Saint Iakovos Tsalikis – 11 Months After His Death

The Appearance of Saint Iakovos Tsalikis in a Photograph 11 Months After His Death

By Dr Stylianos Papadopoulos

This photograph which is being published for the first time in the pages of this edition [Μακαριστός Ιάκωβος Τσαλίκης, 5th edition, published in 2000] was taken in the cell of the late Elder Iakovos eleven months after his death.

The Cypriot Hierodeacon who took it wasn’t able to visit the late Elder while he was alive, so he wanted to take a picture of his cell.

How great is our God; the God of the Orthodox Christian

How great is our God; the God of the Orthodox Christian

A young American man had visited St. Anthony’s Monastery in Arizona with his friends. At some point, Elder Ephraim who was in his room hearing confessions came out of the room, approached the young man and asked him: – Do you have a good cell phone, a modern one, the latest and greatest one my child? “Why are you asking Elder?” said the young man. “I want you to call a monastery on Mount Athos in Greece so that I can speak to the monks there,” the Elder replied.

The elder gave the young man the monastery’s phone number and told him: “My child, call this number in an hour, and when the line connects, give me the phone so I can talk with them.”

A miracle of St. Nicholas in Kozani

A miracle of St. Nicholas in Kozani (amateur translation from a talk by Metropolitan Augoustinos Kantiotis of Florina, of blessed memory) «Some say: “‘At that time!’ You make us crazy with this. We constantly hear ‘at that time’, ‘at that time’, ‘at that time’ [a miracle occurred]”. These are not correct, however. It was not only back then that miracles occurred. The power of Christ remains inexhaustible; yesterday and today and tomorrow, and until the close of the age, until the setting of the sun and the rivers cease to flow and the stars cease to shine in the heavens, the power of Christ and of His Saints will work wonders. Do you want an example? From 1943-1945 I was in Kozani, the capital of Western Macedonia. Those were terrible days for our nation. The rebels seized over 300 people from Kozani, innocent people, and they locked them in prison in Kozani, where they were awaiting their fate. There was great agony throughout the city. The morning of December 6th was the day on which Kozani celebrates St. Nicholas as their patron in their beautiful and historic church of St. Nicholas, Kozani. It was a feast day therefore in Kozani, but the Christians however were so saddened and worried, that that day tears were running from their eyes. Then I was a preacher of the city, and so I ascended the ambo, and moved by sacred emotion, I said the following few words: “Today St. Nicholas of Kozani celebrates. Today St. Nicholas is in mourning and weeps, for innocent men are in the prisons. As those glorious soldiers were in the prisons and were saved by Nicholas, thus today also, in the prison of Kozani there are these innocent men.”

”Let me heal you…” About a miracle of Elder Gabriel (Ugrebadze)

”Let me heal you…” About a miracle of Elder Gabriel (Ugrebadze)

I met Irakli Gogoladze in Samtavro Monastery. Out of the blue this young man of about twenty-five walked up to me and said, “You know, Elder Gabriel worked a miracle for me… I heard that a collection was being made of such stories. Could you please tell me who I could send this to?” I said reverently and happily, “I’m the translator and compiler of the Russian version of the book, The Elder’s Diadem…” Without letting me finish, filled with emotion he began telling me his story. I turned on the dictaphone and… listened to him tell me about one miraculous healing by Elder Gabrial (Ugrebadze). I would like to share this story with you, dear readers.

St. Gabriel (Ugrebadze). An icon painted by Zurab Modebadze.

A miracle happened in my family through Elder Gabriel.

Elder Gabriel wasn’t yet canonized when I first heard about him. Our first “encounter” was when I was, I think, in the seventh grade and visited Samtavro Monastery with my friends. Still only a child, I was amazed by everything I saw at the elder’s grave—first of all by the unbelievable amount of people who came to venerate there. Without any real awareness of what I was doing I also approached the grave, and that was when my friendship with Elder Gabriel began. Bowing at the grave, I felt enormous grace. My heart was filled with love. Feeling this inner joy I wanted to shout as loud as I could, “I LOVE YOU ALL!” Nun Parasceva gave us some oil from the lampada over the grave of Elder Gabriel and explained how to anoint ourselves with it. I felt as though I had obtained some invincible power. And that is how it was!

A new miracle took place today at Our Lady of Saidanaya in Syria.

A miraculous deliverance from mortal danger.

A miraculous deliverance from mortal danger"

Olga Rozhneva. Conversation with Mother Emiliana (Hanson), Mother Superior of the Orthodox Monastery in honor of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Nina (America, Maryland).

