The Pictures of Salvation
Part Four
Dear Children of God! how are you? Happy holiday of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s Birthday! We hope the holiday brings you joy and happiness! How have you planned to celebrate the feasts of our Lord’s birthday? May we remind you it shall be by keeping liturgy and order of the Holy Church.
It is also a must to attend the Church in commemorating the day in Glory and Honor of the Lord by praising, veneration, prayer and in celebration of God’s work. Through the Lord’s suffering and crusixifcation. He came down and wore mankind’s flesh and blood by being born from Holy Mother Saint Virgin Mary, for the salvation of human race.
Dear Children of God! if you remember we have seen about the meaning of pictures, holy icons, the color we use to paint them and their mystery. On this section, we will see about the miracles done by Pictures of salvation.
Now we will tell you one story about the miracles that our Lady Virgin Mary’s picture. There was a certain widow whose name was Martha, and who turned her House into a habitation for pilgrims; and she loved our Lady Mary exceedingly, and ministered unto her with all her power. One day there lodged with her a certain righteous monk whose name was Theodore, and she received him with joy. And on the following day when she was bidding him farewell, she said unto him, “Whither goes thou, O father?” He said to her, “I go to worship in the Sanctuary in Jerusalem.” She said to him, “Take a little money from me to buy me a picture of our Lady Mary, and bring it to me when thou returns to me”; and he said to her, “I will buy [a picture] with my own money, and bring it to you.”
When he had arrived in Jerusalem he knelt and prayed in the holy places, and he set out on his return journey without having bought the picture. Immediately he heard a voice, which said unto him, “Why has you forgotten to buy the picture?” being troubled by the voice he turned back into the marketplace, and found a picture of our Lady Mary, which had sweet features and a beautiful form. Having bought it he wrapped it up in cotton and in fine linen. as he was traveling along a terrible road in the desert thieves rose up against him, and when he was wishing to take to flight, a voice came forth from that picture which said, “Fear not: complete thy journey”; and he went on his way and none challenged him. Another time a savage lion rose up against him and wanted to rend him, and straightway an awful voice came forth from that picture and drove away the lion. When Theodore saw all these signs and wonders, he wanted to carry that picture and drove away the lion. When Theodore saw all these signs and wonders, he wanted to carry that picture to his own city, and he did not wish to give it to the widow.
As he was traveling by boat on another journey, the wind rose up against him and carried him towards Damascus. Having disembarked he went into the house of that widow with several other pilgrims, and he did not discover himself to her, and she did not know him. On the following day when he wished to go forth secretly and to depart to his city, the gates of the house failed to work and they remained jammed throughout the day; in the evening the monk returned to his abode, and when the widow saw him she wondered. He continued to do this for three days, returning each evening; he saw the gate, but when he wished to go through it, he was unable to go on his way. Then the widow took him and said unto him, “O my father, what ailed thee? Is thine heart troubled that I see thee thus disturbed?” Then he told her everything that had come upon him in the matter of the picture.
Straightway she brought him into her house, and she opened the wrappings of the picture and found that drops of sweat were falling from it; and by reason of her joy she kissed the hands and feet of the monk. Then she took the picture into her prayer-chamber, and laid it upon a stand in a recess with great honors. She made for it a brass grating, so that no one could touch it, and she hung before it lamps which burned by day and by night, and outside these she hung silken curtains. Beneath the picture she set a marble bowl into which the drops of oil, which sweated out from it, might be collected. That monk dwelt with the widow, and ministered to the picture of our Lady Mary until they both died. And when the archbishop of that city heard the report of the picture, he, and the bishops and the priests and all the people came [to the house], and when they looked at the tablet with the picture they found that it was in the condition of being covered with flesh; and they marveled at this divine work. Having emptied out the oil from the bowl, and divided it among themselves as a blessed thing, the bowl filled up [again] immediately. When they attempted to remove the picture to another spot a great earthquake took place, and many people died; and the picture remain there until this day. (The Ethiopian Synaxarium Meskerem 10)
Let us see another story: This a story about the miracle of Archangel’s Saint Michael’s picture. Once there was a woman named Saint Euphemia. This holy woman was the wife of a man who feared God, and he gave much alms, and kept three festivals each month, that is to say, the festival of the glorious Saint Michael, on the twelfth day of each month, and the festival of our holy Lady the Virgin Mary on the twenty-first day of each month, and the festival commemorating the birth of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ on the twenty-ninth day of each month.
When the day of his death drew nigh, he commanded the saint, his wife, never to fail in giving alms as he was wont to do, and especially to keep these three festivals. And she asked her husband to have painted a picture of the glorious angel Saint Michael, the Archangel, in her house, and to give it to her, and he did this for her; and when he died this saint continued to do as her husband had done. Satan was jealous of her, and he came to her disguised as a widow who was a nun, and he came to her and held converse with her, saying, “I am sorry for thee and pity thee. Now I advise you to marry, and to bring forth a son before thy money come to an end, and thou fall into want at the last.” Then he said to her, “Behold, thy husband hath inherited the kingdom of heaven, and he hath no need of alms.” And she answered and said unto him, “I have promised God that I will never consort with another man; even the doves and the ravens do not take second mates. How then can men who are created in the form and likeness of God do this?” When she would not hearken to his advice, he changed his form, and cried out against her, saying, “I will come to thee another day”; and she took the picture of the glorious Saint Michael, and drove him away therewith.
When the twelfth day of Sane had come, and she was occupied with the celebration of the festival according to her custom, Satan appeared to her in the form of the glorious Saint Michael, and he said to her, “Peace be to you! I am Michael, the Archangel, God has sent me to thee, and He command thee to cease from these alms, and to marry a believing man. Know you that a woman without a man is like a ship without a rudder”; and he began to bring to her proofs out of the Old Testament, and to show her how Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and David, and others like to them married wives and pleased God. The saint answered and said unto him, “If thou art an angel of God, where is the symbol of the Cross on thee? The soldier of a king never goes to another place without the symbol of the king on him.” When Satan heard these words from her, he changed his form, and he began to choke her, and she prayed to the glorious Saint Michael, and he came to her forthwith and delivered her from him. He seized Satan and began to punish him, and Satan entreated him, saying, “God will bear with us until the end of the world. Have mercy upon me and do not torture me”; and he gave her the salutation of peace and went up into heaven.
After she had finished the preparations for the feast in the proper manner, she sent to the bishop and the priests, and they came to her, and she gave them all her money to give to the poor, and the needy, and the destitute. She took the picture of the glorious Saint Michael, and prayed to it, and laid it upon her face and breast, and then she died in peace. (The Ethiopian Synaxarium Sane 12).
Little ones, the two stories we presented to you above, are the miraculous work of God done through our Holy Mother Saint Virgin Mary’s and Archangel Saint Michaels’ holy icons (pictures of salvation). We hope you have understood all the necessary ideas in having faith on holy people and Saints prayer, intercession and mediation for the soul salvation.
Farewell, we have finished our lesson for now and leave with warm greeting and hope of meeting you next time!
May God be with you: Amen!