During the stay of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Moscow, about 2 million pilgrims venerated them. Now the relics have been transported to St. Petersburg and will stay there for two weeks from July 13 to 28.
Maria Sergeeva
Maria Sergeeva, coordinator of “Orthodox Volunteers”, spent 42 days at the relics, helping pilgrims and other volunteers. Sometimes she had to sleep an hour and a half a day, but, according to her, she did not feel any fatigue. We asked her to share the most memorable moments in her work.
“I got here very easily. There was an announcement in our church about bringing relics and recruiting volunteers to help with the organization. I signed up and on June 1 came to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior as a volunteer. She came and that’s it, she stayed there until the end.
At first I came as a “little green man” in a green vest - that was the color of the volunteer vests. I was a mobile volunteer who rode along the line on a scooter. Then many who actively showed themselves became coordinators. That's how I became. We helped the volunteers, encouraged and guided them, and controlled order in the queue with them.
There was a period when we worked almost the whole day and slept at home for only one and a half to two hours: at 6 in the morning the first shift of volunteers began gathering, and we left at 2-3 in the morning, depending on the number of pilgrims. But even after just a couple of hours of sleep, you had the feeling that you were cheerful, that you wanted to quickly run to work there, to the temple. No fatigue!
It was difficult for some volunteers to stand at the relics themselves. Morally. Many destinies flashed before my eyes, human emotions, experiences. Therefore, many changed their posts to street ones, closer to the first line.
We tried to make it easier for people to stand in line and brought them tea and water. Sometimes we managed to please them with something else. So one day a bakery brought us buns for free. When we handed them out, people smiled and said good words. I really remember this moment.
In the queue you could meet both ordinary and very wealthy people. And everyone stood on an equal footing, except for those for whom a special “social” queue was created - for disabled people of the 1st group and children under one year old.
There were moments that were both joyful and sad. For example, when buses with sick people arrived. I was very worried looking at them. At the same time, it was joyful to see that they liked it here, and many of them were smiling.
Volunteers talked about things that I can’t call anything other than a miracle:
People who haven't met for many, many years and lost all contacts for communication, they unexpectedly met right at the relics. One of our volunteers, while kissing, heard a familiar voice. It turned out to be an old acquaintance of hers from childhood.
And one woman, who also came to us as a volunteer, said that she did this after a miracle happened to her. According to her story, at first she, like everyone else, stood in line for 8 hours, bowed to the relics and went home. She had vision problems for 30 years and wore contacts. She says she started watching TV, and suddenly her vision suddenly deteriorated. I was very scared, I thought that I had lost him completely. When she took off the lenses to understand what had happened, it turned out that her vision was perfect and the lenses only got in the way.
Each pilgrim was given just one second to kiss and not delay the general queue. According to estimates, about 30 people applied per minute, and with a large flow there could be more.People stood in line for 8-12 hours under the sun and rain for one second, which costs so much.
Personally, when I stood near the entrance and exit, I watched how the expressions on people’s faces changed. Those who had just entered the temple were tense, tired, and confused. And the faces of those leaving and already bowing to the relics were brightened and joyful, even if someone had tears in their eyes at that moment.
Those wishing to become volunteers can fill out a form on the website:
Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, is perhaps the only saint to whose name the word “Wonder Worker” is added. December 19 is the day of memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. I congratulate everyone on the day of remembrance of one of the most revered Christian saints, and I want to tell you about the miracles that St. Nicholas showed in my life.
The first of them took place in the Moscow Church of All Saints on Kulishki, where I ended up at the very beginning of my churching. I was surprised not only by its beauty and beautiful Byzantine chants, but also by the fact that one of the deacons there was a dark-skinned man (possibly of African origin). One of my first confessions took place here. From here, with my problems, they sent me to the Intercession Monastery to the relics of the Matronushka of Moscow. This is where my love for Greece begins. It was here, after my fervent prayers at the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, that one of the first miracles in my life happened...
On Kulishki
The most famous and one of the oldest in Moscow, the All Saints Church is located on Slavyanskaya Square near Solyanka. In 1999, the Church of All Saints in Kulishki received the status of the Metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and the representative office of the Primate of Alexandria Orthodox Church– His Beatitude the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa.
The rector of the temple is Metropolitan Athanasius of Kirin, exarch of the Libyan Peninsula, representative of the Patriarch of Alexandria to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. Divine services at the courtyard are performed in Slavic and Greek.
The church on Kulishki has been known since the 14th century.
The first wooden temple-monument to the military glory of the Russian army was erected by the noble prince of Moscow Dimitri Donskoy in gratitude to the Lord for the victory granted in 1380 on the Kulikovo field and in memory of the soldiers who fell there.
In ancient times, on the site of modern Varvarka and Solyanka streets there was Vasilyevsky Meadow, which, together with the adjacent lands, was called Kulishki (Kulizhki, Kuligami). This was the name given to plots of land for haymaking along river banks.
The chronicler mentions the temple in 1488: “...at the ninth hour of the day the Church of the Annunciation on the Swamp caught fire, and therefore it burned from the city to Kulishka, not even to All Saints.”
