Gospel parable about the talents. Interpretations on Matthew

In Orthodoxy, the veneration of the Myrrh-streaming Iveron-Montreal Icon of the Mother of God as miraculous has become established. It was written from the Athonite original of the Iveron Gatekeeper (Gatekeeper). There is ample evidence that the Montreal List flowed almost continuously for 15 years (from 1982 to 1997). All these years, the image was kept by the custodian Joseph Muñoz-Cortez.

Biographical portrait of the keeper

Joseph (Jose) Muñoz-Cortez was born on May 13, 1948. The boy was born to pious Catholic parents. They belonged to a Spanish aristocratic family and lived in the city of Valparaiso. Jose discovered the makings of a painter as a child. The boy and his parents wanted Jose to become an artist.

When the teenager was 14 years old and living with his parents in Santiago, a wonderful event happened. Jose was heading to the Catholic Church. On the way, he heard wonderful singing. It came from the open church doors. It was the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. Jose couldn't resist going inside.

The decoration of the church, the beauty of the icons and the services made a huge impression on Jose. Since then, the teenager began attending the Orthodox Church. 2 years later, with the permission of his mother, Jose was baptized into Orthodoxy by Archbishop Leonty of Chile.

Joseph studied at an Orthodox college for three years, studying icon painting. Chile did not have a large number of masters in this matter. So Joseph went to Montreal, Canada. Vitaly, Archbishop of Canada and Montreal, invited Joseph to move to the monastic monastery of St. Job of Pochaev, also in Montreal. Soon after the move, Joseph becomes a teacher at the University of Montreal. Reads art history.

The history of the creation of the icon, its acquisition

In the fall of 1982, the Lord called Joseph to a special ministry. The Chilean-Canadian icon painter made a pilgrimage to Holy Mount Athos. In the workshop of the Nativity of the Savior monastery, Muñoz-Cortes was shocked by the meeting with the iconographic face of the Iveron Mother of God. The image was painted a year before this event by the Greek hieromonk Chrysostom. The list is made from the legendary Iverskaya Goalkeeper.

Joseph decided to purchase an icon and asked to sell him the image. But a refusal was received. Then Joseph turned with prayers to the Mother of God. The young pilgrim asked permission to take the image to the American continent.

It was the last day of Joseph's stay on Mount Athos. Literally before leaving, when leaving the gates of the monastery, Muñoz-Cortes was stopped by Schema-Abbot Clement. He presented Joseph with a most precious gift - a list from the Iverskaya Goalkeeper that amazed the pilgrim.

On the way to the Athonite port of Daphne, Joseph heard a command. Fulfilling it, Muñoz-Cortes went to the walls of the Iveron Monastery. The pilgrim applied the list handed to him to the miraculous face of the Goalkeeper. Upon returning to Montreal, Joseph placed the brought icon in his room. He spent every night reading in front of the Akathist.

Manifestation of miraculous power

On November 24, 1982, at about 3 a.m., Joseph woke up in his Montreal apartment to a strong fragrance. At first he thought the scent was coming from a spilled bottle of perfume. Then Joseph considered the relics to be the source of the pleasant smell. When Munoz-Cortez approached the brought list, he was amazed.

The face of the Mother of God was covered with fragrant myrrh. At first, oily moisture oozed from the hands of the Mother of God and the Child of God. The star located on the right shoulder of the Ever-Virgin also streamed myrrh. These manifestations were interpreted as symbolic blessings.

During one of the services during Lent (1985), the glass of the icon case and frame began to highlight the myrrh. The aromatic oil appeared in such abundance that it soaked the cover of the lectern. We first saw tears on the icon in August 1991.

Only before Easter, during the last 6 days of Lent (Holy Week), did the icon become dry. But again light dew appeared on the iconographic face on the morning of Holy Saturday. During the morning Easter service and religious procession, fragrant moisture oozed even onto the hands of the one carrying the shrine. The back side of the icon remained completely dry.

Fragrant oil usually appeared during prayers or shortly after them. The amount of moisture emitted depended on the religious event and the prayerful zeal of those present.

Miro could unexpectedly resume after the expiration ceased. When visiting the Boston monastery, fragrant moisture flowed out in streams. But when the icon was moved to a nearby parish, the image stopped streaming myrrh. After the return of the Iveron-Montreal icon-painting face to the monastery, the unctuous flow resumed with extraordinary force.

The mystery of such signs haunted many skeptics. They assumed that a fragrant liquid was deliberately introduced from the back side. One scientist from Miami carefully examined the shrine from all sides. He established the completely dry condition of the reverse side of the icon. I had to admit that the miraculous image was written on an ordinary board. It was not possible to detect any internal cavities or foreign inclusions. Then the scientist recognized the greatest miracle of the twentieth century.

The tragic and martyrdom of the guardian

Joseph Muñoz-Cortez visited a large number of parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad with the miraculous shrine. The icons were seen by lay people visiting Orthodox Old Calendar churches in Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, the USA, France and other countries.

Muñoz-Cortes often returned to the Holy Mountain with the icon, and Joseph Athos visited in the summer of 1996. He wanted to say goodbye to Schema-Abbot Clement, who handed Cortes the miraculous list. The schema-monk warned Joseph that in a year (1997) terrible events would happen.

In 1997, Joseph visited the monastery of St. Nicholas on the island of Andros. He was accompanied by priest Alexander Ivashevich. The ancient wall face of the Mother of God, located in the monastery, began to tear profusely. Muñoz-Cortez admitted to his companion that he expected something terrible to happen in the near future. A day later it happened.

On the night of October 30-31, 1997, when the satanic holiday of Halloween was celebrated, the Guardian of Our Lady of Iveron-Montreal was brutally killed. The circumstances of the tragic death are very mysterious. The miraculous icon disappeared without a trace.

Based on the investigation, it can be assumed that the Guardian was lured into a trap. To do this, they used the excuse that someone needed help. The examinations carried out prove the professionalism of the killers and torturers. Numerous bodily injuries proved that Joseph suffered martyrdom under torture.

13 days after his death, Joseph’s body was taken to the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Monastery (USA). The funeral service was planned to be held with a closed coffin. However, the will from above was different. The coffin was opened, and those present found no signs of decay on the mutilated body.

Two candles were placed on the grave of the tortured Muñoz-Cortez. They glowed without dying out in the windy cemetery for 7 hours. 40 days passed after the death of Joseph, and spontaneous combustion of candles occurred at his grave.

Miracles Revealed

Muñoz-Cortez took the shrine to many Orthodox parishes. Our Lady of Iveron-Montreal visited with her guardian many countries, on different continents. For believers in America, Europe, and Australia, the Image served as a source of all-merciful consolation and great joy.

Due to numerous requests, photographs were taken of the Iveron-Montreal icon. Some of them also streamed myrrh. Alexander Solzhenitsyn received one of the photographs of the Iveron-Montreal icon and cotton wool moistened with ointment. He wrote to Muñoz-Cortez that the healing icon heals not only bodies, but also sick souls.

Healing and fragrant mercy was poured out on the grieving and weak people who resorted to the Intercessor. Anointing with miraculous myrrh expelled the most serious illnesses (sometimes incurable) and revived dead souls.

Healings

There was always a tray near the Iveron-Montreal icon. On it lay the cotton wool used to collect myrrh. Then they were distributed and sent out to believers, those suffering, and those asking. It happened that dried cotton wool was miraculously filled with fragrant moisture again. Sometimes there was an increase in the world collected in the vessel.

There are many testimonies of miraculous healings that occurred after anointing the sick and praying. Similar messages came from recoveries from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Latvia, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden and other countries.

Germany

A boy of about five fell ill with an incurable disease. The child stopped eating, melted before our eyes, and died out like a candle. The parents took the boy to the hospital. They decided for themselves that they had given the child not to be cured, but to die.

