I had a close friend who got married. In the first year, her son Vladimir was born. From birth, the boy struck with an unusually quiet character. In the second year she had a son Boris, who also surprised everyone, on the contrary, extremely restless character. Vladimir passed all classes as the first student. After graduating from university, he entered the Theological Academy and was ordained a priest in 1917. Vladimir embarked on the path he sought and was chosen by God from birth. From the very beginning I began to enjoy the respect and love of the parish. In 1924, he and his parents were deported to Tver without the right to leave the city. They were constantly under the supervision of the GPU. In 1930 Vladimir was arrested and shot.
Another brother, Boris, joined the Komsomol, and then, to the sorrow of his parents, became a member of the Union of atheists. Father Vladimir tried to bring him back to God, but could not. In 1928, Boris became chairman of the Union of atheists and married a girl Komsomol. In 1935, I went to Moscow for a few days, where I happened to meet Boris. He rushed joyfully to me with the words: “The Lord, through the prayers of his brother, Vladimir’s father in heaven, returned me to Himself.” Here is what he told me: “When we were married, the mother of my bride blessed her with the image of the “Savior not made with hands” and said: “Just give me your word that you will not abandon His image; let him now do not need you, just do not abandon.” He was really useless to us, was demolished in the barn. A year later, we had a boy. We were both happy. But the baby was born sick, with spinal cord tuberculosis. We spared no money on doctors. They said that a boy could only live to the age of six. The child is five years old. Health is getting worse. A rumor has reached us that a famous professor of childhood diseases is in exile. The child is not well, so I decided to go and invite the professor to join us.
When I got to the station, the train left before my eyes. What was I supposed to do? Staying and waiting and there’s a wife alone and suddenly the baby dies without me? I thought about it and turned back. I come and find the following: the mother, sobbing, is on her knees at the crib, hugging the boy’s already cold legs …
The local paramedic said it was the last minutes. I sat down at the table against the window and despaired. And suddenly I see, as in reality, that the doors of our shed are opened and my dead brother Father Vladimir comes out. He holds in his hands the image of our Savior. I am stunned: I see him walking, his long hair fluttering, I hear him open the door, I hear his footsteps. I got cold like marble. He enters the room, approaches me, silently passes the Image into my hands and disappears like a vision.
Seeing all this, I rushed into the barn, found the image of the Savior and placed it on the child. This morning, the baby was completely healthy. The doctors treated him only with their hands. No sign of tuberculosis. And then I realized that there is a God, I understood my brother’s prayers.
I declared my withdrawal from the Union of Infidels and did not hide the miracle that happened to me. Everywhere and everywhere I proclaimed the miracle that had happened to me and called to believe in God. They baptized their son, giving him the name George. I said goodbye to Boris and never saw him again. When she returned to Moscow in 1937, she learned that after the baptism of her son, he and his wife and child went to the Caucasus. Boris spoke openly about his error and salvation. A year later, being completely healthy, he suddenly died. The doctors did not determine the cause of death: it was removed by the Bolsheviks, so that they would not talk too much and the people would not murmur.
Author: Archpriest Valery Duhanin
The Holy Land Charitable Foundation
Soul investment!
Orthodox stories from life
