Your Reverence, Father Superior, Hieromonk Alexy!
Revered Fathers!
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
In these radiant days of the Holy Days, when Heaven and earth, angels and humanity rejoice in celebrating the coming of Christ the Life-Giver into the world, we are privileged to participate in a special spiritual celebration. Today, an exact replica, “measure-for-measure,” of the wonderworking icon of the Queen of Heaven, “The Healer,” is being presented to the church dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos. Welcoming the wonderworking image of the Mother of God, each of us may exclaim in the words of the righteous Elizabeth from the Gospel: “And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43).
In May of last year, by the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, this great holy object, glorified by numerous manifestations of God’s power, visited the city of Almaty. For the first time, the wonderworking icon left the Alekseevsky Stavropegial Monastery in Moscow to journey to Kazakhstan, bringing joy to the faithful with the abundant mercy of the Most Holy Theotokos. Through veneration of the holy icon, the faithful received deliverance from ailments, consolation in sorrows, and relief from worldly tribulations. Over 30,000 residents of the southern capital venerated the wonderworking image during its brief stay.
In response to the numerous requests of the faithful, it was decided to create an exact replica of the wonderworking image of the Queen of Heaven so that this new holy object could bless our city with its presence and bring comfort to the Orthodox people. A skilled and experienced iconographer meticulously recreated the ancient depiction of “The Healer.” This measure-for-measure replica was consecrated during a solemn service before the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, in the presence of a host of clergy and a great multitude of parishioners and pilgrims.
From this day forward, the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “The Healer” will reside here, in the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos. Every resident of our city, as well as visitors to the southern capital, will have the opportunity to venerate this holy object, seek from the All-Blessed Sovereign Lady healing of soul and body, and pray for the recovery of their loved ones.
The Holy Church, even in the dawn of the Christian era, named the Mother of God “The Healer.”
In the earliest Akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos (6th century), we glorify her with the words: “Rejoice, healing of my body; rejoice, salvation of my soul.” Every day, in our morning prayers, we turn to the Mother of Christ, the true Healer of souls and bodies: “Having given birth to the Physician, heal the long-standing sufferings of my soul.”
The icon presented today as a gift to the church depicts the miracle of healing performed by the Most Holy Theotokos for a gravely ill man. Ancient tradition tells the story of how the Queen of Heaven appeared at the bedside of a suffering clergyman and, in response to his fervent prayers, granted him complete healing. This man, who was well known in his city, immediately rose from his sickbed, went to the church, and began singing prayers, glorifying the Most Holy Theotokos, to the amazement of all the townspeople.
Reading these words, one might wonder: why was this man deemed worthy of such a miracle? It was not an angel or a saint who brought him the long-awaited healing, but the Most Pure Virgin herself, who is more honorable than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim. The merciful visitation of the Theotokos came to this suffering clergyman, as tradition tells us, because he had a pious custom: every time the chimes struck the hour, he would glorify the Most Holy Theotokos, proclaiming the archangelic salutation, “Rejoice, O Full of Grace!” and adding his own prayers, “doing this day and night.”
Love for the Queen of Heaven, remembrance of her blessings to humanity, and faith in her maternal intercession made this miraculous event possible. This ancient story, preserved in the memory of the Church and depicted on the icon, is a timeless call to us to honor and glorify the Most Holy Virgin, who served the mystery of the Incarnation and became the Mother of our Savior.
From the time of the Gospel to this day, the care of the Theotokos for the faithful has never ceased. During her earthly life, the Mother of the Savior experienced pain and suffering, poverty, and human cruelty. Even now, dwelling in heavenly glory, she sees every tear, hears every lamentation and prayer directed to her.
The Lord revealed to us in the Gospel the truth that healing of bodily ailments must necessarily be preceded and accompanied by deliverance from the ailments of sin—that is, repentance. “Behold, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (John 5:14), the Savior warns the paralytic He healed.
An essential condition for deliverance from illness is firm faith in God. Christ declares this when addressing the woman with the issue of blood: “Your faith has made you well” (Luke 8:48) and the father of the demon-possessed boy: “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).
Thus, before the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God, called “The Healer,” we will ask the Queen of Heaven not only for the return of physical health and deliverance from ailments and sorrows but, above all, for the gift of faith and spiritual health. We will ask her to remove from our lives cruelty and coldness, hardness of heart and indifference, unmerciful and neglectful attitudes toward others.
We will pray to the all-powerful Mother of God, our kind Mother, to cleanse us from passions, bad habits, and tendencies that poison our lives, separate us from our neighbors, alienate us from Christ, deprive us of God’s grace, and make us spiritually ill.
The improvement of the world around us, the return of joy and well-being to life—all of this begins with the correction of the soul, with cleansing from sin, with returning to God.
May the presence of the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, “The Healer,” in the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos always strengthen the weak, heal the sick, console the sorrowful, and inspire all of us to perform good deeds.
O Christ our God, born in Bethlehem, save us through the prayers of the Theotokos!
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