РОСА УСТРАШЕНИЯ ВРАГОВ

Rejoice, for the thunder is terrifying to enemies! (Akathist, ikos 11). Miracle 5 in 1672, month of April A certain nun Alexandra, from the monastery of the Holy Great Martyr Paraskeva in Chernigov, suffered a demonic obsession for a long time: terrible images appeared to her many times, rushing at her, wanting to kidnap her, forbidding her to pray. She endured all this with considerable fear, horror and fear, sometimes she screamed in fear and cried, so that those with her were horrified and trembled. Finally, when she was completely exhausted from so many fears and only hoped for death, she was brought by nuns to the Elias Monastery, to the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, for the Saturday Akathist. Here, by the grace of our Intercessor, all dreams, ghosts and fears left her, and she returned, having the help of the Mother of God against all the power of the enemy, which could no longer cause her such suffering. Warfare is our life, and this war is “against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). Victory over them is a very good thing, but not easy. Good - because it brings a crown, and difficult - because the anger of our adversary is great, his strength is strong, but our nature is passionate and our strength is weak. But do not be afraid, man, do not despair, for you have as your helper the Most Holy Virgin, the Chosen Voivode, and to Her we will write “thanksgiving.” Call on her for help, for she says: “Call Me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me” (Ps. 49:15). With Her helping, you will see the enemy defeated. To confirm this truth, I will say something from Scripture: “Your neck is like the pillar of David, a thousand shields hang on it - all the shields of the mighty” (Song 4:4). What does that pillar mean if not the fortress of the Virgin for our salvation, the pillar of the fortress from the enemy? What are those shields if not protection? What are those arrows if not victory over your enemies? When the enemy attacks us, She shields us with shields. When we fight against the enemy, She adds strong arrows to us. When we weaken, She, like a pillar, supports us so that we do not fall. Having such a Voivode in battle, who would fear his enemies? Woe to those who, without Her, want to get along with their adversary. But You, Lady, do not allow Your warriors, who serve You faithfully, to remain alone in battle; You are always with them, You watch over their feats and help them. I am convinced of this, looking at Your sign, revealed in heaven, clothed with the sun, which then appeared when destruction was shown to all creation, as it is written: “There were lightnings and voices, and thunders and an earthquake and great hail” (Rev. 11:19), and behold, “a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun” (Rev. 12, 1). Who does not know that that appeared Woman foreshadowed the Blessed Virgin, on which there is much agreement among church teachers. And look: why didn’t that Woman appear before the flashes, thunders, voices, earthquakes and hail, when all the elements were still at peace, but during the very terrible confusion of heaven and earth? Therefore, to show that the Most Holy Virgin is with us in the most fierce battle, in the most evil hour, when we are fighting our adversary, when the enemy attacks us - sometimes with the brilliance of “the lust of the eyes,” sometimes with the voice of “the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), sometimes with a hail of sudden passions and countless slander, sometimes with the thunder of fears, sometimes with the shock of despair. Then She, like the sun, rises to help, so that if someone is overcome, she will establish him; if anyone is hurt, heal him. If anyone falls, he will raise him up. If someone has already died in soul, fiercely defeated in battle, but did not despair of Her help, he will be resurrected and armed again for feat. If someone strives hard, he will be helped in battle and will prepare a reward for the feat. Nevertheless, in that time of war, so that the night of the dark region does not cover those who fight, she appears “clothed with the sun,” illuminating our darkness. Thus, the Chosen Victorious is always with Her Own in battle. And who will not stand up against sin, having ready help - the Blessed Virgin? Oh, Omnipotent! “Keep Your abode, in You this faithfully venerates, in You it is established, and in You it is victorious, it is above all temptation: it also captivates enemies, and obedience endures” (Andrew of Crete, Great Canon, canto 9). “On the outside there are attacks, on the inside there are fears,” says the apostle (2 Cor. 7:5). And in battles and fears, people usually quickly take up arms. What kind of weapon will we seek to drive out the fears themselves? What Saint John of the Climacus commands us is the name of Jesus: “Always beat the warriors in the name of Jesus; you will not find stronger weapons than this, neither in heaven nor on earth” (Ladder, Homily 15, on purity). But take my advice: take another omnipotent name as another weapon in your second hand - the name of Mary, Mother of Jesus, you will not find stronger than this weapon. If the enemy attacks us from two sides, from the right and from the left, then we also go against him with two weapons - with the name of Jesus and Mary, in order to defeat the one on the right and the other on the left. How strong is that weapon - the name of Mary? Listen to what is read in the Akathist: “All the opposing souls tremble with fear, fearing Your holy name.” May I be allowed to call my Lady the weapon with which David defeated Goliath, that is, the “sling” (1 Samuel 17:39-51). For just as a stone flying out of a sling killed a foreigner, so Christ who came from Her, who is the cornerstone, killed the one who fell on Him. For “whoever falls on this stone will be crushed, and whoever it falls on will be crushed” (Matthew 21:44). When David took the sling in his hands, he chose five good stones from the stream to go with it. In the name of