The temple burned in fires in 1493, 1547, 1688, 1737. In 1930 or 1931 the temple was closed. In 1991, it was returned to the Church, consecrated and restored.
The shrines of the temple are the Cross-crucifix, icons Mother of God“Tikhvinskaya”, “Sign”, “Hodegetria-Sumela”, “Merciful”, icons of the martyr Andrew Stratelates and the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian. They also bring here shrines from other places, including a particle of the relics of the very revered Saint Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea.
About the miracles that began in this temple
year 2014.
The sanctity of motherhood.
At the end of January 2013, my brother became seriously ill, at the same time my house burned down, and at the beginning of December of the same year I was laid off at work. Having suppressed my wild despair, I remembered who helped me find permanent job in 2004, and came to the All Saints Church, not knowing that every Thursday morning here you can venerate a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas, and in the evening you can pray at a prayer service with an akathist and blessing of water.
On January 30, 2014, my birthday, I took communion at the Church of All Saints and was about to leave. But Saint Nicholas did not let me go, I kept standing by his icon and suddenly I heard one granny tell another that they would soon take out the ark with a particle of his relics. When they brought him out, the women and I read an akathist to the great wonderworker.
Needless to say, almost immediately after this I was offered a job. Currently, I am covering the topic of “the sanctity of motherhood” and making my contribution to the fight against such an evil as abortion.
Throne with the tomb of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Bari. Lower Temple.
2010
Like Nikolushka and Dmitry DostoevskyThey brought me to Bari.
I’ll tell you how, through the prayers of St. Nicholas, I was able to venerate his venerable relics, exuding fragrant myrrh, in the Italian city of Bari. I have not the slightest doubt that it was Nicholas the Wonderworker who brought me to Italy. Knowing that he helps with material needs (remember the bag of money thrown by the saint for two poor girls), I read the akathist to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for forty days - from March 18 to April 29, 2010 (then I read it from July 2 to August 13 and from August 30 to October 10, 2010).
And suddenly, on March 21, the magazine “Slavyanka” appeared in my hands with an article by Nikolai Kozhukhin “Meeting with Great Wonderworkers” (2009. No. 12). Under in an unusual way saint in a cap, we were talking about St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, about his quick help: “Nikolushka the saint will never leave! Him loving heart; As soon as you ask him for anything, he’s right there!” (page 92). At these words, I burst into tears and, turning to Nicholas the Pleasant (and that was St. Spyridon!), bitterly reproached him: “Why do you help others, but don’t hear me?”
That year, under the weight of the trials that befell me, my faith, acquired eight years ago at the bedside of my brother, who was dying in intensive care, collapsed. Over the years, I have visited so many shrines that no one else will ever see in their entire life. And it seemed to me that my faith grew stronger. But God sent a blow of such force that I barely survived it and begged the Lord: “Help, Father!!!”
Hundreds of times I have read the phrase in the Gospel: “Your faith has saved you.” “I didn’t save, but destroyed! God doesn't hear me! He left me, punished me, didn’t help!” - I complained with approximately these words that night to two saints - Nicholas the Pleasant and Spyridon of Trimifuntsky. How could I have known then that in the summer I would meet two great miracle workers at once? What if this article hadn’t caught my eye? What a pity that the Slavyanka magazine burned down along with my house - in those minutes I wrote down in the margins of the article, the date and time of the miracle that occurred.
On March 23, that is, a day after my night conversation with the saints depicted on the pages of “Slavyanka”, Olga Alexandre, the director of the international children’s Orthodox camp “Blagovestnik”, whose work I covered in 2009, called me. She offered to come to Switzerland again as a journalist and teacher. At that moment I was terribly depressed, but out of inertia I agreed.
Around the same days, a letter arrived from Doctor of Philology, Professor Stefano Aloe, who is an associate professor at the Department of Russian Literature and Slavic Studies at the University of Verona and executive secretary of the International Dostoevsky Symposium. When I read that my report was included in the symposium program, I didn’t believe it, because... during recent years was not engaged in science, but in journalism and social activities. When applying to participate in the forum, I myself did not believe that anything would come of it.
In Italy, I never tired of thanking God and St. Nicholas for this miracle. Nikolushka returned Dostoevsky to me, my dear Dostoevsky brotherhood, which, by the way, was the first to come to my aid after the fire in January 2013. Already a trip to the conference was enough to understand the power of reading the akathist for 40 days. But the main miracle was that Dostoevsky, in turn, led me to the great miracle worker - to the shrine with his holy relics.
While in March I was moaning and crying in an unheated house about my broken fate, upstairs they took care of my fate in such a way that it is impossible to say in a fairy tale or describe with a pen! For many years I dreamed of visiting Bari, but I could not even imagine that I would find myself there, and not alone, but with the great-grandson of the writer Dmitry Dostoevsky.
Even before arriving in Naples, I asked Stefano Aloe in a letter if I would have the opportunity to travel from Naples to Bari. Stefano, whom I remember as a graduate student who came to St. Petersburg for the Dostoev readings, said that it’s unlikely, because it's a bit far. But remembering my question, he told Dmitry Dostoevsky about my desire, who was looking for travel companions for a trip to the great Christian shrine. I owe this unforgettable trip to him!
