Miracle, what is it? If this is “the result of the intervention of extra-natural rational force in the natural course of things,” then the idea of \u200b\u200ba miracle goes beyond the competence of science. And this, of course, is true, but only in part. Indeed, it is precisely scientists who are able to find objectively correct arguments in favor of the fact that a certain event can be considered miraculous.

However, it should be remembered: not all knowledge in the world is obtained scientifically. Sometimes the revelation is given to the elect, and they bring it to others. There is knowledge about which we cannot say at all where it came from. We simply know that this is so.

Miracles objectively exist, and this means that our world is not built exactly as positivist scientists say. It turns out that the scientific picture of the world is incomplete and even, probably, in some cases incorrectly answers the most important questions for every person.

A miracle is not a breakdown of the laws of nature. It is simply the result of outside influence, the result of something that has had an effect on nature and brought to life something that nature itself is unable to do.

Belief in a miracle is identical with the essence of faith in general. Religious faith is a belief in miracles, faith and miracles are completely inseparable.

It is known that with the help of physical vision we are not able to see everything that actually exists. Some things may indeed seem strange to us, but this is not a reason to deny them. For example, we cannot see radiation, but only its consequences, but this does not mean that such a phenomenon does not exist.

The art critic A. Saltykov (1900–1959) wrote in his work “On a Miracle”: “A true miracle is never accidental, but is due to internal spiritual necessity, and its meaning is not to forcefully master the will of a person by influencing it with an external effect and in revealing to him the inner, spiritual side of life ... A miracle happens only where there is faith, that is, free willingness to accept the inner meaning revealed by him. "

The founders of world religions performed miracles and demonstrate modern psychics. Insights, predicting the future, diagnosing by “aura”, hand-laying treatment and remotely, telepathic transmission of thoughts and feelings, moving objects with “willpower”, walking on fire, on water, and materializing and dematerializing things and your own body ...

Signs and wonders in the spiritual world of a person are as important as the greatest events in outer life. There are true and false miracles, therefore it is important to know what the scientific interpretation of a miracle is, how science and religion define it.

The relationship between science and miracle is an eternal problem. More than a thousand years ago, it was brilliantly allowed by St. Augustine. In its wording - what is a miracle and a science and how are they related to each other? - approved:

“Miracles do not contradict the laws of nature. They only contradict our ideas about the laws of nature. ”

Miracle of the Holy Fire

For a church, a miracle is something ordinary. Most often, "updated" or myrrh-streaming icons or healing occurs with the help of icons. There is a miracle that happens every year, for more than one and a half thousand years, in front of thousands of pilgrims. This miracle of finding the Holy Fire in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher takes place on Holy Saturday on the eve of Orthodox Easter.

But this miracle also happens when certain objective conditions are present: after prolonged prayer, with strict observance of the ritual. Holy Fire takes on the Patriarch of Jerusalem; must be present and holy elders-wilderness. Local boys (Orthodox Arabs), who burst into the temple with a tambourine, praise Christ with songs and dance, also play their role. From the outside, it looks almost blasphemy, but without them, fire does not appear.

All those present in the church patiently and with awe wait for the patriarch to leave with fire in his hands. It is believed that if the Holy Fire does not descend, then it will come, and the temple of the Holy Sepulcher itself will be destroyed. In different years, the longing may last from five minutes to several hours. Before the fire converges, the temple begins to light up with bright flashes of light: here and there small lightnings slip through. In slow motion, which was done many times by journalists and pilgrims, it is clearly visible that they come from different places of the church: from the icon hanging above Kuvukliya, from the dome of the church, from windows and other places - and they fill everything around with bright light. In addition, here and there, between the columns and walls of the temple, quite visible lightning flashes that often pass through standing people without harming them.

After a moment, the whole temple is surrounded by lightning and glare that snakes down its walls and columns, as if flowing down to the foot of the temple, the whole room is illuminated, and fireballs roll on the plate that closes the Holy Sepulcher. From them the patriarch also lights the first candle. Lightnings spread across the area among the pilgrims. At the same time, candles are lit in those standing in the temple and in the square, the lamps themselves, located on the sides of Kuvukliya, are lit.

