St. Ephraim of Nea Makri and the Atheist

A friend of mine came over one day and gave me an icon of a saint named Ephraim. I accepted it graciously but secretly thought of how to get rid of it quickly, because I didn't believe in God. For the time being I placed it on the dining room table.

A few days later, at midnight, I saw a pale red light in front of the saint's icon. I was frightened at first but soon felt a kind of inner joy. I could see the red light burning all night like a candle. The following day I told my neighbors about the miracle. They were all surprised because they knew I didn't believe in God.

A few more days went by but I didn't see the light again. I didn't want to touch the icon as I had become very frightened. I decided to give the icon away because I didn't want to see the red flame again. When I went to sleep that night I had a dream of St. Ephraim. He was tall and looked austere. He wore a long tunic that reached to his feet and had a knotted rope around his waist - I particularly remember his Byzantine sandals. I felt sinful and couldn't look him in the face. He said in an imposing voice, "You will not see the light again because you said you wished it so, but be aware - you may remove my icon, but I shall always be here."

Thanks to Saint Ephraim, I now believe in God.

From the book Evlogeite! A Pilgrim's Guide To Greece, by Mother Nectaria Mclees, pp. 625-26.

St. Luke the Surgeon and St. Ephraim in the Operating Room

St. Luke the Surgeon and St. Ephraim of Nea Makri 

"My name is X. P., I am 46 years old, and I live in Northern Greece. In 2004, I was operated on for a brain tumor. After three and a half years, it appeared again. I visited plenty of doctors, but none would agree to operate on me. I was very depressed and disappointed. Ultimately, I found a doctor who agreed to dare to try this difficult intervention. My relatives told me to go venerate St. Luke, who was a physician, and that he would help me, like he helped the others. I made the decision and went to venerate and to pray in the city G. where there is a church of St. Luke. There, I met a pious and humble priest, Fr. K. He gave me strength and courage, and served the Paraklesis for me. I confessed, communed, and left for surgery. One night, I saw in my dream St. Ephraim, and he told me not to worry, and that everything would go well.

On March 13th 2007 I entered the operating room. Even though I was sedated, I could see the doctors that were operating on me, together with St. Luke and St. Ephraim. St. Luke was operating, wearing small circular glasses, and holding an old scalpel. St. Ephraim, however, was holding my hand, telling me not to be afraid, and with his left hand bombarded my head with light. When the surgery finished, I went to the ICU, and again St. Luke appeared before me, telling me: “I was there with you in the operating room.”


I replied: “I know.”

Exiting the operating room, I heard my surgeon tell me: “This is the first time I had such and easy surgery.”

I want to note that I knew nothing about these two saints [before they appeared]. From then on, they became my guardian angels."

http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2014/12/st-luke-surgeon-and-st-ephraim-in.html

A prayer to St. Ephraim of Nea Makri for those suffering from drug or alcohol addition (or other needs)...

A Special Prayer of Intercession to St. Ephraim of Nea Makri, the Newly-revealed Hieromartyr and Wonderworker
 
 O Holy Martyr Ephraim, look with compassion upon my distress and, as thou didst deliver the young man from his cruel addiction, so also pray for me that our Lord and Saviour, for Whom thou didst witness unto death, may deliver my soul from captivity to Satan. For I am in cruel bondage and suffering because of my weakness and sinfulness. Beseech our merciful Lord that, as He didst lead the Hebrews forth from slavery in Egypt and called His people out of Babylon, as He delivered the youth from the demon, and freed the daughter of the Canaanite woman, and healed the woman taken in adultery and restored the Samaritan woman, that He may also set me free and deliver me from the demon of addiction***. I confess that I have fallen into this evil through my own slothfulness and weakness, but have mercy and pray for me, 0 saint and martyr of God.


A short prayer to be said continually by one who is struggling with addiction to drugs or alcohol***:
O Lord, Jesus Christ, through the prayers of Thy Holy Martyr Ephraim, have mercy on me and deliver me from this cruel bondage.
(

***Note: that this could potentially be changed based on whatever one's specific need might be, e.g. depression, disease, passion, etc.

http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.ca/search/label/Alcohol%20abuse

Akathist to St. Ephraim of Nea Makri, the Righteous Martyr and Wonderworker

         
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone  

You dawned like a newly-revealed star through the revelation of your holy Relics, O Father, and you shine upon all with the rays of wonders, but ever fulfill the entreaties of those who faithfully hasten to you, O Saint Ephraim, and cry to you: hail, O blessed Father.


