 Just a few months ago, the Bay Area was blessed to have among us Fr. Ioannis Maridakis from
Crete with the Precious Relic of the Holy Cross that our Lord was hung
on. Many of you were able to venerate the Holy Relic in Sacramento, San
Jose or San Francisco. Fortunately, this weekend, we are blessed to have the opportunity to venerate the Holy Relic once again. Fr. Ioannis will be blessing people on: Friday,
February 22 at: The Dionisopoulos Residence 6306 Snell Avenue San Jose, CA
95123 From 5:00 pm until 11:00 pm Saturday, February 23 at: St. James Orthodox Church 195 N. Main Street Millpitas, CA 95035 From 9:30 am until 3:00 pm Sunday, February 24 at: Holy Resurrection Romanian Church 26050 Kay Avenue Hayward, CA 94545 Matins begins at 9:30 am and Divine Liturgy will start at 10:30 am. THIS Sunday Divine Liturgy will be in Greek and served by Fr. Ioannis himself. Following Divine Litiurgy a Holy Uncion Service will be held. Once both services are over, Fr. Ioannis will be able to bless the people with the Holy Relic until 8:00 pm. In case you have not heard, Fr. Ioannis
is the care taker of a silver relic cross with a piece of the Precious
Cross of Christ, stained with a drop of the Saviors Blood and it is
known that it has healed many people from various illnesses. Below you
could find some
testimonials. Everyone and anyone is welcome to come either at the house or to either church. Please do not hesitate to share this information with family and friends. Father Ioannis Maridakis from
Greece is a priest at the parish of the Birth of the Theotokos in the
town of Galata on the island of Crete. He has a metal cross with a
piece of the Precious Cross of Christ with a drop of His Blood. The cross was
given to Fr. Ioannis in September of 2003 by Maria Panou, the
mother of the current representative of the Holy Sepulcher in Athens, who in
turn received this cross from Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem. A
month later after receiving the cross, Fr. Ioannis blessed a sick
person with this cross at a hospital in Athens and the patient got well the
next day. Since then Fr. Ioannis has blessed thousands of people with
this cross in many countries. In the last several years, hundreds of people
were healed from various illnesses, including cancer and infertility.
Miraculous healings from various illnesses have been documented. The
cross gives off a sweet scent and at times streams myrrh.
Check out little Theo’s story:
PRECIOUS CROSS HEALINGS
A few documented healings by the
Precious Cross of Fr. Ioannis Maridakis
From sfsobor.com
1. My name is Phillip Hashem, I'm 26
years old. On September 21, 2011
I was involved in an auto accident
where I broke my neck and incurred a spinal cord injury which left me paralyzed
from the neck down. Over the next year with the prayers of loved ones and much
hard work in therapy I was able to begin to walk with a cane. Over the next 9
years I remained with the cane as I went through struggles between my faith and
my search for truth through the worldly sciences and philosophy.
Several years later I was no closer
to that truth than before I started. In the last year some events occurred in
my life which have lead me to embrace my faith more than ever, these events
coincided with the blessings of the cross, which have allowed me to keep
gaining spiritual and physical strength and begin walking without the cane. My
first session with the cross took place at the end of January 2011, after which
I began to feel relief from my back and knee pain as well as stiffness.
Throughout the next 2 months I had 5 more healing sessions with the cross. Each
time i felt more relief and after the first 4 sessions I forgot my cane one day
going to the gym and had to attempt walking in without it. To my surprise it
was significantly easier than I expected and from that day on I have not used
it since. I am very grateful for this blessed opportunity and it has and will
continue to strengthen my faith.
2. My name is Sandy Garvin. I live in
Seattle, WA. I am treated for stage four Renal Cell Carcinoma, diagnosed in
October, 2006. I was told that I would have from 6 to 8 months to live, but if
I was lucky, I would maybe make it to 5 years. I have undergone numerous
surgeries and radiation sessions to the point of my life time maximum of
radiation. I have been infused with a number of different chemo treatments including
Avastin, Zometa, Torisel, one or two others, and currently on Sutent. I have
undergone surgery to take my femur and left hip, replacing it with metal, and
told I would not walk. I am not allowed to lift more than 8 pounds, because my
breastbone is honeycombed with cancer, and told it might collapse. Because of taking
Zometa, I have necrosis of my bones, and in particular, my lower jaw bone. You
can look into my mouth and see my actual jaw bone. I have been on anti biotics
for almost 3 solid years, because of infections in my mouth due to exposed
bone.
