Dear Fathers, brothers and sisters,
Through the good offices of the fathers and brothers of the Oratory of St Philip Neri, it will be the joy and privilege of the Cardiff parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to greet and receive the wonderworking, myrrh-weeping Hawaiian-Iveron icon of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos in the Oratory Church on the evening of Tuesday 12th November, at 18:30.
This icon, a copy of the Montreal Iveron Icon of the Mother of God (Our Lady of the Portal), began weeping perfumed oil in 2007, and having been examined by the hierarchy of the Russian Church Abroad was confirmed as a miraculous image.
This has been confirmed over the decades, as the Mother of God has touched countless lives through her holy icon, and granted healing to the sick, children to the childless, peace to those in strife, employment to the jobless, and all manner of help and graces to those in need.
Our own parish has been touched by miracles and graces, and we have seen the icon stream and drip myrrh copiously, especially in St Alban’s Abbey when placed with the portion of the Protomartyr’s relics enshrined there. Yet again, it seems that the Queen of Martyrs has willed her wonderworking-icon to be with the relics of St Alban.
We sincerely hope that our Catholic and Anglican friends – some of them generous benefactors to our community in various ways – will be able to join us and our brothers and sisters from the Orthodox parishes of Cardiff to honour the Mother of God, venerate the icon and be anointed with the holy myrrh, which is the sign of the mercy and abundant grace of our all-pure and all-holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.
We will greet the icon at the gates of St Alban’s Church, CF24 2NT, at 18:30, though prepared for some flexibility in arrival time, with the custom being that we greet wonderworking icons of the Mother of God, as the Queen of heaven and earth with flowers, as Our Lady, herself, is greeted and honoured in her holy images.
In Christ – Hieromonk Mark
