In my daily searches of the internet in Greece, I came upon a wonderful video of Fr. Nikon of Philotheou Monastery, Mt. Athos, giving a talk entitled "The Power of the Sacraments in the lives of Orthodox Christians" in Αίκατερίνη, Greece. He talks about real life experiences dealing with the miraculous through the sacraments of the Orthodox Church. These stories are mind boggling because they speak of a spiritual dimension of Christian life that has been lost in most of the Christians of the West. I was so taken with these stories that I needed to translate them into English for our faithful here in the States. In one of the stories Fr. Nikon refers to the Holy Mother Prousiotissa who is instrumental in directly saving the life of a young Greek soldier who is driving a truck on a mountain road. In looking up Παναγία Προυσιώτισσα I found the following historical roots of this particular miracle-working icon of the Holy Mother.

According to the tradition of our Church, this icon was in a Church in Prousa, Asia Minor. During the iconoclastic period when icons were being destroyed by heretics of that time this icon was saved from destruction by a leading member of the Orthodox Church. In order to save the icon, in 829 AD he took the icon from the Church.

This Church leader had every intention of taking this icon to Greece for its safe-keeping. But when he reached the city of Kallipolis, the icon was lost. The icon then miraculously found its way to the location where it is found today in Prousa, Greece. This miraculous event was disseminated amongst the Orthodox faithful of that time. The man, who had attempted to take the icon to Greece and then lost it, found out about the miracle and proceeded to its location where the icon found its resting place and verified that it was the same icon he attempted to save in Asia Minor.

He was so impressed with the miraculous events surrounding the icon's travels that he dedicated the rest of his life to monasticism. You should also know that there are many miracles attributed to this icon of the Holy Mother over the centuries but we will leave that for another time. We pray that you will enjoy these real life miracles from the lives of ordinary people in the Orthodox Christian Church of Greece.

by Fr. Nikon of Philotheou Monastery, Mount Athos, Greece

Faith is life. It is not simply a question of knowledge. We are not saved because we have learned about our faith. We will be saved not because we believe but because we show our faith by the way we live. Knowledge does not save us. Knowledge gives us the ability to live the way Jesus wants us to live. This is so because Christ did not come into the world to teach us theology and philosophy. He came into the world to give us a new way of life. Even the devil believes but his faith does not save him. All people have knowledge but all people are not saved. Show me your faith in your good works is the commandment we have received. We say that we love Jesus Christ. This may be so but what does Jesus say; "you will reveal your faith in Me through your good works." "He who loves me will honor my commandments." The way we live life makes us Christians, not our faith. If we live life properly we will also have a proper philosophical outlook and we will have good thoughts. This is so because philosophy comes from the life that we are living. Not living the right way brings with it wrong knowledge and a wrong philosophy of life. The proper way of living will foster good thinking. Since faith is not something that we learn by reading books and hearing sermons about faith, it is acquired by the way we live life.

How was it possible to prepare her properly for baptism without catechism?
His response was most intriguing. When his mother found out that her son had become an Orthodox monk, she became very curious. She asked many question like what does being an Orthodox monk mean. She then attended a Russian Orthodox Church in the capital of Peru in order to learn more about the Orthodox Christian Church. She began asking questions of the priest about the Orthodox Church. She wanted to know what the Orthodox Church was and how if differed with the Roman Catholic Church? The Russian Orthodox priest answered all her questions with a great deal of patience. She attended that Church again and again and she fell in love with it. Finally when Father Simeon arrived in Peru after many years of absence, he found that his mother was ready to be received into the Orthodox Church. When the day of baptism arrived, Fr. Simeon went to a lake with his mother and performed the Sacrament of Baptism there. He immersed her three times in the waters of the lake. During the third immersion something most unusual took place to his mother. As her son literally raised her from the water for the third time she remained in the air for a moment then plunged back down into the water. Fr. Simeon's brothers who were watching this whole scene unfold thought their brother was drowning their mother. They rushed forward and would have beaten him up if their mother had not raised herself up from the water and spoke to them.

Fr. Nikon tells us that he was at a particular Monastery on Mt. Athos. Someone at the Monastery told him to go to the courtyard of the Monastery for there was a visitor there who was a well informed individual. I went to the courtyard and found a delightful man who was well-spoken, well-educated and knew five different languages. We immediately became friends. I unfortunately found out that he taught Zen in the city of Thessaloniki. He had a school that taught the techniques of Zen. Because of his involvement with Zen he truly believed that he possessed a sixth sense that no one else had.

In order to prove his point he told me the following incident. He said: "One night I felt with this special ability that I possess that there was going to be an earthquake in the city. It was ten o'clock at night and I told my mother that we should go out for a walk. We left the house and walked to Venizelos Square. We sat on a park bench and we waited. Suddenly we felt that all of Thessaloniki was shaking. It was an earthquake which destroyed an apartment building and a number of people were killed. Why, therefore, does it seem strange to you that I should have this sixth sense?" I responded to him, "You are a saint." He was not fool enough to say that he was a saint. But he was also smart enough not to say that he was demon-possessed. He said: "I am not a saint but that doesn't mean that I am demon-possessed."

My response to him was that animals also sense the coming danger of earthquakes and make all kinds of noises. These animals know in advance that an earthquake is coming. He said in response: "Does that mean they are demon-possessed?" You could not persuade him with any argument that you brought forth about the dangers of Zen. How could you convince someone like that who is receiving information from a demon? When a person's mind is taken over by a demon how can we convince them to repent? Those who think they are very smart easily become possessed. These people cannot be saved unless God Himself miraculously cures them.

