What is a miracle? Miracles of God. Miracles and signs: are they all from God, and how not to be mistaken May a miracle happen in Orthodoxy

AT human life sometimes there are phenomena called signs or miracles: visions, revelations, unexpected and supernatural healings, multiplication of fruits, the flow of icons, etc. Miracles occur contrary to the natural laws of nature and cannot be explained with scientific point vision, because the source of their origin is in the spiritual, not the material world. According to the explanation of the blessed Theophylact, “a sign is what is done in accordance with nature, only in an unusual way. Such is the sudden healing of Peter's mother-in-law, who was ill with a fever. Here the cure of fever is a matter according to nature; it happened in an unusual way: as soon as Christ touched, the fever passed. And a miracle is an action performed on that which is not in accordance with nature. Such is the healing of a man blind from birth.”

Genuine miracles are performed according to the inexpressible love of God and have a specific salvific goal: the confirmation of unfaithful souls in the Faith, deliverance from enemies, healing of those who suffer spiritually and bodily ailments... We see numerous examples of such miracles both in the Old and New Testaments: the passage of the Jewish people through the Red Sea, the feeding of the Israelites with heavenly manna, the defeat of the enemy army by the Angel of God ( Old Testament); the multiplication of loaves, the calming of the storm, the healing of the sick and the resurrection of the dead by Christ (New Testament).

The devil, from the beginning a hater of the human race, is also capable of performing “miracles”: in order to sink, destroy, lead away from the true knowledge of God, as well as from the Right Faith and Orthodox worship of God. Such were the "miracles" of the Egyptian magicians who competed with Moses (Old Testament); "miracles" performed by Simon the Magus during the gospel sermon of the Apostle Peter (New Testament).

Distinguishing genuine, God's miracles from imaginary, demonic, is necessary for each of us, so as not to be carried away and not fall into seduction.

When discussing miracles, one should rely on the teachings of St. Churches: Holy Scripture (especially the Holy Gospel) and Holy Tradition (the legacy of the Holy Fathers).

Let's go back to the origins Christian history. The holy evangelist Mark, concluding his Gospel, says that the apostles, after the ascension of the Lord, "preached everywhere, with the Lord's assistance and strengthening the word with subsequent signs" (Mark 16, 20). “You see,” blessed Theophylact explains, “everywhere, first our (action), and then God’s assistance. For God helps us when we act and make a start: but when we do not act, He does not help. Note also that words are followed by deeds and the word is confirmed by deeds, just as with the apostles then the word was confirmed by subsequent deeds and signs. The apostles turned to God with a prayer: “Give to Your servants with all boldness to speak Your word, while You stretch out Your hand to heal and to do signs and wonders in the name of Your Holy Son Jesus” (Acts 4, 29-30).

The Holy Apostle Paul also speaks of the subjugation of the Gentiles by faith “by word and deed, by the power of knowledge and miracles, by the power of the Spirit of God” (Rom. 15:19). “Since signs and wonders also happen by the power of demons, I added: by the power of the Spirit of God,” we read in the Explanatory Apostle. Thus, the signs of God were given to promote the word of God (ie the preaching of the Gospel). With the help of miraculous signs, the apostles quickly spread the Faith of Christ throughout the universe: the signs were a clear and strong proof of the truth of Christianity for both barbarian and educated peoples. When the word of the Gospel was spread and the Faith was planted everywhere, then the signs were taken away as having finished their ministry, and ceased to operate on a vast scale and everywhere: they were rarely chosen saints of God. John Chrysostom, St. The father and writer of the 4th century, says that in his time the giving of signs had already ceased to operate, although there were still in places, mainly among the monks, banner-bearing men. Saint Gregory the Dialogist, St. Father of the 6th century, writes: “Signs and wonders were necessary at the beginning of the Church of Christ, for the spread of faith; just as we, when planting trees, hitherto only water them with water until they take root, and when they grow up and put their deep roots into the ground, we stop watering them.

And the apostle Paul testifies that the ability to speak different languages there is “a sign not for the believers, but for the unbelievers” (1 Cor. 14:22), “for the believers do not need them, because they already believe,” explains the blessed Theophylact.

Let us now consider what, in essence, are the miracles and signs that appear in our time, and how the God-bearing Fathers teach us to treat them.

2. Miracles and Patristic Tradition

In our time, one can often hear that various facts of miracles, signs, visions and prophecies are mentioned in discussions about faith, to testify to the truth of a particular faith. The mysterious and supernatural nature of these phenomena defeats any arguments, especially since the reality of the fragrant streams of the world, bleeding and healing is beyond doubt: most of these facts have witnesses, are documented, or even confirmed by scientific expertise. However, consider how myrrh-streaming icons, exorcism, healings and all kinds of signs are equally observed among mutually exclusive denominations, which the Church of Christ recognizes as strife, schismatic or completely heretical? Moreover, our contemporary, who is not always sufficiently knowledgeable in the Orthodox dogma, is tempted to consider these phenomena as an action of God's grace in other confessions as well.

But even those who have completely Orthodox views and know on the basis of patristic teaching that all heretical communities, without exception, are completely devoid of saving Grace, sometimes experience difficulties in understanding the nature of heretical miracles. Moreover, as will be shown below, it is far from always appropriate to see in these miracles an exclusively forgery or satanic action.

The Monk Nikon, hegumen of the Black Mountain, who asceticized near Antioch the Great in the 11th century, writes about this especially exhaustively. and during his lifetime he was still revered as a teacher of the Church. His books "Pandects" and "Tacticon" are thematic collections on topical moral and canonical issues.

Outlining the patristic teaching on the nature of various miracle works, the monk divides them as follows: 1) miracles occurring among the Orthodox, 2) miracles among heretics, 3) miracles among non-Christians. We will also follow this sequence, and, to begin with, we will quote the introduction to the 33rd Word of the book "Pandects":

About those who do signs and prophesy, or see visions, by the permission of God; and that it should not be given any importance, or taken as a mark of holiness; but take into account only the Right Faith and the observance of the Lord's commandments. Also, about the fact that many of the faithful, who live perversely, have performed and continue to perform signs and wonders, receive revelations and prophecies, in order to deceive and captivate many by means of signs with their evil deeds, presenting their path as the path of life, for which such signs are performed. And some of them, having help from demons, give rise to clear heresies. Also, that one should not be gullible, but if we see any of the faithful or unbelievers who undergo a great bodily asceticism, or dwell in the wilderness, skillful in the Scriptures, or unlearned, or composing their own writings; or some body that has not been destroyed for many years, or something similar: then do not consider this as a sign of holiness, unless we see the presence of the perfect fulfillment of the Lord's commandments and the gifts of the Spirit indicated by the Apostle, as well as the perfect hatred of the vain worldly glory, and full confession of the Orthodox faith; - without which everything is the action of demons, with the permission of God, He alone knows the courts.

Thus, Saint Nikon determines the authenticity and salvific value of any miracles and deeds of piety by two criteria: whether the purity of Orthodoxy and the fulfillment of God's commandments are present in a given situation.

3. Sometimes obvious sinners perform miracles

There was an old man who often went to the eminent city of Antioch, and gained the faith (trust) of many. He himself was not an ascetic, but he loved to fill himself with food and drink, and lived in all sorts of neglect; but he had a humble appearance and dwelt in a (ascetic) place, because of which many Antiochians believed him. Then, according to the fates known to God alone, he became famous for various miracles, and for this he was then known among people. At the same time, our Blessed Father, Kir Luka, Metropolitan of Anavarz, often taught him to stop working miracles, but he did not submit. One day, his own disciple, meeting with me, said: “One day, together with the elder, we came to Antioch, to the house of one of the Christ-lovers, where the elder was satisfied, and weighed down with food and drink, he went to bed. And another Christ-lover took me and my second brother to spend the night in his house, and his friend was with him. As we walked together, we heard them say: we see that what is said in Scripture is not obligatory, for this father eats, drinks, is satisfied, has other pleasures, and at the same time is holy and has the effect of giving healings. - So the disciple of that elder told, from which it could be concluded that the meaning of these miracles consisted in the refutation of the Divine Scriptures and the planting of a carnal life. The blessed patriarch, Cyrus Theodosius, imprisoned the elder for correction. But the Antiochians did not allow this, and freed him by force. However, in the end, he himself suffered from this, for it happened that the head of the robbers, who belonged to the Armenian heresy, called on that elder to bless him, the heretic; the elder, however, had the presbyter's ordination, and, having done everything according to the order, he returned to his dwelling. And then the righteous judgment of God overtook him, which was not prevented by any miracles performed by him, and nothing else, but he was punished for the same sin; for the head of the robbers, whom he blessed, came to the dwelling of the elder, with his robbers, and seizing him, tormented him with terrible tortures: he put red-hot coals in the shoes that the elder wore, and put them on his feet, than he burned them, after which he left. Since then, the elder did not perform miracles and did nothing else, but he moved from place to place, suffering terribly, which ended his life.

Another of ours, a monk with presbyterian ordination, lived in the world; then it happened that he fell into sin with a consecrated woman. And not only did he not retreat from passion, but he became more addicted than before, he completely lost his shame before God and people, clearly and publicly indulging in this passion, and at the same time, he performed miracles. When he saw those lying in a fiery fever, he put his foot on them, and they were healed. And so it all went on; but later, the All-Generous God, put a Divine thought into his heart: if all sinners sin, they do it secretly and are ashamed, but I openly and without shame, and at the same time I have the effect of miracles. So he thought. Then he saw an old man who had a small monastery in Lida Khalinziyskaya, and coming to him, he told about everything. The elder, being reasonable, understood everything, and said to him: woe, woe to you! This is the insidious action of the devil; firstly, in the fact that you indulged in passion, and secondly, that you shamelessly sinned and performed miracles, deceiving people with your miracles so that they would say - it is good and pleasing before God to commit sin and neglect the divine Scriptures and the true will of God. So the demons have found in you an accomplice so that you can lead many people to death. Hearing this and other things, he believed the elder with all his heart and since then apostatized from demonic miracles, and did not do so again, and turning to repentance, he told me about everything in detail, having love for me.

