Icon Of Holy Royal Martyrs Begins To Stream Myrrh
My assistant,
Priest Ioann (Savchenko), and I were not privileged to see the beginning of
a new miracle that occurred, glorifying the Holy Royal Martyrs. At the very
moment that an icon of the Royal Family began to stream myrrh in our church,
we chanced to be visiting parishes in St. Petersburg, stopping by at a
parish that had been sanctified in honour of the Tsar'-Martyr and all the
New Martyrs, and, naturally, upon our arrival, prior to the beginning of the
all-night vigil, we spoke much of the Tsar', and I even had to expound upon
programmatic views and opinions concerning the future of our striving to
inculcate monarchical ideas.
Meanwhile, at home, in the city of Slaviansk-on-the-Kuban', in our
Pokrovsko-Tikhonovskaya church, people were preparing for the vesperal
services of the feast [of the Holy Royal Martyrs]. When schema-hieromonk
Feodosii, preparing to serve, placed the icon of the Royal Martyrs upon an
analoi, he did not yet notice anything unusual. However, kissing the icon,
one of the lady singers sensed a fragrance [emanating from it] and saw a
tiny droplet upon the glass. She immediately informed everyone on the kliros
about this. They began to observe further. Nun Ioanna, keeping watch over
the candles, would occasionally glance over at the icon, as well, during the
divine service. The very first droplet upon the icon itself (a lithograph
from abroad, framed under glass) formed upon the breast of Tsarevna
Anastasia, apparently in that very selfsame spot where she had been pierced
by a bayonet, prior to being clubbed to death during a moment of savage
reprisal. Subsequently, huge drops [of myrrh] appeared upon the underside of
the glass, and, during the moment of the magnification of the Royal Martyrs,
streams of myrrh formed upon the outside of the glass, which flowed down
toward the lower edge of the frame and then upon the analoi, itself. [The
icon subsequently] had to be encircled with cotton. The streaming of the
myrrh did not even cease on the next day, that day upon which the
Tsar'-Martyr and His Family were murdered. The cotton had to be changed,
inasmuch as it became so soaked that [the myrrh] could be squeezed out of
it. The fragrance spread throughout the entire church. During the two festal
days — Saturday and Sunday, [5-6/] 18-19 July — not only [our] parishioners
(no fewer than 100 people), but also believers not of our church, venerated
the icon. People also came from Krasnodar, from the church of St. Ilya (MP),
to view it and to venerate it. We do not dare, of course, to refuse anyone
who would do so, because, as we can see, God Himself is calling them to this
through such a miracle.
The myrrh continues to flow, even now.
+ Bp. Viktor of Slaviansk and Southern Russia
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