At the end of October of 1998, our parishioners participated in two noteworthy events: the meeting of the exact copy, brought to us from Mt. Athos, of the Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon of the Mother of God, and a pilgrimage to the grave of brother Joseph Munoz-Cortes at the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York.
On October 27th 1998, many parishioners and other faithful from Orthodox parishes in Washington stood holding lighted candles, met the Athonite icon and prayed at a thanksgiving moleben and akathist to the Mother of God.
Early in the morning on October 31st, approximately 90 parishioners left for Jordanville. At 3:00 p.m., Archbishop Laurus, rector of the Monastery, blessed the new monument at brother Joseph’s grave, a memorial erected through the zealous efforts of a multitude of donors. Thereafter, together with five priests and two protodeacons, he served a panikhida. Over 300 people who had come from various cities in the United States and Canada took part in the prayers. In the homily after the panikhida, it was noted that brother Joseph’s death had a universal significance: 16 years earlier, the Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon was revealed to all mankind, and after brother Joseph’s death, it was hidden from all of us.
Before our departure for Washington on Sunday, another panikhida was served at Brother Joseph’s grave. At this panikhida, Archbishop Leonty of Chile and Schema-abbot Clement, two of Brother Joseph’s spiritual directors, were also commemorated. During a short homily at the conclusion of this requiem prayer service, Fr. Victor thanked everyone for having made the effort to come from afar, in order to honor the memory of the martyr. Further, he noted that for many of the pilgrims, these two days were marked by a particular sensation of grace, much like the sensation the earliest Christians must have experienced as they approached the graves of their brothers and sisters martyred for Christ’s sake.
Fr. Victor poured out onto brother Joseph’s grave some earth from the resting place of the Athonite Elder Clement, who was brother Joseph’s spiritual father, who in 1982 had given into his care the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, and who subsequently tonsured him into the monastic rank. This soil had been brought from Mt. Athos by our parishioner Veljko Sikirica and by Emmanuel Argiris, a friend of the late brother Joseph.
From Fr. Victor’s homily on the occasion of the meeting of the Athonite Iveron Icon.
There are no words sufficient to express our thanks to the Lord for granting us today’s most glorious celebration. With great anticipation, we awaited the arrival of this marvelous icon, an icon which will serve as a bright reminder of the great fifteen-year miracle of the Mother of God and Her martyred chosen one.
The much suffering Orthodox peoples surround the icon of the Keeper of the Portal with such great reverence in part because She Herself was much-suffering. Over one thousand years ago, an audacious soldier struck her Most-pure image with a sword, and from the resultant wound there flowed actual blood. This was the icon’s first wonder to be visible to the eyes of man. The second was of a spiritual nature: struck by the miracle, the soldier brought forth sincere repentance, abandoned the iconoclastic heresy, and became a monk.
On November 24, 1982, the Athonite copy of the Iveron icon in Brother Joseph’s care manifested its first miracle: the streaming of myrrh. The second lay in that a multitude of people came to repentance.
On the night of October 30-31, 1997, the date upon which satanists celebrate Halloween, considered by many to be a “harmless” celebration, the chosen one of the Mother of God, and the custodian of her Miracle, was brutally murdered. In the 6th kontakion of the akathist to the Myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God, we hear: “You chose as the proclaimer of your miracles and the keeper of your icon in the Russian diaspora not a bishop, not a prince, nor a monastic instructor, but an ordinary man of a foreign people, that no one might boast before God of his earthly origin. Rather that we may praise the praiseworthy, to know the Lord and in an Orthodox manner to call to Him: Alleluia.”
For his faithful service to the Queen of Heaven, this “simple stranger” paid with his life, or rather, was rewarded with a martyr’s crown, the greatest reward that a man can earn. He did not fear death, and according to those who were with him in the Lesno monastery in France before his departure on his final journey to Greece, he even had a premonition of that death. During an interview for an Orthodox publication, conducted shortly before his death, brother Joseph stated that a Christian should not fear death, especially a death for the sake of Christ.
