Glory to our Ascended God!!!
>
> This is "The Miracle in Syria"
>
> Compiled by Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes, Boise, Idaho USA
>
>
> In December 2004 a Saudi Arabian man, a Moslem, appeared before
> several new agencies to relate the following incredible event he
> experienced and which changed his life (this story appeared on TV, the
> Internet, radio, and was circulated in newspapers, magazines, and
> pamphlets throughout Saudi Arbia, Syria, Palestine, and evidently in all
> neighboring countries.
>
>
> Some years ago, this man married a very rich Moslem woman but
> sterile. As the years passed, and despite all their efforts and
> significant medical expenses with many doctors, they remained childless.
> The man's parents suggested to him that he marry a second woman, while
> upholding his initial marriage (as the local laws permits up to four
> concurrent marriages).
>
>
> Being exhausted, worried, and downhearted, he did not accept his
> parents' advice but rather chose to vacation with his wife in Syria.
> There, they hired a limousine with a driver who would serve as tour guide
> fro all their site-seeing excursions throughout Syria. As the vacation
> progressed, the driver noticed that the Saudi Arabian couple was
> experiencing bitterness, pain, and grief. Having gained familiarity with
> the couple, the driver cautiously asked them whey they appeared to be so
> unhappy-was it perhaps because he was not conducting the tour to their
> satisfaction?
>
>
> The couple confided to the driver that the source of their
> unhappiness was their inability to have children. The driver who was also
> a Moslem, then told them that in Syria the Christians, specifically the
> Orthodox Christians, have a monastery named Panagia Saidraya (Arabic word
> meaning Our Lady) and that many people who can't have children take
> refuge to Her miracle-producing icon. They go to the monastery and there
> they are given to eat, the wick form the lamp which burns before the
> miraculous icon. And then the "Mary" of the Christians gives them
> according to their faith, what they wish for.
>
>
> Becoming excited, the Saudi Arabian and his wife asked the driver to
> take them to the monastery "Saidnaya" of "The Lady of the Christians" and
> said that if we have a child, then I will come back and I will give you
> $20,000.00 US and, I will give the monastery $80,000 US. So they went to
> the monastery and did as they were instructed. Later they returned to
> their homeland and after some time the wife was found pregnant. In a few
> months she gave birth to a charming baby boy. It was truly a miracle of
> Our Lady Theotokos.
>
>
> Now, as soon as his wife gave birth the Saudi Arabian man wanted to
> return to Syria to uphold the promises he had made. Upon his return he
> called the same driver and asked to be picked up at the Damascus airport.
> But the driver was cunning and wicked and he persuaded two of his friends
> to go to the airport with him to pick up the rich Saudi Arabian man and
> to take his money and kill him. So they picked up the rich man at the
> airport and he, as they drove, without realizing that they had planned to
> kill him, told the friends of the driver that he would give them also
> $10,000 US each.
>
>
> These men still not satisfied, deviated from the route to the
> monastery and went to a deserted place and proceeded to slay the Saudi
> Arabian man and to cut off his head and other parts (hands and legs) of
> his body into pieces. Blinded by passion and overcome by the horrific act
> that they just committed, they put the man's remains in the trunk of the
> car rather than just leaving him there. After taking his money, watch,
> and all that he had, they proceeded to find another deserted place to
> discard the remains.
>
>
> Then on the National highway, their car broke down and stopped in the
> middle of that road. The three men got out to determine why the engine
> had stalled. Then a passerby stopped to help them but they, afraid that
> their terrible act would be discovered, pretended that they did not need
> any help. But as the passerby motorist was leaving, he noticed blood
> dripping from the rear of the vehicle and he called the police to
> investigate because the scene and the three men looked suspicious. The
> police came and they saw the blood under the car and on the pavement so
> they ordered that the trunk be opened.
>
>
> Well, when the opened the trunk, lo and behold, the Saudi Arabian man
> lifted himself out, obviously and amazingly alive and in good health,
> saying to them "Just now this PANAGIA finished stitching my neck, right
> here (showing them the area of his Adam's Apple), after first stitching
> up the rest of my entire body". Seeing this, the three criminals
> immediately lost their minds-becoming like mad. The police handcuffed
> them and as they were being taken away to an asylum for the insane, the
> criminals started raving that it could not be possible that the Saudi
> Arabian man whom they killed, beheaded, and dissected could yet be alive.
>
>
> The Saudi Arabian went to a medical facility to undergo examination
> by doctors and medical examiners who confirmed and attested that the
> stitching was done very recently, thereby validating the miraculous
> event. The stitches were, and still are, obvious. When the Saudi Arabian
> came out of the car's trunk, he had the appearance, literally, of just
> having been refabricated (put back together) to which he continuously
> confessed that they PANAGIA had rejoined his body and resurrected him
> with the help of her Son.
>
>
> Immediately after this, the Saudi Arabian called his relatives to
> come to Syria and they all went together to the monastery of Panagia
> Saidnaya and offered up prayers, praises, and glorification, and instead
> of the initial gift of $80,000 US (which was promised), he gave $800,000
> US to the Theotokos.
>
>
> Today, as this man relates the details of that overwhelming miracle,
> he starts his narration with "When I was a Moslem this happened to me"
> this indicating he is not longer a Moslem, as neither is his family.
>
> This miracle stunned with awesome surprise the entire Arabic/Moslem
> nation and all of the Middle East.
>
>
> "LIVES LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD OF HOSTS"
>
> (Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher, Patriarchate of
> Jerusalem)
>
> By Father Ignatios, Abbot
>
> Holy Monastery of The Shepherds
>
> Bt Ahur-Bethlehem
>
> GREAT LENT, MARCH 2005
>
>
> Submitted and compiled by Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
>
> Boise, Idaho
>
> USA
>
> Eve of the Ascension of Lord, 8 June 2005
>
> Glory to God for all things!
>
> Most holy Mother of God, save us!
>
> Peace to your souls!
>
> Humbly In Our Lord God,
> +Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
> Who prays for you!
www.serfes.org [
serfes.org]