often asked Saint Nicholas for help and enlightenment in spiritual matters. There was a time when it was very difficult. My wife, now deceased, did not go to the temple with me and did not take the children. Through the intercession of Nikolai Ugodnik, I later realized that this is how it should be ... I survived. I waited for seventeen years, and then she went to church constantly, constantly ... But again, it was the help of St. Nicholas, his intercession before the Throne of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"Thy will be done!"

The monastery changes the life of a person who has crossed the threshold of the holy monastery at least once, even just a visitor, a guest.
Until recently, a successful businessman, Nikolai Nikolaevich Manko, left his business and for two years has been serving as the headman of the Church of the Transfiguration of Christ under construction in the city of Kursk. And then, in the St. Nicholas Monastery in Rylsk, in front of the image of St. Nicholas, the businessman prayed for commercial success.
- I think I’ll ask Nikolai Ugodnik to help in my financial problem. But when I approached his icon literally in 5 steps, the only thought remained - and from the third person, I kind of began to ask myself: "Don't you have enough money, you have nothing to eat, drink, shoe, wear?" And I suddenly became so ashamed that I burst into tears in front of the icon. I just sobbed ... and could not even answer my wife's question about what was happening to me.
While I calmed down, 5-7 minutes passed. That day I realized that I had to work in the temple. Since they call me to the temple, it means that I am needed there.

The blind see, the lame walk, and the dead rise...

St. Nicholas Rylsky is called the "Box of Miracles" of St. Nicholas monastery in the west of the Kursk diocese. Here, as nowhere else, you can feel the presence of the Saint, his grace-filled patronage of everyone: both people and ... birds. No wonder a pair of swallows built a nest right above the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, above the entrance to the temple.
“And the hermits used to go into the cave into this cave,” monk Joachim, a resident of the monastery, pointed towards the clay cave darkening on a hillock. – Now it is being dug up again with the blessing of the rector of the monastery, the elder Archimandrite Hippolytus. After the monastery was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, the clay in the cave has become healing, and pilgrims seek to take it with them. It is reliably known that here, near the cave, next to the holy spring, St. Nicholas himself appeared to people. He brought me to the monastery, to atone for the sin of youth...
Once a car got stuck in the mud here. Pouring rain, not a soul around. The pilgrims hurrying on the road, not hoping for anything else, prayed: "St. Nicholas, help us!" At this time, two of our monks in the cell felt an irresistible desire to go to the cave, to the source, despite the bad weather. When they arrived, they saw a car stuck in the mud and two almost desperate men who looked at them as if they were a miracle.
All the brethren in the monastery know that it is easiest to pray to St. Nicholas and that St. Nicholas hears the prayer most quickly.
Once a long-term paralyzed woman was brought to our monastery. After fervent prayer, she was dipped several times into the holy spring, for the third time strength returned to her arms and legs, and the woman herself, without outside help, got out of the water.
...At the request of relatives, an ambulance with a man who, after a car accident, was in a coma, drove into the monastery. They took him to the temple. Elder Father Ippolit served a moleben to St. Nicholas. But this did not bring relief to the patient. Then Archimandrite Ippolit said: "Go to the hospital, and on the way read the akathist to Nicholas the Wonderworker."
And again a miracle happened. Halfway through, the man regained consciousness and very soon recovered from severe wounds that threatened him with imminent death.

Helper of the afflicted, source of healing

Yes, no one else answers prayers for help faster than him! Hope of the hopeless and help of the helpless; truly the conqueror of nations, St. Nicholas leads everyone to Christ with great miracles, great love.
“I see a new sun rising above the earth to comfort the mourners,” the Orthodox bishop of one of the countries of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century after Christ prophetically announced about St. Nicholas, “he will be a zealous helper to all those in need.”
The Kazakh woman suddenly fell into bed. The content of hemoglobin in the blood dropped so much that she could smell her smoldering body, and only prayed to God to prolong her life for the sake of her three children. She prayed in a Muslim way, but did not know Christianity at all.
Subsequently, the Providence of God brought this woman to Archpriest Mikhail Shurpo, who, of course, did not forget about the miracle that he himself witnessed:
- Right at the foot of the hospital bed, an old man appeared to her in an unusual, even strange for her attire, in a golden hat and asked:
- Do you want God to prolong your life? If you wish to be baptized, you will feel better, and when you are baptized, then you will recover.
And became invisible.
When her husband came home from work, the woman told him about the vision and asked what is baptism? Her husband did not object to her being baptized. And when she came to the Russian church, she saw a large, full-length icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker sitting at the requiem table. “This old man appeared to me!” she screamed and bowed to the ground in front of the image, “now I won’t leave the church until you baptize!”
She really recovered. And then her husband and children were baptized.