But just in time, a cotton wool soaked in fragrant moisture from the Iveron-Montreal icon was sent from America. The following Saturday, the mother wiped her son’s body with this cotton wool. And on Monday morning the woman received a call from a nurse. In an excited voice she said: “Something incredible happened! The boy got out of bed and asked for food.”

Several days passed. The child quickly recovered. The illness finally subsided, the boy became completely healthy.

France

An elderly French woman came to venerate the Iveron-Montreal Myrrh-Streaming Icon. She was on crutches. Before leaving, the woman prayed next to the miraculous face. About a week later, this French woman arrived again without crutches. She spoke of a miraculous healing.

Literally the next day after visiting the icon, the woman got out of bed and reached for her crutches. But suddenly the Frenchwoman felt that she did not need support. Since then, the woman has managed without crutches.

In a clinic in the town of Vincennes (a suburb of Paris), 28-year-old Jean-Louis Georges lay with a crippled leg. After a road accident, the young man could not return to normal life for 2 years. Doctors decided to amputate.

The young Frenchman, who did not know God, gave in to despair and decided to take his own life. But very opportunely they told him about the existence of the Iveron-Montreal Myrrh-Streaming Icon. The shrine at that time was located 100 kilometers from Paris. Joseph brought the miraculous face to the Lesna convent. Jean-Louis Georges agreed to go to a meeting with the healing image.

When the prayer service ended, the priest moistened the cotton wool with the fragrant moisture oozing from the icon. This cotton wool was placed under the bandages of a sick Frenchman. However, Jean-Louis did not want to leave the church; he asked for confession. The priest explained to him that this was impossible, since the Frenchman was not Orthodox. But, heeding the young man’s pleas, the priest agreed to conduct a conversation. Jean-Louis passionately repented of his sinful intention to commit suicide.

That same day the young Frenchman left for Paris. At night, the bandages fell off my legs in the most miraculous way. The pus from the wounds began to disappear, the skin began to clear. When Jean-Louis was discharged from the clinic, he spoke about finding deep faith in a previously unknown God. The young Frenchman made it a rule to read the akathist to the Mother of God every day before the morning meal.

USA

In 1991, the Iveron-Montreal icon was brought to one of the churches in Los Angeles. A parishioner venerated the miraculous face. The woman was old and had difficulty moving because she was paralyzed.

Having venerated the image of the Most Pure One, the woman straightened up. Glorifying God and the Ever-Virgin, the healed woman easily left the temple.

Belgium

An ambulance brought a man to one of the Belgian hospitals. The nurse, being an Orthodox Christian, asked if the patient was dying. She was told that the man was already dead. The death occurred after suicide.

The nurse, using a cotton swab moistened with fragrant moisture from the Iveron-Montreal Myrrh-Streaming Icon, anointed the body of the deceased. At the same time, the woman asked the Mother of God to help the soul of the deceased.

The man opened his eyes and asked to call the priest. Having repented of what he had done, the man confessed. After this, the man lived for 2 days. None of the doctors were able to explain such a miraculous short-term return to life.

Russia

One day, a four-year-old boy failed to avoid being seriously injured. A child's small foot was caught in a faulty escalator staircase. The teeth caused a rather deep wound. It was impossible to watch the baby’s suffering without tears.

This boy’s relatives had cotton wool with healing moisture from the Iveron-Montreal Myrrh-Streaming Icon. Relatives fervently prayed to the Mother of God and smeared cotton wool around the wounds. The attending physician was amazed when he saw the wound healing quickly. The upcoming operation was canceled, and the boy was soon sent home.

Revival of love and harmony

The very presence of the Iveron-Montreal Mother of God unusually multiplied the gift of prayer. The liturgies at which the miraculous face was present were extremely fiery. Such services for the Orthodox Church are comparable to Easter services. The beneficial influence of the Montreal Most Pure One transformed the faithful and awakened those frozen in ossified beliefs.

Upon the arrival of the Iveron-Montreal Icon, peace, harmony, and love were revived in various places. So, parishioners of one community quarreled among themselves. The miraculous face helped to find the path to church unity, to unifying prayer.

The Iveron-Montreal icon contributed to the return of people to churches, to confession and communion. There is a known case when a poor woman found out about the death of her son. She was preparing to end her own life. But there was a sudden meeting with a miraculous face. The woman, touched to the greatest depths of her soul, repented. She immediately confessed her terrible intention.

Mysterious connections with the destinies of Russia

Although Joseph did not have the chance to bring the Iveron-Montreal Icon to the Russian expanses, the Miraculous Worker was in some mysterious way connected with Russia. A special thread connects the Image with the Russian New Martyrs.

In the Royal House of Romanov, the Mother of God the Goalkeeper was always revered. Gusodar Nikolai Alexandrovich, arriving in Moscow, venerated the miraculous iconographic face of the Iveron Icon from the chapel at the Resurrection Gate. On the eve of her coronation, Alexandra, the future Empress, prayed at night in the chapel and asked for the intercession of the Virgin Mary. Alexandra's sister, Elizabeth, the Grand Duchess, often sought the protection of the Almighty.

Muñoz placed the Iveron-Montreal icon next to the head scarf (apostle) of the Venerable Martyr Elizabeth Feodorovna. Her fragrant relics were discovered in Jerusalem in the year the Iveron-Montreal list was created (1981). The myrrh on this miraculous image appeared a year after the glorification of the Tsar-Martyr, members of his family, the host of New Martyrs, Confessors of Russia in the Cathedral of the Sign in New York. This Glorification took place on the night from October 31 to November 1, 1981. Many are inclined to view these facts as special signs of God's Favor towards the Passion-Bearers and their admirers.

The glory of the Iveron-Montreal Mother of God has gone beyond the bounds of the Orthodox Church. Many Catholics and Protestants came to honor the miraculous icon.

The Montreal Iveron Icon was painted on Mount Athos in 1981 by a Greek monk from the original icon of Our Lady of the Goalkeeper.

In 1982, this icon was brought from Mount Athos to Montreal by Joseph Muñoz Cortes, a Spaniard by birth who had long ago converted to Orthodoxy. This is what happened, says Joseph Muñoz: “On November 24, at three o’clock in the morning, I woke up from a strong fragrance. At first I thought that it came from the relics or a spilled bottle of perfume, but when I approached the icon, I was amazed: it was all covered with fragrant myrrh! I froze in place from such a miracle!”

Soon the myrrh-streaming icon was taken to the temple. Since then, the icon of the Mother of God has constantly streamed myrrh, with the exception of Holy Weeks.

It is remarkable that the myrrh flows mainly from the hands of the Mother of God and Christ, as well as the star located on the right shoulder of the Most Pure One. At the same time, the back side of the icon is always dry.

The presence of the myrrh-streaming icon with its fragrant myrrh spreads special grace. Thus, a paralyzed young man from Washington, by the grace of the Mother of God, was healed. In Montreal, the icon was brought to a seriously ill man who could not move. A prayer service and akathist were served. He soon recovered. The miraculous icon helped a woman suffering from a severe form of pneumonia. A fourteen-year-old girl suffered from a severe form of leukemia. Having high hopes for help from the miraculous icon, she asked to bring it to her. After prayer and anointing with chrism, the child's health began to improve rapidly and, to the surprise of her doctors, after some time the tumors disappeared.

The miraculous image has already visited America, Australia, New Zealand, and Western Europe. And everywhere this icon radiated peace and love.

First of all, believers are struck by the strong fragrance of the oil flowing from the hands of the Mother of God and Christ, and sometimes from the star depicted on the right shoulder of the Most Pure One. This distinguishes it from other miraculous icons, where tears flow from the eyes, as if the Mother of God is sobbing, whereas here She seems to be teaching Her blessing.

