The wonderworking icon of the Theotokos of Bethlehem
This
is the story of the miraculous appearance of the Holy Mother to a
Muslim in Bethlehem on the first day of Holy Week 2012. The Orthodox
monastic community of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem related
this story to Mr. Lycourgos Markoudes who writes here as he heard it.
The story begins on Holy Monday afternoon when the Church of the
Nativity was practically empty of pilgrims. The monks were in the area
of the Church where they attend to the needs of the Church. This is a
short distance from the steps that lead to the Cave of the Birth of
Christ. At one point, they saw a man approach them and he appeared to
be very emotional. He took two candles and with great emotion he
approached the icon of the Holy Mother of Bethlehem. He lit the candles
before the icon and with tears flowing from his eyes he turned towards
the monks who were looking at him with concern. He told them that he
was a Muslim from the area around Bethlehem and that during the previous
day he saw the Holy Mother in his sleep. The Holy Mother invited him
to visit the place where She had given birth to Her Son and he was to
enter the area through a low doorway. He was told to proceed to the
right and then go to the area where he would find Her and then light two
candles before her icon.
This man had not visited this Church since he was a very young child
and he did not remember anything about the Church. When he arrived
there on that afternoon, he left his car running with its emergency
lights flashing in front of the main entrance of the Church, in an area
that has restricted parking. His wife had remained in the car. When he
arrived, he proceeded to enter walking briskly toward the low doorway
of the Church. He realized as he was proceeding ahead that everything
was exactly the way that our Holy Mother had described it to him. He
then went right and down some stairs of Justinian’s Church and he
entered the right area of the Church. This is the area that is under the
jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church and it leads to the Cave where
Jesus was born. The icon of the Holy Mother was exactly in the place
where She had indicated it would be. And the icon was exactly the same
one he had seen in his dream.
It was the icon of the Holy Mother of God of Bethlehem. This
miracle-working icon is the resident icon of the Church of Bethlehem and
it is located on a prominent icon stand on the right side of the steps
that lead to The Cave of the Birth of Christ. The facial features of
this icon overflow with an infinite expression of love and calmness
while the faint smile on her face brings joy to the hearts of pilgrims.
The icon is surrounded with precious fabrics and jewels. There are no
solid details about the origin of the icon but tradition says that it
comes from Russia and it is connected with the Russian Empress
Katherine. This Empress visited the Holy Land after a miracle that was
performed by the Mother of God. As a result of this, she gave her
imperial clothing so that the Mother of the World could be dressed in
them. She also gave her jewelry so that they could be placed on the
icon. She also directed that future empresses should not wear rubies so
that henceforth this distinctive honor would only belong to the Holy
Mother. This is the icon that this Muslim came to reverence when he
arrived at the Church of the Birth of Christ late afternoon of Holy
Monday. He naturally did not know how to speak Greek and the
conversation with the monks was in Arabic.
This was unbelievable news that this Muslim brought to the monks. The
monks offered him a small icon of our Holy Mother which he accepted with
thanksgiving. He left the Church quickly, just the way he arrived, but
he then returned again in a few moments. He had forgotten that Our Holy
Mother had also told him that while entering the Church, he should see
her friends on the columns of the Church. The monks then took him to
see the columns of the Church which have icons of saints painted on
them; some of these icons today are just shadows, some are blackened and
others are completely faded. These are life size figures of the Saints
of our Church. These are the friends of our Holy Mother.
After seeing the columns the Muslim again left quickly and has never
again returned to the Church. But the All-Holy One, the Mother of God
and our Mother, through this miraculous occurrence came to show Her
support for us so that we will have patience, hope and consolation and
also to assure us that: “Her Son will come again and He will gather up
all those who are close to Him.” Let us, therefore, not dare to
distance ourselves from Him, so that we can taste His salvation. Amen.
TRANSLATED BY:
+Fr. Constantine J. Simones, June 2, 2012 (source)
Close-up of the icon of the Theotokos of Bethlehem
Apolytikion of the Icon of the Theotokos of Bethlehem (amateur translation)
You
bless all those who hasten with faith to venerate your sacred image,
O Mother of God, gushing forth healings, O Lady of Bethlehem, and a
greatly-flowing river. And do not cease to protect those who
radiantly glorify your all-sacred Son, Who did not depart from the
Father's bosom, and, in an unspeakable manner, received mortal flesh
from your blood.
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
Source- full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.ca
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