Sts. Cosmas and Damian of Asia
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father (John 14:12), promised our Lord Jesus Christ.
And His immutable promise is fulfilled even in our own days—witnessed by the miracles wrought in the name of Christ by His holy saints, our elder brothers and sisters, who hasten to help us whenever we lift our eyes in faith to our Heavenly Father.
“The Room Was Filled with Light”
Elder Ambrose (Lazarīs) The following miracle occurred with one of the well-known contemporary Greek elders—Father Ambrose Lazarīs (1912–2006)—in the year 1937, when, under the name Chariton (after being tonsured to the riassophore), he was living in ascetic struggle at the Athonite Monastery of Koutloumousiou.
On a hot August day, Monk Chariton decided to go to the monastery orchard to gather figs—without the abbot’s blessing. Climbing up a fruitful fig tree, he began picking the ripe fruit, but one of the branches broke beneath him, and he fell hard to the ground, shattering his leg completely in two. The pain was unbearable, and Father Chariton began to cry out in agony.
The monks came running from all sides of the orchard and carried their brother to the monastery infirmary, which had a small chapel dedicated to the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian. Yet, since at that time Mount Athos was under occupation by the Fascists, the place was desolate—there were no doctors, not even the barest means of help. Father Chariton’s condition seemed hopeless.
But where there is no hope from men, help comes swiftly from Heaven.
The elder later recalled that dreadful night when he lay suffering from intolerable pain:
“What happened at midnight? I saw, with my own eyes, the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian descend alive from the dome and approach me. The entire infirmary was suddenly filled with light.
“‘Poor fellow! How did he break his leg like that?’ said Saint Damian.
“St. Cosmas came up to my head and said to St. Damian:
“‘Go to his leg, take hold of it, and pull it outward!’
“St. Damian went to my leg and pulled it. The pain was beyond words!
“‘We have come to help you—do not be afraid; it will all pass,’ said St. Cosmas.
“And what happened then? When he pulled the leg, it was healed! The bones, the muscles—everything—were made whole again! At once the pain vanished. I immediately jumped up, began to dance and sing, not even realizing what I was doing. The monks woke up.
“‘Monk Chariton must have lost his mind from the pain—he’s singing in the middle of the night…’
“The monks came rushing into the infirmary.
“‘Why did you get up? Sit down before you break your other leg!’
“‘Look!’ I said.
“Before us was the little chapel of the Holy Unmercenaries.
“‘Those two, seated now upon their thrones, came here an hour ago—one stood by my head, the other by my feet. They pulled my leg, set it in place, and now I have no problem at all!’
“That night, the monks could not sleep, and in the morning they served the Divine Liturgy. I, too, went to it.
“They celebrated the Divine Liturgy for three days in a row.”
“Return the Cross”
Holy Hieromartyr Charalambos of Magnesia was one of the glorious martyrs of the Early Church. He suffered martyrdom at the age of 113, on February 10, A.D. 202. In the Middle Ages, people turned to the intercession of St. Charalambos especially during outbreaks of plague, yet he has continued to help the faithful in every kind of illness and affliction.
In 1992, an Athenian woman named Irina Lemu suffered a heart attack.
In hope of saving her life, she traveled to Switzerland for an expensive surgical operation.
Before her flight from Athens, someone gave her the Life of St. Charalambos.
Throughout the flight and the sleepless night in her Swiss hotel room, Irina read that Life, praying earnestly for the saint’s help.
The Monastery of St. Stephen the Archdeacon and Protomartyr in Meteora
At dawn, St. Charalambos himself appeared to her in her room, took her hand, and said, “Why are you so worried? I have come to help you. But you must set right the disorder you have made in your home. Why did you remove the Cross from your room? Put the Cross back in its proper place, and all will be well!”
Indeed, Irina had taken down an old, venerated Cross from her wall and replaced it with a modern photograph. The next morning, when she went to the clinic, the pre-operative tests showed that she was completely healthy!
Upon her return to Greece, the very first thing she did was go to the Monastery of St. Stephen the Archdeacon and Protomartyr in Meteora—where the honorable head of St. Charalambos is kept—to offer her thanks to the saint who had helped her.
Doctor Marina of Andros
In 2003, a family from Cyprus—the Vasiliou family—made a public plea for help on national television. Their little son, Andreas Vasiliou, was suffering from leukemia, and a bone-marrow transplant was urgently needed. Fortunately, a suitable donor was found, and the family prepared to fly to the United States for the complex operation.