Further, we heard that one brother had an affair with a certain nun. And, wanting to live with her in a worldly way, like a husband and wife, but being ashamed to leave the monastic life in his own country, he decided to go with her to a foreign country in order to fulfill this. When they went out, they had not yet had time to fully fulfill their passion, because they were on the way. Meanwhile, they approached the monastery, where they thought about repentance, and said to each other: Imagine that we have already committed a sin, what good is this to us? Therefore, let us now return to our dwellings. And, returning, they reached the monastery, called the royal one, and stopped to rest; then, defeated by the devil, they fell into sin. And in the evening, before the gates of the city of Antioch were closed, the brother fell and died outside the city. The nun, not knowing what to do, went into the city, took a shovel and a hoe from a friend, and in the dark, when no one was looking, she went out, dug up the earth and covered up the body of the monk, then, after waiting until morning, she went to Antioch. When the Antiochians left the city in the morning, they saw a grave that was not there in the evening, and did not know what to think about it. Then they came to the conclusion that some holy servant of God died, who, not wanting human glory, supposedly ordered his disciples to secretly bury himself here at night. So judging, they began to bring their sick, and according to the satanic action and God's allowance, to God alone famous destinies all were healed of their sicknesses. But God, seeing such deception, corrected everything in the following way. The aforementioned nun, having already heard about what had happened in Antioch, and not knowing what to do, took another nun with her, left the city, and standing apart from the people, looked at the miracles taking place. Then, according to Divine Providence, a certain monk came from the desert monasteries, who saw a numerous people and nuns standing separately, and began to instruct them to be silent in their cells, and not to walk among the laity. And he asked them, "Do you have spiritual father? The one who knew the secret answered: no, Father, we do not. Then the monk, guided by God's providence, detained her for confession, and she revealed everything to him in detail. Hearing about this, he instructed the nun as it should be and let him go, and he himself went to the city, took a shovel and a spade, went out, and, remaining outside the city, at night took out the monk’s body and threw it into the river, and leveled the place, as it was before, and retired. And since then, the diabolical action in that place has ceased.

Also, as we heard, at another time, in the same Antioch, some wandering monk appeared, who had a charter with the written names of God, Archangels and Angels, and all the saints, with the help of which he performed many miracles. Then, according to the providence of God, a certain, former knowledgeable monk, came, and after asking, he learned about the deceased. Then he went and asked the one who had the charter, and he replied that he knew nothing about it, except that another monk had given him this charter on the way, and more, he said, I know nothing; and that many told him that there was nothing inappropriate written there, but only God's name, Archangels, Angels and other saints. A skillful monk ordered to read it in front of everyone, and when he read it, it turned out that at the end there were written three words that the reader did not understand. The skillful monk took it and in front of everyone said that these three words mean: “I renounce, I renounce, I renounce”; and this meant renunciation of everything listed at the beginning of the scroll. Thus, miracles came from Satan.

Also, we have heard from some that in the days of the famous Patriarch of Antioch, the wife of one husband committed adultery, and when he found out about it, her husband killed her. And a few days later, this woman began to work miracles. The holy patriarch, being knowledgeable, recognized the deceit of the demons, and so that they would not be deceived by the miracles of this woman, and would not believe that adultery might be pleasing to God, he ordered her body to be taken and thrown into the river, which eradicated seduction. All this and much more happened in our time, and we saw one thing ourselves, and heard about the other. And a few of the many, we have outlined here for you to know and be experienced. In all these listed cases it was said about the faithful ("Taktikon").

It must be emphasized that these examples refer to the explicit action of the devil, where the main characters are obvious sinners, who, however, belong to the Orthodox confession.

4 Heretics Also Perform Miracles

“Blessing” with a pot in which Elder Seraphim cooked his crackers…

But of particular interest for our topic is another category of miracles performed by heretics, about which we read further:

“... similar things happen among the Gentiles, according to the action of demons, for the approval of heresy. Let us now tell about how in the Black Mountain, in the region of Antioch, there was a certain ascetic, of a heretical confession, an Armenian by birth; approaching death, he called his loved ones and sent his fellow believer to bring a shovel and a spade for burial, and before his death he predicted: - after I die, you will find that my body has burned down. Then, when everyone left, they returned and found that everything was fulfilled according to the prediction of the monk and his body was burned; so they buried him. Then, they took the earth from his grave, and when the dew had come down, they sprinkled it within those limits on the fields affected by pests, and the disaster ceased. Since then, they have always done this to protect the fields, and each time the disaster was stopped by the action of the earth taken from the grave. Hearing about this, one of our brothers made a cross on which he wrote: “Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” went and placed it over the tomb of the heretic, after which these miracles ceased.

Let us also tell about a virtuous heretic: an old man, often mentioned by us, said: next to me, in the same Black Mountain, in solitude, lived an Armenian heretic, very adorned with deeds and virtues. Once, when I was talking to him, he said: “Inside my heart I see something unusual and amazing, however, I meet with some kind of barrier that prevents clear knowledge.” When I heard about this, having a certain experience, I understood that his soul, having been purified by active virtue, had reached its proper state, but heretical obscuration created a veil. I told him everything, and he, being virtuous, believed my words and decided to convert to Orthodoxy. When the Armenian heretics found out about this in one of the monasteries, fearing that such a virtuous man would not deviate from their faith, they called him and did not allow him to leave until he died.

In Cyzicus there was a heretical Doukhobor bishop named Macedonius, who by prayer moved an olive tree to another place, which blocked the doors of his vain prayer room. And when the unrighteous creditor oppressed the widow, forcing her to return the debt of her dead husband, in a larger amount, then the said bishop, having learned about this, when they were going to bury her husband and carried him to the grave, touched the bed on which he lay, and forced the dead to speak , and say how much was borrowed from the lender. Afterwards, when that heretic died, various visions and signs occurred on his grave.

So, knowing this, - continues the Rev. Nikon, - let's not indiscriminately consider everyone who performs signs a saint, as it is said: "... do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world" (1 John 4, 1) . And those who pretended to be the true apostles of Christ, Paul called false workers. And this is not surprising, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, therefore it is not great if his servants are represented as servants of truth, the end of which will correspond to their deeds. For the impure demons, who serve false prophets, arrange signs and cures of bodily suffering to deceive both, presenting the dead to the resurrection and talking ghostly with the living. The demon enters a dead human body and shows that it moves, as if resurrected, according to the vain prayer of a deceiver. And as if on behalf of the dead, the evil one talks to the person being deceived, about what he wants, and what he is asked about, telling human secrets and words, as one who knows and observes when something happens among people, visiting them and eavesdropping. But may the Lord deliver us from this deceit.

Again, the demons perform signs of the multiplication of earthly fruits, or their impoverishment, the movement of winds, rains, lack of rain and drought; burdening the earth and the like; they speak like people, and discover human thoughts and reasoning, guessing about them by external bodily signs corresponding to certain thoughts, and especially by faces, and predict long or shortly. In the same way, those who have carefully and thoroughly studied the medical art can also predict. Similarly, some Saracens also predict, for sure learning about those who die in the war, according to certain signs. Similarly, demons, delving into the properties of human nature, foreshadow human death. For, being incorporeal spirits, they consider human bodies, forces, actions, excesses and defects of the body, vitality and blood, without needing any medical skill. - They guess, but do not know in advance, predicting death; the same can be said about the magicians and ventriloquists: for the demons, knowing who stole and where the stolen is, can tell about it.

... Some heretic monks wearing sackcloths, having heard about Saint Pachomius, came to his monastery, and told some of the brothers: we were sent by our father to the Great to say: if you are in reality, as I heard, a man of God, and God listens to you Let us go and cross the river together with our feet, so that all of us may know which of us has the greater boldness before God. When the brethren informed the Great One about this, he became indignant at the brothers and said: why even began to listen to such words? Do you not know that such trials are alien to God and far from our habitation and from the Orthodox faith? Even sane laymen would not think of such a thing. What divine law tells us to do this? On the contrary, the Savior commands in the Gospel: “... let left hand yours does not know what the right one is doing” (Matthew 6:3). There is nothing more terrible than that madness if we would stop mourning our sins and stop caring about how to avoid eternal torment, but, being infantile in mind, would turn to such trials. The brothers asked: how did this heretic, a stranger to God, dare to call you to this? The blessed one answered them: if God had allowed it, he could, with the help of the devil, cross the river, walking as if on dry land, in order to strengthen their impious heresy, by means of such an act captivating the deceived. Go and tell those who brought this news: “Thus says the man of God Pachomius: my whole feat and all my zeal is not to walk on the river with my feet, but to get rid of condemnation at the Divine Judgment, to go through that fiery river that will flow before the throne of Christ, and overcome such satanic acts by the power of the Lord.” And he commanded the brethren not to think highly of their achievements, and not to strive to see visions or demons, and not to organize such things themselves, and not to tempt the Godhead with such petitions, as it is said in Scripture: “... do not tempt the Lord your God” (Matt. 4, 7).

This riddle is revealed in his reasoning by St. Athanasius of Alexandria.

Saint Athanasius of Alexandria was asked: “How do heretics often perform signs?”

Answer. “This should not surprise anyone, for we have heard the Lord say: “Many will say to Me in that day: Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and did they not cast out demons in your name? and did not many miracles work in your name?! then I will declare to them: I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). Often, the cause of a miracle is not the life of the miraculous, but the faith of those who come, for it is written: your faith has saved you. However, you should also be aware that sometimes those who are in evil faith bring great works of asceticism to God, and as a retribution in the present age, they accept the gift of healing, so that in the next age they will hear: ... you have already received your good things in your life (Lk.16 , 25); and now they don't owe you anything. See that the same thing does not happen to the Orthodox.”