The first time - 3-10 minutes - an ignited fire has amazing properties - it does not burn at all, no matter what candle it is from and where it is lit. Parishioners literally wash themselves with this fire - they drive them in the face, hands, scoop handfuls, and it does not do them any harm, at first it does not scorch even the hair.

Other miracles happen at this moment. Western journalists even photographed the ongoing healing. Two cases are shown on the film: in a person with a mutilated rotting ear, the wound “oiled” with fire was healed right in front of the eyes, and the ear takes on a normal appearance, and a blind man’s insight with an eyesore that instantly disappears is shown.

Some scholars have suggested that the fireballs preceding the appearance of the blessed fire are none other than.

Shroud of Christ

The miracle is equated with the main and valuable Christian relic -. The famous Christian relic remains as the main subject of contention between religion and science, but at the same time the link uniting these two spheres of knowledge of the world.

The shroud is kept in the Cathedral of San Giovanni, in the aisle, with all openings, patches, traces of blood, fire and water (in 1532 a fire was put out to it, which almost destroyed it). The relic is kept in a deep vacuum and will not be recovered until 2025. Already there are doubts that the imprint of the male body on the Shroud of Turin belongs to Jesus Christ.

Various methods of research of the shroud are known. Some are so convincing that there is no doubt about its authenticity.

Well, for example, the contour of the face, the negative of which is printed on the fabric, is combined with the oldest surviving icons depicting Christ. The lines of the lips, nose, and location of the eyes on the Byzantine icon of the VI century to a millimeter coincided with the imprint on the shroud. The texture of the shroud and the canvas made in Palestine in the 1st century BC are compared. e. They are absolutely identical.

Palynologists - scientists who study plant pollen - performed an analysis of spores stuck in the shroud. The spores and, for comparison, the spores of cereals that grew in Palestine during the time of Jesus were increased tens of thousands of times. No differences found.

A chemical analysis of brown spots was carried out, creating a negative image of a man on the shroud. What this substance is is unclear. But it is definitely proved that it is not paint.

But a mystery not solved by scientists. After the fire of the 16th century, the fabric of the shroud was patched. The patches were made from the then Dutch fabric. The seam is also from Dutch threads. But today, the fabric structure of patches and threads is indistinguishable from the structure of "native" canvas and threads of the 1st century BC. e. No one undertakes to explain this oddity.

The legendary crown of thorns that pricked the head of the martyr-Christ - he was perhaps the same as this one made of dried up Palestinian blackthorn. But the small spots of blood that remained above the eyebrows of a man resting in a shroud, their geometry corresponds to the geometry of thorns.

The imprint of the dead body, which was wrapped in a shroud, was photographed in polarized light. And then it was found out that the eyes of the deceased were covered with coins (which is not visible from the print seen in the rays of ordinary light).

Covering with the coins the eyes of the deceased is a tradition for the Jewish ritual of burial. But when the researchers carefully examined one of the exposed coins - Pilate's mite with the inscription "Emperor Tiberius" - an error was found in the inscription. Moreover, collectors who have several exactly the same coins with the same mistake responded.

And finally, the most amazing thing is something that certainly cannot be. The sensation received during the last, in the 2000 anniversary, studies of the shroud. The experts did a reasonable experiment: they processed the face print of the deceased on a computer in accordance with the different intensities of the shades of many points. A three-dimensional image of an elongated dead face appeared on the display screen. But if you process an ordinary photograph or drawing in this way, the image will be flat, two-dimensional. This means that the imprint on the shroud is a kind of hologram: enclosing a volume. How exactly - no one can understand.

Miraculous signs

Surely, everyone knows the sensation of a miracle - an amazing moment when something happens that does not fit into the usual framework. Almost every life of the Orthodox saint, in the works of the Church Fathers, spiritual ascetics, is told about miracles. And in our time, evidence of miracles in Orthodoxy - are they only a matter of faith?

The special mercy of God has been revealed in our day. First of all, it is a multitude of wonderful signs, their incredible abundance. The most frequent reports of myrrh-streaming, lacrimation. Also known are the facts of transferring the image to the glass of the icon case ("doubling"), sound signs.

Many wonderful signs are described. A large number of cases of updating icons have been collected - these are phenomena when an image that has darkened from time to time on an icon for no apparent reason becomes bright and distinct, as if new.
And the icon, according to church tradition, is a “window” into the highland world, into the “world above the world” ...