Before their departure, however, they heard about the Monastery of St. Marina on the Greek island of Andros, where a relic—the finger of the saint—is preserved.
The Vasiliou family telephoned the abbot, Father Cyprian, asking him to pray for their suffering child. Fr. Cyprian promised to pray for Andreas’s health and wished that St. Marina—the special protector of children—would assist him during the surgery.
At an American clinic, after all the necessary tests were completed, little Andreas Vasiliou, who had been fighting for his life, was taken into the operating room. Just a few minutes before the crucial surgery was to begin, an unfamiliar young woman entered the surgeon’s office. She introduced herself as Andreas’s personal doctor and politely asked permission to be present during the child’s operation.
Andreas Vasiliou
From her words and manner, it was immediately clear that she possessed profound medical knowledge. The American surgeon, impressed by her confidence and competence, gladly invited her to assist in the operating room.
During the operation, the “doctor” did not merely observe—she took an active part, calmly directing the others and indicating precisely what needed to be done at each moment. The surgery went brilliantly. When it was over, the surgeon, grateful for such expert help, turned to his mysterious colleague to thank her—but she had already disappeared.
Leaving the operating room, he met the anxious parents waiting outside. “Everything went perfectly,” he told them, “but there’s one thing I can’t understand—with such an excellent doctor as yours, why did you even come to me?”
The bewildered parents assured him that they had no personal doctor, but the surgeon insisted that the entire operating staff had seen her. They began searching for the mysterious visitor—yet she had vanished completely, without anyone noticing her departure.
Then the Vasiliou family realized: the blessing of Abbot Cyprian had come to pass—and the mysterious “doctor” was none other than Saint Marina herself. Indeed, the woman who had entered the surgeon’s office had introduced herself by name as Marina of Andros.
Today, Andreas Vasiliou, now a grown man, travels each year with his parents to the island of Andros to give thanks to St. Marina and to glorify God, Who is “wonderful in His saints.”
“Nineteen Cuts”
St. Nectarios of Aegina Not long ago in Greece, two young people—deeply in love—were married. Yet within the very first week of their marriage, strange and disturbing troubles arose: endless quarrels, discontent, and arguments over nothing. The young wife began fervently praying to St. Nectarios of Aegina, often visiting his incorrupt relics on the island.
Soon, she began suffering inexplicable pains, though the doctors could find no illness. Her father also fell gravely ill and was diagnosed with malignant tumors. The couple’s condition was further burdened by infertility. Immersed in sorrow and confusion, they hardly paid attention to a strange phenomenon that repeated every morning: upon waking, they would find filth on their bed—foul matter that could not be touched or removed. This continued for six long years.
One evening, as the young woman sat in her living room on the verge of despair, the door suddenly opened—and in stepped St. Nectarios, accompanied by her deceased grandfather, who had been a priest.
“I have come,” said St. Nectarios. “Do not be afraid! Tonight we shall make three incisions with a lancet upon your abdomen. Lie down.”
In perfect peace, she obeyed the saint. He made three small cuts and said, “I will come again tomorrow.” And indeed, the next day, St. Nectarios appeared again with her grandfather.
“Today,” said the saint, “we shall make nineteen cuts.” He began the operation, and when he reached the last incision, he said, “Now watch—see from where the evil spirit will come out of you!”
During the nineteenth incision, the evil spirit came out—through the woman’s little toe! After this “operation,” the expulsion of the demon, St. Nectarios explained everything to her.
“After your wedding, when you rented this house,” said the saint, “the landlady became envious of you. She secretly entered the house and threw this (the saint pointed to the filth) onto your bed, and poured enchanted oil upon the steps. Your father was the first to step upon that oil—and that is why the tumors appeared in his body. But one day, when he came to me on Aegina, I healed him; on the threshold of the church I removed his tumors and a hundred and fifty grams of dead blood. Yet he never returned to thank me.”
Then, after giving this explanation, the heavenly visitors—St. Nectarios and the priestly grandfather—became invisible.
The saint’s reproach was not without reason. Indeed, the woman’s father once recalled that, as he was leaving the church on Aegina, he had absentmindedly touched the back of his head and discovered that the tumors were gone.
Overcome with joy, he was so astonished that he forgot to return to the relics of the saint to give thanks—and instead hurried home to tell his family about the miracle.
