3 Miracle Working Icons in Sofia from 3 Bulgarian Monasteries
Three miracle working icons gathered in Sofia to help discharge Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor locked up in Lebanon jail. All three icons of Virgin Mary are famous because of the miracles they can do and Bulgarians believe that if all people come at one place and pray together this is enormous power in favor of unfair kept in prison nurses and doctor.
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The initial plan was to return back icons in their monasteries after the pray, but people from all parts of Bulgaria continue coming and waiting to see icons from close.
There was a huge queue in front of the Alexander Nevski cathedral. These days temperatures in Sofia were very high but even under the danger of heat stroke people patiently wait for their turn to see miracle working icons of Virgin Mary.
The legend around Three Handed Virgin from Troyan monastery
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This miracle happened in 8th century. St. John of Damascus was a fervid writer and defender of holy icons. His writings made angry emperor Leo the Third, who slandered St. John of Damascus, by involving his name in conspiracy about Damask caliphate treason.
The caliph of Damask ordered to punish St. John Damascus and to cut his hand and put it on the city square. St. John obtained by pray his cut hand, touched it to his wrist and kneeled in front of the icon of Virgin Mary.
After a long and full of faith pray, he felt asleep and dreamed Virgin Mary, who told him “Your hand is healed, because you wrote in defense of God”. After St, John awaked he saw his cured hand and to express his gratitude to Virgin Mary he order to put on the icon a silver copy of cut hand. That’s why the icon is called Three Handed Virgin.
The legend around The Virgin Mary Eleusa icon from Bachkovo monastery
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The belief is that everybody who touches the icon will be healed. There are many stories behind the miracle working power of this icon. One of them is that during the destroy fire in Bachkovo monastery, two monks succeed to save the icon and bring it out of monastery.
Two centuries later, on Easter, two youth shepherds found the icon at the place called Kluviyata. They brought the icon to the Bachkovo monastery. The monastery bells had been ringing before the two shepherds came there. This is one of the miracles of this icon, because nobody rang the bells and nobody knew the icon is coming to the monastery.
During the night after the icon was found, Virgin Mary came into the dreams of one of the monks and on the next morning they found the icon again on the same place.
From than till our days every year on the second Easter day, procession goes to the place where the icon was found. People from all parts of Bulgaria come to join the procession to the Kluviyata rocks and after that go down to the monastery to receive blessing by Virgin Mary icon.
