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Another heartbreaking miracle of Mother of God!
“Mother of God, you see that I can’t take care of him anymore… I have no strength, no means, I offer him to you, from now on he’s your child. Take him under your care!”
Fr. Rafail Noica recounts a heartbreaking story of Fr. Sophrony from Mount Athos in which Mother of God performed a miracle with a little boy.
Subtitles: English
Source: Conference “Pentru ce ne pregateste Filocalia”, Bucharest, November 19, 2002
Fr. Rafail Noica:
Father Sophrony Sakharov met a certain monk on Mount Athos, a monk with “profound prayer” as Fr. Sophrony used to say.
He was an old man, of russian origin, from the countryside, a peasant, and he told Fr. Sophrony:
As an infant, he grew up in a very poor family and as a child he was the youngest child in the family, and was sick most of the time.
His father died, and the family was even more affected now that the father was missing, the older brother now had to take responsibility and take the role of the father in the family.
The child wanted to become a monk, but his brother told him: “Brother, stay with us, they can’t receive you there, at the monastery, there you will have to work… you are sickly and out of health… What can you do there? Stay here with us, in our family, you are often sick… We will take care of you.”
But they were so poor, and at some point they couldn’t take care of him anymore. His mother felt overwhelmed, and in her despair, takes the child in her arms and goes to the church and prays holding the child in her arms before the icon of the Mother of God. And she says: “Mother of God, you see that I can’t take care of him anymore… I have no strength, no means, I offer him to you, from now on he’s your child. Take him under your care!”
But I want to quickly add that she didn’t abandon him there. She brought him back home… with this prayer… “Mother of God, take him under your care!”
That very night, the child has a dream, and he sees a woman which shines in light and glory, he immediately notices that she is an empress. Yet, he knows that she is his mother as well, The empress offers him a small piece of something, wrapped in a neckerchief. And she tells him: “Take these to the Emperor.” The boy took the… the neckerchief, and he entered a very big and long hall where at the end, he sees the Emperor sitting on the throne of glory, surrounded by His servants and soldiers. When this child of a peasant sees himself in that royal hall, he becomes scared. He makes a few steps falls flat on his face, because of fear. The Emperor tells someone: “Raise him up and see what’s in his hands and bring it here, see what’s inside.” The servant went, untied the neckerchief and said: “Two broken hearts…” And then, the Emperor rose up and said: “Therefore, you are now my son!” And then the child wakes up.
And from that day forward the child was never sick again. He lived in good health, he grew up, and became a monk of profound prayer at Mount Athos.
And I repeat, Fr. Sophrony [Sakharov] met him.
This is no melodrama, this is not a child’s tale, even if it sounds much more beautiful than all our popular tales,
This is a truth!