Myrrh usually appears during prayer or shortly after it, in quantities depending on the event or the prayerful zeal of those present. Sometimes it is so abundant that it appears through the protective glass and floods the support of the icon, the wall, the table. This happens on the days of great holidays, in particular on the Dormition of the Mother of God.

There were also cases when, after the expiration stopped, it resumed in an unexpected way. Thus, when visiting the Boston monastery, the myrrh flowed out in streams, but then completely dried up when the icon was transferred to a nearby parish. Upon returning to the monastery, the flow resumed so strongly that it overflowed. In another case, after the distribution of the world to 850 pilgrims, the icon turned out to be dry, but arriving the next day at the parish, where a mass of believers were waiting for it, it miraculously restored the flow of the world. Only once did the myrrh disappear and not expire for a relatively long time: during Holy Week 1983, from Holy Tuesday to Holy Saturday.

Myrrh flows down the icon, where pieces of cotton wool are placed. Once soaked, they are distributed to the pilgrims. It was noticed that although the ointment dries out quite quickly, the fragrance continues for a long time, sometimes months, and intensifies during especially fervent prayers. Often it fills the place where the icon was (room, car).

The mystery of these signs confuses many skeptics. Indeed, one could imagine that some kind of fragrant liquid was deliberately introduced from the back of the icon. In Miami, one scientist had the opportunity to examine the icon from all sides and, having established that it was completely dry from behind, came to the conclusion that we were talking about the greatest miracle of the 20th century. A special examination of part of the upper edge of the icon showed that the image was written on an ordinary wooden board that did not contain internal cavities or foreign inclusions. But such research has its limits. Thus, when skeptics wanted to make a sample of the world for the purpose of analysis, they were denied this, because such an act is disrespect for the Mother of God. “The icon is in front of you, and no one is urging you to recognize the miracle, it is up to you to believe or refuse to believe,” says Joseph Muñoz. A young man once answered him: “I see what is happening in front of me, but my mind is not able to believe it, but my heart believes it.”

Wherever this icon went, it spread love and harmony, as, for example, in one community, where quarreling parishioners again found the way to prayer and church unity. Her presence increases the fervor of prayer to such an extent that the liturgies celebrated with her can be compared with the Easter ones, so fiery in the Orthodox Church.

There are many known cases of people returning to church, confession, and communion. Thus, one poor woman, having learned about the death of her son, was preparing to take her own life, but, touched to the depths of her soul by the sight of the miraculous icon, she repented of her terrible intention and immediately confessed. The blessed influence of the Most Pure One awakens and transforms the faithful, who are often frozen in inert beliefs.

The fame of the icon spread widely beyond the Orthodox Church: many Catholics and Protestants came to honor it...

However, on the night of October 30-31, 1997, the keeper of the icon, Joseph Muñoz Cortes, was killed under mysterious circumstances, and the Miraculous Iveron disappeared without a trace...

JOSEPH MUÑOZ: “WE SHOULD NOT FEAR DEATH FOR CHRIST”

On the night of October 30-31, 1997, an event occurred that shocked the entire Orthodox world - Joseph Muñez-Cortes, the keeper of the miraculous myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God “Iverskaya” (Goalkeeper) was killed in Athens. On November 12, 1997, he was buried in the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York (USA). The House of Icons Society in Montreal published the following obituary:

“Fifteen years ago, in the fall of 1982, through ways unknown to the mind, an Orthodox Spaniard, a teacher of art history at the University of Montreal, was called by the Lord to a special ministry, which he had the opportunity to seal with his martyrdom. The ominous circumstances of the death of Brother Joseph are still far from clear, but in the face of this death one involuntarily asks questions that are far from those that form the subject of the police investigation. How did he feel when he first visited the Nativity monastery on Holy Mount Athos, where he was shocked by the image of the Iveron Mother of God, as if accidentally noticed by him? How did he understand the then words of the abbot of the monastery, Father Clement, who unexpectedly yielded to the requests of a visiting young icon painter and said: “The Blessed Virgin will leave with you”? What was the gradual realization of the miracle for him since that very day of November 24, 1982, when at about three o’clock in the morning Jose, waking up in his Montreal apartment, felt a fragrance coming from an unknown source?..

He was destined to be present at a miracle in a world that could not accommodate such a miracle, for the holy myrrh-streaming image of the Hope of the hopeless healed not only the bodies, but also the souls of those who turned to him, pacifying evil hearts, giving the gift of tears, helping to find hope. Whoever happened to see the faces of people - Orthodox and non-Orthodox - in numerous parish churches and monasteries, where Brother Joseph the Guardian brought the blessed, myrrh-streaming image of the Goalkeeper, who opens the doors of heaven to the faithful, handed to him, he could not help but feel, to the extent allotted to him, how terrible and overwhelming obedience is given to this man, and how unbearable it must be to the ancient serpent, the enemy of the Church of Christ.”

Let's touch on the fate of a man who, in our pragmatic, computerized and rational age, gave his life for an Orthodox shrine, according to the word of our Lord Jesus Christ: Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and slander you in every way unrighteously for My sake. Rejoice and be glad; for great is your reward in heaven... ().

A descendant of an ancient Spanish family, Joseph (Jose) Muñez-Cortez was born on May 13, 1948 into a pious Catholic family in Chile. When he was barely fourteen years old, on the way to the Catholic Cathedral, he got lost in the streets of Santiago and mistakenly entered an Orthodox church. That day, September 27, was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. The beauty of the decoration of the temple, icons and worship struck the youth, shook him to the depths of his soul, and from then on he began to visit this place. Two years later, Archbishop Leonty of Chile, with the knowledge of his mother, blessed him to convert to Orthodoxy. For three years, Joseph studied icon painting and theology at college. Having moved to Canada, he completed courses there at the School of Fine Arts and subsequently taught the history of icon painting at the University of Montreal. Joseph hoped to become a monk, but there was no Orthodox monastery for men in Canada.

In 1982, during a pilgrimage to Holy Mount Athos, Joseph visited the Nativity of the Savior monastery. Here, in the icon-painting workshop, he saw the image of the Mother of God that deeply struck him. He persistently asked to sell him this icon, but was refused. The young pilgrim fervently prayed to the Mother of God to allow him to take Her image to America. Already leaving the gates of the monastery, he saw the abbot hastening to him, who handed him an icon with the words: “The Blessed Virgin must leave with you.”

While on board a ship heading to the Athos port of Daphne, he heard a voice commanding him to go to the Iveron Monastery and attach his icon to the miraculous image of the Mother of God “Goalkeeper,” the heavenly Guardian and Patroness of Athos. The icon given to him was copied from this image. He fulfilled this command. Returning to Montreal, Joseph placed the Goalkeeper icon in his room and read an akathist before it every night.

On November 24, 1982, he woke up around three in the morning and felt a strong fragrance. Looking at the image of the Most Pure One, he noticed drops of moisture on it and thought that it was oil dripping from the lamp. But, wiping them, he was amazed to discover that the fragrance came precisely from them. It became clear to him that this was fragrant myrrh. Since then, the icon has continuously flowed myrrh, with the exception of Holy Week.

Through the icon, by the grace of God, many miraculous healings took place: a paralyzed young man and a man suffering from spinal cancer, a child with severe rickets, which the doctors refused, and many others were delivered from the disease. But Joseph said more than once that the greatest miracle of the myrrh-streaming icon was that it moved people to repentance.

Archpriest Viktor Potapov, rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Washington, said in his sermon: “The long-suffering Orthodox peoples surround the icon of the Goalkeeper with high veneration, partly because she herself is long-suffering. More than a thousand years ago, a daring warrior struck Her Most Pure Face with his sword, and blood flowed from the resulting wound. This was the first miracle of the icon visible to human eyes. The second sign was of a spiritual nature: the warrior, struck by the miracle, brought heartfelt repentance, abandoned the iconoclastic heresy and accepted monasticism. On November 24, 1982, the copy of the Iveron Athos Icon, kept by Brother Joseph, revealed the first miracle - the flow of myrrh. Her second sign was expressed in the repentance of many people.”

