some stories for St Nicolas Day

A General Sharing: From Archimandrite Alexius in the UK: A thank you, greetings & some stories for St Nicolas Day, and short History of The Holy Myrrh Streaming Icon of St. Nicholas    Inbox

Dan Everiss <oregdan@hotmail.com> Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 1:31 PM Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original Troparion to St. Nicholas, tone 4: "The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock, as a rule of faith, a model of meekness, and a teacher of temperance; therefore thou hast won the heights by humility, riches by poverty. O Holy Father and Hierarch Nicholas, intercede with Christ Our God, that He may save our souls!" O Holy Father Nicholas, Pray to God for Us! From: Archimandrite Alexis <theshepherd@mac.com> Sent: Monday, December 18, 2017 9:45 AM To: Archimandrite Alexis Subject: A thank you, greetings & some stories for St Nicolas Day      The miraculous Myrrh-Streaming Icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, in the custody of Fr. Elias Warnke in Las Vegas Dear-in-Christ Everyone, bless! First of all many thanks to all of you who sent greetings to Father Sabbas for his Name Day today.  God bless you for having him in your prayers. Secondly, apologies that I have not sent greetings to all the Nicolases, Nicola’s, Nicoleta, etc, who celebrate tomorrow.  Having been ill for the last few days and largely confined to bed, I simply did not find the time or energy, especially as there are so many of you.  Please forgive me, and accept a general greeting now: Through the prayers of your holy Guardian Angel and of the holy Hierarch Nicolas the Wonderworker may you receive guidance and strength in your Christian struggle.  Many Years! Thinking of my failure in this regard, I remembered a story told me by the late Archimandrite Nicanor, who served in the old Russian Cathedral at Emperor’s Gate and later at the Convent of the Annunciation in Willesden (where there will be a Liturgy tomorrow - Fr Borislav serving).  Fr Nicanor was Russian and born and raised in Russia, as an emigré he settled in Serbia and lived there for decades before coming to England. His baptismal name was Nicolas, but when he was widowed he became a monk with the name Nicanor. He once told me that in rural areas of Old Russia the priests often very largely depended for his living on the freewill offerings made by their parishioner on their name days, when they would have a moleben chanted and give the priest some of their produce to help support him and his family.  Now, he did not want to have tons of potatoes or carrots on St Nicolas day or on St Sts Constantine and Elena, or St Andrew’s (let us not even think about St Natalia’s!), and then have nothing for the rest of the year.  So the custom grew up that the priest himself would choose the names of new-born babies, then he could space the name days throughout the year.  I have no idea whether this was general practice, but suspect it was used because in the books of commemoration of the first emigrés, one does find very unusual names, Anempodistus, Gorgius, Exacustodion, and the like.  And I distinctly remember an Or!  But I have often wondered whether it would not be a good idea to re-introduce this noble custom! Pray for us. With love in Christ Jesus, A, Sinner Now, two reports sent us today by Matushka Irina Dutikow: From: Dutikow  Holy Myrrh-Streaming Icon of Saint Nicholas  -this icon is a simple paper print reproduction   Here is one account:  In June 1997 my parishioner Tatiana was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer - Non-Hodgkin's Mantle Cell Lymphoma and was given 18 months to live. Tatiana is in her 50's but looks much older than her age because of numerous chemotherapy treatments. Her weight reached a mere 82 lbs. In February 1999, Fr. Elias Warnke came to Washington with the Holy Icon for a three-day visit. I wanted to take the Icon to Tanya's home and serve a moleben, but she categorically refused, insisting that she would come to church to pray in person. It was heart wrenching to observe her, literally a living skeleton, dragging herself to church and fervently praying before the wonder-working image of St. Nicholas. Two days later, Tatiana went to her physician's office for another session of chemotherapy. The doctor examined her and to his amazement discovered that the cancerous tumors in her lymph nodes were gone. He was completely at a loss for an answer but told Tanya that she should go home and rest for a month from further chemotherapy treatments. A month later Tatiana returned to her doctor. He ordered blood tests, a CAT scan and other tests. All of the results were negative. The doctor was perplexed, because what he encountered was medically impossible. He told Tanya that she was in total remission. That was a year ago. Since then the handmaid of God Tatiana is regaining her strength and looking forward to joining us for common prayers of thanksgiving for God's great mercy. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And here is when the Holy Icon was discovered streaming myrrh:   This is the story of the miracle. On the morning of December 6/19, 1996, I, Fr. Elias Warnke, arrived with the reader Timothy Tadros at our Church of St. George the Great Martyr in Michigan City Indiana.  It was the Feast Day of St. Nicholas.  St. Nicholas is one of the major feast days in the ecclesiastical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church.  It was the Tsar-martyr Nicholas, of the same name of our Bishop that supported our Church in its beginnings with financial aid.  He gave the Church our first icons for the icon screen including the icon of St. Nicholas and a gold missionary cross for the first priest of the parish, the Rev. Anthony Abu-Alam Farrah, my great uncle.On this snowy morning at about 6:30 a.m. when we opened the door of the Church and came into the narthex, the reader and I were engulfed in a sweet fragrance of roses that one finds during the hot summer months.  I was curious about the fragrance.  