And here we are with Dmitry Dostoevsky (he turned 72 in 2017) and several of our other friends and colleagues in Bari! It was like a dream.
After Italy, I again felt a taste for life, and the miracles continued! Immediately after Naples and Bari, I just as miraculously ended up in Greece (and not in Switzerland, where I had already bought a ticket). On July 8, 2010, on the day of remembrance of the blessed princes Peter and Fevronia, I was informed that the Russian World Foundation, which a year earlier had allocated a grant for holding the first Orthodox camp in Switzerland, supported my project “Russian World in the Swiss Alps.”
Having received a grant from the “Russian World” for a trip to Switzerland, by God’s providence I was able in a matter of days to rework the project into “The Russian World at the Foot of Parnassus” and go to a Greek Orthodox children’s camp at the invitation of Archimandrite Nektarios (Antonopoulos), now Metropolitan of Argolid.
I owe my trips to Italy and Greece to two saints - Nicholas the Wonderworker and Spyridon of Trimifuntsky, whose icon is also in the Church of All Saints in Kulishki.
2004
About how Nikolushka employed me at the Apostle Andrew the First-Called Foundation.
How fervently, with tears, I prayed at the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the St. Nicholas chapel in 2004! I prayed for myself, unemployed, for my husband, who received mere pennies at the Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was absolutely impossible to live on this with a small daughter.
I was on the verge of despair, but I didn’t really believe in any miracles, I didn’t believe that Nikolushka could help... However, literally the next day, a good friend of mine called me from America and asked: “Did your husband defend his Ph.D. thesis? We need a biologist with a degree for a Russian-American company. Write down the address. The salary is good!”
The husband passed the first interview in Russian very successfully, and the second - English language– he didn’t go, no matter how much I tried to persuade him. All in tears, not understanding why he refused this offer, I again prayed in the same temple: “Nikolushka, help!”
Imagine my surprise when, almost immediately after this, I was invited to a permanent job at the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, where I worked for more than ten years. In March 2004, I moved there from the Moskovskaya Pravda newspaper, where Saint Joasaph of Belgorod brought me, in turn. I still don’t understand how I alone managed to be the editor of three websites at once - “Dialogue of Civilizations”, the Center for National Glory and the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation, and the first of them also had a version in English.
Here are just three miracles through the prayers of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, to whom I especially pray a lot. The saint of God receives us with love, being a father to the orphans, a nourisher to the poor, a comforter to those who cry, and an intercessor to the oppressed. I feel his help all the time. Sainted Father Nicholas, pray to God for us sinners!
It turns out that we know the least about our most beloved saints. We are talking about the Mother of God and about. On the map of the world it is difficult to find a Christian city where the Mother of God would not show Her miraculous love, healing and protecting people. This also applies to the Archbishop of Myra.
Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, the miracle worker, became famous as a great saint of God. He was born in the city of Patara, Lycian region (in south coast Asia Minor Peninsula), was only son pious parents Theophan and Nonna, who vowed to dedicate him to God.
Saint Nicholas is considered the patron saint of sailors, merchants and children.
However, absolutely everyone turns to him with everyday problems: it is believed that Nikolai Ugodnik is the fastest helper, a source of spiritual support, an intercessor and savior from injustice and unnecessary death. Nicholas performed miracles both during his life and after his death. Here are some of them:
The theft that saved the shrine
Surprisingly, the most “popular” saint in Russia was born in the 3rd century after the Nativity of Christ in Asia Minor - on the territory of modern Turkey. In the town square in the Turkish city of Demre, a huge Santa Claus rises - this is St. Nicholas. Also in the city is the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In the southern part of the temple there is a sarcophagus in which the saint was originally buried. In 1087, the Italians stole about 80 percent of the relics of St. Nicholas from the Byzantine church and reburied them in the city of Bari.
After this, the temple was attacked and later flooded. dirty waters Miros River. But the saint’s relics were already safe - they miraculously survived.
According to church sources, this did not happen by chance: Nicholas the Pleasant appeared to one of the Italian priests in a dream, ordering his relics to be transported to Bari.
fragrant branch
The remaining part of the relics, nine years after the Barian raid, was removed from the sarcophagus in Demre by the Venetians. They dismantled the tomb, where they found only water and church oil, and then searched the entire church, subjecting the guards to torture. One of them could not stand it and showed the relics, but of two other saints - the predecessors of St. Nicholas: the martyr Theodore and the uncle of St. Nicholas, who was also a priest.
“When the Venetians were already sailing from the shore, they suddenly felt a fragrance emanating from the direction of the church. Returning there and breaking the floor of the altar, they began to dig and discovered another floor under a layer of earth. Having destroyed it, they found a thick layer of glassy substance, and in the middle - a mass of petrified asphalt. When they opened it, they saw inside another sintered mixture of metal and asphalt, and inside it were holy relics. A wonderful fragrance spread throughout the church.”
The bishop wrapped the saint's relics in his robe.
Here the first miracle took place at the relics of St. Nicholas - a palm branch brought by the Saint from Jerusalem and placed with him in the coffin sprouted.
The Venetians took the branch with them as proof of God's power.