This is how it is said about miracle-working heretics, who thereby affirm their heresies, just as it happens with the Orthodox. But at the same time, one should not investigate the Divine judgments and allowances, but be more afraid, and carefully guard oneself, seeking the right faith and the truth of Orthodoxy, as well as what is written in the patristic traditions, and the Divine commandments themselves, with great humility. And the one who retreats in faith or in deeds falls into the abyss.

Such is the evidence that among heretics there are sincere ascetics who, for various reasons, sometimes perform miracles. Many of them were virtuous and sincere people in their own way, but for the salvation of all of them, according to the same St. Nikon, lacked the only condition - belonging to the true Orthodox Church. So say the Holy Fathers. Therefore, before being amazed at the asceticism, miracles, or moral virtues of heretics, let us pay attention to whether they contain the Orthodox faith.

5. Miracles are also performed by infidels

Now, about the most extreme examples: it turns out that miracles happen even in a non-Christian environment. Further, in the book of St. Nikon, we read:

Question to St. Anastasius of Sinai: “By what power do the infidels perform signs, miracles and prophecies?”

Answer. “Signs, miracles and divination are often performed by the unworthy, due to some necessity or Providence; as it was with Balaam and the sorceress wife. Also, the Apostles met some infidel, who cast out demons in the name of Christ; then they forbade him, and told Christ, to which He replied: “... do not forbid him... for whoever is not against you is for you” (Mark 9, 39-40). Therefore, if you see that heretics or infidels perform any sign, according to some judgment of God, then do not be surprised, and for this reason do not doubt the Orthodox faith. Often, such signs come as a result of the faith of the person who comes, and not the dignity of the one who performs them. Thus, it is not seen that John, the greatest of those born of women, did any sign; then, as Judas did, one way or another, for he was with those sent to raise the dead and cleanse the lepers. Therefore, do not be surprised if you see someone unworthy or evil doing signs. For signs and prophecies do not testify to holiness Orthodox husband but his faith and life. Since often not only sinners from the Orthodox, but also heretics and unbelievers, performed signs and prophesied, according to some Providence, as we mentioned, by the permission of God, which happened with Balaam, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar and Caiaphas: - with a specific purpose, the Holy Spirit, while they remained unworthy and sinners. Thus, sinners and unbelievers often perform signs and prophecies through an unknown Providence, which is not a manifestation of holiness, to which only the fruits testify, according to the Lord: from their fruit you will know them. The Apostle points to the fruits of a truly spiritual man: the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, and peace, and long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, abstinence; signs or does not perform, - he is holy and a friend of God. For it does not happen that the true servant of God is left without spiritual gifts: whether he receives the word of wisdom, or the word of knowledge, faith, or the gift of healing, or anything else, from the gifts of the Holy Spirit, named by the Apostle. And without such fruits, the one who performs signs or prophesies is one of those who on that Day will say: “... Lord! Lord!.. Haven't we done many miracles in Your name? And they will hear: Amen, I never knew you; Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity” (cf. Mt. 7:22-23).

Holy Apostles. “Not everyone who prophesies is a saint, and not everyone who casts out demons is holy. For Balaam prophesied, being an evil sorcerer, both Saul and Caiaphas. Both the devil and the demons that are with him often speak. But this does not indicate a spark of piety. It is obvious that the wicked, even if they prophesy, do not show piety by this, and those who cast out demons, because of their exodus, do not become saints, but share the last torment with them.

About the same Chrysostom. “For the Antichrist, who comes by the permission of God, will perform, through the demons serving him, numerous signs and false miracles, for the destruction of the unbelievers and for the testing of the faithful. And there is nothing surprising in this, that he will ghostly perform various signs with the help of the devil, if it is known that other sorcerers and sorcerers performed various miracles through demons, such as Jannes and Jambres, under Moses, who turned their rods into snakes, turned water into blood, and produced numerous frogs that filled the land of Egypt. Again, Simon the sorcerer, in the time of the Apostles, performed all kinds of signs and ghosts, making statues walk, did not burn lying in the fire, flew through the air, and turned stones into bread; turned into a snake and appeared in the form of various animals; opened locked gates, tore iron fetters; during feasts, he showed various idols: household vessels themselves went serving, in the absence of wearers; forced the shadows to move, passing them off as the souls of the dead. Having reconciled with many sorcerers who wanted to denounce him, he killed an ox for them and, treating them, overlaid with all sorts of diseases and demons. And when Caesar pursued him, he fled in fear, presenting another in his guise.

6. About similar phenomena in our time

Above we have considered the miracles manifested through people of a far from pious way of life, as well as representatives of non-Orthodox and even pagan communities.

Let us briefly speak about the next phenomenon of today: mass bleeding (and bleeding) of icons (and even portraits of hierarchs!), observed in non-Orthodox denominations.

Let us recall that the miracles of God are given at His special discretion and care, as well as at the fervent prayer of a righteous person, in special cases. The Lord gave miracles in order to show mercy to a person, to assure, correct or comfort him. When God-fearing Christians were granted miracles by the grace of God, they tremblingly brought gratitude to the Lord for the granted beneficence, adding to this deep repentance and awareness of their unworthiness.

The current “serial” flow of icons, portraits and even paper calendars in the non-Orthodox makes the heterodox want to see this again and again, to have a “miraculous” image in their temple, or even at home, and the result of all this is the conviction of the “truth” of their faith, confidence that “we believe and live correctly”, but in fact - the final seduction, charm.

Such a sinful desire to see a miracle, “begging” for it from God, was highly condemned by Sts. Fathers, since it is a sign of a soul of little faith and unsteady, often deceived - because. considers himself worthy of a miracle.

The Monk Isaac the Syrian argues about this subject as follows: “The Lord is at all times a close intercessor to His saints, but without need He does not show His power by any obvious deed and sensual sign, so that His intercession does not become, as it were, usual for us, so that we We have not lost our proper reverence for Him, and it has not been a cause of harm to us. This is how He acts, providing for the saints: He allows them in every circumstance to show a feat corresponding to their strength, and to labor in prayer; at the same time, he shows them that His secret care for them does not stop for an hour […].

It is fitting in sorrow to ask for God's help; unnecessarily tempting God is disastrous. Indeed, he who desires this is unrighteous […]. The true righteous constantly think that they are unworthy of God. By the fact that they recognize themselves as wretched, not deserving of God's care, their truth is testified” (Word 36).

Current human society(unbelieving and immersed in passions), is tempted by the evil one. Fallen human nature is greatly impressed and captivated by supernatural phenomena. The devil also presents them: to seduce the frivolous and the blind in mind, thereby arranging the way for the last "miracle worker" - the Antichrist.

Before the second coming of Christ, when the Right Faith, spiritual knowledge and reasoning become impoverished to the extreme, “false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will give great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand,” says the Lord (Matthew 24:24-25). Blessed Theophylact explains the words of the Lord: “When the antichrist will come, there will be many false Christs and false prophets who, by the cunning of the devil, will present such phenomena to the eyes of the audience that they will deceive some, and the righteous themselves, if they are not always sober, can be deceived. I (the Lord) told you about this in advance, and therefore you will not have an excuse, for you can keep yourself from deceit.

How, then, to protect oneself from the devilish tricks presented in the form of "miracles"?

- Carefully watch yourself, keeping the purity of Orthodoxy.

- To delve into the Divine commandments and writings of Sts. Fathers.

- Do not look for miracles and do not wish them, but take care of the salvation of the soul.

- Do not investigate the Divine judgments and allowances, for what reason miracles occur among the unrighteous believers.

Let us also pay attention to the spiritual men through whom God's Providence brought lost and deceived souls to salvation in the examples cited by St. Nikon. They are called prudent, skillful, knowledgeable (having spiritual knowledge).

Knowledge of Church Tradition, prudence and spiritual sobriety should also be fundamental in our attitude towards miracles. Spiritual reasoning is born from humility of mind. “Only he who has humility can be recognized as reasonable; He who does not have humility will never acquire understanding” (St. Isaac of Syria, Word 89).

7. Conclusions

Let us try to briefly summarize the content of the passages quoted from the works of St. Nikon.

1. Miracles performed by sinners of the Orthodox confession do not testify to their virtue and holiness.

2. Miracles of heretics do not at all confirm the truth of their faith.

3. Among the heretics there were sincere ascetics who tried to fulfill the commandments, but at the same time were deprived of communion with the true Orthodox Church. Some of them, for the labors of their asceticism, received the gift of miracles, while others performed signs according to the faith of those who approached or according to the unknown Providence of God. About both of them it is said in the Gospel: “Many will say to Me in that day: Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and did they not cast out demons in your name? and did not many miracles work in your name? And then I will declare to them: I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23).

4. By themselves, all miracles in general cannot serve as a criterion of truth, but acquire meaning depending on who performs them and why.

5. The only criterion of truth is the purity of Orthodoxy and the observance of the Divine commandments.

6. Through false miracles, demons try to deceive people either about morality or about religion.

8. Evidence from the Old Believer apologetics

In addition to all of the above, it is interesting to quote, in translation, one of the sources of the Old Believer apologetics of the 19th century. Unfortunately, there is no possibility of its exact attribution - this is one of the hectographs of the Rogozhsky library. To the question of a New Believer missionary pointing to miracles in the Nikonian church, our polemicist answers:

To miracles and miracles is possible different attitude: some completely trust them, and even consider them proof of the Orthodoxy of the society in which they are sometimes performed, while others, on the contrary, never recognize them as a criterion of truth. But we, with sufficient signs of truth, will not deny miracles, but we will not consider them as evidence of the truth and Orthodoxy of that society, wherever they are performed. For the history of the Church shows that miracles sometimes also happened among people whom the Orthodox Church considered heretics and unthinkers.

Further, - every arbitrary business implies some predetermined goal; likewise, any known miracle must have a conscious and rational basis: not only a visible, but also a real necessity. At the same time, the healing of a person suffering by the permission of God's Providence cannot be the final goal. The purpose is always revealed in the need, by means of some miracle, to confirm something or to assure someone of the truth of God. When writing was still insufficiently widespread, or due to lack of faith, there was a need for supernatural signs, just as in the times of pagan Rus', Metropolitan Michael set the Gospel on fire, which did not burn down. “Miracles are not only those for the sake of those who suffer,” we read in the weekly Teaching Gospel, “but there are many who see for the sake of and hear Christ doing, so that friends and friends will be attracted for the sake of those.”

