Protodeacon Christopher Birchall (Canada): This story was told to me by Lydia Mikhailovna Klar, the wife of Evgenii Iosifovich Klar, the dean of the Seminary at Jordanville. In 1994, it became known that their daughter-in-law, Irina Klar, had contracted cancer. Her husband, Michael, a doctor by profession, was desperate. He prayed fervently for her recovery, and in time it appeared that the disease had departed. However, in 1997, there was a severe deterioration. Lydia Mikhailovna gave the pious wife a undershirt, which had belonged to Metropolitan Philaret and which she had been given by the holy hierarch’s cell attendant, Protodeacon Nikita Charikov. Irina put it on, and immediately she smelled a strong fragrance; she thought that someone in the premises had given up their soul. Irina and Michael prayed fervently all the evening, and at last Irina fell asleep still wearing this undershirt. Next morning she felt significantly better, and went to the hospital for a check-up. The result of the examination showed that the size of the cancerous tumour had diminished by 70 (!) times. There was no rational explanation for this, and the hospital staff were at a loss. At the end of 1998, Irina’s cancerous tumour began to grow again. After this, when the remains of Metropolitan Philaret had been uncovered and found to be incorrupt, Archimandrite Luke from Jordanville started to gather information about the miracles. Irina decided that she ought to tell of her healing, and she felt that she had been wrong when, earlier, she had been silent about this. After she had told father Luke about what had happened, she began to feel better again. Until now (a year has passed) she continues in good health. The cancerous tumour has not disappeared completely, but it has diminished to such an extent that Irina is able to carry on a normal life and dedicate herself to the upbringing of her children.
Elena Kudryabtseva (Moscow): In our little boy signs of an allergy appeared, which grew stronger and stronger day by day. The doctors could not give a clear reason for the rashes which broke out all over his body and, in places, developed into hard scabs. The medicine they prescribed gave hardly any alleviation, and taking these tablets was often noxious for the child. We did not know what was to be done, or what to do. An acquaintance of ours, a pious and sincere man, who revered Vladyka Philaret (Voznesensky), told the story of what had befallen a seriously ill patient in the clinic, whom the doctors already had no hope of curing. The sick man took a photo of the hierarch, and with faith placed it on the bad place. In a short time he came to recovery, an operation was not necessary, and he was healed of his severe infirmity. Remembering this story, we took a photograph of the hierarch Philaret, taken not long before his demise by Archpriest Constantine Fedorov, and placed it over the infant’s cot. On the next day, the scabs on the child’s legs began to come off, the rash diminished, and within a short time all signs of the allergy completely disappeared.
Milovoje Miliikovic (Belgrade): My 80 year-old Mama’s right hand was hurt. At first a smallish lump appeared on her hand, and then it began to hurt a lot. No medications were of any use, and the doctors did not know what it was. She took antibiotics and anaesthetics; they gave her fifteen injections of penicillin. Nothing helped and the afflicted area just got bigger. The day of the Holy Hierarch Philaret came, when our Fr Acacius always serves a particularly festive service. On this day from the Monastery of New Stenik on Mount Mikylii the nuns came with Abbess Evphrosyne, which was a big support for us all. After a remarkable service, we had a meal during which a life of the Holy Hierarch Philaret was read and a record of the miracles worked through his prayers. Through the endeavours of the nuns, everyone was given an akathist to the saint. Furthermore, with Fr Acacius’ blessing, the monk Joseph poured out some oil for me from the lamp before the icon of Saint Philaret. When I arrived home, I read the akathist to Saint Philaret and anointed the painful area on Mama’s hand with the oil - first with the sign of the Cross, and then completely over the whole area. Instantaneously the pain lessened. In the morning the wound had diminished to half the size, and it began to secrete pus. Furthermore, before the reading of the akathist, Mama felt so bad that she could not stand up and had to sit down....
Through the prayers of the Holy Hierarch Philaret, may the Lord have mercy on us all. Amen.
The Russian language text of the above was supplied by Abbess Alexandra of the Convent of St John (Maximovich) in Odessa, Ukraine. It included two additional miracles which were recorded within the Life that we published last month and which we have therefore not included here. The present compiler of “The Shepherd” can also recall the report of a miracle of the Saint, while the latter was still alive:-
IN 1970, a small group of seminarians from Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, myself included, went to the Kursk Root Icon Hermitage at Mahopac, N.Y., over the Thanksgiving weekend, to help despatch some books on the Coronations of the Russian Tsars, which had been published by the Russian Youth Committee. At that time a nun was staying at the Hermitage, and she greatly revered Metropolitan Philaret and told us that he knew the Four Gospels off by heart. She also told us that for many years she had suffered from very severe headaches, which at that time I did as well, which made me pay attention to what she had to say. She reported that on one occasion, she had a particularly bad headache and asked the Metropolitan to pray for her that she might be delivered from it. Out of humility, he said that he could not do such a thing, and so in desperation she fell at his feet and said she would not let him go until he did. He prayed, and not only did her headache leave her immediately, but from that day until the time she told us her tale she had not suffered another one.
