“On December 18, I went to the all-night vigil. Peter came a little after me and stood in front of the icon of the Mother of God, and I stood behind him. I look at him: he stands and bows; he could not be baptized because his hands were still clasped. Peter walked up to the church column and pressed his head against it. I see that some change is happening to him. I was afraid that he would fall, which is why I went up to Peter and began to support him: he was shaking all over. I had to hold it like that for a long time. I thought to myself: “Again, some kind of God’s punishment will happen to him!” Peter shuddered strongly and retreated to his previous place. He turned his gaze to the revealed icon and looked at it for a long time. Then he suddenly turned and left the church. I immediately followed him out. Peter went into his room and lay down on the bed. He soon fell asleep with his face up; Ten minutes passed like this. Suddenly he raised both hands to his shoulders and squealed loudly, as if he was very frightened of something. Then he folded three fingers on his right hand to make the sign of the cross and lowered them to his forehead; so I fell asleep...
And at that time I was attacked by great horror, so I can’t even describe it,” notes an eyewitness to the incident. “After lying like this for some time,
Peter suddenly said to me: “Pavel Nikolaevich, give me money for a grateful prayer service”...
“Everyone who saw the miraculous events that happened over Peter was horrified,” says the mentioned eyewitness. “Everyone was very happy and even cried with joy,” Pavel Nikolaevich concludes his story.
The monastery is sacred about this amazing event. O. I. Voinov reported to his Eminence in February 1899 about the defeat of Peter by muteness and paralysis. Earlier, priest S. reported to His Eminence. Pereluba, Pravdin, with the appendix of Peter’s own manuscript, in which he described the grave punishment to which he was subjected for his unbelief.
His Eminence was pleased to instruct the local dean priest P. Vvedensky to “check the story of the miraculous healing.”
The dean checked the story, selecting written and detailed testimonies from all eyewitnesses of the incident, including a message about the miraculous healing signed by the healed person himself.
This description of the miracle was compiled by the undersigned, following the order of His Eminence, on the basis of written documents, as well as personally collected information during a trip to the Rakovsky monastery (June 14-15, 1899).
Archpriest I. Panormov