Wonderworking Saints and Miracles

[iohanne]

A recent post in the Traditional Catholic forum has made me wonder whether there were also legends about saints in the Eastern Catholic/Orthodox traditions that had any of these supernatural “charisms” so to speak. In the West, you often hear about stigmata, levitation, bilocation, raising the dead, incorruptibles, priest-saints who knew your sins before you confessed them, prophecy, etc. Are these common in the East as well? I find stigmata particularly frightening, to be very honest with you.

Even Western “miracles” associated with sacred imagery sometimes frighten me: there are statues of Mary that cry blood whereas the myrrh-gushing icons seem less frightening. Are there icons that cry blood or anything else? What about Eucharistic miracles where the bread and wine actually look like flesh and blood after the Canon/Anaphora? Or stories about the host turning into ash when a person in severe sin went up to receive… Does this ever happen in the East?

 

[John_of_Patmos]

A recent post in the Traditional Catholic forum has made me wonder whether there were also legends about saints in the Eastern Catholic/Orthodox traditions that had any of these supernatural “charisms” so to speak. In the West, you often hear about stigmata, levitation, bilocation, raising the dead, incorruptibles, priest-saints who knew your sins before you confessed them, prophecy, etc. Are these common in the East as well? I find stigmata particularly frightening, to be very honest with you.

Even Western “miracles” associated with sacred imagery sometimes frighten me: there are statues of Mary that cry blood whereas the myrrh-gushing icons seem less frightening. Are there icons that cry blood or anything else? What about Eucharistic miracles where the bread and wine actually look like flesh and blood after the Canon/Anaphora? Or stories about the host turning into ash when a person in severe sin went up to receive… Does this ever happen in the East?

Check out St. Herman of Alaska. He predicted that no priest would be there to bury him, and that he would be forgotten. There are Eucharistic Miracles in the East, which are usually looked upon in the light that the priest is doubting. I read on an orthodox forum about a Russian Orthodox Priest’s book that says what to do in this case. Also, (on the same forum), apparently, a person came up to receive The Lord, but had not gone to Confession (presumably in a state of sin). The Eucharist began to boil.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

Miracles and, in particular, the incorruptibility of saints’ relics, are the foundation for the veneration of Saints in the Orthodox Catholic East!

There is a tremendous emphasis on Divinization or Theosis in the East (is there anything like that in the West?). Thus, the focus on the miraculous and on the Mysterium Tremendum.

As for miracle-working, myrrh-streaming/weeping icons - lots of those. The miraculous icon of Pochaiv, for instance, has more than 300 separately-declared miraculous copies throughout the world - as one example. More than a thousand miraculous icons of the Mother of God, St Nicholas etc. in Ukraine alone.

St Peter Mohyla, Metropolitan of Kyiv, wrote a commentary in his hieraticon for priests that goes something like thise, "O priest remember that if during the Divine Liturgy you are serving the consecrated Bread should take on the form of actual Flesh or the figure of a Child and the consecrated Wine should take on the forum of actual Blood - know that this is an expression of God’s anger at someone’s lack of faith/reverence in Church. You should then cover these and move them to one side on the altar, periodically checking to see if they have returned back to the forms of Bread and Wine (since otherwise this is not Holy Communion and cannot be distributed to the faithful!). If the miracle continues and it is time for Communion, then you are to take other bread and wine and recite the Eucharistic Canon over these and distribute this to the faithful . . . "

Alex

 

[iohanne]

Thank you for all your responses! =D

Do you know if there are any cases of stigmata in the east or is that a purely western phenomenon?

 

[John_of_Patmos]

Thank you for all your responses! =D

Do you know if there are any cases of stigmata in the east or is that a purely western phenomenon?

I believe that is a west only miracle.

 

[twf]

Miracles and, in particular, the incorruptibility of saints’ relics, are the foundation for the veneration of Saints in the Orthodox Catholic East!

There is a tremendous emphasis on Divinization or Theosis in the East (is there anything like that in the West?). Thus, the focus on the miraculous and on the Mysterium Tremendum.

As for miracle-working, myrrh-streaming/weeping icons - lots of those. The miraculous icon of Pochaiv, for instance, has more than 300 separately-declared miraculous copies throughout the world - as one example. More than a thousand miraculous icons of the Mother of God, St Nicholas etc. in Ukraine alone.

St Peter Mohyla, Metropolitan of Kyiv, wrote a commentary in his hieraticon for priests that goes something like thise, "O priest remember that if during the Divine Liturgy you are serving the consecrated Bread should take on the form of actual Flesh or the figure of a Child and the consecrated Wine should take on the forum of actual Blood - know that this is an expression of God’s anger at someone’s lack of faith/reverence in Church. You should then cover these and move them to one side on the altar, periodically checking to see if they have returned back to the forms of Bread and Wine (since otherwise this is not Holy Communion and cannot be distributed to the faithful!). If the miracle continues and it is time for Communion, then you are to take other bread and wine and recite the Eucharistic Canon over these and distribute this to the faithful . . . "

Alex

Of course deification/divinization is absolutely central to Latin Christianity! Especially in the Carmelite (which is very mystical) and Dominican traditions. At every mass the priest prays may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity… in Latin theology we typically call it sanctification, but it is the same concept. Deification is so central to the New Testament, the Fathers, the liturgy, and the very nature of the sacraments (particularly the Eucharist), I would say that it would be impossible to say that we share the same faith as the East if we didn’t also share this teaching! The great mystics of the Latin Church, such as St. Teresa or St. John of the Cross, describe this process in the most poetic manner. In the liturgy of the hours, the Latin Church often proclaims that we, that is, mankind, are already enthroned in eternal glory at the right hand of the Father in the person of the God-Man Jesus. The Catechism of the Catholic Church expresses the Latin teaching as follows:

#460 The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:78 "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God."79 "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."80 "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."81

The last quote is taken from St. Thomas Aquinas who taught that we are made gods by receiving God in holy communion. Actually at a Dominican parish I once heard a homily where the priest said to the congregation “You are all gods!” - which sounds odd at first, but is totally orthodox when understood within the context of Dominican theology (as per the teachings of St. Thomas).
It is only by understanding this concept that we can make any sense of the Church’s teaching that we can ‘merit’ salvation through good works. This is one of the fundamental divides between Apostolic Christianity and Protestantism…the Reformers denied that Christ truly empowers us to merit salvation by giving us a true share in his own divine nature - He not only declares us worthy, he makes us worthy.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

But the argument between East and West has rested on whether Grace is “created” or “uncreated.”

When my pain has subsided, I will revisit this with a clear mind.

Personally, I agree with you and am not denying what you say. As with so much else here, it is a matter for discussion.

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Alfonsus]

Regarding “created” and “uncreated” grace, I think Ghosty already pour out lots of words explaining.
We must always use terms and jargon within the philosophical model it was constructed. The term can be similar or identical, but can have different meaning within different philosophical/theological model.

Like in math, you may have a coordinate. But if it is a cartesian coordinate, make sure you understand it within the boundaries of cartesian model. You can’t just take it as it is and apply it into polar coordinate model and then screaming it points to a wrong location.