Mother told me an amazing story:

“An event happened to me that showed me the obvious presence of the Providence of God in my life. It was an absolutely wonderful deliverance from mortal danger. I will tell you in order.

On July 17, 1981, I, a 25-year-old girl, came with my sister and her husband to a dance party at a 40-story hotel in Kansas City. It was a sweet party in the style of the 1940s. A lot of people gathered - about 1600 people. Young and old danced, around stood joyful smiling people with colorful balls in their hands ... Nice music ... And suddenly - a noise, a roar!

As I later learned, we were victims of a disaster: two hotel hanging galleries, designed with technical errors, could not bear the weight of the structures and people standing on them, collapsed. It killed 114 people and severely wounded 216. Until 2001, this was the deadliest destruction of a man-made object in US history. This terrible record was broken only in 2001 during the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York.

Many rescuers arrived at the hotel, who worked selflessly. The matter was complicated by the fact that they had to act with low visibility, among concrete dust. Pipes were also broken, people under the slabs were flooded with water, and even survivors could simply drown. Sometimes rescuers had to dismember the bodies of the dead in order to get the living. One man had to cut off his leg, crushed by a multi-ton plate to save him. 29 people were saved from the rubble.

A huge gallery fell on me and my sister. The concrete slab stood at an angle to the wall, and there was little room left - so we had a chance to survive. My sister was on my right, there was more space between the floor and concrete, and she could move a little. I could not. When I woke up, I realized that I was sitting on the floor with my head between my knees, heavily crushed by a concrete slab; the ribs were broken by my own knees.

A Miracle of the Theotokos the Directress in London

 THE WHOLE WORLD watched with shock the terrorist attacks of fanatical Islamists in London [7th July, 2005], which brought death and disaster to the unsuspecting citizens on that morning in July.

From beneath the ashes and tears, a particular voice made an impression on us. It was the voice of the Greek driver of the fated bus, George Psaradakes. He was an experienced driver for London’s Urban Transport. On that morning he began his shift. He set out on his usual route on bus 30, just as he had been doing so many years. Suddenly he heard an explosion!

When he looked back, he realized that he was the only one on the bus who had not been injured. His passengers were either killed or seriously injured. The sight was horrible and indescribable. He, however, came out unhurt. 

As soon as he recovered from the immediate shock, he spoke to the reporters. Then he revealed his “secret” to them: “I was saved by a miracle! I always carry an icon of the Theotokos the Directress on me. I also had it with me on that Thursday morning. The Panagia saved me. I thank her.”

Why do we not see miracles?

Why do we not see miracles? Let him who can, answer otherwise, but to me it seems that we are of necessity brought to this answer: We do not see miracles, or we see them rarely, either because they are invisible to us as unworthy of trust, or because they are not even accomplished, through unbelief or want of faith.

How can miracles be accomplished in us by prayer, when our prayer is short, cold, inattentive, and offered up, not so much in faith and filial love to God, as in a sort of involuntary submission to His law?

MIRACLES PERFORMED BY SAINT LUKE THE PHYSICIAN OF THE CRIMEA

On the 28^th of May, 2014, during the construction of the Church of Saint Luke the Physician, at the Monastery of the Holy Mother in Dovra, Veria, Greece, a festal Hierarchical Vesper was being celebrated.  The purpose of the Vesper was to honor the arrival of the relics of St. Luke the Physician from Simferopol, Crimea, Russia.  Bishop Theodoritos of Nazianzus was the celebrant and the homilist.  The following day a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Metropolitan Panteleimon of Veria, Greece.  Bishops Theoridoritos and Dimitrius and many priests were concelebrants at the Divine Liturgy.  They had all come together in order to honor the Saint and to receive the blessing of the Saint.   Shortly before the end of the service, Archimandrite Sosipratos Pitoulias was asked by the Metropolitan of Veria to speak to the congregation about the recent miracle that was performed by Saint Luke for his nephew.