When the Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Art returned to the Church a miraculous icon of the Mother of God, the image suddenly “came to life”, and the hall was filled with an incomparable fragrance. Anyone who deals with icons (not necessarily in the temple, but in the museum) knows that in reality, at times, some icons emanate a scent that has nothing to do with the smell of incense or church oil. Is it possible to analyze?

We know from historical chronicles that before the eyes of tens of thousands of city dwellers, the icons and church domes of the church were updated when the bells themselves rang without the participation of bell ringers.

From medieval Tibetan sources, we are aware of numerous instances of self-arising of sacred images and statues of buddhas, deities and bodhisattvas, which possessed truly wonderful properties. They can laugh or cry, sometimes with bloody tears, spontaneously move in space or refuse to leave their pedestal. They are admirers in a dream, in reality or during meditation and express their requirements and wishes to them.

There is a memory of the unusual occurrence of the blessed fire, when the lofty consciousness is illuminated by the fiery tongues of the outgoing light. The ancient documents say: during the prayer of St. Francis shone the monastery so that the travelers got up, thinking: "Do not dawn?". Radiance lit up over the monastery when St. Clara. Once the light became so brilliant that the surrounding peasants fled, thinking that "there was a fire."

Myrrh-streaming icons

Church tradition knows several icons from which a holy world emanated. Even in antiquity, in the VI century, on the Pisidian icon flowed oil from the hand of the Virgin. Myrrh-streaming or tearing of the icon is not an exceptional occurrence. In the XX century in Russia, these signs were massive. Hundreds of cases have been recorded. Icons are miraculously acquired, renewed, and streamed - in temples, monasteries, in the homes of ordinary people. And above all, it is precisely myrrh-streaming and crying icons.

Myrrh-streaming in itself was not an event, on the basis of which the icon was considered miraculous. As a rule, she showed her healing power through prayers before her before or after myrrh-streaming, which only indicated the chosenness of the icon. Almost always, the world was collected and used precisely for the healing of mental and bodily ailments.

Laboratory tests showed that this liquid is of organic origin, sometimes resembling olive oil. As a result of the study of moisture taken from one of the crying icons, it was established that "these are real tears." The world is not harassed from the substance of the icon, but arises on it “from nothing” (in the broad sense of the word in modern literature, myrrh-streaming refers to any miraculous manifestation of moisture on icons and sacred objects).

The appearance, color, and consistency of the resulting liquid are different: from thick, viscous resin to dew, which is why they sometimes speak of "flowing" or "growing". It may have a fragrant aroma reminiscent of the smells of flowers (roses, jasmine) or frankincense. The shape and size of the droplets are also very different. Sometimes they cover the whole image, sometimes they seem to flow from certain points. There were times when the world flowed from the bottom up, contrary to the law of gravity. Miro may disappear for a while, and then appear again.

Some explain this phenomenon by the fact that many icon lamps burn in temples, oil evaporates, and in a cold place it condenses in the form of drops. In some cases, the condensation surface may be a colorful layer of icons.

However, oil lamp oil is known to be a mineral raw material, it is a product of the distillation of oil, and oil flowing from the icons is of organic origin, similar to vegetable. These are two different classes of chemicals that cannot be confused. And it is impossible to turn one into another - this would be a miracle, more incredible than the end of the world. In addition, be it condensation, for what reason does it occur only on icons? Have we seen drops of oil on the walls, ceiling, on the temple floor? And what about the "crying" icons in the homes of ordinary people, where only one lamp is lit?

An experiment was conducted in a house where there was a massive myrrh-streaming: on the table lay several icons with wide gaps between them. Not only the icons were covered with large drops of oil. It appeared in between. An expert physicist put a simple cardboard icon on the table next to the already oiled owners' icons. Just before his eyes a clean, "miraculous" icon was covered with three oil stains. Within an hour, these spots increased in size. Large drops of oil rolled off her.

Science helps to separate trivial cases from unique and inexplicable ones, without involving extra-natural rational forces. In particular, physics helps to evaluate the process of myrrh-streaming and the power of a myrrh-streaming icon, which is comparable to the capacity of a nuclear power plant. Such a phenomenon in life occurs only in the case of a nuclear transformation, when during the explosion of a nuclear bomb a substance is converted into energy. Theoretically, energy can be converted back into matter. Nobody has proved that science can describe all the phenomena of the material world.