In the church dictionary of Peter Alekseev, the word “miracles” first of all refers to chapter 13 from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which is interpreted as follows: there are notes on this chapter that the gifts of miracles, after the spread and contented approval of the Gospel teaching, ceased to be. Miracles ceased before the time of Augustine, as can be seen from his book On True Piety (chapter 25). They were given for the unbelievers, but for the faithful - Scripture. The Primate Church abounded in miracles for the calling of the unbelievers. And the end-time Church, which is made up of the faithful, is based more on Scripture than on miracles. Therefore, miracles are no longer needed. Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition as the living voice of the Orthodox Universal Church, much more reliable than signs and wonders: “More than the dead who rise, the Scriptures are more reliable,” says St. John Chrysostom. “If the miracle worker teaches wrongly, we should not listen to him” (Margarit, word 4). Miracles are dark and incomprehensible, because they were also performed by sinners, and heretics, and even pagans: the sorcerers did them and are still doing them. But in what cases and by what power miracles are performed - this is beyond the limits of our knowledge. Thus, it is known that some cast out demons without being disciples of Christ. The pagan emperors Vespasian and Adrian, according to rumor, worked miracles: they healed the blind and the sick with various diseases. The imaginary miracles of Apollonius of Tyana were also known. The book of Nikon Chernogorets tells about such false miracle workers as a heretic bishop who performed miracles; the monk-fornicator worked miracles after death; another monk performed miracles by means of a charter; an adulteress killed by her husband worked miracles; The Armenian heretic performed miracles during his lifetime and after his death. And in the Prologue for January 9, there is a story about a similar "miracle worker". Also, two hundred years after the fall of the Roman Catholic Church from Eastern Orthodoxy, one Catholic priest, named Fulk, performed miracles: he cast out demons, healed the blind, dumb, deaf, lame, whom he wanted, brought good deeds, and others whom he wanted - punished (Roberts, History christian church, 1891, p. 131). Further, in the same "History" it is said about other miracle workers of the Catholic Church. Therefore, to testify to the Orthodoxy of the Church and the piety of human life, only by miracles, is very sinful, because. contrary to the teachings of St. Churches.

9. Conclusion

Now we have come to an important conclusion: if, according to St. Nikon, by means of numerous false miracles the devil tries to draw the gullible into some kind of error, moral or religious, then it is fair to ask the question: what is the general meaning of the miracles of our time, observed in the same way, in the most diverse denominations and confessions? It doesn't take much insight to conclude that the prince of this world is successfully propagating yet another myth:

- “God is everywhere”, the rest is fictitious restrictions and conventions;
- the boundaries of the Church are not limited by one Orthodox confession;
- there are saints and grace in every denomination
- virtues of a general nature are more important than the purity of Orthodoxy;
- the most important thing is "universal human values".

Such views are quite consistent with the spirit of the times. Here we are dealing with substitution true doctrine about the Church - the ecclesiological heresy of our time. Thus, Christianity is deprived of the first commandment (about the love of God; see Matt. 22, 37-38), becoming just a humanistic teaching, which is planted by the prince of this age, through false miracles. Despite the abundance of the printed word, the modern Christian is not always sufficiently familiar with Holy Tradition, which is why he often indulges in illusions, reducing the content of faith to general moral standards and " universal values". On the example of the writings of St. Nikon, one can be convinced that Orthodox Tradition (i.e., the Teaching of the Holy Church), so unpleasant and unknown to our contemporaries, is alien to such “humanism” and resolutely rejects it.

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REPORT:

"Vlesova book" as a historical and philological falsification

Shalygina Natalya Vladimirovna, candidate of philological sciences, associate professor of the Orthodox University named after St. John the Evangelist

A rich factual material is summarized that the "Vlesova Book" is a complete historical fake, both from the point of view of linguistic and philological analysis, and from the point of view of the historical inconsistency of the version of its acquisition. Examples are given of substitutions, the latest changes and additions made in new editions of the publication in response to the arguments of scientific criticism, as well as the perfidious substitution of negative reviews of this book with evidence of its validity from the same authors.

Scientifically substantiated exposure of the scientific version of world history from specialists from the authorized commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Throughout history, people have testified to a huge number of inexplicable miracles and mysterious phenomena. Healings, visions of a religious nature, sacred objects with magical properties - all this and much more has fascinated us for centuries and continues to do so to this day.
Science was later able to explain some phenomena, other miracles turned out to be lies or the fruit of a sick fantasy, but there are still mysteries in the world that mankind has not been able to solve. This publication may seem interesting to both convinced skeptics and those who are open to believing in the unknown, and not only to lovers of old legends, but also to those who are more interested in the mysteries of the present. Before 25 stories of incredible miracles ...

25. Voice of Saint Clelia Barbieri (Clelia Barbieri)

This girl was born in Italy in 1874 and helped found the Church of the "Minor Sisters of the Virgin Mary of Sorrows". By the age of 23, Clelia Barbieri managed to become a very influential woman, but, being very young, she died of leukemia. Before her death, the Italian told her followers: “Be of good cheer, because I am going to heaven, but I will always be with you and will never leave you!” A year after Clelia's death, a high voice filled the church as the sisters sang, he soared between the nuns and sang along with the novices in different keys. Clelia's voice followed the sisters during their prayers as well. They say that it is still occasionally heard within the walls of the old church.

24. Our Lady of Guadalupe

The apparitions of the Virgin Mary have been celebrated throughout history from the birth of Christ. One such occasion was the meeting of Our Lady with a Mexican peasant named Juan Diego in 1531. Maria ordered the construction of a new temple and asked Diego to convey this order to the nearest bishop. The man turned to a high-ranking clergyman, but he did not believe that the Mother of God herself turned to a simple peasant. The bishop said that he needed a sign to prove Diego's words, and ordered that roses be brought from the barren hill, wrapped in a cloak. The peasant complied with the demand of the dignitary, and when Diego unfolded the cloak in front of the bishop, an image of the Virgin Mary appeared there. The portrait still exists, and it is perfectly preserved, despite the fact that it has never been restored.

23. Martin de Porres

Martin de Porres was a monk and physician who worked with the poor and sick in the Peruvian town of Lima. The man is credited with many miracles, including levitation, inexplicable healings, and appearing in several places at the same time. Believers in Peru still pray to him for healing. For example, in 1956, a brick fell on a man's leg. A severe fracture developed into gangrene, and the unfortunate man fell ill with hepatitis. Doctors were going to amputate the limb, but first a woman prayed over the leg. The next day, the bandages were removed, and under them was already healing flesh, and there was no longer any need for amputation. Martin de Porres became the first mulatto American to be canonized catholic church.

22. Mother of God Zeytunskaya

As mentioned earlier, the apparitions of the Virgin Mary were celebrated more than once and in completely different places. A relatively recent incident occurred in 1968 in a suburb of Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Farouk Mohammed Atwa at first thought that a woman was standing on top of St. Mark's Church, about to commit suicide. Only then did the man realize that this was not an ordinary woman, but the appearance of the Mother of God. More and more people began to notice the figure, and the police were even called to this place. Since then, the woman has been noticed more than once on the top of the building, and the leadership of the church conducted its own investigation, which showed that during the visions no one had access to the roof of the building, which means that this is the real phenomenon of the Virgin Mary.

21. Robin Talbot, Foreign Missionary Fellowship

This story took place in northern Thailand in 1963. Robin Talbot was a Christian missionary who preached the gospel to Asian villagers. The first local woman who converted to Christianity and refused to worship animals was rejected by her countrymen, and they predicted illness and curses for her conversion to an alien faith. And so it happened. And while Talbot prayed for the health of the newly converted Christian, her community sneered at the woman's torment. Then she died. Well, or so everyone thought. After 20 minutes, the "apostate" resurrected and told about all the secrets of the village. She claimed that she met Jesus Christ himself, and He ordered her to return from heaven to earth in order to convey everything she saw and heard to the inhabitants of her native village.
20. Stigmata of Gemma Galgani

In 1899, at the age of 21, Gemma Galgani became famous for having stigmata (bleeding marks on the body of saints, reminiscent of the wounds of the crucified Christ) on her hands. After a vision in which Gemma was talking to Jesus and the Virgin Mary, the girl woke up with stigmata. Many parishioners of the local church did not believe the girl, but her confessor, the Reverend Germanus Ruoppolo (Germanus Ruoppolo), was more open to the words of the young lady and even wrote a biographical work about her.

19. St. Joseph of Cupertino

It is said that Joseph Cupertinsky loved to levitate (to float in the air). Moreover, as many as 70 cases are known when a believer overcame the force of gravity and had to be pulled down to the ground. As a result, the man was recognized as a saint and patron of all aviators.

18. Our Lady of Akita (Akita)

And again the Virgin Mary. This time the events unfold in Japan. The apparition of the Mother of God dates back to 1973. Sister Sasagawa was a Christian convert who left Buddhism. She was also terminally deaf. Having gained a new faith, Sasagawa began to see the Virgin Mary. The woman claimed to have seen the wooden statue of the Mother of God shed tears 101 times. The evidence of the appearance of the Virgin Mary became so famous that it attracted the attention of television, and pilgrims from all over the world began to come to the Japanese temple.

17. Imperishable relics

In Catholic and Greek Orthodox traditions there is such a thing as incorruptible relics, which means the bodies of saints, which are either not at all subject to decay and destruction, or the decomposition of their tissues is greatly slowed down due to Divine intervention. Sometimes they even smell sweet. These bodies are not embalmed or mummified so that they can rightfully be considered incorruptible. There are a number of such cases, and such relics are usually put on public display in temples and churches. During life, the dead, as a rule, were considered righteous or were clergymen.