It appeared to be coming from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.  We opened the door to the nave and the fragrance became even more powerful, but not overbearing.   It was like it was inside of us so that we felt it.  This was also evidenced by the fact that both Timothy and I had colds which left us congested and unable to smell much.   We turned on the lights and Timothy began to look around the Church for the source of the fragrance.  I looked toward the Royal Doors of the altar area and saw that the icon of St. Nicholas was still on the icon stand from last Sunday’s Liturgy.  It had three glistening streams pouring from it.  My whole body became flushed and rigid, feeling as if my heart seemed to fall through the floor.  Through my tears, I said, “its St. Nicholas.”  I could not even tell if it was me saying it. I seemed to be rooted to the spot unable to approach the icon.  After a few minutes which seemed like an hour, I was able to join Timothy at the icon where he was already doing prostrations before the icon.  I looked at the icon and determined what was happening and observed that from the very top of the Saint’s forehead liquid was streaming down over the face in three separate rivulets.  One was coming down the center across the nose and two on either side, which appeared to go around the eyes and on to the bottom of the icon, which was slightly inclined for veneration.  Though the fragrance was very prevalent, it still did not appear to be coming directly from the icon, but it permeated everything.  As I tried to discern what was happening before me, I went through a range of emotions starting with fear which turned to sadness and then to bittersweet joy.  This was not the first time that our Lord had chosen me to be a witness to His glory.  A little more than three years before, while serving the Divine Liturgy in another Church dedicated to the All-Holy Trinity, He blessed me to see myrrh beginning to stream from the wounds made by the crown of thorns in an icon of the Crucified Jesus.  This manifestation transformed me from a Christian who rationalized Faith to a true believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, eventually leading me to seek salvation for my wretched soul.  Because of my past experience, I was cautious, being careful not to  allow  demonic delusion to prey on me in order to draw me into the trap of rationalization.  We should remember that our Lord is infinite and His determines all things that happen in our lives.  I put on my priest’s stole and lifted the icon to examine the bottom of it which appeared to be dry.  It is important to note that this icon is a simple paper print reproduction, sealed with plastic lamination and then glued to a wood board.  That which makes this icon uniquely different from other icons is a relic of St. Nicholas which is attached to the lower right hand corner of the icon. This icon was given to our Church by the abbot Simeon of St. Isaac of Syria Skete in Wisconsin where the icon was made.  The monks have very strict standards by which they produce the icons, this was one had not passed inspection and was put in the reject bin to be given away as a gift to visitors.  This is how it was given to me when I visited the Monastery as a pilgrim.  The liquid myrrh appeared to be coming right through the plastic laminate.  I questioned Timothy about his recent visits to the Church since Sunday the last time I was there and he told me that he had not been there for two days.  I did not suspect any human intervention since only Timothy, reader George Mixis and I have keys to the Church. We praised God for the miracle of myrrh that was streaming from the icon.  I went into the altar area and I took some cotton balls and I placed them at the bottom of the icon in order to absorb the myrrh that was collecting there.  The myrrh appeared clear on the icon and yet on the cotton it appeared golden in color and very fragrant.  I touched some of it to my tongue.  It was very bitter and it numbed my tongue immediately.   Since it was so early in the morning we decided not to try to contact Archbishop until we could reach him after the Divine Liturgy.  Later that afternoon, after I had privately said the prayers of exorcism over the icon and touched the blessing cross to it to assure myself of its divine manifestation, I was able to contact Fr. Andrei Sommer, the Chancellor of the Diocese and tell him of the incident.  He informed the Archbishop and it was decided that we should bring the icon to the Cathedral for the Archbishop’s inspection the next day.  It is about an hour and a half drive to the Cathedral.  Later in the day the Abbess and nuns from the local Serbian Orthodox Convent came to join us in saying the Akathist Hymn to St. Nicholas.  During the Hymn the myrrh began to flow even more freely. All those in attendance witnessed this miracle unfolding before their very eyes.  All of us, with tears in our eyes and joy in our hearts, as one, felt the presence of our Holy Hierarch Saint Nicholas and rejoiced in his wonder-working intercession and love for us.  The myrrh has been streaming from the icon ever since.  Remember now that these miraculous manifestations begin in December of 1996 and it continues to frame of copper and semiprecious stones for the icon.  Recently during a visit to our Cathedral parish of St. Nicholas in Sao Paulo, Brazil the icon was presented with a silver frame which is how it appears today.  The Icon has visited many Churches in North and South America and the myrrh has found its way to many countries in the world.  Many miracles have been attributed to its anointing of many sick and infirm people. *Added notes: To my knowledge, the original painted/'written'  icon, was made on Mt. Athos, and this one is a colour photographic print, produced from that painted icon. And, I myself have experienced many helps and rescues from St. Nicholas in my life, including blessings to my ailing body, from the prayerful application of the fragrant holy myrrh from this icon in Las Vegas, which is in the custody of Fr. Elias Warnke. retired Reader Daniel Everiss in Oregon