"Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth as a rose growing by the brook of the field:
And give ye a sweet savour as frankincense, and flourish as a lily, send forth a smell,
and sing a song of praise, bless the Lord in all his works. Magnify His name,
and shew forth His praise with the songs of your lips…"
‒ Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 39:13-15

The visitation to our little parish, Holy Apostles in Beltsville, MD, of the Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, on the night of Monday, September 9, shone forth as a blessed, radiant, festal night. The light from our most pure Mother’s visit combined the radiance of Pascha with that of the Nativity of our Lord.

Fr. Nectarios Yangson was coming to us from a long distance, so our scheduled prayer service (moleben) and akathist were complete before his arrival. After the service ended, all of us remained, about 100 people, grouped together in front of the church awaiting the Mother of God’s arrival. Her overwhelming grace dispelled all possible anxiety resulting from such a delay. Through all the time of prayer and waiting, a sense of elevation of spirit persisted, putting us all above time. As we waited for her coming, there was a sense as of waiting for Pascha.

For all of the sense of spiritual elevation, her icon’s arrival in the arms of Fr. Nectarios and conveyed to the arms of Fr. Christopher Johnson was equal to the warmest possible family embrace. We held her in a way that she held us. We live with the knowledge of being God’s family through our membership in Christ’s Body, the Church. We know too that, therefore, the Theotokos is the mother of the Church. We were in her arms. Just like on Pascha, the children’s faces, and all of our faces, shone with the light of the Resurrection. Clergy present were Archpriest George and Priest Christopher Johnson, co-rectors of Holy Apostles, and Deacon Christopher Capp. Traveling with the Mother of God’s icon were Priest Nectarios, Priest Octavian, and Reader Christopher Lasek.

This overall sense that pervaded the evening was further marked by a number of miraculous events, two of which we mention here.

Our dear friend, iconographer Paraskeve Kalvesmaki, had painted a transcendent icon for our parish, as a gift for the 30th anniversary of Fr. George’s ordination to the priesthood. The icon shows the Mother of God with her protecting veil, our Heavenly patrons, the Holy Apostles, the Holy Great-Martyr George, and two angels. This choir of great saints is assembled in front of our lovely historic chapel which was given to our parish as a gift in 2009. We call this icon the Mother of God of Beltsville.

In the course of the Iveron Icon’s visit, with Fr. Nectarios’ blessing, Matushka Deborah took the icon of the Mother of God of Beltsville from its kiot and Fr. Nectarios opened the Iveron Icon’s case. He placed the Beltsville icon on the Iveron Icon and anointed it with a copiously streaming piece of cotton from the Iveron Icon. He placed the cotton on the Mother of God of Beltsville’s icon, and we closed the kiot.

Our future parish hall, which our parish is raising funds to build, and which was designed by Andrew Gould, is dedicated to the protection of the Iveron Icon. Our historic chapel, given to our parish in 2009, and which we are restoring, is under the Protection of the Mother of God. The meeting of the two icons was a great blessing for our parish.

When all had venerated the Hawaiian Icon and were anointed with its myrrh, some few of those present went with Fr. Nectarios, Fr. Octavian, the holy icon, and our own Priest Christopher and Deacon Christopher to our chapel to bless our God-gifted property.

Fr. Christopher Johnson carried the holy icon into the historic chapel. He took it into the altar area and around the interior before setting it on the central analogion for a brief prayer and veneration. Myrrh copiously poured from the icon all the while of the chapel visit, making for an additional great blessing on us. The quiet, dark night reminded us of the Nativity of our Lord, when Jesus Christ was born in a most humble place, and the light which shone out radiated throughout the whole world.

At length, it came time for Fr. Nectarios and his companions to depart for other points of destination in his extended visit. We said goodbye to our near and dear brother in our spiritual family.

On the Protection of the Theotokos, another miracle:
An empty vial of myrrh is refilled to more than half full

The following account is by Subdeacon Marc Strumpf:

I am a subdeacon and usually attend to all the oil used for anointing. Fr. Nectarios had mentioned to me that sometimes empty bottles of myrrh refill on their own and suggested we place any empty bottle of myrrh on the altar table.

We had used up a bottle recently, employing the very last drop. It was placed on our altar for a short time and then put back on an open shelf next to where I stand in the altar. At the Vigil for the Protection of the Theotokos, when it was time for the anointing, I first brought out regular blessed oil. Fr. Christopher, our co-rector, instructed me to put it back preferring we use myrrh from the Hawaiian Icon.

I went back and looked at our bottle and confirmed it was totally empty. I brought it out and told Fr. Christoper there was no myrrh left in the bottle and handed it to him. He replied that there was plenty of myrrh in the bottle and showed me that it was more than half full. I was amazed as there was no doubt that the bottle had been empty.

My assumption is that the bottle refilled in my hands as I took it out and handed it to Fr. Christopher. I can absolutely confirm that it was empty just before that.

Many people also noticed after anointing that the myrrh was particularly fragrant. The fragrance filled the whole church. The children commented on it too, and one 9-year-old girl asked if it was okay for her to tell her friends about the miracle. There were 17 people present at the vigil when this miracle of the myrrh took place.

O most holy Theotokos, save us!

We stand in awe before this wonderful sign of the grace that is hers, and how she bestows it unstintingly upon her faithful companions and children within the Body of her Son.

Our little parish is grateful for Fr. Nectarios’ steady support of our efforts to plant the Lord’s church in Beltsville. He has visited us many times, bringing our most holy, most pure, Mother of God to be with us and to encourage us in this difficult work. St. Gabriel of Georgia is known to have said, that building a church is like eating glass! Yes, it is fraught with many difficulties, but Fr. Nectarios has been like Sam in The Lord of the Rings for us, on this perilous journey.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must hold this overwhelming blessing we have received always in our very sense of being, together with all the other blessed happenings rising out of this radiant night.

O most holy Theotokos, save us!

Archpriest George and Matushka Deborah Johnson