Jean Bas continues his memoirs: “Joseph rarely spoke about his inner life, but when communicating with him, people physically felt that before them was a man of the greatest purity. Without any doubt and without a hint of lyricism, we can say that he was the earthly lily of the Queen of Heaven. Every day, in front of the miraculous icon, he read an akathist to the Mother of God (usually in French) and to the saint whose memory he celebrated. During church services he behaved very modestly and never attracted attention to himself: he stood quietly behind, unnoticed, like a real monk.”

There is unconfirmed information that Joseph took monasticism on Mount Athos with the name Ambrose (in honor of the saint). He was tonsured by Elder Clement, who once handed him the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.

Getting acquainted with the testimonies of people who knew him closely, you see that Joseph in his character combined openness in communicating with people with a firm stand in the faith. Like a true hidalgo, he despised intriguers, lukewarm and calculating people. The miracle, which he was destined to be the first to witness, deepened his already strong spirit of prayer. It is said that he had fifty-eight godchildren. And he prayed for each of them daily – and not only for them. His memorial was like a monastic synodikon. Every day he turned with prayer to the Mother of God for the Orthodox youth - “so that they all become holy husbands and holy wives.”

One of Joseph’s French acquaintances, Vladimir, says in a private letter: “The icon always overshadowed Joseph’s brother (on the most legitimate basis). To us he seemed simple, modest, always one of us (almost everyone could say that he was my friend), but just like us, an ordinary person, however, upon whom such a miracle had befallen... But now that the icon is gone, his appearance began to emerge differently. After all, it was he who prayed in front of the icon for three weeks, reading the akathist every day, because it was through his prayers that the icon began to stream myrrh, that is, as if there was an accumulation, an overflow of his love, and it began to overflow over the edge of the vessel, and the Mother of God responded with a reciprocal act of miracle-working. After all, it was he who wandered with the shrine all over the world - no matter what - neither personal illnesses, hardships of travel, lack of funds... nor the resistance of some people (until recently, and he himself told me about this many times), and at the same time he managed to complete his extensive prayer rule (up to a thousand Jesus prayers in addition to everything else), paint icons... He could not have any personal life. People came, called, wrote, asked for help, intercession, prayers. And he prayed for everyone.”

Joseph did not have much money. Having found the icon, he made a vow that it would not become a source of his enrichment. And he carried it out until his death. “I know for a fact,” Archpriest Viktor Potapov testifies, “that sometimes he did not have enough money to buy medicines and basic necessities. He often gave his last money to those in need.”

In Joseph’s papers, a note was found in French, written in his own hand in 1985, from which it is clear how difficult it was for him to obey the guardian of the myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God, and which testifies that long before his martyrdom he foresaw it.

Here is the text of this note: “Lord Jesus Christ, Who came to our earth for the sake of salvation and was voluntarily nailed to the Cross and endured passion for our sins, let me also endure my suffering, which I accept not from my enemies, but from my brother. God! Don’t hold it against him as a sin.”

Dimitry Mikhailovich Gortynsky, regent of the Church of the Ascension of the Savior in Sacramento (California, USA), in a private letter to Mother Maria Potapova dated December 25, 1997, conveys the following incident from the life of Joseph: “He woke up at night and felt that he was tied hand and foot. His mouth was also gagged, and he could neither speak nor scream. He tried to free himself, but could not, and only prayed within himself. He knew that it was an evil spirit, and it kept him like that all night. Jose himself told this in Spanish to my wife a year ago, and she then translated it to me, and now she has retold it again so that I can write it down accurately.” According to Joseph himself, it was not a dream at all, but everything happened in reality.

In his last interview, published in the Russian Shepherd magazine, published in San Francisco, when asked if he had gotten used to a miracle over fifteen years, Joseph replied: “No, you can’t get used to it, just as you can’t get used to a miracle.” at all. It’s as if celebrating the Eucharist would become a habitual, routine action for a priest... I never approach an icon with curiosity to check where and how much of the world flows out... We should never get used to miracles. If this happens, then the miracle will cease to be a miracle. A person who understands what holiness and shrine are will never be able to get used to a miracle.”

Then Joseph was asked the question: “Many people believe that the icon is your property and that you can dispose of it as you wish. How do you respond to such people?

“That’s not true,” said Joseph. – I am only the custodian of the icon. If the icon belonged only to me, I would sit quietly at home, and not travel around the globe from parish to parish... The icon is miraculous, and we cannot control or dispose of it. Once I went from Montreal to New York, where believers were waiting for me, but the plane circled over New York and returned back. What did this mean? For me the answer is clear: I should not have gone there. Another time I got into a taxi, and suddenly a car appeared in front of us: I had to brake sharply. The glass on the icon case cracked. Nothing happened to us, but I had to return home to clean the icon from broken glass, and at that time the plane took off without me... In July 1995, when I was in the skete on Mount Athos, where the icon was painted, the abbot of the skete punished me bow to the ground before each trip with the prayer: “Mother, bless.” After that, the abbot said, go with God. I believe that since I started doing this, sometimes I especially feel in my soul the need to go to one place or another.”

Joseph continued: “In our time, as in the time of Christ, holy things must go to people, just as holiness went to them. This is not a tradition that I myself have established. The Lord knows how difficult it is for me to travel, it affects my health, but I joyfully fulfill this obedience before the Mother of God and the people of God, who with great joy await the Queen of Heaven. The Abbot of Athos, who gave me the icon, said: “A Church in which there is no love, compassion and mercy is not a Church.” This teaching is deeply imprinted on my heart...”

In the same interview, as if anticipating his martyrdom, Joseph said: “Believers must be ready to die for the truth, not to forget that by acquiring enemies here, we acquire the Kingdom of Heaven... He who is faithful in small things will be faithful in great things, when will be required. Given the opportunity to become confessors, we should not miss it. Having lost earthly life, we gain heavenly life. We should not fear death for Christ.”

The room in which Joseph was martyred is in the corner and opens onto a balcony - the only one in the entire hotel with access to the roof of the neighboring building. This explains why the door of the room in which Joseph was killed was locked from the inside. According to the doctor who examined the body, the murder was committed by two or three people: one held him, another tied his arms and legs, and the third struck him. Apparently, the killers wanted to find out where the icon was. Let us clarify that the location of the icon is currently unknown.

How Joseph was lured to the hotel room in which this terrible murder was committed remains a mystery. Jordanville monk Vsevolod Filipev in his essay “Transformed Suffering, or Conversation with the Murdered Brother Joseph” makes the following guess: “What lured you with the killer? Maybe he promised you money or you needed some kind of service from him? Oh no. He lured you in by asking for your help. The demon who taught him this, of course, knew that your kind heart could not refuse someone asking for help...”

At the trial, the doctor testified that everything showed that Joseph did not resist. He lay tied across the bed. Traces of torture are visible on the legs, arms, and chest. Joseph died long and painfully alone...

Priest Alexander Ivashevich, who lives in Argentina and accompanied Joseph on his last trip to Greece, talks about his last days, which he was destined to witness: “On the last night I couldn’t sleep, a long conversation turned into a mutual confession... in an instant brother Joseph passed throughout my entire life...” They parted at the airport: “That’s all – it’s time to say goodbye. When we reached the entrance to a separate hall, Brother Joseph said to me: “Forgive me, Father, for everything I did wrong, and if I offended you, I sincerely ask for forgiveness.” I told him: “Forgive me, Jose.” “God will forgive! - he answered. “Thank you for everything, thank you so much.” Right there at the airport, Brother Joseph bowed to me, and I... hugged him long and tightly. I had to go further, and Brother Joseph exclaimed: “Bless, Father!” - “God bless you, Jose!” He told me: “With God!” And I tell him: “With God!” - for the last time... This is how we said goodbye to brother Joseph just a couple of hours before his death..."

