In Manchuria, on the border of Russian Siberia and China, where Bishop Jonah lived and died, there was a Russian family: an official of the Eastern Railway, his wife and son. Since his father served with the Communists, the family showed no interest in the faith or the Church. But their son became ill and did not recover for several months. His legs were taken off, he became like strangers. My parents did everything they could with doctors and medications. But it didn’t help. The boy was getting worse and worse. Russian and Japanese doctors were invited and X-rays were taken. There’s no improvement. The parents were desperately waiting for their son to die. Meanwhile Bishop Jonah died. This happened on October 7, 1925. Because of the death of the beloved archpastor, the whole city was in turmoil. The mother fed her sick child in bed, sheltered him and went out on business in the city. When he returned home, the boy, her son, who had been immobile before, ran out of his room and shouted joyfully, “Mom, I have recovered!”
My mother could not believe her eyes. She hugged her son, kissed him, wept with joy and began to ask how it happened. And this is what the son told her: «When you left, I fell asleep.» In a dream a good man in priestly robes appeared to me and asked, “Why are you lying in bed?” I told him that my legs were taken away, I could not move. And the man says, «Here are my feet.» Take them and walk. I don’t need them anymore.
The mother asked in detail what the good man looked like, and the son described him. The next day, the mother took her son with her and went to a memorial service for the newly deposed bishop. Seeing the face of the deceased, the boy exclaimed: “Mother!” Here is the man who appeared to me in a dream and gave up his feet.
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Orthodox stories from life
