Two Pilgrimages: The Week of July 24, 2006
July 27, 2006 - Pilgrimage to Holy Transfiguration Monastery, A 'Barometer of the Church'
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Dear Parish Faithful, Our parish pilgrimage to the Monastery of the Transfiguration in PA proved to be rather short but still spiritually-fruitful for all who made the trip. Our eight-member group returned yesterday evening safe and sound as well as being much-inspired by our small taste of the monastic life in a community setting. The monastery is about a forty-five minute drive north of Pittsburg, tucked away in a very attractive rural setting that draws the surrounding natural environment of great beauty into the grace-filled atmosphere of the community's life. We punctuated the less than six-hour trip with an outdoor lunch and fellowship at a rest area off of the highway. Upon arriving at the monastery on Tuesday afternoon, we were greeted by Mother Barbara and given a kind of orientation tour of some of the buildings and grounds. Since Great Vespers was being served in commemoration of St. Jacob of Alaska, I was asked to serve so as to make the service as full as possible. Attached to Great Vespers was Small Compline and a Canon in Preparation for Communion. We then shared a meal together in the refectory and Sister Vicki was given a blessing to eat with us. We finished the evening by gathering together in the St. Bridget guest house for a Question & Answer session.
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It has probably been around ten years or so by now that we have made an annual summer pilgrimage trip alternating between the Monastery of the Dormition in MI (where Mother Gabriela is the abbess), and the Monastery of the Transfiguration in PA. I would highly recommend a retreat to one of these two or any other local monastery. If you have never spent time in an Orthodox monastery, then you are literally missing the experience of one of the most enduring and essential sides of the Church's life. An Orthodox bishop once called monasticism the "barometer of the Church," meaning that the condition of a local Church's monasticism - strong or weak - will indicate the over-all condition of the local Church itself. These monastic communities nurture the local Church through their prayer and example, as well as providing spiritual oases for the spiritually thirsty in the "desert" of our pop-culture world. Our children (and adults?) may want to go to Disneyland, but a trip to a monastery will leave a more lasting impression on their young souls.
Fr. Steven
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July 28, 2006: Pilgrimage to Louisville to venerate, and be anointed with myrrh from, the Miraculous Weeping Icon of St Anna (two reflections)
Dear Parish Faithful,
I have received three very well-written and moving accounts from our parishoners who made the pilgrimage to Louisville on Monday evening in order to venerate the myrrh-streaming icon of St. Anna. I am going to forward a couple of them this morning. I very much regret not being able to go myself, but I was preparing for our trip to the monastery on Tuesday. ~ Fr Steven
All in all, at least ten made the drive from our parish, and there were dozens of Orthodox pilgrims from Lexington, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana and the surrounding regions, as well as many non-Orthodox, no doubt curious about the miraculous icon.
We arrived over an hour before the Akathist to Sts Joachim and Anna was to begin, and so had time to tour the beautiful main church at St Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church. People began arriving by 5:30pm, and a great sense of expectancy soon filled the huge space. By 6 o'clock the church was packed, as the choir began to sing in the narthex. Fr. Alexander Atty, pastor of St Michael's for the past 25 years, accompanied by a pan-Orthodox representation of regional clergy, came out from the Royal Doors and processed to the back of the church to formally greet Fr. Athanasy (pastor of the icon's home parish - see below) and his fellow clergy from the Russian Church Abroad (ROCOR). They then brought the holy icon in solemn procession to be placed at the front of the church, as we all sang the troparion to Sts Joachim and Anna (service books having been provided for the faithful).
The Akathist was chanted in turn by the numerous clergy and the choir, with the faithful joining for the refrains. Fr. Alexander (who has a special devotion for St Anna, having visited the Skete of St Anna on Mt Athos on his pilgrimages there) then offered a few words before introducing Fr. Athanasy, who spoke simply and warmly of his life and faith and his connection to St Anna, by whose intercessions he was healed as a child. In telling the history of the miraculous icon (see below), Fr. Athanasy rebuked the notion that the tears were somehow a sign of God's anger or of impending judgment, but instead of God's love, and especially of compassion.
Then, the hundreds of faithful came forward to venerate the icon and be anointed with the myrrh in a procession that must have lasted well over an hour. For the seriously ill and the elderly who were ushered forward first, the protective glass covering was removed from St. Anna's icon, and we in the second pew could clearly see the streams of myrrh, obviously quite moist. Some of the faithful were blessed to have handkerchiefs or cotton balls anointed to take home, or pressed cloths to the glass covering the icon.