            Father Sosipatros, who was visibly emotional, began to tell the faithful about the miracle that was performed by the Saint.  Fr. Sosipatros said the following:

A SHOCKING EVENT THAT TOOK PLACE WITH THE ELDER IAKOVOS TSALIKIS….. “I saw your guardian angel”

A SHOCKING EVENT THAT TOOK PLACE WITH THE ELDER

IAKOVOS TSALIKIS…..  “I saw your guardian angel”

SAINT IAKOVOS TSALIKIS NOV. 5, 1920-NOV. 21, 1991

           

            The following is a dialogue between Klitos Ioannidis and Dr. George Papazahos.  Dr. Papazahos was a cardiologist in Athens, Greece and was the personal physician of Saint Porphyrios.  Klitos Ioannidies is the author of books about Saint Porphyrios.  In fact, the book that I used to translate into English was authored by Klitos Ioannidis.  In that book about Saint Porphyrios “Elder Porphyrios, Testimonies and Experiences,” there is a whole chapter about the doctor’s personal experiences with the Saint.  I found this article especially interesting because the doctor apparently had a very close doctor/patient relationship with this other Saint of the Church.  Elder Iakovos was a contemporary of Saint Porphyrios and they would often communicate with one another in prayer.  In fact, when Elder Iakovos died, Saint Porphyrios was not able to attend his funeral. In spite of his physical absence from the funeral Porphyrios managed to be present at the funeral through his powers of spiritual communication.  When I say spiritual communication, I mean that Saint Porphyrios was literally present at the funeral in spirit and observed everything that took place at that funeral service. This event is referred to by Saint Porphyrios in the book that I translated.

SAINT NEKTARIOS OF AEGINA, GREECE My Encounter with a taxi driver in Paris, France by Father Hierotheos Anagnostopoulos

SAINT NEKTARIOS OF AEGINA, GREECE

My Encounter with a taxi driver in Paris, France

by Father Hierotheos Anagnostopoulos

 

In the following unbelievable story, Father Hierotheos is talking to a friend about the many problems in life.  He was being specifically burdened by the crisis that has enveloped Greece the last few years.  He says that his soul was filled with many thoughts of foreboding.  There is a great deal of lawlessness in the country.  There is also a sense of anarchy that prevails in the country. Our freedom is being taken away from us.  Our geographical sovereignty is also being taken away from us.  Everything around us is changing.  In thinking about all these things, you suddenly feel there is no hope left in the world.  People tell you that there is no salvation and you cannot be saved.  People tell you emphatically that God is dead and there is no life after death.

These are my inner thoughts and I am sharing them with you.  These thoughts haunt me and I cannot hide them from you.  This is the way I was thinking when a taxi driver, an ordinary man who was working to earn his daily bread answered all my doubts by telling me the following story.

TWO RECENT MIRACLES PERFORMED by Saint Paisios

TWO RECENT MIRACLES PERFORMED

by Saint Paisios

ANGELS OF LIGHT & DEMONS OF DARKNESS

            Six years ago, a young man went to confession many times.  He was an anarchist; he wore earrings and took many drugs.  One of his friends had a book about the life of Elder Paisios.  In December of 1996, two years after the death of the Elder, this friend of mine was visiting the bookstore of the Convent at Soureti, Greece.  At the bookstore there was a couple with their little daughter, and their father, two middle-aged women and a young man.  Suddenly they all heard a loud cry.  One of the middle-aged women collapsed on the floor and began hitting herself and crying out wildly.  She was twisting her head around violently.  It was truly a terrible sight to watch.  The woman with the little girl left the bookstore while the other people there attempted to help the woman who was on the floor.  The woman on the floor bellowed out with a wild, unbelievable male voice: “I will take over you guys who don’t follow me, I will show you.  It won’t be long now and I will place my mark 666 on the hands of all of you.  You will all worship me, you losers and idiots.”  The voice also said many other insults against human beings.

MIRACLES THAT HAPPEN DURING THE DIVINE LITURGY AN ANGEL IS PRESENT AT THE DIVINE LITURGY

MIRACLES THAT HAPPEN DURING THE DIVINE LITURGY

AN ANGEL IS PRESENT AT THE DIVINE LITURGY

            A certain priest, who was preparing the elements for the Divine Liturgy at a vigil service, was having difficulty reading the names of people because of the little light that was given off by single candle the he had next to him.  Suddenly, he noticed that the candle all of a sudden became very bright.  He wondered to himself how it was possible for the candle now to give off more light.  Having said this, as he turned his head he saw standing about four meters away from him an Angel.  He became petrified at seeing this.  He became frozen in place and it took him a long time to regain his composure.  The presence of the Angel filled the priest with a sense of compunction.  His soul was filled with such sweetness as the feeling of compunction within him increased immeasurably.  His soul was filled with such sweetness that he felt as one with the Angel. The priest proceeded to finish the preparation (προσκομιδή) of the communion elements and then intoned “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” beginning the Divine Liturgy.