You were sent from heaven, like another angel [Gabriel], and showed us grace (3), through which you gladden each of the faithful, O Righteous Martyr Ephraim, with the divine Spirit. Therefore we bless you, and cry to you with words like these: Hail, you who formerly struggled well,
Hail, you who recently revealed yourself.
Hail, O cause of rejoicing,
Hail, O center of joy.
Hail, newly-enlightening star of the Church of Christ,
Hail, double-edged sword against the madness of the foe.
Hail, for you properly and righteously lived in asceticism,
Hail, for you were lawfully crowned through your struggles.
Hail, new support of the faith,
Hail, corruption and pain of the faithless.
Hail, you through whom the faithful are preserved,
Hail, you through whom the lawless are condemned.
Hail, O blessed Father.


Your righteous life and your holy end remained unknown to all, but was wondrously revealed with your holy Relics, O all-praised one, thus being made known to the ends of the earth, and teaching all to chant: Alleluia.

Receiving the divine knowledge of your godly life, and the revelation of your holy bones, we offer praise to God, Who glorified you with many wonders, O Ephaim who are blessed of God, through which you gladden those who cry to you: Hail, divine healer of Christ,
Hail, beholder of the never-setting light.
Hail, you who were zealous for the Righteous in asceticism,
Hail, you who were zealous for the Martyrs in struggles.
Hail, most-pure vessel of the divine inbreathing,
Hail, most-fragrant flower of mystical fragrance.
Hail, for you mindfully denied the world,
Hail, for you wondrously purchased the things above.
Hail, you who calms the waves,
Hail, you who lifts up the mind to the Beloved.
Hail, sower of the love of Christ,
Hail, up-rooter of the delusion of satan.
Hail, O blessed Father.


Your God-given glory was hidden, O Ephraim, Righteous Martyr of the Lord, and those who beheld the revelation of your holy relics came to believe through your miracles, and they faithfully cry to the Lord: Alleluia.

You shone upon Amomon mountain formerly, and pleased Christ in righteousness. Now, you sanctify your holy Monastery through your holy relics, O Ephraim, and they dance in you and cry to you with joy: Hail, lamp of hesychia,
Hail, type of chastity.
Hail, you who gladden the minds of the faithful,
Hail, you who shame the mindlessness of the faithless.
Hail, you who dyed the robe of your soul in your blood,
Hail, you who sealed your life with the seals of your struggles.
Hail, for you endured the attacks of barbarians,
Hail for you were granted eternal crowns.
Hail, lamp-lighter of righteous asceticism,
Hail, three-sunned treasury of light.
Hail, O blessed Father.

Dissolving every confusion, and bestowing joy, you appeared to the chaste Abbess, and you revealed to her truly where your holy bones would be found. She, beholding this occurrence through God's revelation, cried out: Alleluia.


Hearing your voice, and beholding you who spoke to her, O all-blessed one, you appeared to the Abbess, O wise one, and you revealed your name to her, and your holy death, for which we cry to you words like these: Hail, O martyr among the Righteous ones,
Hail, O glorious one among the Saints.
Hail, you who lived a life equal to the angels,
Hail, you who cultivated the immortal fruit.
Hail, golden-woven crown of your holy Monastery,
Hail, evergreen tree of noetic fruit.
Hail, you who struggled on Mount Amomon,
Hail you who were enriched with Christ's illumination.
Hail, you who cleanses stains of souls,
Hail, you who gladdens the city of the faithful.
Hail, O blessed Father.


Strange wonders and many appearances, both to those awake and to those asleep, you revealed to all the glory which you received from God of old, O Saint, and being astonished at your radiance, we cry to God: Alleluia.

Healings you pour forth, and joy and health, from the treasury of your holy bones, to those who hasten to your Monastery, and seek your help, O Ephraim. Therefore, the faithful who are nourished by your grace cry out: Hail, spring of healings,
Hail, dissolver of sicknesses.
Hail, you who appeared to those awake and by dream,
Hail, you who delivers from every danger.
Hail, you who mystically sanctifies those who call upon you,
Hail, you who wondrously gladdens those who behold you.
Hail, you who heals incurable passions,
Hail, you who delivers from the burdens of the demons.
Hail, you who often appears, as you desire,
Hail, you who grants joy, as you choose.
Hail, builder of a heavenly mansion,
Hail, our fervent protector.
Hail, O blessed Father.


