In early October 1989,1 began having sharp pains in my back, caused by my work. In spite of my condition, I continued to work and tried to do as much as I could. I did not consult any doctors, knowing that they cannot always help. I confided to a friend my misfortune.
On getting out of bed in the morning I had made a habit of making a prostration. The pain in my back made this very difficult and for about a week I was unable to make a full prostration. The morning of October 9, a Monday, I got up and, as usual, made an effort at making a prostration. I was stunned! I felt absolutely no pain. It was as though I had never experienced any pain at all. Glory to God!
Only later did I learn that the kind soul to whom I had confided my trouble had gone to Vladika John's sepulchre in San Francisco and had prayed for me. Wondrous is God in His saints.
Alexandra Kiritis, Los Angeles, CA
I would like to detail the intercessions of Blessed Archbishop John on behalf of my family. Perhaps these do not sound like miraculous occurrences to some people, but Father Svetislav and I know that before we sought Vladika's prayers, we were without aid.
The first episode in this related set of events began when, in 1982, the parish council of Saint Nicholas Church in Endicott, New York, invited us to live in the vacant rectory. We had been hoping to move a little closer to Jordanville and to a parish with the Russian Church Abroad. (Father had been a cleric of the Serbian Church since his ordination in 1974.) Until we began daily to entreat Vladika John for intercession, we could find no new home.
There in Endicott, Father Svetislav was able to secure employment in a hospital — again, through the prayers of Archbishop John. Previously he had tried many hospitals in several locations, but since he had no experience in health care he had been unable to find work, and he needed a secular job because he was not to be the rector of the Endicott parish. Vladika John likewise enabled Father Svetislav to be accepted into nursing school, when previously he had been unable to enroll in any school.
Finally, not two years after our first visit to Endicott, we adopted our son, John, giving him the name of our constant intercessor. After ten years of marriage, many visits to doctors, multiple encounters with domestic and foreign adoption agencies, which in fact would only allow us to be placed on a list of people awaiting formal applications for adoptions, we were granted, by God's mercy, the child we had prayed for. John was born in a nearby hospital on that very day when we first visited the parish of Saint Nicholas in Endicott. Our decision to call him John was confirmed when, the day before we were to see the child for the first time, Vladika's prayers sustained Father Svetislav's brother, Predrag, through a life-threatening situation.
Hieromonk Hilarion (now Bishop of Manhattan) baptized John at Holy Trinity Monastery on July 2,1984, the anniversary of the repose of Blessed Archbishop John. John's godfather, Father Adam Yonitch, and his wife, also childless after many years of marriage, obtained a portrait of Vladika John while they were at the monastery and likewise began to beseech his intercession. A little more than a year later, which was like no time at all after having been on an adoption waiting list eight years, Father and Popadija (Matushka) Roberta adopted twins, Damian and Mira, who were less than two weeks old. Two days later, we adopted our second child, Natalie. Although we had stopped our intense prayers, being grateful for the son God had given us, He did not forget our hope of having a family. We are certain Vladika John, a protector of orphans since his days in China, continued to intercede with God for the sake of our little family.
Father Svetislav and I continue to pray to Vladika John daily. Our children are also very much aware of the impact his care has had on our lives. We hope that our story will help others to know of the powerful intercession of Vladika John before our Heavenly Father. Glory to God, Who is wondrous in His saints!
Matushka Nancy Mirolovich, Buffalo, NY
In 1988 my daughter developed a rare condition, alapecia aniversalys, causing a complete loss of hair on the head and the entire body. There is no known cause of this illness and no cure.
My daughter liked to pray at Archbishop John's sepulchre, and one Sunday she went there and begged Vladika with tears to give her eyebrows, eyelashes and hair on her body. She couldn't stop weeping. She told Vladika that she could live without hair on her head, but, "please, give me eyebrows, eyelashes and hair on my body."
And there was a miracle. Her eyebrows, eyelashes and body hair began to appear. She is so grateful to Vladika and only regrets that at the same time she hadn't asked for hair on her head as well…
A mother, California