Miracles with icons

Icons in temples or houses are sacred due to their spiritual content and meaning. But some are chosen by the providence of God for special signs. The indescribable light emanating from them, the fragrance, the holy world - material manifestations of the highland world, the Kingdom of God.

The history of Orthodoxy has about a thousand images, famous for miracles. The main reason for honoring the image of the miraculous was the certified gift of specific help to a person. Sometimes this help was preceded or accompanied by some supernatural event: the Mother of God Himself came in a dream or in a vision and told where and how to find Her image: the icons walked through the air, descended or rose by themselves; from them it was observed: radiance upon their acquisition, a fragrance emanated, a voice sounded; the icon itself was updated or animated image on it.

Some images miraculously exuded blood and tears. The outflow of blood, usually came from the wound inflicted on the image - to admonish people who insulted the shrine. Tears flowing from the eyes of the Most Holy Theotokos were perceived both as a sign of the sorrow of the Mother of God about the sins of men, and as a sign of the mercy of the Lady who was crying for Her children. In 1854, the Bishop of Romance, Melchizedek, became one of the eyewitnesses to the end of tears from the icon, which later received the name "Weeping" (in the Romanian Sokolsky Monastery).

Among the phenomena associated with icons, there is, although much less often, a doubling of imagery on the glass protecting the icon. As if an invisible diamond cutter draws on it the contours of an icon-plot. In this case, such a phenomenon has never been heard in museums and art galleries, where paintings are stored. It turns out that the phenomenon has a selective nature, it is associated with the meaning depicted on the icon, and sometimes with the events taking place. This reality is beyond what we used to call science.

Phenomenon of Angels

An extraordinary miracle is the ethereal form of entities, enormous growth, shining with moonlight.

Such creatures are found in space in our time. They were observed repeatedly by both our and American cosmonauts. In the distant 1985, when the Soviet space program was on the rise, and it was not customary to talk about emergency situations in space, the unforeseen happened on the Salyut-7 space station. Passed the 155th day of the flight. A crew of six people: three "old-timers" - Leonid Kizim, Oleg Atkov, Vladimir Solovyov - and "guests" - Svetlana Savitskaya, Igor Volk, Vladimir Dzhanibekov - were engaged in the planned experiments.

Suddenly, a large cloud of orange gas of unknown origin appeared on the way of the Salyut station. While the astronauts were at a loss what it might be, and the Flight Control Center analyzed the messages received from the station, Salyut-7 entered the cloud. For a moment, it seemed that the orange gas had penetrated inside the orbital complex. An orange glow surrounded each astronaut, blinding and depriving them of the opportunity to see what was happening. Fortunately, vision returned almost immediately. Rushing to the porthole, the astronauts were numb - on that side of the heavy-duty glass, in an orange cloud of gas, 7 figures of incredible size were clearly visible.

None of the crew doubted: in space before them creations of light soared - heavenly angels!

Almost like people, they were still different. And it's not about huge wings or dazzling halos around their heads. The main difference was the expression on their faces. As if they felt a glance on themselves, the angels turned their faces to people. “They smiled,” the astronauts later said. - It was not a smile of greeting, but a smile of delight and joy. We don’t smile like that. ” The ship's clock counted impassively 10 minutes. After this time, the angels accompanying the station disappeared. The orange cloud also disappeared, leaving a feeling of inexplicable loss in the souls of the astronauts.

When the flight managers got acquainted with the report on the incident, the report immediately received the signature stamp.

Now, when much has been made public, it turned out that American cosmonauts met angels many times in space. They were even photographed using the Hubble Orbital Telescope. The appearance of angels was also noted by the equipment of research satellites.

