The True Christ

MIRACLES IN ORTHODOXY

“One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, 

now I see” (John (9:25)

     The blind man in the Gospel was asked what happenned and he gave the testimony, saying: “One thing I know . . .” Orthodoxy is well known by many of its adherents for its many supernatural occurrences known as miracles, such as the blind man. Many of these miracles are not well known for they are considered by many Orthodox  faithful not as supernatural but as natural occurences. However this knowledge is of benefit to all for it strengthens and increases faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His holy Church.

     Herein is the story of such a modern miracle concerning a man with destroyed sight and the Greek Orthodox Priest of St. Paraskevi Church in Greenlawn, LI, NY. This is the narration of the miracle, which occurred in November 2013, and the narrator is Father Dimitrios Moraitios the Orthodox Priest.

   “He (the blind man) was wearing dark glasses and carried a walking stick. His wife was also by his side. He introduced himself and wanted to know if I was the Priest at the Greek Orthodox Church in Greenlawn, and I said I was.  He wanted to come by earlier that week to seek permission to walk his new guide dog in our parking lot. The high school next door had told him that he could no longer walk his dog on their property because he was an insurance liability. So of course I said that it wouldn’t be a problem.  I gave him my card and told him that when he comes to walk his dog to please be sure to come inside so that I could read a prayer over him and anoint him with holy water from the Shrine of St. Paraskevi. He said he would love to. 

     He e-mailed me that night and asked if I would be willing to hear his confession as well. I told him that I would. When he came to me and began telling me about his tragic and sad life, I cried. For those two hours I listened to him so intensely, I felt that I was with him, living through it with him. It seems that every evil conceivable that could have come upon this man came upon him from his childhood, to his parents, to his first wife.  

     After he finished his confession I wanted to read some prayer over him, and he insisted on kneeling.  As I put my hand on his head some vibration came through my head/ into my right hand and on top of his head, causing him to shutter.  I’ve heard hundreds and hundreds of confessions, and this has never happened to me.  We cried together knowing that we were both touched by something supernatural/ We got up and went down to the shrine and I read the prayer of healing over him. He began to wash his face with the holy water as if he was in a sink basin. As he got up he began to look to his left and said there is a woman here as looked at the icon of St. Paraskevi.  He then turned to my face and he looked at me in an odd way and he said: “You have light brown eyes. I have not seen a color In seven years. I can see your light brown eyes.”  

     He then proceeded to tell everything he was able to see around the grotto shrine and I started crying, he also started crying, even his wife was crying.  This man had absolutely zero vision in his right eye and could barely see shadows with his lefteye  as a result of being exposed to chemicals as a rescue diver for the fire department.  

     That afternoon he e-mailed me again saying that he was in his backyard, not only able to see the different colors of the cars that were passing, but able to make out the make of each car as well. The next morning he came back to the church and placed his glasses upon the relics of St. Paraskevi. 

     He walked down the stairs to the shrine, this time without a walking stick or his guide dog.  He didn’t even have to use the handrail, he simply walked down. He has been at church every morning even staying for every Liturgy.  I told him, that he has helped to open my spiritual eyes to a vision that I have not see in many years. And perhaps in my heart of hearts I think that I have been more healed than he has.  He’s trying to understand why this miracle happened ro him, and what should he do now. Every day we talk and every day God reveals His will to us.  This happened on November 18, and today his eyesight is better than mine. Glory be to God!”