The faithful who found themselves benefited by your many wonders, became your proclaimers, as you gave wing to their souls. Therefore, a multitude hastens to your Monastery, and reaps grace from your Relics, crying out: Alleluia.

You appeared shinning as another lamp from heaven, and recently on Amomon mountain, you became known to the Church of Christ through the uncovering of your divine Relics, though before you were utterly unknown, and you move all to cry to you: Hail, pillar of the pain the righteous,
Hail, vine of godly laws.
Hail, newly-shining morning star of Christ,
Hail, newly-made shoes of the Church.
Hail, most-divine image of ascetical virtues,
Hail, most-secure rock of martyrical struggles.
Hail, for you lawfully opposed tyrants,
Hail, for you gloriously were translated to the Lord.
Hail, you who behold the radiance of Christ,
Hail, you who hymn His goodness.
Hail, you who shine with manliness of soul,
Hail, you who transform the fury of enemies.
Hail, O blessed Father.


Remaining hidden for many years below the earth, O God-bearer, you were later made known to us as a treasure, through the providence of God, O Saint Ephraim, and you enrich with your grace, those who cry to Christ: Alleluia.

You were shown a new sun to the Church of Christ, shining with the rays of wonders, and you dissolve the night of passions for those who hasten fervently to your intercessions. But, O Righteous Saint, we ever cry to you: Hail, grape cluster of gladness,
Hail, deliverer from folly.
Hail, God-given healing of the sick,
Hail, deliverance for many who suffer.
Hail, man who bears God, and imitates the Righteous,
Hail, O Martyr of the King of all, and godly athlete.
Hail, you who join together asceticism and martyrdom,
Hail, you who shone with the glory from above.
Hail, you who dissolve the darkness of the passions,
Hail, you who were steadfast in your struggle.
Hail, O blessed Father.


Strangely does the grace pour forth which you bestow, O all-blessed one, to all those who call upon you. Therefore, throughout all of Attica, the voice of your wonders has gone forth, and all hasten to your Relics, crying to God: Alleluia.

All illumined and divinely shining, you were set in your divine Monastery, and you illumine with your new form those who are pure of heart in the Spirit, and you pour forth waves of grace to those who cry out to you with fervor: Hail, boast of monastics,
Hail, armada of the Orthodox.
Hail, treasury of bodiless glory,
Hail, pasture of the wisdom from above.
Hail, heavenly aroma of divine grace,
Hail, divine slaughter of the fury of barbarians.
Hail, seal of a righteous life,
Hail, cinnamon of spotless virtues.
Hail, star on the mount of Amomon,
Hail, practical rule of the monastic way.
Hail, O blessed Father.


Paralytics you raise up, demoniacs you heal, and intractable passions you cease, and therefore multitudes from Athens and Piraeus and other surrounding areas hasten to your Monastery, O Father, hymning you and crying out: Alleluia.

Your divine words shine with eternal glory, as you were seen by the pious and wise young [Abbess], and confessing your protection, which your bestow upon your Monastery, she cries out words like these: Hail, new boast of the Righteous,
Hail, bearer of the glory of the Martyrs.
Hail, sleepless protector of your Monastery,
Hail, you who dwell with the holy Angels.
Hail, for you healed those who were terribly sick,
Hail, for you wondrously raised the paralytic.
Hail, you who dissolve the weight of headache,
Hail, you who ceases the passion of diabetes.
Hail, jewel of the graces of God,
Hail, precious diadem of the faithful.
Hail, O Ephraim, the beauty of ascetics,
Hail, radiance of your monastics.
Hail, O blessed Father.


Your holy vision, while awake or by sleep, is multiplied in your Monastery, in which dwell chaste nuns, who are filled with much rejoicing, as they proclaim you their protector, but cry to God: Alleluia.

With the heavenly myrrh, which you treasure in your soul, you gladden the hearts of the faithful, and you made the treasury of your sacred relics to be an ointment store of fragrance, from which you make fragrant those who piously cry out to you: Hail, myrrh-container of grace,
Hail, godly protection of your Monastery.
Hail, fragrant paradise of incorruption,
Hail, cypress of holy dispassion.
Hail, for you deposed the enemy who wars against us,
Hail, for you magnified Christ through your pains.
Hail, for you lied below the earth for many years,
Hail, for you shone from the earth by divine command.
Hail, you who purge the wounds of souls,
Hail, for you burn up the terrible arrows.
Hail, you who ever bestow healings,
Hail, you who ever protect us.
Hail, O blessed Father.