Comparatively recently, the Hubble telescope again presented a surprise. During the study of the galaxy NGG-3532, Hubble sensors detected the appearance of seven bright objects in the orbit of our planet. Some of the photographs taken later showed a bit blurry, but still distinguishable figures of luminous winged creatures resembling biblical angels! “They were about 20 meters tall,” said John Pratchers, Hubble project engineer. - Their wings reached the wingspan of modern airbuses. These creatures radiated an incredible glow. We cannot yet say who or what they are. But, as it seemed to us, they wanted to be photographed. "

Imperishable relics

The relics of the saints remain incorrupt for many centuries. Is it possible from a scientific point of view to explain their miraculous power? Studies of the burial places of saints in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra have revealed powerful biological radiation that comes from the relics. An experiment was conducted: elite wheat seeds were irradiated in the laboratory with 13,000 x-rays, and after they were applied to the shrines, as if “irradiated” with divine energy. The result exceeded all expectations: the seeds that had visited the icons and relics gave friendly shoots. And the seeds, which were not applied to the shrines, dried out, despite good watering and fertilized soil.

Usually, miraculous healings of icons and relics are explained by auto-suggestion. But experience with seeds proved that the psychological aspect had nothing to do with it. And how many babies are healed. It would be possible to consider all examples as a mere coincidence, but there are doctors' dissertations that describe cases of healing hopeless patients. From a medical point of view, they cannot be explained.

A few years ago, a cedar sarcophagus was opened in Buryatia with the body of the Hombo Lama (Supreme Lama of Buryatia) Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov XII. In 1927, anticipating the approaching reprisal against the servants of the Buddhist cult, the hombo lama sat in a lotus position and plunged into meditation. After some time, he fell silent. According to the will of the teacher, the students placed his lifeless body in the sarcophagus and laid odorous herbs nearby. Having opened, almost according to the will of the deceased, the sarcophagus after 30 and 75 years, the Buddhists became convinced of the incorruptibility of the body.

In 2002, the seated hombo-lama was moved to Ivolginsky datsan, where believers can see it and study it by specialists. Recent analyzes of the body and organs, which were carried out relatively recently by a group of forensic experts, confirmed that the body has no signs of decay, the joints remain mobile, and the skin is resilient, occasional small cuts allow you to see a red gelatinous fluid that resembles blood.

Meditation can work miracles. The fantastic power of psychic energy is demonstrated. The Hombo Lama deliberately introduced himself into lethargy, in which the metabolism was reduced to almost zero. It is possible to fully admit that the Buddhist priest is still alive, we simply have not encountered such a form of existence before.

It happens this way: a miracle remains a fact of consciousness, but does not affect the depths of the soul, has no spiritual consequences. Indifference to a miracle probably prevents him from showing up again. The meaning of a miracle is to awaken a sense of faith. Only the manifestation of absolute faith stimulates the appearance of a miracle. Internal forces awaken the unknown and induce manifestations of unusual, miraculous phenomena.

What is a miracle? "The statutes in You are conquered by nature, the Virgin is pure ..." - is sung in church hymn on the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. That is, the blessing of the Virgin and her assumption, when she, after the end of her earthly life, was taken with the body to heaven, are supernatural phenomena that conquer habitual laws, natures “statutes”. And any divine miracle is the overcoming of ordinary physical laws.

But we know that the Lord Himself is the Creator and Lawgiver of physical charters and in His power, if necessary, repeal these laws.

Miracles are a supernatural, divine intervention in our lives.

Many of the miracles of the Savior are described in the gospel. He turned water into wine, healed the weakened, lepers, deaf, blind from birth, raised the dead, walked on the waters, prophesied, and fed several thousand loaves of bread. His followers, disciples - the holy apostles - also performed miracles (this is stated in the books of the New Testament). Many miracles are described in the lives of holy ascetics, in almost every life miracles are narrated. But both the apostles and the saints performed miracles not by themselves, but by the power of God. Only the Creator of laws can overcome, change these laws. You Can't Do Nothing Without Me   (John 15, 5). But the Lord often gives His saints gracious gifts to help people and glorify the name of God.

Miracles, signs, and cases of gracious help have been constantly performed in the history of the Church, they are being performed in our time and will not stop happening until the end of the century, while the Church of Christ stands. But even in the times of His earthly life, and now the Lord does not perform miracles too often. Otherwise there will be no place for the feat of our faith. Miracles, signs of God's power, are needed to strengthen faith, but there are never too many of them. In addition, a miracle must be earned, it is given by the faith of the supplicant.

But there are miracles in the life of the Orthodox Church that have been going on for many centuries. They comfort us, strengthen and testify to the truth of our faith. This is the miracle of the Holy Fire, the descent of the cloud on Mount Tabor on the day of the Transfiguration, the miracle of holy baptismal water, myrrh-streaming from holy icons and relics.

