Orthodox Parables and Stories: "The Importance of Proskomedia"

 

A professor fell seriously ill. The invited doctors, his friends, found the patient in such a condition that there was very little hope of recovery.

The professor lived only with his sister, an old woman. He was not only a complet\unbeliever, but he was little interested in religious issues, did not go to church, although he lived not far from a small church.

After such a medical sentence, his sister was very saddened, not knowing how to help her brother. And then she remembered that there was a church nearby, where you could go and apply for a proskomedia about a seriously ill brother.

Early in the morning, without saying a word to her brother, the sister gathered for Divine Liturgy, told the priest about her grief and asked him to take out the particle and pray for the health of her brother. At the same time, her brother had a vision: as if the wall of his room had disappeared and the interior of the temple, the altar, had opened. He saw his sister talking about something with the priest. The priest went to the altar, took out a particle, and this particle fell with a clang on the diskos. And at the same moment, the patient felt that some force entered his body. He got out of bed, which he could not do for a long time.

At this time, the sister returned, and her surprise knew no bounds.

"Where have you been?" asked her brother. "I saw how you spoke to the priest in church, how he took out a particle for me."

And then both with tears thanked the Lord for the miraculous healing.

The professor lived for a long time after that, never forgetting about the mercy of God.