Fr. Nikon now continues the story at a Monastery on Mt. Athos. He said that a person came to the Monastery one day who was a foreigner. He had a son and they travelled throughout the Greek islands. They had a wonderful time doing this.

This man said to Fr. Nikon:

"As I was travelling to these beautiful Greek islands I saw something that appeared to be very strange to me. I saw a man wearing black clothes with a strange black hat. As it turned out he was a priest for I had never seen one before. I followed him until he came to a building and started ringing a bell. He then took out a key, unlocked the door and entered the house. I later realized that it was a Church. The priest entered the Church. What the priest did next I do not know. It might have been a vesper or some other Church service. When the priest finished doing his priestly duties, I approached him and asked him why he was wearing that type of clothing. He responded that is the way Orthodox priests are dressed in the Orthodox Church. I then asked him what the differences were between the Roman Catholic, the Protestant Churches and Orthodoxy. The priest responded by telling him the differences. The priest spoke to him in English and then gave him a book to read along with an English New Testament. I read the material and became enthusiastic about the Orthodox Church. I then decided to become an Orthodox Christian. The priest told me I should not rush into becoming an Orthodox Christian and I should just take my time. I took catechism lessons for a whole year."

During his first Divine Liturgy following confession at our Monastery, on the Feast Day of St. John the Evangelist, something very dramatic happened to him during the Divine Liturgy. Right after dispensing Holy Communion to the faithful in the Church and saying the prayer "God is lifted up into the heavens and His glory fills the whole earth" he was filled with fear and trembling as he saw before him the following phenomenon. The consecrated elements in the chalice were bubbling. What I saw coming up out of the chalice was raw flesh and blood spilling over onto the altar table. Upon seeing this, the priest fainted. The Church sexton came running up to help the priest. The priest was brought around by the sexton after he called 911 for an ambulance. He thought that the priest had possibly suffered a heart attack.

One day Fr. Nikon and the young professor were driving to Athens together. During the trip Fr. Nikon heard a most unbelievable story from the professor. He revealed to him that there was something strange that was happening to him. As he was teaching a class he could feel a presence approach him and overwhelm his whole body. When this happened he became frozen in place and could not move. He became like a statue. He could feel this presence that would approach him and freeze him in place. This would also happen to him when he was driving but it first started when he was teaching in class. The students at first thought that he was joking and they began to laugh. But when this happened again and again the students would wait until it passed. He explained to the students that it was a nervous condition and it would pass. Fr. Nikon spoke to him to find out why this was happening to him. The professor said that once he was driving from Corinth to Athens and he was going fast. He suddenly saw before him a sharp turn in the road. He had driven this road many times and he couldn't understand why there was this turn in the highway. As this was unfolding before him, suddenly a monk was sitting in the passenger seat next to him. The monk tapped him on his back with his left hand and directed him to go straight ahead with his right hand. What the professor was seeing before him on the highway was a stone wall. But following the directions of the monk he barreled ahead full speed into the stone wall. As soon as soon as he appeared to hit the stone wall it completely disappeared and the highway opened up before him straight ahead. When he managed to stop the car, he got out trembling. He looked back at the highway and he saw where the curve had been. That curse led directly off the road and into the ocean. He then said that his next concern was to find out who the monk was. Fr. Nikon asked for a description of him but he could not give a good one.

The problem with the entity did not stop for the professor at this point. Another time when Fr. Nikon went to see him he said to him: "Elder I bought a new house. As soon as I entered that house I realized there was something evil there. We thought that maybe the previous owners had done some kind of a satanic ritual there. We checked the house inside and out for signs of witchcraft. Fr. Nikon told the professor to call a priest for a house blessing and then he left. A year later, Fr. Nikon went to Mt. Athos to attend the Feast of the Philotheou Monastery he ran into the young professor. He asked him what he was doing there. I could see that he did not look well at all. He told me that one day after returning home from his teaching assignment, he felt that the evil spirit was approaching him again. This time instead of attacking him it attacked his wife. The evil entity had spread his evil throughout the house. His wife and children were screaming. I went into the kitchen and I saw the entity before me manifested like a fierce demon. It appeared to be half guerrilla and half human and it was strangling my wife. I started to pray the only prayer that I knew—The Lord's Prayer. The husband lunged at the guerrilla and the three of them were rolling on the floor. After a while the guerrilla just disappeared. The husband and wife embraced one another in tears. The children were very upset. The professor called his friend and they decided they should go to Mt. Athos for confession.

At this point Fr. Nikon is still trying to figure out what had he done to leave himself open to demonic attacks. What could he have done to give such power to the Satan. Fr. Nikon told the two friends that they should visit all the holy Elders on Mt. Athos in order to find out was going on with the young professor. Since Fr. Paisios was nearby he suggested that they should visit him first. Fr. Nikon at this point left them. The following October, Fr. Nikon went to Athens to meet the professor. He asked what had happened to him after they parted. He responded: "I did everything you told me to do on Mt. Athos. We started with Fr. Paisios. We went to his hermitage where there were a lot of people waiting for him. Fr. Paisios came out to visit with the pilgrims. When I saw him, I froze. He was the monk that sat in the passenger seat of my car that saved me from certain death. Fr. Paisios approached us and he said that I should not say anything. We will talk later. What did Fr. Paisios tell you? We did what he told us to do. What was that? We were never married in the Church and we never baptized our children in the Church. The professor tried to rationalize that true love and living together was not wrong. He also rationalized that their children were not baptized because they wanted them to grow up and choose their religion for themselves. (Translator: I assume that this couple was married by the justice of the peace and not in the Church) Is this the New World Order of things?