In the summer of 1996, Joseph went to Athos to say goodbye to Schema-Abbot Clement, his spiritual father, who was departing to God. Then the schema-monk told him that the next year - 1997 - would be fateful for him and terrible events would happen. On the eve of his martyrdom, Joseph and priest Alexander Ivashevich visited the monastery of St. Nicholas on the Greek island of Andros to venerate its shrines. The monk, who opened the doors of the main church of the monastery for them, was extremely surprised that the ancient wall image of the Mother of God began to tear profusely. The rector of the monastery, Archimandrite Dorotheus, explained that the icon cries when terrible events are brewing or during such events. This sign of the Mother of God made a deep impression on Joseph, and he repeatedly told Father Alexander: “Father, I feel that something terrible will happen very soon. I don’t know what exactly, but something will happen.” And on the very day of his death, in the morning, Joseph once again shared his premonition with Father Alexander.

The keeper of the myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God “Goalkeeper” was buried 13 days after his murder in Athens. They wanted to perform his funeral service with a closed coffin and in a sealed plastic bag. But God judged differently. The coffin was open, the bag was torn, and everyone saw signs of torture. There were no visible signs of decay.

Monk Vsevolod Filipev in the article quoted above says: “Hello, brother Joseph. Your soul, of course, sees me standing and looking at your body, resting in a tomb, in the center of our Holy Trinity Cathedral. They brought you here at noon today, and now it’s already evening. All this time, the brethren are reading the Psalter over you. Tomorrow there will be a funeral service, and your body will return to the earth to rise at the Second Glorious Coming of Christ. I didn’t know you during my lifetime, but tell me, where does this feeling come from, as if we’ve known each other for a long time? Where does this quiet, bright, joyful sadness come from in your soul? Perhaps such feelings always come to mortal people when they meet saints? But although I never knew you, still I do not doubt your holiness. This confidence is not from the mind or from feeling, it came from somewhere from more subtle and higher spheres; The soul believes in this, but our soul is smarter than our outer man...

Tell me, dear brother Joseph, why does the news of your death pierce your soul to the very depths? Why is your heart and mind so affected by what happened to you? Why do you want to stand next to you over and over again and don’t want to leave the temple? Probably because through you, as through every Christian martyr, the souls of believers seem to meet their Master Jesus Christ, Who is the foremost of all martyrs.

In God's holy men we honor Christ. By worshiping the martyrs, we worship the Divine Sufferer. Is it not His mysterious presence that the soul experiences so clearly and joyfully at these moments? And I believe that you, dear Joseph, are already seeing our Sweetest Savior, Who promised to grant salvation to all who endured to the end... I would like to tell all people about your face, about what we saw on it in these moments of farewell to you. And we saw – transformed suffering. The amazement of the soul was imprinted on your face, realizing that the hour of suffering was about to end and in a moment she would meet God ... "

The many people who came to Jordanville from all over the world in those days testify to the gracious atmosphere of the funeral. The same monk Vsevolod writes: “Dear brother Joseph, your funeral service attracted hundreds of people to our Holy Trinity Monastery. There were as many of them as there are at Easter. However, the mood, at least for me, was somewhat different than on Easter. It seemed to me that I was present at the services of Holy Saturday; I remembered the reverent presence before the Shroud, when the souls of believers with fear and tenderness behold the saving passions of the Lord and remember His burial. Everything that happened today, during your funeral service and burial, dear Joseph, was also mysteriously majestic and lightly sad. Of course, there were tears, and how could our eyes resist them when in the daylight we saw more clearly your weary face, your martyr’s body, decorated with sores, as if with some kind of Divine pearl. We saw your hands, on which there were crimson scars from the bonds with which the executioner tied you. Joseph, Joseph, our poor dear, beloved Joseph. Was there such a stony soul among us that could remain indifferent to your suffering?

One person who recently arrived from Russia and attended Joseph’s burial said to the monk Vsevolod: “You know, I had the feeling that I was not present at a funeral service or funeral, but at the rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. I realized quite clearly that even if at these moments we were all taken out of the temple and shot, it would still be the same – we won!”

The myrrh-streaming Iveron-Montreal Icon of the Mother of God is a copy of the Iveron Icon written on Athos. Revered as miraculous.

The keeper of the icon was; in 1982 he brought her from Mount Athos to Montreal and in subsequent years traveled with her around the world.

History of the icon

The icon was painted in 1981 on Mount Athos by the Greek hieromonk of the Nativity Skete, Chrysostomos, as a copy from the Iveron Goalkeeper.

In 1982, the monastery was visited by an Orthodox Canadian of Chilean origin, Joseph Muñoz Cortes, a teacher of art history who studied iconography. Seeing the icon, he asked to sell it, but was refused, however, when Joseph left the monastery, schema-abbot Clement († 1997) gave him the image. Before leaving Athos, Joseph brought the icon to the Iveron Monastery and attached it to the original.

unknown, Public Domain

After returning to Montreal, Joseph installed the icon in the red corner next to the relics he had.

According to Joseph, the icon first poured myrrh on November 24, 1982 and then streamed myrrh almost continuously for 15 years, with the exception of Holy Weeks. According to eyewitnesses, the holy myrrh flowed mainly from the hands of the Virgin Mary and the Savior, as well as from the star on the shoulder of the Virgin Mary; it had a strong aroma of roses and was even collected in vessels.

Over the years, the icon visited most parishes of the ROCOR and the parishes of some Orthodox Old Calendar churches: in Bulgaria (autumn 1995), France, Germany, USA, Australia, etc.

The expiring myrrh was collected in cotton wool and sent to believers - there were many reports of healings, including from serious illnesses, that occurred after prayers and anointings of the sick in Russia, Latvia, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, etc.

Some of the photographs of the icon also began to stream myrrh.

Orthodox Christian painter, Public Domain

The icon was never brought to Russia. This was due to the fact that representatives of the high-ranking clergy of the ROCOR, including its then First Hierarch Vitaly, who opposed forcing rapprochement with the Moscow Patriarchate, considered this visit inappropriate.

In 1993, the copy of the miraculous icon made by Joseph was transferred to the Odessa community of the Church of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt (at that time the temple belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, now the RTOC).

On the night of October 30-31, 1997, Joseph Muñoz was killed in Athens, and the Montreal Iveron Icon disappeared without a trace.

On the night of January 24-25, 1998, the Orthodox Cathedral in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Montreal, where the icon often resided, burned to the ground. The building of St. Nicholas Church in Montreal has been restored, and church services are again held there.

In September 2007, a simple paper copy of the Iveron Icon of Montreal began streaming myrrh at the Russian Orthodox parish of the Myrrh Streaming Iveron-Montreal Icon of the Mother of God in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Photo gallery

Eyewitnesses

Ksenia Volkova, the author of the documentary film “The Messenger” about brother Joseph Jose Muñoz, the keeper of the myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God of Montreal, and her husband Alexey, who knew Joseph closely and prayed in front of the icon, attend services in the Great Ascension church, and often speak with memories of this amazing the man and the miracle they witnessed.

Prayers

February 12

Kontakion of the Mother of God in honor of the Iveron Icon of Her

Today the light of Thy pure icon has risen to the Light of the Resurrection, / both joyfully and triumphantly crying out: / save Thy servants with grace, O Lady.

April 20 (Tuesday of Holy Week)

From Thy holy icon, / O Lady Theotokos, / healings and healings are given abundantly / with faith and love to those who come to her. / So visit my weakness / and have mercy on my soul, O Good One, / and heal my body with Thy grace, O Most Pure One.

