In his laudatory speech to the Fathers of blessed memory who shone on the Holy Mountain, Nicodemus the Svyatogorets also mentions that blessed “monk” not known by name, who, living in subordination to his elder, was honored to strangely receive the Archangel Gabriel himself in his cell and hear from him a touching hymn to the Mother of God: “It is worthy that you truly bless Thee, the Mother of God, the Ever-Blessed and Immaculate and Mother of our God..." and so on. This phenomenon took place during the reign of the brother-kings Vasily and Constantine, called the porphyrogenetic sons of Romanus the Younger, during the patriarchate of Nicholas Chrysoverg (984-995), and the story of the appearance of the Archangel was written by the archpriest of the Holy Mountain, Hieromonk Seraphim Fiipol in 7056 (1548).
Not far from Kareya, on a sloping place between monastic huts, there is one cell with a small Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. In this cell lived a certain priest and a novice. It so happened that the elder, wishing to attend the all-night vigil on Sunday in the Kareisky idom, remained to guard the cell. When night fell, he suddenly heard a knock on the door of his cell and, opening it, saw an unfamiliar monk, whom he received with friendliness and respect. When the time came for the service, they both began to lift up prayer chants to the Lord God with fear and reverence: the night service proceeded in its own order. Finishing the canon, standing before the icon of the Mother of God, they began to chant the Most Honest Cherub and the Most Glorious Seraphim. The household monk, full of heartfelt reverence for the All-Sung One, sang the usual ancient song of St. Cosmas, Bishop of Maium:
“The most honorable Cherub” and so on. to the end, but his wondrous guest, giving the touching hymn a different beginning, sang in an angelic voice: “It is worthy that You are truly blessed, the Mother of God, the Ever-Blessed and Most Immaculate, and the Mother of our God,” and to this he added: “The most honorable Cherub,” and so on.
- Wonderful! - exclaimed the house singer, moved to tears by the new song and at the same time surprised by the unusualness of the hymn he heard for the first time, - wonderful! But we only sing:
“The most honest,” and such a song: “It is worthy to eat,” neither we nor our ancestors had heard before that time. However,” he said to the wondrous stranger, “I ask you, write me this song, so that I can glorify the Mother of God in the same way.”
“Okay,” answered the stranger, “give me paper and ink, I’ll write this song for you to remember.”
- Sorry, brother! - the home monk spoke in the spirit of humility and simplicity. “When we engage in prayer and handicrafts, we rarely need paper and ink, and therefore now we have neither one nor the other.”
“Then bring me at least some kind of stone slab,” said the one who appeared.
When the monk handed him the slab, the stranger began to write on it with his finger the entire above-mentioned hymn to the Mother of God. Having inscribed all the words of the song clearly and clearly on the stone, he handed it to the monk and said:
“From now on, sing like this forever, both you and all Orthodox Christians,” and instantly became invisible.
It was Archangel Gabriel. A joyful thrill seized the humble monk at the sight of the wonderfully inscribed stone tablet. Rereading the words of the sacred song several times, he repeated them, and at dawn a new song sounded in the lips of the pious hermit. The elder, who returned home, was amazed by the news of the song and asked his novice: where did he learn to sing like that? Then he told the old man everything that had happened, and showed him the very board with the miraculous inscription. The elder listened attentively to the extraordinary story of his disciple about the appearance of an unfamiliar visitor in his cell, looked at the slab covered with writings by the Archangel for a long time and in amazement, and re-read the wonderful writings several times. Then both of them, taking the stone, showed it to the council of elders and informed them of the details of the wonderful event. Then everyone, with one mouth and one heart, glorified the Lord and His Most Pure Mother and sang a new song to Her.
From that time on, the Angelic hymn “It is worthy to eat” came into general use in the Orthodox Church, and the icon in front of which it was sung by the Archangel was transferred to the Cathedral Church of Kareya, where it is still visible in the altar on a high place.
The slab, with the song inscribed on it by the Archangel Gabriel, was transferred to Constantinople during the patriarchate of St. Nicholas Chrysovergo († 995, commemorated December 16).
Numerous copies of the “It Is Worthy” (“Merciful”) icon are sacredly revered in Russian churches. In the Galernaya harbor of St. Petersburg, in honor of the Mother of Mercy, a five-domed church was erected, in which the gracious “Merciful” icon sent from Athos was placed.
The Athos cell in memory of this wonderful event is still known on the Holy Mountain under the name “Worthy,” and the event itself is remembered and celebrated on Athos on June 11.
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