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The Miracle of
Holy Oil in Cleveland
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His Grace Bishop Tadros anoints the entire congregation with the oil from St. Mary's icon. |
The
icon of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. |
On
May 15, 1990, His
Grace Bishop Tadros
was visiting our
church. He prayed
the Vespers service
and then gave a
sermon. The sermon
was the life of St.
Athanasius the
Apostolic, whose
feast was that day. Then he told us
about the miracle of
healing which had
happened recently in
his diocese of Port
Said, Egypt.
After the sermon,
His Grace led the
congregation in
praises and
doxologies for the
Virgin Mary and our
other saints,
specifically St.
Athanasius the
Apostolic. During
the singing of the
praises, a deacon
noticed some oil on
the icon of the
Virgin Mary and went
over to tell Fr.
Mikhail E. Mikhail,
who then told Bishop
Tadros. After the
praises were
finished, His Grace
went over to examine
the icon and then
announced it to the
congregation, who
immediately went up
to see it. The oil
appeared in straight
lines from the neck
of
St. Mary. His Grace
began anointing
everybody with the
oil from the icon.
Oil began to seep
again from the icon
of the Virgin Mary
on Sunday May 20,
1990 after the
Divine Liturgy. Oil also
started to seep for
the first time from
the icon of the Lord
Jesus Christ that
same day. The oil poured from
the forehead and
eye, then it began
to pour downwards to
the right hand of
the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oil seeped
on several other
days throughout the
month of May and
June, 1990. Many people, including
Fr. Mikhail, have
noticed the presence
of incense in large
amounts on some
days, even though no
ritual services,
including the
Raising of Incense
had been performed
those days.
Oil also seeped
again in August of
1990, during the
Egyptian Festival. A
good amount of oil
had seeped from both
the icons of the
Virgin Mary and the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Many people
attending the
festival witnessed
it including a
reporter who wrote
an article in the
Cleveland newspaper,
The Plain Dealer.
After the newspaper
article was
published, thousands
of people from all
over came to the
church to see the oil and be
blessed by it. The
Plain Dealer
published several
other articles about
he matter. as well
as a number of
religious magazines
and other newspapers
including the
community paper, The
Parma Sunpost. Local
television channels
as well as the
national channels,
NBC and CNN, gave
the matter great
attention. Radio
stations also
broadcast many
programs about it.
Oil again began to
see throughout
September and
October of 1990. It
was witnessed by a
number of bishops
including His Grace
Bishop Thomas of
Koussia, Egypt. As
many as 60,000
people, from various
denominations and
religions, came to
the church over a 15
months period from
all over the United
States
to see the seeping
oil from the icons.
A number of miracle
healings were
experienced by Copts
and Non-Copts alike.
One of the healings
happened to Francis
Picarek who regained
his sight after all
hope was
lost.
After receiving
several reports from
the bishops who had
seen the icons as
well as Fr. Mikhail
himself, H. H. Pope Shenouda
III came himself to
see the icons on
January 19, 1991.
Then after reviewing
all the reports of
the bishops and of
those who had
experienced
miraculous healing,
H. H. Pope Shenouda
III issued an
official
papal declaration
regarding the
matter. He declared
that the phenomenon
of the seeping oil from the
icons was an
official miracle.
The papal
declaration was
dated May 15, 1991,
the first
anniversary of when
the miracle first
happened.
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