THE
HAWAIIAN IVERON ICON WILL ONCE
AGAIN VISIT OUR PARISH ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2011.
The icon will enter
the church at 5:30PM and a molieben will be served shortly after. Plan
to arrive early as our church is small and will fill up quickly. Over
200 faithful were in attendance last year and it anticipated that more will
be in attendance this year so plan accordingly!
This icon of the
Theotokos (Blessed Mother Mary) holding the infant Jesus, which emits myrrh,
has an extraordinary history.
Myrrh is a fragrant gum
resin that comes from certain trees in the Mideast. There seems to be a
tradition of icons that begin to miraculously exude this substance, often in
the form of teardrops that possess the fragrance of roses. This icon which
will visit St. Nicholas Parish in Olyphant on October 9th is an
exact replica of a famous myrrh-streaming icon in Montreal of the Theotokos
(Mother of God) of lveron. It is a paper print mounted on wood,
manufactured in Russia and purchased in Toronto by a priest who gave it to a
Russian Orthodox believer in Honolulu in 2007.
In October of that year,
the owner of the icon, Nectarios, noticed the sweet smell of roses in his
study. An investigation caused him to discover this icon was exuding small
drops of myrrh, coming from the Virgin's eyes and dripping down the panel.
He took the icon to his
parish church in Honolulu where it continued to emit this sweet-smelling
substance. This icon has become quite famous in Hawaii, and a large number
of visitors from all Christian faiths have come to visit the icon, "feeling
the grace of God" in its presence. Some days the icon is dry and on others
it is completely saturated in myrrh; yet, it continuously gives off the
scent of roses.
In June of 2008, the
Holy Myrrh-Streaming Hawaiian Iveron lcon was "officially recognized by
Archbishop Kyrill of the Russian Orthodox Church as miraculous and genuine
and given the blessing to travel to churches of Holy Orthodoxy."
Over 200 faithful were in attendance at
the services in October 2010 and were anointed with the Holy Myrrh that streams from this
icon.
This site was last updated
10/04/11