16 Michael Crowe Heart Healing

In 2012, Michael Crowe was just 23 years old when he was diagnosed with a dreaded heart condition called acute myocarditis. The heart of a young man functioned only at 10% of the required capacity, and this greatly harmed the work of all other organs. He didn't have long to live without a transplant. But the doctors refused a heart transplant, because the guy had blood poisoning - the patient was too weak for the procedure and most likely would not have survived such a serious surgical intervention. Just an hour after the terrible diagnosis was made, the blood pressure in Michael's heart rose, and soon his left chamber began to work on its own. After a second check, the doctors did not find the previous problems, and the lucky man was discharged from the hospital practically healthy. Doctors consider this case a real inexplicable miracle.
15. 19 years of Jan Grzebski's coma


In 2007, Jan Grzebski woke up from a 19-year coma to find that his home country of Poland was no longer under communist rule and saw a mobile phone for the first time. But the most amazing thing is that he generally spent so many years in a coma, because the doctors prophesied for him several years at the most. The man believes that he owes his awakening to his beloved wife, who took care of him all these 19 years. She turned him over several times a day and did not allow bedsores to appear on his body.

14. Lanchanskoe miracle (Lanciano)

In the 700s of our era, a monk from the city of Lanciano questioned the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, associated with the belief that during the ritual of the sacrament, wine and bread become the true body and blood of Christ. One day he participated in the rite of consecration, and when the monk gave a speech of dedication and blessing, the bread and wine physically turned into blood and flesh. The priest ordered other ministers to seal the incredible manifestation of a divine miracle in a special vessel, and now the contents of this container are a Catholic relic.

13. Mysterious voice

In 2005, Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck flew off the track into the Utah River. Her 18-month-old daughter was also in the car with her. Lynn died immediately in the crash, but her baby girl survived by being stuck upside down in cold water. The child hung in this state for 12 hours. When the police officers arrived at the scene, they heard a distinct voice saying articulate "help me". Then the men found the baby. No one understands how an 18-month-old girl survived such an accident, how she managed to fight for survival for so long, and who called for help.

12. Healing from cancer after church renovation

Greg Thomas was 57 years old when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The man lost his job and was ready to say goodbye to his family, because there was practically no hope left. One day, while walking his dog, Greg came across an abandoned church. The man decided that he could do a little renovation here, because now he has no other things to do. He requested building materials from the city in exchange for his work to return the building to the community in a functional state. After the church was repaired, Greg discovered that his cancer had gone into remission and the symptoms of the terminal illness began to disappear.

11. Broken Man

Grayson Kirby died June 7, 2014. Almost. He was thrown out of his own car during a car accident. The man was taken to the hospital, but the doctors were barely able to keep him alive. Almost every bone in Kirby's body was broken, and his lungs were too badly damaged. There was practically no chance of survival. After 10 days of prayers, fundraisers, and medical procedures, the man opened his eyes for the first time and said, "I love you." He is now alive and on the mend.

10. The man who fell from the sky

Alcides Moreno - window cleaner. He was working on the 47th floor when his cradle suddenly overturned and fell to the ground. The partner and at the same time the brother of Alcides was with him at the same facility and died on the spot. But Mr. Moreno miraculously survived the actual fall from the sky. A number of complex operations were performed at the hospital, 11 liters of blood and 9 liters of plasma were transfused, and the lucky man has already begun to recover. Alsides still has many bright years ahead, and this is a real miracle.

9. Blood of Saint Januarius (Saint Januarius)

The Christian priest Januarius was one of the early martyrs under the Roman ruler Diocletian, and his blood is still kept as a Catholic relic. The blood of Januarius has dried up long ago, but sometimes it not only liquefies, but also begins to boil in its sealed ampoule right in front of a large crowd of witnesses. Pilgrims and onlookers come to see the miracle three times a year on holidays. Spectral analysis of the substance showed that inside the vessel, indeed, there is blood.

8. Therese Neumann

Like Gemma Galgani, German Teresa Neumann was a Christian who claimed to have had visions involving Jesus Christ himself. At the same time, the believer became famous for stigmatism. After the vision of suffering God's son the woman bled from her eyes, and wounds appeared on her head. Teresa was instructed from above to live in constant communion (the sacrament of consecrating bread and wine for their use in honor of the sacrifice of Christ), and obeyed him until the end of her days. The woman lived for 64 years and passed away in 1962.

7. Dance of the Sun

This is the last miracle of our list, which tells about the appearance of the Virgin Mary to people. In 1917, in Portugal, 3 children said that on their way home after herding sheep, they saw Our Lady. The children told their parents what had happened, and the visions did not stop there. Pilgrims began to arrive at the place where, according to the children, the Virgin Mary appeared. The number of them increased, and the town of Fatima became a hot spot on the map for Christians eager to witness the meeting with the Mother of God. Once, almost 70,000 people gathered at this place at the same time, and the children again declared that they were seeing the Virgin Mary. She told them that she would end the First World War and that the people should repent of their sins. Suddenly, one person pointed to the sky and exclaimed: "The sun!". Everyone present claimed to have seen the luminary doing incredible things - floating in the air from side to side, as if dancing, and emitting rays of wonderful colors and shapes. The phenomenon occurred on October 13, 1917.

6. A man cut in half

This incredible story happened in 1995. A Chinese man named Peng Shulin survived a terrible car accident, during which he was cut in half when he collided with a truck. As many as 20 doctors participated in the operation to transplant skin from the head to the torso area, and in the end, Shulin still survived. Doctors call it a real miracle. For a while, the Chinese man was bedridden, but now he can walk again, although not without the help of prostheses.

5. Girls from the Baptist Church Anon (Anon Baptist Church)

In 1970, a girl from the Anon Baptist Church developed an ulcer on her leg, which began to fester very badly. Doctors advised her to give up all her hobbies and church activities in order to fully concentrate on her treatment, and said that after her recovery, she would need a skin graft. The girl refused to follow the advice of the doctors and gathered her church friends to pray over her wound. The next morning, the leg was almost healed. After a few more joint prayers, the ulcer completely disappeared, and no skin graft was needed.

4. The silent killer Jim Mallory (Jim Mallory)

Abdominal aortic aneurysms have long been called the silent killer. It grows very slowly and imperceptibly, no one knows about it until the formation breaks and kills a person. Jim Mallory worked for hospitals helping resident doctors and medical students learn how to diagnose. Once, for training purposes, Mallory pretended to be sick, in whom it was necessary to identify an aneurysm. He himself did not suspect that he already had it. After scanning, the teacher found a diffuse dilatation of the aortic wall. Since the diagnosis was made on time, the man was saved. An emergency operation was performed and Mr. Mallory survived by a miraculous coincidence.

3. Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro cardiac arrest

After caesarean section Ruby's heart stopped. Doctors did everything possible to revive the young mother, but after 45 minutes of no heartbeat, she was declared dead. When medicine finally gave up on Ruby, the heart rate monitor suddenly blinked and the woman came back to life to the surprise of all the hospital staff.
Source 2The dog found its owner 20 blocks from his home.


Nancy Franck was admitted to the Mercy Medical Center in Iowa for a scheduled operation. Two weeks later, while the woman was still in rehab at the medical center, her dog Sissy ran away from home and walked 20 blocks to find her owner. The clinic staff noticed the animal hanging around the building and contacted the patient's husband. No one knows how the dog managed to find Nancy after 2 weeks and at such a distance.

1. A small child survived an internal decapitation

This miraculous event happened in June 2016. After a terrible car accident in Idaho (Idaho), a 4-year-old boy received a severe injury - internal decapitation (separation of the skull from the spine without breaking the muscle and integumentary tissues.). This should have killed the child immediately or left him paralyzed for the rest of his life. Fortunately, the rescuers competently rendered first aid, and in the hospital the doctors had already done their part of the work, which in total saved the young life and gave the child a chance for a happy future. Moreover, the boy not only survived, but also retained his mobility.

Best Stories about Miracles

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

If it were not for God's Miracles, then there would be no Orthodox Faith!

All over the world, at all times, MIRACLES have always happened, and are 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 keeps a large number of reliable facts of all sorts of amazing cases 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 gain real faith in God.

Therefore, no matter how unbelieving people say and assert that there is no God and cannot be, that all people who believe in God are ignorant and insane, nevertheless, let's give place to the existing real facts, that is, events that actually happened. And we will carefully listen 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 He has chosen. So that people learn about God through these Miracles, or at least remember Him and really think about their lives - are they living the right way? Why do they live in this world - what is the meaning of life? ..

DEATH IS NOT THE END

Several testimonies of the professor

Andrei 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 Russian Association of Oncopsychologists, tells:

« Death is not the end or the destruction of our personality. This is just a change in the state of our consciousness after the completion of earthly existence. I 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 numerous stories of people who have been in a state of such a "spiritual" consciousness during clinical death. When people tell me about some of their secret experiences that deeply shocked them, then the great experience of a medical practitioner allows me to distinguish hallucinations from real events with confidence. Not only I, but no one else can yet 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 in addition to our world there is another world - a world that operates according to laws unknown to us and is beyond our understanding. In this world, which we will all enter after death, time and space have completely different manifestations. I want to tell you a few cases from my practice that can dispel all doubts about its existence.

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

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

“Sorry for causing 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, that’s all right. 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 rationally. Please tell us about what you experienced.

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 push, and she was suddenly thrown out of her own body by some kind of
then a rotational movement. To her surprise, she saw herself lying on the operating table, saw the surgeons bending over the table, and heard someone shout: “Her heart stopped! Get started immediately!" And then Julia was terribly frightened, because she realized that this is HER body and HER heart! For Yulia, 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 her loved ones 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 will die now and not even say goodbye to them ?!”