PRODUCT DELAY
We were planning to go to the countryside for the summer: our hypertensive husband needed to be taken out of the city to nature as soon as possible. It’s a long journey for us, with several transfers... With difficulty I got tickets, and suddenly three days before departure my husband fell ill. In desperation, I ran to return the tickets. It was already the end of May, it was time to plant vegetables, the locals had planted everything a long time ago, but here the planting was being disrupted. I’m going to our St. Nicholas Cathedral for help from St. Nicholas. I’m standing at a prayer service, praying fervently, my condition is terrible. And suddenly, after the prayer service, an amazing calmness, peace and joy descends on me... In my entire life, I have never experienced such a feeling. Soon my husband recovered, I took the tickets again, and we hit the road. And only when approaching the village did I understand why God sent us this delay: to get to us, we need to cross the river, but during the flood the bridge broke. It had been repaired all spring and had only just been repaired when we arrived: our car was the first car to cross the new bridge.
Marina DENISYUK, Arkhangelsk region.
THREE CASES
This happened in the summer of 1997. to my youngest son was 12 years old, and he went on a sailing trip around Estonia as part of a boat crew. In Pärnu Bay, a squall hit them and capsized the boat. Everyone was saved, although not immediately. Our son was the youngest in the crew. Thank God that my wife and I gave our son a small icon of the Saint with us!
Second case wonderful help Saint occurred in the same year. It was a very difficult period financially for our family. I couldn’t find a job for a long time, my pension wasn’t enough, my wife didn’t work either. At that time I was a parishioner of the Church of St. Nicholas in Tallinn. During confession, I told the priest about the difficulties. He says to me: “You come up to this icon of the Saint and ask him for help, he will help.” He said this simply and casually, as if he were talking about something already decided and everyday. I prayed to Saint Nicholas as best I could, venerated the image and went home. I didn’t even light a candle - there was no money. It was on Sunday. On Monday, an acquaintance called me and offered me a job, and on Wednesday, my friends offered me another one.
And the third case happened here, in St. Petersburg. On St. Nicholas of the Winter in 1998, I was in Vyritsa, in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Kazan". After the Liturgy and prayer service, the pilgrims went out into the street and began a religious procession around the temple. A cloudy, rainy day with clouds that, it seemed, nothing would ever break through, was illuminated in a few minutes by the bright sun. Light was everywhere. Raindrops played with millions of rainbow crystals on the pine needles around. People's faces shone, tears sparkled in their eyes. While the choir and parishioners were singing, the soul prayed: “Father Nikolai, because you are here, next to me, touch me, let me feel you!” When they entered the temple again, people passed under the icon of the Saint. I passed under the icon at the beginning of the stream of people. A female servant turned to me: “Young man, hold the icon while Procession passes under it." And I stood with the icon of the Wonderworker until everyone had passed under it. And only when I was already on the train home, it dawned on me that the Saint had heard my prayer and immediately fulfilled it, handing me his image.
I described only three cases of the Saint’s help that I was able to see in my life. And how many of them passed by my eyes due to mental blindness! Sainted Father Nicholas, pray to God for us!
r.B. Alexiy, Estonia
AT THE CLOSED DOOR
A few years ago, my daughter and her little nephew went to my mother's house, where no one had lived for a long time, to pick up some things. I got there a little later, called, my daughter went to open it, but the door wouldn’t budge. They started pushing her hard - no result. The situation was desperate: my daughter and nephew were locked in a cold house, it was starting to get dark, there were no neighbors nearby... Again and again we tried to open the stubborn door: my daughter pushed it with her shoulder, I pulled the handle - all in vain. Having lost my last hope, I prayed: “Help us open the door, Nicholas the Wonderworker!” And at that same second the door opened softly and smoothly, completely easily. With tears we gave thanks to the Lord and the Saint.
Irina YURYATINA, Tbilisi
EXPENSIVE SURGERY
Doctors prescribed me heart surgery, which cost 40 thousand rubles. I, a disabled person of the second group, did not have that kind of money. Not long before this, I read the book “Nicholas the Merciful” and decided to ask the Saint for help. Every morning I read him an akathist and begged him to help in my grief. On the third day, a woman was admitted to my room; I told her about my misfortune, and she gave me the address of a person who helps financially everyone she sees fit. I perked up. Two months later, that person responded to my request, and two months later the operation took place.
Nina PUSHKARSKAYA, Voronezh region.
ABOUT FAMILY HAPPINESS
After divorcing my drinking husband, I raised my son alone. Now he has graduated from university and has three beautiful children. It occurred to me that now I too have the right to my share of family happiness. I began to constantly pray to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker that he would send me a husband - smart and teetotal, albeit of ordinary appearance. And the Saint sent me exactly the kind of person I asked for. We got married, got married, go to church together, and I am grateful to the Lord and Nicholas the Wonderworker for the happiness that befell me at the end of my life.
r.B. Valentina, Moscow
HOW I WAS PUNISHED
I received it as a child miraculous healing at the source of St. Nicholas. I had streptoderma - a nasty skin disease. I was treated for a month - nothing helped, but at the source, despite the prohibitions to treat the sore, I washed my face, and a day later there was no trace of streptoderma.
