Mukacheve, Ukraine, June 5, 2017
By the feast of Pentecost withered lilies began to blossom at an Orthodox church in the Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, reports the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in Ukraine.
This miracle has been observed already for the sixth year. It first occurred six years ago at a church of the Krasnogorsky (“of red hill”) Monastery near Mukacheve in the Transkarpatya region. It was the first year when during the Paschal celebration lilies were placed inside the icon case of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” icon of Holy Theotokos (the church is dedicated in honor of this icon). Approximately a month later, on the feast of Pentecost, the flowers (which had been absolutely withered) blossomed in a wonderful white color and filled the temple with their fragrance.
According to abbot of Krasnogorsky Monastery Archimandrite Hilary, the idea of placing the flowers inside the icon case belonged to the parishioners who had seen a report of a similar miracle in the Kulevcha village of the Odessa region on TV. And on Trinity Sunday both the clergy and believers witnessed the blossoming of the dried lilies in Mukacheve. They are cut flowers without water or earth. The Akathist to the All-Holy Virgin is served at the church daily.
Both the lilies and the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” icon heal various diseases. Every year old dried-up flowers are replaced at the Paschal period with fresh cut ones from the monastery’s kitchen-garden. Withered flowers are distributed to the faithful. There are numerous cases of miracles at the church.
According to Archimandrite Hilary, a woman with eczema covering her entire body was healed after taking bath with an infusion of the miraculous lilies. The same icon along with the lilies help childless couples conceive, help young women seeking husbands, along with many other miracles.
This phenomenon is rare; it is known to happen in Mukacheve, Kulevcha, and on the Greek island of Cephalonia. Many priests have tried to make shriveled lilies bloom again near various icons, but the miracle does not occur at will. In the Transcarpathia region they decided not to experiment but to observe the established tradition and replace lilies once a year. Fresh stalks were placed inside the icon case during Paschal celebrations. They withered, but shortly before Pentecost large buds appeared, and they are just about to bloom into glorious white flowers.
Moreover, it is no coincidence that the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” icon appeared at this church. When this temple was being built eleven years ago, Father Vasily Yermakov from St. Petersburg (who at that time was staying in the Trancarpathia region) was passing by this church. He kept the original icon of this kind at his church. He learned that the church under construction was to be dedicated in honor of the “Joy of All Who Sorrow” icon and returned in the following year to give it a copy of this icon.
People at Krasnogorsky Monastery believe this blossoming to be a miracle, although they are unable to explain the phenomenon.
“The parishioners don’t need it [an explanation]. Anyone can come and see it with his own eyes and he will be convinced. That is enough,” the monastery’s abbot notes.