All the cities of the faithful hymned the Savior at the finding of your divine and all-sacred bones, O godly one, for they were preserved unharmed below the earth for many years. O Ephraim, we honor them, and cry out to you: Alleluia.

Protect your Monastery from every danger, through your intercessions to the Savior, and grant it, O Father Ephraim, the gifts of your blessings, which we seek through your grace, as we ever cry out: Hail, our unassailable wall,
Hail, unshakable tower of the faithful.
Hail, the most-safe protector of your Monastery,
Hail, the protector and guardian of your children.
Hail, God-given foundation of pious nuns,
Hail, heavenly boast of pious ascetics.
Hail, for you honor the petitions of the faithful,
Hail, for you ever drive away evils.
Hail, you who intercede to Christ on behalf of all,
Hail, you who burn up the energy of the passions.
Hail, O blessed Father.


You fill us with grace, and much rejoicing, and divine exaltation, O Father, and you gladden our souls, and you also sanctify the bodies, through the treasury of your relics, of those who cry out to the Trinity: Alleluia.

Praising your struggles in hymns, O Father, we praise Him Who gave you grace, and standing round your Relics, we cry out that your protection might be granted to us, O Saint, that we might ever cry out to you: Hail, equal in honor to the Righteous,
Hail, companion of the Martyrs.
Hail, partaker of unwaning crowns,
Hail, you who are filled with the three-sunned illumination.
Hail, very precious gift of your holy Monastery,
Hail, newly-founded wall of the sacred Church.
Hail, you who gladden the choirs of the faithful,
Hail, you who erect holy staircases.
Hail, through whom we are delivered from distress,
Hail, through whom we are healed from passions.
Hail, intercessor of the faithful to Christ,
Hail, my deliverer in dangers.
Hail, O blessed Father.


O thrice-praised Father, O Righteous Martyr Ephraim, the companion of the former Saints (3), with them entreat Christ, that we be delivered from all kinds of dangers, and that we might be granted the life to come, we who cry to God: Alleluia.

And straightaway, 

 
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone 

You dawned like a newly-revealed star through the revelation of your holy Relics, O Father, and you shine upon all with the rays of wonders, but ever fulfill the entreaties of those who faithfully hasten to you, O Saint Ephraim, and cry to you: hail, O blessed Father.

A miracle for a newborn from St. Ephraim of Nea Makri

An astonishing miracle for a newborn from St. Ephraim of Nea Makri (amateur translation)
I wish, in my own manner, to thank God and St. Ephraim for the miracle which I was made worthy to experience.

I was pregnant, and 12/29/01 was my given due date. When that date came, and I still was not in labor, my doctor gave me another week. On the morning of January 2nd 2002 I began to experience strong pains, and I went to the Hospital. I was checked, and told that my Obstetrician would be called, because I was most likely in labor.


In a short time, the next day (January 3rd), the day of St. Ephraim, I gave birth. The child was born with a dark color, however, due to the lack of Oxygen, and began to cry after 30 minutes. This had occurred within me (as my labor was delayed), and I was in immediate danger also. The child was suffering from apnea, and they did not remove him from the incubator, so that they could support him with Oxygen, with the result being suffering continuous seizures. They took him that evening to the Children's Hospital “Agia Sophia”, and the physicians there diagnosed that the child was suffering from cerebral edema. The ground fell from beneath my feet, and the doctors did not give us much hope...They told us to pray that he leave this life (the child would either die, or we would receive him as a vegetable, for the seizures had destroyed his internal organs, and my baby's beating heart was weak). His situation remained critical, and our only hope was God and St. Ephraim, both of whom we entreated daily.


In 13 days, there was a second encephalogram, when the doctors did not want to tell us to results, so that we not be given hope. After two days, they announced the new results, that our child was totally well, and they did not understand how this occurred, as they thought he was doomed. Here I should say that during these 13 days, St. Ephraim revealed himself to us many ways.


My one aunt saw a dream: she was within a Church of St. Ephraim, and there was a little boy who was crying continuously. She picked him up to calm him down, and she got up and walked. When my aunt told us this, she went with my mother to the same Church. On the road, my mother asked St. Ephraim to show her some sign. As she was lighting her vigil lamp, it went out, and she thought that this was a sign that my child had died. When she went to light it again, before she could get the lighter out, it lit itself again alone. Then she understood that my child was alive, and that the very powerful St. Ephraim would help him. In my house, we heard knocking from our icons, and the odor of incense filled all of our rooms.