Since then, I often turn to the Saint, and he always helps me, but one day I managed to greatly anger God's Pleasant, and he punished me greatly for it. I was on a pilgrimage to the Sanaksar monastery. It was 1994 - there were constant problems with gasoline, money, etc. In a word, we got to Sanaksar, but back - no gasoline, no passing transport... The civilians were advancing New Year, and I certainly wanted to meet him with relatives in Belarus. At first I simply prayed to St. Nicholas to send us a passing car, and then go ahead and say: “Well, that’s it, St. Nicholas, because you don’t send me a car, I won’t pray to you anymore and light candles. That’s it!” She said it and forgot. We got home, sometimes on foot, sometimes by hitchhiking... And at home, the Lord revealed to me the worthlessness of this New Year, and I realized with horror that I had lost the intercession of Nicholas the Pleasant. This was manifested in the fact that I could not read the akathist to the Saint - I felt with my whole being that he was not listening to me - and when I lit candles for him, they either went out or fell... I realized the disgustingness of my act and really regretted what I had done. . Finally, I confessed and received a scolding and penance from my confessor: read an akathist to the Wonderworker every Thursday. How hard this reading was for me! But before, I knew the akathist almost by heart. But gradually, gradually, my prayer began to reach the Pleasant, and everything fell into place.
Lyubov DEMENTYEVA, Barnaul
"WHY DIDN'T YOU PRAY?"
In our village, a woman named Anna fell ill with cancer. One day she was lying on the stove at home, when suddenly some old man came in and said to her: “If you, servant of God, pray, you will live!” She began to pray, and soon felt better, and even began to work. But work distracted her from prayer, and she stopped praying. Then that old man, in whom she had already recognized Nicholas the Wonderworker, appeared to her again, and said to her: “Why don’t you, servant of God, pray?..”
Anna KORCHAGINA, Altai region
FIRE ICON
My great-grandmother told me that during the Great Patriotic War she had an icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. My great-grandmother lived in one of the villages in the Mogilev region. When the Germans set fire to this village, my great-grandmother’s house was the only one that survived the fire. Fellow villagers, watching the fire go around the hut, were surprised, but the great-grandmother remained calm: she firmly believed that St. Nicholas, through prayers at his icon, would save her home. As a child, I saw this icon and remember well how the wonderful light emanating from it was refracted through the window glass and reflected on the evening snow. Great-grandmother also said that the icon of the Wonderworker always glows.
After the death of my great-grandmother, the wonderful image was given not to me, but to my relatives, but St. Nicholas is still close to me. Recently in the village. Oredezh, near where I live, they built a chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. When it was consecrated, a lot of people gathered. I wonder what most those gathered were drivers who see the Saint as their heavenly patron.
N.I. Vasilyeva, Leningrad region
PAINT SMELL
I have long suffered from severe allergies - intolerance to smell oil paint. This summer I was relaxing at the dacha. Suddenly the neighbors started painting their house; smelled of paint. I began to pray to Saint Nicholas, asking for help. And help came. The neighbors continued painting, and then, after a short break, resumed it, but there was no longer any smell. This was felt not only by me, but also by my dacha owner, who was very surprised at the lack of smell.
And quite recently such an incident occurred. Suddenly my phone stopped working. It was Friday, which meant that the master would not come to me until Monday. I am not a young person and live alone. The silence of my phone could cause a commotion among my relatives and friends. And I prayed: “Father Nikolai! Please fix my phone.” And after 20 minutes the phone started working.
r.B. Larisa DANILOCHKINA
WORK IN YOUR SPECIALTY
It so happened that my husband did not work in his specialty after graduation. The need to return to my acquired profession arose 10 years after graduation. But enterprises that needed such specialists did not want to hire a person without work experience and offered a salary that was impossible for a family with a small child to live on. Then we turned to St. Nicholas: together we prayed to him for help every day with bows. About two weeks later, by luck, we called a company that did not advertise at all that it needed a specialist, but was simply located not far from our house. It turned out that they just needed an employee, and the husband was hired, and his salary was 2-3 times higher than what was offered in other places, and moreover, he was given the opportunity to improve his skills. And this case of the Saint’s help, of course, is not the only one.
Evgenia ANTONOVA, Moscow region.
HOW I WAS ROBBED
In 1999, on May 27, I closed the church, put the keys in my purse, and had only walked about a hundred meters away from the church when someone snatched the purse from my hands. At first I didn’t understand anything, but then I saw that there were three attackers. I noticed them a long time ago: they followed me for an hour, circling near the Church of St. Nicholas, where I work, but not together, but at a distance from each other. It was strange to me that they still didn’t leave. Sometimes they even came up to me, bought candles and - just think! - they were placed near the icon of the Saint. And so they robbed me. I immediately called the police, a police car arrived, and we drove together in the direction where the robbers had fled. How I cried in this car! - Only the Lord and Saint Nicholas know how I felt. She cried bitterly and begged the Saint for help at the top of her voice. The policemen looked sideways at me as if I was crazy, but did not laugh, but consoled me. And the Saint heard me, a sinner. Imagine: in just an hour we caught one of the bandits. But in such a big city as Odessa, finding a person is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack!
