I would like to share with you something that happened to my family. About 2 years ago (i.e. 2001-2002) one of our relatively close friends became the happy recipient of a holy item belonging to brother Joseph: a large piece of cloth from one of his shirts. Learning that we also greatly venerated Jose Munoz, he shared it with us, giving us a piece of cloth measuring about 10x5 cm. As we were venerating the holy relic, he directed our attention to the very unusual, powerful fragrance, seemingly myrrh, emanating from the shirt. Upon our return home, we decided to venerate the relic once more before putting it away in a box. As we did so, we noticed that there was absolutely no discernible aroma. We even remarked on it, and decided that as our friend had a large piece of the cloth, it had better retained the aroma; we had only a small piece of cloth, so it was no wonder that it was not fragrant. Three days later my cousin Julia Sekretov came to visit. While our children were playing, I decided to show her a film about Joseph. The film, made by the Brotherhood of Philaret of Moscow, at the church of which we were parishioners, made a great impression on her. After watching the film, I handed her the box containing the relic of his shirt, and said, "And now we can venerate a piece of cloth from a shirt that belonged to brother Joseph." She reverently opened the box, venerated the cloth, and said, "Truly, it does smell quite wonderful." To which I of course answered, "No, it does not have any fragrance at all." We had, after all, noted three days ago that it was not giving off any aroma. In response, she simply handed me the cloth - it was exuding such an aroma of myrrh! Perhaps this incident is not very stark or interesting, etc., but it happened to us, in our family, once again showing us how close and merciful the Lord and His worthy one is to us, and that is why we decided to write to you about it, to share our joy.
Sophia and Thomas Halbert Moscow, December 2003
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Our meeting with brother Joseph took place in about 1982-83. I was in a difficult situation: I was trying to make a decision about my life, to decide to whom or to what I should dedicate myself. These thoughts, these unanswered questions, were tormenting me. Almost everyone has probably experienced such moments in his life, and you can understand how I felt then. One of my friends said that a great holy object, an icon of the Mother of God, had been brought to the Russian church. Although at that time I did not profess the Orthodox Faith, I had grown up in a Catholic family, and veneration of the Mother of God was deeply ingrained in my soul. At some point my turmoil reached a pinnacle, and I went to the Russian church. The first thing I saw - and I must admit, I was a little taken aback by this - was the great number of people, people moving from place to place, trying as quickly as possible to get to the middle of the church, where there was something I could not see. Honestly, I did not even know that icons were to be venerated. I just stood and prayed as best I could, sensing the very real presence of holiness, feeling how peace and quiet had descended into my soul. I spent about two hours in the church in this manner. Then suddenly a tall, handsome, and still quite young man, by his appearance clearly Spanish, approached me. He addressed me with the following words, "The Mother of God is waiting for (or calling) you." (Unfortunately I do not remember the exact words he said to me.) He took me by the hand and led me to the icon. It was much later that I learned that he was brother Joseph. Both then, and now, I ask myself the same question: how could he have noticed me in such a large crowd, why did he approach me, show such concern, show me how to venerate the holy object? Over the course of many years, I have carried this memory of brother Joseph, of the unusual warmth, attention, and love that emanated from him. Several years later, I became Orthodox, and this episode played a big role in the decision [to do so].
Nun Nektaria (MacLees) Moscow, December 2003