My baby stayed 17 days in the NICU. After all that I related above, he remained another 13 days in a normal room, where they began to slowly feed him some milk. After this, we were able to bring him home.


Time passed, and we had to go for follow-up in two months. A few days before, my other aunt saw a dream: she was in my house for a visit, and there was a young man with her with a white shirt and black pants. The young man came for the first time to my house, and I began to welcome him. Before I could show him his bedroom, he entered my room by himself, where I had the baby, and began to unbutton his cufflinks. When I prepared something to treat him, my aunt called him, and he told her: “Go ahead, I will stay to watch over the child.”


Then I felt at ease, because I knew that my child would have a protector throughout his life. At his first check-up, we saw a very good professor at the Hospital, and when she read his history, she called her co-workers, saying: “Come see the miracle of the century.”


The whole episode which my child endured left him only with damage to his auditory nerve, for which he wears a hearing aid. I thank the All-powerful God from the depths of my heart, for He is always with us, and grants His might to the Saints to work wonders, and to protect us during the difficult times of our lives.

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!


http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.ca/2012/12/a-miracle-for-newborn-from-st-ephraim.html

St. Ephraim and the Greek-American Drug Addict

The following account is a timely story which occurred in 1990 to a young Greek-American teenager, heavily addicted to drugs. The Athenian taxi driver wrote this word-for-word as the young man in the story told it to him while being driven to a drug rehabilitation center after an encounter with Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri, who is the patron saint of those suffering from drug addiction. The taxi driver then had the story published in the Greek newspaper Orthdoxos Typos.
It was afternoon, one of the usual tumultuous afternoons in downtown Athens. There was a line of people at the Omonia taxi-stop.

“To Koukaki, please!”

“With pleasure,” I answered. And that was the extent of our dialogue until the end of the drive, because my passenger’s expression and manner did not leave any room for conversation.

He got out at the summit of Agios Ioannis (in Gargareta) on Veikos Street and, a few meters further on, another hand stopped me with the characteristic wave.

My new passenger was young — around twenty-five to twenty-seven years old — and of medium height, and he was holding a suitcase. As I put his things in the trunk, the young man sat down in the front passenger seat.

And with a poetic phrase that I infrequently used to use in the past: “While departing on your journey to Ithaca, I wish that your road be long and your voyage great.” I meant: “Where to?”

“Yes, my friend, to Ithaca, but not to the island, as you would imagine, but to the Ithaca Detoxification Center,” was his answer, which left me speechless for a few seconds. “To the Larisa train station, please,” he added.

My young passenger’s reply was truly unexpected, because nothing about his outward appearance (eyes, expression, clothing, behavior) betrayed the accursed passion of his addiction to drugs. A multitude of feelings (pain, sorrow, sympathy, love) came over me one after another, an intense wringing of my heart made it move irregularly in my chest, and a tear rolled down my cheek over the plight of my brother, God’s creature. I tried to contain myself, as I wanted to learn under what circumstances he had ended up where he did, because I was also a father with children approaching adolescence.

After we introduced ourselves to each other, I asked Paul if he could tell me something about his life and his addiction, if recalling such events would not hurt or tire him. He readily agreed to my request, for which I thank him.



"To begin with, it has been two months since I’ve taken that poison, and I now feel like any other normal person. I have no desire whatsoever to put it into my bloodstream again, and I owe this not to any effort of my own, but entirely to the wondrous power of God and His Saints. But let me take it from the start, since you so wish to hear about it.

I was born in Athens, in Koukaki to be precise, where you picked me up, and lived there until I was eight years old. I am an only child and my parents love me pathologically and indulge my every whim. When I was eight, my parents and I left for America for a better life.

My relatives there helped my parents find work and I attended school. As I grew up, however, my senseless desires and vices also grew along with me. On account of my character, I easily got mixed up in bad company and very soon tried marijuana and hashish. As the years went by, the light drugs no longer satisfied me or my friends. So we all threw ourselves into the heavy drugs, which we found in the same surroundings and just as easily as the light drugs. These, however, were expensive, and I did not have a job. At first, I stole from my parents’ pockets and wallets. But when, with time, I was in need of greater doses, and when my parents had found me out, it reached the point that I even beat them to take the money. I understood that my condition was critical, but there was no way I could turn back. My parents rushed me to doctors and psychologists in the hope that they could do something, but to no avail; there was no light from anywhere. Some of them, and eminent scientists at that, told them that if I did not soon get out of that environment, I would not have long to live.

