Convent of Saint Anne

The Myrrh Streaming Icon of St. Anne, Mother of the Holy Virgin Mary

 

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On May 9, 2004 an Icon of St Anne, the Mother of the Holy Virgin Mary, located in the Russian Orthodox Church of "Our Lady Joy of All Who Sorrow" in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA began to stream myrrh.

On that Sunday one of the parishioners mentioned to the parish rector, Archimandrite Athanasy that the Icon of St. Anne seemed to be "perspiring." Upon further investigation, Fr. Athanasy noticed visible liquid streams and droplets. Accumulations of the liquid were seen on the cuff on St. Anne's left hand and on her left shoulder veil. Droplets were also found elsewhere on the Icon. This fragrant, slightly oily liquid is commonly referred to as "myrrh". Initially the myrrh looked like tear drops, as if St. Anne were crying. Later small, slow-moving streams of myrrh appeared in other parts of the Icon.

The Icon of St. Anne was commissioned by Fr. Athanasy in 1998, in the Mount of Olives Convent in Jerusalem. He himself had served there in 1980 - 1981. In 1998, the Icon was completed, blessed at the Sepulcher of our Lord in the Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection, and brought to Philadelphia.

When Fr. Athanasy was 7 years of age, he fell off the second floor of a two story building, fracturing his right arm. At the hospital they could not find a pulse in his arm and the doctors considered amputating the limb. Fr. Athanasy's mother, a devout Catholic, prayed to St. Anne. She procured oil from a nearby shrine dedicated to St. Anne and applied it to the injured arm. Doctors soon detected a pulse in the arm, and after surgical procedures Fr. Athanasy's arm healed completely. Since that incident Fr. Athanasy has always had a special veneration for St. Anne; he attributes the saving of his arm to St. Anne's intervention before the Throne of God.

Since 1996, Fr. Athanasy has been the rector of this church, which Russian immigrants had founded back in 1951. Every August 7 - the feast day of St. Anne - Fr. Athanasy celebrates the Divine Liturgy and anoints the sick with oil blessed on the feast day. The parish has also been able to obtain a relic of St. Anne. For 3 years the Icon continued to stream myrrh, collected by cotton at the bottom of the Icon. The Icon has been placed in a wooden case with a glass cover. There is no riza (a metal covering). The myrrh dries up during Passion Week before and streams of myrrh begin to resume on Pascha. It has been noticed that the volume of myrrh increases on feast days and when many are gathered in prayer. Since Pascha 2007, the Icon has dried up, myrrhing only occasionally. The scent or "blagouhanie" is still very strong. Miracles continue to occur and the faithful continue to flock to venerate this miraculous Icon. There have been a number of myrrh streaming Icons in the Russian Orthodox Church, three of which have appeared in the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (outside the territory of Russia). The first was the Iveron Icon of the Holy Virgin, revealed on November 24, 1982 to Brother Joseph “José” Muñoz Cortés from Chile, at that time living in Montreal, Canada. On Oct. 31, 1997 Brother José was killed in Greece by a foreigner and that Icon has since disappeared.