Listen to a lovely word from Father Pimen about the history of the miracle at the Life-giving Spring as well as other lovely things related to Bright Week.
Enjoy!
Look my dear ones, we see each other again, in the smell of spring. Christ is risen! I hope you rejoiced in the Resurrection of the Lord. Beautiful days, days of peace, of tranquility, of joy; all nature risen to life. Do you see how beautifully a tree has bloomed here?
What did the Savior say to the Myrrh-bearing women when they went, frightened, to the tomb? Rejoice! Rejoice, my dears, rejoice still. I hope you rejoiced these days and continue to rejoice. Of course, those who worked hard during the fast, struggled a little more, fasted, did a good deed, went to church more often, confessed, Communed at the Holy Resurrection, for sure they rejoice more. I know that there are many who are sorry that they did not do these things, because they do not live the Resurrection properly, they do not live the joy of the Resurrection because there is no change in them. Yes, dear ones?
Let’s rejoice! That’s what the Savior told us after the Resurrection. Rejoice! When He appeared to the apostles, who were more afraid, he said to them, “Do not be afraid.” Let us not be afraid of anything, for we have the Risen Christ, who covers us and takes care of us all the time! How beautiful the Resurrection is! An occasion of continuous joy. Dear ones, you see, it’s a blessed, joy filled week. 3 days we celebrate Pascha. After that, another beautiful day comes – the Life-Giving Spring. What are we celebrating then? Another miracle of the Mother of God. See how beautifully the Holy Fathers placed it immediately this week, of Pascha, in the Week of Joy, so that we understand that, after the Savior, the Mother of God is our Joy!
What happened at the Life-Giving Spring? See how the miracle was discovered! This spring was in the time of Leo, who later became emperor. At that time, he was still not an emperor and was walking somewhere in a forest and found a blind man. He saw that it had already been three days since he had drunk water, had not eaten, was lost in the woods, and Leo felt so much pity for him, he ran this way and that to look for water, but he found nothing, because there was no water in that area. Then he began to pray to God, to the Mother of God, because he felt pity for the blind man.
After some time, he heard a voice which told him to go and search in such and such a place, and he would find it. He went again, searched and did not find it. And again he cried out to God, and then the voice said to him, “Where you will see a dove in a tree, there is the spring!” He went and found the spring, quickly took water with what he could and took it to the blind man, and he drank and then washed his eyes and regained his sight.
It was the first miracle of the Mother of God through Her spring. And again the Mother of God said to Leo, “You will become king, and when you are king, for the sake of your good heart, do not forget to build a church in this place, at My spring!” And indeed, according to the Mother of God, Leo (who had a very good soul, was very faithful and had a lot of devotion to the Mother of God) later built a church there, in honor of the Mother of God. There were many miracles, miracles were worked continually…the sick would come; the spring was somehow inside the church and the sick came there, they washed, prayed and were healed.
It is said that after a while, Leo the Wise became very ill. It was a disease at that time, somehow he could no longer pass water, and his entire body swelled. Back then, medicine was not [equipped] with all the tools we have now, and the doctors said they had to cut him to eliminate it otherwise there was no chance, he was all swollen, he would burst. But this meant that there were slim chances of surviving.
Theophano was his wife then, (who also became a saint) and she was praying a lot to the Mother of God and cried out to the Mother of God and then the Mother of God appeared to her and said, “He will not die. Wait a bit and I will send someone and the remedy will come.” Then, Theophano quickly ran to the doctors and said, “Do not cut him, leave him because the Mother of God will send the remedy!” And they said, “What remedy? Can’t you see he is dying?” And before long, a nun named Agatha showed up, who came with water from the spring of the Mother of God and said, “While I was lighting the lamps in the church, the Mother of God spoke to me and said: ‘Quickly, take holy water from My spring and go to My beloved Theophano, for she is greatly grieved for her husband. Bring it so that he may be healed!'”
Do you see how the Mother of God arranged everything? So then she brought the holy water, her husband, Leo the Wise drank the holy water from the Life-giving Spring and was healed. Even now it is in Constantinople, there is a church there and miracles are worked. Just a few years ago I got there. The spring is there, and there are even a sort of fish in that spring. And everyone receives holy water from the spring of the Mother of God there.
Another miracle I remember now… Because there are many miracles… this is what I remember… It is said that there was a Christian, who had departed from another place, by ship, for days. He wanted to reach the spring of the Mother of God; but during the trip he became ill. When he saw that he was dying, he called the captain of the ship and said to him: “Do you swear by the name of God and of the Mother of God to grant me a wish?”
