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Here
are some examples of St John the Hermit's posthumous miracles:
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The
child in the cave.
Several
years ago a big group of believers was on its way to the cave of St John.
Among the believers was a child, 7-8 years old, who suddenly disappeared,
while they were approaching the inner part of the cave. Of course the
parents were terror-stricken, and a search was immediately organized, but
the child was nowhere to be found. Neither the following days' search led
to any results, so it was assumed, that the child had died in a place,
which was inaccessible to them. The next year some acquaintances attended
the celebration, and to their big surprise and with big awe they saw the
child standing beside
John's grave
deep in the cave. The child told
them jubilantly, that an old man had come every day to give it bread and
water.
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The
Gouvernetou Monastery
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The
deceitful shepherds.
While
Ioannikios
Trikourakis was the abbot of Gouvernetou Monastery, it was time for a
replacement of the shepherds, who were using the grazing areas of the
monastery. The old shepherds led all the sheep to the monastery, where
they were to be divided between the monastery and the shepherds. The
moment they were about to begin the division, the abbot shouted, that they
had to wait for the leader to arrive. The chief shepherd shouted back,
that the abbot himself was the leader, but the abbot denied that. Just
then the monks arrived carrying a big icon of St John, and the division
started. They had hardly finished, when they saw a big flock of sheep led
by two rams coming up from the Bear Cave. The sheep went over to the group
given to the monastery after drawing lots. It later turned out, that the
shepherds had hidden the flock to keep it to themselves.
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The
German and his pistol.
During
World War II the Germans locked up all the monks of Gouvernetou and quite
a few inhabitants of Akrotiri in the church of the monastery. The bishop
of Kydonia and Apokoronas, who spoke German, came to the monastery to have
them released, but the Germans released only the monks and the older
people. As a named young man was about to leave the church too, a German
officer rushed forward to shoot him. He pulled the trigger nine times, but
the pistol did not work. Afterwards the officer tried his pistol outside
the monastery, and now it worked. He was terrified and immediately
released all the captives.
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The
cure of a fistula
A
man from Mournies south of Chania tells us, how John cured his sore leg:
"When I was 13 years old, I played ball with my friends, and a stone
hit my right leg. The sore would not heal up and stayed open for five
months. It became infected, and I had a high temperature. The doctor
diagnosed it as a fistula and told us, that my leg had to be amputated, if
his treatment did not work. The treatment did not work, and an operation
seemed necessary. At this critical point I had a dream one night of an
unknown saint, who told me, that my leg was going to be okay. He also told
me, that he was John the Hermit. The very next day my temperature dropped,
and to the doctor's and my parentsī big surprise the sore healed up. As
neither my parents nor I knew of John the Hermit, I asked around
to
find
out, where he is being worshipped, and then I hurried along to the
monastery and the cave to thank him."
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