Miracles of Pantanassi (part 1)

The Icon of Pantanassi

The miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Pantanassi is a portable 17th-century icon. It is located on the left shrine of the northeastern column of the Catholicon of the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi.

One day a young man, who was from Cyprus, entered the temple and went to worship the icon. Elder Joseph of Vatopedi saw the face of the Virgin Mary suddenly shine, and an invisible force threw the young man to the ground. As soon as he came to his senses, he confessed with tears to the fathers that he had been living in unbelief, despising the commandments of God and indulging in witchcraft. Thus, the miraculous intervention of the Virgin Mary convinced the young man to change his life and become a faithful person.

This icon also has the special grace from God to cure the terrible disease of cancer. There are many known cases of cancer patients who have been cured in our days after reading the Paraclete Canon of Our Lady of Pantanassi.

Many miracles have also been performed in recent years in Russia after two copies of the icon of the Pantanal were transferred there - at the request of the Moscow Patriarchate - one to the Church of All Saints in Krasnoye Selo, Moscow, and the second to the Transfiguration of the Savior Monastery in Novospassky. Particularly noteworthy are the healings of children with cancer who are hospitalized at the Moscow Children's Oncology Center.

This icon in the Monastery is celebrated on October 15 (28), while in the Metochion of Saint Nicholas in Porto Lagos on September 11 (24). In Greece and Cyprus, it is celebrated by some on September 24, while by most others on October 28. In Russia, it is officially celebrated on August 18 (31), that is, on the three days of the Virgin Mary.

Miracles of Panagia Pantanassi at the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi

"Rays of light"

September 30, 1990

“…After I bowed during the chanting of the Vespers apostolic hymns, I sat on the pew opposite the icon of Pantanassi. I then saw rays of light coming out of the icon. I then asked the hieromonk who was next to me if he also saw the rays and the light coming out of the icon. He replied that he did not. Immediately after that, the rays and the glow from the icon stopped. “These rays and the light coming out of the icon of Pantanassi delighted my heart, where now I have been sixty years on Mount Athos, that the Lady Theotokos has made me worthy to see such a miracle.”

(as told to a younger hieromonk of the Monastery)

the blessed hieromonk Eudokimos, the Spiritual

from the Vatopedi Skete of Saint Demetrius)

"The entire tumor was not removed during the surgery"

December 1990

Strovolos, Cyprus

“…One night while I was sleeping I snored loudly, stretched and with my eyes open I fell into a coma. My family thought I had died. After the first aid they gave me, I showed signs of life. At the hospital they did many tests on me for several days and found that I had a brain tumor and needed to have surgery as soon as possible. After I confessed and they anointed me with the Holy Oil, I went to the operating room with my hope in Panagia Pantanassa, whose icon I always had with me.

During the operation, the entire tumor was not removed; some remnants remained. So I had several difficulties - I was dizzy, I could not walk or speak well, noises bothered me -; because of the Christmas holidays, they allowed me to leave the hospital. One day while I was lying down, and above the bed was the icon of Panagia Pantanassi, I felt a beautiful and inexplicable fragrance that lasted about ten minutes and became more intense at intervals. At first, the others in the house did not feel anything; but then they also felt the fragrance and, moved, they understood the tangible visit of the Virgin Mary. In a few days, the same phenomenon was repeated with the presence of the fragrance. I was convinced that the Virgin Mary would heal me.

After I had several more tests, the doctor came out with the results of the CT scan and asked in surprise: “Did you have any treatment outside the hospital?” “No,” I told him. “But I can’t find anything! No comparison with the old CT scans,” and he called another doctor to look at them.

Then I told them that I expected that they would find nothing; and I told them what had happened. The doctor said: "I also believe in the miracles of the Virgin Mary, because she cured my 4-year-old daughter who was suffering from leukemia and now she is fine."

Thank you to our Virgin Mary for her miracle

Elder Androulla Papachristodoulou

"The skin cancer has regressed"

Drama

“I visited your Monastery in the summer of 1994… During the tour I heard about the icon of the Virgin Mary that has healed many cancer patients. Because my mother had such a problem with the skin of her face, I knelt down and begged the Virgin Mary to heal her and ordered to give her my golden cross… So, leaving the Monastery, I took some oil, which I gave to my mother and after applying it, the skin cancer subsided… When we went back to the doctor at the Drama hospital for the usual cauterization, he told us that it was not necessary, because the problem did not exist. Since then, my mother has been completely well.”