Soon after Joseph was sacrificed and after we recovered from the initial shock, we began to consider how to direct our sorrow towards something productive. What can be more fitting and more pleasing to God than our repentance? The Lord came to earth in order to call people to repentance, and sixteen years ago gave us the Myrrh-streaming icon so that repentance might be aroused in us. In the 7th ikos of the akathist for the Annunciation, we read: “Rejoice intercessor before the just Judge. Rejoice forgiveness for many sins.” Remembering this truth, we decided to gather together on a weekly basis in order to make a small effort, to serve a moleben with the penitential canon before our paper copy of the Iveron Myrrh-streaming Icon of the Keeper of the Portal, the icon which for two days last December streamed myrrh.
The Mother of God heard our penitential prayers, and returned to us, not in the sign of myrrh-streaming, but in the image of this Athonite icon, an exact copy of the one which our dear brother Joseph had so carefully protected.
Soon after brother Joseph’s death, Priest Alexander Iwascewicz, who lives in Argentina, wrote an account of those days, rich in grace-filled impressions, which he spent with Joseph in Greece. In his account, Fr. Alexander mentioned a certain Greek, a liturgical jeweler, who was a friend of brother Joseph, and who had made the riza which decorated the Myrrh-streaming Iveron icon of the Mother of God. For some reason, I remembered this at first seemingly insignificant detail contained in Fr. Alexander’s account. In May 1998, my matushka and one of our parishioners, Shala (Maria) Rae made a pilgrimage to the holy sites in Greece and Bulgaria which brother Joseph loved. I maintained almost daily telephone contact with them. At one point, I asked matushka to contact that same Greek friend of Joseph’s mentioned by Fr. Alexander. “Go to him in the port of Piraeus. Perhaps he will tell you something new about Brother Joseph and about the circumstances of his death.” Unfortunately, I knew neither his name nor his address. I telephoned Fr. Alexander in Argentina, and he told me that his shop was called “Byzantinorama.” He was able to give me his telephone number, but not his address. I gave this information to matushka and Shala. Although Matushka had forgotten that such a person existed, when I called her to remind her, she remembered that brother Joseph had often spoken of him with love, as his spiritual friend.
Our pilgrims tried to call the shop, but it turned out that the telephone number was incorrect. Later they sought the help of hotel staff and of telephone directory assistance, but to no avail.
The pilgrims became reconciled to the idea that they were not fated to meet brother Joseph’s friend, but at the same time, sensed that such a meeting would have been extremely useful.
On May 13th, Brother Joseph’s birthday, the manager of the “Grand Hotel,” the hotel in which brother Joseph was tortured to death, afforded the pilgrims an opportunity to pray in the room in which brother Joseph had been killed. They sprinkled the room with holy water, marked signs of the cross upon its walls with myrrh from the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, sang a panikhida, akathist and penitential canon to the Mother of God, and an akathist to St. Joseph the Betrothed. They commemorated everyone who had given them lists of names to be remembered. They spent five hours in the room.
Upon leaving the hotel, the pilgrims gave the manager two packets of materials regarding brother Joseph, including his biography, descriptions of his funeral with accompanying photographs of his tortured body, a copy of the autopsy report, and other materials. They told the manager that one of the copies was for him, and they requested that he furnish the other to the police, to help them understand that brother Joseph was not a simple layperson, but the chosen one of the Mother of God, and that his murder was something more than an ordinary crime. The hotel manager promised to immediately honor their request. He said: “I have already heard a great deal of good about him. Follow me.” He took them out onto the street, and told them where to go in order to meet someone who loved Brother Joseph very much. The hotel manager had no idea that the people to whom he was speaking had already been looking for this person for several days.
Matushka and Shala found a church supply store, but because it was already late in the day, the business was closed. At a dry cleaner’s across the street, they inquired as to when the store would reopen. Instead of answering, the clerk pointed to a man standing across the way. The pilgrims hurried to meet him, and it was an encounter as if between long-lost friends.
