Celebrations, like liturgies, should be concluded between the pages of books, books in which words and thoughts, filigreed in prayer, could become bread for the soul. And so the reading of books would become another face of liturgy. To me, books seem to be the most humbly elevating gift we can give to people. And the books from which we glean strengthening and illumination, in the meaning of the heart and the pure thought of faith, are all the more healing. And guiding.
Such a guiding book is Miraculous springs and icons, bearing the signature
His Eminence Calinic, Archbishop of Suceava and Rădăuților, which he himself calls a gift made to the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin being, in the key to understanding his words of instruction, God's gift to mankind. (Mother of God - in the light of Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition, a summary for the man in a hurry, Ed. Pars Pro Toto, Iași, 2014)
Moreover, the Archbishop does not hesitate to speak to us of the royal dignity of the Blessed Virgin, who „by her purity and her holiness, made possible the incarnation of the Son of God as the full initiative of God. And because of her purity, her obedient and humble availability, and the gift she received and then gave to the world, the Mother of God became an abundant source of gifts for all humanity”.”
And, this time, in another whole volume dedicated to the Most Preabundant Empress, who has been so many times our Mediatrix and Miracle-worker.
The book, published by the Crimca Publishing House of our archdiocese, carries in it sweet echoes of axion, repeated and revealing testimonies about springs and icons of the Holy Mother, the miracle-working Mother of God. And it's enough to rest your eyes on the first cover. The noetic of the image! On the pristine white of thought bathed in gratitude and submissive being, the icon of the Source of Healing, itself a preaching in the image: „a huge stone chalice feeding from a huge pool of life-giving water offers healing to the suffering and sick, as well as to the thirsty, the thirsty, the afflicted and the sorrowful. In the chalice, the Mother of God with hands raised in prayer and the Child blessing.” (The Fountain of Healing - The Sermon of His All-Holy Father Calinic, 2021)
Then, contents, the interior architecture of the book, shows itself to be a kind of pilgrim's guide. Steps that wander through the world, seeking redemption and comfort. Pilgrim's steps that would seek (and find) escape to the mercy of the Blessed Virgin.
First, Privacy Vasile Nechita, an „authorization” of our faith in the waters of springs that work miracles, sprung from real events recorded historically - for example, „the one celebrated on Good Friday, which starts from a wonderful, real event, as recorded by Nichifor Calist Xantopol.”.
First chapter, Icon - the seen image of the Unseen, is not an apology, for what icon would need to be defended against those who believe in its power?, but a dissertation centered on the historical and theological landmarks of the cult of the icon: „The icon depicts a historical reality, a reality that can be verified from a historical point of view: the Incarnation and Birth of the Lord from the Blessed Virgin, His Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection, as well as the holy life of the saints who believed in and confessed the Savior Jesus Christ, sometimes even at the cost of their lives.” And: „the mystery of the icon (...) is a revelation addressed only to the believer, to the man nourished „with the words of faith and good teaching” ( 1 Timothy 4:6)”.
The second chapter is devoted to miracles, „the visible works of the Most Blessed Trinity”, and serves as a prologue to the two sections that follow: Wings of angels in the springs of the Mother of God, the miracle-worker (from Moldova, Muntenia, Ardeal, Dobrogea, Banat) and Miraculous Icons (from Moldova, Muntenia, Ardeal).
Metaphor angel wings of the miracle-working springs is reminiscent of the Vitezda Cave (an Aramaic word meaning „house of mercy”), located - according to tradition - near the house Saints Joachim and Anne and, therefore, the place where the Mother of God was born. Where „an angel of the Lord descended at the right time into the pool and troubled the water, and whoever went in first after the troubling of the water was made whole, from whatever disease he was kept” (John 5,4). Of the marvelously healing springs in our lands, the Archbishop mentions 40, marking as many places in the country to which pilgrims could set out in search of relief and healing. And in this spiritual itinerary: in Moldova, the spring that gushed from the rock struck by the abbot at Horăicioara Hermitage from Neamț County, Puturosu spring - from the hill of the Vovidenia Hermitage of Neamț Monastery, those of The Voronezh Hermitage and Cozancea Hermitage, the well of St. Theodora of Sihla; in Muntenia, spring of the monk Agapie, from Ghighiu Monastery; the seven healing springs on Radului Valley, Argeș county; the spring under the altar of the church of Glavacioc Monastery and Cetățuia Monastery, from the same county; then, springs from the monasteries of Nămăiești, Robaia, Cernica, Bistrița, Frăsinei; The Beautiful Spring at the Pahomie Hermitage, the one with sulphurous water from Jgheaburi Hermitage and Pătrunsa Hermitage (Valcea county); in Transylvania, the spring of Poșaga; those from Monasteries Sâmbăta de Sus, Izbuc, Râmeț, Prislop and the hermitage of Șatra lui Pintea, Lake Sfânta Ana; from Dobrogea, the spring at „Holy Cross” Monastery” and from Monastery „Sfântul Ioan Casian” in Constanța county; the one from „St. Mary” Monastery” Techirghiol, from Dervent Monastery and from Hermitage of the Cross, from Coșlogeni; and from Banat, the healing spring at Călugăra Monastery from Oravița, the Miron Spring Monastery and The poor lake at Vasiova Hermitage, of Caras-Severin and the beneficial water nearby Văliug Hermitage, on Mount Semenic.
This is a non-exhaustive selection, the Archbishop confesses, but - even so - such a spiritual itinerary is equivalent to a gentle pilgrimage of each one towards himself, a repeatable and always repeated, even in thought, a climb of the thought that from Heaven and life, as a blessed and repeated miracle, comes to us.
Chapter dedicated Miraculous icons contains nineteen presentations of such icons, from our country, organized - also - according to the criteria of the Romanian historical provinces; seventeen of the icons depicting the Mother of God, and the other two representing St. Anne (the one from the Monastery of Bistrita of Neamț) and St. John the Baptist (the one from the Monastery of Gorovei, in the county of Botosani). The presentations of the icons are both descriptive and narrative, with insertions of historical data and architectural, cultural and artistic details, not to mention explanations taken from the Sinaxare, Limonariu and erminii. The book also includes so many illustrations of the icons, which the Most Reverend Father places, with such evident care for what we might learn from them, in the gallery of the undeniable treasures of our Church. And I would list just a few, so that you may have the joy of discovering them among the pages of the unpublished book. From Moldova: Icon of Our Lady from Neamt Monastery; Icon of Our Lady from Agapia Monastery; Icon of Our Lady from Sucevița Monastery; Icon of Our Lady Prodromița; Icon of Our Lady with the Child from Putna Monastery; Icon of Our Lady Axionița from Hadâmbu Monastery; Icon of Our Lady from Adam Monastery; from Muntenia, The Icon of the Virgin Mary from the Monastery of Dintr-un Lemn and Icon of Our Lady of Siriana from Ghighiu Monastery; from Transylvania, The Icon of the Virgin Mary from Nicula Monastery and the Miraculous Icon of the Virgin Mary from Rohia Monastery.
Impressive, unique and disturbing Icon of the Mother of God „with two mouths” from Vovidenia Hermitage - Neamt!The one that is confessed about like this: in ancient times, the monks said that the Holy Mother of Vovidenia „prays twice, with two mouths”, to her Son and our God, thus being impossible to refuse.
It's a book that can become a gift every day and not only on this, the feast of the Nativity. A guiding book, when you seek refuge at the mercy of the Blessed Virgin. Let's not delay in turning it into a feast! For the great and the small, for the sake of and for the honor of the Blessed Virgin.
Daniela Ceredeev, school inspector for religion