During that time, as I was home alone one day in a state of despair, a strange visitor, whom I had never seen before, appeared in front of me. He was of medium height, had large round eyes that rolled about, and black bushy fur that was over fifteen centimeters in length. He also had horns and a tail. His booming, firm voice and fearsome persuasiveness left no room for objections.

He began to make a thoroughly detailed account of my life from the time that I was born up until that very moment, while I simply said, ‘yes.’ ‘You have enjoyed every-thing,’ he said to me at the end, ‘there is nothing more left for you but to come with me....’ ‘How?’ I asked.

'You will take the car,’ he said, ‘and you will follow such-and-such a road. You will speed along so many miles an hour (I don’t remember the number), and I will be waiting for you there....’ The road in question was straight for many miles and at a certain point it had a slight bend, so that whoever was driving at too great a speed would go off the road and crash into a wall and be killed. I had heard about many such accidents at that spot in the past. Doing exactly as he told me, I, too, ended up smashing into the wall. The car was left almost unrecognizable, but they took me out with only minor injuries. After they gave me first aid, I went home.

About ten days had passed since the accident, when the same strange visitor appeared in my house again, in the kitchen this time. A grimace of displeasure was on his wild and imposing face. With a nod of his head backwards, he said to me in the same distinctive voice, ‘You didn’t accomplish anything.’

I was sitting there staring at him, petrified, and could just barely ask, ‘What should I do?’

‘Now you will take triple your usual dose, and you will surely come with me.’

He disappeared, and I did not even ask myself how he had entered the house or who he was.

I immediately put the plan into action.

I prepared the drug in the syringe and tried to find a place on my much-pierced body. The dose was a large one and I immediately fell unconscious. While I was in this condition, I saw a tall man wearing a cassock and a black monastic cap with a Cross engraved on the front. ‘Do not be afraid,’ he told me. ‘You will get well, and when you return to Greece, come to my house. I am Ephraim.’

I got up as if I had not taken the accursed poison at all. I felt a desire to leave for Greece and, when I told my mother of this desire, she marvelled and considered it a miracle, because my parents had many times before unsuccessfully tried to get me out of that environment.

I related to my mother all that had happened to me, and she wanted to accompany me on my journey. When we arrived in my old neighborhood, we went to the Priest of the parish there, and I learned from him who the strange visitor had been and what he had wanted from me. It was the Devil and he wanted my immortal soul. I thank God from the depths of my soul. Fifteen days after I had confessed and fasted, the Priest gave me Holy Communion. When I saw the Icon of St. Ephraim, I understood that it was he who had delivered me from my terrible addiction.

I went to Nea Makri and had Liturgy served and thanked the Saint. Now I am going to this institution to get away from the world for a while and to make sure that I do not need the drugs anymore."




***

Overdose
I. Monk Ephraim

In the year of 1425 a monk was taken captive and tortured to death in his monastery in Greece for being a Christian. He was slowly tortured to death over a period of a year. After each episode his wounds were allowed to heal, and then he was subjected to new and worse punishments. Finally they executed him. He was hung upside down from a tree in his monastery grounds and run through with a pole which had been sharpened to a point and set on fire. All traces of his life and martyrdom were forgotten until this century, when he appeared to the abbess of a convent and told her of his life and sufferings. He also revealed the spot where his bones, which had never decomposed, were buried. They dug up the bones for the glory of God.

II. The Addict and the Saint

Some years later an American teenager in the Midwest was grappling with his own life. He was heavily using drugs (cocaine and heroin) and was quickly sliding to destruction. He had neither a stable family life nor a religious upbringing, and though still young was in serious trouble.

One night an ugly old man appeared to him and said, "I am your friend, I want to make an appointment with you to meet me." He directed him to get into his car and drive as quickly as he could down a certain road which had a hairpin turn at the end with a sheer cliff at the bend. The young man did as he was told, got into his car and drove as fast as he could down the road. Losing his nerve at the last minute he managed to slam on his brakes and barely made the turn. He arrived home shaken.

Two nights later, the old man appeared again and said with anger and indignation, "I am very disappointed that you didn't meet me. Get into your car again and drive as fast as you can and this time don't put on the brakes." The young man felt strangely compelled to do this. Once again he got into his car, drove as fast as he could and this time didn't stop but drove at high speed off the cliff. The car was demolished but, surprisingly, he escaped with only cuts and bruises, and with a concussion.



