Many miraculous images "came" to Russia from Mount Athos, and the icon of the Quick Hearing One is no exception. She became famous thanks to her fertile power, having cured many people from a variety of ailments. But first things first. So, the history of the image.
How this image came about
The icon "Soon to Hear" was painted in the 10th century. There is an opinion that it is nothing more than a list from the famous Alexandrian Icon of the Mother of God. This shrine performed its first miracle in the 17th century.
How it was
It happened back in 1664 in the Dohiar monastery on Athos. In those days, a monk named Neil served there. Every evening he went on duty to the refectory with a burning torch. The icon of the Theotokos "Quick Hearer" hung over the entrance, and day after day, due to his inattention, he smoked it with this torch.
On one of those evenings, as Neil passed by the shrine again, he heard a voice from somewhere above. He demanded to stop smoking the image. But the monk did not heed his voice. Thinking that one of his own was playing a joke on him, he moved on. And againday after day he continued to smoke the icon.
Nil angered the Mother of God with his carelessness and inattention. When once again he went to the refectory, a voice from nowhere spoke to him again. And suddenly the light for Neil suddenly faded - he was blind. Then the monk realized that the voice came from the icon of the Mother of God, and he became afraid. He fell in front of the icon and began to ask for forgiveness.
He lay in front of the icon all night, and when the monks began to gather early in the morning, he told them about what happened to him at night. The monks were frightened and fell down to the icon, and in the evening they hung an inextinguishable lamp in front of it.
Miracle Healing of the Nile
Days and nights the monk spent next to the icon. He prayed and asked the Mother of God to forgive him for his disrespectful attitude to the image and have mercy. Soon, the Mother of God heard the prayers of the Nile, and the icon "Quick to Hear" "spoke" again. “Your prayers have been answered. Neil, I restore sight to your eyes. From now on, call this image "Quickly Hearing". Since then, they began to call this icon. According to legend, this happened on November 9, 1664.
And the suffering began to come to the shrine to ask for help and healing. And the icon "Skoroshlushnitsa" helped them. The Mother of God then said to Nil: “… and I will show ambulance to everyone who flocks to this icon …”.
Today
Today, as many centuries ago, this image helps people. In confirmation of this, there is a book on Athos in whichmany cases of miraculous healing are recorded. So, for example, in the monastery of Dohiar, the monks tell about one case that happened quite recently.
The father of one girl rushed to the monastery and told the monks about a terrible accident in which his little daughter received such a serious head injury that the doctors refused to do anything to save her life. “The brain is hurt, the child has no chance,” they said to the desperate parents.
Then the distraught father rushed to Athos, to the Dohiar monastery. He heard about the miracles performed by the icon of the Quick Listener and came to ask the Mother of God to save his child.
He clung to the image and with tears began to beg the life of his daughter from the Virgin Mary. The whole monastery prayed with him.
What was the surprise of the doctors when in the morning, entering the ward, they saw that the girl had not died, contrary to their predictions, but was sitting on the bed and smiling at them.
This case is not the only one, and, as they say in the monastery, "…truly, Holy Athos is the lot of the Virgin Mary…".