Paul (adjutant)

"He was scheduled to have surgery in two days"

“My mother was in the “Makarios Hospital” in Nicosia. She was suffering from cancer in the nasopharynx, with a lot of bleeding from the nose and throat. This was confirmed by analyzes and biopsies. She was going to have surgery in two days… I was watching television at home. It was a program from “Logos”. The speaker was the Abbot of Vatopedi, Fr. Ephraim. At one point he mentioned the miracles of Panagia Pantanassi. I immediately made the sign of the cross, prayed for my mother and made a vow. It all happened in February 1995. The next day the doctor treating my mother at “Makarios”, accompanied by trainee doctors, came to examine her. Surprised, he said to the others: “Do you believe in miracles? She has nothing!” Indeed, she had nothing. She recovered completely, she did not have surgery. My mother is Evdokia N. Papaevripidis, 80 years old and lives in Limassol…”

Nikos Papaevripides,

refugee from Morphou

"I suffered from a disease in both my ears"

December 21 1995

Larisa

"I am writing to you about a miracle that Our Lady of Pantanassa performed on me, the unworthy one. I suffered from an illness in both of my ears, which were producing a liquid and smelling awful; I also had a lot of itching. When I came to the grace of Our Lady at your Monastery, in February 1995, I heard from the Abbot of the Monastery about one of the many miracles of Pantanassa that she has performed. At that moment, my faith and hope to get well turned specifically to the miraculous oil of Our Lady of Pantanassa and I promised that when I got well, as a vow, I would leave on her icon the cross that I had from my baptism. As soon as I returned to Larissa, I began to cross my ears on the outside with oil. After a short period of three months, they no longer smelled and I no longer felt itchy... Today, as I write to you, I am fine and I praise God and our Virgin Mary."

Panagiotis Economou

The cyst has disappeared.

September 5, 1996

Paphos, Cyprus

“…Two days ago I called your Monastery to ask you to make a request for me to Our Lady of Pantanassa (I glorify her name), because I had a large cyst in my uterus and the doctor told me that I would need surgery. I was quite scared, because my mother, who passed away last year, had uterine cancer. Today when I went to the doctor, he told me that I am fine and will not need surgery, because the cyst has disappeared. My joy is indescribable. I immediately glorified our Lord…”.

Niki Hannibal

"The cancer had inexplicably disappeared"

7 July 1999

Massachusetts, USA

You will remember that upon leaving, I took an icon of Pantanassi for his parishioners when I visited our Monastery.

One Sunday I visited a woman who was confined to her home due to a stroke. She lived with her two daughters. When I arrived at their home, one daughter greeted me joyfully; the other, Elizabeth, did not speak to me at all, but stood by her mother’s bed with her eyes fixed on the floor and leaning on the bed rail. I thought she was behaving this way because she was upset with me. When I was saying the prayers, for the mother to receive communion, I took out the icon of Pantanassi to place on the bed next to their mother. Then Elizabeth, as if she had recovered, looked him straight in the face, took the icon from his hand and offered it to her mother to worship, and recited the prayers of preparation with us. But she did not say another word. After Communion, he began to look at the floor again and lean on the bed rail.

When I got home, I called Elizabeth’s brother to ask about her behavior. He told me that when I left their house, Elizabeth suddenly collapsed on the floor and was taken to the hospital. The episode at home was the result of a seizure the girl had, from a large brain tumor that had grown and was due to a recurrence of breast cancer, which she had been in complete remission for several years. Elizabeth had nothing with her, but she could not speak or move because of the seizure, except for the short time when she and her mother worshipped the icon and prayed! After a CT scan, the doctors said that Elizabeth would probably only live a few weeks. However, further tests revealed that the cancer had inexplicably disappeared. The doctors can only attribute this event to a miracle…

priest Father Ephraim

source: Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, Miracles of Panagia Paramythia and Panagia Pantanassi, Mount Athos