r.B. Tamara, Odessa
THE CHARGE WAS DISMISSED
At our plant, expensive equipment was stolen in one of the workshops. Suspicion fell on a worker named Anatoly. The rumor about this quickly spread throughout the enterprise and began to acquire various speculations. Anatoly was even offered to give a bribe to anyone in order to hush up the matter. But to give a bribe means to admit guilt, and Anatoly rejected the slander that was leveled against him. His case was supposed to be dealt with just on the eve of St. Nicholas the Winter. There was little hope that it would end favorably for Anatoly. It was then that he was advised to go to St. Seraphim Pokrovsky convent, who is in our city to pray before the miraculous image of St. Nicholas and ask for help in trouble. Anatoly was not a church person at all, but he listened to the advice and went to the image.
A day or two later, his case was resolved, all charges against him were dropped, and from then on, Anatoly, feeling grateful to God, began, albeit not often, to visit the temple, to the joy of all of us - the Orthodox residents of our city.
Mikhail KAZANIN, Kemerovo region.
PAINT POISONING
In the summer of 2002, I came to my daughter in Tambov to spend the night with her, and the next morning go to Zadonsk to venerate the relics of St. Tikhon of Zadonsky. My daughter was having her apartment renovated, and I decided to help her by painting the balcony. My daughter tried to dissuade me, but I continued to paint and worked until I inhaled this poisonous paint to the point of nausea. Then I felt very bad, and every minute I felt worse and worse. The daughter called an ambulance, but the doctor arrived and said that they could not treat paint poisoning. Then my daughter ran to the pharmacy, and I, left alone, began to pray to the Mother of God, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and St. Nicholas, so that they would help me get to the monastery the next day. 5-7 minutes passed, I got up from my knees and immediately felt a significant improvement. For a long time I could not believe it, but it soon became clear that the malaise had completely passed. I managed to go to the monastery quite safely.
Another time, my granddaughter developed a very painful, itchy rash. The girl was worried that summer was approaching, and she would not be able to sunbathe or swim. No matter what ointments they prescribed for her, it was all to no avail. Then I gave her the book “Miracles of St. Nicholas in our days” to read and said: “Pray to St. Nicholas the Pleasant, he will help!” The granddaughter did so, and soon the rash disappeared.
Galina LIKHACHEVA, Tambov region.
SICK ARM
Once, while reading the book “Nicholas the Merciful,” I thought: after all, Saint Nicholas helped me more than once. How many times, when I was late for a train, I prayed to the Wonderworker for help, and the train was delayed at the station just long enough for me to catch it! How many times did the Saint send me rides on those roads where cars go once a month!.. And so, remembering all these cases of miraculous help, I decided to bother the Saint again with my requests. Due to the nature of my work, I have to deal with construction mixtures, various aggressive liquids, and as a result, right hand I have formed severe irritation, which did not pass for more than six months. My hand itched painfully all the time, and it looked simply terrible. I asked Saint Nicholas to heal my sore hand and promised that I would write about his help in the newspaper “Rule of Faith”. Exactly a week passed, and there was no trace of irritation, although I did not use any medications. Now I'm still working in the same unfavorable conditions, however, my illness does not return by the grace of God.
r.B. Evgeniy, St. Petersburg
SOURCE IN TAMBOV REGION
Saint Nicholas is the heavenly patron of my father. When one day dad became seriously ill with pneumonia, the doctors in our hospital could not cure him. Our whole family - there are nine of us children - prayed for our dad to St. Nicholas, and then my father was sent to Moscow. There a professor examined him and found that dad was intolerant to penicillin. He was treated with other medications and soon recovered. So the Lord, through the prayers of St. Nicholas, gave our father another 13 years of life.
Now I’ll tell you about what I heard from my friend, Mother Nina. One day she found out that in Tambov region, in the Michurinsky district, the village of Dubovo, there is miraculous spring St. Nicholas, who has very great healing powers. Mother Nina is a sick person; for almost two years she could not sleep in bed and slept sitting in a chair. The first time she came to the spring with several women. They settled down for the night in empty house. Mother Nina slept in her chair, which she made with her own hands, and in subtle sleep I saw a gray-haired old man come to the house and say: “To receive grace, you need to come here three times.” She came to the source for the second time. Now their group included two guys who took a bottle of vodka with them and wanted to drink it at the source. They were told that they could not drink in the holy place, but they did not listen. At the source they put the bottle on the ground, and for no reason it broke into pieces. The guys came to their senses, asked St. Nicholas for forgiveness, and prayed. The third time, Nina took with her to the spring a patient who was already preparing for death and did not even want to go, because she did not feel strong enough. They begged her, put her in a car, and at the source, along with everyone else, they poured water on her - 12 buckets were poured for each person. When we returned to Tambov, this patient was healed and went home herself. Mother Nina was also healed and now sleeps not in a chair, but on a bed. This is what a powerful source St. Nicholas gave us!
