Voron-Lozovka, Russia, April 8, 2020
Photo: lipetskmedia.ru
Myrrh-streaming icons are a relatively rare phenomenon in the life of the Church, by which God strengthens, comforts, and blesses His faithful.
However, one village church in the Lipetsk Province of Russia, 290 miles south of Moscow, is home to nearly 20 myrrh-streaming sacred items.
In the Church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Voron-Lozovka, 13 icons, two chalices, a Gospel book, and two crosses are all streaming Heavenly myrrh, reports donvesti.ru.
With the cross began the revival of the church on May 25, 2019. At first, the rector, Fr. Diodore, would celebrate the services holding the cross with a container under it to collect the myrrh that streamed from the cross. Now the cross is under glass, covered in myrrh.
Photo: donvesti.ru
“No one can give an explanation for these miracles,” Fr. Diodore said.
There are also stories of miracles connected with the St. Michael Church. “One elderly local woman asked me to get an icon from her home, which had been saved during the destruction of the church’s valuables and relics,” Fr. Diodore recalled.
“Believing that she would soon depart for the other world, this woman decided to return the icon to its place. It is a rare icon of the Theotokos, ‘Three Joys,’” Fr. Diodore continued. However, her children and grandchildren did not agree with her and decided to keep the icon at home.
Photo: donvesti.ruHowever, that same night, the icon began to weep and they immediately took the icon to the church. After that, several more icons began to stream, including the Joy of All Who Sorrow Icon of the Mother of God, the Archangel Michael, the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon, the Great Martyr Barbara, Blessed Matrona, and others.
Several couples who had trouble getting pregnant have conceived children after praying before the Three Joys Icon. Vials of myrrh from the various streaming items are given to all the faithful.
Fr. Diodore also told another story, how during the destruction of the church, a man who returned from the war missing one hand began to shoot at the gate icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. His first two shots missed, and on the third shot, the cartridge burst in the chamber, tearing off his second hand.
Photo: lipetskmedia.ru
There is also a story connected with severe fires in the hot summer of 2010, when the forests and meadows were burning all around. One woman whose house was in the line of the fire ran outside and began to pray, when she saw a glowing woman above the dome of the church, Fr. Diodore says. Her husband also confirms the appearance. Then the woman, who they believe to have been the Mother of God, disappeared into the sky, and the fire turned away from the church and houses.
The church has become a major center of pilgrimage as word of the icons and other items has spread.
Тhe Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple in Solodniki in the Astrakhan Province is also home to 18 myrrh-streaming icons.
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