Kontakion of the Mother of God before Her Iveron Icon

Even if Thy holy icon, Mother of God, was cast into the sea, / from a widow who could not save this from her enemies, / but the Guardian of Athos / and the Goalkeeper of the Iveron monastery appeared, frightening enemies / and in the Orthodox Russian country / / honoring Thee from all troubles and relieving misfortunes.

October 13

Troparion of the Mother of God before her Iveron Icon

The insolence of those who hate the image of the Lord / and the power of the wicked came godlessly to Nicaea, / and sent an inhumane widow, / who piously venerated the icon of the Mother of God, to torture, / but that night with her son they let the icon into the sea, crying: / Glory to Thee, Pure One, / like an impassable sea His cloaks have fallen, // glory to Thy justice, one imperishable.

Troparion of the Mother of God before her Iveron Icon

From Thy holy icon, / O Lady Theotokos, / healings and healings are given abundantly / with faith and love to those who come to her. / So visit my weakness, / and have mercy on my soul, O Good One, / and heal my body with Thy grace, O Most Pure One.

Kontakion of the Mother of God before her Iveron Icon

Even if Your holy icon, O Mother of God, was cast into the sea/ from a widow who could not save her from her enemies,/ but the guardian of Athos/ and the goalkeeper of the Iveron monastery appeared, frightening enemies/ and in the Orthodox Russian country// honoring Thee from all troubles and relieving misfortunes.

In 1981, on Holy Mount Athos, the Greek monk Fr. Chrysostomos made a copy of the Iveron Goalkeeper, which was destined to become one of the most wondrous testimonies of the gracious help of the Mother of God to people in the twentieth century.

The history of the miraculous icon is connected with the fate of Joseph Muñoz.

Joseph (Jose) Muñoz Cortes, of Spanish origin, was born in Chile in 1948. Joseph's parents were zealous Catholics and belonged to an ancient noble family, which had considerable services to the Catholic Church. In 1962, as a 12-year-old boy, living in Santiago, he was amazed by the Orthodox service in the local Church of the Holy Trinity and the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. He ended up in the church as if by accident on the way to the Catholic Church. The beauty of the temple decoration, icons and worship made a huge impression on the boy, and from then on he began to visit this church.

After 2 years, Archbishop Leontius of Chile baptized him into Orthodoxy, for which the consent of Jose’s mother was obtained. Jose studied theology in college for 3 years. Joseph Muñoz Cortes was an icon painter who was a student of Nikolai Shelikhov (later Jose’s icons at the exhibition were recognized as the best).

He then moved to Canada, where he became a teacher of art history at the University of Montreal, and also began studying icon painting.

In the fall of 1982, Joseph and his friends went on a pilgrimage to Athos. He really wanted to visit the monastery of St. Daniel, famous for its icon-painting workshop.

On the way to the monastery, the pilgrims got lost and discovered another monastery - in the name of the Nativity of Christ. The monks received them with love, treated them to tea, and then invited them to visit the icon-painting workshop.

“And then,” Muñoz recalls, “I saw an icon that made my heart turn over in my chest.”

The image of the Mother of God - a copy from the Iverskaya Goalkeeper - struck him so much that he began to beg the monks to sell him the icon. The monks firmly and decisively refused, explaining that this image created by Fr. Chrysostomos, one of the first to be written in the Byzantine script, serves as a model for them. However, they promised to make a copy of the icon and send it to Canada. Munoz continued to beg, but the monks were adamant.

During the night liturgy in the monastery church, Joseph Muñoz addressed a prayer to the Mother of God: “I have already done everything that can be done humanly: I offered money, I annoyingly begged the abbot.

But, Mother of God, still accompany us to America, because we need You so much!” After the prayer, he felt peace of mind and confidence that his request was heard. At dawn, when Joseph and his companion said goodbye to the monks and went to the pier, they were caught up by the abbot, holding a wrapped icon in his hands.

“The Mother of God wants to go with you,” he said and resolutely refused the offered money. “You can’t take money for such a shrine.”

After this, the friends headed to the Iveron Monastery and attached the donated image to the ancient miraculous image of the Mother of God the Goalkeeper, Patroness of Athos, from which the icon that struck him was copied.

Returning to Montreal in 1982, Joseph Muñoz placed the icon between particles from the relics of some of the saints of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and the apostle of the martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. All the time a lamp was glowing here and every day before going to bed he read an akathist to the Blessed Virgin.

On the night of November 24, 1982, Joseph woke up from a strong fragrance and thought it came from the relics or from a spilled bottle of perfume. But when he examined the Athos icon, he realized that something amazing had happened - it was all covered with fragrant myrrh.

The icon was taken to the temple, placed on the Throne, and during the liturgy, streams of peace clearly flowed from the image of the hands of the Infant Christ.

Fragrant oil flows from the hands of the Mother of God and Christ, and sometimes from the star depicted on the right shoulder of the Most Pure One (the reverse side of the icon is always dry). This distinguishes it from other miraculous icons, where tears flow from the eyes, as if the Mother of God is sobbing, whereas here She seems to be teaching Her blessing. The icon exuded myrrh constantly, except for the days of Holy Week. On Palm Sunday, the icon seems to dry up and again begins to stream myrrh on Holy Saturday, on the eve of Easter.

Myrrh flowed down the icon, where prepared pieces of cotton wool were placed. Once soaked, they were distributed to the pilgrims. Myrrh usually appeared during prayer or shortly after it, in quantities depending on the event or the prayerful zeal of those present. Sometimes it was so abundant that it appeared through the protective glass and flooded the support of the icon, the wall, the table. This happened on the days of great holidays, in particular, on the Dormition of the Mother of God.

There were also cases when, after the expiration stopped, it resumed in an unexpected way. Thus, when visiting the Boston monastery, the myrrh flowed out in streams, but then completely dried up when the icon was transferred to a nearby parish. Upon returning to the monastery, the flow resumed so strongly that it overflowed. In another case, after the distribution of the world to 850 pilgrims, the icon turned out to be dry, but arriving the next day at the parish, where a mass of believers were waiting for it, it miraculously restored the flow of the world.

The mystery of these signs confused many skeptics. Indeed, one could imagine that some kind of fragrant liquid was deliberately introduced from the back of the icon. In Miami, one scientist had the opportunity to examine the icon from all sides and, having established that it was completely dry from behind, came to the conclusion that we were talking about the greatest miracle of the 20th century. A special examination of part of the upper edge of the icon showed that the image was written on an ordinary wooden board that did not contain internal cavities or foreign inclusions.

The miraculous image constantly traveled to Orthodox parishes and visited many countries in America, Western Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Wherever the icon appeared, numerous healings of mental and physical ailments took place.

Evidence of numerous miracles from the Iveron Myrrh-Streaming Icon revived faith in the West.

When asked why this happened to him, Joseph Muñoz replied: “For a long time I was at a loss, well aware of my shortcomings and understanding my unworthiness: I am one of the last in the Orthodox Church, a non-Russian, a convert... I was born into a Catholic family, but at the age of 14 I met Vladyka Leonty of Chile, and he baptized me and converted me to the Orthodox faith. I realized then that it was the Lord who called me to true faith...

But the Lord makes me feel that I am nothing... Every time I touch the icon, smelling this wonderful aroma, I feel my unworthiness... I always prayed to the Blessed Virgin and never asked for a miracle or any proof of Her power.

I believe in and greatly respect the Mother of God since childhood, I was taught this by my mother, and I only know one thing, that the Most Holy Virgin manifests Herself where She wants... Over the years there have been many miracles, some I know about, others I don’t. There were many healings, both external physical and internal spiritual..."

Joseph Muñoz, who accompanied the holy icon everywhere, always behaved very modestly, never attracted attention to himself, and during church services he stood quietly behind, unnoticed like a monk. He rarely spoke about his inner life, but when communicating with him, people clearly felt that before them was a man of the greatest purity. Every day, the keeper read an akathist to the Mother of God and to the saint whose memory the Church celebrated in front of the Miraculous Icon.