Nina KOLOSOVA, Tambov
HOUSING AND WORK
Last summer, my uncle, in whose apartment I lived after divorcing my husband, asked me to leave. I had to move in with my parents, and their place is already cramped. I was very worried and was sure that now I would have to hang around other people’s houses all my life. But then the icon of St. Nicholas arrived in our city, consecrated in the city of Bari on the relics of the Wonderworker. My mother and I prayed at this icon, read akathists, and - what a miracle! My believing friend told me how to properly apply for a loan from Sberbank to purchase a home. Soon I bought myself nice apartment- but just recently I couldn’t even dream about it. But the miracles are not over yet. IN new apartment the balcony was in disrepair, and the neighbors were selling “burnt” vodka, and streams of drunkards flowed to our site day and night. But the Saint of Christ Nicholas did not leave here without his help. They built a balcony for me two months later, free of charge, and the neighbors moved in six months later, and now quite decent people live in this apartment.
Nikolai Ugodnik also helped me in the service. I worked in a very prestigious, well-paid place, but my boss suddenly began to outlive me. It seemed that there would be no end to the bullying, I went to work as if I was going to execution, and did not stop praying to the Lord, the Mother of God and especially St. Nicholas for help. And then on December 19, on his feast day, the Saint showed a miracle: my boss was kicked out in disgrace, and I was offered a new position - in my specialty. Truly, nothing is impossible for God!
r.B. Natalia, Volgograd
FREE PLACE
I was going to go to the village, but I missed the last bus. The driver did not stop and drove past me. I stood, upset, and prayed to St. Nicholas. I wanted to catch a ride, but they didn’t want to take me. Suddenly another flight is announced. I heard about him for the first time. However, there are no tickets for it. I go to the driver and ask him to take me without a ticket, but it’s no use, all the seats are taken. I completely despaired, cried, but continued to pray to the Saint. Five minutes passed. Suddenly the driver comes up to me and says that one passenger didn’t show up and there is now room for me. It is difficult to convey my feelings, but I gave my word to St. Nicholas that I would write about this incident in the newspaper “Rule of Faith.”
Natalya MALYASOVA, Cheboksary
EAR HURT...
Two years ago I was at the dacha, and there my ear hurt. I treated him with everything possible, but the pain did not subside. I went to the doctor and it turned out that I had an infection in my ear. I used the medications that the doctor prescribed for me, but it only felt better for a while, and then my other ear also started to hurt. I started to despair. But then something happened that seemed completely incredible to me at that time: I bought the blessed oil of St. Nicholas in the church, prayerfully anointed my ear with it, and soon the illness completely disappeared. Then this amazed me extremely, and now I understand that our intercessor, Saint Nicholas, is generous with such miracles.
Galina STEPANOVA, St. Petersburg
EATEN SHASHLIK...
I am 51 years old. About five years ago I was visiting, where I was treated to barbecue. After this treat I got very sick gallbladder and pancreas; started severe pain, which lasted six months - I couldn’t even drink an extra sip of water, everything was burning inside. The doctors, not particularly concerned about my problems, prescribed some medications, but they were of very little use. A friend took me to some healer who supposedly heals with the blessing of the priests, but she not only did not cure me, but also did not find the cause of the pain. On Nikola’s next day, December 19, I went to church and asked the Wonderworker there to save me from pain. I decided: even if I feel really bad in the church, even if I fall, I will not leave until the end of the service, I will pray to St. Nicholas for help. After the service, I drank some water and went home. Everything about me still hurt, but I went shopping, forgot myself, got hungry, ate at home, and then I realized that nothing hurt me anymore. Since then, my pain has completely disappeared, I don’t take pills, I just take care of myself so as not to eat something extra. So Saint Nicholas helped me for the sake of his holiday.
Lyudmila ZHUKOVA, Nizhny Novgorod region.
RESCUE DAUGHTER
My daughter was spinning in the chair and, losing her balance, fell to the floor and hit her head hard. I immediately realized that the blow was serious. She immediately sank, cried, moaned, refused to eat or drink... Then she began to feel sick. The face showed all the signs of a concussion. We need to go to the hospital, but the hospital is far away. The husband insisted: we need to go urgently! But I knew from my own experience that if a child is brought to the hospital overnight, they will begin to treat her only after 12 o’clock the next day. And I made a decision: not to treat the child, let her lie quietly, and tomorrow, depending on the state of her health, decide what to do.
She fell asleep well, and I went to pray. I asked St. Nicholas for his constant help and did not even doubt that this help would follow. In the morning I woke up and a healthy child came out to meet me.
r.B. Nina
WE HAVE BEEN REPAIRING...
We were undergoing renovations - long, seemingly endless. And he didn’t even walk, but stood, because the housing office was dragging its feet on replacing the pipes. We were already starting to get seriously worried and nervous. And then the newspaper “Rule of Faith” fell into our hands. I read how the Saint helps people through their prayers, and I say: “This is how people pray, but I ask and don’t believe that I will receive.” Mom echoes: “And I pray, but I myself think that I pray badly.” And yet both of us, as it turned out later, prayed separately as best we could. And so, when we had already agreed that pipes would be installed for us for a fee, they called from the veins. offices: tomorrow they will do everything for us for free! Moreover, they called at 7 pm, and their working day ends at six!
