As a foreshadowing of the upcoming feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, our heavenly Intercessor and the patronal feast of our Monastery, we decided to share with you a few more miracles performed by this “heavenly man and angel in the flesh” which took place recently. On the day of his passage into eternity, he is especially present with his grace through his glorious and miracle-working Bigorski icon and his holy relics that are kept in the Monastery. He listens to the prayers of those who call on him with love and faith and answers them. This is the day when “the greatest among those born of women” pours out his God-given grace on all who keep the memory of his honored sufferings with thanksgiving and prayer. Just as any person is filled with joy when their family and friends remember their special occasions, in the same way do the Saints of God love those who honor them. May the prayers of Saint John the Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist be with you all!
A barren couple receives a child from St. John
Good evening,
I want to share our miracle, a miracle that happened through your prayers. I am writing to you with tears of joy in my eyes.
My husband and I have been together for 15 years and married for 5 years. We tried for a child for a long time, but our failure to conceive was bringing us so much pain. Every month was a new disappointment. At the same time, the only thought going through my head was, “I want to go to Bigorski.”
We were getting ready for our second in vitro. By chance, before we started the process, we had guests staying with us who got a call (from Bigorski). They were told to go to Bigorski the next day to get Fr Partenij’s blessing for their upcoming wedding. When they got off the phone, they just looked at me and said “Tomorrow you are coming with us!” I don’t know if I even slept the night before. We set off early in the morning, and when we got to the monastery, both of us were trembling. We had a strange feeling that neither of us can describe.
They asked us if we wanted a prayer in front of the miraculous icon. Did we want to?! We couldn’t wait! With the blessing of the Elder of the Monastery, Bishop Partenij, one of the fathers read a prayer in front of the icon of St. John, and this gave us hope.
The procedure started with the same treatment as the first in vitro, when I received 9 eggs, then there were only 3, and in the end I had only 2. I went into it with positive thoughts and holy oil in my hands around the clock (and I still do this).
It was April 7, the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. Then I got the most amazing news: I had a new life inside me, another little heart was beating inside of me.
We got our son. We named the miracle Ognen.
Our happiness has no end, I thank God and his Baptist every day.
Our wish is fulfilled, and our hearts are full.
Bigorski and its monks are very special to us.
I greet you and we are waiting for warm days to come and visit you!
With respect, LJ.
(Letter received at the Monastery e-mail address, bigorskim@gmail.com on December 26, 2021)
St. John healed a woman of cancer who only had a few months left to live
Hello, Father, may God bless you all!
When our faith in God is as great as our will to live, because life is given by God, miracles happen. In December 2015, at the age of 38, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors told us that we should prepare for the worst because death was much more likely than recovery. I went from Bitola to Skopje every three weeks to receive chemotherapy for eight hours.
After a year they gave me a bone scan and it turned out that the cancer had spread. I had thoracic and lumbar vertebrae changes. When I went to Skopje, they told me that with this diagnosis I had 6-12 months left to live. I don’t know how, but I accepted it and just said to the doctor: “Doctor, only God knows about that.” I went home to Bitola, and we bought a grave, but I continued on with my life. I prayed every day. Whether I was cooking, or cleaning, whenever I could, I would say prayers in my head: the Our Father, the Jesus Prayer, prayers to the Mother of God, and sometimes I even made up prayers myself. What was important was that I was truly praying in my soul. I continued with chemotherapy, but it was even more difficult: I had no strength at all, and I had a lot of pain, but the more it hurt, the closer I felt to God, and the more I believed in God. Only my faith in God remained. Financially, we were in dire straits. We spent a lot of money on vitamins, and I couldn’t afford a special diet, so I got by with what we had.
One night I woke up in the middle of the night. In my dream, I saw a monastery, big and beautiful, with beautiful lodgings. It was so lovely to see. I found myself on a high place in the rocks in the middle of the mountains, in front of a big gate. A man with a beard stood at the entrance to the courtyard, called me in, and showed me the faucets to the right. “Come on, here’s your medicine.” The faucets had dragon heads on them. The water bubbled out, cold, clear, and shining like silver. I woke up in amazement. After a few days I had the same dream: again the faucets, the monastery — everything was the same. I said to my husband, “Let’s go.” And he said to me: “But where is it? We don’t know where that place is.” Then, completely by chance, some friends and I started talking about God and faith, and one of my friends said to me, “Based on what you’re telling me, the monastery is St. John Bigorski.” I had never been there but I was talking about it like I had been there a hundred times. But no. We started off and immediately experienced temptations, almost as if something was trying to prevent us from getting there. We used the navigation on my phone because we had never been to Bigorski before and we didn’t know how to get there. When we reached an intersection near Kičevo, the phone gave us different directions. It took us into the mountains, on a dirt road, and we could barely get back out. The phone turned us around in the same place three times. I couldn’t do it anymore, I got tired and just crossed myself and said out loud: “Lord God, our Father, if there is a cure for me there and if the dream was from You, then open the path for us to reach St. John Bigorski.” Then, right after I prayed, parked in the same place, the phone started giving different directions than what it had been showing before. There are witnesses to this besides me: my sister, my children, and my husband were all in the car. We all shivered.
We arrived in front of the monastery. Everything was the same as in my dream. I ran like crazy, I don’t know where that strength came from in me. I saw the faucets with the dragon heads, crossed myself, and said: “O Most High, You called me here. Please give me medicine.” I drank the water and washed in the spring water. The Monastery was the same one as in my dream. Everything was familiar to me as if I had been there a hundred times. There were many people that day – without knowing we had actually come to the Monastery’s patronal feast day. A novice was becoming a monk that day. We entered the church, and I prayed with all my heart and soul, believing that Saint John would help me.
After a few months, they did another scan to see how things were going and a miracle had occurred! There was no cancer left on my bones! Everything came up clean, everyone was surprised, and they asked me what I had taken on my own. But I had not taken anything from anyone. I only took a blessing from St. John in Bigorski, from Elder Partenij whom I know prays a lot for us, from the monks, and I drank the water at the spring in the Monastery. I prayed every day and thanked God. Today, November 7, 2021, I am here again in St. John Bigorski. I came to thank God, because when the doctors gave me only six months to live, God had mercy on me and answered my prayers.
I want to tell everyone: Believe in God, believe in our Christian faith, believe in the Most High God, and believe in God’s miracles at Saint John Bigorski Monastery.
May God bless you all!
Katerina from Bitola
(Personal testimony from Katerina, who at our request wrote it down in a message and sent it to us on November 8, 2021)
Finally, we ask everyone who has experienced the miraculous power of the icon and relics of Saint John the Baptist, or any other saints in Bigorski Monastery, to share their experiences at our email address: bigorskim@gmail.com. We also ask those who have previously given us their testimonies about St. John’s miracles to send them to us again at the address above, because some of them have been lost, and in the fire of 2009 the notebook in which the miracles were recorded was also burned. At the same time, we would like to emphasize that the testimonials will not be published without the consent of the sender, and also, if someone does not want to write their full name, they can send us just their initials.
For the witness and glory of our great Intercessor before the Throne of God, may his blessing be with you! Thank you!
