The Most Holy Theotokos intercedes for us: Various stories from Mount Athos

The Most Holy Theotokos intercedes for us: Various stories from Mount Athos

On August 15 (n.c. / August 28 o.c.)
the Church commemorates the Dormition of the Theotokos. The Holy Mountain, the realm of the Mother of God, celebrates this feast with special joy.

As we sing in the Troparia of the feast, the Mother of God does not forsake our world. She still hears the prayers of those who appeal to Her in faith. Here are examples of the Holy Virgin's intercession for different people, as narrated by the ascetics of Mount Athos.

~Repentant robbers

A man named John was the leader of a band of a 100 robbers. But he had a reverence for the Mother of God. Each morning and evening, he read an Akathist to Her.

In His wish to save the robber for his veneration of the Theotokos, the all-righteous God sent him a sainted Elder (St. Kosmas Aitolos).

He walked straight into their hands as the robbers waited in an ambush. The robbers captured him, and the ascetic said to them.
“Take me to your leader. I have something to say to all of you for your benefit.”

The robbers brought the holy Elder before their leader John, and the Saint asked:
“Gather all your men. I have something to say to all of you.”
John called his men.

“Are they all here?” - asked the Elder.

“There is one more - the cook, but he is useless,” said John.

“Have him come, too.” The Elder said.
The cook came. For some reason, he could not look the Elder in the eye.

Then the Elder said: “In the Name of our Lord and God Jesus Christ Who died on the Cross, I command you to tell me who you are, who sent you and why.”

The cook replied: “I am a liar and will always remain one. But you invoked the name of Christ, and so I cannot tell you a lie now. I am a demon.

My father, the Devil, sent me here to serve these robbers, put food on their tables and cook for their gang leader. He told me to wait until he stops reading the Akathist, and push him immediately into hell. I have been here for 14 years, but he has not skipped the Akathist once.”

Then the Elder said: “I now command you in the name of the Holy Trinity to vanish so you will no longer be a temptation to Christians.”

No sooner had he said that than the demon disappeared in smoke. The Elder brought the robbers to their senses. Some became monks, others married. All pleased the Lord with their good works and were saved.

(Saint Kosmas Aitolos, Equal-to-the-Apostles)

~A miracle of forgiveness
A certain woman had been hiding her grave sin as she was too ashamed to confess it. Tearfully, she prayed before the icon of the Mother of God pleading with Her for protection. Finally, she died without confessing her sin.

While they were serving a funeral at church, she rose from the dead in front of all her family and kin, and said, ‘Great is your power, O Lady immaculate!’ Then she called a priest and confessed the sin she had been hiding in her lifetime.

Then she said to all the mourners: ‘I died, a wretched woman, without confessing my sin. But every day I prayed in deep contrition to the Mother of God that I be spared from the punishment. When my hapless soul separated from my body, the evil spirits rebuked me for my secret sin and considered me their prey.

But the Queen of Angels came and dispersed the spirits of evil with Her light. She said to them,’ ‘The Lord did not give you power over this soul.’ Then she brought me before God and asked Him to have mercy on me. And the Lord said: ‘Let this soul reunite with her body and properly confess her sin.’

Every day, she repented and prayed in tears to the Mother of God, and the Lord had mercy on her.

Have we been doing the same? I am afraid not. But have no despair; repent and confess without delay; open up to your spiritual father, ask him for his prayers and do what he instructs you to do!


~A new lease of life
Father Ioannicios came from the same area as monk (St.) Porphyrios of Kafsokalivia and was the Elder of his cell. He once sent Fr. Porphyrios to gather some snails, a festive food consumed by ascetics during fasts. These snails live mostly on rocks and steep slopes of mountain gorges.

To please the Elder, the young Fr. Porphyrios climbed a very hard-to-reach rocky slope to collect a bag full of snails. On his way back to the skete, he crossed the riverbed from which was rocky. As he was climbing the steep bank, the rocks under his feet began to crumble, dragging him into an abyss. Desperate, he cried out: ‘O Holy Virgin! I do not understand what happened,’ remembers the elder. ‘Some force lifted me upwards and brought me to the opposite side of the crevice. I came to my senses and found myself standing on a tall rock, with a trail descending to the skete.’
(St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia)

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