And the next time we had a problem with a housing office, I prayed to the Saint with more hope. I came to the appointment, and they told me that everything would be ready tomorrow. "Is it really tomorrow? It doesn't happen like that!" - I said, but according to the prayers of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, everything turned out that way.
r.B. Maria
COMFORT
My soul was very heavy - too many troubles had piled up: my disabled son was beaten on the street, my daughter-in-law had a trial that could not be resolved in her favor... I prayed intensely, with tears, to the Lord, the Mother of God and St. Nicholas , asked for their help and promised to write to the “Rule of Faith” if the outcome was favorable. And suddenly the court is decided in favor of the daughter-in-law, and on the same day my son and I receive an invitation to come to the St. Nicholas Monastery for half the price (this is very significant for us). In the monastery we were able to confess and receive communion, and also venerate the myrrh-streaming icons of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas. We both received great spiritual comfort.
r.B. Larisa, St. Petersburg
At that time I myself was not a churchgoer and not even baptized. And he confused Nicholas the Wonderworker with Stephen of Great Perm. But even so, I and many of my friends, far from the Church, noted that this saint saved people.
TV report from local TV "Rifey":
r.B. Christina
“I, an ordinary girl, dreamed of a simple female happiness»
I am an ordinary girl, I dreamed of simple female happiness, but my personal life did not work out. I waited, asked in prayers, but, as they say, everything has its time. Years passed, but there was still no happiness. I would like to note that I am a pretty girl, I had a lot of fans, but I couldn’t imagine a relationship without love. I met a lot of good guys, but “not my thing,” and that’s all.
I started building a career, traveling, seeing the world. And this geographical “gourmetism” became for me a kind of substitute for personal life.
One day I came to the temple and began to ask: help, Saint Nicholas... A few weeks later I met a man with whom I had never even thought of becoming acquainted, he was too “mine” in terms of worldview and type. We really liked each other, started dating... And then the difficulties began. I won’t describe the details, but the relationship was stuck at one stage, the candy-bouquet period was over, and it was necessary to decide where to go next. Even though I am a believer, I was tired of loneliness and made concessions: we began to live together. I can’t describe the feeling, I was brought up in strict traditions, plus the Lord did not leave me without admonition: health problems began. And then I again turned to Saint Nicholas with a fervent prayer: I asked for a blessing, if this is my man, to unite us in marriage, and if not mine, then let him leave my life. I prayed almost every day while my beloved was away. And, you won’t believe it, my beloved comes and proposes to me! That same evening we go shopping for rings. Nikola helped us so much that we bypassed the queues at the registry office, we got the day of registration on the great Orthodox holiday Faith, Hope and Love, everything went like clockwork (those who got married know how troublesome a wedding is).
Many miracles were connected in my life with St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. For example, when I lost my job, I always turned to St. with prayers. Nikolai. And soon I found new job, which always not only corresponded to my specialty, brought good income, but also helped me gain interesting experience.
I could go on and on about the help I received in different time through prayers to Saint Nicholas. But I want to say the main thing - we must remember that we must help our loved ones and those in need in difficult moments of life. This is precisely what my experience of prayerful communication with the great saint of God, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and this is exactly what the Lord expects from us...
Eduard Kichigin
“I asked St. Nicholas for help in finding a job”
Six months ago I was going through an extremely difficult period in my life, and one day I was standing at an evening service in St. Nicholas Cathedral, praying, my soul was painful and heavy, but by the end of the service I felt some kind of consolation and even joy. I won’t say anything about what I prayed for, but in addition to the main thing, I asked St. Nicholas for help in finding a job. After the service I walked home in the rain, and there was such joy in my soul, flying - “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice!” I sang to myself and aloud a little.
I came home and an old friend immediately called me with an offer of a very good job, extremely interesting, useful and promising for me. In order to discuss everything and get my consent, he, despite being extremely busy and worried, came to me that same evening. I got the job, it was difficult, but extremely interesting and useful. I promised Saint Nicholas that from my first salary I would light candles for all the icons in St. Nicholas Cathedral.
But in the end, everything got so twisted, both with this work and in general, that he fulfilled his promise only halfway and not on time - he only placed candles in one of the churches of the cathedral, and there were two of them, on both floors. Now I don’t understand what was stopping me. Yes, and I lived at that time, frankly speaking, not the most in the right way. Things went badly, in general, in the end, I made the second part of my promise to St. Nicholas from my last salary six months later, after my dismissal. Here's the story.
Suzanna Farizova
"I was waiting for you with this finger"
I went to Bari, working at the Kommersant newspaper, in the then presidential pool. She left in a hurry, having spent Maslenitsa visiting on a grand scale the day before.
I was constantly in the way of my bag, the keys in my hands, the door.
This one front door, unable to handle my keys and bag, I ended up hitting my finger. Hit hard.
I had no time. I flew away. In Bari, the finger became swollen, blackened and began to hurt. At first - barely. Then stronger and stronger. But I had to work, and I tried not to think that it hurt.
The program included a visit to the Basilica. The same one where the relics of St. Nicholas lie. They rest behind bars - heavy ones - which are opened on major holidays. I kissed the bars and asked for some global things for myself and my family. And at the end she asked for the finger to go through.
Loading...