He often returned to Athos, also with the miraculous icon. There is information that on Mount Athos he became a monk with the name Ambrose (in honor of the Venerable Ambrose of Optina). He was tonsured by Elder Clement, who in 1982 gave him the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God and then became his spiritual father. In the summer of 1996, Joseph visited Athos to say goodbye to Schema-Abbot Clement, who was leaving for God. Then the schema-monk told Joseph that in 1997 events that would be terrible for him would happen. On the eve of his martyrdom, Joseph and priest Alexander Ivashevich visited the monastery of St. Nicholas on the Greek island of Andros, while the ancient wall image of the Mother of God in the monastery began to tear profusely. Joseph told his companion that he was expecting something terrible in the near future.

On the night of October 30-31, 1997, the custodian of the icon, Joseph Muñoz Cortes, was brutally murdered under mysterious circumstances, and the Miraculous Iveron Icon disappeared without a trace...

From the investigation data announced at the trial of the Romanian suspect, it can be assumed that Joseph was most likely lured into a trap under the pretext that someone needed his help. The examination established the professionalism of the torturers and murderers. The murder was carefully planned. It happened on the satanic holiday - Halloween. The probable purpose of the murder was to take possession of the icon, but the tormentors did not achieve their goal. Joseph Muñoz received the crown of martyrdom.

On October 18/31, 1997, on the day of remembrance of St. Luke the Evangelist, the patron saint of icon painters, who, according to legend, painted the first image of the Mother of God, Joseph joined him in the heavenly choir.

The keeper of the Montreal Myrrh-streaming Iveron Icon of the Mother of God was buried 13 days after his murder in the USA, in Jordanville at the cemetery of the Holy Trinity Monastery. They wanted to have a funeral service for him with a closed tomb, but God judged otherwise. The coffin was opened and everyone saw signs of torture. However, there were no signs of the body smoldering. And in the windy monastery cemetery, two candles placed on the grave of the martyred Joseph glowed without going out for about seven hours. On the fortieth day after his death, spontaneous combustion of candles occurred at the grave.

One of the priests of the Moscow Patriarchate, speaking at an event of the International Slavic Foundation, said back in the late 1990s that he knew the whereabouts of the icon and that it would return. Monk Vsevolod Filippyev wrote in 1999-2002: “We are consoled by the opinion of two clergy, the abbot of the Nativity Skete on Athos and the abbot of the monastery of St. Nicholas on the island of Andros, where Joseph was the day before his death. Both claim that the icon is in good hands.” According to the latest plausible rumors, the icon was transferred from Canada to Athos shortly after the murder of brother Joseph.

Miracles granted from the Iveron Montreal Icon

Wherever this icon arrived, love and harmony were revived, as, for example, in one community, where quarreling parishioners again found the way to prayer and church unity. Her presence increased the fervor of prayer to such an extent that the liturgies celebrated with her can be compared with the Easter ones, so fiery in the Orthodox Church.

There are many known cases of people returning to church, confession, and communion. Thus, one poor woman, having learned about the death of her son, was preparing to take her own life, but, touched to the depths of her soul by the sight of the miraculous icon, she repented of her terrible intention and immediately confessed. The blessed influence of the Most Pure One awakened and transformed the faithful, who were often frozen in inert beliefs.

They tell how one old monk, approaching the icon, sang: “My soul magnifies the Lord...” - and healing myrrh flowed abundantly from the star on the shoulder of the Mother of God.

Of the many miracles associated with the Iveron Myrrh-Streaming Icon, we will tell only about the most famous.

...In Germany, a boy of about five fell ill with an incurable disease. His parents put him in the hospital, as they themselves said, “they sent him to the hospital to die.” The child did not eat anything and melted like a candle. At this time, the parents were sent from America cotton wool soaked in the myrrh of the Iveron Icon.

On Saturday, the mother took this cotton wool to the hospital and wiped it all over her son’s body, and on Monday morning an excited nurse called and said: “The incredible has happened! Your boy got out of bed and asked to eat.” A few days later the child was completely healthy.

...In Los Angeles in 1991, when the icon was in the cathedral, an old parishioner, bent with paralysis and having difficulty moving, venerated it. Having kissed, the woman immediately straightened up and walked away healed, glorifying God and His Most Pure Mother.

...An elderly French woman came on crutches to bow to the Iveron Myrrh-Streamer.

Having prayed before the miraculous image, she left. About a week later, this woman came again, without crutches, and told about her miraculous healing. Having reached home after visiting the icon, the next morning she began to get out of bed and wanted, as always, to take crutches, without which she usually could not get to her feet, but suddenly she felt that crutches were no longer needed. And since then she has been walking quietly without them.

...In a clinic in the city of Vincennes, on the outskirts of Paris, a 28-year-old Frenchman lay for two years with a crippled leg after a road accident. Doctors came to the conclusion that amputation was necessary. Not knowing God, Jean-Louis Georges (that was the name of the patient) in despair decided to commit suicide.

They told him about the miraculous Iveron Myrrh-streaming icon, which was then in the Lesninsky convent (about a hundred kilometers from Paris), and he agreed to go there.

After the prayer service at the icon, the priest took a cotton swab moistened with myrrh and placed it under the patient’s bandages. But Jean did not want to leave the church and began to ask for confession. The priest replied that this was impossible, because the young man was not Orthodox, but then he nevertheless agreed to talk with him. And Jean began to speak passionately and especially repent of his intention to commit suicide...

He left for Paris that same day, and at night the bandages miraculously fell off his legs, the skin began to clear, and the pus disappeared from the wounds. When leaving the clinic, Jean-Louis said that he deeply believed in a God unknown to him and made it a rule to read an akathist to the Mother of God every morning before meals.

...A man was brought to one of the hospitals in Belgium in an ambulance. The sister, an Orthodox Christian, asked: “Is he dying?” She was told that he had already died by committing suicide. Then the nurse took cotton wool with myrrh from the Iveron Icon, anointed the deceased and said: “Mother of God, help his soul where it is now.”

The man opened his eyes, called the priest and confessed, repenting of what he had done. He lived for two more days, but none of the doctors could explain his miraculous return to life.

...In Russia, a four-year-old boy was seriously injured. His little leg was caught in a faulty escalator staircase, the teeth of which caused a deep wound. In the hospital it was difficult to watch the baby’s suffering without tears.

This boy’s relatives had cotton wool with myrrh from the Iveron myrrh-streaming icon. They fervently prayed to the Mother of God and applied cotton wool around the wound. To the amazement of the attending physician, the wound began to heal, the operation was canceled and the boy was soon sent home.

Photographs of the Iveron Icon with a piece of cotton wool saturated with healing fragrant myrrh glued to it were distributed throughout the Christian world. But the most amazing thing is that some photographs of the icon also stream myrrh. This happens everywhere - in America, in Europe. Lists of the Iveron Icon are also streaming myrrh in Russia.

On February 24, 1996, during an all-night vigil in the church in the village of Nizhnyaya Baygora, Voronezh region, the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God began to flow myrrh.

Myrrh flowed out in streams: a white towel was placed under the icon, which absorbed the myrrh. The miraculous flow of peace continued until the end of the service. And on the morning of February 25, on the very day of the feast of the Iveron Icon, the outflow of the world continued, it still flowed down the icon in streams. On February 26, the world became smaller, it flowed out from under the crown, and there were many dewdrops on the forehead of the Mother of God.

The next day, myrrh flowed in streams all over the icon, and on February 28, the entire icon seemed to have dried up, but streams of myrrh flowed from the eyes of the Mother of God. Many people gathered saw this miracle, and the wonderful aroma of peace lingered in the temple for a long time.