A few weeks after he was out of the hospital, the ugly man appeared to him once again and said, "I am furious with you for not keeping our appointment. Tonight without fail you will meet me! Put a double dose of the drug in your needle." Again the boy felt compelled to do this, and after injecting himself went into a coma from the overdose. He was taken to the hospital where doctors told his family that he probably wouldn't live. And if by chance he did live he would only be semi-conscious - in a vegetative state. There was almost no chance of recovery. In two weeks, however, the young man did awake, fully conscious. He told those around him that he had seen a man which looked like some sort of radiant monk. He came to him and said, "I have been praying for you.... God has given you another chance. You will live, but you must correct your life. You are to go to Greece so as to visit the resting place of my bones, giving thanks to God for your salvation. My name is Ephraim". 

http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2013/05/st-ephraim-and-greek-american-drug.html

A spiritual resurrection by St. Ephraim of Nea Makri

St. Ephraim of Nea Makri, the Great Martyr and Wonderworker - Commemorated May 5th and January 3rd (source)
A spiritual resurrection by St. Ephraim of Nea Makri

“O honored Abbess and Holy Mother, with respect I kiss your hand, the servant of God, A.

To begin, I ask for great forgiveness from St. Ephraim, because I was slow in relating the miracle that I was made worthy of (in order for it to be included in the books of miracles), due to many problems, after roughly nine years, when the Saint visited me the sinner.

I hope unshakably that our Lord, the Most-holy Theotokos, and our Saint will forgive me. I had very many family troubles, sicknesses and deaths, which absorbed me such that I forgot to write of the miracle. But I will never forget the great benefaction of our Saint, and I will not cease thanking him and praying to him.

It was an afternoon in November 1990, when my phone rang. It was one of my friends, who told me: “A., I learned that in Nea Makri there is a Monastery, where there is a Saint named Ephraim. Do you want to go venerate?”

Here I should say as an aside that then I was very far from God, not that I didn't believe, but I had so many family troubles, as I mentioned above, that my faith was shaken, it was lukewarm, I was going backwards, nothing was going right. I was indignant and burdened therefore, and I blasphemed with very evil words, like those used by lower classes of society [spiritually], who might be far from God, like I was.

I was working in Athens, and for 25 years, I did not go to Church of Sundays or take Holy Communion.

I would only go to Church on Pascha, along with everyone else, without understanding the deep sentiments of the faith.

I was very greatly influenced by the Killer of Man (the Devil), and he did with me whatever he wished...

Thus, that afternoon when my friend called me and told me to visit the Saint, I was still very lukewarm. My friend, in contrast, believed in God together with her family, and performed all of their religious duties. They were people of God...

Because, therefore, she was a very good friend who helped me psychologically and morally, I didn't want to hurt her feelings, and I agreed to go, myself the sinner, when I was talking on the phone. When I understood what she wanted to tell me, I groaned within myself, saying:
“Oh...now she's going to tell me to go to the Monastery, like I would ever run to Monasteries!” (I was very far away them then).

How mistaken was my thought, however. Without my knowing that this was my first visitation to the Saint, whom I had never even heard of before.

When she told me his name, and I heard it for the first time, I asked:
“What did you say the Saint was called?”

“St. Ephraim” she told me.

“What did you say? Ephraim? That's the first time I heard the name. What is it, Turkish? Egyptian? What is it?”

She told me, “No, it's Greek...”

Ultimately, we came to his grace, and venerated with reverence, because he is a Saint, but not with deep religious sentiments as every faithful person. When we exited the Holy Monastery into the courtyard, I saw the tree on which they hung our Saint, but I did not think much of this, I was very lukewarm.

In the courtyard was a bookstore. I went in alone, while my friend was likely giving priority to the Saint. There, I was reading some of the book covers:
“Visions and wonders of the Holy Great Martyr Ephraim the Wonderworker."

At that instant, I murmured:
“Ok, now we are talking about miracles? What are they saying? What miracles occur in the 20th century? Why are you talking about miracles?”

I was utterly curious and doubtful, I had darkness in my soul, and I mocked what I read at that instant.

However, at the same time that I was mocking, I was intrigued by the book, and something within me told me: “Get it...get it...”

With great hesitation and without knowing what I was doing, I stretched out my hand and bought it, as if someone was pulling my hand and telling me: “Get it...”

Ultimately, I made the decision: “I will get it out of curiosity, to see what they write...” How would I have known that the sinner, at that instant, began to experience the salvation of my soul from our Lord, while naturally, at that instant, I did not understand all the depth, but only later I understood...

