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"St. John interceeds for entrance into a Monastery"
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My name is Sister Ioanna (ed.
note: Sister is named after St. John Maximovitch in
Greek) and I am a Greek Orthodox nun living in
Greece. I would like to tell you about my very small
but at the same time unforgettable dream that I had of
Saint John Maximovitch.
Back in 1994 I had come to
Greece to visit my sister who is a nun at the
monastery where I am living now. I had brought along
with me the book with the life of Saint John
Maximovitch. My sister told me to find this book
because she had heard of Saint John and wanted to read
his life. I myself was thinking about the monastic
life , but I wasn't sure if I should stay here in
Greece and follow this feeling or go back home to
Australia. To be honest I knew this decision would
upset my parents because I would leave them and live
as far as Greece knowing that they could not see me
often , and my sister as well. We were, and still are
a very close family, and I was in a very hard
position, I was being torn in two. Well it was time
for me to go back home, deciding that I would go home
and if it was meant from God I will return to the
monastery where I had loved and wanted so much to stay
in.
One week before I was
leaving the monastery I was reading the life of Saint
John, and at one moment I looked at the cover of the
book which had a photo of Saint John. I begged him to
help me decide whether I should leave the monastery
and go back home or stay at the monastery and follow
what my heart wanted, to become a nun. Soon after I
fell asleep and saw a dream that I was sitting on a
verandah with Saint John. It was a house, a wooden one
with a verandah all around it. I still remember every
detail as if it was yesterday. I was writing a letter
to my parents to inform them that I had decided to
stay in the monastery. I had finished writing my
letter and I handed it over to Saint John for him to
correct. He started to read the letter and corrected a
few mistakes that I had written. He gave it back to
me, and I told him that I will write it again and take
it in the morning to the post-office. He looked at me
with a demanding voice he said "No, No, No, I will
take this letter to your parents personally". After
that I woke up feeling so happy and positive, and sure
that my decision was permanent, I was to stay In
Greece and with Gods help become a nun. I left
everything up to Saint John. I felt that this dream
was a sign from him to show me that he will look after
my parents, and as he has up to this day. I owe my
stay in my monastery to Saint John, I owe him a great
deal.......I was also blessed to have given his name
at my tonsure in 1996.
May our Father among the
Saints John Maximovitch intercede with Christ our God
that He may save our souls.
With Love In Christ,
Sister
Ioanna.
Holy
Monastery Of Saint Nektarios
Greece.
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"Plumbing fixed on St. John's Feast day"
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While I don't suppose this counts as a miracle, I wanted
to write this to give thanks to St. John for answers to
my prayers. I had every intention of attending the
festal liturgy for St. John Friday morning. I had the
day off with nothing requiring my attention until the
afternoon. I went to bed still in the spirit of
prayer from Great Vespers Thursday evening. When I
awoke Friday morning about 6:30 AM, however, I noticed
something odd about the water pressure in the shower.
After finishing showering and getting dressed I went
outside to check for leaks. Sure enough, the water
line in our front yard had burst. I went back inside and
called the water company to get them to turn off our
water and then started calling for a plumber. I knew it
was going to be an extended task because our subdivision
was originally built using a type of water pipe that was
recalled and is prone to leaks and bursting. I
anticipated having to replace the line and I was not
mistaken.
Having called a plumbing company I had used before and
left a message I began to pray. Of course I prayed to
our Lord and the Theotokos, but I also prayed to St.
John the Wonderworker. When I was done praying I felt
compelled to look in the yellow pages for local plumbers
other than the one I had already called. I came across
one ad that caught my attention, but put it out of my
mind as it didn't look all that promising. However, I
kept coming back to that ad and finally placed a call
and left a message. By this time it was 7:15 AM or
so and no one was in the office yet and, since it takes
me 35 minutes to get to Church and I knew I needed to be
available to talk to a plumber, I knew I would miss
divine liturgy. I prayed some more to St. John and
apologized for not being able to go to his liturgy.