After another of my mandatory every 3
month scans, I received news that my cancer tumors were multiplying. I shared
this news with a few friends. On Friday, in February 2011, I received a call
from Cathleen Clinger, that the Precious Cross was being flown to Phoenix. She
offered that if I could get down there, her God Mother, Effie, would pick me up
at the airport to take me to the Church where the blessings were to be done.
I flew down from Seattle on Sunday
morning, and was scheduled to fly back that evening. Effie Zissimatos drove me
to the church. She explained that I would be permitted to go to the head of the
line to be blessed, but she would have to wait. We arrived. Effie spoke
with Fr. Ioannis to let him know of my situation. I was blessed by Fr. Ioannis,
using the piece of the Precious Cross he brought from Greece. While he was
blessing me, the Precious Cross "stuck" to all the places I had
tumors. It felt very uplifting. I don't think I would be able to describe it. Almost
a relief came over me.
While I was visiting last week, Fr.
Ioannis asked me to stay to be blessed on Thursday. When I went in to be blessed,
the Precious Cross "stuck" to my esophagus. He let go of the Precious
Cross, and it stayed. He asked if I have stomach trouble. I do. I take medicine
for it. I cannot eat anything with acid in it. No grapefruit, no lemons, no oranges,
etc. Last evening, I ate part of an orange. I did not vomit. The Precious Cross
might have healed my stomach problem. Fr. Ioannis gave me the Greek name
Stavrula, and said that if my tumors are gone he would baptize me into the
Orthodox faith. I agreed. Effie explained that Fr. Ioannis lives in Greece, on
the island of Crete. I told him that I would be happy to fly to Greece to be
baptized. I flew back to Seattle. My next scan would be scheduled for May 3. I
waited patiently. When the results came, of NO active tumors, I was very happy,
and thanked God, because of the Blessing I received from the Precious Cross,
and Father Ioannis. I had to fly down to Phoenix, to tell the Monks at the
Monastery my great news.
3. I want to tell everyone the story
of the miracle which occurred when my son, George Makris, was blessed with the
relic of the Cross of Christ which Fr. Ioannis brought to Salt Lake City on
Oct. 27th, 2011. My husband and I took our children to Sts. Peter
and Paul Orthodox Church the evening of Oct. 27th, 2011 to have them blessed by
the Cross. My son, George, has had a problem with ambliopia, which is
where one eye does not see as well as the other eye. His left eye has
been much weaker than his right eye. Specifically, he was seeing 20/50
out of his left and 20/20 out of the right eye. We had been following the
physician's order to patch his right eye in order to make the left eye become
stronger. When we first started this patching procedure, George's eye was
very bad and his vision was 20/200 in his left eye. So, over the past 3
years with patching the left eye and wearing glasses, his eye has improved to
only 20/50 at best. The doctor felt this was probably as good as it would
get.
The evening of Oct. 27th, Fr. Ioannis
blessed my son with the Cross of Christ. On Nov.4th, 2011 my son had his
next eye appointment with the physician. They did his eye exam with the
eye chart and the physician said to me, "I really can't believe this, but
his vision in his left eye is dramatically improved!" His vision in the
left eye had improved to 20/25!! The physician stated that he couldn't
explain why or how his vision had improved. I said to the physician that
it was a miracle from a blessing my son had received by Fr.
Ioannis.
I am so thankful to our Blessed and
Glorious Lord Jesus Christ for giving my son the gift of better sight.
The miracle we have received from this relic of Christ's Cross has made me so
very thankful. I hope that by sharing our story that others may be
encouraged to be blessed by Fr. Ioannis. I also want to thank Michael Zervos
for helping to bring Fr. Ioannis back to Salt Lake City a second time, so we
all could have another opportunity to be blessed by Fr. Ioannis and the Relic
of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
With Thanks and Glory to Christ
our God,
Pam Makris
Salt Lake City, UT
4. Nearly a dozen years ago, I
shattered my right ankle as a result of a fall. While the ankle was surgically
reconstructed and has properly
healed, I have experienced some soreness, stiffness, and a moderate of
pain in the area around the break.
This is been more pronounced is the mornings, when I first wake up and
move around. Since the time
that I received the blessing of the Holy Cross of Christ from Father Ioannis a
few weeks ago, including the blessing
of the Holy Cross directly on my ankle, that soreness almost entirely
disappeared!
Kostas Katsohirakis (Salt Lake City)
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