And in general, is not the whole life of the Church a single miracle? When the grace of God is constantly working in the sacraments of the church, when behind every liturgy the greatest miracle on earth happens - the conversion of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Savior! And every Christian who has experience in prayer and spiritual life, constantly feels in his life the supernatural presence of God, His strong and strong helping hand.

Vladimir Gubanov

From the book “Orthodox Miracles in the 20th Century”.

Fictional Stories

Shrewd Melania

In the Yelets Znamensky Monastery, the recluse Melanya was famous for her insight. Once, the nun Love, who had long suffered from a tumor, loomot and a serious illness in her legs, sent her novice to ask her holy prayers. Melaniya gave a novice a pinch of tea and ordered to immediately give the patient a drink. In the morning the patient felt better and decided, relying on the Lord, not to disturb the hermit anymore because of her health. After some time, already on another delu, she again sent her novice to Melania.

On the way, the novice reflected in herself: “Surely, our recluse is the servant of God!” With this thought and making a prayer, she knocked on Melania’s window. The door immediately opened, and Melania harshly told her:

- What do you call me ?! I am a beggar, blind! If you call me that, forget the way here! Tell the sick nun that she’ll buy a little fist through a deal, but she’ll bring it to me.

And it came true. The patient recovered without medicines, to the amazement of all, and on the appointed day she herself brought the kalachis to her healer.

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Participants and cathedrals

The story of mother Helena (servants of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the village of Nikolsko-Trubetskoy, Moscow Region).

A pious woman has a relative who has died. She prayed to God for his salvation, so that after death he would follow Eternal Life, regularly ordered magpies, funeral services, filed notes on his repose ... In general, she did everything she could. Unaware of his fate in that world, she was very tormented and humbly asked:
“Lord, if you please, reveal to me what happened to him after death, where is he?”
And then one day, a few days after such an appeal to God, she sees a dream: a long, long line, and this line is moving somewhere, people are going somewhere, in a column. And at the end there are some ragged, untidy, very emaciated people ... And in the very tail of the column, after all, her dead relative weaves. She asks him:
- And you go?
“I'm coming,” he answered sadly.
- Why are you so behind? She asked.
He sighed and said, pointing to those going forward:
- But who? All participants and cathedrals. And I - who? .. - And he sadly waved his hand ...
Great power of the Orthodox Sacraments! Both here and in the next world - how they help! God is alone everywhere! ..
Orthodox catches a fish

This story was told by a priest, Father Ioann from the Balashikha Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. It happened in Ukraine at a time when it had not yet separated from the Soviet Union. His uncle went fishing. Many non-Orthodox live in that place: Catholics, Uniates, members of various sects.
Comes to the river. Lays fishing rods. Everything baptizes earnestly, in the Orthodox. Baptizes the river in front of him. A few minutes pass and a fish hangs on the hook. He removes it from the hook, throws it again, is baptized. Again the fish. And so one by one ... Other fishermen are catching nearby. But they do not bite. Some take a closer look at him, but nothing comes of it anyway. Having taken a full charge, he, looking victoriously at the heterodox, goes home. They sit in his place, but they still do not bite.

“I think,” says Father John, “that it was for edification by him non-Orthodox, and not because my uncle was so pious. By this miracle, the Lord wanted to show what faith is truly true. ”

In the spring of 2000, an amazing miracle happened in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, a miracle that was available for everyone to see, and which continues to be so to this day. - On the glass of the icon case of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God the rector of the Temple of Fr. Leonid Grigoriev (a graduate of the Mechmath of Moscow State University) and his assistant the psalmist of the Temple Nikolai Konstantinovich Plagidov unexpectedly discovered the imprint of the icon. O. Leonid first thought that it simply settled the dust, but when you try to erase, the image did not disappear ...

All the employees of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the village of Velyaminovo, Domodedovo District, and especially the icon painter Nikolai Plagidov, were in a state of slight shock for several days: the Kazan icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which Nikolai painted for the church in 1999, was displayed on glass.