“Tell me, what do you want?”
“I will die, do not throw my body into the sea (this was the custom, when someone died, they could do nothing else with the bodies and threw them into the sea), but keep it wherever you can, somewhere cool, and when we get there, bury it at the spring, at least to know that my body arrived there if I die. I have a sum of money, I leave some to you, and give some of the money to the church of the spring.” And he agreed with the captain, and by the evening the man died. After a few days, the boat arrived at the spring, they took his body and brought him there. And then one of the sailors, who was also a pious Christian, said: “Oh you who wanted so much to get to the spring!” And he took a bucket of water and poured it on him, “Here, at the very least now partake of the holy water of the Mother of God,” and at that moment the dead man rose, he came back to life!
Do you see? Wonderful miracles, that is, miracles that go far beyond the natural. [Do you see] what the Mother of God does and how she helps us?! That’s why the church ordained that we celebrate the Mother of God, to rejoice in her help. Of course, if we ask for it, if we believe in the Mother of God and respect her, then we also get help. We give honor, we receive honor. Do you understand, dear ones?
Look, now, the following Sunday, we have Thomas Sunday. That’s how God ordained that one of the apostles would split hairs, to ascertain, until he touched something… in vain did the others tell him that they saw, he said, no, I have to see too, only then will I believe. And if the Savior appeared so many times to the apostles, He ordained, He allowed him not to be present. In addition to the fact that the Savior appeared to two or three of the apostles, He also appeared to all of them at once, except for the holy apostle Thomas, who was away on a job.
So when He appeared, Holy Apostle Thomas was not there. And all the [other] apostles were there and they were even there with the doors locked for fear of the Jews (they were afraid because the Jews were now persecuting them, seeking to hide the Resurrection of the Savior). When they told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord” he said that he did not believe anything. It was also a struggle with himself: he did not believe, but somehow he also felt that he had been pushed aside by the Savior. That is, all the apostles saw Him, only he did not partake of such a thing and he said that he would not believe if he did not see Him.
All the apostles were gathered together again, Thomas was with them, the doors being locked. That is, God allowed that everything was locked and the Savior appeared in their midst and said to them: “Peace to you!” and then He turned to Thomas, called him over and said: “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side” to see where He was pierced, to see the marks of the nails. To see that it is Him, not a ghost, not anything else. You can imagine, when he saw Him, he recognized Him by the grace of God and said, “My Lord and my God!” and he fell at His feet and kissed them. Why did the Savior allow this? So that it may be a witness over the centuries of His Resurrection, that He was even touched by the Holy Apostle Thomas.
Do you see, dear ones? So God always allows, not to leave us in doubt, but to give us joy and to ascertain the reality of all these things, the truth of things. I mean, to not leave us in the dark, that “It may be so.” No such thing, all are as it is written in the Holy Scripture. The Holy Evangelists there, in the Holy Scripture, beautifully told us all, how it went – both the passion and the life of the Savior on earth and the Resurrection and all thereafter, until the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. All are beautifully laid out for us, as they say, so that we would no longer have reasons to say “I did not know, it seemed to me that it would be different!” No. All of them, readymade, just to believe and to live according to what was said, to rejoice in the Savior’s Resurrection, to rejoice in the Mother of God, to rejoice in all the saints in heaven, the archangels, the angels who are permanently in our midst and help us.
Yes, dear ones, we have so much to rejoice about! Let us rejoice, dear ones, let us fully rejoice because if we do not rejoice here, we live a life of torment here, and we do not know where we end up afterwards. When we know that we have such a good God, who was crucified, rose for us, and gave us the grace of the Holy Spirit to help us, to guide us, so that we can struggle and carry on. We have the Mother of God, who is our joy. What more do we want?! A little waving of our hands and God takes us and brings us to Heaven! Alright dear ones? Don’t forget to rejoice!
What did the Savior say? Rejoice and be not afraid, and my peace I give unto you! That inner, spiritual peace, not the peace that the greatest of the world give. That peace that is only joy, that peace that no one can take away from you. If you have inner peace, whatever is on the outside – wars, earthquakes, tribulations, no one can take away your joy that you live in Christ, you have inner peace.
Alright dear ones? Let us rejoice and courageously go forward, without any fear. Come on, courage, rejoice to the fullest! Christ is risen!
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