It was a holy and moving night, and brought vividly to life a sense of the Gospel passages telling of the multitudes pressing forward to be near Christ, for "power came forth from Him and healed them all."
- Ralph Sidway
Last Monday evening I had the privilege of attending St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church in Louisville Kentucky, to participate in an Akathist to the righteous Saints Joachim and Anna, and to venerate the miraculous myrrh-streaming Icon of St. Anna, the Mother of the Holy Virgin Mary.
Several of us from Christ the Savior gathered with hundreds of parishioners from St. Michael and many visitors from various parts of the country. We venerated and prayed before the Icon and were anointed with oil.
As someone who is a recent convert to Orthodoxy, I was impressed by the dignity, solemnity and sincerity amongst those present. There was no commericalism or attempts at financial gain. A modest request for a voluntary offering to help offset the traveling expenses of the visiting clergy was humbly made, but the atmosphere was that of reverent worship and praise to a wonderful God who has revealed His love for mankind in yet another mysterious way.
Fr. Athanasy, of the Russian Orthodox Church of Our Lady the Joy of All Who Sorrow in Philadelphia, where the Icon of St. Anna is kept, was greeted by Fr. Alexander Atty, the Rector of St. Michael's and other visiting clergy. Fr. Athanasy carried the Icon into the Church and the gathered clergy censed "her." The beautiful Akathist to St. Joachim and St. Anna was then chanted.
After the period of worship, Fr. Alexander invited Fr. Athanasy to say a few words about his experiences with this miraculous Icon.
Fr. Athanasy, humbly spoke about his long- term devotion to St. Anna that had developed when as a young child, while a Roman Catholic, he experienced healing after being anointed with blessed oil from the Orthodox Church of St. Anna, given to his mother by a neighbor.
He didn't attempt to offer any interpretation or explanation for the miracles that have been attributed to this Icon since it began streaming myrrh a few years ago (see below). He merely stated that he saw it as another example of God showing His love to humanity. He referred to St. Anna as the Grandmother of God and he made a humorous observation that it has often been his experience that often when we want something as a child it is often easier to get it from the grandmother!!!
In our so-called "scientific" age, it is easy to be skeptical of these kinds of things and to suspect that exploitation of the innocent or naïve is involved. But what I saw and heard affirms to me that God is once again mysteriously revealing Himself through the "window" of a beautiful Icon being escorted by a humble, obedient parish priest. It was a truly beautiful event.
- Marty Davis
Brief History of the Icon of St Anna (from the Church of Our Lady, Joy of All Who Sorrow Parish Website. See also links at bottom):
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On May 9, 2004 (Mother's Day in the U.S.), Father Athanasy's icon of St. Anna, the Mother of the Holy Virgin Mary, held at the Church of Our Lady began to stream myrrh. On that Sunday a parishioner told Fr. Athanasy that the icon seemed to be "perspiring." Father noticed visible liquid streams and droplets. Accumulations of the liquid were on the cuff on St. Anna's left hand and on the left side of her veil on the shoulder. There were droplets elsewhere on the icon as well. This fragrant, slightly oily liquid is commonly called "myrrh." Starting around November that year the oil began to stream from St. Anna's eyes as though she were crying. Fr. Athanasy commissioned the icon in 1998 and it was painted by the Mount of Olives Convent in Jerusalem where he had served in 1980-1981; it was blessed at Our Lord's tomb in the Church of the Resurrection in that city and brought here. Father has a special devotion to the saint, whose intercession saved his right arm from amputation after a bad fall when he was a child. The phenomenon of the oil drops on the icon of St. Anna has been approved for veneration by His Eminence, Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, who personally inspected the icon and declared it authentic. Many healings and miracles have been attributed to the Icon. In the picture, framing the Icon, it can be seen that many trinkets and ornaments have been placed on or around it by the faithful who have been healed of cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church in Linthicum Heights, MD states on their website, that their own Fr. Joachim suffered terrible pain from two ruptured disks in his spine. Even after several different medical interventions, the pain intensified to the point where Fr. Joachim became totally incapacitated. However, he traveled to venerate the icon. After praying before the icon and being anointed with its myrrh, Fr. Joachim was able to walk again and even served Divine Liturgy the very next day.
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