the Theotokos I distinguish five letters: M A R I A. These are five stones that kill the hellish Philistine: Magnet, Adamant, Ruby, Jacinthos, Amethyst. Each of them, with its own property, depicts a certain virtue of Mary. The magnet that attracts iron is the humility of Mary, which attracted God to earth, for with Her humble words: “Behold, the Servant of the Lord; Let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38), - God descended from heaven and became incarnate from Her. Solid Adamant represents Mary's courage. Scarlet Ruby – chastity. Iakinthos of heavenly color shows Her thoughts of God. Fire-like Amethyst – flaming love. With these five mental stones, although all the Goliaths of hell are beaten, but most of all - the five large ones. The magnet of humility kills the demon of pride. The adamant of courage stings the demon of fear, which weakens in feat. The ruby ​​of chastity is the demon of shamelessness and impurity. The Iakinth of God-thought strikes the demon of earthly addiction. Amethyst of love - the demon of hatred. And it is not surprising that demons fear and tremble at this holy name. Even in the Old Testament there were five things beginning with the five letters of the name of Mary, signifying its power: the Red Sea, Areda the spring, the Fleece of Gideon, the Jordan River and Mount Ararat. The sea drowned the pharaoh, and at Ared the source of Midian was completely defeated. On the Rune, Gideon received the sign of victory. At Jordan, the kings of the Amorites were conquered by Joshua. Mount Ararat became a shelter for the ark. All this served as a prototype of the Virgin Mary, Who drowned the mental Pharaoh, and struck down the Midians, and the Amorites of hell, and, like fleece dew, took the Word into her womb. And She is a calm haven for everyone who floats towards Her from the stream of passions. Therefore, every faithful one, in Her most holy name - Mary - as with a sling containing five stones, arm yourself and defeat your enemies! Even in the midst of the shadow of death, whoever finds himself - let him call on Mary - evil will not overcome him. 5 From the visible enemies of Byzantium, during the reign of Heraclius and the patriarchate of Sergius, she saved herself by invoking the Virgin Mary and saw the kagan (the title of the head of state), as the second pharaoh, drowned with a large army in the foaming sea. Everyone who calls upon the universal Helper for help is saved from invisible enemies. Someone truly told us how, in a terrible vision, he drove away the terrible jumping Ethiopians; Only these two names were uttered - Jesus and Mary. Jacob de Vorain writes about a certain noble rich man who became poor and fell into great sadness, lamenting the loss of his wealth. The devil appeared to him in the form of a warrior on a black horse and began to ask about the reason for such sadness, and when he found out, he commanded him not to grieve: “I said, I will enrich you and make you noble, just promise me one thing.” He promised him with an oath to do whatever he required. Then the devil showed him the place: “Here,” he says, “dig and you will find a lot of gold, silver and expensive stones, but in exchange for this you will bring me your wife here.” And while digging, the man found a treasure hidden many years ago. Gradually extracting it, he became greatly enriched: he bought many villages, slaves and slaves, chambers, and became more famous than other nobles. But the time had come for him to bring his wife, promised to the demon, to where the treasures were found, and he said to her at night: “Let’s go to that place, not far from here: we have something there.” The accursed one did not tell her anything about the agreement with the demon. She, trembling and fearing, did not want to go, however, she reluctantly obeyed her husband. She was pious and sent prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos every day. They happened to pass by a church nearby, and the wife began to beg her husband to wait for her a little. “I,” he says, “will go and perform my usual ritual to the Most Holy Theotokos in front of the church and will return soon.” Her husband let her go, and she went to the church doors, threw herself down crying, praying diligently, entrusting herself to her Patroness. Oh, glorious miracles and mercy of the Mother of God! How she does not leave those in their last trouble, those who diligently resort to Her!.. She cast a dream on her, as God did on Adam in the ancient paradise, and, lying prostrate on the ground, she fell asleep soundly in prayer. Our mistress instead went to that man who was waiting for his wife on the road, and followed him. When they reached the appointed place, they saw: the prince of darkness was already hurrying, having fun, towards them, but, being very close, he suddenly trembled and cried out: “Oh, perjurer! Ruined me! I told you to bring your wife in order to take revenge on her for her many dirty tricks, and you brought the Lady Mother to torment me!” All this while screaming, he was scorched by the power of the Mother of God, like fire, and thrown into the abyss of hell. Our mistress became invisible. Out of great fear, seeing and hearing this, the man fell to the ground as if dead, as if there was no spirit left in him from the terrible vision, and lay there for a long time. As soon as he came to his senses, he got up and, trembling, walked along the road to his house, wondering about his wife: where is she? Passing by the church, he turned towards it to pray for his sin, and there he found his wife sleeping at the church doors. Having woken her up, he told her everything in detail. She, listening, was faint in spirit from fear. After praying, both returned to the house crying. Having confessed their sins, leaving all the wealth of demons, they lived the rest of the time pleasing to God, thanking their Intercessor, the Most Holy Virgin, for saving them from such destruction by Her mercy. Look how the Lady protects those who come running under Her protection! You might be interested in: