Why do icons stream myrrh? What is a myrrh-streaming icon and what is its peculiarity?
Sometimes things happen in life various miracles. One of these manifestations is the myrrh streaming of icons. What is myrrh? And what does it mean if it streams myrrh? Let's try to find answers to these frequently asked questions.
Holy Chrism: known facts
Before the 20th century, very little evidence of this is found in the literature. unusual phenomenon. There is only a little scant information that the relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker, John the Theologian, John Skylitzes and Demetrius of Thessalonica were myrrh-streamed. And only with the onset of the 90s of the last century did icons begin to “cry” in many places: monasteries, temples, small churches and in ordinary apartments.
“Crying” or “streaming myrrh” - this means that unusual oily moisture appears on the icons or particles of relics, sometimes it is released in small drops, and sometimes flows down in streams. At the same time, an incredible aroma emanates from it. Each icon has its own scent: sweetish apple or delicate dandelion.
The most widespread myrrh-streaming began in 1991, when an icon began to cry in the Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery in Moscow Holy Mother of God. Then, in several monasteries and churches in Russia, a variety of images were cast in myrrh. A special commission was created from abbots and specialists to study this phenomenon.
Clergy version
The Church explains the fact of myrrh-streaming as follows: the Lord warns us about some global changes that are about to happen. This is, in fact, a holy sign of some event. It is believed that icons cry before war or natural disaster.
For people to believe in these signs, the material evidence is the ointment. This liquid has healing properties, it can cure a serious illness and relieve problems.
If an icon has become myrrhized in a house ordinary person, he should turn to God, pray more and visit the temple. This also suggests that God is very favorable to the owner of the icon, and everyone can come and touch this miracle. You can ask for some holy myrrh and bring it to your home.
Laboratory version
In addition to those who believe in the miraculous appearance of myrrh, there are also those who are skeptical about it. Laboratory tests were even carried out, but they did not establish the real reason the appearance of moisture on the images.
Only one thing is clear: the composition of myrrh completely corresponds to the composition of human tears. Scientists assumed that myrrh-streaming appears from the material and age of the icon. But how can we explain that tears appear on both small paper icons and glass ones? large images, on ancient ones, which have lain for decades in basements, and new ones, which have only recently emerged from icon-painting workshops.
The consistency of myrrh is also unusual and varied. Sometimes it is very thick and viscous, and sometimes it is light and transparent, like a teardrop. Sometimes, if an icon was subjected to blasphemy, blood appeared on it. This is evidence that the shrine must be protected from the influence of external forces.
When they want to give icons the status of a shrine, some people commit forgery and apply any oily liquid to the image. In other cases, spontaneous, unintentional application of oil to shrines occurs:
- accidental ingestion of lamp oil and candle wax;
- after the ritual using holy oil, parishioners kiss the icons and leave oily marks on them;
- accidental contact of liquid with a number of located icons.
But these cases are rare and can be easily distinguished from real myrrh-streaming by the aroma and constant release of droplets of liquid.
Miro or tears?
You should also distinguish between myrrh-streaming and lacrimation. Miro is good sign, the mercy of God, and tears are a warning about impending trouble. Therefore, it is so important to take a closer look and understand what the icon, myrrh or tears exudes. This warns us of trouble and strengthens us in faith.
If you suddenly hear about such a miracle, you should definitely visit it holy place and think: “What does it mean if an icon streams myrrh?” What if this is a warning of impending trouble or, perhaps, the mercy of the Lord. In any case, you should turn your gaze to this holy phenomenon and believe in a miracle.
Myrrh-streaming in Klin: why do icons cry?
Seven years later, the endless stream of pilgrims and onlookers to Klin-9 has dried up. The Klin “myrrh-streaming” turned out to be almost forgotten not only by journalists, but also by church people. Why? Our correspondent Dmitry REBROV tried to find out.
Guardian of icons
It’s more than an hour and a half from Moscow by train, from the station by bus to the suburbs - the apartment of Valentina Zhuchkova, the “keeper” of the Klin miracle, is located in a military garrison on the very outskirts of the city. Here, to the left of the entrance gates, in a five-story panel building, icons have been streaming myrrh for seven years. At the entrance to the entrance there is a newly built chapel, deserted. “Are you at the reception? Come in,” Valentina opens the door herself. She looks no more than fifty, short, head covered with a scarf. - “Here, it’s here!” - She points to the door of the room. “They come from all over the CIS, from Canada, from Belgium, Washington, New Jersey,” Valentina explains readily, but upon learning that we came not just “on a pilgrimage,” but to write a report, she becomes taciturn. “I don’t need publications; journalists constantly add thousands of distortions to my words. I don't need advertising. After seven years, I’m tired of seeing five hundred people a day. And the neighbors are offended, they are not happy with all this...” But since today there are no other visitors besides me, Valentina Mikhailovna tells how seven years ago the icons “cryed” at her house.
“Over many years, I have become convinced that myrrh does not appear from icons, but descends like a cloud. This happens unnoticed,” explains Valentina Zhuchkova. Almost all icons have large drops of “mirror” everywhere: on their faces, on their clothes. Some icons lying in wooden icon cases have drops only on the outside, on the glass door, but most are without frames, and there the drops are evenly distributed over the entire surface. It smells like something like caramel, however, not as strong as the media described it seven years ago. The main shrine - the Iveron icon in an open icon case - is almost completely immersed in oil. “This icon still streams myrrh the most,” says Valentina. “Look. Do you see how the drops appear?” she says, taking out the icon. (icon format no more than 15-20 cm diagonally). “Miro” slowly flows down from the icon, and on its shiny and wet surface several swellings, like drops, become noticeable as the oil slides down. A little later, the surface begins to become covered with small bubbles, as if from air. "You see? And then some look at the icon and say: how it streams myrrh, show me, I get it for them, we both look, I see, but he doesn’t! - Valentina is worried. “That is, they simply don’t believe their eyes, they see and don’t believe!” I believed my eyes.
“Isn’t this all a fraud? No, it is not,” explains to us after some time in Klin itself, Archpriest Alexey Tyukov, cleric of the Sorrow Church, member of the special commission of the deanery to study the phenomenon of myrrh flow. In addition to this commission, whose competence included theological and pastoral expertise, an expert group also worked with the “Klin myrrh-streaming” to describe the miraculous events taking place in Russian Orthodox Church, under the Synodal Theological Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate, chaired by Pavel Florensky: “The synodal group was involved in the scientific examination, and they, like us, can confirm that the outflow of an oily liquid actually occurs. We have no reason to say that this is a fake.”
However, the clergy who care for the parishes of the Klin deanery carefully select their words when talking about the “miracle”: “We call this phenomenon not the flow of myrrh, but the outflow of an oily liquid,” notes Father Alexei, “after all, the fact of “myrrh flow” in itself does not give opportunity to say that this is a phenomenon from God.” And such caution is not accidental. According to the Apocalypse, there is no such miracle that the Antichrist cannot fake. There are many things that confuse the hierarchy in the “Klin story.”
“Many miracles, conversions, healings happen here,” Valentina continues to tell. - As an example - mine own family, her life was turned upside down radically. What I couldn’t even dream of happened: my daughter, who could not give birth to a child for a long time, now has four children. All my children were non-believers, but now they have come to faith, got married, and live in a church marriage.” 
No one lives in the apartment with the icons now: the children moved to Klin, and Valentina herself moved to Tver, where she tries not to talk about her miracle: “I go to the church there as an ordinary parishioner,” she admits. Once or twice a week, Valentina comes to the garrison, where she receives pilgrims: laymen, monks, and clergy. To the questions: “Why did the miracle happen here?”, he modestly answers: “I don’t know, it’s probably connected with the place itself, because I’m an ordinary sinful person, and I don’t consider myself worthy of this miracle due to some merit.” , I’m just the keeper of these icons.”
There is a miracle, but there is no obedience
“If you go to the dean, he will tell you this, I don’t even want to argue with all this!” sighs when asked about the attitude of local clergy to the miracle of “Mother Valentina,” as pilgrims sometimes call her in a monastic manner.
Seven years ago, a conflict arose between Valentina Mikhailovna and the pastors of the Klin deanery. It all started with the fact that after several questions from the priesthood, the “keeper of the miracle” drove away the commission that had come to her from the deanery. “We then came to look - we wanted to see everything with our own eyes, to talk,” says Father Alexy Tyukov, “but suddenly we saw on the shelves, “myrrh streaming”, in addition to icons, and very dubious images, such as a portrait of Ivan the Terrible, some then photographs of Valentina’s confessors. After our question about the non-canonical nature of the images of Ivan the Terrible, Valentina Mikhailovna interrupted the conversation and asked us to leave the room. We tried to get at least some information about the healings that she said were happening here, but we couldn’t find out anything concrete. Valentina Mikhailovna herself explains the lack of such information by saying that she simply “didn’t need it”, at first she “wrote it down somehow”, and then she got tired, “you can’t rewrite everything!”
Valentina left the pastoral meeting to which she was invited by the local clergy: “She then attacked us with a storm of criticism: why don’t we recognize “her” miracle, and why didn’t we publish about it in the church newspaper, when we publish about other miracles? , says the dean of the Klin district, Archpriest Boris Balashov. — The fact is that in the village of Nudol, Klinsky district, in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, an icon was also myrrhized. We published a short note about this in the church supplement to the local newspaper. We did not write about Valentine’s icons because we treated them with caution and chose a wait-and-see attitude. We invited Valentina to the meeting to talk, but from the threshold she began to be indignant, reproach us, and accuse us of “disbelief.”
The rector of the church in honor of the Venerable Martyr Seraphim of Klin, located in the garrison, priest Igor Kovalev, whose parishioner before the “myrrh-streaming” was Valentina, says that at first she brought icons to show him, but in the temple their “myrrh-streaming” stopped every time. “At first I gave them to the church, but why take them if they don’t stream myrrh there?” Zhuchkova now reasonably notes.
Priest Igor Kovalev is inclined to regard the nature of the “myrrh streams” in Valentina’s apartment as “absolutely unchurch.” “Of all the people who visited Valentina in our microdistrict, without ever visiting the church before, only one person came to the church after watching the “myrrh flow,” he says.” Considering that the church of Father Igor is the only one in the military town, and I visited Zhuchkova’s apartment almost most residents of the garrison, the “missionary catch” of the miracle is really small. “We never forbade anyone from going there, although we never blessed it, but now not a single parishioner in our church visits Valentina’s apartment, even though at first there were huge queues to see her,” Father Igor continues. “Today we have begun to travel much less, and many of those who come stop at our church on the way, and, after talking with the parishioners or with me, and discussing this, they often decide not to go to the apartment at all. And vice versa, those who are already returning from the apartment, as a rule, do not come to our temple.”
According to the observations of the local priesthood, an ecstatic audience very quickly gathered around Valentina and the “myrrh-streaming” icons. “In the end, all this was expressed in the fact that Valentina Mikhailovna stopped participating in parish life, stopped confessing and receiving communion in the churches of our deanery, preferring to organize independent prayer services at home, in front of the icons. This, of course, is not yet a schism, but already a kind of unhealthy independence,” says the dean of the district, Archpriest Boris Balashov. “Some clergy from other dioceses began to come to her on a “pilgrimage,” to read akathists there, some “elders,” to whom she began to take women she knew for “treatment.” 
“A miracle for the sake of a miracle is meaningless. God does not act just like that, He always has a very specific goal in terms of saving a person. And, falling under Valentina’s authority, people who are carried away by her charisma get the wrong idea about God and spiritual life,” says Father Alexy Tyukov. - For example, Valentina told one of our parishioners that “there is no need to come to the priest, communion will not help you.” We, of course, cannot demand from every grandmother the heights of ascetic sobriety, and, indeed, we ourselves cannot say with confidence anything about the nature of the “Klin miracle,” but if there is a miracle, there is no obedience, but on the contrary - scandals, divisions , we, as shepherds, are alarmed and determine our attitude towards this “miracle” as in highest degree careful. The fruit of the spirit is peace, not division. Therefore, we do not bless our parishioners to visit this apartment. Do not blaspheme and do not accept if you cannot determine with absolute certainty what kind of spirit this miracle is - this is the ancient patristic principle in relation to “miraculous” phenomena. This is what we are guided by.”
Valentina confirms that she does not go to the temple where they do not believe in “her” miracle. Her current confessor lives far away, in Pochaev Lavra, and, as she says, it was he who advised her not to give any interviews. But while we are saying goodbye, already at the door, she, without any questions on my part, remembers “ different approaches in the Church to the same things,” and more specifically, about the sore point: “I’m not going to take any passports with chips, I’m not going to take any cards,” she declares. “I gave up my pension and all the benefits.” It's easier for me. Why am I going to use a number? I want it under my own name! Now they say about Diomede that he’s a schismatic, he’s like this and that... But he was here, and he was more than once! And at least one bishop was like him, he would have expressed his opinion like that, he’s just a martyr!”
“Why do you think icons cry?” - she asks at the last moment, and she answers her own question: “Maybe that’s why they’re crying, because everything around them is “chipt”, these cards are everywhere... God just sees how we live, that’s why they cry!” Perhaps without noticing it, Valentina Zhuchkova said “we.” But who she meant by this “we”: herself, the shepherds of the deanery, someone else, or all of them together, remained a mystery.
All religious world is based on faith, and from time to time significant phenomena and events appear in one place or another that either strengthen or completely eradicate people’s faith. The phenomenon of myrrh-streaming of icons falls under this category, scientific explanation which has not yet been found. Although after each such case, scientists try to find an explanation for what is happening. However, they do not always succeed in this.
What does this mean and what does it portend?
To begin with, you need to understand that the term “myrrh-streaming” itself is conditional. Miro is an incense oil that is made by combining more than fifty types vegetable oils, resins and fragrant herbs.
Myrrh is used when performing the sacrament of confirmation, and in cases where Catholic or Protestant Christians convert to Orthodoxy. This oil is cooked for only one week a year - during Holy Week.
The substance that is released from the icons during the flow of myrrh only vaguely resembles traditional myrrh. They have a similar oily texture and fragrance at first glance. By the way, these two properties do not always unite the real world and the “wonderful” world. The color, smell and consistency of the substance that is released from it can vary: from thick, viscous, resinous to transparent, watery.
Clergy share this phenomenon into several types:
- Myrrh-streaming– when icons emit an oily substance.
- Unction– when a thick, dark, tar-like substance is released.
- Dew oozing– when the secreted liquid is transparent and similar to ordinary water.
These three types of religious miracles are combined by the term “myrrh-streaming”. In Christianity, the release of liquids by icons is not a rare occurrence. These events are also divided into three types:
- "Weeping Icons". They are quite rare and are considered a formidable omen. The most famous “crying icon” is considered to be the icon of the Mother of God, which has always predicted difficult times for Russia.
- "Myrrhstreaming Icons". Here opinions differ. Some believe that the myrrh is released on the eve of important changes in history, while others are more pessimistic and argue that this phenomenon signifies future difficulties and trials that the people will have to endure.
- "Bleeding Icons". This is the rarest and most formidable sign in Christianity. There are only a few known cases of bleeding from icons, and all of them were harbingers of terrible cataclysms, destructive wars and disasters.
Scientific explanation
There are a great many skeptics these days. There are many scientific and non-scientific explanations for the phenomenon of myrrh-streaming of icons as a phenomenon.
For example, some believe that this miracle is just a scam on the part of monks and clergy who deliberately sprinkle pre-prepared myrrh on icons, thereby increasing the popularity of a particular temple or monastery. This version became especially famous after icons in Russia began to stream myrrh en masse.
Due to growing mistrust, the church began to take any manifestations of myrrh flow more seriously.. Nowadays, before making the fact of an icon’s myrrh-streaming public, many churches first seal the doors and conduct an internal check to exclude any human factor.
The icons are under constant surveillance for several days and, if this phenomenon is confirmed, then the doors open again for pilgrimage and veneration of the weeping icon.
There were also cases when clergy “forced” icons to flow myrrh by drilling small holes in them and hanging them from reverse side bubbles with liquid. “Tears” were squeezed out of bottles using various devices and appeared on the icon itself as a miraculous phenomenon or a sign of God.
Sometimes an icon’s myrrh-streaming is mistaken for its simple fogging due to a sharp temperature change. This happens when cold weather going to church large number people and from their breath droplets of water form on the surface of the icons.
Exposure
Nowadays there is a special “commission on miracles”. Its members include religious scientists, physicists and representatives of the clergy. They go to the most famous and remarkable cases of miraculous phenomena and try to give each of the phenomena a scientific explanation.
As the participants of such a commission say, most often the icons “stream myrrh” with the most ordinary vegetable oil, which is very convenient, since if it were water, it would simply flow down and there is a high probability that no one would notice this “miracle”. In those cases when icons bleed blood, chemical analysis This blood reveals a simple mixture of glycerin and carmine, which can easily be made by mixing a little potassium and ferric chloride.
Oddly enough, when control and checks over the phenomenon of “crying icons” increased, the icons simply stopped crying. For example, when Soviet power There were practically no statements about such phenomena. Nowadays, the church actively cooperates with the state, receiving support and recognition. Hence the increasing number of cases of such “miracles”.
Icon of Matronushka in Belgorod
In 2017, one of the most known cases the “crying icon” in the Church of the Matrona of Moscow in Belgorod became the myrrh stream. According to media reports, this happened on the eve of March 8, but an official statement was made only on March 31, when the phenomenon was tested by a specially convened commission.
According to the clergy, the myrrh-streaming itself took place on March 8 and 18, which in Orthodox Christianity are considered the days of the discovery of the relics of the blessed martyr of Moscow and Saint Luke.
As soon as the clergy made an official statement, a huge line of believers immediately lined up at the doors of the temple, eager to venerate and receive a blessing from the myrrh-streaming icon.
The second Belgorod miracle is the myrrh streaming of an icon in the surgical building of the main city hospital, at which there is a temple built in honor of the Crimean archpastor.
According to eyewitnesses, streams of an oily substance were visible on the simple paper icon, which emitted a pleasant smell. Interesting fact that all the flows, except one, had a direction from top to bottom, and the top one first went slightly to the left and only then descended.
Case in Gorelovo
Another miracle of 2017 was the streaming of myrrh from the icons of Jesus Christ and the Most Holy Theotokos in the St. Petersburg diocese in the Church of the Hieromartyr Thaddeus in Gorelovo. According to the clergy of the temple, the myrrh flows through the icons in streams. In order to collect this composition, a thick layer of cotton wool was laid on the lower frame of the icon, which is changed every day.
The first explanation for this case was condensation, but the icon is not under glass and this possibility was quickly ruled out. Until now, no one can explain why the icon “cryed.” However, the temple workers are filled with optimism and interpret this phenomenon as nothing other than the grace of God. Needless to say, a huge line of people who want to touch the miracle gathers at the church doors every day.
During the time of Peter I
Peter the Great became one of the first Russian tsars who began to fight dishonest priests, in whose churches icons streamed myrrh with enviable regularity. During his reign, the king every now and then organized raids on holy places to verify the authenticity of miracles. One of these demonstrative checks is well known in history, during which Peter appeared before the “weeping icon” of the Most Holy One.
After careful study, this phenomenon did not make any impression on the Almighty. Returning to the capital, the tsar sent a letter to the abbot of the monastery, in which it was said that from that day on the Mother of God was forbidden to cry, otherwise “the priests’ backsides will cry with blood.”
At first, after such a statement, the Russian people spoke about the Tsar in a not very pleasant way. However, oddly enough, after this the cases of icons streaming with myrrh decreased significantly.
According to historians, the priests of that time did not like the progressive policies of Peter the Great and they tried to resist it through various divine phenomena. For example, when Peter ordered the beards to be shaved, the icons began to cry. Using such methods, the clergy tried to turn the people against the king, however, he figured out their plan in time and that was where all the miracles ended.
Now we will tell you about miracles and an explanation of the phenomenon of myrrh-streaming of relics and icons.
Miracles include the flow of peace from holy relics. This wondrous phenomenon, with which God was pleased to glorify some of His faithful servants, our scientists explain in their own way: some of them say that the monks prepare a special liquid composition, similar to myrrh, and add it to the relics; others explain this phenomenon by the special property of the air surrounding the relics, etc.
About the Kyiv, for example, Myrrh-streaming chapters, some say that these chapters “are not solid, spongy, and therefore they constantly absorb fat vapors, which are found in abundance in the caves and come out of the bodies that lie in the caves. These vapors, condensing and settling on the heads, flow from them into a deliberately placed vessel or dish. This thickened liquid is a type of oil that is passed off as myrrh.”
We will not enter into a discussion about how unfounded and even ridiculous such twists and attempts of non-believers to explain the work of God without God are (These speculations of scientists are thoroughly refuted in the book “Discourse on the incorruptibility of the relics of the holy saints of God, who rest incorruptibly in the Kyiv caves” by Feofan Prokopovich , former Archbishop of Nova Grad and Velikie Luki. 4th edition, Kyiv, 1852).
The phenomenon of myrrh streaming photo video
To refute such speculations, let us present only a few cases of the flow of peace from holy relics - cases that clearly prove that the flow of peace from holy relics cannot be explained either by the “tricks of monks” or by the properties of the air, but only by the incomprehensible action of the omnipotence and wisdom of God.
In 1200 the Rev. died. Simeon, before monasticism Stefan Neemani, ruler of Serbia. A year after his death, on the very day of remembrance, his marble coffin was filled with fragrant myrrh. In amazement and fear, all those praying in the temple exclaimed: “Lord have mercy!”
Then everyone smeared themselves with peace. Those suffering from illnesses and those possessed by spirits received healing by being anointed with myrrh. Transferred from Hilandar Athos monastery to the Studenetsky Monastery (in Serbia), the holy body of Simeon also exuded life-giving myrrh.
Therefore, Simeon is called in the ancient monuments only as “St. Simeon Neemani, the new Serbian myrrh-streamer” (“Saints of the Southern Slavs” by Philaret Archbishop of Chernigov. 1863, section 1, under February 13). Even the marble coffin of the saint left in Hilandar is known to this day for the healings performed (See Letters from the East, 1, 227. Letters of the Holy Mountainer, 2, 229).
Myrrh streaming of icons - scientific explanation
Relics of St. Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica (his martyrdom followed around 306) at times the multi-healing myrrh exuded in abundance (Month of the East of A. Sergius, vol. II, deputy pp. 340-341), and at the present time, according to pilgrims, one of the internal columns of the magnificent temple of the great martyr, where the Turks built a mosque, exudes from time to time an oily moisture in the form of sweat as a sign of the ongoing miracle of myrrh flow from the holy relics of the passion-bearer lying near the columns under the cover of the holy relics of the passion-bearer (See “Pilgrim’s Notes” in Sunday Reading, year 23, pp. 316-318).
The Turks themselves, in whose hands this temple is located, do not hide their surprise at the sight of this miracle and, following the example of Orthodox fans, place lighted candles in front of the tomb of the great martyr (Ibid.).
Relics of St. Guria, Archbishop of Kazan (reposed in 1563), were found incorrupt after thirty-two years from the date of his death and were, according to an eyewitness, in the following form: “All cancer of St. Guria was filled with fragrant myrrh, and the relics floated in it; the holy body was unchanged, only the upper lip was somewhat touched by corruption.
I myself, unworthy, with my sinful hand touched the holy body and felt how it floated; I touched the funeral vestments, and they were strong; touched the mantle and pulled it strongly, but it was stronger than new” (See “The Life of Saints Guria and Barsanuphius” by Metropolitan Gregory, St. Petersburg, 1853).
Miracles of the myrrh-streaming of icons and relics photo and video
Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker are currently located in the Apulian city of Bari (in the southern part of Italy), in the temple named after him under the throne. A thick marble shrine and a similar lid hide these sacred remains floating in the world from the eyes of admirers. Through a small hole made in the lid, a sponge is lowered into the crayfish on a thin cord, which is saturated with the celibate myrrh.”
The flow of the world also happens from solid parts of holy relics. In the distant caves of Kyiv (in the caves of St. Theodosius) the head of an unknown saint lies on a white stone dish, emitting an oily, fragrant moisture similar to myrrh. This myrrh never becomes scarce on the platter where the head lies; so that, no matter how many pilgrims there are daily, anointed with myrrh from this dish, there is always moisture on it in the required quantity for their anointing.
At the sight of such a phenomenon, some of the unbelievers think that this head is deliberately doused with wooden oil or some kind of compounded liquid similar to ointment, which is then passed off as the ointment exuding from the head. As if to expose this false thought and to verify that this chapter is truly myrrh-streaming, there was a years XIX century a remarkable incident recorded in the chronicles major events Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Once, one newcomer from the brethren, assigned to light lamps in distant caves, noticed in the evening that there was little peace in the stone dish under the myrrh-streaming head. The monk doubted whether there would be enough peace for the next day to anoint the pilgrims and, without thinking twice, he added wooden oil to the dish.
The phenomenon of myrrh-streaming of relics and icons of photography
The next morning, entering the caves, he saw that the myrrh-streaming head was all covered with green mold. In terrible fear, he ran to the guardian of the caves and told him what he had seen. He realized that, probably, something unkind and offensive to the shrine had happened here and, having questioned the novice, he learned that he had added wooden oil to the dish of the holy head.
Immediately the head was washed with warm water and wiped dry with a clean towel; The dish was also washed and wiped clean. The head placed on him at the very short time again she poured out pure myrrh, which turned out to be quite enough to anoint the pilgrims. Both monks and lay pilgrims witnessed this miracle.
In the same distant caves (in the Church of the Nativity of Christ) there are thirty more myrrh-streaming heads of saints unknown by name. Here is what one respected secular person says about them: “In that part of the caves that is accessible to all pilgrims, myrrh-streaming heads lie on dishes, covered with special caps; from the heads, drops of myrrh ooze onto these dishes, something like a colorless and tasteless oil, seemingly thinner than an ordinary wooden, delicately pleasant smell.
Once there was such a case with me: my friend, Doctor Savenko, did not believe that myrrh could flow from the head and, moreover, continuously; he thought it was a trick of the monks. Therefore, as soon as he happened to be in Kyiv, he did not fail to make an experiment regarding this, of course, with the permission of the monastic authorities.
Myrrh streaming of icons and relics of saints, miracles and explanation of the phenomenon
The experiment consisted in the fact that Savenko took one of the myrrh-streaming heads, wiped it dry with cloth inside and out, wiped the vessel in the same way, tied it all with leaking paper and sealed it. The door of the room where the chapter was left was also sealed. The next day Savenko came, unsealed the chapter himself, and there was ointment in the vessel” (Professor O. T. Solntsev’s story in “Russian Antiquity,” 1876, June).
To these stories about the flow of peace let us add the following incident, which happened on Athos. In 1837, Schemamonk Nikodim died on Athos. Three years later, in 1840, on November 7, the time came for the opening of his grave. They took out and washed his bones; they turned out to be yellow and fragrant. They put them in a basket and, according to custom, brought them into the church for the all-night vigil.
During the vigil, the fragrance from the bones of the deceased intensified so much that it drowned out the church incense, and it was felt by the clergy in the altar itself. Then Fr. Ioannikiy, confessor of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery (reposed on November 14, 1885), with a lighted candle, approached the bones of the deceased, lying in a basket in the middle of the church, and saw that two streams of fragrant myrrh were flowing from the ear holes of the skull, from which the fragrance spread throughout the church .
Then the confessor exclaimed: “Come, fathers and brethren, see this wondrous thing and glorify the Lord, who works miracles.
Behold, holy fathers, myrrh flowed from a dry bone, and not from another place, but from the ears; and this is because these ears were not satiated in hearing the word of God and any soul-saving scripture. In Bose, Fr. Nicodemus loved listening to Holy Scripture so much that he was ready to listen to it day and night without fatigue. This is well known to me” (Dushepol. Thur., 1886, March, p. 288).
So, we have seen that the incorruption of holy relics was and is almost always combined with various other miraculous signs, namely: with the relics of saints, various bodily ailments are healed, unbelievers and those of little faith are brought to their senses; some holy relics exude multi-healing myrrh; even the solid parts of holy relics exude myrrh; Of course, we cannot say this about the bodies of non-saints.
It is not in vain that the holy fathers of the Church and various church writers, when they talk about holy relics, point to them as sources of healing.
Looking through church and church-related resources, you often come across messages about newly discovered myrrh-streaming or “not made by hands” icons. Many with great interest respond to this information. Indeed, it would seem that in Orthodoxy a miracle is in the order of things, but what can be considered a miracle? And is every miracle from God?
Myrrh-streaming, as is known, is a miraculous outflow of some usually fragrant oily liquid. This phenomenon has been known in the Church since ancient times, but if we turn to church history, we will see that cases of icons streaming myrrh are extremely rare: two or three per century. For example, cases of myrrh streaming from the icons of the Mother of God over the almost 2000-year history of the Church, right up to the 20th century, were observed no more than 18 times(!) (Poselyanin E. E. “Tales of miraculous icons Our Lady").
And suddenly, in our time, we come across, for example, the following note: “In 1998, in one of the cells of the Holy Vvedensky Monastery, icons were filled with myrrh. Then, in this wonderful cell, pilgrims began to intentionally leave their icons, which also became myrrh-streaming. And in the monastery they began to keep records: until the beginning of 1999, the number of myrrh-streaming icons was no more than 100; in April - 2500; by the end of 2000, the number of myrrh-streaming icons exceeded 7000... That is, About 209 icons per day became myrrh-streaming».
And there are very, very many such notes.
It is also worth noting that the icons that have been especially revered in our country since ancient times, as a rule, never streamed myrrh. Nothing like this has ever been associated with Vladimir icon Theotokos, or for example with one of the icons of the letter of St. Andrey (Rublev).
It would seem that if some very rare, exceptional phenomenon in the life of the Church suddenly becomes widespread, this could be a reason to think: something is wrong here. This is so striking that even apologists of the new myrrh-streaming icons cannot ignore this fact. However, they perceive it uncritically, based on the principle that myrrh-streaming is a priori God's miracle.
Explanations are very varied, but, according to to a greater extent, boil down to the fact that now is a time of “global unbelief,” and with such miracles God enlightens us and brings many people to the Church.