As the rector of the church priest Leonid Grigoryev said, this icon was one of the first to appear in the church and immediately attracted attention. Even Bishop Juvenal, who shortly after the opening of the church celebrated the Divine Liturgy here, noted it and asked who painted this icon. And Vladyka in his lifetime saw a lot of icons, but it was this one that somehow attracted his attention. Now we can say why - the grace of God was upon her.

For a long time, the Kazan icon was in the iconostasis, then it was transferred to the altar. Now a new iconostasis is being erected in the church and some time ago they began to raise funds to decorate it - on the condition that each of the parishioners can order one or another icon with their own money. And then one woman showed up, who expressed a desire to order the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God for the iconostasis. This desire, as the woman explained, was dictated by an unusual dream in which she saw the appearance of this particular icon.

Since Kazan, as we already know, has been in the church for several years, it was she who was offered to the donor to consider her "her", accepting her gift to the church. She agreed. She really liked the icon. The only thing she asked was for the icon to be transferred from the altar to such a place in the temple that it could be applied to it. And this desire was fulfilled.

After a while, the woman came again and donated a gold chain with a pendant, wishing that this jewelry was placed under glass near the icon of the Kazan Mother of God. This was problematic: Nikolai Plagidov recalled that at one time he had not without difficulty inserted the image into the icon case. Now he will have to take it out, then insert it again ... The donor was offered to hang the decoration on another icon - the “Mammal”, which is revered in the church as miraculous and is already decorated with numerous gifts as a sign of someone’s healing or other kind of help through the prayers of the Most Holy Virgin Mary. But the woman was adamant: she brought this jewelry precisely for Kazan.

And on Saturday, after evening service on the feast of the holy glorious apostle and evangelist John, the icon was carefully removed from the icon case. And when they took it out, they froze in astonished silence: the image of the Virgin was clearly repeated on the glass, only in a negative black and white image.

   “We announced this to all our parishioners,” Father Leonid concluded his story, “and strengthened the prayer to the Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

The most amazing thing is that this is the second case in the Domodedovo district in a very short period of time. At the first week of Lent, a similar incident occurred in the temple of Flora and Lavra in the village of Yam. One pious parishioner brought to the temple for restoration the old Iveron icon of the Mother of God, which was inherited from her relatives. Actually, it was necessary to restore the icon case - the icon fell from the wall, and the old dry tree could not stand it, it split. In this case, the glass remained intact. And when the restorers dismantled the icon case, removed the icon from it, then they saw its image on the glass in negative (http://pravicon.com/images/icon/0126/0126068.jpg).

Apparently, the Veliaminovsky miracle was also revealed during Great Lent - only at the last week. Eyewitnesses recall that a slight haze, like a clouding of glass, appeared around this time. Just then no one attached much importance to this.

O. Leonid, although he did not doubt the miraculous nature of the image (falsification was excluded, if only because it was well known who had the keys to the Temple), turned to the dean with a request to examine the unusual phenomenon. He came to the Temple, but not alone, but with a commission of the Institute of Forensics at the FSB, led by the director of the said institute, a full member of the RAS ...

After the analysis, the commission came to the conclusion that the image was not made by hands. A similar conclusion was reached by the commission for the study of miracles at the Moscow Patriarchate and specialists from the Institute named after Surikov. The miracle of the appearance of the miraculous imprint was also witnessed by Metropolitan Juvenal Krutitsky and Kolomensky, who heads parishes of the Moscow Region.

After the discovery of the miraculous imprint on the glass, this glass was removed from the icon and installed next to it, so that everyone who came to the Temple could calmly and in detail examine the extraordinary phenomenon that is possible to this day. At first, the miraculous image was a whitish imprint from the icon, as if made in one tone, but over time, as the parishioners of the Temple noticed and that was confirmed by specialists from the Institute. Surikov, the printed image began to take on different tones, so that the entire print so far resembles a negative black and white photograph from the icon.

Icon Location: Address: 142063, Moscow Region, Domodedovo District, s. Velyaminovo (67th km of the Kashirsky highway). Directions: from Moscow by electric train from the Paveletsky railway station to the station. Velyaminovo, then on foot or by bus - about 4 km.