Her consciousness literally rushed 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 polka-dot dress for the girl so that she would look like her mother. Masha rejoices, throws the doll and runs to a neighbor, but on the way she accidentally touches the tablecloth: an old cup falls off the table and breaks, a teaspoon lying next to it, flies after it and falls under a 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 hurriedly consoles them with the words that the dishes are breaking fortunately ... And then, completely forgetting about what happened earlier, the excited Yulia approaches her daughter, puts her hand on her head and says: "Masha, this is not the worst grief in the world." The girl turns around in surprise, but as if not seeing her, immediately turns away. Yulia does not understand anything: it has never happened before that her daughter turned away from her when she wants to console her! The daughter was brought up without a father and was very attached to her mother - she had never behaved like this before! This behavior of hers upset and puzzled Yulia, in complete confusion she began to think: “What is going on? Why did my daughter turn away from me?

And suddenly she 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 didn't feel any touch either! Her thoughts begin to churn. "Who am I? Can't they see me? Am I already dead? In dismay, 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, in the midst of the chaos of all these thoughts and feelings, she remembers everything that happened to her before: “I had an operation!” She recalls how she saw her body from the side, lying on the operating table, recalls the doctor’s terrible words about a stopped heart ... These memories frighten Yulia even more, and in her confused mind it immediately flashes: “I must by all means 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 kind of transport to get there as soon as possible in order to be in time ... and at the same moment she finds herself in the operating room again, and the voice of the surgeon reaches her: “The heart has worked! We continue the operation, but quickly, so that it does not stop again! A memory lapse follows, and then she wakes up in the recovery room.

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

So what is death?

We fix the state of death, when the heart stops and the work of the brain stops, and at the same time, the death of consciousness - in the concept in which we always imagined it - as such, simply does not exist. The soul is freed from its shell and is clearly aware of the entire surrounding reality. There is already a lot of evidence for this, this is confirmed by numerous stories of patients who were in a state of clinical death and experienced a post-mortem 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.

SAINT JOSAPH OF BELGOROD

Then I studied at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. I had a lot of knowledge, but there was no real faith. I went to the celebrations on the occasion of the opening of the relics of St. Joasaph with reluctance and thought about the huge crowd of people thirsting for a miracle. What kind of miracles can be in our time?

I arrived and something stirred inside: I saw such things that it was impossible to remain calm. Sick people, cripples came from all over Russia - so much suffering and pain that it's hard to watch. And one more thing: the general expectation of something miraculous involuntarily passed on to me, despite my skepticism about what was to come.

Finally, the Emperor arrived with his family and a celebration was scheduled. At the celebrations I already stood with deep emotion: I did not believe, and yet I was waiting for something. It is difficult for us now to imagine this spectacle: thousands and thousands of sick, twisted, demon-possessed, blind, crippled lay, stood on both sides of the path along which the relics of the saint were to be carried. One crooked man caught my special 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 waited: what can happen to this person? What can help him?!

And so they carried out the coffin with the relics of St. Joasaph. I have never seen anything like this and I am unlikely to see it again in my life — almost all the sick, standing and lying along the road, WERE HEALING: - sick members straightened.

With trepidation, horror and reverence, I looked at everything that was happening - and did not lose sight of that crooked one. When the coffin with the relics caught up with him, he parted his arms - there was a terrible crunch of bones, as if something was being torn and broken inside him, and he began to straighten up with effort - and stood up! What a shock it was for me! I ran up to him with tears, then grabbed some journalist by the hand, asked him to write down ...

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

Miracle of healing from deafness from the Iberian Icon in Moscow

The newspaper Sovremennye Izvestia published a letter from a man who was healed in Moscow in 1880 (newspaper issue 213 of this year). One music teacher, a German, a Protestant, but who did not believe in anything, lost his hearing, and at the same time his job and livelihood. Having lived everything he had acquired, he decided to commit suicide - to go and drown himself. It was July 23 of that year. “While passing by the Iberian Gates,” 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. An irresistible desire suddenly appeared in me to approach the icon and pray together with the people and venerate the icon, although we are Protestants - we do not recognize the icon.

And so, having lived to the age of 37, for the first time sincerely crossed myself and fell on my knees before the image - and what happened? An undoubted, amazing Miracle happened: I, having heard almost nothing until that moment for a year and 3 months, was considered by the doctors to be completely and hopelessly DEAF, having kissed the icon, at the same moment I GOT the ability of HEARING again, received to such an extent completely that not only sharp sounds, but also quiet conversations and whispers BECAME HEAR quite clearly.

And all this happened suddenly, instantly, painlessly ... Right there, before the image of the Mother of God, I took an oath to myself to sincerely confess to everyone what happened to me. This man later converted to Orthodoxy.

MIRACLES FROM THE HOLY FIRE

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

This is the first Easter in the Holy Land. Almost a day later, she took a place closer to the entrance to the Holy Sepulcher in order to 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. Reflections of light appeared from Kuvuklia. The happy Patriarch brought out two bundles of lighted candles from Kuvuklia to convey the fire to the jubilant people.

Many people look under the dome of the temple - blue Lightnings CROSS it there...

And our nun does not see lightning. And the fire from the candles was normal, although she watched eagerly, trying not to miss anything. Passed Holy Saturday. How did the nun feel? There was also disappointment, but then came the realization of one's unworthiness to see the Miracle...

A year has passed. Holy 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." The hours of waiting have passed. Again a cry of jubilation shook the Temple. The nun did not raise her head.

Suddenly, as if someone forced her to look. Her gaze fell on the corner of Kuvukliya, in which a special hole was made, through which burning candles are passed from Kuvukliya to the outside. So, a bright, flickering cloud SEPARATED from this hole - and immediately a bunch of 33 candles in her hand FIRED by itself.

Tears of joy welled up in her eyes! What a thank you to God!

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

THE MIRACULOUS HELP OF JOHN OF KRONSTAD

A resident of the Moscow region, Vladimir Vasilyevich Kotov, suffered from severe pain in his right arm. 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. One day, 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 miraculous healings of patients from their illnesses, which were described in this book, and he decided to go to St. Petersburg. On August 12, 1992, Vladimir Kotov confessed, took communion and served a prayer service to the holy righteous father John of Kronstadt and anointed his hand, his entire shoulder consecrated oil from the lamp from the tomb of the saint.

At the end of the service, he left the monastery and went to the tram stop. Vladimir Vasilievich hung the bag on his right shoulder and carefully laid his helpless hand on it, as he usually did in recent times. When walking, the bag began to fall off and he automatically corrected it. right hand without feeling any pain. Stopping in his tracks, still not believing himself, he again began to move his sore hand. The hand was completely healthy.

One man's mother had a heart attack, had a stroke and became 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, he accidentally met one, already old, nun, the spiritual daughter of the holy righteous father John of Kronstadt, he told her about his misfortune and she comforted 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, you just need to put it on the patient’s hand. He served a water-blessed prayer service to Father John of Kronstadt, dipped a mitten in holy water, and, having come 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, did not believe her eyes - the former paralyzed woman was sitting calmly on a chair and was healthy. Having learned the story of the patient's healing, the doctor asked for this glove. But the point here is not in the mitten ... But in the grace of God.

NICHOLAS PLEASANT HEALED A PARALLYZED

In Moscow, in the lower Cathedral of Christ the Savior, there is an amazing miraculous icon of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, donated to Russia by the state of Italy. This icon is unusual, it is made of mosaics, small multi-colored pebbles. Going up to the icon, I doubted the power and miraculousness of this icon, because I saw that the icon was not at all like ordinary hand-written icons and thought to myself: “They say, where can the Italians get 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 God, all His saints, all their icons and relics possess the Divine miraculous power, which heals all the infirmities of people and helps the suffering in everything, everyone who with faith turns to the holy saints of God.

Here's how it happened. About a year after this incident, one of my relatives told the following story. She had an adult son, who, along with his wife, lived in a family hostel, where they had their own room. His mother often visited him, so that day, as usual, she came to visit him, but her son was not at home. She decided to wait on the watch for the return of her son, and got into a conversation with the woman watchman, who 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 stand such a big loss, she was paralyzed, and besides that, she fell into an unconscious state. They did not take her to the hospital, because they recognized her as hopelessly ill, and they said that she would not live long. The daughter took her mother to her and looked after 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 insane mother.

And just then this icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was brought from Italy, and she decided to go. When she approached the icon, she thought about asking “Nikolushka” a lot, but, going up to the icon, she forgot everything and only asked St. Nicholas to help her mother, kissed the icon and went home.

Approaching the house, she suddenly saw how her sick, paralyzed mother was walking towards her, on her feet, coming up to her and well, indignant: “What are you, daughter, you made such a mess in the room, there is so much dirt, it stinks, some kind of rags hang everywhere.” It turns out that the mother came to her senses, got out of bed, seeing that the room was a mess, dressed and went to meet her daughter to scold her. And the 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 lain unconscious and paralyzed for two years.

SAVED BATYUSHKA SERAPHIM

This happened in the winter of 1959. My one year old son is seriously ill. The diagnosis is bilateral pneumonia. Since his condition was very serious, he was taken to the intensive care unit. I was not allowed to see him. Twice there was a clinical death, but the doctors saved. I was in despair, ran from the hospital to the Elokhovsky Epiphany Cathedral, prayed, cried, shouted: "God! Save your son!" And here I come to the hospital again, and the doctor says: "There is no hope for salvation, the child will die tonight." I went to the temple, prayed, sobbed. Came home, cried, then fell asleep. I see a dream. I enter the apartment, the door of one of the rooms is ajar, and blue light comes from there. I enter this room and freeze. Two walls of the room are hung from floor to ceiling with icons, a lamp is burning near each icon, and an old man is kneeling in front of the icons with his hands 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, a servant of God?" — he asks me. I rush to him: "Father Seraphim! My child is dying!” He told me: "Let's pray." Get on your knees and pray. I stand behind and also pray. 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, he anoints his forehead, chest, shoulders crosswise and says to me: "Don't cry, he will live."

Then I woke up, looked at the clock. It was five o'clock in the morning. I quickly got dressed and went to the hospital. I enter. 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. Around 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 didn't believe my eyes. He listened to the lungs - almost clear, 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, O Lord, and to 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 “ End Time Miracles about how St. Seraphim of Sarov appeared to people. I thought to myself: “This simply cannot be. It's all common fiction."