It's hard to agree with this. In my opinion, now is the time for “global all-belief”
But “every tree is known by its fruit.” Take, for example, the well-known case of mass myrrh-streaming of icons in the military town of Klin-2, about which the press wrote a lot and willingly. Let me remind you that an elderly woman’s house was filled with myrrh, not just one, but almost all of them. Immediately, numerous pilgrimages began to her apartment. People brought their icons, which also began to stream myrrh. This epic ended like this: the owner of the apartment “I stopped participating in parish life, stopped confessing and receiving communion... preferring to organize independent prayer services at home, in front of the icons. Some clergymen from other dioceses began to come to her on a “pilgrimage,” to read akathists there, some “elders,” to whom she began to take women she knew for “treatment.”
The non-church nature of this “miracle” can be emphasized by the fact that as soon as the icons were brought to the temple, the outflow of the “oily liquid” immediately stopped.
This episode is the most typical, but far from the rarest. If a “miracle” does not bring people to the Church, but promotes some kind of “alternative” spirituality, is it from God?
And here is the question: if this is not God’s miracle, then what?
There may be several answers. This may be banal charlatanism, which has been known since the times of Peter the Great. Indeed, cases when an icon in a certain apartment exudes “myrrh” abundantly, and after being brought to the temple stops “flowing”, are alarming. Especially if “collection of donations” is combined with such “shrines”.
This may be a phenomenon of a physical nature that is falsely accepted as a miracle. There is also the so-called bleeding, when the icon seems to bleed. And very often this is just the action of shellac, which, due to the hot humid air, breaks through the upper layers of paint.
But it happens that the phenomenon cannot be explained materially. For example, there is a well-known cardboard icon of the Savior (an ordinary printed reproduction), which one day began to bleed. Here, in my opinion, you need to approach the issue very carefully, according to the sober commandment “do not accept, but do not blaspheme.” Personally, I have one, but specific, complaint about the mentioned bleeding: the “blood” has flooded the face so much that it is no longer distinguishable. Instead of the bright face of the Savior, we see a terrible black spot. But if the image ceases to bear the semblance of the Prototype, then it is no longer an icon.
I never tire of reminding you again and again: an icon is an image of the Lord Jesus Christ (or the Mother of God, or saints); if there is no image, there is no image. And this raises concrete doubts about the divine source of this miracle.
However, this is my personal opinion. But it is important to know that we can mistake demonic temptation for a miracle.
It is worth remembering here that the flow of myrrh in itself is not an exclusively Christian phenomenon.
Similar cases are known when a certain liquid was exuded from pagan images. And now not only icons of Christ, the Mother of God and saints are leaking, but also images of completely dubious personalities, such as Grigory Rasputin or Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
That is, “myrrh-streaming” may have an infernal origin. After all, from the lives of saints, we know many cases when demons tried to seduce people by imitating miracles and trying on the image of angels, or even the Mother of God and Christ himself. However, this is not surprising, because if a person is driven not by the desire for Christ, but by the search for “miracles,” “revelations,” various ecstatic states and simply thrills, then dark forces it would be difficult not to take advantage of this.
Unfortunately, in contrast to pre-revolutionary practice, local clergy often rush to declare the phenomenon a miracle, without waiting for the conclusions of the relevant church commission.
Perhaps I will repeat myself, but the Fathers of the Church teach us to be more careful about all otherworldly phenomena.
“The enemy instilled in some the idea that if they are not worthy of grace-filled gifts from the Lord in this life, then they will not receive them in future life. The enemy showed one of these rays emanating from the icon, ordered him to open his mouth and swallow them as gifts of grace. Out of inexperience, he did this and then, having been injured, died a week later, not taking food out of fear. Another prayed earnestly in front of the icon. The lamp swayed. He took this as a sign that his prayer was acceptable. As soon as he became convinced of this thought, he immediately fainted, and then these fainting spells began to recur with him. Third the icon of the Mother of God appeared, to which he kissed, became possessed and soon died. These are the consequences of trusting your opinion, your imaginary holiness and dignity in your own eyes” (“Spiritual Warfare. About the machinations of the enemy of salvation and how to resist them”).
The Gospel directly says: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will give great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24)
Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A.I. Osipov specifically says about this: “Already now there is an active preparation of the consciousness of the people, including completely Orthodox (“chosen”) people to search for miracles, to pursue them. Look how much literature is devoted to them. And, alas, many Orthodox Christians already know well what needs to pray to which icons, which saints to turn to, and which relics to venerate. The thought of salvation from passions and sin, from evil, hostility, envy, fornication, and theft is gradually fading into the background.”
According to Osipov, “through the search for earthly blessings, miracles, seers,” people will come to accept the Antichrist, who will perform amazing miracles.”