By the Grace of God on August 22 and 23, 2009 the Russian Orthodox
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist was blessed by the presence of a new great
Sacred Image – the “Hawaiian” Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Theotokos.
This icon is a copy of the Montreal Iveron Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the
Mother of God which for 15 years was safeguarded by Brother Jose (Joseph)
Munoz-Cortes; Brother Jose suffered a martyric death in 1997 in
Athens, Greece.
The “Hawaiian” Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Theotokos is much smaller than the original Iveron icon. Made in Russia, the Hawaiian icon is a 7” x 9” paper reproduction laminated on a board one inch thick. Fr. Anatole Lyovin, the rector of the ROCOR mission in Honolulu, purchased this icon in a church bookstore in Toronto, Canada a few years ago and gave it as a gift to his parishioner Reader Nectarios Yangson. In the fall of 2007 Nectarios’ Icon began to copiously stream myrrh. A more detailed account of this miracle can be found on the site of the ROCOR in Honolulu.
After the service Matushka and I spent hours conversing with Nectarios,
inquiring about the Miracle, his life, about Orthodoxy in Hawaii and
answered many of his questions about Brother Jose Munos-Cortes, with whom
Nectarios was not acquainted personally, but whose memory he deeply honors.
Nectarios is convinced that the new Iveron Icon is in some mysterious way
associated with Brother Jose and his selfless service to the Mother of God
and his guardianship of the Montreal Icon.
On Sunday, August 23rd the Icon was present at both liturgies in a church
filled to overflowing. At each liturgy we communed the faithful from
two chalices, as is our usual practice, but on this day the number of
communicants was much greater. In his homily at the early English Liturgy,
Fr. John Johnson outlined the foundations of Orthodox veneration of the
Theotokos. At the Slavonic liturgy I reminded the faithful of the words of
martyred Br. Jose Munoz-Cortes who always said that the “greatest miracle of
the Myrrh-Streaming Icon is not so much the manifestation of the physical
myrrh, so much as the grace that it gives people to change their lives for
the better.”
After each Liturgy, Molebens were served and all those present were
anointed with the Holy Myrrh and given a piece of cotton dipped in the
heavenly oil.
Many of the faithful did not want to leave the church. Others came to our
cathedral after Divine services in their own parishes, that they might
glorify the Theotokos in their native languages. They included a group
of local Georgians who chanted the Akathist in the Georgian language…
Despite the fact that we were behind schedule Fr. Alexander Resnikoff was
able to take the Icon to visit a number of gravely ill parishioners in
Maryland.
At 5:00 PM the faithful gathered at our Iveron Icon Chapel in Rock Creek
Cemetery. Here we served a moleben and Akathist to the Mother of God
in three languages: English, Slavonic and Greek. The prayer
service ended with a solemn procession with the icon around the perimeter of
the large Orthodox section of the cemetery.
After prayers at the cemetery, Priest John Johnson took the Icon to visit
a number of the seriously ill in Virginia.
On Monday, August 24 the new myrrh-streaming icon and its custodian
Reader Nectarios Yangston departed for Hawaii via California.
On Sunday, August 23rd, after the English liturgy, it occurred to me that
there might not be enough Myrrh-soaked cotton to distribute to the large
number of people gathered in church. I called my Matushka and asked
her to bring more cotton to put into the icon kiot to soak up the myrrh
pouring from the icon. Matushka remembered that in our attic we had a large
roll of cotton which had belonged to Brother Jose but which he had never had
a chance to use. When Matushka arrived in church, she and Nectarios went
into the ponomarka (the room to the right of the altar) to cut off a piece
of the dry cotton, and then to replace the Myrrh-soaked cotton with it.
They put the new, dry cotton on a silver tray, and were about to approach
the Icon in the center of the church. By this time the Epistle
reading had begun. They decided to stop on the right kliros and wait for the
Epistle and Gospel readings to end before they continued their task.
The tray with the dry cotton was on a small table on the right kliros. When
the readings concluded they looked at the cotton which they were about to
take to the icon, and were awe-stricken to see that the cotton was filled
with Holy Myrrh!
Nectarios and Matushka looked at each other in pious amazement.
They came back into the ponomarka and asked an acolyte to call me, so that
I, a sinner, could also see for myself this wondrous sign wrought during the
Divine Liturgy. In truth, the Mother of God reminded us in a very real
and dramatic way that during the Eucharist, She, the Heavenly Hosts, and the
entire Church Triumphant come together in prayer with us, members of the
Church Militant to offer the Bloodless Sacrifice.
This large piece of cotton which filled with myrrh at a distance from the
Miraculous Icon is now kept in our cathedral as sacred relic.
Truly, Great art Thou o Lord, and marvelous are Thy works and there is no
word which suffices to hymn Thy wonders!
I was told of at least three instances of healing that took place while
the «Hawaiian Icon» was visiting our parish. The three individuals are
well-known to me.
Acute eye pain that an elderly Serbian woman was experiencing for days
went away after she was anointed with the Myrrh. Another woman, a
Georgian, was instantly relieved of a toothache.
On the night of August 22-23, a member of our Parish Council was experiencing acute pain from kidney stones. The pain was so great that he had to miss the Sunday Divine Liturgy and was ready to call an ambulance. After church his wife brought him some Myrrh-soaked cotton from the Icon and anointed him. The pain immediately subsided.