Finally, about 8:15 I got a call from the second
plumber, the one I found in the yellow pages. The lady I
talked with was very nice and explained some options
given my situation. She said she could have someone out
there that morning to look at it and give me an
estimate. What a blessing, as I had not yet heard from
my other plumber (and still haven't, more than a day
since I called). About 9:00 AM the plumber showed up,
assessed the situation and gave me an estimate. A couple
hundred dollars lower than I had anticipated. More
importantly, he said he could get the job done the next
morning. After quickly thinking it over, I gave my
assent and he was on his way.
The whole day I was nervous, however, and kept praying
the Jesus Prayer interspersed with the Lord's Prayer,
prayer to the Theotokos and praying to our Blessed St.
John. Having to do some things for work all
afternoon, I had plenty of opportunity for prayer while
driving. At one point, after some earnest prayer to St.
John, I felt as if a burden were lifted, I knew St. John
had heard my prayers and everything would go well.
This morning, the plumber came about 9:00 AM and began
the job.
Everything went smoothly, without a hitch. Two and half
hours later a new waterline was functioning, the water
was back on in my house and, glory to God, no leaks,
everything seems to be fine. When the water was
being turned back on I quickly crossed myself and told
St. John I would give him the credit for everything
working out well. So, I knew that the parish website had
a place for comments, especially testimonies concerning
St. John, and said I would write this out. It might seem
insignificant to others, but I think it shows that God
and St. John care about our concerns. Glory to God!
Jonathan David
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Thursday, July 7, 2004,
"A Few Words from Romania"
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God help us! Father Jacob now is my turn to tell about the
way Saint John helped my son Dimitrie of one year old.
About a month ago he got sick with a high and constant
fever with all the pills he took. He ate only a few in 4-5
days. I was very tired and upset because there was no
improvement so I praised to God asking the help of our Saint
John. In that time my son was sleeping. When he woke up I
realized that something changed, he was happy almost like
usually and he had no fever after. For us was a real help and
we thank to God and to Saint John for that he comes so
quickly with his help.
How can I get some oil from Saint John? I
need especially for my daughter Filoteea and for my family.
Thank you.
Eliza Moldovan
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Wed., 12 May 2004,
"St. John Heals my daughter"
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My 7 year-old daughter had
calcification in her abdominal. It was shown on x-ray 3
years ago, it was clearly visible on an x-ray a month ago,
and it was no longer there at her follow-up appointment
yesterday, May 11th.
The lady that was doing an
ultra-sound could not find anything, so she called another
technician, and together they called a doctor. They kept
looking and looking, but they could not find anything. Then,
the doctor suggested to do an x-ray, and we did, and Glory
To Thee O Lord, there was nothing on the x-ray either -
there was no more calcification. I could barely hold back my
tears.
On the way from the hospital,
I called my husband to tell him about the test results. When
he heard about my story, he asked me what happened between a
month ago and now, to which I replied: were did the Healing
Unction service.
Also, in the Sep 2003, I went
into a premature labor, being only 32 weeks pregnant. While
being in the hospital, where the doctors were trying to stop
the labor, I asked our pastor to visit me and to bring the
Thigh Shield that belonged to St. John from our church. He
came, and place the Shield on my tummy, said a prayer and
asked St. John to look after the baby. A few days later,
when I barely rolled into 33rd week of my pregnancy, my son
was born, weighing only 4 lbs. 11 ounces. Yet, he was in the
great health, he did not need any assistance to help him eat
or breath, and he went home with me 2 days after he was
born.
Thank you,
Blessed Saint John, for all the things that you do for us,
the sinners.
Elena
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"St. John Obtains a job for my girlfriend"
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I would like to add my own small contribution to the
already growing list of miracles that have been
performed by the Holy St John.
This is the what happened:
My girlfriend Andrea had just come back from an
important second interview and she really needed this
job.
So she had asked me to pray for her.
I decided to pray to St John because she highly
respected and loved him a lot.
So when i decided to pray to St John I said: "Oh St John may you help my girlfriend get good results
from the interview tonight!:" I crossed myself and said the akathist to him.
After I finished I was contacted by my girlfriend to let
me know she was accepted the job!
Oh it was so wonderful to know that St John acted so
quickly on such a terrible sinner's prayer! May he
continue praying for us all and help lead us on the right
path to life!
In Loving Christ,
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frjacob@earthlink.net
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