In Phrygia, an ancient region of Asia Minor, where the Turkish land is now, there was once a temple dedicated to Archistratig Michael. Next to him a healing spring beat from under the earth, and the fame of him spread far beyond the boundaries of the district. But it was not a single source that glorified this place. It was here that an event occurred that the Church has remembered for seventeen centuries in a row.
How the temple appeared
It all started with a family from Laodicea. A local resident had a daughter who was born unable to utter a word. Once in a dream, the Archangel Michael appeared to him and said: If a girl drinks water from a spring in the Heretope — that was the name of that area — she will speak. The father obeyed, led his daughter to the water, and she really found the gift of speech.
After this miracle, the whole family was baptized, and the grateful father at his own expense built a temple over the spring in the name of Archistratigus Michael. People began to come to the shrine — both Christians and pagans. Many, having received healing, converted to the Christian faith. The temple became not just a place of prayer, but also a testimony to the power that worked through it.
Ponomar Archippus
In this temple, a man named Archippus served as a ponomar for almost sixty years. He was known for his piety and zealous preaching, not only with words, but with life itself he set an example of faith. Thanks to him, many pagans in the vicinity left their former cults and came to Christ.
It was the activities of Archippus that became a stumbling block. Local pagans, irritated by the fact that Christianity attracts more people, decided to finish off the temple and the ponomar once and for all.
Human-designed flooding
The temple stood in a mountainous area, and the attackers found an insidious way to destroy it. They connected the beds of two mountain rivers into one powerful stream and directed the water directly to the building. The water rushed down the slope, gaining strength, it seemed, a little more, and the temple together with the people inside would be swept away.
Archippus didn’t run. He remained in the temple and began to fervently pray to Archangel Michael, asking to protect the shrine.
Phenomenon
And the prayer was heard. Archangel Michael appeared on the spot and hit the rock with his baton. A wide cleft opened up in the stone, and the whole stormy stream rushed into this hole as into a bottomless funnel. The temple remained intact — not a single drop touched its walls.
The pagans, standing far away and waiting to see the destruction, fled in terror. Archippus and the Christians who were with him fell to their knees and offered thanks to God and His Archangel.
Why Hong?
The place where the rock split, began to be called Hona – which in Greek means “hole”, “reselina”. The former name of the Herotope was gradually forgotten, and a new name was fixed behind the place, directly related to the miracle itself. Hence the name of the event — the Miracle of Archistratig Michael in Honech.
Memory
The Orthodox Church remembers this event on September 19. People called the day Mikhailovo miracle.
The miracle in Honeh has an unexpected continuation already in Russian history. In 1365, Metropolitan Alexy, healed, according to legend, by the prayers of Archangel Michael, laid a church in the Moscow Kremlin in honor of this very event. Thus appeared the famous Chudov Monastery, which existed until the beginning of Soviet times.
The story in Honeh is not only about a miraculous salvation. It is also the story of how the plan of people, which seemed inevitable, was stopped in an instant — with a rod that struck a stone.
Memorial Day
September 19
Charity foundHoly Land.
Soul investment! News
