One day, a monk of the Dionystiate Monastery named Anthimus went to the hospital of the monastery to visit a new monk who became ill immediately after tonsure. To comfort him, he told him the following story from his personal experience.
“Have hope, brother, in our Lady the Virgin, the great physician and tireless intercessor of all monks. Listen to what has happened to me to understand her immeasurable intercession.
When I was your age, about twenty-five, and like you, I had recently had my hair cut, I also fell seriously ill. For a long time the disease turned me into a cripple. I don’t even know what kind of disease it was: rheumatism or something else, but my whole body was bound by some kind of impotence. I used crutches to get around. Moreover, as if it were not enough, my eyes also darkened, and I could hardly distinguish objects.
Two doctors came to me, conducted an examination, but could not help. The more time passed, the worse my condition became. Day and night I shed tears and said,
Oh my God, what has this got into me? Perhaps I am the most sinful! Barely tonsured nuns, blind and paralyzed, I am in the hospital, and I am served by the elders?! I’d rather die!
Many brothers advised me to go out into the world to be examined by more experienced doctors. However, one of the monks of our monastery, very respected and pious, came to me one day and said:
— Listen, my child! You know that in our monastery there is an ancient miraculous icon “Akathist”. It is the gift of Emperor Alexei III Comnenus to the founder of our monastery, St. Dionysius. On its silver robe! and on the tree there are inscriptions that testify that this image is the one that Patriarch Sergius carried around the walls of the city of Constantinople, which saved it from the Persians and Avars in 626. It was before this icon that the Akathist first sang, thanks to the Most Holy Mother of God for salvation, our fathers and mothers. Tradition says that it is one of the seventy icons painted by the evangelist Luke. In addition, she repeatedly exuded fragrant myrrh. So go and fall before her, and ask her with fervent faith and tears for healing, and you will see that the Ever-Mother, as a suffering Mother, will have mercy on you.
These words gave me strength, strengthened my faith, and I turned with all my heart to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, praying for her mercy and reinforcing my prayers with hot tears.
On the eve of the feast of the icon, on the fifth Saturday of Great Forty-Century, I went to church and stayed there all night. How long have I prayed before her holy image? Right there, exhausted and tired, I fell asleep. And, oh miracle! I saw the Virgin, dressed in all golden, in radiant light, all shining with radiance and glory. She stood in the air at a height of two cubits and looked at me calmly. Then she opened her mouth and said,
Why are you crying, my child Anthim?
How can I not cry, Good Mother? Do you not see my misery as I have become?
Do not cry, but think of your salvation.
Having said this, she blessed me and ascended high. I woke up right away. I wipe my eyes and see the lamps burning. I try to get up and … free to get up and go! I knew it right away. The Most Holy Mother of God performed a miracle, She completely healed me. Oh, how much joy I felt then, how many tears of gratitude I shed, how many hymns I sang — it is impossible to describe!
Soon the churchman opened the temple and, seeing me standing on his feet, did not believe his eyes. When the monks learned that I was healthy, everyone from the bottom of their hearts glorified the Lord and His Most Pure Mother for their endless love and intercession.
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