Troparion, tone 4:

From Thy holy icon, O Lady Theotokos, healing and healing are given abundantly with faith and love to those who come to her, so visit my weakness and have mercy on my soul, O Good One, and heal my body, O Most Pure One, with Thy grace.

(When writing this article, materials from the following sites were used:
pravoslavie.ru, orthodoxpantry.blogspot.ru, logoslovo.ru, rusidea.org, as well as
memories of Christians who knew Brother Joseph Muñoz)

For He will act like a man who, going to a foreign country, called his servants and entrusted them with his property: and to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his strength; and immediately set off. He who received five talents went and put them to work and acquired another five talents; in the same way, the one who received two talents acquired the other two; He who received one talent went and buried it in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time, the master of those slaves comes and demands an account from them. And the one who had received five talents came and brought another five talents and said: Master! you gave me five talents; Behold, I acquired another five talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master.

The one who had received two talents also came up and said: Master! you have two talents

gave me; Behold, I acquired the other two talents with them. His master said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master.

The one who had received one talent came up and said: Master! I knew you that you were a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter, and, being afraid, I went and hid your talent in the ground; here's yours. His master answered him: “You wicked and lazy servant!” You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter; Therefore, you should have given my silver to the merchants, and when I came, I would have received mine with profit; So, take the talent from him and give to the one who has ten talents, for to everyone who has it will be given and he will have an abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away; and throw the worthless slave into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Having said this, he exclaimed: whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!

Sermon on the Gospel reading

Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky)

You heard a very important parable of Christ in this Gospel reading. Try to delve into it and understand it properly.

If these words are heard by a person who is not spiritual, but spiritual, a man of this world, he will not only not understand them, but will be indignant: how is it that he who has much will have more, and whoever has nothing will have his last taken away?

For he does not understand that we are not talking about earthly goods, the distribution of which he judges in a worldly way, and is right in his own way; not realizing that we are talking about something else.

Why doesn't he understand this? St. answers this question for us. Paul: “The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, because he considers them foolishness and cannot understand them, because they must be judged spiritually. But he who is spiritual judges all things, and no one can judge him” (1 Cor 2:14-15).

People who are spiritual, not spiritual, live only a material life, without thinking about the spiritual, and cannot understand much, much of what is written in the Gospel of Christ. A lot of things seem crazy to them, not only incomprehensible, but even crazy, just as the Hellenes considered the preaching of the cross of Christ crazy.

They mock the Gospel, they mock the words of Christ, but why do they mock? Because they don't understand them. They judge what they cannot understand.

How should we, spiritual ones, understand these words of Christ? What does the whole parable of the talents say?

In the image of a rich man who distributed his money to his slaves and left far away, we need to understand the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who distributed the gifts of His Divine grace to us, His servants.

He gave to everyone according to his strength and according to his understanding.

Just as from a rich man the first slave received five talents, the second two, the third one, i.e. silver weighed on the scales (talent is a measure of weight), so the Lord distributed the gifts of His grace to us, to each according to his strength and according to his understanding, and he will ask everyone for an answer at His Last Judgment, just as this rich man demanded an answer from his servants.

What gifts do we receive from God? Gifts of grace.

Grace is the good gifts of God; grace is at the same time God’s great help for the multiplication of spiritual gifts.

In holy baptism and in the sacrament of confirmation performed after it, we all receive the great gifts of the Holy Spirit: we receive faith, love - faith in God, love for God, we receive a heart capable of love, which must fulfill the commandment given in the Old Testament: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.”

And faith and love are what are above all.

After all, this faith and love of Christ encourages you to listen to me, whom many, countless others do not want to listen to.

We should all increase faith and love. Just as the rich man’s slaves had to give the silver they received to the merchants and multiply it through trade, so we must make a pure, holy purchase, offer God our faith and our love as a gift, multiplying and doubling them.

How to increase faith, how to increase love?

To increase faith, we must first of all think every day, think tirelessly about the terrible sacrifice that the Son of God Jesus Christ made for us in order to deliver us from the power of the devil.

We must think about His Cross, stained with His Holy Blood, we must think about those inexpressible sufferings that He endured on the Cross in order to save us.

Shall we not love Him with all our hearts for this? Shall we not increase our love by constantly thinking about the Cross of Christ, about the immensity of the good deeds received from Him by the perishing human race?

Our love will increase, love will increase at the same time, love will increase in our hearts when we look at the Cross of Christ.

How else can we increase love?

Let us multiply it by what shows our love for our neighbor to the greatest extent: deeds of mercy, compassion, help to our unfortunate, disadvantaged brothers, in whose image the Lord Jesus Himself stretches out his hand to us.

Increase, increase faith, love, mercy, increase your patience, for patience is also one of the great gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Endure everything: bear all misfortunes, all sorrows, all sorrows, all illnesses without complaining, and not only without complaining, but also with thanksgiving.

Where can we find strength to increase the grace of faith?

First of all, in the holy temple, for here your hearts will be filled with the prayer that ascends from hundreds and hundreds of believing hearts.

This prayer will not pass by our hearts, it will touch them and increase the grace of faith in them.

The all-good God has given some of us the great gift of wisdom and deep intelligence.

How to increase this gift, although not universal, but still to some extent characteristic of all of us, for we all have a mind?

You must exercise your mind by diligently and constantly reading books that contain good, deep, true things, and these are, first of all, those books that are written by holy people.

Read them with diligence, and your mind will be enlightened by the light of Christ. And the wisdom that comes from above will descend into your heart.

So, trying to increase the gifts of the Holy Spirit, increase all the good things you have received from God, increase the grace that He has given you. Remember the words of Christ: “The kingdom of God is within you.”

This means that we do not need to think only about the future Heavenly Kingdom, into which may God grant you and me to enter after our death, but also about the fact that the Kingdom of God must have a beginning in our hearts already in this life. For in the hearts of the righteous it is revealed already during their lifetime.

Remember the other words of Christ: “The Kingdom of God is taken by force. And those who make effort delight him.”

By force, by force we must take the Kingdom of Heaven.

You need to put in a lot, a lot of effort to lay the foundation for the Kingdom of God in your heart already in this life. We must work tirelessly for God.

The vast majority of people work only to build the earthly kingdom, but we, Christians, were commanded by the Lord to care not about earthly things, but about heavenly things.

Remember what the rich man said to his slaves when he returned from a distant country. When the one who had received five talents and doubled them came up, and when another came up, who had received two talents and doubled them, this is what their master said to them: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in small things, I will put you over many things; enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).

Don’t we, don’t we need to be faithful in small things, in everything: decisively in everything! We must always and everywhere be faithful.

And if we are faithful in little things, then the Lord will place us over many things: over the countless blessings of His Kingdom.

And what is the fate of the third slave, who received only one talent, buried it in the ground and turned out to be an unfaithful and careless slave who did not multiply what he received, what is his fate?

Oh, how scary she is!

This is what his master said about him - this is what Christ will say about us if we do not care about the increase of God’s gifts: “You wicked and lazy servant!.. you should have given my silver to the merchants, and when I came I would have received mine with a profit. So, take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents... but throw the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:26-30).

Throw yourself into outer darkness... What is outer darkness? This is all that huge area that is outside the Kingdom of God, which is external to it.

In this darkness, in this pitch-black outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth of those who would dare to say to God at the Last Judgment what the third lazy servant said: “I knew you that you are a cruel man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter it, and being afraid, you went and hid your talent in the ground; here is yours” (Matthew 25:24-25).

Oh, do we really dare to say such daring words to the Divine Judge: “I knew you that you are a cruel man: you reap where you did not sow, and gather where you did not scatter”?

How, does He gather where He has not scattered? He scattered everywhere, sowed the gifts of His grace into all hearts.

Oh woe, woe to us, the damned, if we turn out to be like the third careless slave! May the Lord deliver us from the terrible fate of being cast into outer darkness! Amen.