The Book of Healings

Very recently in Merkushino a book was started to record the testimonies of instances of God’s help to suffering people through the prayers of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye. Since the time the monastery metochion was established here, a multitude of healings has taken place before our very eyes. Unfortunately, only the most amazing ones remain in our memory, such as the case of a boy whose hearing, which had been lost as the result of an operation, was returned to him. As he came out of the sepulcher of Saint Simeon, he amazed everyone around him by asking, “Grandma, why is it so noisy here?”

At present there are twenty testimonies in the book, and behind every entry, even the shortest, is a living person who according to his faith, or the faith of his loved ones received help from the wondrous God-pleaser, the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye and wonderworker of all Siberia.

Holy righteous Simeon, pray to God for us!

A few entries from the book:
In April of 2001 the servant of God Dimitrii, age 27, a believer and an inhabitant of the city of Syktyvkar, arrived in Ekaterinburg on a business trip. While in Ekaterinburg he stayed at the home of his relatives. Several days before the trip, Dimitrii had suffered from a serious case of the flu, after which he remained ill, suffering from a herpetic infection of the eyes as a complication of his illness. His eyelids were red and swollen, and at the corners of his eyes, large scabs covered the moist, ulcerated surface of his skin. Treatment with ointments failed to bring relief. Many people know from experience how long the skin can take to recover from affliction with the herpes virus. A relative of Dimitrii suggested that he anoint his afflicted eyes overnight with oil from the lampada at the grave of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, which she had brought back from a pilgrimage to Merkushino. The next morning Dimitrii and his relatives were amazed at the result of his miraculous healing: not a trace remained of the scabs, ulcerated sores and chapped skin; in their place was healthy skin. The redness and swelling of his eyelids likewise disappeared and his general physical weakness lessened significantly. That same evening Dimitrii returned home a healthy man, bringing with him a bottle of holy oil given to him by his relatives, and, most importantly, faith in the grace-filled healing intercession of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye.

August, 2001.
Olga Mikhailovna, a monastery worker from the village of Merkushino
The child of some friends of Olga Mikhailovna suffered from an allergy which presented as an itchy skin rash. No medication proved effective against it. Olga Mikhailovna suggested that they anoint the affected areas with oil from the lampada over the grave of Saint Simeon. She visited them several days later and learned that the child was completely healed, and that the rash no longer appeared. After this the parents began to believe in the miraculous help of Saint Simeon and they asked where and how to go about having their children baptized.

Priest Mikhail Kudrin
I was living with my family in the village of Merkushino in May of 1999. My youngest daughter Ekaterina (age 3) was so cross-eyed that she could not see straight. After a moleben to Saint Simeon her eyes were anointed with oil from the lampada over his grave, and her parents subsequently did the same thing several times, until they discovered that her eyes were no longer crossed, but could see straight.

The St. Simeon church built over the grave of the righteous man

Of course the Lord grants healings not only to those who make pilgrimages to Merkushino and venerate the relics of the Saint, but to all who pray with faith. Knowing how quick to help Saint Simeon is, and how powerful his prayers are, how great are his sympathy for the suffering and his intercession, the sisters of the convent regularly (2 to 3 times per year) tell about it at the church fairs and expositions that take place in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The sisters bring soil from the grave of the Saint, oil from the lampada that burns constantly above his grave, and, of course, healing water from the Saint Simeon spring. Early on, at the first of these fairs, almost no one knew about the righteous Simeon. Now, however, many people await the sisters’ arrival, and come specially “for the water” and tell about the help they received from God through the prayers of the righteous one.

For example, one woman who works at a children’s burns hospital came and told of her grief: they were trying to save the life of a small boy, but with the kind of burns he had, survival is nearly impossible. The sisters advised her to ask Simeon of Verkhoturye for help, to sprinkle the boy with water [from the spring] and to read a prayer to the Saint. A few days later this same woman returned, joyous and filled with emotion, and asked, “Could you please give me some more of this water; I’m going to sprinkle them all. My boy got better.”

The following letter came to the monastery
from Elena Aleksandrovna D-va from Saint Petersburg:

Hello! I would like to tell you about the healing of our young parishioner, the 10-year old Pavel Petrov.
In August his family was vacationing at their summer home outside the city (in the village of Sosnovo, over 100 km from Saint Petersburg). The parents were out of the house — they weren’t gone for long — and the children, ages 10 to 12, were playing. The children had gotten hold of some gun powder. Their playing ended with an explosion. Pavel suffered serious burns on his face and arms. His face was completely burned. His eyebrows and eyelashes burned off, there was a serious burn on his forehead, the hair above the forehead was burned off. This happened on Friday, August 3 in the evening. His mother, the handmaid of God Natalia, a very deeply believing person, washed his face and eyes with holy water blessed at Theophany, and with water from the spring of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. His face was entirely black from the powder and the wound. In the regional trauma clinic he was anesthetized and would have been sent to the hospital, but the mother refused, and they returned to Sosnovo. During the night the boy shouted and cried from the severe pain, and so they had to go into the city. The boy was examined at the Main Ophthalmological Hospital on Liteiny prospect, where they have the most modern medical equipment. The diagnosis: second-degree burns of the retinas of both eyes. That in addition to second-degree burns of the upper part of the face, edema and festering.

The grave of holy righteous Simeon

On August 4, the day of the holy Equal to the Apostles Mary Magdalene, I was in church. Sergei, Pavel’s father came up to me in a downcast state. He told me what had happened and asked me to pray for his son. That evening I gave the suffering father the holy things I had brought from Merkushino: a small bottle of holy water from the grave of Saint Simeon, a vial of holy oil, an akathist, life and icon of the Saint and an audio cassette with a recording of the akathist. I told him that in the life of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye it says that many healings of the eyes occur through his prayers.
Saturday and Sunday were very difficult days for Pasha — neither gels nor ointments brought him any help. His whole face was a single, festering edema. It was only on the third day that his mother washed Pasha’s face and eyes with the holy water from Simeon of Verkhoturye. He didn’t give in easily; it was very painful, but his mother very carefully, and with prayer, washed his entire face. She anointed the places where his skin had been with oil from Saint Simeon of Verkhoturye. It was especially difficult to wash his eyes, as they were closed tight from swelling and pus.
All this took place at the dacha, that is, while his mother was busy with housework, the garden and the kitchen. Besides that, there was always someone visiting them. She washed Pasha’s eyes and face and left him in the bedroom, while she went to take care of other matters. Ten minutes later, Pasha came out onto the porch with his eyes open and shouted, “I CAN SEE!” His father came straightaway from work, and much joy ensued.
About five days later they returned to the city and took Pasha to be examined by an experienced ophthalmologist: the first eye — completely whole! 100%. The second eye — completely whole! 100%. That is, his vision was restored and no burns were found on the retinas.
And the parents glorified God and the holy righteous Simeon, the wonderworker of Verkhoturye. And instead of going to Finland, where their priest had blessed them to go for a week’s vacation, the whole family went to Solovki. And on August 19, the monastery’s feast day, they were at the patriarchal service on the archipelago of Solovki.
With deepest respect.
Holy righteous Simeon, pray to God for us!

Of course, the healing action of God’s grace strengthens many, many people in their faith. Thus Saint Simeon, while healing the body, grants healing also to our souls, in the words of the akathist: Rejoice, for thou healest the passions of the soul! Rejoice, for thou healest the ailments of the body! Rejoice healer of infirmities of all who call upon thee in faith!