Kenya, March 4, 2021
Photo: pravoslavie.ru
Holy Communion is the fount and medicine of immortality, and it has also been known to heal men of their physical infirmities.
Metropolitan Nicolas of Tanta of the Patriarchate of Alexandria recently shared a story in which Archbishop Makarios of Kenya recalls the story of a future priest who was miraculously healed of AIDS:
I would like to tell you about a miracle that happened in our diocese. It happened to one of our priests when he was a student. He had AIDS but didn’t want to go to the doctor alone, so I took him to the doctor. The doctor examined him and explained to us that he was going to die from the disease. He came to me and sat in my office, crying with tears streaming down to the floor. What can I tell him?! What should I advise him?! How can I console him?!
Of course, I told him miracles happen in our Church. In order to ease his grief, I advised him to go to church to pray all night, and the next morning, to participate in the Divine Liturgy and receive Holy Communion. I said to him: ′′Since you have confessed all your sins, you are now like an angel, so come tomorrow morning to receive the Eucharist.”
Indeed, he prayed all night, and in the morning, he came to Liturgy and communed, and he told me he was feeling good that day after communing. I had told him the day before that in our Tradition, Holy Communion is a cure for eternal life, for soul and body, and many viruses have been cured through it.
… Then he asked me to take him to the doctor again, and I did. The doctor examined him, then he brought out the previous tests showing he was infected with AIDS. Then he brought us the tests he ran that day and said: “I can’t say anything now, because the disease has disappeared.”
He got married after that and is now one of the best priests.
And reflecting on the fact that even some hierarchs and clergy are afraid of getting infected with the coronavirus through Holy Communion, the Archbishop recalls another story of how he taught his clergy to be fearless when consuming the chalice after Liturgy:
Back then too, we had the AIDS pandemic and people in Kenya were dying from it. I was celebrating the Divine Liturgy with the Maasai, a primitive tribe, and praying with the help of my students, deacons and priests. I noticed about 400 people at Liturgy. I communed them all. You can imagine how many germs, plus lots of flies and other insects were dropping into the chalice.
As I said before, AIDS was everywhere and people were dying because of it. After the Liturgy, I noticed the deacons and priests, were afraid, and I told them: ′′Someone will have to take the chalice and consume what’s left in it′′ (as the clergy do at the end of every service). You can imagine the fear that everyone had, and which is so natural and human. Humans feel fear during these situations.
And because I noticed that they were afraid that one of them would have to consume what was left in the chalice, I told them: “Today I'll show you how to clean the holy chalice.” I took the chalice and all that was left in it. I lifted it up and told them: “Here is the Body and Blood of our Lord,” and so all the contents that remained, all the germs that were there, all the flies, all this went down into my stomach, with the Body and Blood of our Lord.
And of course, all of the students, the deacons, and priests, were waiting to see something happen to me, to get sick and die, after consuming everything in the holy chalice and everything that remained there, after communing 400 people. And here I am, after all these years, alive and pursuing the work of our Lord.
Nowadays we hear about the current pandemic around the world. Some of us, even bishops, priests, and even believers, are afraid to get this virus through Holy Communion. I categorically assert that this is absolutely impossible!!!
There is a great miracle here before us... We say that Communion is a cure for eternal life. The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of our Lord, gives us life, and we must all realize this mystery and not be afraid. But, Satan interferes and puts different thoughts and doubts in our minds, as we might call it, that we may catch this virus from Holy Communion.
I advise everyone to approach the holy chalice without fear, and partake of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is truly living and eternal, and sustains us from all our sins and whims!!! Amen.
OrthoChristian reported in September on a mass wedding celebrated for several couples among the Orthodox faithful of the Maasai tribe.
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