After a while, I go to the plane and see Father Seraphim walking quietly towards me. I could not believe my eyes, although I immediately recognized him, exactly the same as on the icon. We equalized. He stopped, smiled kindly at me, and said without opening his mouth: “You see, it turns out that this can be!” And he went further. I was so startled that I didn't say anything, I didn't ask him anything, I just looked away until he was out of sight. Valentine, 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 " End Time Miracles”, dear father Tryphon. Low bow to you for your work. I read it with great pleasure. Here, abroad, there is little spiritual literature, and each such book is of great value. I am writing to you about what happened to me. Maybe someone will benefit from knowing about it.

Once, in one book, I read a short 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 flown to the destination, he was surprised to find that in all four hours of the flight he had never lit a cigarette and even - DID NOT WANT to smoke! This story sunk into my heart, because I myself had been smoking for a long time, but I consoled myself with the fact that I smoked no more than three to five cigarettes a day. Sometimes I didn’t smoke for several days to prove to myself that I could quit at any time. What self-deception for all smokers! As a result, I eventually 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 simply 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 would help me. I read it all free time. And at work there was one desire - to quickly work out for the book. 1306 pages of large format in small print were read in three months.

During those three months, I STOP smoking. At first I forgot that I had not smoked since morning. Then one day the smell of smoke seemed nasty, which was very surprising. Then I noticed that I was literally forcing 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 won’t buy a new pack for tomorrow.” A day later I came to my senses - I did not smoke! It was only then that I realized that a real miracle had happened! Thank God!

WHEN CHILDREN ARE SICK, YOU SHOULD RELY ON GOD'S HELP

I got married early. I had faith in God, but work, household chores, everyday fuss pushed faith into the background. I lived without turning to God with a prayer, without observing fasts. To put it simply: I COOLED to faith. It never even occurred to me that the Lord would hear my prayer if I turned to Him.

We lived in Sterlitamak. In January, the youngest child fell ill, a five-year-old boy. The doctor was invited. He examined the child and said that he had acute diphtheria, prescribed treatment. They waited for relief, but it did not follow. The child is weak. He no longer recognized anyone. Couldn't take medicine. A terrible wheezing escaped from his chest, which was heard throughout the apartment. Two doctors came. They looked sadly at the patient, and talked anxiously among themselves. It was clear that the child would not survive the night. I did not think about anything, mechanically 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 you 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 coming 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 wheezing continued to echo throughout the rooms. Her face turned blue, her eyes rolled back. I touched my legs: they were very cold. Heart sank painfully. Whether I cried or not, I don't remember. I cried so much during those terrible days that I think I cried all my tears. I lit the lamp and prepared the necessary things.

Father Stefan came and began to serve a prayer service. I carefully picked up the child, along with the duvet cover and pillow, and carried it out into the hall. It was too hard for me to stand up to hold him, and I sank into a chair.

The prayer continued. Father Stefan opened the Gospel. I hardly got up from the chair. And a miracle happened. My boy raised his head and listened to God's word. Father Stefan finished reading. I applied; the boy also joined. He put his arm around my neck and listened to the prayer service. I was afraid to breathe. Father Stefan raised the Holy Cross, blessed the child with it, let him kiss and said: "Get well soon!"

I put the boy to bed and went to see the father off. When Father Stefan left, I hurried to the bedroom, surprised that I did not hear the usual rattle that tears my soul. The boy slept quietly. Breathing was even and calm. With emotion, I knelt down, thanking the Merciful God, and then I myself fell asleep on the floor: my strength left me.

The next morning, as soon as it struck for matins, my boy got up and said in a clear, sonorous voice:

- Mom, what am I all lying down? I'm tired of lying!

Is it possible to describe how joyfully my heart beat. Now the milk was warmed up, 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 out to 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 has shown us a miracle.

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

A few days later Father Stefan served us a thanksgiving service. My boy, perfectly healthy, prayed earnestly. At the end of the prayer service, Father Stefan 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 RESERVES her faith in the great Grace and love of God, in the goodness of the unknown ways in which God's Providence leads us.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF PROSCOMIDE

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

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

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

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

At the same time, her brother had a vision: as if the wall of his room seemed to have disappeared and the inside of the temple, the altar, was opened. He saw his sister talking to the priest about something. The priest approached the altar, took out a particle, and this particle fell on the diskos with a ringing sound. And at the same moment the patient felt that some kind of Force entered his body. He immediately got out of bed, which he had not been able to 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 the 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 the mercy of God that was toward him, a sinner. He went to church, went to confession, took communion, and 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 death. It was already many years ago.

FAITH IN GOD SAVE ME

I used to live in the village, and when there was no work, I moved to the city, they bought me half of the house. After some time, new neighbors moved into the second half of the house. Then we were told that our houses would be demolished. 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.

One day 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 lattice on the window. I thought that the neighbors broke 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 dew on the roses. She looked at me so kindly, and my soul became calm. I realized that it was the Most Holy Mother of God, that She would save me. Since then, I began to trust in the Mother of God and was no longer afraid of anything.

Somehow I come home from work. Neighbors have been drinking for a week now. I just managed to go home, I wanted to lie down, but something tells me: I need to go out into the canopy. Later I realized that it was the Guardian Angel who prompted me. She went out into the canopy, and there was already fire. She ran out and only managed to cross her house. And she begged Nicholas the Wonderworker to save my house so that I wouldn't be left on the street. Firefighters quickly arrived and flooded everything, my house survived. The neighbors died in the fire. Faith in God saved me.

HOW I SAVE MY SON'S LIFE BY HOLY BAPTISM

When my son was three months old, he contracted bilateral staphylococcal bronchopneumonia. We were urgently hospitalized. He got 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. Called my mother “A child dies unbaptized, what should I do?” Mom immediately went to the temple to the priest. He gave Mother Epiphany water and said what prayer should be read during Baptism. He said that in emergency cases, when a person is dying, a layman can also perform Baptism. Mom brought me Epiphany water and texts of prayers.

The priest 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, and neighbors baptize him. Pour, reading the prayers “Our Father”, “King of Heaven”, “Hail to the Virgin Mary” - 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 say the name of the child) in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". If the child survives, then Baptism will then be supplemented by a priest.

There were glass doors in the ward, sisters were constantly scurrying along the corridor. Suddenly, at three o'clock, they had a meeting. Our nurse has instructed me to monitor my son's condition while she attends the meeting. And I calmly, without interference, christened my son. Immediately after Baptism, the child came to his senses.

After the meeting, the 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

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. He bought timber and boards, but, to his surprise, none of the inhabitants of this village wanted to help him. It was spring, vegetable gardens, crops, plantings - all their affairs were up to their necks. I had to build it myself, after planting my garden. There was so much work on the construction site that weeding and watering the plantings had to be forgotten. By autumn the chapel was almost ready. Guests arrived - colleagues with children. The guests had to be fed, and then only the builder remembered about his garden. He sent summer residents there - what if something grew up? The garden met them with a wall of overgrown weeds. "Impenetrable Taiga" the guests joked.

But, to everyone's surprise, along with weeds, plantings also GROWN, moreover, of enormous size. 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, for all the inhabitants this year, the harvest turned out to be useless, although they watered and weeded in their gardens ...

Everyone will get their own way!

WE NEVER TELL THE TRUTH

One familiar woman, no longer young, was addicted to talking with the "Voices". "Voices" gave her different information about all her relatives, and at the same time about other planets. Some of what they reported was false or didn't come true. But my friend did not consider this convincing enough and continued to believe them. As time went. She began to feel unwell. Apparently, doubts crept into her soul. One day she asked them directly: "Why do you often tell lies?" " We never tell the truth» - answered "Voices" and began to laugh at her. My friend became terrified. She immediately went to church, went to confession, and never did it again.

WHAT CAN I SAY TO 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 karateka, recently graduated from one of the Moscow institutes - in general, a modern young man. At one time he became interested Eastern religions, then began to communicate with "voices from space." No matter how mother Xenia and her sister, the mother of a young man, dissuaded him from these activities, he stood his ground. For some reason, he was not baptized in childhood and did not want to be baptized. Finally - this was in 1990 - 1991 - "Voices" 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. Exactly at 18.00 he got into the third car and immediately saw the person he needed. He understood this by some extraordinary power emanating from him, although outwardly the man looked ordinary.

The young man sat down opposite the stranger, and suddenly he was terrified. Then he said that even when hunting, one on one with a bear, he had never experienced such fear. The stranger looked at him silently. The train was already making its third circle around the ring, when the young man remembered that in danger he should say: “Lord, have mercy,” and he 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 GOTHELESS'S REPENTANCE

“I had a close friend who got married. In the first year, her son Vladimir was born. From birth, the boy was struck by 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 he aspired to 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 had 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. Father Vladimir, during his lifetime, tried to bring him back 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 a few days, where I met Boris by chance. He joyfully rushed to me with the words: “The Lord, through the prayers of my brother, Father Vladimir in heaven, brought me back to Himself.” Here 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 leave His image; let him now you do not need, just do not quit. He, really unnecessary to us, was demolished in a barn. A year later, we had a boy. We were both happy. But the child was born sick, with tuberculosis of the spinal cord. We did not spare money for doctors. They said that the boy could only live to the age of six. The child is already five years old. Health is getting worse. We have heard a rumor that a famous professor of childhood diseases is in exile. The child is very ill, 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 only one wife and suddenly the child dies without me? I thought about it and turned back. I arrive and find the following: the mother, sobbing, is kneeling by the bed, hugging the boy’s already chilling legs ...

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

Seeing all this, I rushed into the barn, found the image of the Savior and placed it on the child. In the morning the child was perfectly healthy. The doctors who treated him only shrugged. There are no traces of tuberculosis. And then I realized that there is a 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 returned to Moscow in 1937, she learned that after the baptism of her son, he left for the Caucasus with his wife and child. Boris spoke openly about his error and salvation everywhere. A year later, being completely healthy, he suddenly died. 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 ... "

Suggested by Saint 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 help comes from above. Either you find out in a book, or someone tells you, or you meet the right person, but God's providence is in everything.