I don't wish to tire you, and I ask forgiveness, but I should write this in detail. When I ultimately bought the book, I began to read it every day during my afternoon nap, and slowly I began to read more and more.

The 2-3 chapters increased, and I soon wasn't sleeping at all at noon in order to finish the book. It began to please me, and it was something that interested me, and by the time I reached the middle of the book, I greatly began to love our Saint, and I sensed that I had known him for many years, while in reality, I had never known a Saint At that instant I sensed that noetically, I was very near the Saint.

Those hours when I was reading the book, I sensed that I knew the Saint well, and I thanked him for healing all of those sick people, as if I had sent him. I sensed this joy, and wholly thanked him.

At one point, I sensed how I had been affected by those 25 years that I had not gone to Church. I had never gone to Confession, and naturally I did not take Holy Communion, and straightaway, as I was sitting on me bed, I lifted up my eyes to heaven and said:

“My God, my Christ, thank You for healing those sick people, and forgive me as well...I, O Lord, have not walked in Your Church for 25 whole years...” (even though there were four churches in my neighborhood).

And later, I began to thank our Saint again, and said:
“My Saint Ephraim, I embrace you and kiss you, for you healed those sick people through the Lord...”

And, O the wonder, at that instant, as I put in the bookmark, I turned over the book, and kissed the icon on the cover, and thanked the Saint with indescribable joy and exaltation...

Before I kissed the icon of the Saint, within me passed a very beautiful smell, like cologne.

At that instant, I did not understand that this smell was called divine fragrance, because as I wrote above, I was far from the Church and did not know these things...

At that same instant, I began to have great curiosity and I asked within myself what that beautiful smell was, and I smelled the book to understand what was that beautiful smell. The clothes that I was wearing smelled, along with the air in my room. It did not leave me thus, but my whole studio smelled beautiful. And I asked, what was this?

My ignorance, my curiosity and my intrigue was solved by my friend who had called me before, who told me: “A., St. Ephraim visited you!”

On the phone I asked: “Where is the Saint? I didn't see him enter my house.”

My friend replied: “The Saint visited you through his divine fragrance, because we went to venerate him. The smell that you sensed is called divine fragrance, and this is the presence of the Saint, because the Saint wanted to visit you...”

My friend then asked me: “Did you light your vigil lamp?”, and I responded: “Paradoxically, yes.”

In reality, I don't know how, but I had lit my vigil lamp, and all that I remember was that I was kneeling and thanking God and the Saint who enlightened me, and entreating that I be forgiven, who had been so many years away from them.

O my honored Abbess, there when I was kneeling and crying, without any depression, I felt an internal change within me, and I put my head to the ground, and sought forgiveness for all my sins, for all of the years that I was very far away from God.

At that instant I asked myself, and had the thought: how could I learn all that is read within the Church, and come to know Christ better. How could I learn that which the priest and the chanters chant, and how could I learn about our Saints?

And again a divine illumination came to me! I should go purchase the Lives of the Saints, and other Christian books, in order to learn the Divine services, and everything that has to do with the Church, along with the hymns and apolytikia of the Saints. This is what happened.

During my first Holy Confession, I said this all to my Spiritual Father, and when I left for my home, I couldn't relate to you what a weight had fled from on top of me, and I walked as if I wasn't walking at all, but like a bird in the air (I became free in reality)...

From then when I was enlightened and as if re-baptized by St. Ephraim, I entered again to a religious road, and this I attribute to our Lord and to the Most-holy Theotokos, who intervened, sending our Saint Ephraim to enlighten me. Therefore, I owe a great thank-you to the Holy Great Martyr Ephraim.

From then on, I go to Church every Sunday and Great Feast, I confess and I commune.

Because of the wonder which St. Ephraim worked for me, I glorify and thank him every day, and confess his wonder to the world, and I give people his Paraklesis, his icons and his books to read. O my honored Mother and Abbess, I ask forgiveness from the Lord and our Saint for neglecting to write of the good that he did, and I ask forgiveness for tiring you...

I hope and pray that our Saint will protect your Holy Monastery, together with the sisters, and that you might pray for me, the sinner.

With love in the Lord, your humble servant,
A. D. A.
Octover 2003, Amaliada.

From a book of miracles of St. Ephraim, Volume 18, September 2011.

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.ca/2015/01/a-spiritual-resurrection-by-st-ephraim.html