Information used:
   1) article by N. Kolchurinsky (http://www.rus-sky.com/miracles/pic55.htm)
   2) http://profi-rus.narod.ru/pravoslavie/text/3ch/bogorodica.htm

Salvation from a deadly disease

In a letter from the city of Penza, received on August 20, 1903, Alexandra Petrovna Agrinskaya reported the following: Her only son, Vladimir, 15 years old, became ill with bladder inflammation and suffered so much that he asked his mother to pray for his death; the mother prayed that she and her son would die. It was July 21st. Vladimir prayed then to the Rev. Father Seraphim (Sarovsky - Ed.); the next day, July 22, the landlady of their apartment brought the sick man a newspaper in which he read about the miracles from the reverend and wished to serve a moleben; asked the mother to invite the priest with the icon of the reverend, which was then done, and the prayer service was served. All night after this, on July 23, the patient was asleep, and in the morning he announced to his mother that everything had passed, even a tumor that did not allow him to sit, as it did.

The writer informs of this marvelous healing for the glorification of the newly appeared saint of God and the miracle worker, Rev. Father Seraphim ...

Painter Shishkov: Miraculously painted icon

It was in Moscow in 1917. I ordered the painter the image of the Savior of the suffering, in a crown of thorns. He wrote with great zeal. The painter himself told me:

  - When I wrote this image - I drove a brush over it, an invisible hand moved by itself with my hand. And it turned out wonderfully!

When I finished writing, I was surprised at how wonderful it turned out. The Lord helped me, a sinner, write according to your faith. How happy you are! You see, you love holy icons. So the Lord helped me write so well.

On the corner of the icon he put his signature: Shishkov.

Once a master painter came to me. I told him about the painter Shishkov. The master carefully examined the icon and says:

  - Yes, the letter is wonderful. Very well written, like a living. But only I will tell you that he didn’t write it, he doesn’t know how to write it, he gave it to someone. I know him well.

So he left, not believing that he painted the icon of Shishkov.

Divine inspiration has accomplished that which is beyond the power of man. Indeed, the power of God in our weakness is accomplished, and many of God's miracles seem incredible.

Temple healing

At the age of 30, I was completely sick: chronic indigestion, complete nervous exhaustion, severe headaches, loss of ability to read and talk for more than ten minutes (then my head started to hurt, and my mind became foggy). I then lived in the city of Murom and had no opportunity to be treated.

On one of the feasts of the Virgin, at the All-night service, for the first time in my life I turned with a fervent prayer to the Mother of God:

  - I can endure a constant illness of the stomach, but I can’t live without labor, without reading spiritual books and spiritual conversations.

I prayed fervently for my healing. When I went up to the priest, kissed the festive icon of the Virgin, received the anointing with oil and tasted the blessed bread, I felt: the thoughts in my head became completely clear - a certain force infused me. There was not a trace of my head disease and nerve disorder. Moreover, I got the ability to talk and talk or read any number of hours without the slightest fatigue.

My stomach disease remained, but I did not ask for his healing; I patiently endure the disease, remembering that the power of God in our weakness is fulfilled and the apostle suffered the same diseases (I Tim. 5, 23).

God stopped the fire

In the summer of 1984, forests in the Chernobyl region caught fire. The fire was approaching the village of Kotsyubinsky. Several believers, mostly elderly people, came out with an icon to meet the raging fire. Forest fire subsided, bypassed the village and rekindled with renewed vigor.

This is one of the many miracles that God does through the prayers of believers and the intercession of saints, our heavenly patrons. During a fire, they usually take out the icon of the Mother of God, called the "Burning Cupid."

Orthodox catches a fish

This story was told by priest John from the Balashikha Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. It happened in Ukraine at a time when it had not yet separated from Russia and other countries.

His uncle went fishing. Many non-Orthodox live in that place: Catholics, Uniates, various sectarians.

Comes to the river. Lays fishing rods. Everything baptizes earnestly, in the Orthodox. Baptizes the river in front of him. A few moments pass and a fish hangs on the hook. He removes it from the hook, throws it again, is baptized. Again the fish. And so one by one ...

Next to him are other fishermen. But they do not bite. Some take a closer look at him, but nothing comes of it anyway. Having taken a full charge, he, looking victoriously at the heterodox, goes home. They sit in his place, but they still do not bite.

  “I think,” says Father John, “that it was for edification by him, not Orthodox, and not because my uncle was so pious.” By this miracle, God wanted to show what faith is true.