I used to think that the uniform for an Orthodox woman does not play of great importance: today I went in trousers or in a miniskirt - it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, the main thing is to come to the temple as it should be, but in the world - as you want. And I somehow 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 tells me: “Put on simple women’s clothes on your body and wear it as it should, and pray to St. Zosima.”

Subsequently, the priest explained to me the importance of the words spoken to me Reverend Alexander. Trousers on a woman, a short skirt and other tight clothes are tempting. And now, imagine, you entered the subway in such clothes, and how many men looked at you and even sinned in their thoughts - that's how many people you will be the cause of their sin. After all, it is said: “Do not tempt!”

Healing from blindness

During the consecration of water, a wondrous prayer is said, in which HEALING POWER is requested for those who use this water. Consecrated objects contain spiritual properties that are not inherent in ordinary matter. The manifestation of these properties is like miracles and testifies to the connection human spirit with God . Therefore, any information about the facts of the manifestation of these properties is very useful to people, especially during times of temptation and doubts in faith, that is, in a person’s spiritual connection 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 basis that they do not fit into a given scheme is not a scientific method.

To the numerous manifestations of the special healing properties of the consecrated water, one more quite reliable case can be added, which took place at the end of the winter of 1960/61.

An elderly retired teacher A.I. was sick with her eyes. She was treated in an eye dispensary, but, despite the efforts of the doctors, she became completely blind. She was a believer. When trouble struck, for several days in a row she applied a cotton swab moistened with water to her eyes with a prayer. Epiphany water. To the surprise of the doctors, one really beautiful morning, she again began to see well.

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

Unfortunately, not all miracles are written down, even fewer get into print, and there are many things we simply do not know. The miracle that I have spoken about will obviously be known only to a narrow circle of people, but we, who by the grace of God have been honored 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 Ivan Safonovich Romashchenko, born in 1907, about how at the end of 1943, on a false denunciation of a traitor who collaborated with the Nazis, he ended up in camps for 10 years. And how many hardships he had to endure there. In addition, he was very 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 there was hard exhausting work, and only gruel from food, he is still in fast days RESTRICTE yourself in food. Father kept a calendar, knew and remembered the days of the great church holidays, calculated the day of the onset of the main bright holiday of Easter. He told his cellmates a lot of interesting things about the saints, sacred history, knew by heart many prayers, psalms and places Holy Scripture. Father especially honored the main Orthodox holidays and especially Easter.

Once he refused to go to work on this bright holiday, for which, on the orders of the camp leadership, as a rebellious one, he was immediately taken to the so-called "Knee Bag". This building really looked like a narrow bag, but made of stone. A person could only stand in it. The guilty were left in it FOR DAYS without outerwear and hats. In addition, a bright lamp was burning, and cold water was constantly dripping on the top of the head. And if we take into account 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 experiences, everyone knew that a person in this “Stone Bag” withstood no more than a day, during which he gradually FREEZED and died.

And so 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. The prisoner closed in the “Knee Bag” was remembered only at the end of the third day.

When the sent sentry came to pick up his body in order to bury it, he was taken aback. Father stood - Alive and looked at him, although he was all COVERED with ice. The sentry got scared and ran off to report to his superiors. Everyone ran there to look at the Miracle.

When they took him out of the "Sack" and, having placed him in the infirmary, they began to ask how he could SURVIVE, because before him everyone DIE within a day, he answered that he had not slept for all three days, but incessantly PRAYED to 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 work on Easter, and even allowed my father not to work on other church holidays for his great Faith.

But now the camp authorities have changed. The former head of the camp was replaced by a new one, just the same beast, not a man. Cruel, heartless, not recognizing God. The Holy Pascha of Christ has come again. And although no work was expected that day, at the last moment he ordered everyone to be sent to work. Father again refused to go to work on this bright Holiday. But the cellmates persuaded him to go to the place of work, otherwise, they say, this beast without a soul and heart will simply torture you.

My father came to the place of work, but refused to work on cutting down the forest. Reported to the boss. He ordered to immediately SET on him, specially trained to catch up and tear apart a person, dogs. The guards released the dogs. And so, more than a dozen big dogs with an evil bark rushed at the 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 to the four cardinal directions, began to pray. It was only later that he said that he read mainly the 90th psalm (“Living in help”). So, the dogs rushed in his direction, but not having reached him 2-3 meters, they suddenly, as it were, STUNNED against some kind of invisible OBSTACLE. They jumped furiously around their father and barked, first angrily, then quieter and quieter, and finally began to wallow in the snow, and then all the dogs fell asleep in unison. Everyone was simply dumbfounded by this obvious Miracle of God!

So once again, everyone was SHOWN the huge Faith in God of this person, and also demonstrated God's POWER! And “How near is the Lord our God to us, whenever we call on Him”(Deut. 4, 7). He did not allow the death of His faithful servant, who loves Him.

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

Refers to "On Proofs of the Miraculous"

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

This is an illustration to the worldview article On Evidence for the Miraculous, which justifies why all such evidence is false.

In our time, one hears: "Why do you think that only Orthodox faith- true? And the 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 in our lives by the Lord, strengthened the faith in our people. These signs are still happening today. But only the godless press, radio and television do not talk about them, reporting any news around the clock, except for these, the most important ones.

Here are three of the most important signs:

Orthodox Christianity differs from other world religions in many miracles that cannot be explained from a scientific point of view, but which are so obvious and undeniable that they cause heart awe and make even the most inveterate atheists believe. Orthodox miracles also exist today. They are evidence of God's mercy to people and his boundless philanthropy.

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Christian Testimonies of the Miracles of God

Miracles from our Lord Himself and the Saints are found everywhere and in our harsh everyday life. To do this, you should go to any temple, monastery, etc. where the relics of a Christian saint are buried, or there are miraculous icons and see guest books, which, as a rule, are always there.

Plunging into the stories of ordinary people like us, you can view entire series miraculous healings, resolutions of seemingly insoluble problems and a way out of difficult life situations. At the same time, the exit is usually located where it would seem that it could not exist at all, but what is impossible for a person is possible for God ...

Religious miracles are very common in our modern times. Hoping for miraculous help from above, people visit Orthodox churches famous Russian saints. Thus, the flow of people at the Church of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow never dries up, it is always crowded both in Optina Desert and in Diveevo.

Rev. Seraphim of Sarov, Blessed Xenia of Petersburg, Mother Matrona of Moscow, etc. have always been and will be intercessors for mankind before the Lord. There is simply no point in enumerating all Christian testimonies of Orthodox miracles, for such a listing will turn out to be simply endless.

But we still mention one most striking and clear miracle - this is the death and miraculous resurrection of Claudia Ustyuzhanina. This sensational story of a simple Soviet atheist woman who died and after lying in the morgue for three whole days with unsewn body cuts, resurrected already in the morgue, caused shock and bewilderment among the community of unbelievers.

A woman who was seriously ill with cancer and died, saw in afterlife all the torments of hell and was returned to earth to testify about them and instruct people on the righteous path by her example.

Miracles of Orthodoxy today

In our days, one can also cite many miracles of Orthodoxy, which are silent evidence of the truth of our faith.

So every year on Easter in the main temple of Jerusalem, the Holy Fire descends from heaven by itself, the flame of which does not even burn the first minutes. This miracle happens year after year, it is eagerly awaited by all believing Christians. Since, according to legend, the end of the world will occur precisely in the year when the Holy Fire does not descend on Easter in Jerusalem.

The Shroud of Turin is also a silent miracle of the Lord's presence with us all and his actual crucifixion and resurrection. The Shroud has baffled learned atheists from all over the world. The image of the Lord Jesus was imprinted on it and it turns out that it cannot be displayed in any way known today. This miracle is irrefutable and inexplicable from a scientific point of view.

Another clear and inexplicable miracle today is the reversal of the Jordan River every year on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Thousands of pilgrims from different countries of the world every year with their own eyes observe this miracle on January 19th. During the solemn rite of the consecration of water, the river suddenly begins to boil, and the current turns in the other direction, just as it happened during the baptism of Jesus Christ.

Apparitions of saints in our time

Our modernity is also replete with miraculous appearances of the holy fathers to ordinary people.

So there are many stories ordinary people about the miraculous help of St. Nicholas, who more than once appeared in the form of an old man and showed the right path to people, then mysteriously disappeared.

Together with Nicholas the Pleasant, other saints often appeared and helped people who revered these saints and constantly turned to them in prayer.

Thus, the saints of God invisibly accompany us, and sometimes even visibly provide great help in our day.

Miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary today

The Most Holy Theotokos provides miraculous help to all who turn to her with faith even now.

There are many examples of her miraculous help. Rereading the multiple testimonies of her intercession, I was particularly impressed by the story of a young believing family from Krasnodar. The family constantly visited the Mother of God Monastery, the wife was expecting a child. And suddenly, in the third month of pregnancy, according to the results of an ultrasound scan, they were told that the fetus was frozen and it was necessary to urgently clean it.

For the family, this news was a real blow, but there was nothing to be done, the diagnosis was beyond doubt. On the day of the operation, the husband fervently prayed in the monastery and ordered an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos.

The operation went through, after some time doing a control ultrasound (to make sure of successful rehabilitation after cleaning), to their bewilderment, the doctors found that the child was a child there, as if there had been no operation. Moreover, he is alive. Not believing in what was happening, a whole council was convened, at which the doctors said that miraculously the fetus hid in the muscle and did not allow itself to be destroyed.

But in view of everything that was happening, the doctors nevertheless recommended that the woman get rid of him, frightening her with various deformities and diagnoses. But the believing parents left the baby and exactly on time, contrary to all the exhortations of the doctors, an absolutely healthy, beautiful and strong girl was born.

This is how the Most Holy Theotokos saved the baby and gave the joy of motherhood and fatherhood to those who relied on her help.