Emmanuel Argiris (“Manolis”) told matushka and Shala that every day he weeps at the memory of his cruelly murdered friend brother Joseph, whom everyone had apparently forgotten. He had seen Brother Joseph for the last time on the last day of Joseph’s life. At breakfast that morning, they had agreed that after Brother Joseph had seen Fr. Alexander off at the airport, they would meet the following day and would have a heart to heart talk. Alas, they were not to see each other again.
In Manolis’ shop window, matushka saw an exact copy of Brother Joseph’s icon, but in a different riza. Manolis explained that the Athonite iconographer, Fr. Chrysostomos, gave him this icon as a gift six months after Brother Joseph had received his copy. “Matushka said: “How we would like to get such an icon from the hands of Fr. Chrysostomos! Would that be possible?” Manolis smiled, nodded his head. Matushka could not imagine that her words could be taken seriously.
The following morning, the pilgrims departed for the island of Andros, where they spent four days at the monastery of St Nicholas. Brother Joseph had visited that monastery on the eve of his death, and at that time an ancient fresco of the Mother of God began to weep. Returning to Athens, they again visited Manolis. As soon as they entered the shop, Manolis, without any warning, handed matushka the telephone. On the line was Fr. Chrysostomos, abbot of the Holy Nativity Skete on Mt. Athos. Unprepared for such a conversation with a priest from the Holy Mountain, matushka was at a loss for words. He said to her: “I will write an icon for you.” She was stunned, having forgotten entirely about the half-serious request she had so recently made before Manolis’ shop window. Later in the conversation, Fr. Chrysostomos extended his blessing to our entire parish and offered a word of comfort: “Be strong. The Mother of God will never abandon you and will always cover you with Her Holy Protection. All is by the will of God.”
Of course, Manolis had telephoned Fr. Chrysostomos and had told him of his meeting with matushka and Shala. However, to this day, we do not know exactly why Fr. Chrysostomos expressed the desire to write an icon for our parish. When Manolis came to Washington, he said the following: “This icon stems from love and for love. Through this icon Fr. Chrysostomos expresses his love for the Mother of God and for her martyred chosen one, and for all those who honor the Mother of God and remember Joseph.”
Manolis also related to us that on Mt. Athos, many were amazed that Fr. Chrysostomos wrote the icon so quickly. We learned that serious problems with vision have made it difficult for Fr. Chrysostomos to pursue iconography, that he now writes fewer icons, and that when he does promise to write an icon, it takes him a very long time to fulfill the promise. While on Mt. Athos, Manolis tried to give Fr. Chrysostomos some money for his work, but the iconographer categorically refused, noting that this image may in no way be connected to money.
Emmanuel Argiris, who extended so much help to matushka and to Shala, is with us today. This kind man, who fashioned the riza for the Myrrh-streaming Icon, has made such a riza for our Keeper of the Portal. Although not young, and of fragile health, he performed a great spiritual struggle for our parish. He went to Mt. Athos, ascended the mountain, came to the Holy Nativity Skete in which is struggling a small brotherhood under Schema-abbot Chrysostomos, author of the Myrrh-streaming Icon. Here he took from the hands of Fr. Chrysostomos our icon. He carried it to the Iveron Monastery, where, with the blessing of the spiritual director of the Monastery, it lay throughout the night and throughout the entire Liturgy in the shrine of and next to the ancient Miraculous Icon. Then he traveled with it to Athens, where over the course of a month, he zealously fashioned for it a riza, and finally, he brought it to Washington, where we have now received this marvelous icon from his pious hands. This holy icon will remain in our temple and will be a constant reminder of the Great Miracle and of the chosen one of the Mother of God.
The Miracle of the Queen of Heaven continues. It continues in another form, but it continues, and the Theotokos gives us yet another opportunity to repent.
O Most Holy Theotokos, save us!